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LIBRARY 

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THE  LIBRARY 

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THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


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AN 


ILLUSTRATED  HISTORY 


OF 


THE  STATE  OF  IDAHO 


CONTAINING  A  HISTORY  OF  THE   STATE  OF   IDAHO   FROM  THE   EARLIEST   PERIOD   OF  ITS 

DISCOVERY  TO  THE  PRESENT  THV1E,  TOGETHER  WITH  GLIMPSES  OF  ITS  AUSPICIOUS 

FUTURE;   ILLUSTRATIONS,   INCLUDING  FULL-PAGE  PORTRAITS  OF  SOME 

OF    ITS    EMINENT   MEN,    AND    BIOGRAPHICAL    MENTION    OF 

MANY  PIONEERS  AND  PROMINENT  CITIZENS  OF  TO-DAY. 


"A  people  that  take  no  pride  in  the  noble  achievements  of  remote  ancestors  will  never  achieve  anything 
worthy  to  be  remembered  with  pride  by  remote  descendants." — MACAULAY. 


CHICAGO 

THE  LEWIS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
1899 


LIBRARY 


PREFACE. 


PREPARED  by  a  number  of  writers,  and  deriving  its  information  from  vari- 
ous sources,  the  History  of  Idaho  is  now  submitted  to  the  reader  for  his 
criticism.  The  compilation  covers  a  long  period  of  years,  extending  from 
the  epoch  of  glorious  statehood  and  the  dawning  of  a  new  century  back  to  the 
time  when  the  untutored  savages  roamed  at  will  over  the  plains  and  through  the 
mountain  fastnesses  of  this  now  opulent  and  attractive  region  of  the  great  north- 
west, with  none  to  dispute  their  dominion.  In  the  collation  of  subject-matter 
recourse  has  been  had  to  divers  authorities.  These  have  been  numerous,  including 
various  histories  and  historical  collections,  and  implying  an  almost  endless  array 
of  papers  and  documents, — public,  private,  social  and  ecclesiastical.  That  so  much 
matter  could  be  gathered  from  so  many  sources  and  then  sifted  and  assimilated 
for  the  production  of  one  single  volume  without  incurring  a  modicum  of  errors 
and  inaccuracies,  would  be  too  much  to  expect  of  any  corps  of  writers,  no 
matter  how  able  they  might  be  as  statisticians  or  skilled  as  compilers  of  such 
works.  It  is,  nevertheless,  believed  that  no  inaccuracies  of  a  serious  nature  can 
be  found  to  impair  the  historical  value  of  the  book,  and  it  is  also  further  believed 
that  the  results  of  our  work  will  supply  the  exigent  demand  which  called  forth 
the  efforts  of  the  publishers  and  the  editorial  staff.  Numerous  extracts  from 
other  volumes  and  minor  compilations,  considered  authoritative,  have  been  made, 
with  an  eye  ever  single  to  the  historical  value  of  the  matter  used,  while  acknowl- 
edgment must  be  made  to  many  who  have  come  to  our  aid  by  personal  contribu- 
tions and  the  offering  of  data  otherwise  impossible  of  securing.  To  many  are  we 
indebted  for  such  kindly  courtesies  and  assistance,  and  with  so  much  accredited 
authority,  even  in  the  face  of  seemingly  insuperable  obstacles,  the  publishers 
feel  confident  that  a  valuable  book  has  been  produced, — one  whose  intrinsic  worth 
will  be  cumulative  and  be  the  more  appreciated  as  time  advances. 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


111 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Page 
CHAPTER  I. 

Jclaho,  the  Gem  of  the  Mountains  —  Origin  of  the  Name  ...............  .....     i 

CHAPTER  II. 
Geological  Agencies  ...................................................     7 

CHAPTER  III. 
Early  Explorations  ....................................................    1O 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Rival  Claims  and  Pretensions  ..........................................    *8 


CHAPTER  V. 
Rival  Claims  and  Pretensions,  Continued  ...............................   25 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Individual  Records  ....................................................  28 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Idaho  —  Historical  and  Descriptive  ......................................   5  l 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The    First   Settlements  —  The   March   of   Progress  —  Indian   Depredations  — 

Mining  Developments  ............................................     59 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Growth  of  Quartz  Mining  —  Discoveries  —  Mining  Towns  —  Stage  Routes 

—Indian   Troubles  —  Emigration   in   the   Spring   of   1864  —  Social   Dis- 

turbances —  Efforts  for  Better  Transportation  Facilities  —  Stamp  Mills  — 

A  Reminiscence  —  Early  Rating  of  Gold  and  Silver  —  The  United  States 

Assay  Office  ....................................................     63 

CHAPTER  X. 
1  ndividual   Records  ..................................................     74 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Snake  River  Valley  —  Reminiscences  of  the  Early  Days  —  Its  Present  — 

Its  Future  ................................  .  .....................     96 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Political  —  Secessionism  and  Crime  ...........  ........................  .    loi 

v 


vi  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Page 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Individual   Records ll1 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Historical  Notes  on  the  Work  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Idaho 122 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Indians  of  Idaho — Nez  Perces  and  Shoshone  Uprisings 134 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Individual  Records 147 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  Mormon  Question — The  Fifteenth  Legislative  Assembly — Looking  to 

Statehood — Changes  in  Judiciary — Constitutional  Convention 173 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Individual   Records 1 76 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Press  of  Idaho " 187 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Individual  Records 205 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Owyhee  County — Its  History,  Towns,  Industries 231 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Individual   Records 243 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Washington  County — Its  Towns,  Resources,  Etc 266 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Individual  Records 274 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

The   Payette  Valley— Its  Towns — Water— Weather — Soil — Products — Re- 
sources— Varied  Attractions 298 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
Individual  Records 311 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
Prominent  Cities  and  Towns  of  the  State 335 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
Individual  Records v .  369 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
Mines  and  Mining 421 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  vii 

Page 
CHAPTER  XXX. 

Individual  Records  ...................................................  447 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
Educational  Advantages  in  Idaho 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
Individual  Records  ...................  ..  ...............................  473 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
Bingham  County  ......................  .  .............................  494 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
individual  Records  ...................................................  499 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
Political,    Resumed  ..................................................   524 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
Idaho  in  1890  ..........................................................  528 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
Individual  Records  ...................................................   53° 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
Idaho  Since  1890—  Political  ...........................................   554 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
Individual  Records  ...................................................   55$ 

CHAPTER  XL. 
Internal  Improvements  .................  .'  .............................   577 

CHAPTER  XLI. 
Individual  Records  .......  .  ...........................................   582 

CHAPTER  XL1I. 
The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints  in  Idaho  ......  .  .........  624 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 
Individual  Records  ...................................................  628 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 
Bear  Lake  County  .........  .................................  '  .........  670 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

Presbyterianism  in  Idaho  —  The  Fort  Hall  Canal  —  Pertinent  Information  on 
Various  Subjects  ................................................  674 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 
Individual  Records  ...................................................  680 


TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Page 

Origin  of  Name  of  the  State 3 

Indian   Hostilities 68 

The  United  States  Assay  Office 73 

Secessionism  and  Crime lo2 

Indian  Wars  MO 

The  Shoshone  Wars 144 

Too  Lah 146 

The  Idaho  Daily  Statesman 187 

The  Daily  and  Weekly  Patriot  (L*ewiston) 189 

The  Owyhee  Avalanche 189 

The  Lewiston  Tribune ._ 19° 

The  Times- Democrat  (Moscow) 19° 

The  Nugget  (De  Lamar) 191 

The  Moscow  Mirror I91 

The  Kendrick  Gazette 191 

The  Pocatello  Tribune 192 

The  Genesee  News 193 

The  Salubria  Citizen 193 

The  Wood  River  Times  (Hailey) 194 

Idaho  Falls  Times 195 

The  Shoshone  Journal .' ipS 

The  Elmore  Bulletin 196 

The  Blackfoot  News 196 

The  News-Miner  (Hailey) 197 

The  Pocatello  Advance 197 

The  Kendrick  Times 197 

The  Southern  Idaho  Mail  (Blackfoot) 198 

The  Elmore  Republican 198 

The  Idaho  Mining  News  (Boise) 198 

The  Keystone  (Ketchum) 198 

The  Grangeville  Standard 199 

The  Republican  (Preston) 199 

Juliaetta   Newspapers 199 

The  Idaho  County  Free  Press  (Grangeville) 200 

The  Idaho  Falls  Register 201 

The  Standard   (Preston) 201 

The  North  Idaho  Star  (Moscow) 202 

The  Post  (Paris) 202 

The  Lewiston  Teller 203 

The  Montpelier  Examiner 204 

The  Enterprise  (Malad) 204 

The  Only  Legal  Hanging  in  Owyhee  County 234 

The  Marion  More  Tragedy 234 

The  Baldwin  Affair '. 235 

Silver  City 236 

The  Idaho  Hotel 237 


Page 

Trade  Dollar  Mining  and  Milling  Company 237 

Cumberland  Gold  Mine 237 

DeLamar   238 

Dewey    240 

Reynolds  Creek 241 

Guffey 241 

Grand  View 241 

Bruneau    Dam 241 

Hot  Springs 242 

The  Oreana  Valley 242 

Castle  Creek  Valley 242 

Salubria   Valley 267 

The  Town  of  Salubria 267 

Middle  Valley    268 

Council  Valley 268 

Indian  Valley 268 

Ruthburg   268 

Brownlee   268 

Meadows    269 

Hornet  Creek 269 

Long  Valley 269 

Crane  Creek 269 

Weiser  269 

The  Seven  Devils 272 

Warren   272 

Irrigation    273 

Vendome   Hotel    280 

Payette   301 

New  Plymouth 301 

Falk's  Store 302 

Emmett  302 

Water  in  Payette  Valley : 302 

Weather  in  Payette  Valley 303 

Soil  in  Payette  Valley 303 

Fruit  Culture  in  Payette  Valley 304 

General  Farming  in  Payette  Valley 306 

Dairying  in  Payette  Valley 306 

Poultry-Raising  in  Payette  Valley 306' 

Timber  in  Payette  Valley 306 

Cattle  in  Payette  Valley 307 

Sheep  in  Payette  Valley 307 

Irrigating  Canals,  Payette  Valley 308 

Washoe   Bottom 308 

Whitley   Bottom 309 

Recreation  and  Sport 309 

The  Swinery 310 


IX 


TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Page 

Apiaries    310 

Sugar   Beets ' 310 

The  Payette  Valley  Mercantile  Company 310 

Boise,  the  Capital   City 335 

Lewiston    '. 339 

The  First  National  Bank  of  Lewiston 34° 

The  Lewiston  National  Bank 341 

Pocatello    341 

Kendrick  and  the  Potlatch  Empire 346 

The  Bank  of  Kendrick 349 

Mountain  Home 35° 

Grangeville  and  the  Buffalo  Hump  Mines 350 

The  Bank  of  Grangeville 352 

The  Bank  of  Camas  Prairie 353 

Nampa  353 

Genesee  353 

Ketchum  354 

Hailey  354 

First  National  Bank  of  Hailey 356 

Bliss   356 

Moscow    358 

Resources  of  Latah  County 363 

Malad   City 364 

Juliaetta    364 

Soda  Springs 365 

Franklin   367 

Preston    367 

Discovery  of  Gold ." 421 

The  Mining  Fields  of  Idaho 427 

The  Coeur  d'Alene  Mining  District 431 

The  Lead  Belt  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes 435 

Labor  Troubles  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  District....  438 

The  Standard  Group  of  Mineral  Claims 439 

The  Hecla  Group  of  Mines 440 


Page 
The   Philadelphia    &   Idaho    Mining    &    Smelting 

Company   441 

The  Red  Cloud  Group  of  Mines 442 

The  Poorman  Mine 442 

The  Black  Jack  Mine 442 

The  Ontario  Group  of  Mines 444 

The  Alturas  Senator  Mining  Company 444 

The  Silver  King  Mining  Company 444 

Pierce  City  Gold  Camp 444 

The  Tip-Top  Mine 446 

University  of  Idaho 467 

The  Lewiston  State  Normal  School 470 

The  Albion  Normal  School 470 

The  College  of  Idaho 470 

Weiser  Academy 471 

The  Boise  Business  and  Shorthand  College 472 

Blackfoot  495 

Idaho  Falls 496 

Admission  of  Idaho  to  the  Union 524 

The  First  State  Officers 525 

Assessed  Valuation  of  Property 577 

Banks    : 577 

Mineral  Production 578 

Agriculture,    Etc 578 

Wild  Game 579 

Educational  579 

Other  State  Institutions 580 

Paris    672 

Montpelier   672 

Presbyterianism  in   Idaho 674 

The  Fort  Hall  Canal 675 

Pertinent  Information  on  Various  Subjects 676 

The  First  National  Bank  of  Caldwell 685 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 

Idaho  Soldiers'   Home I 

City  Hall,  Boise I 

Idaho  University,  Moscow i 

State   Capitol,   Boise i 

Twin  Falls  of  Snake  River 10 

A  Snake  River  Scene. '. . .  .  25 

Interior  View  of  Office  of  Johnson  &  Johnson.  ...  28 

Great  Shoshone,  Below  the  Falls S3 

Big  Redfish  Lake 59 

United  States  Assay  Office 73 

View  on  Snake  River  at  Lewiston -. .  96 

The  Goose  Creek  House,  Where  First  Territorial 

Convention  was  Held  in  Idaho 101 

St.  John's  Cathedral,  Boise 122 

Alpheus  Spring,  Blue  Lakes 134 

Top  of  Shoshone  Falls 173 

Shoshone  Falls,  From  North  Side 187 

Scene  on  Alpheus  Creek 231 


Page 

Residence  of  C.  W.  Moore 244 

Hotel  Weiser 278 

Residence  of  S.   B.    Kingsbury 295 

View  of  Eighth  Street,  Boise 335 

View  of  Main  Street,  Lewiston 339 

The  Lewiston   National  Bank 341 

View  of  Kendrick,  Latah  County 346 

The  City  of  Hailey 354 

Moscow,    Looking    Northward    from    State    Uni- 
versity    358 

Placer  Mines,  Delta,  Idaho 421 

View  of  Wallace,  Shoshone  County 428 

The  Standard  Mine 439 

Residence  of  Mrs.  James  H.  Bush 474 

View  in  Blackfoot,  Bingham  County 494 

Wood  River  Valley,  Looking  South  From  Hailey.  577 
The  Natatorium,  Boise 677 


PORTRAITS. 


Alexander,  Moses,  594. 
Ballantine,  James  W.,  413. 
Barton,  E.  M.,  277. 
Baxter,  James,  558. 
Bigham,  Samuel  W.  and  wife,  621. 
Borah,  William  E.,  375. 
Briggs,   Burdice  J.,  382. 
Brown,  Newell  J.,  185. 
Budge,  William,  602. 
Bush,  James  H.,  473. 
Campbell,  Amasa  B.,  369. 
Coburn,  Chester  P.,  522. 
Crane,  Thomas,  665. 
Crutcher,  James  I.,  92. 
Czizek,  Jay  A.,  582 
Daniels,  John  W.,  486. 
Davis,  Francis  M.,  538. 
Dewey,  William  H.,  74. 
Dietrich,  Frank  S.,  628. 
Ellis,  George  D.,  609. 
Ensign,  Francis  E.,  249. 
Forney,  James  H.,  209. 
Galloway,  Thomas  C.,  114. 
Glorieux,  Alphonsus  J.,  132. 
Gorton,  George  W.,  640. 


Harris,  Frank,  254. 
Hawley,  James  H.,  205. 
Hays,  Charles  M.,  549. 
Heard,  William  E.,  612. 
Hill,  George  B.,  322. 
Hubbard,  Frank  M.,  542. 
Huston,  Joseph  W.,  29. 
Jeffreys,  Solomon  M.,  44. 
Jeffreys,  Thomas  M.,  229. 
Johnson,  Ervin  W.,  704. 
Johnson,  Richard  Z.,  Frontispiece. 
Jones,  T.  J.,  39. 
Kelly,  Milton,  224. 
Kettenbach,  William  F.,  in. 
Kettenbach,  William  F.,  Jr.,  112. 
Kingsbury,  Selden  B.,  294. 
Krall,  John,  657. 
Lemp,  John,  499. 
McConville,  Edward,  79. 
McCurdy,  James  D.,  160. 
Moore,  Christopher  W.,  243. 
Morgan,  John  T.,  87. 
Neal,  Horace  E.,  447. 
Noble,   Robert,   530. 
Nourse,  Robert  L.,  385. 
xi 


Numbers,  Joseph  R.,  458. 
O'Farrell,  John  A.,  716. 
Pinkham,  Joseph,  282 
Puckett,  W.  H.,  514. 
Ramsey,  Frank  C.,  397. 
Rice,  Lucius  C,  259. 
Rich,  Charles  C,  680. 
Rich,  Joseph  C.,  693. 
Rich,  Samuel  J.,  638. 
Richards.  James  H.,  311. 
Rogers,  George  B.,  405. 
Schmadeka,  George,  567. 
Senter,  Almon  S.,  212. 
Silcott,  John  M.,  119. 
Sinclair,  Bartlett,  554. 
Stewart,  George  H.,  176. 
Stockslager,  Charles  O.,  218. 
Sullivan,  Isaac  N.,  182. 
Thomas,  James,  394. 
Too   Lah,    145. 
Waters,  Julius  S.,  153. 
Watt,  William  H.,  262. 
Watts,  James  G.,  274. 
Wernicke,    C.   W.,    168 
Wilson,  James,  147. 


INDEX    OF    INDIVIDUAL    RECORDS. 


A. 

Abernathy,  Henry  H.,  708. 
Acker,  James   S.,  551. 
Adams,  Dave,  168. 
Adams,  Peter,  456. 
Ailshie,  James   F.,  317. 
Ainslie,  George,  82. 
Ake,  Franklin  P.,  256. 
Aldeman,    E.    E.,    197 
Alexander,  Joseph,  489. 
Alexander,  Moses,  594. 
Alford,  A.  H.,  190. 
Alford,  E.  L.,  190. 
Allison,  William  B.,  412. 
Anderson,  Andrew  B.,  88. 
Anderson,  James  H.,  332. 
Anderson,   Robert  J.,  537. 
Anderson,  Louis  N.  B.,  386. 
Andrews,  DeForest  H.,  230. 
Angel,  Texas,  709. 
Armstrong,   Charles  D.,  631. 
Arnold,   Willis,  333. 
Averitt,  Philetus,  682. 

B. 

Baird,  Ezra,  380. 
Baker,  William  A.,  185. 
Ballantine,  James  W.,  413. 
BaDard,  Ernest  L.,  227. 
Barrett,  John  S.,  591. 
Barton,   E.   M.,  277. 
Barton,  Robert  H.,  532. 
Baugh,  William  H.,  153 
Baughman,  Ephraim  W.,  392. 
Baxter,  James,  558. 
Bean,  James  H.,  701. 
Beck,  Peter  S.,  530. 
Beers,  W.  E.,  204. 
Benedict,  Samuel,  329. 
Benedict,  Samuel  G.,  329. 
Bennett,  Benjamin,  492. 
Bennett,  Richard  H.,  292. 
Berg,  Abel  A.,  115. 
Berry,  R.  W.,  296. 
Berryman,  Charles  W.,  662. 
Bibby,   Samuel  E.,  328. 
Bigham,  Samuel  W.,  621. 


Bingman,  John  J.,  599. 
Blatchley,  Henry  D.,  560. 
Bledsoe,  Relf,  35. 
Bomberg,  Charles,  657. 
Borah,  William  E.,  375. 
Bowman,  Isaac  H.,   199. 
Boyakin,  A.  J.,    187. 
Brady,  John  C,  623. 
Brearley,  John,  331. 
Brearley,  Lucinda  J.,  331. 
Briggs,  Burdice  J.,  382. 
Brigham,  John  W.,  597- 
Britt,  Richard  H.,  250. 
Brocke,  Nicholas,  649. 
Brodbeck,  John,  179. 
Brooks,   Clarence  W.,  179. 
Brown,  Charles  F.,  500. 
Brown,  Jonas  W.,  251. 
Brown,  Newell  J.,  185. 
Brown,  William  M.,  390. 
Bruce,  George  W.,  264. 
Bruner,  Presley  M.,  84. 
Brunzell,  Oscar  F.,  260. 
Buchanan,  William  N.,  541. 
Buckle,  Joseph,  630. 
Buckley,  Edmund,  684. 
Budge,   Alfred,  620. 
Budge,  William,  602. 
Buhl,  Nelson,  708. 
Buller,  R.  F..  692. 
Burgoyne,  Edward,  637. 
Burns,  Carter  W.,  522. 
Burns,  W.  F.,  282. 
Burr,  Charles  F.,  370. 
Bush,  James  H.,  473. 

C. 

Cage;  Milton  G.,  177. 
Caldwell,  William  A.,  462. 
Callahan,  John  C.,  638. 
Callaway,  Abner  E.,  703. 
Campbell,  Amasa  B.,  369. 
Campbell,  George  D.,  606. 
Carey,  Michael,  91. 
Carlton,  Lee  R.,  652: 
Carpenter,  Carmel  C.,  519. 
Chamberlain,  DeForest,  399. 
Chapin,  George,  195. 
xii 


Chapman,  John  L.,  416. 
Chase,  David  C.,  208. 
Chester,  William,  641. 
Clark,  Joseph  A.,  696. 
Clark,    Nathan   H.,  570. 
Clark,  Walter,  700. 
Clark,  Wilford  W.,  644. 
Clarke,  Jessie  K.,  391. 
Clyne,   Daniel   H.,   540. 
Coakley,  James  B.,  281. 
Coburn,  Chester  P.,  522. 
Colson,  James,  482. 
Conant,  Jesse  L.,  518. 
Connors,  John  C.,  171. 
Coram,  John,  484. 
Cordelle,  Albert  G.,  571.  - 
Cornwall,  Mason  A.,  477. 
Coughanour,  William  A.,  291. 
Cozier,  Robert  V.,  582. 
Cozzens,  John,   374. 
Crane,  Thomas,  665. 
Crocheron,  Asbury  B.,  688. 
Crooks,  John  M.,  640. 
Crosson,  Frank,  255. 
Crow,  William  H.  B.,  501. 
Crulcher,  James   L,   92. 
Cuddy,  John,  377. 
Cunningham,  J.  W.,  73. 
Curtis,  Edward  J.,  94. 
Curtis,  Henry  W.,  392. 
Czizek,  Jay  A.,  582. 

D. 

Daggett,  George  W.,  686. 
Daly,  Joseph  D.,  113. 
Damas,  Alfred,  400. 
Daniels.  John  W.,  486. 
Davis,  Francis  M.,  538. 
Davis,  R.  H.,  199. 
Davis,  Thomas,  120. 
Deakin,  James,  533. 
Dee,  Sumner  W.,  564. 
Delano,  Nathan  C.,  178. 
Dewey,  William  H.,  74. 
Dietrich,  Frank  S.,  628. 
Dippel,  Henry  C.,  685. 
Donnelly,  Peter,  699. 
Dorman,  Jay  M.,  318. 


INDEX. 


xni 


Dorsey,  Henry,  327. 
Doyle,  Grace  E.,  472. 
Dubois,  Jesse  K.,  565. 
Duffes,  Alexander,  222. 
Dunbar,  William  C.,  Jr.,  719. 
Dunn,  Henry,  603. 
Dye,  Job  F.,  590. 

E. 

Eastman,  Benjamin  M.,  148. 
Eastman  Brothers,   148. 
Eastman,  Hosea  B.,  148. 
Eastman,  L.  C.,  600. 
Edwards,  James,  320. 
Egleston,  Trowbridge  C.,  278. 
Eilert,  Louis  E.,  715. 
Elg,  Louis,  459. 
Eliason,  Mrs.  C.,  366. 
Ellis,  George  D.,  609. 
Ensign,  Francis  E.,  249. 
Eoff,  Alfred,  411. 
Erb,  George  E.,  409. 
Evans,  Evan,  333. 
Evans,  Sanford,  407. 

F. 

Fanning,  Edward,  569. 
Feour,  Dan,  689. 
Flanagan,  James,  562. 
Foresman,  C.  A.,  203. 
Forney,  James  H.,  209. 
Fox,  John  C.,  223. 
Fredrickson,  Peter,  725. 
Freidenrich,  Aaron,  544. 
Friedman,  Simon  J.,  225. 
Frost,  George  A.,  487. 
Fulton,  Robert  F.,  319. 

G. 

Galloway,  Thomas  C,  114. 
Gammell,  Archibald,  408. 
Garber,  Jacob  C.,  543. 
Geiger,  Joseph,  180. 
Gerwick,  James  A.,  449. 
Getchell,  Meserve  M.,  210. 
Glorieux,  Alphonsus  J.,  132. 
Goode,  John  B.,  646. 
Gooding,  Frank  R.,  653. 
Gooding,  Fred  W.,  217. 
Goodwin,  Moses  H.,  89. 
Gorton,  George  W.,  640. 
Gray,  George  E.,  588. 
Gray,  James  P.,  211. 
Green,  John,  476. 
Crete,  Charles  H.,  281. 
Crete,  Frederick,  Sr.,  454. 
Crete,  John,  Sr.,  77. 


Griffin,  Joseph  F.,  701. 
Gritman,  Charles  L.,  398. 
Gross,  Joseph  C.,  564. 
Grostein,  Robert,  403. 
Gumbert,  George,  629. 
Gunn,  James,  157. 
Guyon,  Edwin  F.-,  632. 
Gwinn,  Robert  M.,  706. 

H. 

Hailey,  John,  30. 
Haines,  John  M.,  49. 
Hall,  William  A.,  316. 
Hallenbeck,  John,  503. 
Handy,  George  H.,  289. 
Hanson,  James  C.,  395. 
Hanson,  John,  474. 
Harper,  Joel   B.,  648. 
Harris,  Charles  E.,  204. 
Harris,  Frank,  254. 
Harris,  Simon,  559. 
Hart,  James   E.,  592. 
Harte,  James  H.,  696. 
Hartley,  Henry  K.,  650. 
Hasbrouck,  Solomon,  41. 
Hastings,  Benjamin  F.,  381. 
Hatch,  Lorenzo  L.,  605. 
Hattabaugh,  Isaac  C.,  607. 
Hawley,  James   H.,  205. 
Hays,  Charles  M.,  549. 
Heard,   William   E.,   612. 
Heitfeld,  Henry,  38. 
Heitman,  Charles  L.,  583. 
Helfrich,  Edward  C.,  279. 
Heron,  David,  164. 
Herrington,  William  F.,  598. 
Hill,  George  B.,  322. 
Hinkey,  Antone,  276. 
Hixon,  Columbus  M.,  288. 
Hoff,  Charles,  604. 
Hoff,  Henry  H.,  593. 
Hoge,   Walter,  660. 
Holbrook,  Noyes  B.,  507. 
Holohan,   Peter  J.,  601. 
Hoover,  Clayton  A.,  643. 
Horning,  Louis  F.,  490. 
Howie,  William  C.,  253. 
Hubbard,  Frank  M.,  542. 
Hubbell,  Norman  S.,  402. 
Huff,  Thomas  J.,  722. 
Hulse,  Joseph  B.,  419. 
Hunt,  Warren  P.,  378. 
Huston,  Joseph  W.,  29. 
Hutchinson,  James,  661. 
Hutchinson,  Joseph  H.,  659. 

I. 

Ifft,   George   N.,  492. 


Irwin,  Frederic,  260. 
Isay,  Julius,  261. 

J. 

Jacobs,  Math.,  316. 
Jeffreys,  Solomon  M.,  44. 
Jeffreys,  Thomas  M.,  229. 
Jenne,  Benjamin  A.,  181. 
Jewell,  Edward  S.,  463. 
Johnson,  Ervin  W.,  704. 
Johnson,   Richard    H.,   29. 
Johnson,   Richard  Z.,  28. 
Jolly,   Elmer  E.,  191. 
Jolly,  James  D.,   191. 
Jolly,   Thomas  H.,   191. 
Jones,  Homer  D.,  449. 
Jones,  Jacob,  619. 
Jones,  John  W.,   196. 
Jones,  T.  J.,  39. 
Jones,  Walter  A.,  372. 

K. 

Kane,  James  F.,  572. 
Kelly,    Milton,   224. 
Kelsey,  Charles  R.,  285. 
Kelsey,  Stephen,  634. 
Kenner,   W.    H.,  201. 
Kettenbach,  William  F.,   in. 
Kettenbach,  William  F.,  Jr.,  112. 
Kilde,  William,  663. 
King,   James,   323. 
Kingsbury,  Selden  B.,  294. 
Kinkaid,  John   S.,   545. 
Kirkpatrick,   William,  667. 
Koehler,  Franz  L.,  456. 
Kohler,  Frederick  S.,  210. 
Krall,  John,  657. 
Kurtz,  W.  B.,  562. 

L. 

Lake,   C.   F.,    199. 
Lamb,  John,   191. 
Lamme,  David  S.,  226. 
Lane,  John,  545. 
Langdon,  Samuel  J.,  6n. 
Larson,  John,  723. 
Lauder,  Wylie  A.,  389. 
Lauer,  James  A.,  561. 
Lauer,   William,   118. 
Leland,  Charles  F.,  475. 
Lemp,  John,  409. 
Leonard,  Robert  H.,  85. 
Lewis,  George  J.,  48. 
Little,  George,  43. 
Little,  Tom  K.,  516. 
Lockwood,  Robert  E.,  293. 


XIV 


INDEX. 


Lorton,  Edward  E.,  485. 
Lowe,  Thomas  G.,  668. 

M. 

Madden,  James,  587. 
Manion,  William  H.,  258. 
Martin,  Charles  G.,  714. 
Martin,  Frank  T.,  560. 
Maxey,  Ed.   E.,  276. 
May,  Charles,  289. 
Mayhew,  Alexander  E.,  714- 
McClellan,  John,  417. 
McClure,  William  J.,  658. 
McConville,  Edward,  79. 
McCrea,   Donald,  S.,  460. 
McCullom,  R.  M.,  iQS-      . 
McCurdy,  James  D.,  160. 
McDonald,  James  J.,  695. 
McFarland,  Robert  E.,  315. 
McGregor,  Malcolm,  281. 
McGrew,  Mansfield  C.,  324- 
McKinlay,  Alexander  D.,  666. 
McLain,  S.  D.,  287. 
McLean,  John   F.,  586. 
Means,  Marcus  A.,  608. 
Miller,  David  T.,  220. 
Miller,  Tannes  E.,  595- 
Millick,  John  C.,  531. 
Mills,  George  W.,  610. 
Miner,   Garner,   166. 
Misslin,  Leon,  609. 
Mitcham,  John  L,  398. 
Moffitt,  Edward  H.,  388. 
Molden,   Charles  F.,  502. 
Moore,  Christopher  W.,  243. 
Moore,   Frank   L.,  460. 
Moore,  George  F.,  613. 
Moore,  H.  A.,  197. 
Morgan,  John  T.,  87. 
Morris,  Benjamin   F.,  501. 
Moxley,  John  Q.,  463. 

N. 

Nash,  Isaac  B.,  720. 
Neal,  Horace  E.,  447. 
Neal,   Lemuel   C.,  481. 
Nelson,   Thomas,   193. 
Nichols,  William  N.,  247. 
Nielson,  N.  P.,  450. 
Noble,  Robert,  530. 
Normoyle,  Michael  C.,  452. 
North,  George  H.,  568. 
Nourse,   Robert   L.,   385. 
Numbers,  Joseph  R.,  458. 

O. 

O'Farrell,  John  A.,  716. 
O'Neill,  James,  563. 


Orchard,  Henderson,  384. 
Owen,  John  J.,  454. 
Owings,  Samuel  T.,  190. 

P. 

Parker,  A.   F.,  200. 
Parkinson,  George  C.,  724. 
Parkinson,  Samuel  C.,  722. 
Parkinson,  Samuel  R.,  697. 
Parsons,   George   M.,   152. 
Patterson,  Homer  G.,  75. 
Payne,  George  M.,  196. 
Pearcy,  Edmond,  536. 
Peck,  Henry,  690. 
Peck,  W.   H.,  199- 
Pefley,  Peter  J.,  573- 
Pelot,  Carlyle  L.,  183. 
Pence,  Joseph  C.,  216. 
Pence,  Peter,  162. 
Ferryman,  Collins,  541. 
Pettengill,  George,  274. 
Pfost,  Isaac  W.,  687. 
Pickering,  R.,  491. 
Picotte,  T.  E.,  194. 
Pierce,  Walter  E.,  570. 
Pinkham,  Joseph,  282. 
Pinney,  James  A.,  116. 
'     Plumer,  J.   J.,  256. 
Poe,  James  W.,  396. 
Price,  Lyttleton,  691. 
Prosser,  C.  A.  S.,  461. 
Puckett,  W.   H.,  514. 

R. 

Ramsey,  Frank  C.,  397. 
Randall,  Jesse  W.,  656. 
Redsull,  Thomas  T.,  47. 
Redway,  Auren  G.,  448. 
Redway,  William  H..  246. 
Reeves,  William  T.,  706. 
Regan,  Timothy,  408. 
Reid,  James  W.,  324. 
Reynolds,  James  S.,  187. 
Rice,  John  C.,  41. 
Rice,  Lucius  C.,  259. 
Rich,  Charles  C.,  680. 
Rich,  Joseph  C.,  693. 
Rich,  Samuel  J.,  638. 
Richards,  E.  R.,  197. 
Richards,  James   H.,  311. 
Richardson,   Alonzo   L.,  219. 
Ridenbaugh,  William  H.,  184. 
Riley,  William  T.,  228. 
Roberts,  Frank  M.,  189. 
Robertson,  Alexander  S.,  214. 
Robertson,  George  M.,   505. 
Rogers,  George  B.,  405. 
Rogers,  James  J.,  483. 


Rounds,  Ruel,  488. 
Rowton,  Joshua  G.,  465. 
Ruick,  Norman  M.,  207. 
Russell,  Henry  A.,  480. 
Ryder,   William   L.,  215. 

S. 

Sampson,  George  O.,  276. 
Samuels,   Henry  F.,  655. 
Sander,   V.  W.,  622. 
Scales,  John,  547. 
Scarborough,  Joseph  B.,  585. 
Schmadeka,  George,  567. 
Schmadeka,  William  F.,  479. 
Schnabel,   Charles   A.,   75. 
Scott,  Addison  V.,  417. 
Scott,   C.    M.,   248. 
Sebastian,  William  H.,  549. 
Senter,  Almon  S.,  212.  • 
Severn,   William,  617. 
Shaff,  Charles  W.,  457- 
Sharp,  Neal  J.,  37. 
Shaver,  Henry  C.,  202. 
Shaw,  Columbus  R.,  170. 
Shea,  Tim,  279. 
Shepherd,  Joseph  R.,  371. 
Sherwin,  Edwin  R.,  574. 
Shields,  Michael  J.,  418. 
Shoup,  George  L.,  33. 
Silcott,  John  M.,  119. 
Simpson,  George  E.,  198. 
Simpson,  Lawrence  E.,  198. 
Sinnott,  Augustine  M.,  112. 
Sinsel,  Charles  J.,  552. 
Small,  Albert,  601. 
Smith,  Isaac  F.,  246. 
Smith,  Isaac  R.,  690. 
Smith,    Lindol,   517. 
Smith,  Theron  J.,  539. 
Smith,  Thomas,  720. 
Smith,  William  F.,  165. 
Smith,  Willis  E.,  198. 
Snyder,  Charles,  326. 
Sommercamp,  William  F.,  480. 
Spekker,  Staas,  512. 
Spiegel,  George,  286. 
Stacy,  James  N.,  450. 
Stalker,  Alexander,  614. 
Steele,  Edgar  C.,  614. 
Steely,  Oscar  B.,  506. 
Steunenberg,  Albert  K.,  221. 
Steunenberg,  Frank,  370. 
Stevens,  Frederick  S.,  515. 
Stevens,  James  M.,  387. 
Stevens,  M.   P.,  200. 
Stewart,  George  H.,  176. 
Stockslager,  Charles  O.,  218. 
Stoddard,  Alexander  K.,  265. 
Stone,  Caleb  S.,  618. 


INDEX. 


xv 


Storer,  George  H.,  330. 
Stranahan,  Clinton  T.,  616. 
Straughan,  Joseph  C.,  565. 
Strickler,  Samuel,  45. 
Strode,  John,  415. 
Strong,  James  R.,  464. 
Strong,   Lambert  L.,  484. 
Stufflebeam,  William  H.,  572. 
Stucki,  John  U.,  584. 
Sullivan,  Isaac  N.,  182. 
Surridge,  James,  508. 
Surridge,   Thomas,   508. 

T. 

Tannahill,  Samuel  O.,  521. 
Taylor,  Knox,   155. 
Taylor,  Samuel  F.,  406. 
Taylor,  William,  414. 
Thatcher,  Charles  A.,  473. 
Thatcher.  Henry  M.,  376. 
Thatcher,  John  B.,  646. 
Thews,  Alice  A.,  682. 
Thiessen,  J.  D.  C,  184. 
Thomas,  James,  394. 
Thomas,  Lorenzo  R.,  632. 
Tiner,  Isham  L.,  263. 
Too  Lah,  146. 
Townsend,  William  H.,  161. 


Truscott,  Matthew  H.,  384. 
Turner,  Frederick  H.,  636. 
Turner,  William  J.,  151. 

U. 

Underwood,  John  L.,  635. 
Upton,  Augustus  G.,  156. 
Ustick,  Harlan  P.,  547. 

V. 

Vendome  Hotel,  280. 
Vincent,  Joseph  K.,  314. 
Vincent,  Joseph  S.,  192. 
Vollmer,  John  P.,  312; 

W. 

Wagener,  John,  78. 
Walker,  Joel  M.,  509. 
Wallantine,  Christian,  596. 
Wallis,  James  H.,  203. 
Waters,  Julius  S.,  153. 
Watkins,  William  W.,  534. 
Watson,  Alexander  L,  633. 
Watt,  William   H.,  262. 
Watts,  James  G.,  274. 
Wax,  Henry,  513. 
Weaver,  John  L.,  245. 
Werneth,  Sylvester,  503. 


Wernicke,  C.  W.,  168. 
West,  John  B.,  712. 
West,  Ossian  J.,  654. 
Weston,  Henry  G.,  642. 
Wheeler,  William  E.,  201. 
White,  Calvin  R.,  639. 
White,  John  S.,  158. 
White,  Joseph  F.,  252. 
White,  Keith  W.,  713. 
Whitman,  Perrin  B.,  382. 
Wilcox,  Francis  L.,  711. 
Williams,  Barrett,  257. 
Williams,  Matthew  H.,  683. 
Wilson,  James, -147. 
Wilson,  Jesse,  147. 
Wilson,  William  E.,  655. 
Winn,  Ed.  F.,  511. 
Witt,  James,  645. 
Wohlenberg,  A.  F.,  548. 
Wolters,  Albert,  91. 
Woods,  William  W.,  629. 
Woodward,  William,  588. 
Wright,  C.  E.,  197. 
Wright,  Gilbert  G.,  664. 
Wright,  Marcus  D.,  373. 

Y. 
York,  L.  A.,  295. 


Idaho  Soldiers'  Home. 

City  Hall,  Boise. 


Idaho  University,  Moscow. 
State  Capitol,  Boise. 


HISTORY  OP  IDftttO. 


CHAPTER  I. 


IDAHO,  THE  GEM  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS.— ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME. 


II 


K1 


NOW'ST  thou  that  fair  land?"  As  the 
melody  of  the  ever  popular  score  lilts 
forth  the  foregoing  query,  no  one 
who  hears  the  words  and  has  known  aught  of 
Idaho  can  do  other  than  record  at  least  a  mental 
reply  in  the  affirmative.  Wrought  in  a  giant 
mold;  a  field  upon  which  Titans  might  have  bat- 
tled; stern,  lofty  barricades,  unyielding  as  the 
granite  of  the  Everlasting  will;  fastnesses  from 
whose  cavernous  depths  unchanged  all  time  may 
echo  back  to  time  that  was;  a  crown  whose 
jewels  are  the  perpetual  snows  that  challenge  the 
arising  sun, — this  is  Idaho,  the  "Gem  of  the 
Mountains!"  And  yet  all  that  is  expressed  in  the 
exalted  architecture  wrought  in  ages  of  the  past ; 
all  that  the  still  hidden  treasures  may  reveal ;  all 
that  has  been  suffered  and  been  wrought;  all  in 
the  wealth  of  legendary  lore  gained  from  those 
whose  first  was  the  dominion  here, — all  these 
do  not  and  can  not  stand  exponent  for  the  Idaho 
of  to-day,  nor  for  the  Idaho  of  the  future. 

Can  it  be  in  any  measure  regretted  that  the 
era  of  progress  has  been  ushered  in?  Is  not  that 
true  human  economy  which  uses  all  possible 
means  to  advance  human  welfare  and  human 
happiness?  The  stealthy  red  man  has  heard  and 
obeyed  the  voice  of  manifest  destiny.  The  victory 
has  been  gained  in  sorrow,  untold  suffering  and 
greatest  sacrifice;  but  has  not  the  end  justified 
the  means? 

Progress,  man's  distinctive  mark  alone; 

Not  God's,  and  not  the  beasts'. 
God  is;    they  are. 

Man  partly  is,  and  partly  hopes  to  be. 

— Robert  Browning. 


The  mountains  have  ever  been  the  bulwarks  of 
freedom.  Valor  is  born  there;  virtue  is  cher- 
ished there,  and  these  are  the  seeds  of  song  and 
story.  No  land  ever  yet  had  a  literature  to  en- 
dure that  had  not  these  for  its  theme, — these  off- 
springs of  the  pure,  sweet  atmosphere  and  sub- 
lime splendor  of  inspiring  mountains;  and  the 
more  glorious  the  mountains,  the  more  glorious 
the  song  and  story.  What  then  may  we  not 
prophesy  for  Idaho  when  her  torn  and  devastated 
placer  fields  all  are  terraced  vineyards,  as  in 
Savoy,  and  the  peace  and  rest  of  the  old  pastoral 
days  of  Greece  shall  possess  her? 

Meanwhile  it  remains  for  us  to  dwell  rather 
upon  the  vital  present;  to  note  the  assurances 
offered  in  the  fair  new  state  of  Idaho  as  this  won- 
derful nineteenth  century  draws  rapidly  to  its 
close.  Here  nature  has  been  lavish  to  prodigality; 
here  mountain  and  valley  yield  forth  their  treas- 
ures; and  here  are  the  homes  of  a  progressive, 
enlightened  and  a  loyal  people  who  honor  and 
receive  honor  from  the  whole  noble  sisterhood  of 
states.  The  Gem  of  the  Mountains  may  well 
challenge  admiration,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the 
pages  of  this  work  may  bear  their  part  in  perpet- 
uating the  dramatic  story  of  the  brave  men  and 
virtuous  women  who  gathered  about  the  cradle 
of  the  infant  Idaho,  and  also  tell  the  latter-day 
story  of  peace  and  prosperity.  Of  the  first  men- 
tioned duty  and  its  difficulties,  we  can  not,  per- 
haps, do  better  than  to  quote  from  one  to  whom 
this  mountain-land  has  ever  been  most  dear. 
When  he  essayed  a  similar  work,  he  said:  "The 
task  is  a  serious  one, — serious  in- its  responsibili- 
ties, serious  in  the  fact  that  we  look  back  over  a 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


billowy  sea  of  graves.  For  so  many  brave  men 
died!  Some  died  even  on  the  way  here,  before 
they  could  yet  look  down  from  the  mountains 
into  the  thousand  vales  that  promised  to  them 
and  their  children  such  happy  homes.  Some  fell 
from  exposure  and  over-toil,  some  from  battle 
with  the  savages,  some  died  even  as  they  sat  for 
the  first  time  by  the  new-laid  hearthstone,  wait- 
ing for  the  wife  and  babe  to  come  with  the  first 
wild  flowers  of  spring.  There  is  nothing  in  all 
the  history  of  civilization  more  pathetic,  more 
dramatic,  than  this  untold  story  of  the  veteran 
of  these  mountain  wilds."  But  as  the  endurance 
and  exile  of  the  Puritans  only  made  them  the 
more  liberty-loving  and  liberal-minded  in  the 
end ;  as  expatriation  only  made  the  valorous  and 
courtly  cavalier  the  more  courtly  and  valorous: 
and  as  the  wild  ventures  of  the  romantic  and 
poetic  searchers  for  the  golden  fleece  only  made 
the  Argonaut  the  more  a  romancer  and  a  poet, 
— so  may  we  not  prophesy  that  our  larger  experi- 
ence in  this  larger,  freer  land  of  the  mountains 
will,  as  time  surges  forward,  show  larger  results 
in  all  that  ennobles  man  and  makes  life  glorious? 
What  the  present  conditions  show  forth  is  enough 
to  justify  the  most  magnificent  of  futures  for  the 
Gem  of  the  Mountains,  to  whose  opulent  attrac- 
tiveness this  work  pays  tribute. 

Up  to  1863  the  history  of  what  now  constitutes 
the  great  state  of  Idaho  was  the  common  history 
of  the  Pacific  northwest,  then  known  as  Oregon. 
All  the  facts  and  incidents  that  went  to  make  up 
the  story  of  the  one  entered  into  that  of  the  other. 
In  some  respects,  indeed,  they  were  more  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  territory  now  em- 
braced in  Idaho  than  with  that  now  included  in 
Oregon.  It  has  been  needful,  therefore,  to  the 
unity  and  completeness  of  the  history  to  give  a 
somewhat  extended  account  of  the  events  which 
pertained  to  the  history  of  the  original  Oregon 
country,  leading  up  to  the  divisions  which  ulti- 
mately gave  statehood  to  Idaho,  touching  upon 
the  early  discoveries  and  the  course  of  interna- 
tional diplomacy  involved  in  the  boundary  ques- 
tion. From  first  to  last,  through  all  the  era  of 
discovery  and  all  the  finesse  of  diplomacy,  as  well 
as  through  the  adventures  of  immigration  and 
the  tragedies  of  Indian  warfare,  every  change  was 
but  a  part  of  the  germ  and  seed  whose  consum- 
mate fruit  will  be  the  ultimate  Idaho.  By  the 


necessity  of  the  case  the  major  portion  of  the  his- 
tory of  Idaho  is  of  this  character.  Long,  indeed, 
were  the  years  of  her  struggle  with  the  wild  ele- 
ments of  barbaric  life,  with  the  ruggedness  of  a 
native  condition  almost  without  parallel  in  the 
rugged  west;  but  magnificent  has  been  the  out- 
come of  that  struggle. 

Many  volumes,  treating  in  special  detail  of  dif- 
ferent departments  of  her  thrilling  and  varied 
story,  would  be  required  to  cover  all  the  ground, 
or  to  bring  into  review  all  the  names  and  deeds 
that  are  entitled  to  remembrance,  and  even  to 
fame,  as  builders  of  this  now  great  common- 
wealth. Beyond  the  compass  of  the  design  of 
this  book  this  could  not  be  here  attempted. 
Choice  could  be  made  of  only  what  seemed  es- 
sential to  the  continuity  of  narrative  and  the 
interpretation  and  illustration  of  the  times  and 
deeds  of  those  who  builded  so  bravely  and  so 
well.  Whatever  of  continuous  history  may  be 
found  lacking  in  the  narrative  will  be  largely  sup- 
plied in  the  rich  and  ample  biographical  divisions 
of  the  work.  If  "history  is  biography  teaching  by 
example,"  surely  there  is  abundant  history  in  the 
lives  recorded  in  our  biographical  department. 
Those  whose  names  are  here  enrolled,  and  the 
unnamed  thousands  like  them,  were  the  true 
builders  of  the  western  world,  who,  "with  high 
face  held  to  her  ultimate  star,"  lived  and  wrought 
and  died  for  her  greatness.  We  are  sure  that 
those  who  read  their  story  will  feel  that  these 
people  fought  "braver  battles  than  ever  were 
fought  from  Shiloh  back  to  the  battles  of 
Greece." 

Whichever  way  you  turn,  whatever  you  may 
say  of  valor  or  endurance,  whatever  you  may  see 
in  the  magnificence  of  nature,  be  it  river  or 
mountain,  lake  of  fire  or  high-heaved  chain  of 
frost,  Idaho  stands  matchless,  peerless  and  alone 
as  the  "Gem  of  the  Mountains."  Garbed  in  silver 
and  in  gold,  a  diadem  of  precious  stones,  a  man- 
tle of  white  or  green  or  gold  about  her  stately 
figure  as  the  seasons  come  and  go,  here  she  stands 
above  the  world.  The  air  is  very  clear  on  every 
side,  that  you  may  see  her  well.  To  her  doors 
she  welcomes  all  who  are  worthy,  and  her  bene- 
fices are  showered  forth  upon  all  who  seek  those 
worthy  ends  which  stand  for  the  true  values  in 
the  scheme  of  life. 

There  is  no  portion  of  our  national  story  more 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


thrilling  in  adventure,  more  interesting  in  its 
record  of  heroic  endurance  and  indomitable  effort 
than  that  which  records  the  advance  of  civil  life 
from  the  slopes  of  the  Alleghanies  to  the  coast 
line  of  the  Pacific.  Only  the  self-reliance,  the 
high  privilege  to  conceive  and  execute  which  is 
inspired  in  the  citizen  by  the  spirit  of  our  insti- 
tutions, could  have  accomplished  such  magnifi- 
cent results  as  now  appear  in  the  proud  domain 
of  the  state  of  Idaho.  Less  than  fifty  years  ago 
this  was  a  veritable  wilderness,  unsurveyed  and 
practically  unexplored.  The  savage  tribes,  with 
characteristic  bravery,  disputed  all  advances  of 
peaceful  or  industrial  life.  Within  almost  a  gen- 
eration this  broad  area  has  become  an  empire  of 
active  industry  and  great  commercial  prosperity. 
There  is  no  record  that  portrays  in  greater  de- 
gree such  a  courage  of  manhood,  such  faith  in 
power  to  accomplish,  such  a  wealth  of  patriotism, 
such  a  development  of  the  national  civilization 
and  social  advancement.  Such  have  been  the 
conquests  of  peace  by  the  inspiration  of  our  in- 
stitutions and  our  American  manhood. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME. 

The  word  "Idaho"  is  said  to  be  an  Indian  term 
signifying  the  dazzling  white  snow  crest  upon 
the  principal  mountain  range  in  this  region, — 
translated  most  appropriately  into  English,  "the 
gem  of  the  mountains."  Indian  languages,  on 
account  of  their  poverty,  are  highly  figurative. 

There  has  been  much  speculation  and  discus- 
sion not  only  in  regard  to  the  exact  meaning  of 
the  term  Idaho  but  also  in  regard  to  the  way  in 
which  it  came  to  be  applied  to  the  great  state 
which  now  bears  the  name.  It  is,  therefore,  but 
consistent  that  in  this  compilation  due  consider- 
ation be  given  to  various  accounts.  The  signifi- 
cance of  the  word  "Idaho"  was  possibly  different 
in  different  localities  of  the  aboriginal  northwest. 
In  Tourgee's  weekly,  The  Continent,  appears  the 
following  interesting  account  by  Joaquin  Miller, 
the  "Poet  of  the  Sierras." 

The  literal  meaning  is,  "sunrise  mountains."  Indian 
children  among  all  tribes  west  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, so  far  as  I  can  learn,  use  the  word  to  signify 
the  place  where  the  sun  comes  from.  Where  these 
tawny  people  live  out  of  doors,  go  to  bed  at  dusk 
and  rise  with  the  first  break  of  day,  sunrise  is  much 


to  them.  The  place  where  the  sun  comes  from  is  a 
place  of  marvel  to  the  children;  and  indeed  it  is  a  sort 
of  dial-plate  to  every  village  or  rancheria,  and  of  con- 
sequence to  all.  The  Shoshonee  Indians,  the  true 
Bedouins  of  the  American  desert,  hold  the  moun- 
tains where  the  first  burst  of  dawn  is  discovered  in 
peculiar  reverence.  This  roving  and  treacherous  tribe 
of  savages,  stretching  from  the  Rocky  mountains  al- 
most to  the  Sierras,  having  no  real  habitation  or  any 
regard  for  the  habitation  of  others,  but  often  invading 
and  overlapping  the  lands  of  fellow  savages,  had  some 
gentle  sentiments  about  sunrise.  I-dah-ho,  with  them, 
was  a  sacred  place,  and  they  clothed  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, where  it  rose  to  them,  with  a  mystic  or  rather 
a  mythological  sanctity. 

The  Shasta  Indians,  with  whom  I  spent  the  best  years 
of  my  youth,  and  whose  language  and  traditions  I  know 
entirely  as  well  as  those  of  their  neighbors  to  the 
north  of  them,  the  Modocs,  always,  whether  in  camp 
or  in  winter  quarters,  had  an  I-dah-ho,  or  place  for 
the  sun  to  rise.  This  was  a  sort  of  Mecca  in  the 
skies,  to  which  every  Indian  lifted  his  face  involun- 
tarily on  rising  from  his  rest.  I  am  not  prepared  to 
say  that  the  act  had  any  special  religion  in  it.  I  only 
assert  that  it  was  always  done  silently,  and  almost,  if 
not  entirely,  reverently.  Yet  it  must  be  remembered 
that  this  was  a  very  practical  affair  nearly  always  and 
with  all  Indians.  The  war-path,  the  hunt,  the  journey — 
all  these  pursuits  entered  almost  daily  into  the  In- 
dian's life,  and  of  course  the  first  thing  to  be  thought 
of  in  the  morning  was  I-dah-ho.  Was  the  day  to  open 
propitiously?  Was  it  to  be  fair  or  stormy  weather 
for  the  work  in  hand? 

But  I  despair  of  impressing  the  importance  of  sun- 
rise on  those  who  rarely  witness  it,  although  to  the 
Indian  it  is  everything.  And  that  is  why  every  tribe 
in  the  mountains,  wherever  it  was  and  whatever  its 
object  in  hand,  had  a  "Mount  I-dah-ho."  This  word, 
notwithstanding  its  beauty  and  pictorial  significance, 
found  no  place  in  our  books  till  some  twenty-one  years 
ago  (during  the  early  '6os),  and  then  only  in  an  ab- 
breviated and  unmeaning  form.  Indeed,  all  Indian 
dialects,  except  the  Chinook,  a  conglomerate  published 
by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  for  their  own  pur- 
poses and  adopted  by  the  missionaries,  seem  to  have 
always  been  entirely  ignored  and  unknown  throughout 
the  north  Pacific  territory.  This  Chinook  answered 
all  purposes.  It  was  a  sort  of  universal  jargon,  was 
the  only  dialect  in  which  the  Bible  was  printed,  or  that 
had  a  dictionary,  and  no  one  seemed  to  care  to  dig 
beyond  it.  And  so  it  was  that  this  worthless  and  un- 
meaning Chinook  jargon  overlaid  and  buried  our  beau- 
tiful names  and  traditions.  They  were  left  to  perish 
with  the  perishing  people,  so  that  now,  instead  of  soft 
and  alliterative  names,  with  pretty  meanings  and  tra- 
ditions, we  have  for  the  most  sublime  mountains  to 
be  seen  on  earth,  those  of  the  Oregon  sierras,  mis- 
called the  Cascade  mountains,  such  outlandish  and 
senseless  and  inappropriate  appellations  as  Mount 
Hood,  Mount  Jefferson,  Mount  Washington  and 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


Mount  Rainier.  Changing  the  name  of  the  Oregon 
river,  however,  to  that  of  the  Columbia,  is  an  im- 
pertinence that  can  plead  no  excuse  but  the  bad  taste 
of  those  perpetrating  the  folly.  The  mighty  Shoshonee 
river,  with  its  thousand  miles  of  sand  and  lava  beds,  is 
being  changed  by  these  same  map-makers  to  that  of 
Lewis  and  Clarke  river. 

When  we  consider  the  lawless  character  of  the  rov- 
ing Bedouins  who  once  peopled  this  region,  how 
snake-like  and  treacherous  they  were  as  they  stole  over 
the  grass  and  left  no  sign,  surely  we  would  allow  this 
sinuous,  impetuous  and  savage  river  to  bear  the  name 
which  it  would  almost  seem  nature  gave  it,  for  Sho- 
shonee is  the  Indian  name  for  serpent.  How  appro- 
priate for  this  river  and  its  once  dreaded  people!  The 
dominion  of  this  tribe  departed  with  the  discovery  of 
gold  on  a  tributary  of  the  Shoshonee  river  in  1860. 
The  thousands  who  poured  over  this  vast  country  on 
their  way  to  the  new  gold  fields  of  the  north  swept 
them  away  almost  entirely.  Up  to  this  time  they  had 
only  the  almost  helpless  and  wholly  exhausted  immi- 
grant to  encounter,  with  now  and  then  a  brush  with 
soldiers  sent  out  to  avenge  some  massacre.  But  this 
tribe  perished,  as  I  have  said,  before  the  Californians, 
and  to-day  it  is  not,  except  as  one  of  the  broken  and 
dispirited  remnants  familiar  to  the  wretched  reservations 
scattered  over  the  vast  far  west. 

Captain  Pierce,  the  discoverer  of  gold  in  the  north, 
located  Pierce  City  on  the  site  of  his  discovery,  in 
the  dense  wood  away  up  in  the  wild  spurs  of  the  Bitter 
Root  mountains,  about  fifty  miles  from  the  Shoshonee 
river.  Then  "Oro  Fino  City"  sprang  up;  then  Elk 
City  was  laid  out;  but  the  "cities"  did  not  flourish; 
indeed,  all  these  "cities"  were  laid  out  only  to  be 
buried!  The  gold  was  scarce  and  the  mighty  flood  of 
miners  that  had  overrun  everything  to  reach  the  new 
mines  began  to  set  back  in  a  refluent  tide. 

On  the  site  of  the  earthworks  thrown  up  by  Lewis 
and  Clarke,  who  wintered  on  the  banks  of  the  Sho- 
shonee river  in  1804-5,  the  adventurous  miners  had 
founded  a  fourth  and  more  imposing  city,  as  they 
passed  on  their  way  to  the  mines.  This  they  called 
Lewiston.  It  was  at  the  head  of  steamboat  navigation 
on  the  Shoshonee,  and  promised  well.  I  remember 
it  as  an  array  of  miles  and  miles  of  tents  in  the  spring. 
In  the  fall,  as  the  tide  went  out,  there  were  left  only  a 
few  strips  of  tattered  canvas  flapping  in  the  wind. 
Here  and  there  stood  a  few  "shake  shanties,"  against 
which  little  pebbles  rattled  in  a  perpetual  fusillade  as 
they  were  driven  by  the  winds  that  howled  down  the 
swift  and  barren  Shoshonee. 

"It  oughter  be  a  gold-bearin'  country,"  said  a  ragged 
miner,  as  he  stood  with  hands  in  pockets  shivering  on 
the  banks  of  the  desolate  river,  looking  wistfully  away 
toward  California.  "It  oughter  be  a  gold-bearin' 
country,  'cause  it's  fit  fur  nuthin'  else;  wouldn't  even 
grow  grasshoppers." 

I  had  left  California  before  this  rush,  settled  down, 
and  been  admitted  to  the  bar  by  ex-Attorney  General 
George  H.  Williams,  then  judge,  of  Oregon,  and  had 


now  come,  with  one  law-book  and  two  six-shooters,  to 
offer  my  services  in  the  capacity  of  advocate  to  the 
miners.  Law  not  being  in  demand.  I  threw  away  my 
book,  bought  a  horse  and  rode  express.  But  even  this 
had  to  be  abandoned  and  I,  too,  was  being  borne  out 
with  the  receding  tide.  Suddenly  it  began  to  be  ru- 
mored that  farther  up  the  Shoshonee,  and  beyond  a 
great  black  and  white  mountain,  a  party  of  miners  who 
had  attempted  to  cross  this  ugly  range  and  got  lost 
had  gold  in  deposits  that  even  exceeded  the  palmy 
days  of  '49. 

Colonel  Craig,  an  old  pioneer,  who  had  married  an 
Indian  woman  and  raised  a  family  here,  proposed  to 
set  out  for  the  new  mine.  The  old  man  had  long 
since,  through  his  Indians,  heard  of  gold  in  this  black 
mountain,  and  he  was  ready  to  believe  this  rumor  in  all 
its  extravagance.  He  was  rich  in  horses,  a  good  man, 
a  great-brained  man,  in  fact,  who  always  had  his  pock- 
ets full  of  papers,  reminding  one  of  Kit  Carson  in  this 
respect;  and  indeed  it  was  his  constant  thirst  for  news 
that  drew  him  toward  the  "expressman"  and  made  him 
his  friend. 

I  gladly  accepted  his  offer  of  a  fresh  horse  and  the 
privilege  of  making  one  of  his  party.  For  reasons  suf- 
ficient to  the  old  mountaineer  we  set  out  at  night  and 
climbed  and  crossed  Craig's  mountain,  sparsely  set  with 
pines  and  covered  with  rich,  brown  grass,  by  moon- 
light. As  we  approached  the  edge  of  Camas  prairie, 
then  a  land  almost  unknown,  but  now  made  famous  by 
the  battlefields  of  Chief  Joseph,  we  could  see  through 
the  open  pines  a  faint,  far  light  on  the  great  black  and 
white  mountain  beyond  the  valley.  "I-dah-ho,"  shouted 
our  Indian  guide  in  the  lead,  as  he  looked  back  and 
pointed  to  the  break  of  dawn  on  the  mountain  before  us. 
"That  shall  be  the  name  of  the  new  mines,"  said  Colonel 
Craig  quietly,  as  he  rode  by  his  side. 

The  exclamation,  its  significance,  the  occasion  and 
all  conspired  to  excite  deep  pleasure,  for  I  had  al- 
ready written  something  on  this  name  and  its  poetical 
import,  and  made  a  sort  of  glossary  embracing  eleven 
dialects.  Looking  over  this  little  glossary  now,  I  note 
that  the  root  of  the  exclamation  is  dah!  The  Shasta 
word  is  pou-dah-ho.  The  Klamath  is  num-dah-ho. 
The  Modoc  is  lo-dah,  and  so  on.  Strangely  like 
"Look  there!"  or  "Lo,  light!"  is  this  exclamation,  and 
with  precisely  that  meaning. 

I  do  not  know  whether  this  Indian  guide  was  Nez 
Perce,  Shoshonee,  Cayuse  or  from  one  of  the  many 
other  tribes  that  had  met  and  melted  into  this  half- 
civilized  people  first  named.  Neither  can  I  say  cer- 
tainly at  this  remote  date  whether  he  applied  the  word 
i-dah-ho  to  the  mountain  as  a  permanent  and  estab- 
lished name,  or  used  the  word  to  point  the  approach 
of  dawn;  but  I  do  know  that  this  mountain,  that  had 
become  famous  in  .a  night  and  was  now  the  objective 
point  of  ten  thousand  pilgrims,  became  at  once  known 
to  the  world  as  I-dah-ho. 

Passing  by  the  Indians'  cornfields  and  herds  of  cat- 
tle and  horses,  we  soon  crossed  the  Camas  valley. 
Here,  hugging  the  ragged  base  of  the  mountain,  we 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


struck  the  stormy  and  craggy  Salmon  river,  a  tributary 
of  the  Shoshonee,  and  found  ourselves  in  the  heart  of 
the  civilized  and  prosperous  Nez  Perces'  habitations. 
Ten  miles  of  this  tortuous  and  ragged  stream  and  our 
guide  led  up  the  steep  and  stupendous  mountain  to- 
ward which  all  the  prospectors  were  now  journeying. 
At  first  it  was  open  pines  and  grass,  then  stunted  fir 
and  tamarack,  then  broken  lava  and  manzanita,  then 
the  summit  and  snow.  A  slight  descent  into  a  broad, 
flat  basin,  dark  with  a  dense  growth  of  spruce,  where 
here  and  there  was  a  beautiful  little  meadow  of  tall 
marsh  grass,  and  we  were  in  the  mines — the  first  really 
rich  gold  mines  that  had  as  yet  ever  been  found  outside 
of  California. 

"Surely  there  is  a  vein  for  the  silver,  and  a  place  for 
the  gold  where  they  fine  it,"  says  the  Bible,  mean- 
ing that  the  only  certain  place  to  look  for  gold  is 
where  they  refine  it.  Certainly  the  text  never  had  a 
more  apt  illustration  than  here;  for  of  all  places  for  gold 
in  the  wide  world  this  seemed  the  most  unlikely.  The 
old  California  miners  who  came  pouring  in  after  us, 
almost  before  we  had  pitched  tent,  were  disgusted. 
"Nobody  but  a  parcel  of  fools  would  ever  have  found 
gold  here,"  said  one,  with  a  sneer  at  the  long-haired 
Oregonians  who  had  got  lost  and  found  the  new 
mines.  But  the  wheat-like  grains  of  gold  were  there, 
and  in  such  heaps  as  had  never  been  found  in  Cali- 
fornia; and  so  accessible,  only  a  few  inches  under  the 
turf  or  peat  in  the  little  meadows  and  little  blind 
gulches  here  and  there  in  this  great  black,  bleak  and 
wintry  basin  that  had  never  yet  been  peopled  since  it 
came  fresh  from  the  Creator's  hand. 

In  less  than  a  week  the  black  basin  was  white  with 
tents.  Our  party  located  a  "city"  where  we  first 
pitched  our  tent,  with  the  express-office  for  a  nucleus. 
Look  at  your  map,  tracing  up  from  Lewiston  over 
Craig's  mountain  and  Camas  prairie,  and  you  will  find 
"Millersburg,"  looking  as  big  on  the  map  as  any  town 
in  the  west.  Yet  it  did  not  live  long.  A  man  soon 
came  with  a  family  of  daughters.  Dr.  Furber,  an  author 
of  some  note  at  the  time,  and  settled  half  a  mile  farther 
on.  My  "city"  went  with  and  clustered  about  the 
ladies.  The  Doctor  named  the  rival  "city"  after  his 
eldest  daughter,  Florence.  It  flourished  in  the  falling 
snow  like  a  bay,  and  was  at  one  time  the  capital  of 
the  territory.  There  is  little  left  of  it  now,  however, 
but  the  populous  graveyard. 

And,  alas  for  the  soft  Indian  name!  The  bluff  miner, 
with  his  swift  speech  and  love  of  brevity,  soon  cut  the 
name  of  the  new  mines  down  to  "Idao!"  And  so, 
when  the  new  gold-fields  widened  out  during  a  winter 
of  unexampled  endurance  into  "Warren's  Diggins," 
"Boise  City,"  "Bannack  City,"  and  so  on,  and  the  new 
territory  took  upon  itself  a  name  and  had  a  place  on 
the  map  of  the  republic,  that  name  was  plain,  simple 
Idaho.  Should  any  one  concerned  in  the  preservation 
of  our  native  and  beautiful  names  care  to  know  more 
particularly  the  facts  here  sketched,  let  him  address 
Colonel  Craig  (since  deceased),  of  Craig's  mountain, 
a  well  read  and  the  best  informed  man  on  the  sub- 


ject to  be  found  in  the  far  west;   and  he  is  the  man  who 
found  and  named  I-dah-ho. 


In  another  publication,  Miller  says:  "The  name 
of  the  great  northwest  gold  fields,  comprising 
Montana  and  Idaho,  was  originally  spelled  I- 
dah-ho,  with  the  accent  thrown  heavily  on  the 
second  syllable.  The  word  is  perhaps  of  Sho- 
shone  derivation,  but  it  is  found  in  similar  form, 
and  with  the  same  significance,  among  all  the 
Indians  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  The  Nez 
Perce  Indians,  in  whose  country  the  great  white 
and  black  mountain  lies  which  first  induced  the 
white  man  to  use  this  name,  are  responsible  for 
its  application  to  the  region  of  the  far  northwest." 
The  Shoshonees  had  a  legend  of  a  bright  object 
falling  from  the  skies  and  resting  upon  a  moun- 
tain, forever  shining  but  forever  inaccessible. 
This  they  called  e-dah-ho,  referring  undoubtedly 
to  the  glistening  white  crest  of  snow  upon  the 
summits  of  the  mountains. 

A  writer  in  the  New  West,  apparently  well 
informed,  declares  that  Idaho  is  not  a  Nez  Perce 
word,  adding:  ''The  mountains  that  Joaquin  Mil- 
ler speaks  of  may  be  named  with  a  somewhat 
similar  appellation,  but  most  likely  the  whole 
story  grows  out  of  the  fertile  imagination  of  the 
poet.  Idaho  Springs,  in  Colorado,  were  known 
long  before  Idaho  territory  was  organized.  The 
various  territories  at  their  organization  should 
have  been  given  appropriate  local  names.  Colo- 
rado was  named  after  the  river  of  that  name, 
though  it  is  not  within  its  boundaries.  It  should 
have  been  called  Idaho.  It  was  the  name  first 
placed  in  the  bill  organizing  it,  but  was  after- 
ward changed." 

Ex-Senator  Nesmith  of  Oregon  gives  still 
another  account:  "The  bill  first  passed  the  house 
of  representatives  designating  the  present  terri- 
tory of  Idaho  as  'Montana.'  When  it  came  up 
for  consideration  in  the  senate,  on  the  3d  of 
March,  1863,  Senator  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts, 
moved  to  strike  out  the  word  'Montana'  and  in- 
sert 'Idaho.'  Mr.  Harding  of  Oregon,  said:  'I 
think  the  name  ''Idaho"  is  preferable  to  "Mon- 
tana." '  Idaho  in  English  signifies  the  'Gem  of 
the  Mountains.'  I  heard  others  suggest  that  it 
meant  in  the  Indian  tongue  'Sinning  Mountains,' 
all  of  which  are  synonymous.  I  do  not  know  from 
which  of  the  Indian  tongues  the  two  words  'Ida- 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


ho'  come.  I  think,  however,  if  you  will  pursue 
the  inquiry  among  those  familiar  with  the  Nez 
Perce,  Shoshone  and  Flathead  tribes,  that  you 
will  find  the  origin  of  the  two  words  as  I  have 
given  it  above." 

As  to  the  application  of  the  name  Idaho  to  the 
territory,  from  which  Montana  was  subsequently 
set  off,  the  following  account,  which  originally 
appeared  in  the  Owyhee  Avalanche,  seems  to  be 
altogether  reasonable  in  its  claims,  and  with  the 
incorporation  of  the  same  we  will  proceed  to  the 
consideration  of  other  matters: 

"A  great  deal  of  discussion  and  conjecture  has 
been  published  By  the  press  of  Idaho  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  our  young  state  was  christened. 
Hon.  C.  M.  Hays  this  week  handed  us  a  per- 
sonal letter,  which  he  received  some  time  since 
from  Hon.  George  B.  Walker,  of  Seattle,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  house  of  representatives  of  Washing- 
ton, who  was  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  the 
territory  now  known  as  Idaho.  We  believe  that 
the  following  is  authentic  and  will  put  to  rest  all 
the  theories  advanced  in  the  past,  which  were  at 
most  but  the  product  of  a  vivid  imagination: 

"In  the  fall  of  1860  the  gold  placer-mines  were  dis- 
covered in  what  is  now  known  as  Shoshone  county, 
Idaho — then  a  portion  of  Washington.  A  man  by  the 
name  of  Pierce  was  with  the  first  party,  and,  I  think, 
the  captain  of  it.  Pierce  City  was  named  after  him. 
J.  Marion  Moore,  D.  H.  Fergus.  Sargent  Smith,  David 
H.  Alderson  and  many  others,  whose  names  I  have 
forgotten,  were  among  the  first  in  the  new  El  Dorado. 
I  was  among  the  number  and  built  comfortable  quarters 
in  Pierce  City. 


"In  1861  three  candidates  were  nominated  for  con- 
gress_W.  H.  Wallace  by  the  Republicans,  Salucius 
Garfielde  by  the  Douglas  Democrats,  and  Judge  Ed- 
ward Lander  (brother  of  the  General)  by  the  Breckiri- 
ridge  wing  of  the  party.  They  traveled  over  the  (then 
known)  eastern  part  of  the  territory  in  company  with 
your  father,  Hon.  Gilmore  Hays,  making  speeches 
whenever  they  could  get  a  crowd  together.  When  they 
arrived  in  Pierce  City  I  invited  them  to  camp  at  my 
place  (everyone  carried  his  own  blankets  in  those 
days),  I  being  personally  acquainted  with  Wallace  and 
Garfielde.  They  accepted  the  invitation.  While  there 
I  proposed  a  division  of  the  territory,  as  I  thought  we 
were  a  long  distance  from  Olympia.  They  agreed  that 
whoever  was  elected  would  favor  a  division.  Then  the 
question  of  name  came  up,  and  I  suggested  the  name 
of  Idaho.  I  had  seen  the  name  on  a  steamer  built  by 
Colonel  J.  S.  Rockwell  to  run  between  the  Cascades 
and  the  Dalles,  in  connection  with  the  steamer  Moun- 
tain Buck,  which  ran  from  Portland  to  the  Cascades 
before  the  organization  of  the  Oregon  Steam  Naviga- 
tion Company.  The  old  Idaho  is  now  on  Puget  Sound 
and  owned  by  Captain  Brownfield,  and  still  makes  a 
good  appearance.  All  the  above  named  gentlemen 
said  that  was  the  name. 

"W.  H.  Wallace  was  elected.  I  voted  for  Garfielde, 
and  on  the  3d  of  March,  1863,  the  new  territory  was 
created  and  named  Idaho.  Lincoln  appointed  Wallace 
the  first  governor  and  he  was  elected  the  first  delegate 
to  congress. 

"So  I  believe  if  there  is  any  credit  due  for  naming 
the  state  I  am  entitled  to  it.  A  controversy  came  up 
about  it.  I  think,  in  1875,  and  I  caused  an  article  to  be 
put  in  the  Owyhee  Avalanche,  which  was  corroborated 
by  your  father.  I  hear  that  Judge  Lander  is  still  liv- 
ing, and  if  I  knew  where  a  letter  would  reach  him  I 
would  write,  as  I  think  he  might  remember  this  affair 
on  the  frontier  thirty-two  years  ago. 

"GEORGE  B.  WALKER. 
"West  Seattle,  King  county,  Washington." 


CHAPTER  II. 


GEOLOGICAL  AGENCIES. 


IN  GENERAL  it  may  be  said  that  the  moun- 
tain ranges  of  Idaho  are  volcanic  upheavals, 
— the  mighty  bending  upward  of  the  crust 
of  the. earth's  surface  when  its  inborn  fires  were 
lashed  to  unwonted  fury  in  some  stormy  age  of 
old  eternity.  The  valleys  were  doubtless  formed 
by  this  upheaval  of  its  enclosing  ranges,  leaving 
the  floor  of  the  surface  here  comparatively  undis- 
turbed. This  really  rests  on  a  foundation  of 
aqueous  rock  of  unmeasured  thickness,  on  which 
the  alluvial  matter  that  forms  its  soils  has  been 
deposited.  With  this  there  are,  in  many  places, 
deep  deposits  of  water-worn  pebbles  and  strati- 
fied sand,  which  were  made  at  an  era  much  more 
modern  than  that  of  the  underlying  sandstone. 
It  is  useless  to  endeavor  to  identify  these  changes 
chronologically,  as  creation  in  its  being  and  in  its 
mutations  writes  its  historic  days  in  millennials 
of  age,  and  thus  puts  our  conception  of  time, 
drawn  as  it  is  from  human  experience  and  human 
history,  entirely  at  fault. 

Of  course,  in  indicating  the  forces  that  formed 
the  now  verdant  valleys,  glacial  action  must  not 
be  forgotten.  Far  extending  moraines  and  wide 
glaciated  -surfaces  tell  the  story  of  the  far-away 
eras  when  these  mighty  ice-plows  furrowed  and 
planed  down  the  broken  face  of  the  earth's  crust, 
and  smoothed  it  into  its  now  beauteous  vales. 

Enough  has  already  been  said  to  indicate  to 
the  reader  that  the  mountains  of  Idaho  are  of 
volcanic  formation.  The  great  snow  peaks  are 
all  volcanoes.  They  are  called  extinct,  though 
some  of  them  still  give  distinct  evidence  of  an 
internal  unrest  born  of  pent-up  fires.  Buffalo 
Hump  has  been  in  active  eruption  within  the 
memory  of  the  present  generation.  The  great 
summit  intervals  Between  these  peaks  are  gener- 
ally granitic  rock,  covered  with  a  deep  vegetable 
soil,  intermixed  with  decayed  granite.  In  fact, 
there  were  many  successive  overflows,  as  on  the 
broken  faces  of  the  cliffs  clearly  defined  lines  of 
stratification  are  presented  more  numerous  as  we 


approach  the  great  summits  that  were  their  foun- 
tain. The  molten  iron  sea  rolled  onward,  over- 
lying the  whole  country,  drinking  up  the  rivers, 
shearing  off  the  forests,  and  seizing  a  nightly 
holocaust  of  animal  life  in  its  devouring  maw. 
For  ages,  how  long  no  one  can  know,  this  great 
lava  plain,  first  red  and  hot  and  simmering,  then 
black  and  cold,  and  rending  itself  into  deep 
chasms  in  its  slow  cooling,  lay  out  under  the 
stars  without  vegetable  or  animal  life,  almost 
without  springlet  or  dewdrop,  to  cool  or  soften 
its  black  and  rugged  face.  The  fires  of  the  vol- 
canoes at  length  burned  low.  The  mountain  sum- 
mits cooled.  A  few  stray  clouds  floated  over  the 
tortured  earth.  A  few  drops  of  rain  touched  its 
iron  surface  with  their  imprisoned  mieht.  Show- 
ers followed.  The  springs  that  fountain  rivers 
began  to  bubble  from  beneath  the  cloven 
lava  beds,  searching  out  an  open  way  seaward 
through  their  broken  chasms.  And  thus  the 
changes  of  the  ages  went  on.  The  basalts  were 
ground  to  powder  in  the  mills  of  the  streams. 
The  old  surfaces  over  which  the  lava  had  once 
spread  were  cut  into  valleys,  hundreds  of  feet 
deep.  Fecund  soils  were  deposited.  Vegetation 
sprang  forth  again.  Animal  life  found  food  and 
drink  and  shelter,  and  still  the  changes  went  on. 
Frost  and  snow  and  raindrop  and  stormy  winds 
and  burning  suns  wrought  the  miracle  of  a  new 
genesis,  leaving  a  field  in  which  nature  has  writ- 
ten the  most  legible  and  astonishing  records  of 
her  processes  and  her  powers. 

The  mountain  ranges  present  a  wonderful  con- 
glomeration of  basalts,  granite,  slate,  sandstone, 
with  vast  beds  of  stratified  sand  and  water-worn 
gravel.  In  places  one  formation  predominates, 
in  other  places  some  other  formation,  and  then 
again  several  of  them  appear  intermixed,  or  over- 
lying one  another.  It  is  evident  that  the  heat 
attending  the  volcanic  action  that  lifted  the  vast 
ridges  to  their  present  position  was  great  enough 
to  cause  perfect  fusion  in  only  a  few  places;  while 


8 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


yet  the  forces  below  were  mighty  enough  to  cause 
the  wonderful  and  weird  displacements  of  the 
primitive  rocks  so  often  arresting  the  observant 
eye.  One  hour  the  traveler  among  these  moun- 
tains will  be  passing  over  scoriated  basalt,  or 
along  cliffs  of  basaltic  columns,  the  next  among 
great  granite  boulders  or  over  gray  granite  pin- 
nacles, then  over  miles  of  aqueous  deposits  in  the 
form  of  stratified  sandstone  or  stratified  beds  of 
sand  and  gravel  intermixed;  or  again  slate  slopes 
and  hillsides  will  arrest  his  eye,  until  he  is  lost  in 
the  wilderment  of  his  strange  surroundings. 

The  Blue  mountains  margin  on  the  west  the 
great  lava  plains  of  Snake  river  vallev.  The  vol- 
canic conditions,  so  plainly  marked  in  the  Cas- 
cade and  Blue  mountains,  and  the  valley  inter- 
vening between  them, .continue  and  are  intensi- 
fied as  we  enter  the  great  upper  valley  of  Snake 
river,  which  lies  mostly  in  the  state  of  Idaho, 
which  was  once  the  mightiest  scene  of  volcanic 
action  on  the  American  continent,  if  not  in  the 
world. 

We  should  not  dismiss  the  whole  subject  of 
the  geology  of  this  most  interesting  region,  with 
these  general  statements  for  the  lay  reader  with- 
out some  more  distinctly  scientific  record  for  the 
benefit  of  the  more  technical  reader  and  student. 
For  him  geology  would  write  about  the  follow- 
ing history  of  the  conditions  and  changes  of  un- 
told ages  and  marvelous  processes  through  which 
this  wonderful  Idaho  world  was  being  formed. 

For  an  immense  period  before  the  existence  of 
the  Coast  and  Cascade  ranges  of  mountains,  the 
primeval  ocean  washed  the  western  shores  of  the 
great  Rock  mountain  chain,  and  throughout  the 
palaeozoic  era  and  the  whole  Triassic  and  Juras- 
sic periods  of  the  Mesozoic  era  numerous  rivers 
kept  bringing  down  debris  until  an  enormously 
thick  mass  of  off-shore  deposits  had  accumulated. 
This  marginal  sea-bottom  became  the  scene  of  in- 
tense aqueous-igneous  action  in  its  deeply  buried 
strata,  producing  a  line  of  wrackness,  which, 
yielding  to  the  horizontal  thrust  produced  by  the 
secular  contraction  of  the  interior  of  the  earth, 
was  crushed  together  and  swollen  upward  into 
the  Cascade  and  Sierra  Nevada  range  at  the  close 
of  the  Jurassic  period.  The  range  thus  produced 
was  not  of  very  great  height.  It  existed  for  un- 
known centuries, — the  scene  of  erosion  and  plant 
growth,  roamed  over  by  the  now  extinct  fauna 


of  the  Cretaceous  and  Tertiary  periods.  It  was 
combed  by  forests  of  conifers  and  oaks.  Then 
followed  the  great  lava-flow  and  uplift  of  the 
mountain  range  of  the  modern  Cascades.  Be- 
neath the  overlying  lava,  where  the  Columbia 
breaks  through  the  barriers  of  this  great  range, 
there  is  found  along  the  water's  edgfe,  and  for 
nearly  twenty  feet  upward,  a  coarse  conglomerate 
of  rounded  porphyritic  pebbles  and  boulders  of 
all  sizes  up  to  six  feet  in  diameter,  held  together 
by  an  imperfectly  lithified  earthy  paste.  Above 
the  conglomerate  is  a  very  distinct,  though  ir- 
regular ground  surface  bed,  in  which  are  found 
silicified  stumps  with  roots  extending  twenty 
feet  and  penetrating  into  the  boulder  material 
beneath  evidently  in  situ.  Resting  directly  on 
this  forest  ground-surface,  and  therefore  inclos- 
ing the  erect  stumps,  is  a  layer  of  stratified  sand- 
stone, two  or  three  feet  thick,  filled  with  beautiful 
and  perfect  impressions  of  leaves  of  several  kinds 
of  forest  trees,  possibly  of  the  very  trees  about 
whose  silicified  bases  they  are  found.  Above  this 
leaf-bearing  stratum  rests  a  coarse  conglomer- 
ate similar  to  that  beneath  at  the  water  level. 
Scattered  about  in  the  lower  part  of  this  upper 
conglomerate,  and  in  the  stratified  sandstone,  and 
sometimes  lying  in  the  dirt  beneath  it,  fragments 
of  silicified  driftwood  are  found.  Above  this  last 
conglomerate,  and  resting  upon  it,  rise  the  layers 
of  lava,  mostly  columnar  basalt,  one  above  an- 
other to  a  height  of  three  thousand  feet.  From 
these  facts  the  following  order  of  events  are  de- 
duced : 

The  region  of  the  Columbia  river  was  a  forest, 
probably  a  valley,  overgrown  by  conifers  and 
oaks.  The  subsoil  was  a  coarse  boulder  drift 
produced  by  erosion  of  some  older  rocks.  An 
excess  of  water  came  on,  either  by  floods  or 
changes  of  level,  and  the  trees  were  killed,  their 
leaves  shed  and  buried  in  mud,  and  their  trunks 
rotted  to  stumps.  Then  came  on  a  tumultuous 
and  rapid  deposit  of  coarse  drift,  containing  drift- 
wood, which  covered  up  the  ground  and  the  still 
remaining  stumps  to  a  depth  of  several  hundred 
feet.  The  surface  thus  formed  was  eroded  into 
hills  and  dales,  and  then  followed  the  outburst 
of  lava  in  successive  flows,  and  the  silification  of 
the  wood  and  fermentation  of  the  drift  by  the 
percolation  of  the  hot  alkaline  waters  containing 
silica.  Finally  followed  the  process  of  erosion  by 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


9 


which  the  present  streams,  channels  and  valleys, 
whether  main  or  tributary,  are  cut  to  their  enor- 
mous depth.  The  great  masses  of  sediment  sent 
down  to  the  sea  by  the  erosion  of  the  primary 
Cascade  range,  forming  a  thick  offshore,  deposit, 
gave  rise  in  turn  at  the  end  of  the  Miocene  to  the 
upheaval  of  the  Coast  range,  the  Cascade  moun- 
tains being  at  the  same  time  rent  along  the  axis 
into  enormous  fissures  from  which  outpoured 
the  grand  lava  floods,  building  the  mountains 
higher  and  covering  the  country  for  great  dis- 
tances. This  is  probably  the  grandest  lava  flow 
known  to  geology,  covering  as  it  does  an  area  of 
not  less  than  two  hundred  thousand  square  miles. 
It  covers  the  greater  portion  of  northern  Califor- 
nia and  northwestern  Nevada,  nearly  the  whole 
of  Oregon,  Washington  and  Idaho,  and  runs  far 
into  British  Columbia  on  the  north.  Its  average 
thickness  is  two  thousand  feet,  and  the  greatest 
(shown  where  the  Columbia,  Des  Chutes,  Snake 
and  other  rivers  cut  through  it)  four  thousand 
feet.  To  produce  this,  many  successive  flows  took 
place,  and  great  periods  of  time  elapsed  during 
which  this  volcanic  action  continued.  Durine  the 
period  of  these  Cascade  eruptions,  the  Coast 
range  was  being  slowly  elevated,  and  became  in 
turn  the  scene  of  local  volcanic  action,  though 
not  very  severe. 


At  last  the  great  fissure  eruptions  drew  to  a 
close.  The  fissures  became  blocked  up.  The 
volcanic  action  became  confined  to  a  few  locali- 
ties. The  period  of  crater  eruptions  followed. 
This  continued  for  a  long  time — almost  to  our 
own  day.  These  crater  eruptions  built  up  the 
great  snowy  peaks. 

By  the  formation  of  the  Cascade  a  great  in- 
terior basin  was  made,  the  waters  of  which  col- 
lected into  secondary  reservoirs,  some  of  very 
large  extent,  and  which  were  at  length  carried 
off  by  the  rivers  which  have  cut  their  way  from 
the  interior  to  the  sea.  The  Columbia  and  its 
tributaries  drained  the  northern  part  of  tins  im- 
mense basin,  and  at  this  period  doubtless  the 
great  Salt  Lake  of  Utah  found  its  outlet  to  the 
sea  by  the  Snake  and  Columbia  rivers.  Thence 
came  the  lava  floods,  whose  great  flows  have 
since  been  worn  away  in  places,  exposing  the 
tertiary  and  cretaceous  beds,  and  revealing  the 
former  conditions  of  the  region  by  the  fossils 
found  therein.  At  the  end  of  the  Miocene  the 
lava  flows  from  the  Cascade  fissures  commenced, 
but  it  was  long  before  they  reached  the  entire 
extent  of  the  great  basins,  which  continued  to 
exist  and  be  endowed  with  life  well  into  the 
Pliocene. 


CHAPTER  III. 


EARLY  EXPLORATIONS. 


DURING  the  long  period  of  time  in  which 
the  Pacific  coast  of  North  America  was 
being  slowly  brought  to  the  knowledge 
of  civilized  man,  the  course  of  narrative  shows 
that  the  Frenchman  and  Spaniard  were  the  pio- 
neers of  exploration  in  this  region,  both  by  sea 
and  land.  Spain  led  the  maritime  nations  in  dis- 
tant and  successful  voyages.  The  voyage  of 
Columbus,  under  the  auspices  of  Ferdinand  and 
his  noble  queen,  Isabella,  whose  reign  over  the 
united  kingdoms  of  Castile  and  Aragon  gave 
Spain  so  much  glory  in  that  adventurous  and 
chivalrous  age,  had  kindled  every  maritime  Span- 
iard into  a  very  knight  of  the  seas,  and  inspired 
the  whole  nation  with  a  burning  zeal  for  dis- 
covery and  conquest  of  distant  lands.  Her  rulers 
were  among  the  greatest  and  most  renowned  of 
all  ages  of  the  world.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
were  succeeded  by  Charles  V.,  one  of  the  most 
enlightened  and  powerful  monarchs  that  ever  sat 
on  any  throne.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Philip,  who,  though  haughty  and  imperious,  so 
carried  forward  the  ideas  and  purposes  of  his 
great  father  that  his  kingdom  reached  the  very 
zenith  of  power  and  influence  in  the  councils  of 
the  European  monarchs.  The  woe  pronounced 
upon  a  "land  whose  king  is  a  child"  could  not 
fall  upon  Spain  during  this  period.  Weak  and 
lusterless  as  may  now  be  the  condition  of  the 
Spanish  nation,  and  little  as  her  power  is  felt  or 
feared  in  the  world  to-day,  then  soon  the  Saxon 
asked  privileges  of  the  Castilian  and  measured 
his  own  power  by  the  standard  of  the  other's 
greatness. 

Under  the  impulse  thus  pervading  the  Spanish 
nation,  her  banner  was  pushed  into  every  sea  and 
her  cavaliers  led  all  armies  of  distant  conquest, — 
especially  in  the  New  World.  While  the  great- 
est historical  interest  attached  to  these  early  mari- 
time explorations  along  the  Pacific  coast  of  North 
America  and  had  a  potent  influence  upon  the  ulti- 
mate opening  up  of  the  far  western  country  to  civ- 


ilization, the  association  with  the  specific  history 
of  the  great  state  of  Idaho  is  so  remote,  and  has 
been  so  often  and  so  ably  considered,  that  it  is 
not  necessary  to  more  than  refer  thus  incidentally 
to  tht  story  of  adventure  in  this  connection.  The 
development  of  the  Oregon  country  came  as  the 
diametrical  result  of  explorations  by  land,  and 
it  is  not  less  than  fitting  that  a  brief  record  touch- 
ing the  same  be  here  entered. 

While  Spain  led  maritime  discoveries,  the  facile 
and  plastic  Frenchman  led  the  land  explorations 
into  the  interior  of  the  western  continent.  France 
had  a  strong  holding  on  the  eastern  shore  of 
America  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence, — a  point  of 
great  advantage  in  intro-continental  explorations. 
In  addition  to  this  she  had  planted  her  colonies  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  stretched  a  cor- 
don of  posts  southeastward  from  Quebec  to  the 
Ohio,  thus  hemming  the  English  into  a  compara- 
tively narrow  belt  of  country  on  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board, and  leaving  free  to  her  adventurous  roam- 
ers  the  vast,  and  as  yet  unknown  regions  that 
stretched  westward  and  northward,  no  one  couM 
tell  how  far  or  how  wide.  The  French  pushed 
their  advantages  by  land  as  did  Spain  hers  by 
sea,  and  as  early  as  1743  their  explorations  had 
reached  the  heart  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  From 
Canada  arid  from  Louisiana,  up  the  lakes  and  up 
the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rivers,  the  French- 
man's pirogue  kept  movement  with  the  voy- 
ageurs'  songs  as  these  care-free  men  of  France 
pushed  their  trade  and  travel  into  the  middle  of 
the  continent.  The  French  and  English  war  of 
1756,  however,  by  giving  England  the  opportu- 
nity to  wrest  Canada  from  the  weakened  grasp  of 
France,  put  a  sudden  stop  to  her  movements  in 
the  line  of  explorations  from  that  province,  and 
opened  the  same  opportunity  to  England  that 
France  had  previously  enjoyed.  But  though  the 
opportunity  was  before  her  Great  Britain  was  so 
fully  occupied  with  her  European  difficulties  and 
the  care  of  her  American  colonies,  already  grow- 
10 


g 

oS 
I 

c 

CO 


, 

fin 
C 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


11 


ing  restive  under  the  grievances  of  her  misrule, 
demanded  so  much  of  the  attention  of  her  parlia- 
ment and  rulers  that  she  could  attempt  nothing 
further  than  to  hold  her  "reign  of  vantage" 
securely,  for  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

During  the  progress  of  this  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury new  conditions  and  combinations  had  arisen. 
England  lost  all  her  colonies  on  the  Atlantic 
coast  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  France  had  sold 
Louisiana  to  Spain.  Thus  England's  opportuni- 
ties were  contracted,  those  of  France  were  de- 
stroyed, and  the  new  republic  of  America  was  as 
yet  unable  to  enter  the  field  of  exploration  and 
colonization.  At  this  period  the  continental  po- 
sition was  this:  Spain,  after  her  purchase  of  Lou- 
isiana from  France,  had  proprietary  claim  to  all 
the  country  we^st  of  the  Mississippi  river  to  the 
Pacific  ocean,  with  no  very  clearly  defined  north- 
ern limit  to  her  claims.  England  held  the  country 
northward  of  the  great  lakes  and  the  St.  Law- 
rence river,  extending  indefinitely  westward, 
above  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  latitude.  The 
United  States  held  actually  the  country  east  of 
the  summits  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  includ- 
ing the  six  New  England  states  and  New  York, 
and  had  ownership  of  all  the  country  westward 
of  the  Alleghanies  which  England  had  conquered 
from  France  in  the  war  of  1756.  These  were  the 
powers  that,  after  the  American  Revolution, 
stood  looking  to  the  yet  unknown  west  as  the 
place  for  the  future  aggrandizement  of  their  re- 
spective fortunes,  and  this  was  the  condition  in 
which  they  looked  to  the  future  and  prepared 
for  its  issues. 

The  advantages  of  the  condition  were  with 
Great  Britain.  She  had  grown  to  be  the  leading 
power  of  Europe.  Already  the  swing  of  conquest 
was  in  the  movement  of  her  legislation  and  her 
peoples.  While  the  wars  of  the  past  twenty  years 
had  taxed,  they  had  not  paupered  her.  She  was 
strong,  consolidated,  ambitious,  courageous;  and 
she  was  Saxon, — the  blood  of  endurance  ancl 
conquest. 

Spain  held  her  position  in  the  south  and  west 
by  a  precarious  tenure,  and  she  so  felt  the  feeble- 
ness of  that  tenure  that  she  neither  made  nor 
cared  to  make  any  vigorous  movements  to  extend 
her  possessions  or  to  strengthen  her  holdings  in 
America.  The  United  States,  geographically, 
held  the  center  of  opportunity,  but  the  almost 


chaos  of  the  era  that  followed  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  war  was  over  the  face  of  her  politi- 
cal history,  and  she  needed  time  in  which  to  gird 
herself  for  the  strain  of  the  future.  But  she  had 
the  strength  to  wait,  for  she,  too,  was  Saxon. 
And  so,  with  the  parties  in  direct  interest  in  the 
movements  that  were  so  surely  to  follow  prepar- 
ing for  the  race  of  empire  westward,  we  come  to 
the  real  opening  of  the  era  of  discovery  by  land 
westward  of  the  great  mountains. 

These  were  begun  solely  by  private  enterprise 
for  individual  gain.  They  early  reached  the  Ath- 
abasca and  Saskatchewan.  But  the  field  was  too 
great  for  individual  resources,  and  besides  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  entered  the  field  with  a 
competition  which  could  only  be  met  by  combi- 
nation. So  the  Northwest  Company,  of  Montreal, 
was  formed  in  1784  for  the  express  purpose  of 
meeting  and  overcoming  the  competition  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  which  had  proved  so 
ruinous  to  the  individual  traders  who  had  ven- 
tured into  the  country  before.  In  a  very  few 
years  this  became  a  most  prosperous  and  power- 
ful organization,  and  its  traders  and  explorers 
filled  all  the  country  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains 
as  far  north  as  the  Arctic  and  as  far  south  as 
the  Missouri. 

The  great  headquarters  of  this  company  was 
at  "Fort  Chippewyan"  on  Lake  Athabasca,  and 
were  under  the  charge  of  Alexander  Mackenzie, 
a  very  resolute  and  able  man,  whose  enterprise 
in  explorations  stamped  his  name  on  the  geog- 
raphy of  all  the  west  and  north.  In  1791  he 
organized  a  small  party  for  a  western  explora- 
tion, intending  to  prosecute  his  journey  until  he 
reached  the  Pacific  ocean.  He  had,  two  years 
before,  discovered  the  river  that  bears  his  own 
name,  and  followed  it  from  its  source  in  Great 
Slave  lake  to  where  it  discharges  its  waters  into 
the  Arctic  ocean.  Having  thus  ascertained  the 
character  and  extent  of  the  country  to  the  north- 
west, he  was  determined  to  develop  the  character 
of  that  to  the  west  by  the  expedition  on  which 
he  was  now  entering.  He  left  Fort  Chippewyan 
on  the  loth  of  October,  1791,  ancl  with  much 
difficulty  ascended  the  Peace"  river  from  Lake 
Athabasca  to  the  foot  of  the  Rocky  mountains, 
where  the  party  encamped  for  the  winter.  In 
June  of  the  following  year  he  resumed  his  jour- 
ney, still  following  up  the  same  stream,  which  he 


12 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


traced  to  its  source  near  the  fifty-fourth  parallel 
of  latitude  and  distant  about  one  thousand  miles 
from  its  mouth.  Only  a  short  distance  from  the 
springs  of  the  Peace  river  he  came  upon  those  of 
another  stream  flowing  westward,  called  by  the 
natives  Tacoutchee  Tessee,  clown  which  he 
floated  in  canoes  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles.  Leaving  the  river,  he  then  proceeded 
westward  overland,  and  on  the  22d  of  July,  1792, 
reached  the  Pacific  ocean,  at  the  mouth  of  an 
inlet  in  latitude  52°  10'.  This  inlet  had,  only  a 
few  weeks  previously,  been  surveyed  by  the  fleet 
of  Vancouver;  and  thus  Mackenzie  had  con- 
nected the  land  and  water  explorations  of  Great 
Britain  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Mackenzie  reached  the  coast  far  north  of  the 
mouth  of  the  river  on  which  he  had  sailed  in  his 
canoes  so  far  to  the  southwest.  On  his  return 
to  Fort  Chippewyan,  late  in  August,  1792,  he 
learned  of  the  discovery  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  by  Captain  Gray,  when  he  at  once  con- 
cluded that  the  stream  he  had  followed  so  far  was 
the  upper  part  of  that  river,  and  it  was  so  consid- 
ered by  geographers  until  1812,  or  twenty  years 
after  Mackenzie's  journey,  when  Simon  Fraser, 
of  the  sarne  company  as  Mackenzie,  traced  it  to 
its  mouth  in  the  gulf  of  Georgia,  a  little  north  of 
the  49°  of  latitude.  Since  that  time  it  has  been 
known  as  Fraser's  river.  To  Alexander  Mac- 
kenzie doubtless  belongs  the  honor  of  making  the 
first  journey  down  the  western  slope  of  the  great 
Rocky  mountain  chain  to  the  Pacific  ocean; 
though  it  was  made  wholly  north  of  the  parallel 
that  was  subsequently  fixed  as  the  boundary  line 
between  the  British  possessions  on  the  American 
continent  and  the  United  States. 

It  is  a  somewhat  striking  coincidence  that  the 
first  important  American  movement  for  an  ex- 
ploration by  land  of  the  country  lying  on  the 
north  Pacific  coast  was  made  the  same  year  that 
Mackenzie  accomplished  his  journey  to  the  Pa- 
cific and  that  Captain  Gray  sailed  into  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia  river.  Thomas  Jefferson,  at  that 
time  the  representative  of  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment at  the  court  of  Versailles,  became  deeply 
interested  as  an  American  in  this  great  western 
region.  He  proposed  to  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society  that  a  subscription  be  raised  for 
the  purpose  of  defraying  the  expenses  of  an  ex- 
ploration, and  a  person  be  employed  competent 


to  conduct  it.  He  wished  it  to  "ascend  the 
Missouri  river,  cross  the  Stony  mountains,  and 
descend  the  nearest  river  to  the  Pacific."  His 
suggestion  was  acted  upon  by  the  society,  and 
Captain  Meriwether  Lewis,  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  Jefferson,  was  selected  to  lead  the  expe- 
dition; and  Andre  Micheaux,  a  distinguished 
French  botanist,  was  chosen  to  accompany  him. 
They  proceeded  as  far  as  Kentucky,  when  Mr. 
Micheaux  was  recalled  by  the  French  minis- 
ter at  Washington  and  the  expedition  was 
given  up. 

The  next  movement  for  the  accomplishment 
of  the  same  purpose  was  while  the  treaty  was 
pending  between  Mr.  Jefferson,  then  president 
of  the  United  States,  and  Napoleon,  then  ruler 
of  France,  for  the  transfer  of  the  claims  of  France 
to  the  whole  northwest  to  the  Umted  States.  On 
the  i8th  of  January,  1803,  the  president  trans- 
mitted a  special  message  to  congress  in  which  he 
incorporated  a  recommendation  that  an  official 
expedition  be  dispatched  on  the  same  errand  con- 
templated in  the  one  that  had  been  abandoned. 
An  ample  appropriation  was  made,  and  again 
Captain  Lewis,  then  private  secretary  to  the  pres- 
ident, was  chosen  to  conduct  it.  He  solicited 
William  Clarke  as  his  associate. 

The  instructions  issued  to  these  gentlemen,  by 
Mr.  Jefferson,  while  specific  as  to  purpose,  were 
broad  as  to  geographical  extent.  In  them  he 
says: 

"The  object  of  your  mission  is  to  explore  the 
Missouri  river  and  such  principal  streams  of  it 
as,  by  its  course  and  communication  with  the 
waters  of  the  Pacific  ocean,  whether  the  Colum- 
bia, Oregon,  Colorado,  or  any  other  river,  may 
offer  the  most  direct  and  practicable  water  com- 
munication across  the  continent  for  the  purposes 
of  commerce." 

They  were  directed  to  thoroughly  inform  them- 
selves of  the  extent  and  number  of  the  Indian 
tribes,  their  customs  and  degrees  of  civilization, 
and  to  report  fully  upon  the  topography  of  the 
regions  through  which  they  passed,  together  with 
the  character  of  the  soil,  natural  products,  animal 
life,  mineral  resources,  climate,  and  to  inquire 
particularly  into  the  fur  trade  and  the  needs  of 
commerce.  When  these  instructions  were  given, 
Louisiana  had  not  been  ceded  to  the  United 
States,  and  hence  Mr.  Jefferson  continued: 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


13 


"Your  mission  has  been  communicated  to  the 
ministers  here  from  France,  Spain  and  Great 
Britain,  and  through  them  to  their  governments; 
and  such  assurances  given  them  as  to  its  objects 
as  we  trust  will  satisfy  them.  •  The  country  of 
Louisiana  having  been  ceded  by  Spain  to  France, 
the  passport  you  have  from  the  minister  of 
France,  the  representative  of  the  present  sover- 
eign of  that  country,  will  be  a  protection  with  all 
its  subjects;  and  that  from  the  minister  of  Eng- 
land will  entitle  you  to  the  friendly  aid  of  any 
traders  of  that  allegiance  with  whom  you  may 
happen  to  meet." 

A  few  days  before  the  expedition  was  ready 
to  start,  the  joyful  intelligence  was  received  that 
France  had  formally  ceded  Louisiana  to  the 
United  States;  hence  the  passport  of  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  French  government  at  Washing- 
ton was  not  needed. 

Captain  Lewis  left  Washington  on  the  5th  day 
of  July,  1803,  and  on  arriving  at  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, was  joined  by  Clarke.  They  selected  their 
party,  went  as  far  as  St.  Louis,  near  which  they 
went  into  camp,  and  remained  until  the  final  start 
was  made,  on  the  I4th  day  of  May,  1804.  The 
party  now  consisted  of  Captains  Lewis  and 
Clarke,  nine  young  men  from  Kentucky,  four- 
teen soldiers,  two  French  Canadian  voyageurs, 
an  interpreter  and  hunter,  and  a  negro  servant  of 
Captain  Clarke.  The  party  ascended  the  Mis- 
souri river  as  far  as  the  country  of  the  Mandan 
Indians,  with  which  tribe  they  remained  all 
winter. 

Their  westward  journey  was  resumed  in  the 
spring  of  1805.  They  followed  up  the  Missouri, 
of  whose  course  and  tributaries  and  characteris- 
tics they  had  obtained  very  accurate  information 
from  the  Mandans.  Passing  the  mouth  of  the 
Yellowstone,  or  Roche  Jaune  of  the  French  Can- 
adian trappers  and  voyageurs  who  had  already 
visited  it,  they  continued  up  the  Missouri,  pass- 
ing its  great  falls  and  cascades,  and  ascending 
through  its  mighty  canon,  crossed  the  Rocky 
mountain  divide  and  descended  its  western  side 
to  the  stream  now  known  at  different  points  on 
its  course  as  "Deer  Lodge,"  "Hellgate,"  "Bitter 
Root,"  "Clarke's  Fork,"  and  "Pend  d'Oreille." 
Upon  this  stream  they  bestowed  the  name  of 
"Clarke's  river."  From  this  river  the  advance 
party,  under  Clarke,  crossed  the  Bitter  Root 


mountains  by  the  Lolo  trail.  On  these  rugged 
heights  they  suffered  intensely  from  cold  and 
hunger.  On  the  2Oth  day  of  September  they 
came  to  a  village  of  Nez  Perces  Indians,  situated 
on  a  plain  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  south  fork 
of  Cleanvater  river,  where  they  were  received 
with  great  hospitality. 

When  they  reached  the  Nez  Perces  village  the 
party  was  nearly  famished,  and  they  partook  of 
such  quantities  of  the  food  so  liberally  provided 
by  their  Indian  hosts  that  many  of  them  be- 
came too  ill  to  proceed  until  the  second  day,  and 
among  that  number  was  Clarke  himself.  As 
soon  as  they  were  able  to  proceed  they  went  to 
the  village  of  the  chief,  Twisted  Hair,  situated 
on  an  island  in  the  stream.  To  this  river  Clarke 
gave  the  name  "Koos-koos-kee," doubtless  slight- 
ly misunderstanding  the  words  used  by  the  Nez 
Perces  in  distinguishing  it  from  the  Snake  river, 
into  which  it  enters — "Koots-koots-hee" — which 
those  acquainted  with  the  Nez  Perces  tongue  say 
is  a  descriptive  term,  and  means,  "This  is  the 
smaller." 

Here  the  two  parties  were  united,  and,  after 
resting  a  few  days,  journeyed  on  down  the  Clear- 
water.  The  company  was  now  utterly  exhausted. 
Many  found  it  difficult  to  sit  upon  their  horses. 
Captain  Lewis  was  very  ill.  The  weather  was 
hot  and  oppressive.  They  felt  that  they  could 
proceed  no  farther  in  their  former  manner  of  trav- 
eling, and  the  commanders  resolved  to  prepare 
canoes  and  prosecute  the  remainder  of  their  jour- 
ney in  them.  With  Twisted  Hair  as  guide,  Clarke 
proceeded  about  five  miles,  where  suitable  timber 
was  found,  and  encamped  on  the  low  ground 
opposite  the  forks  of  the  river. 

When  their  canoes  were  constructed,  leaving 
their  horses  and  equipage  with  Twisted  Hair, 
they  embarked  on  the  Clearwater  on  their  jour- 
ney toward  the  Pacific.  They  were  not- long  in 
reaching  Snake  river,  which,  in  honor  of  Captain 
Lewis,  they  called  "Lewis  river."  Down  that 
stream  to  the  Columbia  was  a  quick  and  rapid 
passage.  Down  the  Columbia  was  not  less  rapid, 
and  they  reached  the  cascades  of  that  stream  on 
the  2 ist  day  of  October.  Making  the  portage 
of  the  cascades  they  embarked  again,  passed  the 
mouth  of  the  Willamette  without  observing  it, 
and  on  the  I5th  day  of  November  reached  cape 
Disappointment  and  looked  out  on  the  great 


14 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


ocean,  which  had  been  the  goal  of  their  journey- 
ing for  more  than  a  year. 

They  remained  near  the  ocean,  wintering  in  a 
log  dwelling  which  they  erected  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Columbia,  which  they  called  "Fort 
Clatsop,"  in  honor  of  the  Indians  which  inhabited 
that  region.  Hoping  that  some  trading  vessel 
from  which  they  could  replenish  their  stores 
would  visit  the  river,  they  delayed  their  departure 
homeward  until  the  23d  of  March,  1806.  Before 
leaving  they  gave  the  chiefs  of  the  Clatsops,  and 
also  of  the  Chinooks,  who  resided  on  the  north 
side  of  the  river,  certificates  of  hospitable  treat- 
ment, and  posted  a  writing  on  the  wall  of  their 
cabin  in  these  words: 

"The  object  of  this  last  is,  that  through  the  me- 
dium of  some  civilized  person  who  may  see  the 
same,  it  may  be  made  known  to  the  world  that  the 
party,  consisting  of  the  persons  whose  names  are 
hereunto  annexed,  and  who  were  sent  out  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  of  America  to 
explore  the  interior  of  the  continent  of  North 
America,  did  penetrate  the  same  by  the  way  of 
the  Missouri  and  Columbia  rivers  to  the  dis- 
charge of  the  latter  into  the  Pacific  ocean,  where 
they  arrived  on  the  I4th  day  of  November,  1805, 
and  departed  the  23d  day  of  March,  1806,  on 
their  return  to  the  United  States  by  the  same 
route  by  which  they  had  come  out." 

To  this  paper  were  appended  the  names  of  the 
members  of  the  expedition.  Several  copies  of 
the  paper  were  left  among  the  Indians,  and  the 
following  year  one  of  them  was  handed  by  an 
Indian  to  Captain  Hall,  an  American  trader, 
whose  vessel,  the  Lydia,  had  entered  the  Colum- 
bia river.  By  him  it  was  taken  to  China  and 
thence  to  the  United  States.  Therefore  had  the 
party  perished  on  their  return,  eviden9e  of  the 
completion  of  their  purpose  would  have  been  left 
behind  them. 

Their  journey  out  had  been  so  long  and  its 
expense  so  great  that,  on  taking  an  invoice  of 
their  possessions  on  starting  on  the  return  jour- 
ney, they  found  that  they  had  available  for  traffic 
with  the  Indians  only  six  blue  robes,  one  scarlet 
robe,  one  United  States  artillery  hat  and  coat, 
five  robes  made  from  the  national  ensign,  and 
a  few  old  clothes  trimmed  with  ribbons.  Upon 
this  scant  store  must  they  depend  for  purchasing 
provisions  and  horses,  and  paying  tribute  to  stub- 


born chieftains  through  whose  dominions  they 
might  pass  on  their  long  homeward  journey. 

On  their  return  they  proceeded  up  the  south 
side  of  the  Columbia,  coming  unexpectedly  upon 
a  large  river  flowing  into  it  from  the  south.  On 
an  island  at  its  mouth  was  a  large  Indian  village 
called  "Multnomah,"  which  name  they  under- 
stood to  apply  to  the  river  they  had  discovered, 
of  the  course  of  which  they  made  careful  inquiry. 
The  result  of  these  inquiries  was  noted  in  the 
map  of  the  expedition,  making  the  river  to  flow 
from  California  to  the  north  and  west,  and  the 
Indian  tribes  that  actually  resided  on  the  waters 
of  Snake  river  to  reside  upon  its  banks.  Their 
journey  up  stream  was  far  more  tedious  with 
their  canoes  than  had  been  their  passage  down, 
owing  to  the  numerous  rapids  and  cascades;  and 
at  the  mouth  of  what  they  called  Lapage  river — 
now  "John  Day" — they  abandoned  their  canoes 
and  packing  their  baggage  on  the  back  of  a  few 
horses  that  they  had  purchased  from  the  Indians, 
proceeded  up  the  southern  bank  of  the  Columbia 
on  foot.  Crossing  the  Umatilla  river,  called  by 
them  the  You-ma-lo-law,  they  arrived  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Walla  Walla  on  the  2/th  day  of 
April. 

The  greatest  Indian  chief  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
at  that  time,  if  not  indeed  of  all  tradition,  was 
then  at  the  head  of  the  Walla  nation.  His 
name  wasYellept.  The  story  of  his  life  and  death, 
as  handed  down  by  the  traditions  of  his  people, 
is  of  the  most  thrilling  and  romantic  character, 
but  belongs  rather  to  such  writings  as  Cooper's 
than  to  the  sober  chronicles  of  history.  This 
powerful  chieftain  received  the  company  with 
most  generous  hospitality,  which  charmed  the 
travelers  into  some  lingering  before  they  ven- 
tured farther  into  the  wild  gorges  of  the  moun- 
tains. The  journal  of  the  expedition  records  the 
kindness  of  these  Indians  with  many  appreciative 
words,  and  closes  its  notice  of  them  by  saying: 
"We  may,  indeed,  justly  affirm  that  of  all  the 
Indians  that  we  have  seen  since  leaving  the 
United  States  the  Walla  Wallas  were  the  most 
hospitable,  honest  and  sincere." 

Leaving  these  hospitable  people  on  the  29th 
of  April,  the  party  passed  eastward  on  the  great 
"Nez  Perces  trail."  This  trail  was  the  great 
highway  of  the  Walla  Wallas,  Cay  uses  and  Nez 
Perces  eastward  to  the  buffalo  ranges,  to  which 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


15 


they  annually  resorted  for  game  supplies.  It 
passed  up  the  valley  of  the  Touchet,  called  by 
Lewis  and  Clarke  the  "White  Stallion" — thence 
over  the  high  prairie  ridges,  and  down  the  Al- 
pona  to  the  crossing  of  Snake  river,  then  up 
the  north  bank  of  Clearwater  to  the  village  of 
Twisted  Hair,  where  the  exploring  party  had  left 
their  horses  on  their  way  down  the  previous 
autumn.  It  was  worn  deep  and  broad,  and  in 
many  stretches  on  the  open  plains  and  over  the 
smooth  hills  twenty  horsemen  could  ride  abreast 
in  the  parallel  paths  worn  by  the  constant  rush 
of  the  Indian  generations  from  time  imme- 
morial. But  the  plow  has  long  since  obliterated 
it,  and  where  the  monotonous  song  of  the  In- 
dian's march  was  droningly  chanted  for  so  many 
barbaric  ages,  the  song  of  the  reaper  thrills  the 
clear  air  as  he  comes  to  his  garner,  bringing  in 
the  sheaves. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  narrative  it  is  not 
necessary  to  trace  the  explorations  of  these  trav- 
elers farther,  interesting  as  they  would  be,  for 
they  scarcely  belong  directly  to  Idaho  history. 
With  the  usual  adventures  of  explorers  in  the 
unfrequented  regions  which  they  traversed  they 
followed  homeward  the  path  of  their  outward 
advance,  and  reached  St.  Louis  on  the  25th  of 
September,  1806,  having  been  absent  nearly  two 
years  and  a  half. 

Their  safe  return  to  the  United  States  sent  a 
thrill  of  rejoicing  through  the  country.  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, the  great  patron  and  inspirer  of  the  ex- 
pedition, says  of  it: 

"Never  did  a  similar  event  excite  more  joy 
throughout  the  United  States.  The  humblest  of 
its  citizens  had  taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  issue 
of  this  journey,  and  looked  forward  with  impa- 
tience to  the  information  it  would  furnish.  Their 
anxieties,  too,  for  the  safety  of  the  corps  had  been 
kept  in  a  state  of  excitement  by  lugubrious  ru- 
mors, circulated  from  time  to  time  on  uncertain 
authorities,  and  uncontradicted  by  letters,  or 
other  direct  information,  from  the  time  they  had 
left  the  Mandan  towns  on  their  ascent  up  the 
river  in  April  of  the  preceding  year,  1805,  until 
their  actual  return  to  St.  Louis. 

Captain  Lewis,  soon  after  his  return,  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Louisiana,  and  Captain 
Clarke  was  made  general  of  militia  of  the  same 
territory  and  Indian  agent  for  the  vast  region 


he  had  so  successfully  explored.  Both  had  per- 
formed inestimable  services  for  their  country, 
and  were  well  worthy  of  generous  reward.  For 
themselves  they  had  achieved  a  lasting  fame. 
Their  names  will  be  remembered  as  long  as  the 
crystal  waters  of  "Clarke's  fork"  or  deep  flow  of 
"Lewis  river"  roll  to  the  Pacific  sea. 

These  two  early  expeditions,  that  by  Macken- 
zie in  1792,  under  the  auspices  of  a  company 
wholly  British,  and  that  of  Lewis  &  Clarke  in 
1805-6,  under  the  direction  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  are,  perhaps,  the  only  ex- 
peditions across  the  American  continent  entitled 
to  be  classed  as  exploring.  Those  that  followed 
these  entered  more  into  the  fabric  of  the  history 
of  the  regions  by  them  brought  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  civilized  world.  If  any  exception  to 
this  is  allowed  it  should  refer  to  the  expeditions 
of  Captain  Fremont,  to  which,  as  they  were  un- 
der the  auspices  and  at  the  expense  of  the  United 
States  government,  it  seems  proper  that  a  brief 
reference  shall  be  made.  They  had  for  their  ob- 
ject geographical  and  topographical  informa- 
tion. 

John  C.  Fremont  was  a  member  of  the  corps 
of  topographical  engineers  of  the  United  States, 
appointed  from  civil  life,  and  hence  not  enter- 
ing that  service  through  the  door  of  West  Point. 
He  was  restlessly  ambitious,  in  love  with  adven- 
ture and  anxious  to  distinguish  himself.  For  his 
fame  he  fell  on  auspicious  times.  He  solicited  an 
appointment  to  the  command  of  an  expedition 
to  explore  and  map  out  the  country  west  of  Mis- 
souri as  far  as  the  South  Pass  in  the  Rocky 
mountains.  In  accordance  with  his  request 
Colonel  J.  J.  Abut,  chief  of  the  corps  of  topo- 
graphical engineers,  ordered  the  expedition  and 
gave  its  command  to  Captain  Fremont.  As  this 
expedition  of  1842  had  little  more  to  do  with 
Idaho  than  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  one  of  the 
following  year  which  was  continued  in  force  to 
the  dalles  of  the  Columbia  and  by  Captain  Fre- 
mont himself  to  Fort  Vancouver  we  can  dismiss 
it  with  this  brief  reference. 

The  second  expedition,  that  of  1843,  n^e  that 
of  the  preceding  year,  was  organized  at  Captain 
Fremont's  own  solicitation.  He  dictated  its  ob- 
ject, marked  out  its  route  and  selected  its  per- 
sonnel. Its  object  was  to  connect  his  own  sur- 
vey of  the  previous  year,  which. reached  as  far 


16 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


west  as  the  South  Pass,  with  that  of  Commander 
Wilkes  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  ocean.  He 
selected  a  company  of  thirty-three  men,  princi- 
pally of  Creole  and  Canadian  French,  with  a 
few  Americans,  and  leaving  Kansas  landing  on 
the  Missouri  river  on  the  29th  of  May,  reached 
the  termination  of  his  former  reconnoissance  in 
the  South  Pass,  by  the  way  of  the  Kansas,  Ar- 
kansas and  upper  Platte  rivers,  passing  over  the 
spot  where  Denver  now  is,  on  the  I3th  of  Au- 
gust. 

From  the  South  Pass  Captain  Fremont  con- 
tinued his  course  along  the  well  beaten  emigrant 
road  to  Green  river  and  then  to  Bear  river,  mak- 
ing careful  annotations  of  the  topography  and 
geology  of  the  country  over  which  he  passed. 
His  exhaustive  description  of  the  locality  and 
character  of  Soda  or  Beer  springs  has  been  the 
authority  of  all  writers  on  the  topography  and 
mineralogy  of  that  region  from  that  day  to  this. 
It  is  worth  observing  that  his  astronomical  ob- 
servations here  place  Soda  springs  in  latitude  42° 
39'  57"'  or  'ess  than  fifty  miles  north  of  what 
was  then  Mexico  and  consequently  the  same  dis- 
tance in  Oregon.  These  are  the  "Soda  springs" 
now  on  the  line  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  in 
eastern  Idaho. 

The  intention  of  Captain  Fremont  being  to 
explore  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  which  up  to  this 
time  had  been  almost  a  myth  so  far  as  science 
was  concerned,  about  five  miles  west  of  Soda 
springs  he  turned  to  the  left,  while  the  emigrant 
road  bore  away  over  the  hills  to  the  right,  and, 
after  ten  days'  travel,  mainly  down  the  Bear 
river  valley,  on  the  afternoon  of  September  5th 
encamped  on  the  shore  of  a  great  salt  marsh, 
which  he  correctly  concluded  must  be  the  margin 
of  the  lake.  He  reached  the  bed  of  the  lake  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Bear  river,  but  skirted  along 
it  to  the  south  until  he  reached  the  mouth  of 
Weber  river,  near  which  the  party  encamped 
and  made  preparations  for  an  exploration  of 
some  portions  of  the  lake  in  an  inflated  india- 
rubber  boat.  Finally  on  the  morning  of  Sep- 
tember 9,  the  party  launched  out  on  the  then 
calm  surface  of  this  ocean-like  sea,  and  about 
noon  reached  the  shore  of  an  island  where  they 
remained  that  and  the  following  day. 

The  account  given  by  Fremont  of  Salt  Lake 
and  its  surroundings  is  exceedingly  particular  and 


interesting,  but  of  too  great  length  for  these 
pages.  He  remained  upon  the  lake  until  the 
1 2th  of  September,  when  he  resumed  his  jour- 
ney toward  the  Columbia,  returning  along  the 
line  of  his  previous  travel.  The  course  of  the 
company  led  northward,  through  the  range  of 
mountains  that  divide  the  great  basin  of  Salt 
Lake  from  the  waters  that  flow  to  the  Pacific 
through  the  Snake  and  Columbia  rivers.  From 
these  mountains  they  emerged  into  the  valley  of 
what  he  calls  the  Pannack  river,  otherwise  known 
as  the  Raft  river,  down  which  they  followed  until 
they  emerged  on  the  the  plains  of  Snake  river  in 
view  of  the  "Three  Buttes,"  the  most  prominent 
landmarks  of  these  great  plains,  and  reached 
Snake  river  on  the  evening  of  September  22,  a 
few  miles  above  the  American  Falls. 

From  this  point  the  reconnoissance  of  Captain 
Fremont  was  down  the  valley  of  Snake  river, 
along  the  course  afterward  so  familiar  to  the 
emigrants,  sweeping  to  the  south  along  the  foot 
of  the  Goose  Creek  mountains,  several  miles  dis- 
tant from  Snake  river,  for  all  the  distance  in 
which  it  runs  through  the  deeply  cut  basaltic 
gorge,  in  which  are  situated  its  greatest  curios- 
ities, the  Twin  falls  and  the  great  Shoshone  falls, 
the  existence  of  both  of  which  was  unknown  to 
white  men  until  ten  years  later  than  Captain 
Fremont's  explorations.  He  crossed  the  river  to 
the  north  side  some  miles  below  "Fishing"  or 
Salmon  falls,  thence  to  the  Boise  river,  striking 
that  stream  near  the  present  site  of  the  city  of 
Boise,  and  via  old  Fort  Boise,  where  he  re- 
crossed  the  Snake  river  to  the  south,  and  so 
westward  through  Powder  river  valley  and 
Grande  Ronde  valley  to  the  Columbia  river, 
which  he  reached  at  Walla  Walla,  now  Wallala, 
on  the  25th  of  October.  In  this  entire  distance 
many  careful  and  frequent  astronomical  observa- 
tions were  taken,  latitudes  and  longitudes  were 
fixed,  and  the  country  very  accurately  described 
topographically. 

Fremont  continued  his  journey  down  the 
banks  of  the  Columbia,  and  on  the  4th  of  No- 
vember reached  The  Dalles.  Leaving  most  of  his 
party  at  this  point,  Captain  Fremont  himself  con- 
tinued his  journey  down  the  river,  and  in  a  few- 
days  reached  Vancouver,  where  his  westward 
journey  terminated. 

Completing  the  outfit  for  his  proposed  winter 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


17 


journey  toward  the  states,  Captain  Fremont  re- 
turned up  the  Columbia  to  The  Dalles,  arriving  at 
that  place  on  the  afternoon  of  the  i8th  of  Novem- 
ber. From  this  point  he  proposed  to  begin  his 
return  expedition.  The  route  selected  would  lead 
him  southward,  east  of  the  Cascade  range,  clear 
through  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and 
then,  by  a  south  and  eastward  wheel,  through 
the  Mexican  territory,  including  a  continued  sur- 
vey of  the  valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  back 
again  to  the  frontiers  of  Missouri.  Those  ac- 
quainted with  the  region  he  expected  to  travel 
need  not  be  told  that  few  explorers  ever  ven- 
tured on  a  more  perilous  expedition  than  was 
this  at  the  season  of  the  year  in  which  he  under- 
took it.  The  country  was  unknown,  except  that 
it  was  a  vast  region  of  bleak  and  open  deserts,  of 
vast  and  rocky  ranges  of  mountains;  that  its  in- 
habitants were  among  the  lowest  and  most  sav- 
age of  human  beings,  and  that  there  was  in  it 


little  that  could  be  used  for  the  support  of  life. 
It  was  a  bold,  brave  venture  these  men  made.  It 
was  on  the  25th  day  of  November  before  they 
were  ready  to  set  out  from  The  Dalles,  and  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  enter  into  details  concern- 
ing their  return  journey,  of  which  full  record  has 
been  made  in  various  compilations. 

The  publication  of  the  journal  of  these  expedi- 
tions of  Captain  Fremont,  in  1845,  awakened  a 
much  deeper  interest  in  the  Oregon  country  than 
ever  before  existed,  and  his  descriptions  of  the 
route  from  the  Missouri  river  to  Fort  Vancouver, 
in  the  very  heart  of  Oregon,  was  of  great  value 
to  the  great  emigrations  that  crossed  the  plains 
from  1843  onward.  His  descriptions  were  re- 
markably accurate,  and  his  maps  of  the  routes 
traveled  most  scientifically  correct,  and  these  con- 
siderations entitle  his  explorations  to  this  brief 
reference  in  a  history  of  Idaho. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


RIVAL  CLAIMS  AND  PRETENSIONS. 


THE  claims  of  the  European  nations  to 
ownership  of  the  lands  and  resources  of 
America  rested  on  a  somewhat  flimsy 
basis  in  right.  Its  morality  was  that  of  might. 
There  was  a  quasi  yielding  to  these  claims  as 
against  each  other  on  grounds  of  discovery  ami 
formal  occupancy.  At  the  same  time  not  one  of 
these  powers  stopped  for  a  moment  to  consider 
what  rights  of  these  people  that  were  found  there 
when  they  came  would  be  violated  by  their  as- 
sumptions. Barbaric  nations  never  had  any 
rights  that  nations  calling  themselves  civilized 
have  felt  bound  to  respect.  England,  France, 
and  Spain  were,  as  relates  to  what  were  termed 
barbaric  nations,  the  freebooters  of  the  world. 
America  was  a  field  for  civilized  rapine  worthy  of 
the  struggle  of  these  racial  giants.  Under  some 
forms  of  treaty,  designed  mostly  by  either  party 
to  limit  the  pretensions  of  the  other,  but  as  far 
as  possible  leaving  itself  free  to  enlarge  its  own 
claims  as  it  might  have  power  to  enforce  them, 
these  powers  moved  forward  first  in  the  agreed 
division  of  the  area  of  North  America  among 
themselves,  and  then  in  using  the  allotted  areas 
as  the  small  change  that  settled  the  balances  of 
peace  and  war  in  continental  Europe.  Plenipo- 
tentiaries sat  in  European  capitals,  five  thousand 
miles  away  from  the  regions  most  interested,  and 
arbitrated  American  destinies.  In  this  way 
America  became  the  real,  though  passive,  ar- 
biter of  the  world's  new  era.  It  was  what  Provi- 
dence had  thrown  into  the  balances  of  history  to 
poise  ultimately  its  beam  for  the  equities  and 
liberties  of  humanity.  Let  us  see  how  the  ques- 
tion stood  two  hundred  years  after  the  Spanish 
navigator  had  lifted  the  veil  of  the  sea  from  the 
fair  face  of  this  new  land. 

When  the  treaty  of  Ryswick,  in  1697,  gave 
some  definition  to  the  claims  of  France  and  Spain 
and  Russia  in  the  New  World,  Spain  claimed  as 
her  share  of  North  America  all  the  Pacific  coast 
from  Panama  to  Nootka  sound,  or  Vancouver 


island.  Her  pretensions  covered  the  coasts,  bays, 
islands,  fisheries,  and  extended  inland  indefinite- 
ly. Part  of  this  claim  was  alleged  on  the  ground 
of  discovery  by  the  heroic  De  Soto  and  others; 
and  all  of  them  were  based  on  discovery  under 
the  papal  bull  of  Alexander  VI.,  in  1493.  This 
bull  or  decree  gave  "to  the  discoverer  all  newly 
discovered  lands  and  waters.  In  1530  Balboa, 
the  Spaniard,  discovered  the  Pacific  ocean  as  he 
came  over  the  isthmus  of  Panama,  and  so,  in  har- 
mony with  the  pretentious  decree  of  Alexander 
\  I..  Spain  assumed  rights  of  proprietorship  over 
it.  France  held  advantageous  positions  in  Ameri- 
ca for  the  mastery  of  the  continent;  but  as  they 
were  outside  of  the  limits  of  what  was  afterward 
known  as  "Oregon"  they  need  not  be  discussed. 
Russia  at  this  time  held  no  possessions  in  North 
America.  But  Peter  the  Great  was  her  emperor, 
and  his  plans  were  already  matured  for  entering 
the  list  of  contestants  for  empire  in  the  New 
World.  Before  his  plans  could  be  fully  consum- 
mated Peter  the  Great  had  died,  and  his  widow, 
Catherine,  was  on  the  throne  of  Muscovy.  With 
an  enterprise  not  less  aggressive  than  his,  she 
pushed  forward  his  plans  of  commercial  and  ter- 
ritorial aggrandizement  until  northern  Asia  as 
well  as  northern  Europe  had  been  made  com- 
mercially tributary  to  the  designs  of  Russia.  It 
was  but  a  step  from  the  Asiatic  shores  of  the 
northern  Pacific  to  those  of  the  American  main- 
land of  Alaska,  and  Russia  was  in  a  position 
to  take  that  one  step.  The  fur  trade  furnished 
the  occasion.  Prominent,  if  not  indeed  chief, 
among  the  agents  of  Russian  aggression  in  this 
direction  was  Behring  the  Dane,  who  made  three 
voyages  through  the  straits  that  now  bear  his 
name,  and  on  the  third  gave  up  his  life  on  a 
desolate  little  granite  island  that  still  monuments 
his  memory.  But  he,  and  those  associated  with 
him.  had  given,  by  visitation  and  trade,  a  color 
of  title  to  Russia  to  this  northwestern  America. 
At  this  time  England  made  absolutely  no  pre- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


19 


tense  to  territorial  or  even  commercial  rights  on 
the  Pacific  coast,  and  none  on  the  American  con- 
tinent anywhere  except  on  the  Atlantic  slope 
from  Charleston  to  Penobscot  northward,  and 
inland  to  the  watershed  of  the  Alleghanies. 

Thus  stood  the  pretended  foreign  ownership 
of  the  New  World  at  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty 
of  Ryswick  in  1697.  The  intelligent  reader  can- 
not but  have  observed  how  shadowy  were  these 
pretensions,  and  how  vague  in  territorial  limits, 
but  they  were  the  basis  of  claims  that  afterward 
became  more  tangible  and  real,  and  in  their  ulti- 
mate settlement  cost  long  continued  struggles 
of  the  ablest  diplomats  of  the  world,  and  were 
no  mean  elements  in  setting  nations  in  array  of 
arms  against  each  other. 

Though  it  would  be  deeply  interesting  to  trace 
the  movements  of  the  struggling  forces  that 
sought  for  mastery  on  this  "Armageddon"  of 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  our 
limits  preclude  much  more  than  the  merest  out- 
line, and  this  confined  to  what  relates  to  the 
Oregon  country,  of  which  Idaho  was  an  in- 
tegral part.  In  doing  this  we  must  refer 
once  more  to  the  edict  of  Pope  Alexander 
VI.,  who,  on  the  4th  of  May,  1493,  im- 
mediately after  the  return  of  Columbus  from 
his  voyage  of  discovery,  published  a  bull  in 
which  he  drew  an  imaginary  line  from  the  north 
pole  to  the  south,  a  hundred  leagues  west  of  the 
Azores,  assigning  to  the  Spanish  all  that  lay  west 
of  that  boundary,  and  confirming  to  Portugal  all 
that  lay  east  of  it. 

While  the  act  of  Alexander  VI.  had  little  au- 
thority, it  did  have  a  great  influence  on  those  to 
whom  it  was  made,  and  Spain  and  Portugal,  in 
the  glory  of  discovery  and  in  the  pompous  "gift" 
of  the  Pope,  ruled  the  splendid  hour.  Such  was 
the  superstitious  awe  with  which  the  pretensions 
of  the  Pope  were  then  regarded  in  Europe  that 
this  edict  did  very  much  to  control  the  actions 
of  all  the  powers  of  that  continent  in  regard  to 
the  New  World.  Of  course  very  little  was  known 
of  the  geography  of  America  at  this  time,  and 
there  could  really  have  been  no  prescience  of  the 
great  part  it  was  to  play  in  the  future  history 
of  the  world.  Something,  therefore,  of  the  in- 
difference with  which  these  pretences  were 
viewed  must  be  set  down  to  this  fact. 

Through  the  maze  of  boundary  lines,  fixed  on 


imaginary  maps  by  the  negotiations  of  contend- 
ing parties,  rather  than  run  by  the  compass  on 
the  solid  earth,  and  which  involved  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  the  ultimate  title  to  the  Oregon 
country,  we  shall  not  attempt  to  lead  our  read- 
ers. It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  France  and 
England  began  to  crowd  Spain  southwardly 
and  westwardly  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  con- 
tinent. 

France  had  established  some  mythical  right  to 
"the  western  part  of  Louisiana,"  which  she  se- 
cretly conveyed  to  Spain  in  1762.  Thirty-eight 
years  thereafter  Spain  reconveyed  the  same  to 
France.  In  1803  France  sold  the  same  territory 
to  the  United  States,  and  practically  disappeared 
from  the  list  of  contestants  for  the  possession  of 
the  empire  on  the  western  continent.  Spain, 
however,  still  held  Florida,  but  when  in  1819  the 
United  States  purchased  that,  she  also  disap- 
peared from  the  same  list,  the  rights  and  claims 
of  both  having  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
United  States. 

It  is  important  that  we  now  restate  the  fact 
that  the  old  Spanish  claim,  which  had  been  ac- 
corded some  international  authority,  extended  on 
the  Pacific  coast  from  Panama  to  Prince  William 
sound,  and  this  entirely  covered  the  Oregon, 
Washington,  Idaho,  and  British  Columbia  of  to- 
day up  to  54'  40".  Presumptuous  as  it  was,  this 
claim  became  one  of  the  most  determining  ele- 
ments in  the  final  settlement  of  what  is  historical- 
ly known  as  the  "Oregon  question." 

The  claims  of  France  to  American  territory 
were  hardly  less  ambitious  and  retentions  than 
those  of  Spain.  They  covered  more  than  the  size 
of  all  Europe.  The  treaty  of  Ryswick  conceded 
these  claims.  But  the  peace  of  Ryswick  was 
brief.  War  soon  followed,  and  the  titles  to  em- 
pire were  written  again  by  the  point'  of  the 
sword. 

Though  the  parties  to  the  struggle  for  the 
possession  of  the  country  of  the  Pacific  north- 
west had  changed,  yet  the  struggle  went  on. 
Little  of  it  was  in  the  territory  in  question.  It 
was  in  the  plots  and  counterplots  of  European 
capitals,  in  Paris  and  London  and  St.  Petersburg. 
It  was  about  the  tables  of  diplomats.  Within  six- 
teen years  of  Ryswick  came  Utrecht,  when  the 
issues  of  war  between  France  and  England, 
waged  chiefly  in  North  America,  brought  Anne 


20 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


of  England  and  Louis  XIV.  of  France  face  to 
face  in  the  person  of  their  embassadors.  The 
aged  and  humbled  Louis  XIV.  gave  up  to  Great 
Britain  the  possessions  of  France  on  the  Atlantic 
slope,  and  thus  yielded  the  morale  of  position  to 
the  Saxon.  Thus  Great  Britain  became  rein- 
stated in  place  of  France  over  the  Hudson's  Bay 
basin,  Nova  Scotia  and  Newfoundland.  But 
France  still  held  the  Canadas,  though  they  were 
sandwiched  between  the  northern  and  southern 
possessions  of  Great  Britain.  The  grain  between 
the  upper  and  nether  millstones  could  remain 
unbroken  when  the  stones  were  whirring  as  eas- 
ily as  these  French  provinces  could  remain  in 
peace  in  such  a  position.  In  the  struggles  that 
followed  the  execution  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht, 
in  the  old  world  and  in  the  new,  more  and  more 
the  tide  of  battle  turned  against  France,  in  favor 
of  England.  At  last  the  culmination  of  events 
came.  In  Montcalm  and  Wolfe  the  hopes,  and 
even  a  large  measure  the  destinies  of  France  and 
England,  were  impersonated.  When  they  looked 
into  each  other's  faces  at  Quebec,  standing  at 
the  head  of  their  armies  on  that  great  September 
morn  in  1759,  each  felt  that  was  the  morn  of 
duty, — the  morn  of  destiny  for  themselves  and 
for  their  country.  The  issue  of  that  day  on  the 
plains  of  Abraham  gave  each  general  to  immor- 
tal fame,  but  it  gave  to  England  all  the  terri- 
torial treasures  of  France  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
except  three  small  islands  off  the  coast  of  New- 
foundland. Had  France  not  already,  by  secret 
treaty  with  Spain,  executed  about  one  hundred 
days  before  the  great  transfer  to  Great  Britain, 
alienated  her  Pacific  coast  possessions,  Great 
Britain  would  have  taken  all,  and  this  would  so 
have  changed  the  relations  of  things  that  the 
atlas  of  the  world  would  have  had  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent lining.  Either  the  whole  must  have  gone 
without  controversy  to  the  United  States  of 
America  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  or  the 
title  of  Great  Britain  would  have  been  conceded 
and  unquestionable  to  all  the  territory  between 
California  and  the  Russian  possessions.  In  either 
event  the  story  of  the  history  of  this  coast  would 
have  been  quite  another  book. 

With  the  transfer  of  all  the  claims  of  France 
and  Spain  to  the  territory  on  the  Pacific  coast 
to  the  United  States,  which  was  concluded  in 
1803,  it  would  seem  that  there  was  no  rightful 


contestant  with  the  United  States  for  any  portion 
of  that  territory ;  certainly  not  as  far  north  as  the 
49th  degree  of  latitude.  None  had  appeared  in 
the  negotiations  through  which  this  transfer  was 
made.  The  state  of  the  case  seems  to  have  been 
this:  In  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1713,  between 
the  English  and  the  French,  the  boundary  be- 
tween Louisiana  and  the  British  territory  north 
of  it  was  fixed  by  commissioners,  appointed  un- 
der it  to  run  from  the  lake  of  the  Woods  west- 
ward on  latitude  forty-nine  indefinitely.  When 
France  conveyed  the  territory  of  Louisiana, 
whose  line  had  been  thus  fixed,  to  Spain  in  1762, 
she  also  conveyed  up  to  and  along  this  same 
line  westward,  indefinitely,  on  to  the  Pacific 
coast.  If  she  did  not  convey  to  the  coast,  it  was 
because  Spain  already  had  a  more  ancient  claim 
along  the  coast.  When  Spain,  in  1800,  recon- 
veyed  the  same  to  France,  it  was,  in  the  language 
of  the  third  article  of  the  treaty:  "The  colony  or 
provinces  of  Louisiana,  with  the  same  extent 
which  it  now  has  in  the  hands  of  Spain  and 
which  it  had  when  France  possessed  it."  As 
Spain  had  not  alienated  any  of  the  territory  she 
had  received  from  France,  of  course  she  retro- 
ceded  to  that  power  all  that  she  had  received 
from  her.  When,  therefore,  the  United  States 
made  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  she  purchased 
clear  through  to  the  Pacific  on  the  line  of  the 
49th  parallel  if  that  was  a  part  of  the  original 
cession  of  France  to  Spain,  or,  if  not,  as  Spain 
had  never  ceded  it  to  another  power,  then  to  the 
Spanish  possessions  on  the  Pacific.  It  was  then 
either  American  territory,  made  such  by  the  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana  in  1803,  or  it  was  still  Span- 
ish territory.  From  1800  to  1819  Spain  made 
no  changes  of  ownership,  sovereignty  or  juris- 
diction touching  Oregon.  In  the  "Florida 
Treaty"  of  1819  Spain  ceded  to  the  United  States 
all  her  possessions  north  of  a  line  beginning  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Sabine  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  running  variously  north  and  west  until  it 
reached  the  Pacific  latitude  forty-two,  or  the 
southern  boundary  of  Oregon.  The  third  article 
of  the  treaty  said:  "His  Catholic  Majesty  cedes 
to  the  United  States  all  his  rights,  claims  and 
pretensions  to  any  territory  east  and  north  of 
said  line,  and  for  himself,  his  heirs  and  successors 
renounces  all  claims  to  the  said  territory  for- 
ever." Therefore,  by  the  purchase  of  1803  from 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


21 


France  and  by  the  purchase  of  1819  from  Spain, 
the  United  States  gained  all  pretended  titles  to 
sovereignty  on  the  Pacific  coast  between  the 
forty-second  and  the  forty-ninth  parallels  of  north 
latitude,  the  exact  Pacific  limits  of  the  earlier 
Oregon.  England  at  this  time  advanced  no 
claim  to  sovereignty.  As  late  as  1826  and  1827 
her  plenipotentiaries  formally  said:  ''Great  Brit- 
ain claims  no  exclusive  sovereignty  over  any  por- 
tion of  that  territory.  The  present  claim,  not  in 
respect  to  any  part  but  to  the  whole,  is  limited 
to  a  right  of  joint  occupancy  in  common  with 
the  other  states,  having  the  right  of  exclusive  do- 
minion in  abeyance."  This,  with  the  history  al- 
ready recounted,  leaves  the  title  of  the  United 
States  to  the  Oregon  country  beyond  any  ques- 
tion of  power.  And  with  this  statement  our 
reader  will  be  willing  to  follow  us  through  the 
story  of  diplomatic  negotiations  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  in  regard  to  the 
"Oregon  Question"  as  well  as  the  actions  of  the 
national  legislature  through  the  quarter  of  the 
century  during  which  Great  Britain  succeeded  in 
some  way  in  so  beclouding  the  title  of  the 
United  States  to  the  territory  in  question  and  in 
bewildering  our  diplomats  as  to  well  nigh  secure 
this  vast  Pacific  empire  to  the  crown.  We  shall 
make  this  story  as  brief  as  we  reasonably  can, 
and  be  faithful  to  the  facts  of  history  concerning 
it.  The  diplomacy  was  tedious  and  intricate,  and 
the  action,  tentative  or  completed,  of  the  Ameri- 
can congress,  often  doubtful  and  inconsequent; 
yet  a  careful  resume  of  both  is  a  need  of  Idaho 
history. 

At  the  precise  moment  the  United  States  was 
negotiating  the  treaty  with  France,  in  Paris,  for 
the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  her  commissioners 
were  also  negotiating  one  in  London  for  the 
definition  of  the  boundary  line  between  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  two  countries  in  the  northwest. 
The  negotiators  of  the  two  treaties  were  ignorant 
of  the  action  of  the  others.  When  the  two 
treaties  were  remitted  to  the  senate  of  the  United 
States  for  ratification,  that  for  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana  from  France  was  ratified  without  re- 
striction. That  defining  the  northwest  boundary 
was  ratified  with  the  exception  of  the  fifth  article, 
which  fixed  the  boundary  between  the  lake  of 
the  Woods  to  the  head  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
treaty  was  sent  back  to  London,  the  article  ex- 


punged, and  then  the  British  government  refused 
to  ratify  it. 

In  the  year  1807  another  effort  was  made  at 
negotiation  between  the  two  countries.  A  treaty 
was  agreed  upon  by  the  commissioners,  fixing 
the  line  of  the  forty-ninth  parallel  as  the  bound- 
ary between  the  territory  of  the  two  countries  as 
far  as  their  possessions  might  extend,  but  with  a 
proviso  making  this  provision  inapplicable  west 
of  the  Rocky  mountains.  This  treaty  was  never 
ratified,  Mr.  Jefferson  rejecting  it  without  refer- 
ence to  the  senate. 

In  the  treaty  signed  at  Ghent,  in  1814,  the 
British  plenipotentiaries  offered  the  same  articles 
in  relation  to  the  boundaries  in  question  as  were 
offered  in  1803  and  1807,  but  nothing  could  be 
agreed  upon ;  and  hence  no  provision  on  the  sub- 
ject was  inserted  in  that  treaty. 

In  1818  negotiations  upon  this  subject  were 
renewed  in  London.  The  plenipotentiaries  of 
Great  Britain,  Mr.  Goulborne  and  Mr.  Robinson, 
for  the  first  time  in  all  the  negotiations,  gave 
the  grounds  of  the  pretensions  of  Great  Britain 
to  the  country  in  controversy.  They  asserted 
"That  former  voyages,  and  principally  that  of 
Captain  Cook,  gave  to  Great  Britain  the  rights 
derived  from  discovery;"  and  they  alluded  to 
purchases  from  the  natives  south  of  the  Colum- 
bia, which  they  alleged  to  have  been  made  prior 
to  the  American  Revolution.  They  made  no  for- 
mal proposition  for  a  boundary,  but  intimated 
that  the  Columbia  river  itself  was  the  most  con- 
venient that  could  be  adopted,  and  declared  that 
they  would  not  agree  upon  any  boundary  that 
did  not  give  England  the  harbor  at  the  mouth 
of  that  river  in  common  with  the  United  States. 
Messrs.  Gallatin  and  Rush,  the  American  pleni- 
potentiaries, made  a  moderate,  if  not  a  timid, 
reply  to  the  intimations  of  Great  Britain.  The 
final  conclusions  reached  on  this  subject  were 
announced  in  these  words:  "That  any  country 
claimed  by  either  on  the  northwest  coast  of 
America,  together  with  its  harbors,  bays,  and 
creeks,  and  the  navigation  of  all  rivers  within 
the  same,  be  free  and  open,  for  the  term  of  ten 
years,  to  the  subjects,  citizens  and  vessels  of  the 
two  powers,  without  prejudice  to  any  claim 
which  either  party  might  have  to  any  part  of  the 
country."  This  was  the  celebrated  "Joint  Occu- 
pancy" treaty. 


22 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


It  must  be  confessed  that  the  adoption  of  this 
article  of  "joint  occupancy"  gave  Great  Britain 
a  decided  advantage  in  the  Oregon  controversy. 
First,  it  conceded  that  she  had  some  sort  of  a 
claim  to  the  country,  a  claim  that  stood  for  no 
less,  even  if  it  stood  for  no  more,  than  that  of 
the  United  States.  Secondly,  she  was  on  the 
ground  in  much  greater  force  in  her  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  and  her  Northwest  Company, 
united  into  one  of  the  strongest  commercial  cor- 
porations in  the  world,  and  having  all  the  ele- 
ments in  itself  of  political  propagandism.  With 
her  advantages  in  trade,  her  strong  semi-political 
occupation  of  the  country  by  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  Messrs.  Gallatin  and  Rush  should 
have  known  that  she  would  be  able  to  drive  all 
American  enterprises  from  the  country  before 
the  ten  years  were  gone.  Great  Britain  knew 
this;  intended  to  do  so,  and  did  it.  One  of  the 
wonders  of  the  historian  is  that  such  a  treaty 
could  ever  have  been  approved  by  an  American 
president,  or  ratified  by  the  senate  of  the  United 
States. 

The  session  of  the  congress  of  the  United 
States  for  1820-21  was  made  remarkable,  espe- 
cially in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  as  the 
first  at  which  any  proposition  was  made  for  the 
occupation  and  settlement  of  the  country  ac- 
quired from  France  and  Spain  on  the  Columbia 
river.  It  was  made  by  John  Floyd,  a  representa- 
tive from  Virginia,  an  ardent  and  very  able  man, 
and  strongly  imbued  with  western  feelings.  His 
attention  was  specially  called  to  the  subject  by 
some  essays  of  Thomas  H.  Benton,  just  then  ap- 
pearing in  the  field  of  national  politics,  as  sena- 
tor-elect from  Missouri,  and  he  resolved  to  bring 
the  matter  to  the  attention  of  congress.  He 
moved  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of 
three  to  consider  and  report  on  the  subject.  The 
committee  was  granted,  more  out  of  courtesy  to 
an  influential  member  of  the  house  than  with  any 
expectation  of  favorable  results.  General  Floyd 
was  made  chairman,  with  Thomas  Metcalf.  of 
Kentucky,  and  Thomas  V.  Swearingen,  of  Vir- 
ginia, associated  with  him.  In  six  days  a  bill 
was  reported,  "To  authorize  the  occupation  of 
the  Columbia  river,  and  to  regulate  trade  and  in- 
tercourse with  the  Indian  tribes  thereon."  They 
accompanied  the  bill  with  an  elaborate  and  able 
report  in  support  of  the  measure.  The  bill  was 


treated  with  parliamentary  courtesy,  read  twice, 
but  no  decisive  action  was  taken.  But  the  sub- 
ject was  before  congress  and  the  nation,  and  that 
was  much  gained. 

In  studying  the  reasons  assigned  at  that  time, 
by  the  committee,  and  by  such  men  as  Benton 
and  Linn,  why  the  proposed  action  should  be 
taken,  one  is  impressed  with  the  clear  foresight 
of  their  prophetic  minds  as  to  the  future  history 
of  this  great  northwest.  To  the  great  part  of 
their  contemporaries  their  views  were  wild  va- 
garies and  their  propositions  extravagant  and 
chimerical;  to  us  they  are  a  fulfilling  and  ful- 
filled history. 

The  Oregon  question  slumbered  in  congress 
until  1825,  when  Senator  Benton  introduced  a 
bill  into  the  senate  to  enable  the  president,  Mr. 
Monroe,  to  possess  and  retain  the  country.  The 
bill  proposed  an  appropriation  to  enable  the 
president  to  act  efficiently,  with  army  and  navy. 
In  the  discussion  of  this  bill  the  whole  question 
of  title  to  Oregon  came  up,  and,  in  reply  to  Mr. 
Dickinson,  of  New  York,  who  opposed  the  bill, 
Mr.  Benton  made  a  speech  which  entirely  met 
all  objections  against  the  proposed  action,  and 
thoroughly  answered  all  the  pretensions  of  Great 
Britain  in  relation  to  the  country.  The  bill  did 
not  pass,  but  fourteen  senators  voted  for  it.  The 
action  of  Senator  Benton  on  the  bill  showed 
very  clearly  that  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  as- 
serting the  rights  of  the  United  States  to  Oregon 
was  rapidly  increasing.  The  ten  years  of  joint 
occupancy,  provided  for  in  the  treaty  of  1818, 
were  drawing  toward  a  close,  and  a  strong  and 
intelligent  part  of  our  national  legislators,  under 
the  lead  of  Senator  Benton,  was  opposed  to  re- 
newing that  provision.  The  reasons  on  which 
these  views  were  based  were  never  invalidated, 
but  were  the  final  grounds  on  which  the  United 
States  won  her  ease  and  secured  Oregon.  They 
were  these: 

The  title  to  Oregon  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  rests  on  an  irrefragable  basis.  First:  The 
discovery  of  the  Columbia  river  by  Captain  Gray 
in  1792.  Second:  The  purchase  of  its  territory 
of  Louisiana,  which  included  Oregon,  from 
France  in  1803.  Third:  The  discovery  of  the 
Columbia  river  from  its  head  to  its  mouth  by 
Lewis  and  Clarke  in  1806.  Fourth:  The  settle- 
ment of  Astoria  in  1811.  Fifth:  The  treatv  with 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


23 


Spain  in  1819.  Sixth:  Contiguity  of  settlement 
and  possession. 

The.  next  step  in  the  negotiations  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  was  the 
proposition,  in  1828,  at  the  end  of  the  ten  years 
of  joint  occupancy,  to  renew  the  terms  of  the 
convention  for  an  indefinite  period,  determinablc 
on  one  year's  notice  from  either  party  to  the 
other.  Mr.  Gallatin  was  the  sole  negotiator  of 
this  renewed  treaty  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  his  work  was  sustained  by  the  ad- 
ministration then  in  power, — that  of  John  Ouincy 
Adams.  The  treaty  met  strong  opposition  in  the 
senate,  led  by  that  steadfast  and  intelligent  friend 
of  Oregon,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  but  it  was  rati- 
fied ;  and  thus  England  was  indefinitely  continued 
in  her  position  of  advantage  over  the  United 
States  in  the  territory  in  question. 

From  1828  to  1842,  "joint  occupation"  was  the 
law  of  the  land  so  far  as  the  United  States  was 
concerned,  while  "British  occupation"\vas  the  fact 
so  far  as  Oregon  was  concerned.  Every  attempt 
of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  establish 
commercial  enterprises  in  the  valley  of  the  Co- 
lumbia had  been  frustrated  and  defeated  by  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  the  potent  representa- 
tives of  British  interests  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
Astor's  great  plans,  conceived  in  a  broad  intel- 
ligence prosecuted  at  enormous  expense,  and 
representing  American  interests  in  Oregon,  had 
failed.  Wyeth  had  sunk  a  fortune  between  the 
Rocky  mountains  and  the  Pacific,  and  all  other 
Americans  who  had  adventured  kindred  enter- 
prises had  been  equally  unfortunate,  ana  after  a 
quarter  of  a  century  of  "joint  occupancy"  Eng- 
land had  almost  exclusive  possession  of  Oregon. 

What  is  known  as  the  "Ashburton-Webster 
Treaty"  was  negotiated  at  Washington,  in  1842, 
said  Ashburton  being  the  sole  negotiator  on  the 
part  of  England,  and  Mr.  Webster,  then  secretary 
of  state  under  President  Tyler,  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States.  Said  Ashburton  was  Mr. 
Alexander  Baring,  head  of  the  great  banking 
house  of  Baring  &  Brothers,  and  was  a  very 
astute  and  able  man,  and  a  finished  diplomat. 
His  mission  was  special,  and  though  Mr.  Fox 
was  then  the  resident  British  minister  at  Wash- 
ington, so  thoroughly  did  the  government  trust 
Lord  Ashburton  that  even  Mr.  Fox  was  not 
joined  in  the  mission.  Neither  did  the  president 


associate  any  one  with  Mr.  Webster.  The  Eng- 
lish plenipotentiary  came,  professedly,  to  settle 
all  questions  between  the  United  States  and 
England,  a  chief  one  of  which  was  the  "Oregon 
Question."  The  United  States  wished  it  settled. 
England  wished  it  adjourned:  and  the  wishes  of 
England  prevailed.  What  conferences,  if  any, 
were  held  between  Mr.  Webster  and  Lord  Ash- 
burton about  anything  further  than  the  adjourn- 
ment of  this  question,  does  not  appear  in  any 
record,  and  about  the  only  reference  to  it  made  of 
record  is  the  statement  of  the  president  that  there 
were  some  "informal  conferences"  in  relation  to 
it,  and  in  his  message  communicating  the  treaty 
to  the  senate,  that  "there  is  no  probability  of  com- 
ing to  any  agreement  at  present." 

The  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  senate  on  the 
26th  day  of  August,  1842.  After  its  ratification 
by  the  queen  of  England,  and  its  proclamation 
as  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  on  the  loth  day 
of  November,  England  was  more  firmly  in- 
trenched, so  far  as  law  was  concerned,  in  her 
claims  and  pretensions  to  Oregon  than  ever  be- 
fore. But  while  plenipotentiaries  temporized  and 
compromised,  and  executives  and  senates  moved 
at  a  laggard  pace  on  such  great  questions,  events 
hastened.  The  people  took  up  the  question  and 
went  before  the  government.  What  they  deter- 
mined, the  government  must  soon  affirm.  So 
fully  did  the  question  which  the  late  treaty  had 
postponed  occupy  the  public  mind,  even  during 
the  pendency  of  the  negotiation  of  that  treaty, 
that,  had  the  ear  of  Mr.  Webster  been  nearer  the 
heart  of  the  people,  he  would  surely  have  under- 
stood that  adjournment  of  the  question  by  him- 
self and  Lord  Ashburton  meant  anything  rather 
than  a  suppression,  or  even  a  postponement,  of  it 
from  public  debate.  The  newspapers  took  it  up, 
and  it  was  thus  brought  to  the  boys  and  girls, 
fathers  and  mothers  on  the  hearthstones  of  the 
million  homes  of  the  country.  The  sentiments 
of  the  leaders  of  political  action  in  our  national 
legislature,  as  those  sentiments  appeared  in  the 
debates  of  the  senate  on  the  question  of  the  rati- 
fication of  the  Webster-Ashburton  treaty,  were 
criticised,  approved  or  condemned  by  the  people 
in  all  the  land.  One  sentiment  was  for  the  ratifi- 
cation, with  postponement  of  the  Oregon  ques- 
tion and  its  easy  forbearance  with  the  crafty  and 
insidious  policy  of  England;  the  other  was  for 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  rejection  of  the  treaty,  a  withdrawal  of  the 
United  States  from  joint  occupancy,  and  an  act 
of  colonization  which  would  assume  the  full  sov- 
ereignty of  the  United  States  over  the  territory 
in  question  by  granting  lands  to  emigrants,  and 
otherwise  encouraging  their  settlement  in  Ore- 
gon. Representing  the  first  class,  and  speaking 
for  it,  as  well  as  for  Mr.  Webster,  the  negotiator 
of  the  treaty,  was  Mr.  Rufus  Choate,  senator 
from  Massachusetts,  who  spoke  in  his  place  in 
the  senate  as  follows:  "Oregon,  which  a  grow- 
ing and  noiseless  current  of  agricultural  immigra- 
tion was  filling  with  hands  and  hearts  the  fittest 
to  defend  it — the  noiseless,  innumerous  move- 
ment of  our  nation  westward.  *  *  We  have 
spread  to  the  Aueghanies,  we  have  topped  them, 
we  have  diffused  ourselves  over  the  imperial  val- 
ley beyond ;  we  have  crossed  the  father  of  rivers ; 
the  granite  and  ponderous  gates  of  the  Rocky 
mountains  have  opened,  and  we  stand  in  sight 
of  the  great  sea.  *  *  Go  on  with  your  negotia- 
tions and  emigration.  Are  not  the  rifles  and  the 
wheat  growing  together,  side  by  side?  Will  it 
not  be  easy,  when  the  inevitable  hour  comes,  to 
beat  back  ploughshares  and  pruning  hooks  into 
their  original  forms  of  instruments  of  death? 
Alas,  that  that  trade  is  so  easy  to  learn  and  so 
hard  to  forget!" 

This  was  beautifully  said,  and  it  had  a  certain 
amiability  about  it  that  commended  it  to  the  fa- 
vorable thought  of  many.  Still  it  was  far  from 
representing  the  views  of  those  who,  from  the 
beginning  of  the  diplomatic  struggle  with  Great 
Britain,  had  been  the  steadfast  and  radical  ad 
vocates  of  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  the 
possession  of  Oregon.  Their  views  were  better 
expressed  by  Senator  Benton,  who  on  the  "Ore- 
gon Colonization  Act"  closed  a  speech  of  great 
vigor  and  power  by  saying: 

"Time  is  invoked  as  the  agent  that  is  to  help 
us.  Gentlemen  object  to  the  present  time,  refer 
us  to  future  time,  and  beg  us  to  wait,  and  rely 
upon  time  and  negotiations  to  accomplish  all  our 
wishes.  Alas!  Time  and  negotiations  have  been 
fatal  agents  against  us  in  all  our  discussions  with 
Great  Britain.  Time  has  been  constantly  work- 


ing for  her  and  against  us.  She  now  has  the  ex- 
clusive possession  of  the  Columbia,  and  all  she 
wants  is  time  to  ripen  her  possession  into  a  title. 
For  above  twenty  years  *  *  the  present  time 
for  vindicating  our  rights  on  the  Columbia  has 
been  constantly  objected  to,  and  we  were  bidden 
to  wait.  Well,  we  have  waited,  and  what  have 
we  got  by  it?  Insult  and  defiance! — a  declaration 
from  this  British  ministry  that  large  British  in- 
terests have  grown  up  on  the  Columbia  during 
this  time,  which  they  will  protect,  and  a  flat  re- 
fusal from  the  olive-branch  minister  (Lord  Ash- 
burton)  to  include  this  question  among  those 
which  his  peaceful  mission  was  to  settle!  No,  sir; 
time  and  negotiations  have  been  bad  agents  for 
us  in  our  controversies  with  Great  Britain.  They 
have  just  lost  us  the  military  frontiers  of  Maine, 
which  we  had  held  for  sixty  years,  and  the  trad- 
ing frontier  of  the  northwest,  which  we  had  held 
for  the  same  time.  Sixty  years'  possession  and 
eight  treaties  secured  these  ancient  and  valuable 
boundaries;  one  negotiation  and  a  few  days  of 
time  have  taken  them  from  us!  And  so  it  may 
be  again.  The  Webster  treaty  of  1842  has  ob- 
literated the  great  boundaries  of  1783, — placed 
the  British,  their  fur  company  and  their  Indians 
within  our  ancient  limits;  and  I,  for  one,  want 
no  more  treaties  from  the  hand  which  is  always 
seen  on  the  side  of  the  British.  I  now  go  for 
vindicating  our  rights  on  the  Columbia,  and,  as 
the  first  step  toward  it,  passing  this  bill,  and  mak- 
ing these  grants  of  land,  which  will  soon  place 
the  thirty  or  forty  thousand  rifles  beyond  the 
Rocky  mountains,  which  will  be  our  effective 
negotiators." 

The  bill  of  Mr.  Benton  passed  the  senate  by  a 
vote  of  twenty-four  to  twenty-two.  It  went  to 
the  house,  where  it  remained  unacted  upon  dur- 
ing the  session.  But  its  moral  effect  was  to  as- 
sure the  enterprising  people  of  the  west  that  the 
period  of  national  procrastination  and  timidity 
was  well-nigh  over,  and  that  it  would  be  but  a 
very  short  time  before  such  decisive  action  would 
be  taken  as  would  compel  a  settlement  of  the  con- 
troversy with  England. 


CHAPTER  V. 


RIVAL  CLAIMS  AND  PRETENSIONS,  CONTINUED. 


POLLOWING  immediately  in  the  train  of 
the  events  just  related,  came  the  presiden- 
tial election  of  1844.  The  Oregon  ques- 
tion was  too  available  a  question  for  the  uses  of  a 
political  campaign  to  be  kept  out  of  the  prelim- 
inary canvass.  "America  for  Americans,"  "The 
Monroe  Doctrine,"  "Fifty-four  Forty  or  Fight,'' 
became  the  catch-words,  if  not  the  watchwords, 
of  the  hour.  The  politicians  of  one  party  took 
their  cue  from  the  obvious  tendencv  of  this  popu- 
lar cry.  The  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  imme- 
diate occupation  of  Oregon  were  very  skillfully 
united  together  in  the  platform  of  tne  convention 
that  nominated  James  K.  Polk  for  president.  On 
the  Oregon  question  it  declared  that  our  title  to 
the  whole  of  Oregon  up  to  54°  40'  north  lati- 
tude was  "clear  and  indisputable,"  thus  denying 
and  defying  the  pretensions  of  Great  Britain  to 
any  territory  bordering  on  the  Pacific.  The  nom- 
inee of  the  Democratic  party  for  president,  Mr. 
James  K.  Polk,  indorsed  the  platform,  and  the 
canvass  for  him  proceeded  on  that  issue.  Mr. 
Polk  was  elected  over  Henry  Clay,  who,  although 
the  idol  of  his  party  and  one  of  the  most  popular 
of  American  statesmen,  could  not  overcome  the 
excited  state  of  the  public  mind  on  these  ques- 
tions. Thus  the  verdict  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  at  the  election  was  unquestionably 
in  favor  of  Oregon,  even  up  to  54°  40'  north 
latitude.  It  was  well  known,  however,  that  the 
leading  statesmen  of  the  Democratic  party  be- 
lieved the  forty-ninth  degree  to  be  the  line  of 
our  rightful  claim.  Mr.  Benton  had  already  dem- 
onstrated it  on  the  floor  of  the  senate.  Mr.  Cal- 
houn,  as  Democratic  secretary  of  state  for  Mr. 
Tyler,  at  the  very  moment  when  the  Democratic 
convention  was  making  its  platform  and  nomi- 
nating Mr.  Polk  upon  it,  was  engaged  in  a  nego- 
tiation with  the  British  minister  in  Washington, 
and  offering  to  him  a  settlement  of  the  entire 
question  on  the  line  of  the  forty-ninth  parallel. 
Only  some  item  in  regard  to  the  right  of  Great 


Britain  to  navigate  the  Columbia  river  prevented 
the  acceptance  of  this  proposition  by  the  British 
minister,  and  the  settlement  of  the  whole  ques- 
tion at  that  time. 

While,  doubtless,  Mr.  Calhoun  himself  would 
have  been  glad  to  have  concluded  the  Oregon 
question  as  secretary  of  state,  and  as  he  evi- 
dently might  have  done,  politically  he  did  not 
dare  to  do  so.  The  annexation  of  Texas  was  a 
southern  question,  and  the  south  could  be  carried 
for  Mr.  Polk  on  that  issue.  Oregon  was  a  north- 
ern question,  and  the  north  could  be  carried  in 
the  same  way  by  keeping  up  the  cry  of  "Fifty- 
four  Forty  or  Fight."  To  settle  on  49°  would  be 
to  yield  the  question,  and  with  it  the  election  to 
the  Whigs,  and  make  Mr.  Clay  president.  So 
the  Oregon  question  was  not  settled,  as  it  might 
have  been  before  the  election  of  1844,  and  exact- 
ly the  same  line  as  was  adopted  two  years  later, 
after  it  had  achieved  the  political  results  for 
which  it  was  kept  in  the  air  during  the  political 
canvass  of  1844,  namely,  electing  Mr.  Polk  presi- 
dent, and  finally  defeating  the  aspirations  of  Mr. 
Clay  for  that  eminent  position. 

With  this  result  achieved,  and  on  this  ground, 
this  question  could  not  slumber.  Mr.  Polk 
brought  it  promptly  forward  in  his  inaugural  ad- 
dress, reaffirming  the  position  of  the  platform  on 
which  he  was  elected.  The  position  of  the  in- 
augural threw  the  public  mind  of  Great  Britain 
into  a  ferment,  and  the  English  nation  thun- 
dered back  the  cry  of  war.  For  a  year  the  two 
nations  stood  face  to  face  like  gladiators,  with 
uplifted  swords  waiting  for  a  word  that  would 
send  them  breast  to  breast  in  the  fierce  grapple1 
of  war.  History  must  record  that  the  United 
States  must  retreat,  in  her  diplomacy  and  in  her 
legislation,  from  the  oolitical  decision  of  her 
people,  or  the  inevitable  war  must  come.  It  was 
an  embarrassing  and  mortifying  position  for  the 
new  government,  but  it  had  to  be  endured  and 
met  as  best  it  could  be. 


25 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


James  Buchanan  was  now  secretary  of  state. 
He  waited  for  some  time  for  a  proposition  from 
the  British  minister  at  Washington  to  renew  the 
negotiations  on  the  Oregon  question,  but  none 
came.  On  the  22d  of  July,  1845,  he  therefore 
addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Packenham,  the  British 
minister  at  Washington,  resuming  negotiations 
where  Mr.  Calhoun  had  suspended  them,  and 
again  proposed  the  line  of  forty-nine  to  the  ocean. 
This  the  British  minister  refused,  but  invited 
a  "fairer"  proposition.  The  knowledge  of  this 
proposition  on  the  part  of  the  secretary  of  state 
raised  a  political  storm  in  his  party  before  which 
the  administration  cowered,  and,  as  Mr.  Packen- 
ham had  not  accepted  it,  it  was  withdrawn.  The 
president  recommended  strong  measures  to  as- 
sert and  secure  our  title,  and  the  political  storm 
was  measurably  appeased.  Meantime,  the  with- 
drawal of  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  cou- 
pled with  the  recommendation  of  the  president, 
somewhat  alarmed  the  British  people,  and  it  be- 
gan to  be  rumored  that  England  would  propose 
the  line  she  had  before  rejected.  The  position 
of  the  dominant  party  absolutely  required  that 
it  should  make  a  demonstration  according  to  its 
iterated  and  reiterated  promises  to  the  people. 
Accordingly,  a  resolution  determining  the  treaty 
of  joint  occupancy,  and  looking  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  that  position,  was  introduced  into  the 
house  of  representatives,  most  ably  debated — 
John  Quincy  Adams  taking  strong  grounds  in  its 
favor — and,  on  the  Qth  of  February,  1846, 
adopted,  by  the  decisive  vote  of  163  to  54. 

The  resolution  thus  passed  in  the  house  went 
to  the  senate.  Here,  in  the  form  in  which  it 
passed  the  house,  it  encountered  violent  opposi- 
tion, a  strong  contingent  of  the  Democratic  party 
taking  position  against  it.  Among  these,  if  not 
their  leader,  was  Senator  Benton.  General  Cass, 
E.  A.  Hannigan  and  William  Allen  led  the  de- 
bate in  its  favor.  Besides,  Benton,  Webster, 
Crittenden  and  Berrien  made  exhaustive  argu- 
ments against  it.  It  was  well  understood  in  the 
senate  that  President  Polk  thought  it  necessary 
to  recede  from  the  position  of  his  party — the  posi- 
tion on  which  he  had  fought  the  campaign  in 
which  he  was  elected  to  the  presidency — and  ac- 
cept the  line  of  49°  without  a  "fight."  So  the 
resolution  of  the  house  was  defeated  in  the  sen- 
ate. But  the  senate  adopted  another  resolution, 


authorizing  the  president  "at  his  discretion"  to 
give  notice  to  Great  Britain  for  the  termination 
of  the  treaty.  The  senate  resolution  was  con- 
ciliatory, its  preamble  declaring  that  it  was  only 
to  secure  "a  speedy  and  amiable  adjustment  of 
the  differences  and  disputes  in  regard  to  said  ter- 
ritory." 

When  this  resolution  went  to  the  house  that 
body  receded  from  its  former  position,  anrl,  with 
even  a  greater  unanimity  than  had  characterized 
their  action  on  that  which  the  senate  had  rejected, 
adopted  it;  only  forty-six,  and  they  almost  en- 
tirely northern  Democrats,  voting  against  it. 

With  this  action  the  danger  of  the  war  with 
Great  Britain  was  dispelled.  It  was  immediately 
followed  by  a  treaty  between  Mr.  Buchanan,  sec- 
retary of  state,  under  the  direction  of  the  presi- 
dent and  British  minister  at  Washington,  adopt- 
ing the  forty-ninth  parallel  as  the  boundary  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  with  certain  concessions 
touching  the  line  westward  of  where  that  parallel 
strikes  the  gulf  of  Georgia,  and,  for  a  definite 
period,  the  rights  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
and  the  navigation  of  the  Columbia  river  by  the 
British.  Thus  closed  a  controversy  with  Great 
Britain  that  came  very  near  involving  the  two 
nations  in  a  conflict  of  arms.  In  a  war  England 
could  have  possessed,  and,  it  may  not  be  too 
much  to  suppose,  would  have  possessed  Oregon, 
but,  perhaps  at  the  cost  of  the  Canadas.  Had 
the  settlement  been  postponed  a  few  years  longer, 
it  is  not  improbable  that  American  emigrants 
would  have  so  filled  the  country  even  up  to  54° 
40'  and  all  the  country  would  have  been  one.  In 
the  discussion  both  sides  were  partly  right  and 
partly  wrong,  as  history  clearly  demonstrates. 
The  "30,000  rifles"  theory  of  Senator  Benton,  in 
the  hands  of  emigrants,  was  correct.  The  "time 
and  patience"  theory  of  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr. 
Calhoun  was  also  correct.  These  acting  together 
solved  the  "Oregon  question,"  and  on  the  whole, 
as  matters  stood  in  1846,  solved  it  honorably  and 
justly  to  both  the  high  contracting  parties. 

Although  the  Oregon  treaty  was  made,  and 
had  been  proclaimed  as  the  law  of  the  land,  one 
thing  remained  to  be  done  which  became  a  mat- 
ter of  infinite  disagreement,  and  came  very  near 
involving  the  two  countries  in  war  before  its 
final  conclusion.  The  line  was  agreed  upon,  but 
it  was  not  run.  The  trouble  arose  from  a  long- 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


27 


continued  permission,  on  the  part  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, of  the  application  of  the  description  of  the 
line  from  where  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  lati- 
tude strikes  the  gulf  of  Georgia.  Thence,  as  it 
was  worded  in  the  treaty,  it  was  to  follow  "the 
middle  of  the  channel  which  separates  the  con- 
tinent from  Vancouver's  island,"  and  follow  it 
through  the  straits  of  Fuca  to  the  ocean.  No 
map  or  chart  was  attached  to  the  treaty  on  which 
the  line  could  be  traced ;  so  little  was  really 
known  of  the  geography  of  the  gulf  of  Georgia 
that  it  would  have  been  difficult  for  the  commis- 
sioners to  have  traced  the  middle  of  the  channel 
had  one  been  present.  This  left  open  a  ground 
for  dispute  and  diplomatic  finesse,  which  contin- 
ued to  drag  the  controversy  along  through  many 


years,  the  matter  being  finally  submitted  for  final 
arbitration,  without  appeal,  to  Emperor  William 
of  Germany,  on  the  8th  of  May,  1871. 

For  twenty-five  years,  under  the  finesse  of 
British  diplomacy,  the  treaty  of  June  15,  1846, 
had  waited  for  its  execution.  Its  interpretation 
was  the  last  question  of  territorial  right  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  For  over 
ninety-two  years,  the  two  great  English-speaking 
nations  of  the  world  had  been  trying  to  decide 
upon  a  line  that  should  decide  between  them 
from  sea  to  sea,  and  at  Berlin,  and  by  the  Em- 
peror William,  the  last  and  definite  word  was 
spoken,  and  the  controversy  was  ended,  July  21, 
1872. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS. 


RICHARD  Z.  JOHNSON. 


PERHAPS  there  is  no  part  of  this  history 
of  more  general  interest  than  the  record  of 
the  bar.    It  is  well  known  that  the  peace, 
prosperity  and  well-being  of  every  community  de- 
pend upon  the  wise  interpretation  of  the  laws,  as 
well  as  upon  their  judicious  framing,  and  there- 
fore the  records  of  the  various  persons  who  have 
at  various  times  made  up  the  bar  will  form  an 
important    part   of   this   work.     A   well   known 
jurist  of  Illinois  said,  "In  the  American  state  the 
great  and  good  lawyer  must  always  be  prom- 
inent, for  he  is  one  of  the  forces  that  move  and 
control  society.    Public  confidence  has  generally 
been  reposed  in  the  legal  profession.    It  has  ever 
been  the  defender  of  popular  rights,  the  cham- 
pion of  freedom  regulated  by  law,  the  firm  sup- 
port of  good  government.     In  the  times  of  dan- 
ger it  has  stood  like  a  rock  and  breasted  the  mad 
passions  of  the  hour  and  finally  resisted  tumult 
and  faction.     No  political  preferment,  no  mere 
place,  can  add  to  the  power  or  increase  the  honor 
which  belongs  to  the  pure  and  educated  lawyer. 
Richard  Z.  Johnson,  of  Boise,  is  one  who  has 
been  honored  by  and  is  an  honor  to  the  legal 
fraternity  of  Idaho.    He  stands  to-day  prominent 
among  the  leading  members  of  the  bar  of  the 
state, — a  position  which  he  has  attained  through 
marked  ability. 

A  native  of  Akron,  Ohio,  he  was  born 
May  21,  1837,  and  is  descended  from  an- 
cestors who  were  early  settlers  of  New  Eng- 
land. On  both  the  paternal  anu  maternal 
sides  representatives  of  trie  families  were  found 
among  the  "minute  men"  who  fought  un- 
der Generals  Putnam  and  Stark  in  the  war  of 
the  Revolution.  Harvey  H.  Johnson,  the  father 
of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Rutland,  Vermont, 
where  his  people  had  resided  for  many  years. 
He  studied  law,  became  a  prominent  attorney 
and  subsequently  removed  to  Akron,  Ohio,  at 


once  taking  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of  that 
city.  He  served  as  its  first  postmaster,  was  for 
a  number  of  years  its  mayor,  and  represented  the 
old  fourteenth  district  of  Ohio  in  the  national 
congress.  He  married  Miss  Calista  F.  Munger, 
also  a  native  of  Rutland,  Vermont,  and  to  them 
were  born  six  children.  The  father  departed  this 
life  in  1896,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-eight 
years,  and  the  mother  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-five. 
Ihey  were  Congregationalists  in  their  religious 
faith  and  were  very  highly  esteemed  people. 

Richard  Z.  Johnson  is  the  eldest  of  the  family. 
He  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Ohio  and  New 
York,  and  pursued  his  professional  course  in  the 
law  department  of  Yale  College,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  the  class  of  1859.    In  St.  Paul,  Min- 
nesota, he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  began 
practice  in  Winona,  that  state,  where  he  remained 
for  five  years,  during  which  time  he  served  for 
two  terms  as  city  attorney.    Subsequently  he  re- 
moved to  Virginia  City,  Nevada,  and  thence  to 
Silver   City,  Owyhee  county,  Idaho,  where    he 
practiced  for  fourteen  years  with  excellent  suc- 
cess.    In   December,    1878,   he   came  to   Boise, 
where  he  has  since  made  his  home.     His  law 
practice  is  large  and  remunerative,  and  has  con- 
nected him  with  the  most  important  litigation 
heard  in  the  courts  of  his  district  through  the 
past  two  decades.     He  has  won  for  himself  very 
favorable  criticism  for  the  careful  and  systematic 
methods  which   he   has    followed.     He   has   re- 
markable powers  of  concentration  and  applica- 
tion, and  his  retentive  mind  has  often  excited  the 
surprise  of  his  professional  colleagues.     As  an 
orator  he  stands  high,  especially  in  the  discussion 
of  legal  matters  before  the  court,  where  his  com- 
prehensive knowledge  of  the  law  is  manifest  and 
his  application  of  legal  principles  demonstrates 
the  wide  range  of  his  professional  acquirements. 
The  utmost  care  and  precision  characterize  his 
preparation  of  a  case  and  have  made  him  one  of 
the  most  successful  attorneys  in  Boise. 


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3 


fr 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Mr.  Johnson  has  aided  largely  in  shaping  the 
public  policy  of  his  city  and  state,  and  his  keen 
discernment  and  study  of  the  public  needs  have 
made  his  efforts  in  this  direction  very  valuable. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  territorial  council  from 
1880  until  1882,  has  been  a  member  of  the  city 
council,  was  attorney  general  of  Idaho  for  two 
terms,  and  was  one  of  the  commissioners  who 
compiled  the  revised  statutes  of  the  state,  in  1878. 
He  has  ever  been  deeply  concerned  in  the  welfare 
and  progress  of  the  city,  especially  along  educa- 
tional lines,  and  has  done  much  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  schools  of  Boise.  He  was  the  author, 
and  secured  the  passage,  of  the  law  creating  the 
independent  school  district  of  Boise,  which  meas- 
ure has  contributed  so  largelv  to  the  splendid 
school  system  of  the  city.  For  fifteen  years  he 
was  a  member  of  the  board  of  education  and 
actively  co-operated  in  every  movement  for  the 
real  good  and  upbuilding  of  the  schools.  Heavy 
demands  are  made  upon  his  time  by  his  pro- 
fessional duties,  but  he  never  neglects  an  oppor- 
tunity to  advance  the  welfare  of  his  fellow  men 
through  public  measures.  His  political  support 
is  given  the  Democracy. 

The  material  interests  of  Boise  have  also  been 
largely  promoted  by  Mr.  Johnson,  who  soon  after 
coming  to  the  city  made  extensive  investments 
in  real  estate.  He  is  now  the  owner  of  much 
valuable  property,  which  he  has  greatly  im- 
proved, erecting  many  pleasant  and  attractive 
residences,  which  he  rents  to  a  good  class  of  ten- 
ants. He  also  built  a  large  brick  office  building, 
where  he  is  located  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession as  the  senior  partner  of  the  firm  of  John- 
son &  Johnson.  He  has  the  largest  private  law 
library  in  the  state,  and  has  deservedly  attained 
an  eminence  at  the  bar  reached  bv  few.  He  is 
president  of  the  Idaho  State  Bar  Association. 

A  portrait  of  Mr.  Johnson  appears  as  frontis- 
piece of  this  volume. 

RICHARD  HARVEY  JOHNSON. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  the  son  and  law 
partner  of  Richard  Z.  Johnson,  subject  of  the  pre- 
ceding review,  was  born  at  Silver  City,  in  Owy- 
hee  county,  Idaho,  on  the  igth  of  July,  1870. 

He  received  his  education  at  the  Boise  high 
school,  and  in  mathematics  and  the  modern  lan- 
guages at  the  Concordia,  in  Zurich,  Switzerland, 


and  in  Greek  and  Latin  under  Professors  Lam- 
bert and  Winneger,  at  Lindau,  in  Boden-See, 
Bavaria.  Returning  to  America,  he  entered  Yale 
University  and  afterwards  eraduated  from  the 
law  department,  with  the  degree  of  LL.  B.,  in 
1892,  just  thirty-three  years  after  his  father  had 
taken  the  same  degree  at  the  same  institution. 
Returning  to  Idaho,  he  entered  into  partnership 
with  his  father,  in  the  nractice  of  the  law  at  Boise 
City,  the  capital  of  the  state,  with  whom  he  is 
still  associated. 

At  the  general  election  in  1896,  Mr.  Johnson 
was  elected  to  the  house  of  representatives  of  the 
fourth  session  of  the  state  legislature,  as  a  Demo- 
crat, and  served  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
state  affairs. 

JOSEPH  W.  HUSTON. 

The  historv  of  a  state  as  well  as  that  of  a  nation 
is  chiefly  a  chronicle  of  the  lives  and  deeds  of 
those  who  have  conferred  honor  and  dignity 
upon  society.  The  world  judges  the  character  of 
a  community  by  those  of  its  representative  citi- 
zens, and  yields  its  tributes  of  admiration  and 
respect  for  the  genius  or  learning  or  virtues  of 
those  whose  works  and  actions  constitute  the 
record  of  a  state's  prosperity  and  pride.  Among 
the  distinguished  citizens  of  Idaho  is  Judge 
Joseph  Waldo  Huston,  of  Boise,  who  holds  dis- 
tinctive precedence  as  an  eminent  lawyer  and 
jurist,  as  a  statesman,  as  a  man  of  high  scientific 
and  literary  attainments,  a  valiant  and  patriotic 
soldier  and  as  one  who  occupied  a  most  unique 
and  trying  position  in  an  important  epoch  in  our 
judicial  history,  in  which  connection  he  bore 
himself  with  such  signal  dignity  and  honor  as  to 
gain  the  respect  of  all. 

Judge  Huston  was  born  in  Painesville,  Ohio, 
April  10,  1833.  On  the  paternal  side  his  ances- 
tors were  from  county  Tyrone,  Ireland,  and  were 
early  settlers  in  the  state  of  New  Hampshire. 
The  military  record  is  one  of  which  the  family 
has  every  reason  to  be  proud.  The  grandfather 
of  the  Judge  valiantly  aided  in  the  struggle  for 
independence,  and  his  father,  Caleb  C.  Huston, 
defended  the  new  republic  in  the  second  war  with 
England,  after  which  he  emigrated  to  Ohio  at  an 
early  day.  There  he  married  Pamelia  Hall,  whose 
people  were  also  early  settlers  of  New  York  and 
northern  Ohio.  By  this  marriage  were  born  seven 


30 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


sons  and  a  daughter.  Four  of  the  sons  loyally 
served  their  country  in  defense  of  the  Union  dur- 
ing the  Civil  war,  and  one  of  the  number  was 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Perryville,  Kentucky. 

Judge  Huston  was  educated  in  Kalamazoo, 
Michigan,  studied  law  under  the  direction  of  ex- 
Senator  Stuart,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1857, 
and  soon  afterward  removed  to  Paw  Paw,  Michi- 
gan, where  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
chosen  profession  until  April,  1861.  In  the 
meantime  he  had  been  closely  studying  the 
questions  arising  out  of  the  slavery  conditions  of 
the  south,  and  when  war  seemed  imminent,  had 
resolved  to  defend  the  Union  if  the  call  was  issued 
for  volunteers.  Accordingly,  when  Fort  Sumter 
was  fired  upon  and  President  Lincoln  asked  for 
the  aid  of  loyal  men  in  crushing  out  the  rebellion 
in  its  infancy.  Judge  Huston  went  to  the  front 
as  a  member  of  the  Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry.  He 
assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  regiment,  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  and  after- 
ward to  major.  He  served  with  distinction  until 
1863.  when,  on  account  of  physical  disability,  he 
was  mustered  out  of  the  service.  His  bravery, 
however,  was  made  manifest  on  southern  battle- 
fields, and  with  an  honorable  military  record  he 
returned  home. 

As  soon  as  he  had  sufficiently  recovered,  Judge 
Huston  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  and  in  1869 
was  appointed  by  President  Grant  to  the  posi- 
tion of  United  States  attorney  for  Idaho.  He  at 
once  came  to  this  state,  and  for  nine  years,  until 
1878,  filled  that  position  in  a  most  satisfactory 
and  acceptable  manner.  He  then  resumed  the 
private  practice  of  law,  which  he  continued  until 
1890,  when  he  was  elected  to  tne  supreme  bench 
of  the  state.  In  1894  he  was  re-elected  for  a 
term  of  six  years.  This  office  he  fills  with  the 
utmost  fidelity  and  fairness.  Some  of  his  decis- 
ions rank  among  the  classics  of  judicial  literature 
and  are  characterized  by  great  clearness  of 
thought  and  originality  of  illustration.  His  de- 
cision in  the  case  of  the  state  versus  Reed  elicited 
much  favorable  comment.  He  laid  great  em- 
ptiasis  upon  the  fact,  frequently  overlooked  uy 
jurists,  that  the  object  of  criminal  courts  was  to 
punish  criminals,  not  to  furnish  them  means  of 
escaping  punishment.  The  Portland  Oregonian 
published  a  large  part  of  the  decision,  and  had 
an  editorial  on  the  subject  under  the  caption,  "A 


Decision  Long  Due,"  in  which  the  decision  was 
highly  commended,  especially  because  it  came 
from  one  of  the  younger  state  supreme  courts. 

Judge  Huston  has  been  a  lifelong  Republican, 
but  differs  from  his  party  on  the  money  question, 
having  long  been  an  ardent  bimetallist.  He  was 
a  delegate  to  the  silver  convention  held  in  Hel- 
ena, Montana,  in  1892,  was  a  delegate  to  the 
American  Bimetallist  League  in  1893,  and  for 
several  years  has  been  vice  president  of  the  latter 
organization.  In  1896  he  supported  Mr.  Bryan 
for  the  presidency  with  great  ability  and  zeal. 
He  is  a  man  of  scholarly  attainments  and  broad 
literary  culture,  possesses  a  very  fine  library  and 
is  a  thorough  Shakespearean  student. 

In  1855  Judge  Huston  was  happily  married  to 
Miss  Lucia  Wilder,  of  Kalamazoo,  who  departed 
this  life  in  1863,  leaving  a  daughter,  who  is  now 
Mrs.  Carrie  Leonard,  of  Boise.  In  1864  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Frances  Collister,  of  Willoughby.Ohio, 
and  for  thirty-four  years  they  have  now  traveled 
life's  journey  together.  They  have  a  son,  Collis- 
ter P.,  a  graduate  of  the  Hahnemann  Medical 
College,  of  San  Francisco,  and  now  with  the 
First  Idaho  Volunteers,  having  enlisted  for  ser- 
vice in  the  Spanish-American  war.  The  Judge 
has  a  very  pleasant  home  in  Boise,  the  center  of 
a  cultured  society  circle, — and  there  hospitality 
reigns  supreme. 

He  is  largely  interested  in  mining  in  Washing- 
ton county,  Idaho,  but  the  practice  of  law  has 
been  his  real  life-work,  and  at  the  bar  and  on 
the  bench  he  has  won  marked  distinction.  A 
man  of  unimpeachable  character,  of  unusual  in- 
tellectual endowments,  with  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  law,  patience,  urbanity  and  in- 
dustry. Judge  Huston  took  to  the  bench  the  very 
highest  qualifications  for  this  most  responsible 
office  of  the  state  government ;  and  his  record 
as  a  judge  was  in  harmony  with  his  record  as  a 
man  and  a  lawyer,  distinguished  by  unswerving 
integrity  and  a  masterful  grasp  of  every  problem 
that  presented  itself  for  solution. 

JOHN  HAILEY. 

The  well-known  pioneer  and  statesman  of 
Idaho  from  whom  the  town  of  Hailey  takes  its 
name,  is  now  a  resident  of  Bellevue,  this  state. 
He  has  been  twice  elected  a  delegate  to  con- 
gress from  this  territory,  and  is  one  of  the 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


31 


best  informed  men  in  the  state  on  national  af- 
fairs. 

Mr.  Hailey  is  a  native  of  Smith  county,  Ten- 
nessee, born  August  29,  1835,  of  Scottish  an- 
cestry and  a  descendant  of  a  family  long  resident 
in  the  Old  Dominion,  his  grandfather,  Philip 
Hailey,  and  his  father,  John  Hailey,  having 
been  both  natives  of  Virginia.  His  father 
married  Miss  Nancy  Baird,  a  native  of  Ten- 
nessee, the  daughter  of  Captain  Josiah  Baird, 
who  had  been  a  captain  in  the  \var  of 
1812. 

Mr.  Hailey  received  his  education  in  the  pub- 
lic schools.  His  father,  with  his  family,  removed 
to  Dade  county,  Missouri,  in  1848,  and  in  1853 
young  John  crossed  the  plains  to  Oregon,  as  a 
member  of  the  Tatuin  company.  When  near 
the  Platte  a  large  company  of  Indians  came  upon 
them  and  made  them  give  up  the  greater  part  of 
their  provisions,  leaving  the  emigrants  short  of 
everything  excepting  bread  and  tea.  At  Rock 
creek  the  Indians  again  swooped  down  upon 
them  and  stampeded  their  horses,  after  which 
they  had  to  drive  the  one  hundred  head  of  cows 
they  had  on  foot. 

The  company  arrived  at  Salem,  Oregon,  in 
October,  1853,  after  a  long  and  tedious  journey . 
of  six  months  and  a  day  from  the  time  they  had 
started.  Mr.  Hailey,  directly  after  his  arrival  at 
Salem,  went  over  to  Coos  bay,  where  he  was 
employed  at  work,  connected  with  which  event 
he  relates  the  following  interesting  incident.  Be- 
ing nearly  out  of  money,  he  applied  for  work  and 
was  told  by  the  employers  that  they  had  all  the 
help  they  needed.  He  offered  then  to  work  for 
his  board  only,  until  he  could  do  better.  They 
told  him  that  all  the  axes  they  had  were  in  use. 
The  ambitious  young  immigrant  then  said  he 
would  buy  an  ax.  With  this  arrangement  he  was 
allowed  to  work  until  Saturday,  and  the  superin- 
tendent then  offered  him  four  dollars  and  fifty 
cents;  but  Mr.  Hailey  declined  it,  saying,  "I 
offered  to  work  for  you  for  my  board  until  I 
could  do  better,  and  mean  to  keep  my  bargain." 
The  boss  then  told  him,  "I  have  put  you  on  my 
pay-roll  at  sixty  dollars  per  month."  Mr.  Hailey 
thereupon  said  he  would  accept  that,  as  that  was 
the  first  chance  he  had  to  do  better.  After  an- 
other week's  work  the  boss  made  him  foreman 
and  allowed  him  one  hundred  dollars  a  month, 


and  this  position  Mr.  Hailey  filled  until  the  job 
was  completed. 

From  there  he  went  to  the  mines  and  was  em- 
ployed at  placer  mining  until  late  in  the  autumn 
of  1854.  Not  meeting  with  satisfactory  success, 
he  proceeded  to  Jackson  county,  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  the  state,  and  worked  on  a  farm  for 
eight  months,  for  J.  B.  Risley,  and  then  he  leased 
the  farm  for  a  year.  At  this  time  the  Indian  war 
of  1855-6  broke  out,  and  Mr.  Hailey  joined  the 
volunteers  and  participated  in  the  first  engage- 
ment on  Rogue  river.  He,  with  the  others,  was 
discharged  in  1856.  He  had  gone  into  the  ser- 
vice as  a  private,  and  was  promoted  as  first  lieu- 
tenant. 

Returning  to  the  ranch,  he  leased  it  again. 
August  7,  this  year  (1856),  he  married  Miss 
Louisa  Griffin,  a  daughter  of  B.  B.  Griffin,  an 
Oregon  pioneer  of  1847.  The  following  year  he 
purchased  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land 
adjoining  the  one  he  had  rented,  obtaining  sixty 
head  of  cattle  with  the  place,  and  remained  there, 
engaged  in  ranching,  until  1862,  when  the  gold 
discoveries  in  what  is  now  Idaho  brought  him 
hither.  He  came  with  a  number  of  sheep  and 
horses.  He  sold  the  sheep  at  Walla  Walla,  and 
went  to  Lewiston  with  the  pack-horses  and  mules 
and  engaged  in  packing  from  Lewiston  to  Flor- 
ence. After  making  two  trips  in  this  service  he 
went  to  the  Yakima,  in  company  with  William 
K.  Ish,  and  located  two  hay  ranches,  and  they 
made  four  hundred  tons  of  hay  each  year.  He 
built  a  flat-boat  eighty  feet  long,  and  on  it  loaded 
the  baled  hay,  which  he  floated  to  Wallula  and 
Umatilla,  and  for  which  he  received  thirty  to 
forty  dollars  per  ton.  To  get  the  boat  back  home 
they  made  a  tow-path  and  hauled  it  back  with 
mules.  When  the  wind  was  favorable  they  hoist- 
ed sails.  In  this  enterprise  the  proprietors  made 
money. 

In  1863  Mr.  Hailey  started  a  saddle  train  from 
Walla  Walla  and  Umatilla  to  Boise,  and  that  was 
the  commencement  of  the  great  stage  business 
which  he  inaugurated  and  in  which  his  name  be- 
came so  noted.  While  in  that  business  he  took 
the  first  pack  train  to  the  Boise  basin  in  winter, 
and  the  first  over  the  Blue  mountains  in  winter. 
He  had  thirty  mules  and  as  many  pack-horses, 
using  large,  strong  horses  without  packs  to  go 
ahead  and  break  the  trail.  It  was  a  great  and 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


hazardous  undertaking-,  but  with  his  energy  and 
courage  he  successfully  accomplished  it.  He  re- 
ceived twenty-six  or  twenty-seven  cents  a  pound 
for  freight,  making  in  one  trip  two  thousand  and 
one  hundred  dollars.  No  other  packer  would 
undertake  the  job. 

In  1864  he  and  Mr.  Ish  placed  a  stage  line 
between  Umatilla,  Placerville  and  Boise,  and  the 
next  year  Mr.  Hailey  bought  his  partner's  inter- 
est in  the  concern.  They  had  rough  times  in 
crossing  streams,  being  obliged  occasionally  to 
convey  the  passengers  over  in  boats.  They  had 
eleven  to  fourteen  passenger  coaches,  using 
four  to  six  horses  with  each.  The  fare  in  the 
summer  time  was  forty  dollars  and  in  the  winter 
sixty  dollars,  and  for  baggage  over  twenty-five 
pounds  they  charged  extra. 

In  1866  Mr.  Hailey  received  from  Ben  Halli- 
day  a  sub-contract  to  carry  the  mail  from  Boise 
to  The  Dalles,  Oregon,  by  way  of  Umatilla,  for 
which  he  received  eighty  thousand  dollars  per 
year,  and  in  connection  with  this  job  he  also  did 
a  good  passenger  business.  In  1868  C.  M.  Lock- 
wood  secured  the  contract  and  stocked  the  road 
from  Boise  to  Ogden.  Soon  afterward  Mr. 
Hailey  bought  the  stock  and  contract  from  Og- 
den to  The  Dalles  and  ran  the  business  of  the 
route  until  July,  1870,  then  sold  out  to  the  North- 
western Stage  Company,  for  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  at  which  time  it  was  a 
fine  line,  well  stocked,  and  made  very  close  con- 
nections, seldom  varying  as  much  as  five  minutes 
from  schedule  time.  After  this  Mr.  Hailey  en- 
gaged in  the  live-stock  and  butchering  business 
in  Boise. 

In  the  year  1872  Mr.  Hailey  was  elected  a  dele- 
gate to  represent  the  territory  of  Idaho  in  the 
Forty-third  congress,  and  after  this  he  was  again 
offered  the  position  by  both  parties,  but  he  de- 
clined it  and  confined  himself  to  his  private  busi- 
ness affairs.  Soon  afterward  he  met  with  some 
heavy  financial  reverses, — having  to  pay  forty 
thousand  dollars  as  a  bondsman  for  other  parties, 
and  losing  about  ten  thousand  head  of  his  sheep 
by  death,  worth  at  the  time  four  dollars  a  head. 
He  had  also  invested  somewhat  heavily  in  Boise 
property,  which  declined  in  value. 

In  1878  he  again  purchased  an  interest  in  the 
stage  business,  in  company  with  Salisbury  and 
Gilmore,  the  line  being  the  same  that  he  had  pre- 


viously owned,  by  this  time,  however,  including 
some  others,  as  those  from  Boise  city  to  Winne- 
mucca,  Nevada,  Boise  to  Boise  Basin,  Blackfoot 
to  Challis,  Arco  to  Ketchum,  Goose  creek  to 
Hailey,  Mountain  Home  to  Hailey,  Mountain 
Home  to  Rocky  Bar,  Roseburg  to  Redding,  Cal- 
ifornia, Redding  to  Yreka,  same  state,  by  way  of 
Scott's  valley,  Redding  to  Weaverville,  and  sev- 
eral others  of  smaller  distances,  making  in  all 
over  two  thousand  miles  of  stage  line.  They 
built  stations  and  had  a  grand  stock  of  horses 
and  coaches,  and  all  these  were  superintended 
by  Mr.  Hailey  himself.  The  consequence  was,  he 
worked  too  hard  and  injured  his  health;  and  soon 
after  this,  too,  the  railroads  began  to  creep 
around  over  the  country,  rendering  the  stock  of 
the  company  of  little  value,  all  having  to  be  dis- 
posed of  at  less  than  a  quarter  of  what  tney  cost. 
This  third  and  last  great  misfortune  greatly  re- 
duced the  resources  of  Mr.  Hailey. 

In  1884  Mr.  Hailey  was  again  elected  a  dele- 
gate to  congress,  and  served  two  years,  being 
active  in  many  improvements  of  the  political  con- 
dition of  his  territory,  especially  in  respect  to 
mail  service  and  the  law  for  settling  the  Indians 
upon  specified  lands  in  severally,  also  in  having 
passed  the  Idaho  "depredation"  bill. 

It  was  in  1879  that  he  located  the  land  on 
which  the  nice  town  of  Hailey  now  stands.  In 
company  with  others,  he  platted  the  land  for  a 
town  and  named  it  Marshall;  but  the  settlers 
would  not  have  it,  and  insisted  on  naming  the 
place  Hailey,  in  honor  of  the  great  pioneer  and 
statesman  who  had  done  so  much  for  Idaho. 

Mr.  Hailey  now  owns  the  Susie  S.  mine,  on 
which  he  has  done  a  considerable  amount  of 
work  by  way  of  development.  It  is  a  gold  prop- 
erty, fifteen  miles  south  of  Bellevue,  and  has  a 
large  low-grade  ledge  forty  feet  wide,  which  as- 
says an  average  of  eight  dollars  per  ton.  In  this 
mine  he  has  a  thousand  feet  of  tunnel  and  shafts, 
and  there  is  in  sight  a  million  tons  of  ore.  Mr. 
Hailey  also  has  a  ranch  of  two  hundred  and  forty 
acres,  on  which  he  is  raising  cattle  and  horses. 

Every  good  citizen  of  Idaho  hopes  that  Mr. 
Hailey's  last  days  will  be  his  best  days,  and  that 
his  gold  mine  may  bring  him  a  fortune  again. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hailey  have  had  eight  children, 
six  of  whom  have  grown  up, — five  sons  and  a 
daughter,  as  follows:  Jesse  C.,  John,  Leona  (now 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


33 


Mrs.  Ross  Carter),  lliomas  G.  (a  graduate  of  the 
Washington  Lee  University,  in  Virginia,  where 
he  took  the  gold-medal  prize  in  his  class  of  1888, 
and  is  now  a  practicing  lawyer  at  Pendleton, 
Oregon),  Burrel  B.  and  George  C.  There  are 
now  thirteen  grandchildren. 

Politically,  Mr.  Hailey  has  been  a  life-long 
Democrat,  and  is  at  present  the  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  state  central  committee.  He  is  a 
man  of  clear  intellect,  thoroughly  posted  in  gov- 
ernmental affairs,  both  state  and  national,  and  is 
sound  on  financial  questions,  an  able  expounder 
of  bimetallism  and  a  very  convincing  speaker  on 
the  rostrum,  having  done  his  party  great  service 
during  the  campaigns.  "Uncle  John  Hailey,"  as 
he  is  familiarly  called,  is  now  serving  as  warden 
of  the  Idaho  state  penitentiary. 

GEORGE  L.  SHOUP. 

It  is  a  well-attested  maxim  that  the  greatness 
of  a  state  lies  not  in  its  machinery  of  govern- 
ment, nor  even  in  its  institutions,  but  in  the 
sterling  qualities  of  its  individual  citizens,  in 
their  capacity  for  high  and  unselfish  effort  and 
their  devotion  to  the  public  good.  Rising  above 
the  heads  of  the  mass  there  has  always  been  a 
series  of  individuals,  distinguished  beyond  others, 
who  by  reason  of  their  pronounced  ability  and 
forceful  personality  have  always  commanded  the 
respect  of  their  fellow  men  and  who  have  re- 
vealed to  the  world  those  two  resplendent  virtues 
of  a  lordly  race, — perseverance  in  purpose  and  a 
directing  spirit  which  never  fails.  Of  this  class 
George  L.  Shoup  stands  as  an  excellent  illustra  - 
tion.  The  goal  toward  which  he  has  hastened 
during  the  many  years  of  his  toil  and  endeavor 
is  that  which  is  attained  only  by  such  as  have  by 
patriotism  and  wise  counsel  given  the  world  an 
impetus  toward  the  good;  such  have  gained  the 
right  and  title  to  have  their  names  enduringly 
inscribed  on  the  bright  pages  of  history. 

George  L.  Shoup  has  been  a  resident  of  Idaho 
since  1866,  has  served  as  chief  executive  of  the 
state,  and  is  now  representing  the  commonwealth 
in  the  United  States  senate.  He  was  born  in 
Kittanning,  Pennsylvania,  June  15,  1836,  and 
traces  his  descent  to  German  ancestors,  who  lo- 
cated in  the  colony  of  Pennsylvania  when  it  was 
a  British  dependency.  Representatives  of  the 


name  fought  for  the  independence  of  the  nation, 
and  also  participated  in  the  war  of  1812.  Henry 
Shoup,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in 
Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  married  Miss 
Anna  J.  McCain,  daughter  of  George  E.  McCain, 
of  the  Keystone  state,  a  gentleman  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent.  The  Shoups  were  industrious 
farming  people,  and  were  faithful  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  church.  The  Senator's  father 
lived  to  be  sixty-five  years  of  age,  and  his  mother 
departed  this  life  when  about  the  same  age.  They 
had  six  sons  and  three  daughters,  of  whom  four 
now  survive.  One  brother  of  our  subject,  T.  S. 
Shoup,  is  now  a  professor  in  the  Iowa  State  Nor- 
mal School,  and  the  other,  J.  M.,  is  United  States 
marshal  of  Alaska. 

Senator  Shoup  was  reared  in  the  county  of  his 
nativity  and  acquired  his  education  in  its  public 
schools.  In  1859  he  crossed  the  plains  to  Pike's 
Peak,  being  one  of  the  first  to  discover  gold  in 
western  Colorado.  He  engaged  in  mining  and 
merchandising,  with  good  success,  until  the  great 
civil  war  broke  upon  the  country,  when  he  en- 
listed in  the  Union  service  as  a  member  of  Cao- 
tain  Baxter's  Company  of  Independent  Scouts. 
During  the  fall  of  that  year  he  was  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  second  lieutenant,  and  in  1862,  when 
his  company  was  assigned  to  the  Second  Colo- 
rado Volunteer  Regiment,  was  made  first  lieu- 
tenant. With  his  command  he  was  engaged  in 
scouting  in  the  borders  of  Texas  and  the  Indian 
Territory;  in  186.3  his  company  was  attached  to 
the  First  Colorado  Cavalry ;  and  in  the  following 
year  he  was  commissioned  colonel  of  the  Third 
Colorado  Regiment.  In  the  spring  of  that  year 
he  was  elected  to  the  convention  chosen  to  frame 
the  state  constitution  of  Colorado,  and  served  in 
this  capacity  during  the  session  of  the  conven- 
tion, and  then  rejoined  his  regiment,  on  the  28th 
of  November.  He  was  in  command  of  his  regi- 
ment at  the  battle  of  Sand  creek,  in  which 
Colonel  Chivington  and  a  detachment  of  his  men 
also  participated.  This  was  a  hard-fought  and 
sanguinary  battle  in  which  four  hundred  Indians 
were  killed.  Both  coloneis  were  afterward  cen- 
sured by  the  United  States  senate,  whicn  had 
been  misinformed  in  regard  to  the  hostility  of 
the  red  men,  the  atrocious  murders  they  were 
committing  and  the  property  they  were  destroy- 
ing. Colonel  Shoup  was  called  to  appear  before 


34 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


an  investigating  committee  in  Washington  the 
following  February,  and  after  giving  his  testi- 
mony to  the  committee  he  was  congratulated  and 
complimented  by  every  one  of  its  members  for 
the  valuable  service  he  performed  for  his  country 
in  that  battle.  Thus  was  he  completely  exoner- 
ated, which  was  very  gratifying  to  him  and  to  the 
men  who  had  jeopardized  their  lives  in  an  en- 
gagement in  which  they  had  severely  punished 
the  Indians  and  freed  that  section  of  the  country 
from  the  lawless  acts  of  the  red  men. 

In  1865  Colonel  Shoup  purchased  a  cattle  train 
for  the  purpose  of  hauling  merchandise  of  his 
own  into  the  far  west,  but  was  induced  to  load 
his  train  with  government  supplies  for  Fort  Lara- 
mie,  at  which  place  he  bought  a  stock  of  goods 
from  a  merchant  who  was  en  route  for  Montana. 
Mr.  Shoup  took  the  goods  to  Virginia  City, 
Montana,  where  he  arrived  in  the  spring  of  1866, 
establishing  a  store  there  and  one  in  the  Salmon 
River  Mining  District,  Idaho,  the  same  year,  and 
the  following  year  surveyed  and  laid  out  the  town 
of  Salmon  City.  Since  then  he  has  made  the 
latter  place  his  headquarters,  and  by  great  in- 
dustry and  honest  endeavor  he  has  become  one 
of  the  most  successful  business  men  of  the  state. 
He  still  carries  on  his  mercantile  interests  and  has 
erected  a  large,  substantial  brick  store  building, 
where  he  is  carrying  on  an  extensive  wholesale 
and  retail  business.  His  reliable  and  systematic 
methods  have  gained  him  the  confidence  of  many 
patrons,  and  he  derives  from  his  mercantile  ven- 
tures a  good  income.  At  various  intervals  he  has 
introduced  fine  thoroughbred  cattle  from  the 
east,  in  this  way  improving  his  own  stock  and 
that  of  the  state.  He  is  likewise  interested  in 
mining  in  Lemhi  county,  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Salmon  river,  and  along  these  various  lines  has 
done  much  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  state. 
He  also  has  broad  farming  lands,  on  which  he 
raises  hay  and  grain  for  his  stock  and  for  the 
market.  He  possesses  keen  discrimination  and 
great  energy  in  business,  and  his  resolution  en- 
ables him  to  carry  forward  to  successful  comple- 
tion whatever  he  undertakes. 

On  the  1 5th  of  June,  1868,  Senator  Shoup  was 
happily  married  to  Miss  Lena  Darnutser,  of 
Iowa,  a  lady  of  Swiss  descent.  Their  union  has 
been  blessed  with  three  sons  and  three  daughters, 
namely:  William  Henry,  who  is  bookkeeper  for 


the  firm  at  Salmon  City,  where  he  resides  with 
his  wife  and  two  children;  George  E.,  who  has 
charge  of  the  farm  and  ranch ;  Walter  C.,  who  is 
a  graduate  of  the  law  department  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, and  is  now  practicing  his  profession  in  Salt 
Lake  City,  Utah,  also  serving  as  first  lieutenant 
of  Company  D,  Colonel  Terry's  regiment,  and 
acting  as  judge  advocate  of  the  court  martial,  at 
Jacksonville,  Florida;  and  Lena  J.,  Laura  M. 
and  Margaret  E.,  all  at  home.  The  two  eldest 
sons  are 'graduates  of  the  Dubuque  (Iowa)  Acad- 
emy. The  family  is  one  of  marked  prominence  in 
Boise,  and  its  members  occupy  enviable  positions 
in  social  circles,  where  intelligence,  culture  and 
refinement  are  the  passports  into  good  society. 
They  have  a  nice  home  in  Boise,  and  its  hospi- 
tality is  enjoyed  by  their  very  extensive  circle  of 
friends. 

Probably,  however,  Mr.  Shoup  is  better  known 
in  connection  with  his  political  service.  He  has 
always  been  an  ardent  worker  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Republican  party  to  which  he  has  ever  given  his 
unwavering  fealty,  influence  and  support.  His 
fellow  citizens,  appreciating  his  fidelity  and  worth, 
elected  him  their  representative  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  territorial  legislature  in  1874;  in 
1878  they  elected  him  to  the  upper  house,  and 
in  1884  he  was  appointed  commissioner  to  the 
World's  Cotton  Centennial  at  New  Orleans.  Sen- 
ator Shoup  at  first  declined  the  Cotton  Centen- 
nial appointment,  but  later,  finding  there  was  no 
one  in  the  territory  who  would  take  the  posi- 
tion, he  finally  accepted  the  appointment  and 
gave  thirty-five  thousand  dollars  to  make  and 
maintain  the  territory's  exhibit  at  the  Exposi- 
tion. The  exhibit  was  the  means  of  giving  the 
world  some  idea  of  what  Idaho  was  at  that  time, 
and  did  more  good  than  all  other  efforts  to  place 
the  name  of  Idaho  where  it  properly  belonged. 
Although  Senator  Shoup  gave  freely  of  his 
means  and  one  year's  time  to  the  project,  he  feels 
that  the  time  and  money  were  not  spent  in  a  lost 
cause. 

In  March,  1889,  he  was  appointed  governor 
of  the  territory,  and  upon  the  admission  of  the 
state  in  1890,  he  was  elected  governor.  In  De- 
cember of  the  same  year  he  was  chosen  to  repre- 
sent Idaho  in  the  United  States  senate,  where 
he  is  now  ably  and  creditably  serving,  taking  an 
active  part  in  the  business  that  is  transacted  in 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


35 


the  council  chambers  of  the  nation.  His  course 
has  ever  been  above  suspicion.  The  good  of  the 
nation  he  places  before  partisanship,  and  the  wel- 
fare of  his  constituents  before  personal  aggran- 
dizement. He  commands  the  respect  of  the  mem- 
bers of  congress  and  the  senate,  but  at  home, — 
in  the  state  of  his  adoption, — where  he  is  best 
known,  he  inspires  personal  friendships  of  un- 
usual strength,  and  all  who  know  him  have  the 
highest  admiration  for  his  good  qualities  of  heart 
and  mind. 

RELF  BLEDSOE. 

The  days  of  chivalry  and  knighthood  in  Eu- 
rope cannot  furnish  more  interesting  or  ro- 
mantic tales  than  our  own  western  history. 
Into  the  wild  mountain  fastnesses  of  the  unex- 
plored west  went  brave  men,  whose  courage 
was  often  called  forth  in  encounters  with  hostile 
savages.  The  land  was  rich  in  all  natural  resources, 
in  gold  and  silver,  in  agricultural  and  commer- 
cial possibilities,  and  awaited  the  demands  of 
man  to  yield  up  its  treasures,  but  its  mountain 
heights  were  hard  to  climb,  its  forests  difficult  to 
penetrate,  and  the  magnificent  trees,  the  dense 
bushes  or  the  jagged  rocks  often  sheltered  the 
skulking  foe,  who  resented  the  encroachment  of 
the  pale  faces  upon  these  "hunting  grounds."  The 
establishment  of  homes  in  this  beautiful  region 
therefore  meant  sacrifices,  hardships  and  ofttimes 
death,  but  there  were  some  men,  however,  brave 
enough  to  meet  the  red  man  in  his  own  familiar 
haunts  and  undertake  the  task  of  reclaiming  the 
district  for  purposes  of  civilization.  The  rich 
mineral  stores  of  this  vast  region  were  thus  added 
to  the  wealth  of  the  nation ;  its  magnificent  for- 
ests contributed  to  the  lumber  industries  and  its 
fertile  valleys  added  to  the  opportunities  of  the 
farmer  and  stock-raiser,  and  to-day  the  northwest 
is  one  of  the  most  productive  sections  of  the  en- 
tire country.  That  this  is  so  is  due  to  such  men 
as  Captain  Relf  Bledsoe,  whose  name  is  insep- 
arably interwoven  with  the  history  of  the  region. 
No  story  of  fiction  contains  more  exciting 
chapters  than  may  be  found  in  his  life  re- 
cord, but  space  forbids  an  extended  account  of 
these. 

He  who  was  to  become  such  an  important  fac- 
tor in  the  development  of  the  northwest  was  born 


in  Henderson  county,  Kentucky,  on  the  i6th  of 
August,  1832.  His  ancestors,  natives  of  Wales, 
came  to  America  at  an  early  period  in  the  colonial 
epoch  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  leading 
events  that  affected  the  colonies.  Five  of  the 
Bledsoe  brothers  fought  throughout  the  struggle 
for  independence.  A  younger  brother,  not  old 
enough  to  enter  the  army,  was  Jesse  Bledsoe, 
father  of  our  subject.  He  was  born  in  Canewood, 
four  miles  from  Framaort,  Kentucky,  and  mar- 
ried Miss  Jane  Baylor,  daughter  of  George  Wythe 
Baylor,  Jr.,  and  a  granddaughter  of  Colonel  Bay- 
lor, one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. He  won  his  title  in  the  war  which 
brought  to  America  her  liberty,  and  was  wound- 
ed in  that  great  struggle.  With  the  blood  of 
Revolutionary  heroes  thus  flowing  in  his  veins, 
it  is  not  strange  that  Captain  Bledsoe  took  so 
prominent  a  part  in  the  Indian  wars  of  the  north- 
west. His  father  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and 
in  politics  was  first  a  Whig  and  later  a  Democrat. 
He  held  membership  in  the  Christian  church.  In 
his  family  were  twelve  children,  eight  of  whom 
are  living. 

The  Captain,  the  second  in  order  of  birth, 
spent  the  first  seven  years  of  his  life  in  Kentucky, 
and  in  1839  went  with  his  parents  to  Missouri 
and  thence  to  Texas,  in  1845.  In  1850,  when 
eighteen  years  of  age,  he  traveled  through  Mex- 
ico to  California,  reaching  Los  Angeles  when  it 
contained  only  a  few  adobe  houses  inhabited  by 
Mexicans,  or,  as  they  called  themselves,  Spanish. 
In  1852  he  went  to  San  Francisco,  and  in  1854 
he  was  elected  superintendent  of  a  mining  com- 
pany in  southern  Oregon.  On  the  failure  of  the 
well-known  firm  of  Adams  &  Company,  the  com- 
pany with  which  he  was  connected  was  also  bank- 
rupt, but  soon  afterward  the  Indian  troubles  of 
the  Rogue  river  valley,  in  Oregon,  broke  out  and 
Mr.  Bledsoe  joined  a  volunteer  company  to  aid 
in  quelling  the  insurrection  and  defending  the 
settlers.  He  became  a  private  of  Company  K, 
Second  Oregon  Infantry,  but  soon  his  ability  as 
a  soldier  was  manifest  and  he  was  promoted 
sergeant,  second  lieutenant  and  first  lieutenant, 
successively.  On  the  death  of  the  captain,  he 
succeeded  to  that  rank.  He  then  assembled  the 
citizens  together  and  built  a  fort.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  February  24,  1855,  he  called  for  twenty- 
two  men  to  go  with  him  to  hold  the  Indians  in 


36 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


check  while  the  fort  was  being  constructed.  After 
marching  some  distance  they  were  stationed  be- 
hind a  sharp  point  and  awaited  the  arrival  of  the 
Indians,  who  soon  came  into  view,  five  hundred 
strong.  Captain  Bledsoe  had  his  men  remain 
quiet  until  the  Indians  were  within  about  fifty 
feet  of  them,  when  they  poured  a  deadly  fire  into 
their  ranks.  After  their  guns  were  emptied,  the 
white  men  used  their  revolvers  with  dreadful  ef- 
fect and  the  Indians  were  largely  checked,  many 
of  the  number  having  been  killed.  The  Captain 
then  ordered  a  retreat  toward  the  fort  and  thus 
they  made  their  way,  contesting  every  foot  of  the 
ground  until  they  reached  the  fort,  at  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon.  In  the  meantime  the  building 
was  completed  and  the  women  and  children  were 
saved. 

On  another  occasion  Captain  Bledsoe,  with 
thirty-two  men,  was  reconnoitering,  when  they 
were  almost  instantly  surrounded  by  four  hun- 
dred Indians,  who  rose  up  around  them  out  of 
the  bushes,  which  were  breast-high,  and  charged 
upon  the  white  men  from  every  direction.  The 
Captain  instantly  formed  his  men  into  a  hollow 
square,  and  in  this  way  awaited  the  charge.  They 
first  fired  their  guns,  then  used  their  revolvers. 
The  chief  in  command  of  the  Indians  jumped  on 
a  rock  to  better  give  the  commands,  when  Cap- 
tain Bledsoe  ordered  John  Walker,  who  stood 
near  him,  to  fire,  and  the  chief  was  killed,  which 
caused  great  disorder  among  his  followers,  thus 
left  without  a  leader.  The  white  men  then  formed 
in  skirmish  line  and  retreated.  Eight  of  their 
number  had  been  killed  and  five  wounded.  Cap- 
tain Bledsoe,  at  another  time,  with  twenty  picked 
men,  went  up  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  in  search 
of  the  Indians.  They  discovered  a  party  of  about 
seventy-five  and  crawled  up  to  the  top  of  a  bluff 
from  where  they  opened  fire.  Only  three  of  the 
Indians  crossed  the  river  alive!  After  this,  three 
companies  of  United  States  regulars  arrived  un- 
der command  of  General  Buchanan,  and  thus 
Captain  Bledsoe  was  relieved  of  the  responsibility 
of  having  entire  command.  Later  two  other  com- 
panies of  regulars  came,  and  the  subject  of  this 
review  was  allowed  some  respite  from  his  ar- 
duous duties.  One  other  incident  in  which  he 
was  concerned,  however,  is  worthy  of  mention. 
Near  the  fort  was  a  dry  reservoir  into  which  the 
Indians  frequently  crawled  at  night,  firing  from 


that  vantage  point  upon  the  fort  in  the  day-time. 
Their  object  was  to  pick  off  anyone  that  appeared 
outside  the  walls.  One  morning  the  Captain 
thought  that,  with  a  few  men,  he  would  take 
possession  of  the  reservoir  first,  and  when  the 
Indians  came  give  them  a  warm  reception.  He 
started,  gun  in  hand.  It  was  a  doubled-barreled 
gun,  one  side  loaded  with  a  ball,  the  other  with 
buckshot.  He  had  made  his  way  some  distance 
in  advance  of  the  men,  when  a  little  shepherd 
dog  that  had  followed  him  began  to  sniff  and 
whine,  which  warned  him  that  the  Indians  were 
ahead  of  him.  Putting  his  gun  to  his  shoulder, 
he  waited  until  an  Indian  head  appeared  on  the 
edge  of  the  reservoir.  He  then  fired,  and  the 
Indian  fell,  but  all  the  other  Indians  rose  and 
fired  at  him.  Just  as  he  fired,  however,  he  sat 
down,  and  their  bullets  passed  over  him.  He 
then  started  on  a  run  for  the  fort,  but  in  that 
race  for  life  his  clothes  were  completely  riddled, 
although  not  a  bullet  entered  his  bodv.  He  was 
in  twenty  Indian  battles,  always  in  the  thickest 
of  the  fight.  After  the  war  a  chief  told  him  that 
he  had  shot  at  him  many  times,  hoping  to  kill 
him,  but  had  failed,  and  they  thought  he  bore  a 
charmed  life. 

On  the  2Oth  of  June,  1866,  he  participated  in 
the  last  battle  of  the  war.  He  and  his  men  were 
to  take  their  places  on  the  south  side  of  the  river 
and  await  the  Indians,  who  were  to  be  driven 
across  to  them.  His  men  were  behind  a  large 
log  when  the  Indians  came  up  to  them.  The 
Captain  with  his  forty-five  men  had  a  desperate 
encounter  with  the  savages,  a  hand-to-hand  fight, 
in  which  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  Indians 
were  killed.  The  next  day  the  remainder  of  the 
band  surrendered.  After  the  battle,  General  C. 
C.  Augur  embraced  the  Captain  with  the  remark: 
"You  are  the  best  man  to  fight  Indians  at  close 
quarters  I  ever  saw.  I  could  constantly  hear  your 
voice  above  the  din  of  battle  clear  across  the 
river." 

Captain  Bledsoe  aided  in  moving  the  Indians 
to  their  reservation,  and  was  for  some  time  the 
special  Indian  agent  at  the  mouth  of  Yaquina 
bay.  He  was  also  sutler  for  two  years,  and  then 
engaged  in  buying  cattle,  which  he  drove  to  mar- 
ket in  Olympia.  In  1861  the  Oro  Fino  excite- 
ment brought  him  to  Lewiston,  where  he  arrived 
in  July,  1 86 1.  He  was  the  first  merchant  at  Elk 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


37 


City  and  sold  the  first  goods  there,  after  which 
he  was  connected  with  a  large  mercantile  house 
in  Florence.  In  1862  he  was  elected  joint  coun- 
cilman from  Idaho  and  Nez  Perces  counties.  In 
the  fall  of  that  year  the  Boise  Basin  was  discov- 
ered, and  he  had  command  of  a  company  of 
sixty-six  men,  who  traveled  across  the  mountains 
to  that  place.  When  they  arrived  at  Squaw  creek, 
Lieutenant  Standeford  and  eight  men  formed  an 
advance  guard  ahead  of  the  main  body.  They 
were  attacked  by  Indians,  and  Captain  Bledsoe 
then  took  thirty  men,  leaving  the  others  with 
the  pack  train,  and  fought  the  Indians,  driving 
them  back  across  Little  Squaw  creek  and  over 
Big  Squaw  creek  to  what  is  now  a  part  of  Calvin 
Beard's  ranch.  Night  ended  the  fight.  The  pack 
train  camped  on  Little  Meadows,  and  captured 
five  squaws  and  some  children,  from  which  inci- 
dent Squaw  creek  received  its  name.  The  party 
afterward  continued  on  their  way  to  the  point  on 
the  Boise  river  where  the  beautiful  city  of  Boise 
now  stands.  At  that  time  there  was  no  house 
nearer  than  Auburn,  Oregon.  They  drove  the 
Indians  from  the  river  and  went  on  to  the  Boise 
Basin,  where  they  found  Marion  Moore  and  his 
party,  who  had  arrived  four  days  previously. 
They  located  claims  and  Captain  Bledsoe  and 
Tom  Hart  washed  the  first  pan  of  dirt  in  the 
vicinity  of  Placerville,  about  a  half  mile  below 
the  present  site  of  the  town.  They  secured  gold 
to  the  value  of  twenty-five  cents  out  of  this  first 
pan.  After  looking  over  the  country  in  this  vi- 
cinity Captain  Bledsoe  started  for  Olympia, 
Washington,  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  legis- 
lature. He  framed  the  bill  that  organized  Boise 
county,  and  the  following  year  Idaho  was  sepa- 
rated from  Washington.  He  has  held  various 
positions  of  honor  and  trust,  and  was  a  promi- 
nent candidate  for  governor  of  Idaho,  President 
Cleveland  being  strongly  urged  to  appoint  him 
chief  executive  of  the  territory.  For  the  past 
twenty  years  he  has  been  extensively  engaged 
in  quartz  and  placer  mining,  and  is  a  thorough 
mining  expert.  His  efforts  in  the  development 
of  the  mineral  resources  of  the  state  brought  him 
a  handsome  competence  and  at  the  same  time 
have  contributed  to  the  general  welfare. 

On  the  ist  of  July,  1858,  near  Corvallis,  Ore- 
gon, was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Captain  Bled- 
soe and  Miss  Helen  Kinney.  They  have  six 


children, — three  sons  and  three  daughters:  Sadie, 
who  became  the  wife  of  L.  Vineyard,  died  August 
9,  1893,  leaving  two  children,  who  are  residing 
with  their  grandfather;  Annie,  wife  of  William 
F.  Galbraith,  a  druggist  of  Boise;  R.  J.,  a  farmer 
of  Boise;  Eulalie,  wife  of  W.  N.  Northrop,  a 
hardware  merchant;  John  M.,  who  is  in  the  en- 
gineer corps  at  Honolulu ;  and  Lloyd,  at  home. 
In  politics  the  Captain  has  been  a  life-long 
Democrat,  and  the  official  positions  he  has  filled 
have  been  accorded  him  by  reason  of  his  merit 
and  sterling  worth.  He  has  been  an  important 
factor  in  the  military,  political  and  industrial  in- 
terests of  the  state,  an  honored  pioneer  who  de- 
serves the  gratitude  of  his  fellow  men  for  what 
he  has  done  for  the  northwest.  When  the  pres- 
ent shall  have  become  the  past,  his  name  will  be 
revered  as  one  of  the  founders  of  the  state  of 
Idaho,  and  as  one  of  the  heroes  who  carried 
civilization  into  the  wild  districts  of  this  great 
region. 

NEAL  J.  SHARP. 

Many  elements  combine  to  make  this  brief 
biographical  sketch  an  interesting  one.  It 
reaches  back  into  the  early  history  of  our  coun- 
try, and  has  to  do  with  the  development  of  the 
new  west. 

Neal  J.  Sharp,  register  of  the  United  States 
land  office  at  Hailey,  was  born  in  Fulton  county, 
Illinois,  July  14,  1833,  of  Scotch  ancestry.  His 
great-grandfather,  Joseph  L.  Sharp,  settled  in 
Virginia  and  founded  the  town  of  Sharpsburg, 
which  was  named  in  his  honor.  His  grandfather, 
James  R.  Sharp,  was  born  in  Tennessee,  and 
fought  gallantly  for  American  independence  in 
the  war  of  the  Revolution.  Joseph  L.  Sharp,  son 
of  the  patriot  just  mentioned,  was  also  born  in 
Tennessee,  and  did  duty  as  a  soldier  in  the  Black- 
hawk  war  and  in  the  war  with  Mexico.  He  mar- 
ried Matilda  Singleton,  of  Irish  lineage,  whose 
ancestors  were  among  the  very  early  settlers  in 
the  south,  and  some  of  whom  fought  the  British 
in  Revolutionary  days.  By  profession  he  was  a 
lawyer,  and  he  was  a  man  of  much  force  of  char- 
acter who  was  prominent  wherever  his  lot  was 
cast.  He  was  elected  to  the  legislature  of  Illinois 
and  to  that  of  Iowa,  and  was  president  of  the  first 
council  of  the  Nebraska  legislature.  He  died  in 
his  eighty-third  year,  his  wife  in  her  fifty-fifth. 


38 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


They  had  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  of 
whom  four  survive. 

Xeal  J.  Sharp,  their  eldest  son,  received  the 
rudiments  of  an  education  in  the  public  schools 
near  his  early  home  in  Illinois,  but  is  a  fine  ex- 
ample of  the  self-educated  gentleman,  widely 
read,  alive  to  every  question  of  the  day  reminis- 
cent as  to  the  history  of  the  past.  He  was  nine- 
teen years  old  when  he  went  to  Iowa.  He  read 
law  with  D.  H.  Sullivan,  a  prominent  lawyer 
there,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Nebraska 
in  1857.  He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession 
and  was  meeting  with  success  when  the  civil  war 
broke  out.  In  prompt  answer  to  President  Lin- 
coln's call  for  troops,  he  enlisted,  May  2,  1861, 
in  Company  A,  First  Nebraska  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, and  was  mustered  into  the  service  as  sec- 
ond lieutenant.  He  served  in  the  army  of  Ten- 
nessee and  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Pilot  Knob, 
Fort  Donelson,  Pittsburg  Landing,  the  siege  of 
Corinth  and  the  battle  with  the  army  of  Price 
at  Cape  Girardeau.  At  Fort  Donelson  he  was 
promoted  for  meritorious  conduct  to  a  first  lieu- 
tenancy, and  at  Corinth  he  was  brevetted  cap- 
tain. He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  in 
1863,  and  in  1864  took  up  his  residence  in  Vir- 
ginia City  for  a  time. 

Since  that  time  he  has  been  continuously  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  the  law  and  in  looking 
after  mining  interests.  In  partnership  with  three 
others,  he  owns  copper  mines  on  Lost  river,  in 
Custer  county.  They  have  sixteen  claims  and 
two  fractions,  and  are  developing  the  property 
with  judicious  rapidity.  They  now  have  one 
thousand  tons  of  ore  on  the  dump  and  fifty  thou- 
sand tons  in  sight,  and  their  miner  is  under 
bonds  in  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars.  Mr.  Sharp  has  other  important 
mining  interests  in  the  Wood  river  and  Salmon 
river  country,  on  which  his  annual  assessments 
aggregate  one  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars. 
He  is  the  owner  of  large  tracts  of  land  and  valu- 
able water  rights  in  Custer  county,  and  his  in- 
vestments in  these  are  regarded  as  very  promis- 
ing. 

Mr.  Sharp  was  happily  married,  in  1855,  to 
Miss  Ellen  Trammell,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  who 
died  in  1862,  after  having  borne  him  three  chil- 
dren, two  of  whom  are  living.  Ada  is  the  wife 
of  Horatio  L.  Wood,  editor  of  the  Red  Rock 


(Texas)  Review.  Belle  became  the  wife  of  Joseph 
Ferris,  a  prosperous  farmer  of  Fremont  county, 
Wyoming.  In  1865  Mr.  Sharp  married  Miss 
Nancy  A.  Morgan,  a  native  of  Missouri,  who 
bore  him  one  daughter,  who  died  in  infancy. 
Mrs.  Sharp  is  a  lady  of  much  culture  and  refine- 
ment, prominent  in  society  and  a  hejpful  member 
of  the  Congregational  church. 

There  is  no  more  popular  man  in  this  part  of 
the  state  than  Neal  J.  Sharp,  popularly  and  af- 
fectionately known  as  Colonel  Sharp.  He  is  an 
influential  Republican,  and  his  appointment  by 
President  McKinley  as  register  of  the  land  office 
at  Hailey  met  with  general  approval.  He  is  per- 
forming his  duties  of  the  office  in  a  manner  en- 
tirely satisfactory  to  every  one  concerned.  He 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows  since  1866,  and  has  passed  all  the 
chairs  in  both  branches  of  the  order.  He  was 
the  organizer  of  Lincoln  Post,  No.  15,  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  and  is  one  of  its  past  com- 
manders. He  has  had  an  ample  and  successful 
experience  as  a  lawyer,  and  any  one  who  knows 
him  is  certain  that  any  case  will  be  as  safe  in  his 
hands  as  ability  and  honesty  can  make  it.  He 
was  for  seven  years  district  attorney  of  Custer 
county,  and  has  gone  into  history  as  a  model 
guardian  of  the  people's  legal  rights.  He  has 
fulfilled  every  obligation  of  life  manfully,  and  is 
in  every  way  worthy  of  the  high  esteem  in  which 
he  is  held  by  his  fellow  citizens. 

HENRY  HEITFELD. 

In  considering  the  career  of  the  present  United 
States  senator  for  Idaho,  Hon.  Henry  Heitfeld, 
we  are  led  to  the  following  reflections: 

It  is  a  well-attested  maxim  that  the  greatness 
of  a  state  lies  not  in  its  machinery  for  govern- 
ment, nor  even  in  its  institutions,  but  in  the  ster- 
ling qualities  of  its  individual  citizens,  in  their 
capacity  for  high  and  unselfish  effort  and  their 
devotion  to  the  public  good.  An  enumeration  of 
those  men  of  the  present  generation  who  have 
won  honor  and  public  recognition  for  themselves 
and  at  the  same  time  have  honored  the  state  to 
which  they  belong,  would  be  incomplete  were 
there  failure  to  make  prominent  reference  to  the 
one  whose  name  initiates  this  paragraph.  He  has 
attained  distinction  in  the  business  world  and  is 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


39 


a  recognized  leader  in  political  circles  in  Idaho. 
He  has  been  and  is  distinctively  a  man  of  affairs, 
and  one  who  has  wielded  a  wide  influence.  A 
strong  mentality,  an  invincible  courage,  a  most 
determined  individuality  have  so  entered  into  his 
makeup  as  to  render  him  a  natural  leader  of  men 
and  a  director  of  opinion. 

Henry  Heitfeld  was  born  in  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, June  12,  1859.  His  parents  were  natives 
of  Germany,  and  on  their  emigration  to  America, 
in  the  early  '505,  located  in  St.  Louis,  where  the 
father,  by  his  well-directed  efforts  and  indefati- 
gable energy,  won  a  handsome  competence  and 
was  widely  known  as  a  successful  merchant. 
Both  he  and  his  wife  were  members  of  the  Cath- 
olic church  and  were  people  of  the  highest  prob- 
ity of  character.  Mr.  Heitfeld  passed  away  in 
1867,  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight  years,  and  his 
wife  died  in  1892,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three 
years. 

Henry  Heitfeld,  the  elder  of  their  two  sons, 
was  educated  in  St.  Louis,  and  in  his  youth 
worked  at  farming  for  some  time.  He  afterward 
learned  the  mason's  trade,  and  in  1882  went  to 
the  Pacific  coast,  securing  employment  in  a  flour- 
ing mill  in  Pomeroy,  Washington,  where  he  re- 
mained for  several  months.  He  also  located 
three  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  in  the  big 
bend  of  the  Columbia  river.  Subsequently  he 
worked  in  the  car-shops  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad,  and  on  leaving  that  employ  purchased 
a  farm  in  Nez  Perces  county,  Idaho,  where  he 
engaged  in  stock-raising  with  excellent  success. 
Never  scorning  any  honest  labor  that  would  yield 
him  a  livelihood,  he  has  steadily  advanced  in  his 
business  affairs,  continually  adding  to  his  finan- 
cial resources  until  he  is  now  the  possessor  of  a 
valuable  property, — the  merited  reward  of  his 
well-directed  labors. 

From  the  time  he  attained  his  majority  until 
1892  Mr.  Heitfeld  was  an  advocate  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  and  supported  its  men  and  measures. 
Favoring  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver, 
a  question  which  he  deemed  vital  to  the  welfare 
of  his  country,  he  severed  his  connection  with 
the  old  party  in  the  year  mentioned  and  allied  his 
interests  with  the  Populist  party.  He  has  since 
been  very  active  and  zealous  in  the  promulgation 
of  his  views  on  the  money  question,  and  upon 
this  issue  he  won  the  nomination  for  state  sen- 


ator in  1894.  He  was  elected  to  that  office,  was 
re-elected  in  1896  and  made  such  a  splendid  rec- 
ord that  he  was  chosen  by  the  Idaho  assembly  to 
represent  the  state  in  the  highest  legislative  body 
of  the  nation,  being  elected  to  the  United  States 
senate  on  the  28th  of  January,  1897.  He  has 
served  through  one  session, — one  of  the  most 
important  in  the  history  of  the  country,  and  his 
record  reflects  credit  upon  the  state  and  people 
whom  he  represents.  He  is  a  man  of  firm  con- 
viction, fearless  in  defense  of  his  views,  and  his 
opinions  are  the  result  of  careful  study  and  ma- 
ture deliberation. 

In  1884  Mr.  Heitfeld  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Anna  Jacobs,  a  native  of  Minnesota  and  a 
lady  of  German  descent.  They  have  five  children, 
as  follows:  Mary  T.,  Stephen  F.,  Louis  G., 
Walter  B.  and  Elaine  A.  The  family  is  one  of 
prominence  in  Lewiston,  the  hospitality  of  the 
best  homes  being  readily  accorded  them.  The 
Senator  is  a  representative  of  our  best  type  of 
American  manhood  and  chivalry.  By  persever- 
ance, determination  and  honorable  effort  he  has 
overthrown  the  obstacles  which  barred  his  path 
to  success  and  reached  the  goal  of  prosperity, 
while  his  genuine  worth,  broad  mind  and  public 
spirit  have  made  him  a  director  of  public  thought 
and  action. 

T.  J.  JONES. 

On  the  roll  of  Idaho's  distinguished  lawyers  is 
the  name  of  T.  J.  Jones,  of  Boise.  Faithfulness 
to  duty  and  strict  adherence  to  a  fixed  purpose  in 
life  will  do  more  to  advance  a  man's  interests 
than  wealth  or  adventitious  circumstances.  The 
successful  men  of  the  clay  are  they  who  have 
planned  their  own  advancement  and  have  accom- 
plished it  in  spite  of  many  obstacles  and  with 
a  certainty  that  could  have  been  attained  only 
through  their  own  efforts.  This  class  of  men 
has  a  worthy  representative  in  T.  J.  Jones,  who 
began  life  amid  unfavoring  circumstances  in  the 
coal  mines  of  Pennsylvania. 

Born  in  Montour  county,  Pennsylvania,  in 
1857,  he  is  of  Welsh  lineage.  His  father,  David 
Jones,  was  born  in  a  little  county  of  Wales, 
whence  he  emigrated  to  America,  locating  in  the 
Keystone  state,  where  he  married  Miss  Anna 
Naughton.  He  was  a  Baptist  minister,  and 


40 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


served  as  an  officer  in  the  war  with  Mexico.  He 
died  in  1861,  from  injuries  received  in  said  war, 
leaving  a  wife  and  five  children. 

The  subject  of  this  review  was  only  four  years 
old  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death.  He  spent 
his  childhood  and  youth  in  the  state  of  his  na- 
tivity, and  when  only  eight  years  of  age  began 
earning  his  own  livelihood  by  working  in  the 
coal  mines.  Thus  he  was  employed  for  seven 
years,  when  he  shipped  before  the  mast,  sailing 
for  three  years  on  the  great  lakes  and  on  the 
ocean.  He  next  engaged  in  railroading  for  a 
time,  and  subsequently  emigrated  to  Nebraska, 
where  he  took  up  a  claim  of  government  land 
and  engaged  in  raising  horses  and  cattle.  Dur- 
ing these  years  his  education  had  been  sadly 
neglected.  Being  forced  to  provide  for  his  own 
maintenance  he  had  no  opportunity  of  attending 
school,  and  feeling  very  much  the  need  of  men- 
tal training  he  determined  to  acquire  an  educa- 
tion. Accordingly,  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven, 
having  at  that  time  never  attended  school,  he  be- 
came a  student  in  the  Hastings  College,  at  Hast- 
ings, Nebraska;  later  he  attended  the  Free  Meth- 
odist College,  at  Orleans,  in  the  same  state,  and 
then  took  a  course  in  the  Bryant  Business  Col- 
lege, of  Republican  City,  Nebraska,  and  in  1888 
was  graduated  in  the  Mallalieu  University  at 
Bartley,  Nebraska.  The  latent  powers  of  a  nat- 
urally bright  intellect  were  thus  awakened,  and 
he  developed  a  strong  intellectuality  that  colors 
all  of  his  labors.  In  the  mean  time  he  began  read- 
ing law,  which  he  completed  in  Scranton,  Penn- 
sylvania. A  sojourn  in  Florida  was  followed  by 
a  brief  stay  in  Alabama,  but  he  was  driven  from 
the  latter  state  by  the  yellow  fever,  and  returned 
to  Nebraska,  where  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
His  next  place  of  residence  was  Burlington,  Col- 
orado, where  he  successfully  practiced  his  pro- 
fession. He  was  the  first  county  'attorney  of  Kit 
Carson  county,  Colorado,  and  the  second  mayor 
of  Burlington.  He  served  as  attorney  for  the 
prosecution  in  the  great  Hatch  case  at  Colorado 
Springs,  Colorado,  and  during  his  practice  in  that 
state  was  connected  with  important  litigation,  his 
practice  being  very  extensive. 

In  1890  Mr.  Jones  came  to  Boise,  Idaho,  and 
has  won  an  enviable  position  at  the  bar  of  this 
state.  He  has  gained  a  large  clientage,  and, 
handling  many  intricate  problems  of  law,  has  dis- 


played great  ability  and  a  comprehensive  under- 
standing of  the  principles  of  jurisprudence.  He 
has  also  figured  prominently  in  public  affairs  in 
the  city  and  state.  While  engaged  in  farming  and 
stock-raising  in  Nebraska  he  became  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  Grange  movement,  and  for  three 
years  served  as  deputy  state  lecturer  of  that  or- 
ganization, during  which  time  he  was  instrumen- 
tal in  establishing  many  local  granges  in  the 
state.  In  his  political  expression,  for  two  years 
he  voted  with  the  Prohibition  party,  and  later 
became  an  advocate  of  the  principles  of  the  Peo- 
ple's party.  In  1892  he  was  the  only  one  of  two 
state  speakers  of  that  party  in  Idaho,  and  con- 
ducted a  powerful  and  effective  campaign,  he  be- 
ing recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  and  able 
public  speakers  of  the  state.  In  1893  he  was  a 
candidate  for  city  attorney,  on  the  People's  party 
ticket,  and  was  defeated  although  he  received  a 
large  vote.  In  1894  he  was  a  candidate  on  the 
same  ticket  for  district  attorney  and  ran  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  votes  ahead  of  his  ticket.  In 
1894-6  he  again  campaigned  the  state  for  his 
party.  During  these  campaigns  he  was  especially 
noted  for  the  masterly  and  clear  manner  in  which 
he  presented  the  issues  before  the  people,  his 
eloquence  and  logic  being  largely  commented  on 
by  the  people  and  press  of  the  state.  In  1898 
he  was  a  delegate  to  both  meetings  of  the  state 
central  committee  of  the  People's  party,  and  in 
the  absence  of  the  regular  chairman  he  was  elect- 
ed provisional  chairman,  and  presided  until  the 
time  of  the  state  convention,  which  assembled  in 
August,  1898.  At  that  time  he  was  the  unani- 
mous choice  of  the  convention  as  the  candidate 
for  governor,  but  declined  that  nomination  in 
favor  of  Hon.  D.  H.  Andrews.  He  was  then 
unanimously  chosen  as  candidate  for  justice  of 
the  supreme  court. 

In  addition  to  his  general  law  practice,  Mr. 
Jones  has  extensive  mining  interests,  and  is  the 
attorney  for  several  corporations,  he  having  to  a 
remarkable  degree  in  his  public  and  private  af- 
fairs the  confidence  of  both  capital  and  labor. 

In  1892,  in'  Boise,  Idaho,  was  celebrated  the 
marriage  of  Mr.  Jones  and  Miss  Winifred  Cullen, 
a  native  of  Missouri,  and  a  daughter  of  Paul  Cul- 
len, a  well-known  pioneer  of  Utah.  They  have 
two  children, — Felix  and  Paul.  Theirs  is  a  de- 
lightful home,  where  the  evidences  of  culture  in- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


41 


dicate  the  refined  taste  of  the  inmates.  Beautiful 
grounds  surround  the  house,  which  is  located  at 
the  corner  of  Fifth  and  Myrtle  streets,  and  many 
friends  enjoy  the  hospitality  which  there  reigns 
supreme'.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones  hold  mem- 
bership in  the  Catholic  church,  and  their  support 
is  given  many  measures  intended  for  the  public 
good. 

HON.  JOHN  C.  RICE. 

John  Campbell  Rice,  president  of  the  Com- 
mercial Bank  of  Caldwell  and  a  prominent  mem- 
ber of  the  bar  of  Canyon  county,  is  numbered 
among  the  native  sons  of  Illinois,  his  birth  hav- 
ing occurred  in  Cass  County,  that  state,  January 
27,  1864.  He  is  of  Welsh  descent,  tracing  his 
ancestry  back  to  the  Welsh  emigrants  of  the 
name  who  located  in  the  colony  of  Massachusetts 
during  the  early  settlement  of  America.  Later, 
members  of  the  family  removed  to  Tennessee. 
The  grandfather,  Ebenezer  Rice,  removed  with 
his  family  from  Tennessee  to  Illinois  in  1839. 
Elbert  Gallatin  Rice,  the  father,  was  born  in 
Tennessee  in  1823,  and  was  accordingly  sixteen 
years  of  age  when  he  accompanied  his  parents 
to  the  Prairie  state,  their  home  being  in  what 
was  then  Morgan  county,  but  is  now  Scott  coun- 
ty. In  his  younger  years  he  adhered  to  the  faith 
of  the  Baptist  church,  but  afterward  united  with 
the  Christian  church  and  entered  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  By  occupation  he  was  a  farmer  and 
owned  and  operated  a  tract  of  land,  but  each  Sun- 
day he  was  found  in  the  house  of  worship  pro- 
claiming the  gospel  to  those  who  sought  to  know 
of  the  better  life.  His  death  occurred  in  the  sixty- 
ninth  year  of  his  age.  His  wife,  who  bore  the 
maiden  name  of  Mary  Ann  Camp,  was  a  relative 
of  General  Putnam  and  a  great-granddaughter  of 
General  Putnam's  brother  William.  Mrs.  Rice 
was  of  English  descent,  her  ancestors  being 
among  the  early  settlers  of  Connecticut.  She  is 
still  living,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  her  age, 
and  is  a  most  estimable  lady  whose  many  virtues 
have  endeared  her  to  a  large  circle  of  friends. 

John  C.  Rice  of  this  review  is  the  eighth  in 
order  of  birth  in  a  family  of  ten  children,  all  of 
whom  still  survive.  He  was  reared  under  the 
parental  roof  and  completed  his  literary  educa- 
tion in  the  Illinois  College,  at  Jacksonville,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1885.  Subse- 


quently he  engaged  in  teaching  mathematics  in 
his  alma  mater  for  a  year,  and  then  entered  upon 
the  study  of  law  in  the  Michigan  State  Univer- 
sity, at  Ann  Arbor.  His  professional  course  was 
terminated  by  his  graduation  in  Cornell  College, 
in  1890,  after  which  he  entered  upon  the  practice 
of  law  in  Caldwell,  where  he  has  built  up  a  large 
clientage.  He  has  a  broad  and  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  principles  of  jurisprudence,  and 
is.  very  careful  to  conform  to  a  high  standard  of 
professional  ethics.  He  is  also  connected  with 
other  business  interests,  having  been  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  Commercial  Bank,  at  which 
time  he  was  elected  president  and  has  since 
served  in  that  capacity.  By  judicious  manage- 
ment this  has  become  one  of  the  leading  banking 
institutions  in  this  part  of  the  state,  and  the  re- 
liability of  the  stockholders  has  secured  it  a 
liberal  patronage. 

On  the  2d  of  October,  1895,  Mr.  Rice  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Maude  Beshears,  of 
Caldwell,  Idaho,  and  they  have  two  interesting 
little  sons,  Elbert  Gallatin  and  Homer  Beshears. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rice  are  connected  with  the  Chris- 
tian church,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  charter 
members  and  also  one  of  the  elders.  He  takes 
an  active  interest  in  its  work  and  is  an  exemplary 
member  of  Essene  Lodge,  No.  22,  A.  F.  &  A. 
M.,  of  Caldwell,  in  which  he  is  past  master.  His 
political  support  is  given  the  Democracy.  He 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  fourth  state  legis- 
lature, and  during  his  service  was  chairman  of 
the  house  judiciary  committee.  Although  a 
young  man  he  has  attained  eminence  in  profes- 
sional and  political  life,  and  the  future  will  un- 
doubtedly hold  still  higher  honors  for  him,  for 
a  man  of  marked  ability  and  energy  is  always  in 
demand  in  connection  with  the  important  activi- 
ties of  business  and  public  life. 

SOLOMON  HASBROUCK. 

One  of  the  best  known  pioneer  settlers  of  the 
state  of  Idaho  is  Solomon  Hasbrouck,  who  is 
now  serving  as  clerk  of  the  supreme  court  and  is 
accounted  one  of  the  leading  and  influential  citi- 
zens of  Boise.  He  is  numbered  among  the  sons 
of  the  Empire  state,  his  birth  having  occurred  in 
New  Paltz,  Ulster  county,  New  York,  on  the 
3oth  of  May,  1833.  He  is  a  descendant  of  Hoi- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


land  Dutch  ancestry,  and  at  an  early  period  in 
the  history  of  the  state  the  family  was  founded 
within  its  borders.  Solomon  P.  Hasbrouck,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  a  prominent  lum- 
ber manufacturer  and  merchant  and  carried  on 
business  on  such  an  extensive  scale  and  employed 
so  great  a  force  of  workmen  that  he  was  called 
the  "king  of  Centerville."  His  son,  Alexander 
Hasbrouck,  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in 
Centerville,  and  there  spent  his  entire  life,  pass- 
ing away  in  1894,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  married  Miss 
Rachel  Elting,  a  native  of  his  own  county,  and 
after  that  conducted  a  farm  about  three  miles 
from  Centerville  for  twenty-five  years.  He  then 
moved  to  New  York  city,  where  for  five  years  he 
was  in  business  in  Washington  market.  Then 
he  came  to  Idaho  and  lived  with  his  son  Solomon 
until  his  decease.  He  and  his  wife  were  valued 
members  of  the  Methodist  church  and  were  held 
in  the  highest  regard  by  all  who  knew  them. 
She  departed  this  life  when  our  subject  was  but 
five  years  of  age. 

Our  subject  is  now  the  only  survivor  of  the 
family,  his  only  sister  having  also  departed  this 
life.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm  at  the  place  of  his 
birth,  and  during  the  summer  months  assisted  in 
the  labors  of  field  and  meadow,  while  in  the  win- 
ter season  he  attended  the  public  schools.  At  the 
age  of  sixteen  he  secured  a  clerkship  in  a  store, 
serving  in  that  capacity  for  four  years.  In  1854 
he  sailed  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  by 
way  of  the  isthmus,  and  engaged  in  mining  at 
Nevada  City  until  1860.  He  made  considerable 
money  for  a  time,  but  afterward  sunk  it  in  other 
mining  ventures.  He  next  went  to  Santa  Bar- 
bara, California,  where  he  secured  a  claim  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  but  finding  this  mostly 
worthless  he  never  perfected  a  title  and  it  re- 
turned to  the  government.  In  1861  he  went  to 
Portland,  Oregon,  where  he  met  an  old  friend, 
R.  E.  Halleck,  with  whom,  in  the  spring,  he  trav- 
eled from  Eugene  City,  Oregon,  to  Granite  creek, 
the  journey  being  made  with  pack  animals. 

Mr.  Hasbrouck  engaged  in  mining  on  Granite 
creek  until  June,  1862.  when  he  removed  to  Owy- 
hee  county,  Idaho,  and  mined  on  Jordan  creek 
for  a  year.  In  the  winter  of  1863-4  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  county  commissioners  of  that 
countv,  which  was  at  that  time  created,  and  in 


the  fall  of  1864  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
territorial  legislature,  which  convened  at  Lewis- 
ton,  and  was  the  second  session  ever  held.  Dur- 
ing that  time  the  act  was  passed  whereby  the 
capital  was  removed  from  Lewiston  to  Boise. 
On  the  close  of  his  legislative  service,  Mr.  Has- 
brouck returned  to  Portland,  and  the  following 
May  again  went  to  Owynee  county,  coming 
thence  to  Boise.  In  the  capital  city  he  was  em- 
ployed in  the  internal  revenue  service  under  John 
Cummings,  the  first  internal  revenue  collector  in 
the  territory.  In  1866  Mr.  Cummings  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  judges  of  the  territory  and 
he  appointed  Mr.  Hasbrouck  clerk  of  the  court. 

In  1867,  thirteen  years  after  he  had  left  New 
York,  Mr.  Hasbrouck  visited  his  native  state,  and 
there  married  Miss  Ann  Eliza  Van  Wagenen,  a 
friend  of  his  childhood  and  a  schoolmate  of  his 
youth.  Theirs  has  been  a  happy  married  life,  in 
1868  they  left  the  east  for  their  new  home  in 
Idaho,  and  were  soon  comfortably  located  in 
Boise.  Four  children  have  been  born  to  them: 
Edward  Hallock,  the  eldest,  has  followed  mining 
principally;  Raymond  DeLancy,  the  second  son, 
is  now  acting  chief  engineer  on  the  United  States 
steamer  Puritan;  Elizabeth  M.  is  the  wife  of 
Charles  D.  Shrady;  and  Van  Wagenen  is  deputy 
clerk  of  the  supreme  court,  and  makes  his  home 
at  Lewiston.  He  is  a  lawyer,  and  has  been  ad- 
mitted to  practice  in  all  of  the  courts  of  the  state. 

Upon  his  return  to  Idaho,  Mr.  Hasbrouck  was 
reappointed  clerk  of  the  district  court,  and  also 
of  the  supreme  court.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
ganger  in  the  internal  revenue  service  and  clerk 
in  the  office  of  the  superintendent  of  Indian  af- 
fairs. 

In  the  meantime  he  studied  law,  was  admitted 
to  practice  in  the  district  courts,  and  in  1871  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  the  supreme  court  of  the 
territory.  He  formed  a  law  partnership  with 
Henry  E.  Prickett,  under  the  firm  name  of  Prick- 
ett  &  Hasbrouck,  a  connection  that  was  con- 
tinued until  Mr.  Prickett  was  appointed  district 
judge,  when  Mr.  Hasbrouck  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  merchandising,  which  pursuit  he  followed 
for  twelve  years  in  Boise  and  Weiser.  While  in 
the  latter  place  a  disastrous  fire  occurred,  which 
almost  wiped  out  the  town,  and  he  thereby  lost 
everything  he  had.  Soon  after  this  Judge  J.  H. 
Beatty,  now  district  judge  of  the  federal  court, 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


43 


appointed  him  clerk  of  the  district  court.  A  year 
later  Idaho  was  admitted  to  the  Union  and  an 
independent  supreme  court  was  created,  of  which 
he  was  appointed  clerk,  a  position  which  he  has 
since  acceptably  filled.  During  his  long  term  in 
this  office  he  has  discharged  his  duties  in  a  most 
prompt  and  capable  manner,  winning  the  com- 
mendation of  the  bench  and  bar  and  the  regard 
of  the  public.  He  is  a  very  agreeable  and  oblig- 
ing official  and  has  thereby  won  a  host  of  friends 
throughout  the  whole  state.  In  politics  he  is  a 
"silver"  Republican,  and  in  religious  belief  he 
and  his  family  are  Episcopalians.  Perhaps  no 
one  in  the  state  has  been  more  continuously 
identified  with  its  public  service  through  a  longer 
period  than  Solomon  Hasbrouck,  who  has  borne 
no  unimportant  part  in  shaping  the  policy  of 
idaho  and  advancing  its  interests.  He  may  well 
be  numbered  among  its  honored  pioneers,  and 
his  life  history  deserves  a  prominent  place  in  its 
annals. 

GEORGE  LITTLE. 

The  list  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Caldwell 
contains  the  name  of  Judge  George  Little,  one 
of  the  representative  and  honored  citizens  of 
Canyon  county.  His  record  as  a  soldier,  as  an 
official  and  as  a  business  man  has  been  so  hon- 
orable that  he  has  gained  the  confidence  and 
good  will  of  all  with  whom  he  has  been  brought 
in  contact,  and  as  probate  judge  and  superin- 
tendent of  public  instruction  he  won  still  higher 
encomiums  from  his  fellow  men  by  reason  of  the 
fidelity  and  ability  which  he  manifested  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties.  He  retired  from  office 
in  January,  1899. 

A  native  of  Kentucky,  Judge  Little  was  born 
in  Daviess  county,  July  15,  1839,  and  is  of  Scotch 
and  English  descent.  The  original  American  an- 
cestors of  the  family  located  in  Massachusetts, 
and  the  branch  to  which  our  subject  belongs  was 
afterward  planted  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
Later  generations  of  the  family  removed  to  Ken- 
tucky, where  Weslev  Morgan  Little,  the  father 
of  the  Judge,  was  born,  in  1814.  In  early  life  he 
learned  the  wheelwright's  trade,  but  afterward 
engaged  in  farming.  His  wife  bore  the  maiden 
name  of  Henrietta  Waltrip,  and  belonged  to  one 
of  the  old  families  of  Culpeper  county,  Virginia. 
Her  father  was  one  of  the  prominent  residents 


of  that  county  and  held  various  positions  of  honor 
and  trust.  In  politics  the  father  of  Judge  Little 
was  a  Democrat  and  served  as  presidential  elec- 
tor in  1856,  casting  his  vote  for  James  Buchanan. 
In  a  political  altercation  with  a  Know-nothing  he 
was  shot  and  killed,  leaving  a  family  of  three 
children.  The  mother  of  our  subject  had  died  in 
the  twenty-ninth  year  of  her  age,  and  he  had 
later  married  again,  having  three  children  by  the 
second  union. 

Judge  Little  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  town,  and  when  the  great  civil  war 
was  inaugurated  gave  his  support  to  the  L'nion. 
Careful  consideration  led  him  to  believe  that 
any  attempt  to  destroy  the  power  of  the  national 
government  was  absolutely  wrong,  and  with  a 
patriotic  impulse  he  joined  Company  M,  Seven- 
teenth Kentucky  Volunteer  Cavalry,  serving  in 
Mississippi  and  Tennessee.  He  participated  in 
a  number  of  engagements  and  was  wounded  in 
the  thigh  by  a  guerrilla.  On  the  expiration  of 
his  term  of  service  he  engaged  in  merchandising 
on  Green  river,  Kentucky,  and  joined  a  regiment 
which  was  organized  for  home  protection,  of 
which  command  he  was  made  major.  This 
aroused  the  special  ire  of  the  guerrilla  bands, 
who  destroyed  his  store  by  fire  and  took  him 
prisoner,  but  he  was  afterward  rescued  by  a  com- 
pany of  Kentucky  cavalry.  Judge  Little  then 
went  to  Louisville  and  enlisted  in  the  regular 
army,  serving  on  the  regimental  staff  of  General 
John  Gibbon  for  three  years. 

On  the  close  of  the  war  he  resumed  merchan- 
dising, choosing  as  the  scene  of  his  labors  the 
town  of  Laramie,  Wyoming,  where  he  remained 
for  sixteen  years,  enjoying  a  liberal  patronage. 
During  that  time  he  served  as  postmaster  of 
Laramie  by  appointment  of  President  Grant,  and 
also  held  important  county  offices.  In  1884  he 
came  to  Caldwell,  where  he  established  a  drug 
store,  continuing  in  that  line  of  trade  for  five 
years,  when  his  health  failed  and  he  sold  out. 
Hoping  that  a  change  of  climate  would  prove 
beneficial,  he  sought  the  higher  altitude  of  the 
Jordan  valley,  in  Oregon,  where  for  a  time  he 
conducted  a  general  mercantile  store.  His  un- 
dertakings there,  however,  were  not  attended 
with  success  and  he  returned  to  Caldwell.  Since 
that  time  he  has  been  almost  continuously  con- 
nected with  the  public  service.  He  was  district 


44 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


clerk  and  deputy  auditor  and  recorder  for  two 
years,  and  since  that  time  has  been  twice  elected 
probate  judge,  which  position  he  is  filling  at  the 
present  time,  together  with  that  of  superintend- 
ent of  public  instruction  in  Canyon  county.  His 
extreme  fairness  makes  him  especially  capable 
in  the  former  office,  while  his  liberal  mental  cul- 
ture and  deep  interest  in  the  cause  of  education 
render  his  service  in  the  latter  position  extremely 
effective. 

In  1875  Judge  Little  was  married,  in  Laramie, 
Wyoming,  to  Miss  Flora  Cameron,  a  native  of 
Canada  and  of  Scotch  descent.  They  now  have 
two  children:  Edna,  who  has  attained  a  high 
reputation  as  a  successful  teacher  and  is  now 
occupying  a  position  in  the  Moscow  high  school ; 
and  Wesley,  who  is  attending  college  in  Caldwell. 
The  Judge  has  been  a  lifelong  Republican  and 
now  supports  the  free-silver  wing  of  the  party. 
He  was  made  a  Mason  in  Laramie  Lodge,  No.  2, 
A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Laramie,  Wyoming,  and  is  a 
charter  member  and  past  master  of  Essene 
Lodge,  No.  22,  of  Caldwell.  Both  he  and  his 
wife  are  consistent  and  active  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  church,  with  which  he  has  been 
connected  since  the  age  of  sixteen  years.  He  is 
now  superintendent  of  the  Presbyterian  Sunday 
school  in  Caldwell,  and  is  very  earnest  and  zeal- 
ous in  the  work,  and  generously  co-operates  with 
all  movements  or  measures  intended  for  the  bet- 
terment of  humanity.  He  is  a  man  of  strong 
mentality,  of  broad  humanitarian  principles  and 
kindly  motives.  No  trust  reposed  in  him  has 
ever  been  betrayed,  and  whether  on  the  field  of 
battle  protecting  the  stars  and  stripes  or  in  local 
political  office,  he  is  true  to  his  country  and  its 
best  interests, — a  loyal  and  patriotic  citizen. 

SOLOMON  M.  JEFFREYS. 

In  the  front  rank  of  the  columns  which  have 
advanced  the  civilization  of  the  northwest,  Solo- 
mon M.  Jeffreys  has  led  the  way  to  the  substan- 
tial development,  progress  and  upbuilding  of 
Idaho,  being  particularly  active  in  the  growth 
of  Weiser,  where  he  still  makes  his  home.  He 
is  numbered  among  the  pioneers  of  Idaho,  Cali- 
fornia and  Oregon,  his  memory  going  back  to 
the  time  when  the  entire  Pacific  coast  was  but 
very  sparsely  settled,  when  the  Indians  were 


more  numerous  than  the  white  men,  and  the  land 
had  not  been  reclaimed  for  purposes  of  cultiva- 
tion, but  remained  in  the  primitive  condition  in 
which  it  came  from  the  hand  of  nature. 

Mr.  Jeffreys  was  born  in  Jackson  county,  Mis- 
souri, February  n,  1835,  and  is  of  English  line- 
age. His  father,  Thomas  Jeffreys,  was  born  in 
Kentucky  and  was  married  there  to  Miss  Mary 
Dickerson.  In  1845,  with  his  wife  and  five  chil- 
dren, he  started  for  Oregon  with  a  train  of  sixty- 
wagons,  drawn  by  oxen  and  mules,  there  being 
about  two  hundred  persons  in  the  company. 
They  were  nine  months  in  making  the  long  and 
tedious  journey  across  the  plains  and  endured 
many  hardships  and  privations.  Their  route  lay 
along  the  south  and  west  banks  of  the  Snake 
river,  but  they  little  dreamed  that  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years  members  of  their  party  would  lo- 
cate in  that  beautiful  district  of  what  is  now  the 
state  of  Idaho.  They  pressed  onward  to  the  fer- 
tile Willamette  valley,  and  the  father  located  a 
"donation"  claim  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres 
of  land  in  what  became  the  rich  county  of  Yam- 
hill,  Oregon.  In  1849,  attracted  by  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California,  he  went  to  that  state,  ac- 
companied by  two  of  his  sons,  and  engaged  in 
mining  for  some  time.  When  they  had  taken  out 
considerable  gold  they  started  to  return  to  Ore- 
gon, but  the  father  died  and  was  buried  at  sea, 
when  forty-eight  years  of  age.  He  was  an  hon- 
est, industrious  and  brave  pioneer.  His  estimable 
wife,  who  shared  with  him  in  the  dangers  and 
privations  of  frontier  life,  survived  him  for  a  long 
period,  and  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-three  years. 
Of  their  five  children  who  crossed  the  plains  only 
two  are  living,  Solomon  and  James. 

The  former  acquired  his  education  in  Polk 
county,  Oregon,  and  at  the  Methodist  Mission 
College,  at  Salem.  In  1849  he  went  with  his 
father  and  brother  John  to  California  and  en- 
gaged in  mining  on  the  north  fork  of  the  Ameri- 
can river.  When  they  had  saved  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  they  started  to  return  to  Ore- 
gon. After  the  death  and  burial  of  their  father 
at  sea,  the  brothers  continued  on  their  way  alone 
to  Yamhill  county,  where  Mr.  Jeffreys  of  this  re- 
view engaged  in  farming  for  a  number  of  years. 
He  then  followed  stock-raising  in  eastern  Ore- 
gon, and  became  one  of  the  largest  cattlemen  of 
that  time.  In  1862  he  drove  one  thousand  head 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


45 


of  cattle  from  The  Dalles  to  the  Carriboo  country, 
where  he  butchered  them,  selling  the  beef  to  the 
miners  for  fifty  and  seventy-five  cents  per  pound, 
making  on  that  venture  about  half  a  million 
dollars.  On  the  trip  to  that  place,  the  Indian 
chief  Moses  and  his  band  accompanied  Mr. 
Jeffreys  and  his  party,  and  they  feasted  the  In- 
dians on  the  best  they  had.  His  brother  John 
was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Wasco  Company,  and 
with  his  command  participated  in  the  Indian  war 
of  1856. 

In  the  year  1865  Mr.  Jeffreys  of  this  review  ar- 
rived in  Idaho,  and  settled  in  what  is  now  Wash- 
ington county,  and  he  engaged  in  the  raising  of 
cattle  and  horses.  Later  he  was  actively  identi- 
fied with  many  of  the  industrial  and  commercial 
interests  of  Weiser.  He  built  the  first  flouring- 
mill  and  was  also  one  of  the  early  merchants  of 
the  town.  He  became  one  of  the  builders  of  the 
city  water  ditches  and  a  member  of  the  Weiser 
City  Ditch  and  Irrigation  Company,  which  has 
been  of  great  value  to  the  town  and  surrounding 
country.  Since  its  organization  he  has  been 
president  of  the  company,  and  in  all  his  business 
interests  he  has  met  with  gratifying  success,  ow- 
ing to  his  careful  management,  his  reliable  judg- 
ment and  his  unabating  energy. 

In  1868  Mr.  Jeffreys  married  Miss  Mary 
Boyles,  a  native  of  Polk  county,  Oregon,  and  a 
daughter  of  Dr.  Boyles,  who  was  a  very  promi- 
nent physician.  By  that  marriage  there  were 
three  children.  The  mother  died  soon  after  the 
birth  of  her  twins,  and  they  did  not  long  sur- 
vive her.  The  first  born,  Laura,  is  now  the  wife 
of  W.  W.  Curtis,  of  Salem,  Oregon.  On  the  23d 
of  April,  1878,  Mr.  Jeffreys  wedded  Mrs.  Sarah 
E.  Ripper,  and  they  have  two  sons, — Oliver,  in 
school,  and  Woodson,  who  is  a  volunteer  in  the 
American  army  at  Manila. 

Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Jeffreys,  nee  Anderson,  was 
born  in  Fleming  county,  Kentucky,  December 
29,  1845.  Her  parents,  Samuel  Anderson  and 
Cynthia  Ann,  nee  Penland,  were  born,  raised 
and  married  in  Fleming  county,  Kentucky.  Her 
father  is  seventy-five  years  of  age  and  makes  his 
home  with  his  children.  Her  mother  died  Jan- 
uary 13,  1884,  when  sixty-one  years  of  age.  Her 
great-grandparents,  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  came 
from  Virginia  and  took  part  in  the  war  of  1812. 
Mrs.  Jeffreys  moved  with  her  parents  to  Bu- 


chanan county,  Missouri,  in  1847,  and  crossed 
the  plains  to  Willamette  valley  in  1851.  She 
was  married  to  C.  W.  Ripper,  March  19,  1863, 
and  with  her  husband  moved  to  eastern  Oregon 
in  1864,  and  to  Weiser,  Idaho,  in  1869.  They 
had  five  children, — three  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters; one  son  and  daughter  were  twins.  Only  one 
of  the  five  is  living, — Isaac  N.  Ripper,  of  Day- 
ville,  Oregon.  Mrs.  Jeffreys  is  a  charter  member 
of  the  Baptist  church  and  one  of  its  most  active 
workers.  Mr.  Jeffreys  was  made  a  Master  Mason 
in  Amity  Lodge,  No.  20,  at  Amity,  in  Yamhill 
county,  Oregon.  In  his  earlier  years  he  gave  his 
political  support  to  the  Democratic  party,  but  is 
now  a  Populist.  He  was  a  member  of  the  terri- 
torial legislature  in  the  seventh  session  and  aided 
in  procuring  the  erection  of  Washington  county, 
being  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  ef- 
fect its  organization.  He  is  now  a  member  of 
the  town  council  and  his  popularity  in  Weiser  is 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  he  was  made  the  nom- 
inee of  three  parties  for  the  office  of  county  treas- 
urer. He  has  ever  discharged  his  duties  with 
marked  ability  and  fairness,  for  he  is  a  most 
loyal,  public-spirited  citizen.  As  a  business  man 
he  has  been  conspicuous  among  his  associates, 
not  only  for  his  success,  but  for  his  probity,  fair- 
ness and  honorable  methods.  In  everything  he 
has  been  eminently  practical,  and  this  has  been 
manifest  not  only  in  his  business  undertakings 
but  also  in  private  and  social  life. 

SAMUEL  STRICKLER. 

1 

The  story  of  pioneer  life  in  Idaho  is  well  known 
to  such  men  as  Samuel  Strickler,  for  through 
thirty-six  years  he  has  been  a  witness  of  tiie  de- 
velopment of  the  northwest  and  has  faithfully 
borne  his  part  in  the  work  of  upbuilding  and 
advancement;  he  now  resides  in  Bellevue.  He 
claims  Pennsylvania  as  the  state  of  his  nativity, 
his  birth  occurring  in  Chambersburg,  Franklin 
county,  November  21,  1832.  He  is  of  German 
descent  and  his  ancestors  were  among  the  early 
settlers  of  the  Keystone  state.  His  father,  Sam- 
uel Strickler,  was  born  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  married  Susanna  Hollinger,  also  a  na- 
tive of  Pennsylvania.  Twelve  children,  six  sons 
and  six  daughters,  were  born  of  this  union,  and 
ten  grew  to  maturity,  while  six  are  yet  living. 


46 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


The  father  died  in  1875,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one 
years,  and  the  mother  passed  away  a  little  later 
at  about  the  same  age. 

Mr.  Strickler,  of  this  review,  was  educated  in 
Pennsylvania  and  in  1846  accompanied  his  fam- 
ily on  their  removal  to  Mount  Carroll,  Illinois, 
where  he  also  attended  school.  In  1859  he 
crossed  the  plains  to  Colorado  with  an  ox  team 
and  through  the  summer  successfully  engaged  in 
mining.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  returned 
to  his  home  in  Illinois,  and  in  1860  he  again 
went  west,  locating  in  Denver,  where  he  engaged 
in  farming,  selling  his  produce  in  that  city.  He 
was  very  successful  in  that  venture,  but  in  1863, 
learning  of  the  gold  excitement  in  Idaho,  he  pur- 
chased a  stock  of  miners'  supplies  and  took  them 
to  the  territory,  opening  a  store  in  Idaho  City, 
July  3,  1863.  On  the  15th  of  December  of  the 
same  year  he  removed  to  Boise,  built  a  store  and 
there  engaged  in  business.  He  had  a  pack  train 
with  which  he  hauled  his  own  goods,  and  also 
engaged  in  packing  for  others.  In  1866  he  sold 
out  and  engaged  in  gold-mining  in  Oregon,  but 
after  a  time  returned  to  Boise  and  purchased 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  in  the 
valley,  below  the  capital.  There  he  cultivated 
hay  and  grain  and  obtained  good  prices  for  his 
products,  selling  oats  sometimes  as  high  as  five 
cents  per  pound.  At  length  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity came  for  him  to  dispose  of  his  property, 
and  selling  out  he  returned  to  Boise.  Later  he 
also  sold  his  town  property  and  purchased  a 
freighting  outfit,  freighting  from  Boise  to  Kelton 
and  other  places.  But  gold  and  silver  were  dis- 
covered in  large  quantities  in  the  Wood  river  val- 
ley, and,  selling  his  stock,  he  came  to  Bellevue, 
where  he  once  more  resumed  mining.  He  is  the 
owner  of  considerable  property  in  the  town  and 
also  of  Kentucky  Ledge,  a  fine  property  located 
thirty-five  miles  northwest  of  the  town.  He  is 
now  engaged  in  its  development,  and  has  made 
a  tunnel  one  hundred  feet  long.  The  ore  yields 
eighty  ounces  of  silver  and  sixty  per  cent  lead. 
Mr.  Strickler  also  has  a  number  of  teams  which 
he  uses  in  hauling  ore  and  in  freighting,  and 
thus  his  life  is  one  of  activity  and  usefulness,  in 
which  his  labors  are  being  crowned  with  a  good 
financial  reward. 

Throughout  the  passing  years  Mr.  Strickler 
has  experienced  many  of  the  hardships  incident 


to  pioneer  life.  In  1869  there  were  about  five 
hundred  Indians  hunting  in  the  Wood  river  val- 
ley, when  he  and  his  partner,  Senor  Hicks,  pur- 
chased a  load  of  goods  which  they  took  to  the 
valley  to  trade  with  the  Indians  for  furs.  They 
camped  on  the  present  site  of  Bellevue,  and  on 
the  second  day  passed  there  Mr.  Hicks  started  up 
the  valley  to  see  how  far  they  could  go  with  the 
wagon,  leaving  Mr.  Strickler  alone  with  the 
wagon  and  the  goods.  For  two  days  there  was 
not  another  white  man  within  miles.  During 
that  time  he  went  over  to  the  Indians  and  a. big 
"brave,"  grabbing  hold  of  him,  threw  him  on 
the  ground,  planted  his  knee  upon  him  and  then 
put  a  big  knife  at  his  breast!  Mr.  Strickler  ex- 
pected instant  death,  but  the  Indian  finally  re- 
leased him,  and,  getting  up,  he  made  his  way  back 
to  the  wagon  where  he  had  two  guns.  Soon 
afterward  he  saw  the  Indian  coming  toward  him, 
but  he  did  not  think  it  best  to  shoot.  The  In- 
dian then  offered  to  smoke  a  pipe  of  peace  with 
him,  but  Mr.  Strickler  did  not  smoke,  and  so 
the  red  man  gave  him  a  mink  skin  as  a  peace 
offering. 

Mr.  Hicks  soon  afterward  returned  and  the 
partners  remained  in  the  valley  until  they  had 
sold  their  goods,  clearing  two  thousand  dollars 
off  the  transaction.  They  then  returned  to  Boise, 
and  in  1870  Mr.  Strickler  again  engaged  in 
freighting  on  the  Kelton  road.  In  1877,  with 
two  companions  and  two  wagons,  he  was  cor- 
raled  by  the  Indians  on  Clover  creek.  The  sav- 
ages were  on  the  war  path  and  Mr.  Strickler  and 
his  party,  not  being  able  to  pass  them,  were 
forced  to  remain  for  five  weeks.  During  this 
time,  on  a  certain  night,  one  of  the  men  came 
and  awakened  him,  saying  that  the  Indians  were 
coming.  Our  subject  then  asked,  "Where?"  and 
in  response  to  the  man's  reply,  "From  all 
around:"  he  said,  "Well,  I  will  remain  where  I 
am."  Such  was  the  coolness  with  which  the 
pioneers  met  danger.  On  reaching  Kelton  the 
party  found  the  United  States  soldiers  there  and 
learned  that  five  teamsters  had  been  killed  and 
their  wagons  burned.  The  Indians  had  also 
gone  down  the  Snake  river,  and,  meeting  a  man 
with  a  pack  horse  and  saddle,  had  grabbed  the 
horse  by  the  bit  and  held  him  until  the  chief 
came  up,  when  he  gave  word  to  release  the  man, 
who  returned  to  Kelton,  sold  his  horse  and  went 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


47 


by  rail  to  the  states.  Such  experiences  were  very 
common  among  the  hardy  pioneers,  who  left  be- 
hind them  the  comforts  of  the  east  to  subdue  the 
western  wilderness  for  purposes  of  civilization. 

In  politics  Mr.  Strickler  was  for  many  years  a 
stalwart  Republican,  and  is  now  identified  with 
the  "silver"  Republican  party.  He  is  rated  as 
one  of  the  leading  and  influential  citizens  of 
Bellevue,  where  he  has  a  pleasant  home,  and  acts 
as  his  own  housekeeper,  having  never  married. 
He  has  many  friends  among  the  pioneers  and 
later  arrivals  in  Idaho,  and  well  deserves  men- 
tion'among  the  early  settlers  of  this  splendid 
commonwealth. 

THOMAS  T.  REDSULL. 

Great,  indeed,  have  been  the  changes  that  time 
and  man  have  wrought  since  Thomas  T.  Red- 
sull  landed  on  the  Pacific  coast.  California  yet 
belonged  to  Mexico,  and  much  of  the  land,  espe- 
cially in  the  southern  part  of  the  state,  was  di- 
vided into  large  estates,  owned  and  occupied  by 
Spanish  families.  Mr.  Redsull  was  then  but 
eleven  years  of  age,  yet  had  started  out  to  make 
his  own  way  in  the  world.  He  was  born  in  the 
county  of  Kent,  England,  on  the  I5th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1827,  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Goy- 
mer)  Redsull,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of 
England  and  representatives  of  ancient  families 
of  that  country.  They  were  both  members  of 
the  Episcopal  church,  and  the  father  was  a  col- 
lector of  excise  for  the  government.  He  departed 
this  life  in  1858,  at  the  age  of  fifty  years,  and  his 
widow  is  now  living  at  the  age  of  one  hundred 
and  three  years.  They  had  seven  children,  but 
only  three  are  now  living. 

Mr.  Redsull  of  this  review  acquired  his  early 
education  in  England,  and  when  only  eleven 
years  of  age  was  bound  out  as  an  apprentice  to 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and  in  their  service 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1838,  landing  in 
California.  He  is  consequently  one  of  the  oldest 
pioneers  of  that  state.  The  same  year  he  also 
went  to  Oregon,  and  therefore  can  claim  the 
honor  of  being  a  pioneer  of  that  state,  too.  He 
made  his  home  at  Vancouver  and  was  for  twenty 
years  a  pilot  on  the  Columbia  river  at  Mult- 
nomah. 

On  Multnomah  island,  May  4,  1854.  Mr.  Red- 


sull was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Amelia 
Spence,  a  native  of  Canada,  and  their  union  has 
been  blessed  with  six  children,  five  of  whom  are 
living,  namely:  James  Spence,  a  resident  of 
Owyhee  county,  Idaho;  Elizabeth,  wife  of  George 
B.  Pinkham;  Emma,  widow  of  Charles  H.  Te- 
gaskis;  Caroline,  wife  of  W.  H.  Bailey,  of  Hailey; 
and  Sarah,  who  is  at  home  with  her  parents. 

During  the  mining  excitement  in  this  state 
Mr.  Redsull  removed  to  Idaho  City,  where  he 
engaged  in  placer  mining,  taking  out  consider- 
able gold.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Cayuse  war, 
and  was  on  the  field  at  the  massacre  of  Dr.  Whit- 
man and  his  family.  In  1863  he  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  a  company  formed  for  the  purpose 
of  checking  the  Indian  depredations.  This  com- 
pany was  commanded  by  Captain  Jeff  Stanford, 
and  they  came  upon  the  Indians  at  the  crossing 
of  Snake  river  on  the  Weiser.  They  were 
sent  there  to  protect  the  emigrants  and  had  sev- 
eral little  encounters  with  the  red  men,  continu- 
ing the  organization  for  two  and  a  half  years, 
during  which  time  some  eight  or  ten  of  the  vol- 
unteers were  killed,  and  also  several  Indians;  but 
the  habit  of  the  Indians  in  carrying  off  their  dead 
made  it  impossible  to  determine  with  accuracy 
just  how  many  of  the  red  men  were  slain.  In 
1878  Mr.  Redsull  volunteered  to  aid  General 
Howard  and  continued  with  him  until  the  close 
of  hostilities,  when  the  Indians  surrendered.  He 
then  located  in  Boise  and  was  engaged  in  freight- 
ing for  four  or  five  years.  On  the  expiration 
of  that  period  he  went  to  South  Mountain,  and 
on  to  Tuscarora,  Nevada,  where  he  conducted  the 
Grand  Prize  Hotel,  at  the  Grand  Prize  mine. 

There  he  remained  until  1881,  when  he  came  to 
Bellevue,  being  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  the 
town.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  prominently 
associated  with  its  development  and  upbuilding, 
and  for  seventeen  years  was  honored  with  the 
office  of  justice  of  the  peace.  In  1898  he  was 
elected  judge  of  the  probate  court  of  Elaine 
county  and  is  now  acceptably  serving  in  that  ca- 
pacity. What  higher  testimonial  of  his  ability,, 
trustworthiness  and  fidelity  to  duty  could  be 
given  than  the  statement  that  he  served  in  one 
office  for  seventeen  consecutive  years?  His  of- 
ficial record  is  above  question  and  is  indeed  cred- 
itable to  himself  and  his  constituents.  He  be- 
came a  Republican  on  attaining  his  majority,  and 


48 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


now  votes  the  "silver"  Republican  ticket.  He 
has  passed  all  the  chairs  in  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  and  is  probably  the  oldest  repre- 
sentative of  the  order  in  the  state,  having  been 
identified  therewith  for  forty-eight  years.  He 
joined  Pioneer  Lodge,  No.  i,  of  Idaho  City,  and 
his  name  is  now  on  the  roll  of  Bellevue  Lodge, 
No.  9.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Sailors'  Be- 
nevolent Society,  and  his  wife  belongs  to  the 
Episcopal  church.  They  have  a  beautiful  home 
in  Bellevue,  which  he  erected  in  1892.  During 
the  sixty-one  years  of  his  residence  on  the  Pa- 
cific coast  he  has  seen  the  formation  of  terri- 
tories, their  development  into  states,  the  estab- 
lishment of  villages  which  have  become  thriving 
cities,  and  the  introduction  of  all  the  lines  of  busi- 
ness known  to  civilization.  The  rapid  and  won- 
derful development  of  the  northwest  is  a  matter 
of  marvel,  and  it  is  a  glorious  thing  to  have  been 
a  part  of  it  as  Mr.  Redsull  has  been.  He  has 
through  more  than  six  decades  watched  the 
march  of  progress  and  well  deserves  mention 
among  the  honored  pioneers. 

GEORGE   J.    LEWIS. 

The  life  history  of  him  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch  is  closely  identified  with  the  annals  of 
the  northwest,  and  he  is  ex-secretary  of  the  state 
of  Idaho.  An  important  department  of  the  gov- 
ernmental service  of  the  commonwealth  has  thus 
been  entrusted  to  him,  and  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duties  he  manifested  a  loyalty  to  the  public 
good  that  was  above  question  and  reflected  credit 
upon  the  party  that  called  him  to  office. 

He  is  a  western  man  and  possesses  the  progres- 
sive spirit  so  characteristic  of  the  region  this  side 
of -the  Mississippi.  His  birth  occurred  in  Minne- 
apolis, Minnesota,  on  the  28th  of  March,  1861. 
He  is  a  representative  of  an  old  New  England 
family  that  was  established  in  Connecticut  in 
early  colonial  days,  and  when  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  was  inaugurated  bearers  of  the  name 
joined  the  forces  of  General  Washington  and 
fought  for  the  independence  of  the  nation.  The 
father  of  our  subject,  Isaac  I.  Lewis,  was  born  in 
Meriden,  Connecticut,  in  1825,  and  is  still  living, 
in  the  seventy-fourth  year 'of  his  age.  He  mar- 
ried Georgiana  Christmas,  a  native  of  Wooster, 
Ohio,  and  removed  to  Illinois  at  an  early  period 


in  the  history  of  that  state.  He  was  also  a  pioneer 
of  Minnesota,  and  in  connection  with  his  father 
aided  in  founding  the  city  of  Minneapolis.  He 
was  a  druggist,  surveyor  and  metallurgist,  and 
is  now  engaged  in  mining  on  Wood  river,  Idaho, 
his  residence  being  in  Ketchum.  He  removed  to 
Montana,  in  1872,  locating  in  Helena,  and  be- 
came the  owner  of  very  valuable  mining  interests 
in  that  state;  From  the  Elkhorn  mine,  on  Wood 
river,  in  which  he  is  now  interested,  gold  has 
been  taken  to  the  value  of  one  million  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  In  public  life 
Isaac  I.  Lewis  has  also  been  an  important  factor, 
and  while  in  Minnesota  served  as  a  member  of 
the  state  legislature  and  in  Montana  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  territorial  council. 

George  J.  Lewis  is  the  fourth  in  order  of  birth 
in  the  family  of  seven  children.    His  preliminary 
education    was    supplemented    by    a    four-years 
course  in  the  Minnesota  University,  which  he 
completed  in  1882.     He  then  went  to  the  Wood 
river  district  of  Idaho  just  as  the  great  boom 
struck  that  region,  and  engaged  in  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Ketchum  Keystone,  of  which  he  was 
practically  the  founder,  making  it  one  of  the  best 
weekly  papers  in  the  state.    In  1884  he  also  pub- 
lished a  daily  edition,  which  was  imbued  with  the 
energetic   and   enterprising  spirit   of  the   owner 
and  the  northwest.     In   1886  he  sold  the  paper 
and  engaged  in  the  drug  business  in  Butte,  Mon- 
tana; also  was  for  a  time  city  editor  of  the  Daily 
Inter  Mountain,  published  in  Butte.  He  resigned 
that  position  to  become  assistant  cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank,  of  Ketchum,  and  later  he 
was    promoted    to    the    position  of  cashier,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  until  the  bank  closed 
out  its  business,  in  1890.     He  then  established  a 
private  banking  business  under  the  firm  name  of 
George  J.  Lewis  &  Company,  of  which  he  was 
principal  and  manager.     In  1896  he  paid  off  all 
the     depositors     and     closed     his     bank,     be- 
cause of  the  many  failures  of  the  country  caused 
by  the  great  depreciation  in  silver.    His  ten  years' 
career  as  banker,  however,  served  to  demonstrate 
his   marked  business  ability  and  evidenced  his 
careful,  conservative  methods.    He  won  the  con- 
fidence of  the  public  in  the  highest    degree,    a 
confidence  that  was  never  betrayed  to  the  slight- 
est extent.     No  run  was  ever  made  on  his  bank 
even  during  the  most  severe  period  of  the  panic, 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


49 


and  he  well  deserved  the  regard  thus  manifest. 
He  is  still  interested  in  mining,  and  in  the  Sal- 
mon river  mining  district,  at  Elko,  Nevada,  owns 
very  valuable  copper  mines. 

On  the  aoth  of  January,  1887,  Mr.  Lewis  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Leta  May  Crawford, 
of  Anamosa,  Iowa.  She  is  a  graduate  of  Iowa 
College,  of  Grinnell,  Iowa,  and  is  a  most  cultured 
and  accomplished  lady,  who  presides  with  grace 
over  her  pleasant  home  in  Boise.  Four  sons 
have  been  born  of  this  union. 

In  his  political  connections  Mr.  Lewis  is  a 
Democrat  and  cast  his  first  presidential  vote  for 
Hancock  and  English.  He  supported  the  men 
and  measures  of  the  Democracy  until  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Populist  party  of  Idaho,  with  which 
party  he  was  identified  until  the  Democratic 
party  again  took  up  the  cause  of  bimetallism.  He 
has  always  been  one  of  its  active  workers  in  the 
convention  halls  and  through  the  campaigns,  and 
has  done  all  in  his  power  to  promote  its  inter- 
ests. In  1892  he  was  elected  to  the  state  legisla- 
ture from  Alturas  county,  and  was  honored  by 
the  solid  vote  of  his  party  for  speaker  of  the 
house.  He  was  the  author  of  the  famous  "anti- 
test-oath  bill,"  which  was  defeated  through  party 
influence  and  was  afterward  passed  at  the  third 
session,  when  the  honors  were  unmistakably  Re- 
publican. The  passage  of  the  public-printing  act 
was  also  mainly  due  to  his  efforts,  and  through 
all  tne  sessions  he  proved  himself  an  active  and 
capable  worker,  most  deeply  interested  in  the 
advancement  of  such  measures  as  he  believed 
would  prove  of  public  benefit.  In  1894  he  was 
the  unanimous  choice  of  the  Populist  party  in 
convention  for  state  senator  from  Alturas  coun- 
ty, but  owing  to  a  local  fusion  between  Demo- 
crats and  Republicans  he  was  defeated  by  a 
all  majority.  He  has  frequently  been  a  dele- 
te to  the  county  and  state  conventions  of  his 
party  and  has  always  been  a  liberal  contributor 
fo  the  campaign  fund.  In  1896  he  received  the 
nomination  for  secretary  of  the  state  at  the  hands 
of  the  People's  Democratic  party,  and  was  elected 
to  the  office.  His  record  in  that  position  is  now 
a  matter  of  history  and  reflects  credit  upon  the 
state.  He  neglected  no  duty,  however  trivial, 
and  at  all  times  manifested  a  patriotic  spirit, 
showing  his  deep  interest  in  the  real  welfare  of 
the  commonwealth.  At  the  fourth  session  of  the 


legislature  of  Idaho  he  was  a  candidate  of  the 
Democratic  party  for  United  States  senator,  re- 
ceiving seventeen  votes  for  that  position. 

Mr.  Lewis  is  a  member  of  the  Idaho  Press  As- 
sociation, and  in  1895,  largely  through  his  influ- 
ence, its  annual  meeting  was  held  in  Ketchum. 
He  is  now  owner  and  manager  of  the  Capital 
Printing  Company,  of  Boise.  He  is  one  of  the 
popular  citizens  of  Idaho,  widely  and  favorably 
known  throughout  the  state,  and  young  and  old, 
rich  and  poor  are  his  friends. 

JOHN  M.  HAINES. 

The  wise  system  of  industrial  economics  which 
has  been  brought  to  bear  in  the  development 
of  Boise  has  challenged  uniform  admiration,  for 
while  there  has  been  a  great  advancement  in  all 
material  lines,  there  has  been  an  entire  absence 
of  that  inflation  of  values  and  that  erratic  "boom- 
ing" which  have  in  the  past  proved  the  eventual 
death  knell  to  many  of  the  localities  of 
the  west,  where  "mushroom"  towns  have 
one  day  smiled  forth  with  "all  modern  im- 
provements" and  practically  on  the  next 
day  have  been  shorn  of  their  glories  and 
of  their  possibilities  of  stable  prosperity,  so 
to  remain  until  the  existing  order  of  things  shall 
have  been  radically  changed.  In  Boise  progress 
has  been  made  continuous  and  in  safe  lines,  and 
this  is  due  in  no  small  degree  to  Mr.  Haines  and 
those  with  whom  he  is  associated  in  the  real- 
estate  business  under  the  firm  name  of  W.  E. 
Pierce  &  Company.  To  real-estate  men,  prob- 
ably more  than  to  any  one  else,  is  due  the  health- 
ful development  of  the  town,  and  Boise  is  cer- 
tainly indebted  to  this  firm  for  much  of  its  sub- 
stantial growth  and  improvement.  It  is  there- 
fore meet  that  its  members  be  represented  in  the 
history  of  the  capital  city,  and  therefore  with 
pleasure  we  take  up  the  task  of  preparing  the  life 
record  of  J.  M.  Haines. 

This  gentleman  was  born  in  Jasper  county, 
Iowa,  January  i,  1863,  and  is  of  German  and 
English  extraction.  Early  ancestors  of  the  fam- 
ily located  in  Pennsylvania  at  the  time  when 
William  Penn  planted  his  colony  there,  and  were 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  to  which 
religious  faith  many  of  their  descendants  have 
since  adhered.  From  Philadelphia  representa- 
tives of  the  name  removed  to  Maryland,  where 


50 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Isaac  L.  Haines,  father  of  our  subject,  was  born 
and  reared.  He  married  Eliza  Bushong,  a  na- 
tive of  Ohio  and  a  member  of  the  Christian 
church,  while  he  belonged  to  the  Quaker  churcn. 
He  has  devoted  his  life  to  agricultural  pursuits, 
and  is  now  living  in  Iowa,  at  an  advanced  age. 
His  wife  was  called  to  her  final  home  in  1893,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-three  years. 

John  M.  Haines  was  reared  under  the  parental 
roof  and  acquired  his  education  in  Penn  College, 
of  Oskaloosa,  Iowa.  In  his  twentieth  year  he 
secured  a  position  as  clerk  in  the  Merchants  & 
Farmers'  Bank,  of  Friend,  Nebraska,  where  he 
remained  until  1885,  when  he  removed  to  south- 
western Kansas  and  engaged  in  the  real-estate 
business.  He  prospered  in  his  undertakings 
there  and  did  a  large  business  in  locating  emi- 
grants on  government  land.  He  also  took  an 
active  part  in  the  political  affairs  of  that  new  and 
rapidly  developing  section  of  the  state  and  was 
a  member  of  the  Republican  state  central  com- 
mittee. He  was  also  deputy  clerk  of  the  court  of 
Morton  county,  and  in  1889  was  elected  register 
of  deeds.  For  some  time  he  was  very  successful 
in  his  undertakings,  and  accumulated  consider- 
able capital,  but  a  season  of  "dry  winds"  came, 
the  country  produced  nothing,  and  in  the  finan- 
cial panic  which  followed  he  lost  nearly  all  he 
had  accumulated. 

In  the  meantime  the  firm  of  Pierce  &  Com- 
pany, of  Boise,  had  been  formed,  the  partners  be- 
ing W.  E.  Pierce,  J.  M.  Haines  and  L.  H.  Cox. 


They  arrived  in  the  city  soon  after  the  admission 
of  the  state  to  the  Union,  when  Boise  was  a 
town  of  about  three  thousand.  They  at  once 
took  rank  as  the  leading  real-estate  men  of  Idaho, 
a  position  which  they  have  since  retained.  Their 
realty  transactions  amount  to  almost  a  million 
and  a  half  of  dollars.  During  the  first  three  years 
they  handled  property  to  the  value  of  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  since  that 
time  their  sales  have  amounted  to  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  They  now  own  much  desirable 
city  property  and  have  made  many  excellent  im- 
provements thereon,  in  which  way  they  have 
added  to  the  attractive  appearance  of  Boise,  as 
well  as  by  planting  beautiful  shade  trees.  'They 
have  sold  much  property  on  the  installment  plan, 
thus  enabling  many  to  gain  good  homes  of  their 
own,  and  have  been  important  factors  in  the 
growth  and  development  of  Boise. 

In  1883  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Haines  and  Miss  Mary  Symons,  a  native  of  Jas- 
per county,  Iowa.  They  have  a  pretty  home, 
surrounded  by  well-kept  grounds,  and  in  their 
residence  are  seen  many  evidences  of  the  refined 
and  cultured  taste  of  our  subject  and  his  accom- 
plished wife.  In  the  affairs  of  the  city  Mr.  Haines 
has  ever  taken  a  deep  interest,  and  is  now  a  mem- 
ber of  the  city  council.  He  does  all  in  his  power 
for  the  advancement  of  the  city  in  material,  moral, 
educational  and  social  lines,  and  is  a  most  popu- 
lar and  highly  esteemed  resident. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


IDAHO— HISTORICAL    AND    DESCRIPTIVE. 


S  TO  the  exact  time  and  period  in  which 
the  United  States  acquired  possession  of 
what  is  now  the  state  of  Idaho  there  seems 
to  have  been  somewhat  of  confusion  in  the  minds 
of  historical  writers,  and  while  it  is  scarcely  de- 
manded that  we  enter  into  a  consideration  of  the 
various  theories  and  conjectures  that  have  been 
advanced,  it  is  proper  that  the  matter  receive  due 
attention  and  that  the  most  authentic  evidence 
be  recognized.  The  majority  of  writers  and  text- 
books have  assigned  the  region  as  a  part  of  the 
vast  area  included  in  the  Louisiana  purchase,  to 
which  due  reference  is  made  on  other  pages  of 
this  work.  This  view,  however,  can  not  be  held 
as  essentially  correct  in  its  premises.  What  was 
generally  known  as  the  "Oregon  Country"  was 
not  an  integral  portion  of  that  purchase,  and  no 
better  or  more  concise  evidence  to  this  effect  may 
be  found  than  that  given  in  the  following  excerpt 
from  James.  G.  Elaine's  valuable  work,  "Twenty 
Years  of  Congress:" 

The  Louisiana  purchase  did  not  extend  beyond  the 
main  range  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  and  our  title  to 
that  large  area  which  is  included  in  the  state  of  Oregon 
and  in  the  territories  of  Washington  and  Idaho  rests 
upon  a  different  foundation,  or  rather  upon  a  series  of 
claims,  each  of  which  was  strong  under  the  law  of 
nations.  We  claimed  it,  first,  by  right  of  original  dis- 
covery of  the  Columbia  river  by  an  American  nav- 
igator, in  1792;  second,  by  an  original  exploration  in 
1805;  third,  by  original  settlement,  in  1810,  by  the 
enterprising  company  of  which  John  Jacob  Astor  was 
the  head;  and,  lastly  and  principally,  by  the  transfer 
of  the  Spanish  title  in  1819,  many  years  after  the 
Louisiana  purchase  was  accomplished.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, probable  that  we  should  have  been  able  to  main- 
tain our  title  to  Oregon  if  we  had  not  secured  the  in- 
tervening country.  It  was  certainly  our  purchase  of 
Louisiana  that  enabled  us  to  secure  the  Spanish  title 
to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  and  without  that  title  we 
could  hardly  have  maintained  our  claim.  As  against 
England,  our  title  seemed  to  us  to  be  perfect;  but  as 
against  Spain,  our  case  was  not  so  strong.  The  pur- 


chase of  Louisiana  may,  therefore,  be  fairly  said  to 
have  carried  with  it  and  secured  to  us  our  possession 
of  Oregon. 

When  the  territory  of  Idaho  was  set  off  by  act 
of  congress,  March  3,  1863,  it  contained  326,373 
square  miles,  extending  from  the  iO4th  meridian 
to  the  H7th,  and  from  the  forty-second  to  the 
forty-ninth  parallels  of  latitude.  Thus  it  ex- 
tended to  a  meridian  within  fifty  miles  of  the 
great  bend  of  the  Missouri  below  the  mouth  of 
the  Yellowstone  river,  and  included  the  Milk, 
White  Earth,  Big  Horn  and  Powder  rivers,  and 
also  a  vast  extent  on  the  North  Fork  and  Sweet- 
water  rivers,  tributary  to  the  Platte.  It  then  con- 
tained the  Black  Hills,  Fort  Laramie,  Long's 
Peak,  the  South  Pass,  Green  river,  Fort  Hall, 
Fort  Boise  and  that  tedious  strip  of  territory  ren- 
dered .notorious  by  the  routes  of  the  emigrants 
to  the  Pacific  coast  along  Snake  river.  As  orig- 
inally constituted  it  included  all  the  present  state 
of  Montana  and  a  large  portion  of  Wyoming. 

The  territorial  boundary  line,  according  to  the 
act  of  March  3,  1863,  organizing  the  territory, 
was  as  follows:  Beginning  at  a  point  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  channel  of  the  Snake  river  where  the 
northern  boundary  of  Oregon  intersects  the 
same,  thence  following  down  said  channel  of  the 
Snake  river  to  a  point  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Kooskooskia  or  Clearwater  river,  thence  due 
north  to  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  lati- 
tude, thence  east  along  said  parallel  to 
the  twenty-seventh  degree  of  longitude  west 
of  Washington,  thence  south  along  said  de- 
gree of  longitude  to  the  northern  boun- 
dary of  Colorado  territory,  thence  west  along 
said  boundary  to  the  thirty-third  degree  of  longi- 
tude west  of  Washington,  thence  north  along 
said  degree  of  longitude  to  the  forty-second  par- 
allel of  latitude,  thence  west  along  said  parallel 


51 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


to  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  state  of  Oregon, 
thence  north  along  said  boundary  to  the  place  of 
beginning. 

In  1868  Idaho  was  reduced  to  its  present  di- 
mensions, extending  from  the  British  possessions 
on  the  north  to  Utah  and  Nevada  on  the  south: 
from  Montana  and  Wyoming  on  the  east  to  Ore- 
gon and  Washington  on  the  west,  having  a 
length  from  north  to  south  of  four  hundred  and 
ten  miles,  and  a  width  from  east  to  west  varying 
from  fifty  to  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  miles. 
In  size  the  state  is  larger  than  all  New  England, 
or  about  equal  in  area  to  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania combined.  The  straight  western  fron- 
tier is  four  hundred  miles  long;  the  southern 
three  hundred  miles;  and  the  northern  only  fifty; 
while  the  eastern  runs  due  north  for  one  hundred 
and  thirty  miles,  and  then  follows  the  crest  of 
the  Rocky  mountains  northwesterly  to  the  na- 
tional boundary  line. 

The  United  States  government  prior  to  1863 
opened  a  road  across  the  Bear  river  chain  of 
mountains,  at  the  expense  of  several  millions  of 
dollars,  under  the  direction  of  Colonel  Lander. 
Hence  this  shortening  of  the  overland  route  to 
the  Pacific  was  known  as  "Lander's  cut-off." 
Antecedent  to  the  year  mentioned,  concerning  all 
the  country  now  embraced  in  Idaho,  the  public 
knew  scarcely  anything  beyond  the  narrow  limits 
of  the  old  trail.  The  principal  thing  known  to 
the  early  travelers  was  the  wonderful  Snake  river, 
which  stream,  by  the  way,  derives  its  name  from 
the  principal  tribe  of  Indians  found  in  the  vicin- 
ity, though  it  has  also  been  called  Shoshone, 
Lewis  and  Les  Serpents  (the  French  term  for 
snake).  This  river  in  sections  consists  of  great 
pools,  both  in  the  plains  and  in  the  mountains, 
and  falls  and  rapids  of  great  extent.  In  a  dis- 
tance of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  it  has  a 
fall  of  over  two  thousand  one  hundred  feet. 
Therefore  it  is  not  navigable,  but  renders  a  vast 
amount  of  water  power  and  also  water  for  irri- 
gation purposes.  The  first  large  cataract  to  be 
noticed  is  the  American  falls,  so  named  on  ac- 
count of  the  fact  that  a  party  of  Americans  lost 
their  lives  here  in  their  effort  to  cross  the  river  in 
canoes.  It  is  twenty-five  miles  southwest  of  Fort 
Hall,  and  the  descent  of  the  water  is  sixty  feet. 
Thence  the  river  flows  between  banks  of  trap 
rock  for  about  seventy  miles,  when  it  enters  a 


deeper  canyon,  several  miles  in  length  and  from 
eight  hundred  to  a  thousand  miles  in  width.  Soon 
after  this  there  is  a  fall  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  in  one  perpendicular  descent,  of  the  main 
portion  of  the  water,  while  a  smaller  portion 
makes  its  way  down  the  descent  gradually  to  a 
certain  point,  where  it  completes  the  downward 
journey  to  the  great  pool  by  a  perpendicular  de- 
scent. These  descents  are  called  the  Twin  falls, 
and  sometimes  the  Little  falls,  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  great  Shoshone  falls  four  miles  be- 
low, where  the  entire  body  of  water 'plunges 
down  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  in  a  per- 
pendicular descent,  after  a  preliminary  descent  of 
thirty  feet  down  an  incline.  Forty  miles  still 
farther  west,  at  the  Salmon  or  Fishing  falls,  the 
river  makes  its  last  great  downward  plunge  of 
forty  feet,  after  which  it  flows,  with  frequent 
rapids  and  canyons,  on  to  the  Columbia.  Much 
of  the  way  from  the  head  to  the  mouth  is  marked 
by  remarkable  scenery,- — awful,  grand,  weird  or 
mysterious. 

The  American  falls  are  forty  feet  high,  the 
water  plunging  over  a  lava  stairway;  and  the 
Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad  crosses  the  river 
amid  their  roar  and  spray.  Below  Goose  creek 
the  river  enters  a  deep  canyon,  within  whose 
gloomy  abyss  it  flows  for  seventy  miles,  and  in 
this  course  the  river  sweeps  through  a  group  of 
five  islands  of  volcanic  origin,  amid  which  occur 
several  cascades,  and  then  forms  the  magnificent 
Shoshone  falls,  descending  in  full  volume  nine 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide,  over  a  semi-circular 
cliff  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  high,  torn 
by  projecting  rocks  of  lava  into  cataracts  of  white 
foam  and  prismatic  spray.  At  times  the  volume 
nearly  equals  that  of  Niagara,  while  the  descent 
is  a  third  greater.  Richardson  calls  it  "a  cataract 
of  snow  with  an  avalanche  of  jewels,  amid  solemn 
portals  of  lava,  unrivaled  in  the  world  save  by 
Niagara."  This  remarkable  locality  is  twenty- 
five  miles  from  the  railway,  and  of  course  there  is 
a  hotel  here  for  the  accommodation  of  tourists. 
A  more  detailed  description  of  this  magnificent 
cataract  appears  on  other  pages  of  this  volume. 
The  Snake  is  navigable  from  a  point  a  few  miles 
above  the  Boise  river  to  Powder  river,  a  hundred 
miles  below. 

The  following  beautiful  word-picture  is  from 
the  pen  of  C.  C.  Goodwin,  who,  after  a  descrip- 


Great  Shoshone,  Below  the  Falls. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


53 


tion  of  the  Columbia  river  and  its  beauties,  con- 
tinues in  these  words: 

The  Columbia  is  grand,  but  you  must  follow  it  up  to 
its  chief  tributary  if  you  would  find  perfect  glory — fol- 
low it  into  the  very  desert.  You  have  heard  of  the 
lava  beds  of  Idaho.  They  were  once  a  river  of  molten 
fire  from  three  to  nine  hundred  feet  in  depth,  which 
burned  its  way  through  the  desert  for  hundreds  of 
miles!  To  the  east  of  the  source  of  this  lava,  the 
Snake  river  bursts  out  of  the  hills,  becoming  almost 
at  once  a  sovereign  river,  and,  flowing  at  first  south- 
westerly and  then,  bending  westerly,  cuts  its  way, 
with  many  bends,  finally,  far  to  the  north,  merging 
with  the  Columbia. 

On  this  river  are  several  falls.  First  are  the  Amer- 
ican falls,  which  are  very  beautiful.  Sixty  miles  below 
are  the  Twin  falls,  where  the  river  divides  into  two 
nearly  equal  parts  and  falls  one  hundred  and  eighty 
feet.  They  are  magnificent.  Three  miles  below  are 
the  Shoshone  falls,  and  a  few  miles  lower  down  are 
Salmon  falls. 

It  was  of  Shoshone  falls  that  I  began  to  speak. 
They  are  real  rivals  of  Niagara.  Never  anywhere  else 
was  there  such  a  scene;  never  anywhere  else  was  ?o 
beautiful  a  picture  hung  in  so  rude  a  frame;  never  any- 
where else  on  a  background  so  forbidding  and  weird 
were  so  many  glories  clustered.  Around  and  beyond 
there  is  nothing  but  the  desert,  sere,  silent,  lifeless, 
as  though  Desolation  had  builded  these  everlasting 
thrones  to  Sorrow  and  Despair. 

Away  back  in  remote  ages  over  the  withered  breast 
of  the  desert,  a  river  of  fire  one  hundred  miles  wide 
and  four  hundred  miles  long  was  turned.  As  the  fiery 
mass  cooled,  its  red  waves  became  transfixed  and 
turned  back,  giving  to  the  double  desert  an  indescrib- 
ably blasted  and  forbidding  face.  But  while  this  river 
of  fire  was  in  flow,  a  river  of  water  was  fighting  its 
way  across  it,  or  has  since  made  the  war  and  forged 
out  for  itself  a  channel  through  the  mass.  This  chan- 
nel looks  like  the  grave  of  a  volcano  that  has  been 
robbed  of  its  dead! 

But  right  between  its  crumbling  and  repellent  walls 
a  transfiguration  appears;  and  such  a  picture!  A  river 
as  lordly  as  the  Hudson  or  the  Ohio  springing  from 
the  distant  snow-crested  Tetons,  with  waters  transpar- 
ent as  glass  but  green  as  emerald,  with  majestic  flow 
and  ever-increasing  volume,  sweeps  on  until  it  reaches 
this  point  where  the  august  display  begins.  Suddenly, 
in  different  places  in  the  river  bed,  jagged,  rocky  reefs 
are  upraised,  dividing  the  current  into  four  rivers,  and 
these,  in  a  mighty  plunge  of  eighty  feet  downward, 
dash  on  their  way.  Of  course  the  waters  are  churned 
into  a  foam  and  roll  over  the  precipice  white  as  are 
the  garments  of  morning  when  no  cloud  obscures  the 
sun.  The  loveliest  of  these  falls  is  called  the  Bridal 
eil,  because  it  is  made  of  the  lace  which  is  woven 
ith  a  warp  of  falling  waters  and  a  woof  of  sunlight, 
Above  this  and  near  the  right  bank  is  a  long  trail  of 
foam,  and  this  is  called  the  Bridal  Train.  The  other 


channels  are  not  so  fair  as  the  one  called  Bridal  Veil, 
but  they  are  more  fierce  and  wild  and  carry  in  their 
furious  sweep  more  power. 

One  of  the  reefs  which  divides  the  river  in  mid- 
channel  runs  up  to  a  peak,  and  on  this  a  family  of 
eagles  have  through  the  years,  maybe  through  the 
centuries,  made  their  home  and  reared  their  young, 
on  the  very  verge  of  the  abyss  and  amid  the  full 
echoes  of  the  resounding  boom  of  the  falls.  Surely  the 
eagle  is  a  fitting  symbol  of  perfect  fearlessness  and  of 
that  exultation  which  comes  with  battle  clamors. 

But  these  first  falls  are  but  a  beginning.  The  greater 
splendor  succeeds.  With  swifter  flow  the  startled 
waters  dash  on  and  within  a  few  feet  take  their  second 
plunge  in  a  solid  crescent  over  a  sheer  precipice  two 
hundred  and  ten  feet  to  the  abyss  below.  On  the 
brink  there  is  a  rooting  crest  of  white,  dotted  here  and 
there,  in  sharp  contrast,  with  shining  eddies  of  green, 
as  might  a  necklace  of  emerald  shimmer  on  a  throat  of 
snow,  and  then  the  leap  and  fall. 

Here  more  than  foam  is  made.  Here  the  waters  are 
shivered  into  fleecy  spray  whiter  and  finer  than  any 
miracle  that  ever  fell  from  India  loom,  while  from 
the  depths  below  an  everlasting  vapor  rises, — the  in- 
cense of  the  waters  to  the  waters'  God.  Finally, 
through  the  long,  unclouded  days  the  sun  sends  down 
his  beams,  and  to  give  the  startling  scene  its  crowning 
splendor,  wreathes  the  terror  and  the  glory  in  a  rain- 
bow halo.  On  either  sullen  bank  the  extremities  of 
its  arc  are  anchored,  and  there  in  its  many-colored 
robes  of  light  it  stands  outstretched  above  the  abyss 
like  wreaths  of  flowers  above  a  sepulcher.  Up  through 
the  glory  and  the  terror  an  everlasting  roar  ascends, 
deep-toned  as  is  the  voice  of  fate,  a  diapason  like  that 
the  rooling  ocean  chants  when  his  eager  surges  come 
rushing  in  to  greet  and  fiercely  woo  an  irresponsive 
promontory. 

But  to  feel  all  the  awe  and  to  mark  all  the  splendor 
and  power  that  come  of  the  mighty  display,  one  must 
climb  down  the  steep  descent  to  the  river's  brink  below, 
and,  pressing  up  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  falls, 
contemplate  the  tremendous  picture.  There  some- 
thing of  the  energy  that  creates  that  endless  panorama 
is  comprehended;  all  the  magnificence  is  seen.  In  the 
reverberations  that  come  of  the  war  of  waters  one 
hears  something  like  God's  voice;  something  like  the 
splendor  of  God  is  before  his  eyes;  something  akin 
to  God's  power  is  manifesting  itself  before  him,  and 
his  soul  shrinks  within  itself,  conscious  as  never  be- 
fore of  its  own  littleness  and  helplessness  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  working  of  Nature's  immeasurable  forces, 
— not  quite  so  massive  is  the  picture  as  Niagara,  but  it 
has  more  lights  and  shades  and  loveliness,  as  though 
a  hand  more  divinely  skilled  had  mixed  the, tints  and 
with  more  delicate  art  had  transfixed  them  upon  that 
picture  suspended  there  in  its  rugged  and  somber 
frame. 

As  one  watches,  it  is  not  difficult  to  fancy  that 
away  back  in  the  immemorial  and  unrecorded  past  the 
angel  of  love  bewailed  the  fact  that  mortals  were  to 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


be  given  existence  in  a  spot  so  forbidding:  a  spot  that 
apparently  was  never  to  be  warmed  with  God's  smile, 
which  was  never  to  make  a  sign  through  which  God'.s 
mercy  was  to  be  discerned, — that  then  Omnipotence 
was  touched,  that  with  His  hand  He  smote  the  hills 
and  started  the  great  river  in  its  flow,  that  with  His 
finger  He  traced  out  the  channel  across  the  corpse  of 
that  other  river  that  had  been  fire,  mingled  the  sun- 
beams with  the  raging  waters  and  made  it  possible  in 
that  fire-blasted  frame  of  scoria  to  swing  a  picture 
which  should  be  shown  first  to  the  red  man  and  later 
to  the  pale  races,  a  certain  sign  of  the  existence,  the 
pdwer  and  unapproachable  splendor  of  the  Great  First 
Cause;  and,  as  the  red  man  through  the  centuries 
watched  the  spectacle,  comprehending  nothing  except 
that  an  infinite  voice  was  smiting  his  ears  and  insuffer- 
able glories  were  blazing  below  his  eyes;  so  through 
the  centuries  to  come  the  pale  races  will  stand  upon 
the  shuddering  shore  and  watch,  experiencing  a  mighty 
impulse  to  put  off  the  sandles  from  the  feet,  under  an 
overmastering  consciousness  that  the  spot  on  which 
they  are  standing  is  holy  ground.  There  is  nothing 
elsewhere  like  it,  nothing  half  so  weird,  so  wild,  so 
beautiful,  so  clothed  in  majesty,  so  draped  in  terror; 
nothing  else  that  awakens  impressions  at  once  so  start- 
ling, so  winsome,  so  profound.  While  journeying 
through  the  desert,  to  come  suddenly  upon  it,  the 
spectacle  gives  one  something  of  the  emotions  that 
would  be  experienced  to  behold  a  resurrection  from 
the  dead.  In  the  midst  of  what  seems  like  a  dead 
world,  suddenly  there  springs  into  irrepressible  life 
something  so  marvelous,  so  grand,  so  caparisoned 
with  loveliness  and  irresistible  might,  that  the  head  is 
bowed,  the  strained  heart  throbs  tumultuously  and  the 
awed  soul  sinks  to  its  knees. 

J.  P.  McMeekin,  a  photographer  of  Hagerman, 
Idaho,  thus  describes  these  wonderful  springs: 
"Of  all  the  wonderful  and  beautiful  scenes  of 
earth  there  are  none,  in  all  probability,  more 
worthy  the  attention  of  the  lover  of  the  grand  and 
beautiful  than  Thousand  springs.  This  sublime 
spectacle  is  situated  in  the  heart  of  the  great 
Snake  river  desert,  Idaho,  some  twenty-four 
miles  from  Shoshone,  a  town  on  the  Oregon 
Short  Line,  and  owing  to  its  isolated  position  is 
known  but  to  few;  yet  it  is  doubtful  whether  it 
has  a  parallel  on  the  globe.  Imagine  a  cliff  or 
cliffs  from  two  to  four  hundred  feet  high,  from 
which  for  a  distance  of  two  miles,  at  a  height 
varying  from  ninety  to  two  hundred  and  eighty 
feet,  rush  crystal  streams  of  water  forming  water- 
falls of  almost  every  conceivable  form,  and  you 
have  but  a  faint  idea  of  this  lovely  scene.  It  must 
be  seen  to  be  appreciated,  and  the  senses  become 
even  bewildered  by  its  extent  and  beauty. 


"Viewed  from  the  green,  placid  bosom  ot 
Snake  river,  but  a  few  hundred  feet  distant  at 
this  point,  the  scene  is  sublime,  the  foaming  tor- 
rents contrasting  well  with  their  dark  back- 
ground of  lava,  or  where  they  trail  their  beautiful 
lace-work  over  carpetings  of  velvet  moss  of  the 
most  gorgeous  hues — green,  scarlet,  orange  and 
crimson.  Below,  on  the  banks  of  the  numerous 
streams  formed  by  these  springs,  grow  the  birch, 
cedar  and  willow,  their  varied  foliage  dripping 
with  the  never-ceasing  spray.  Wild  flowers  are 
scattered  here  in  profusion  and  coloring  not 
known  to  other  localities  near  by. 

"A  boat  may  be  taken  the  whole  distance 
around  the  base  of  these  falls,  when  the  river  is 
high,  say  in  June  or  July.  It  is  then  that  their 
variety,  extent  and  beauty  may  be  seen  to  full 
advantage.  Then,  too,  you  can  look  down  into 
the  clear,  cool  water  below,  where  trout  and 
other  fish  may  be  seen  darting  through  their 
beautiful,  blue  depths  or  over  shallows  of  golden 
sand  and  bright-hued  pebbles.  And  then,  as  we 
look  upward  to  the  dizzy  heights,  what  a  trans- 
formation we  behold!  Rainbows  are  everywhere 
visible  in  the  spray  as  it  rises  in  masses  or  de- 
tached fragments,  coloring  the  snowy  jets  into 
flame  and  colors  for  which  there  are  no  names; 
and  the  most  gorgeous  colorings  of  the  palette 
become  lifeless  compared  with  them.  Set  in  its 
frame  of  adamant  and  surrounded  by  a  barren 
waste,  its  beauty  is  greatly  enhanced,  and  forms 
a  wonderful  and  lovely  picture, — one  on  which 
the  eye  loves  to  linger  until  wearied  of  trying  to 
trace  the  endless  torrents  as  they  plunge  madly 
onward  to  rest  in  the  placid  river  below." 

The  eastern  gateway  to  the  Snake  river  valley 
and  also  to  Idaho,  is  the  famous  South  Pass, 
where  the  lowest  point  on  the  summit  of  the  di- 
vide is  nearly  seven  thousand  and  five  hundred 
feet  above  sea  level,  while  the  peaks  in  the  vicinity 
rise  to  an  elevation  of  ten  to  over  thirteen  thou- 
sand feet,  Fremont  peak  being  thirteen  thousand 
five  hundred  and  seventy  feet.  The  pass  to  the 
north  to  the  Blackfoot  country  is  six  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea  level,  which  is  the  general 
level  of  that  region.  Various  peaks  in  the  Bitter 
Root  range  rise  to  elevations  between  seven  and 
ten  thousand  feet.  Fort  Boise  is  in  the  lowest 
part  of  the  Snake  river  valley  in  Idaho,  being 
onlv  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  The 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


55 


Florence  mines  are  about  eight  thousand  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  largest  body  of 
level  land  affording  grass  instead  of  the  almost 
omnipresent  sage  brush  is  the  Big  Camas  prairie, 
on  the  headwaters  of  Wood  river.  Camas  prairie 
comprises  five  hundred  square  miles  of  rolling 
farm  lands.  Much  of  the  southern  part  is  a  dry, 
black  lava  desert  four  hundred  miles  long  and 
fifty  miles  wide,  cut  deep  down  a  thousand  feet 
or  more  by  the  sheer  canyons  of  the  Snake  river 
and  other  streams  and  by  many  great  crevasses. 
The  northern  part  of  the  plain  has  a  wonderfully- 
weird  appearance,  as  of  a  black  sea  suddenly 
turned  to  stone.  The  soil  elsewhere  in  the  val- 
ley is  sandy  and  unstable,  and  the  chief  vegeta- 
tion consists  of  enormous  sage-brush  and  bunch- 
grass;  but  irrigation  is  redeeming  it  for  farming. 
Within  the  bend  of  the  Snake  river  is  an  immense 
basaltic  plain,  out  of  which  rise  the  granite  crests 
of  the  Three  Buttes, — famous  landmarks  for 
overland  emigrants.  South  of  the  Snake  the 
valleys  and  foot-hills  contain  bunch-grass  and 
arable  bottom  land,  alternating  with  abrupt 
ranges  of  mountains,  which  are  dotted  with  a 
few  evergreens  and  aspens.  The  beautiful  Ma- 
lade,  Cache,  Gentile,  Bear  river  and  other  valleys 
open  the  way  into  the  Utah  basin  and  are  oc- 
cupied by  Mormon  hamlets,  around  which  ex- 
tend broad  farms,  with  efficient  irrigation  sys- 
tems. Southwestern  Idaho  contains  a  dreary, 
alkaline  desert,  out  of  which  rise  the  Owyhee 
mountains.  A  small  portion  of  the  wonderful 
Yellowstone  National  Park  is  included  within  the 
state. 

Almost  everything  grand  or  mysterious  in  na- 
ture, in  her  land  exhibits,  is  represented  here  in 
the  state  now  beautifully  characterized  as  the 
"Gem  of  the  Mountains."  Even  a  magnificent 
volcano  exists  within  its  limits.  Buffalo  Hump, 
an  isolated  butte  between  Clearwater  and  Salmon 
rivers,  has  had  three  or  four  eruptions  within  the 
period  of  white  settlement,  flames  shooting  high 
into  the  sky  and  lava  flowing  down  the  sides  of 
the  mountain.  In  1881  an  outburst  of  lava  oc- 
curred in  the  mountains  east  of  Camas  prairie, 
while  at  the  same  time  an  earthquake  occurred. 
In  1864  the  Salmon  river  rose  and  fell  several 
feet,  rising  a  second  time  higher  than  before,  and 
Xvas  warm  and  muddy. 

But  volcanic  action  has  never  been  so  exten- 


sive as  to  destroy  the  fine  paleontological  char- 
acter of  most  of  the  country.  The  country  be- 
tween Reynolds  creek,  in  Owyhee  county,  and 
Bruneau  river  is  one  vast  bed  of  organic  remains 
of  extinct  species  of  animals.  Even  parts  of  the 
human  skeleton  have  been  found  which  were  so 
situated  as  to  indicate  that  a  race  of  men  once  ex- 
isted here  before  the  present  Indians.  Many  lo- 
calities are  rich  in  organic  remains,  whence  the 
paleontologist  will  find  interesting  material  for 
his  museum  for  ages  to  come.  In  Scribner's 
Magazine  for  February,  1890,  there  is  a  scientific 
account  of  a  miniature  but  finely  wrought  image, 
a  few  inches  long,  of  a  human  skull,  apparently 
representing  the  skull  of  an  extinct  race  of  men, 
found  at  the  bottom  of  an  artesian  well  over  two 
hundred  and  sixty  feet  deep  at  Nampa,  in  sand- 
stone, below  vegetable  soil.  S.  F.  Emmons,  of 
the  geological  survey,  considered  that  the  strat- 
um in  which  this  relic  was  found  was  far  older 
than  any  others  in  which  human  remains  had 
ever  been  found,  excepting  perhaps  those  under 
Table  mountain,  in  California.  It  raises  a  ques- 
tion of  the  stability  of  geological  developments, — 
upheavals  and  subsidences  that  are  impossible  to 
calculate. 

On  the  hills  and  mountain  spurs  almost  the 
only  vegetation  consists  of  Artemisia  tridentata, 
or  "absinthe,"  as  the  early  Canadian  voyageurs 
used  to  call  it,  and  sage-brush,  another  species  of 
artemisia,  and  cactus,  the  whole  giving  a  uni- 
formly dull  gray  tint  of  inconceivable  melancholy 
to  the  landscape.  The  hills  themselves  consist  of 
black  lava,  and  this  is  slightly  covered  in  spots 
with  vegetable  soil,  almost  always  dry. 

There  was  primarily  no  particular  reason  for 
calling  the  Rocky  mountains  by  that  name.  This 
appellation  was  probably  given  it  by  some  trav- 
elers who  first  saw  the  range  where  it  was  ex- 
clusively rocky,  or  possibly  by  Indians  who  lived 
in  its  vicinity,  who,  never  having  seen  any  other 
mountains  in  the  world,  considered  these  great 
elevations  peculiarly  rocky.  At  any  rate,  along 
the  eastern  boundary  of  Idaho,  on  both  the  west- 
ern and  eastern  slopes  the  mountains  are  in  gen- 
eral beautifully  rolling  masses  like  the  waves  of 
the  sea,  covered  to  a  certain  height  by  rich  forage 
grasses,  shrubbery  and  trees.  The  "Poet  of  the 
Sierras"  thus  describes  the  general  scene  in  his 
peculiar  style: 


56 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


"The  only  thing  that  strikes  the  stranger  with 
awe  and  admiration  on  first  looking  at  these 
great  mountain  slopes,  is  their  massiveness.  As 
you  climb  up  the  rounded,  grassy  steeps,  either 
from  the  west  or  from  the  east,  you  first  notice 
a  tremendous  hill  before  you,  and  massive, 
grass-set  tumuli  to  your  right,  to  your  left,  behind 
and  before,  as  you  proceed.  You  pass  huge  hills 
clotted  with  herds,  ribbons  of  rills  threading 
down  and  around  and  running  together,  here 
and  there  forming  wooded  streams.  Then 
you  see  before  you  more  massive,  grassy 
hills,  more  herds,  more  massive  hills  now, 
more  herds,  more  herds,  then  more  massive  and 
mighty  hills. 

"Such  was  the  sublime  aspect  of  this  land  when 
my  eyes  first  looked  upon  it  more  than  a  genera- 
tion ago,  and  such  it  must  remain  until  'the 
wreck  of  matter  and  the  crash  of  worlds.'  Man 
may  break  this  sublime  monotony  of  nature  a 
little,  as  time  sweeps  on,  by  a  harvest  field  where 
the  ever-fertile  hilltops  tempt  him  to  sow  and 
reap;  he  may  set  his  little  city  and  center  of  trade 
by  the  meadow  brook  at  the  base;  he  may  grid- 
iron the  great,  rounded  domes  of  grass  that 
stretch  in  billowy  succession  east  and  west  and 
north  and  south;  but  he  will  never  be  able  to 
drive  from  the  mind  of  the  stranger  the  convic- 
tion, as  he  first  beholds  Idaho,  that  it  was  at  the 
first  cast  in  a  tremendous  mold." 

All  the  streams  emptying  into  Snake  river  at 
a  distance  below  the  great  falls  sink  before 
reaching  it  and  flow  beneath  the  lava,  shooting 
out  of  the  sides  of  the  canyon  with  beautiful  ef- 
fect and  forming  a  variety  of  cascades.  The 
lava  presents  phenomena  like  breathing-holes, 
where  strong  currents  of  air  find  continual  vent. 
Chasms  extending  seemingly  to  immense  depths, 
"devil's"  corrals  of  lava  walls,  extinct  craters,  a 
pile  of  basalt  resembling  a  magnificent  city  in 
ruins,  and  numerous  other  basaltic  masses  pre- 
senting a  weird  and  suggestive  appearance  and 
having  correspondingly  significant  names,  many 
of  them  having  the  word  "devil"  as  an  essentially 
descriptive  element. 

Salmon  river,  in  the  descriptive  language  of  a 
miner,  almost  cuts  the  earth  in  two,  the  banks 
having  a  perpendicular  height  of  about  four  thou- 
sand feet  for  miles  and  backed  by  rugged  moun- 
tains that  seem  to  have  been  rent  by  the  most 


violent  convulsions.  Godin  or  Lost  river  is  a  con- 
siderable stream  from  the  Wood  River  moun- 
tains, which  disappears  near  Three  Buttes — hence 
the  name  Lost — and  reappears  at  a  distance.  Op- 
posite the  Big  Camas  prairie  is  a  range  of  moun- 
tains whose  tops  glisten  with  perpetual  snow. 
Stretching  southward  is  a  sea  of  cinder,  wavy, 
scaly,  and  sometimes  cracked  and  abysmal.  All 
the  rivers  of  Idaho  run  into  the  Columbia  ex- 
cepting the  Bear  river,  which  flows  into  the  Great 
Salt  Lake. 

Curious  mineral  springs  have  been  discovered 
in  various  parts  of  the  state,  .the  most  famous  of 
which  are  the  soda  springs  in  the  Bear  river  re- 
gion. Around  these  springs  are  circular  embank- 
ments of  pure  white  soda  several  feet  in  height 
and  twenty  to  thirty  feet  wide.  In  the  Bear  river 
valley  there  is  an  area  equal  to  a  square  mile  in 
which  there  are  masses  of  pure  soda,  and  others 
of  soda  mixed  with  sulphur,  others  with  iron, 
etc.;  and  some  are  warm,  some  cold,  some  bub- 
bling, others  quiet,  etc. 

The  climate  of  the  valleys  of  Idaho  is  found  to 
be  far  milder  than  had  been  expected  from  their 
great  elevation,  while  the  mountains,  of  course, 
present  their  usual  variety.  In  the  mountainous 
regions  are  some  picturesque  lakes,  many  of  them 
navigable.  Lakes  Coeur  d'Alene  and  Pend 
d'Oreille  are  navigable,  being  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  miles  in  length,  and  they  abound  in  choice 
varieties  of  fish.  Kaniksu  is  a  clear  body  of 
water  twenty  miles  long  and  ten  wide.  Hindoo 
lakes  are  a  group  of  small  bodies  of  alkaline  wa- 
ter of  medicinal  qualities. 

Bear  lake  is  a  magnificent  oval,  twenty  by 
twenty-eight  miles  in  dimensions,  whose  deep 
and  mountain-fed  waters  abound  in  trout  and 
mullet,  and  ripple  up  sandy  shores  below  Paris, 
Montpelier  and  other  peaceful  Mormon  villages. 
The  valley  is  five  thousand  and  nine  hundred  feet 
above  the  sea.  Bear  lake  remains  ice-bound 
from  January  to  April. 

Lake  Pend  Oreilles  is  thirty  miles  long  and 
from  three  to  fifteen  miles  wide,  studded  with 
islands  and  surrounded  by  Granite  mountain,  the 
snowy  Pack-saddle  range,  the  purple  Coeur 
d'Alene  mountains  and  other  peaks,  nearly  ten 
thousand  feet  high.  This  lake  has  two  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  of  shore  line  and  is  navigated  by 
several  small  steamboats.  The  Northern  Pacific 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


57 


Railroad  follows  the  north  shore  for  twenty-five 
miles. 

Coeur  d'Alene  lake  fills  a  wide  gorge  in  the 
spurs  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mountains,  and  bears 
the  form  of  the  letter  E,  with  the  branches  point- 
ing southeast.  Its  irregular  and  lonely  shores  are 
clad  with  forests  of  pine  and  tamarack.  The  ex- 
panse is  twenty  miles  long  and  one  to  four  miles 
wide,  with  a  depth  reaching  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet,  a  wild  Windermere  of  clear,  cold, 
light-green  water,  abounding  in  trout  and  other 
fish,  and  stocked  with  millions  of  white-fish.  St. 
Joseph  river,  flowing  into  this  lake,  is  navigable 
for  twenty-five  miles.  The  lake  is  said  to  be 
agitated  in  the  evening  by  mysterious  swells,  like 
those  on  lake  Geneva  in  Switzerland.  Out  of  the 
northern  end  of  this  lake  flows  the  Spokane  river, 
which  runs  a  hundred  miles  west  to  the  Columbia. 
At  the  head  of  this  lake,  ten  miles  from  Rath- 
drum  station,  is  an  eight-company  post,  Fort 
Sherman,  established  by  General  Sherman. 

Farther  north,  under  the  lonely  Cabinet  moun- 
tains, in  a  land  inhabited  mainly  by  caribou,  deer 
and  bears,  lake  Kaniksu  covers  two  hundred 
square  miles.  This  remote  locality,  forty  miles 
from  the  railway,  is  visited  only  by  hunters. 

In  the  southeastern  part  of  Idaho  are  Henry 
and  Cliff  lakes,  surrounded  by  high  peaks  and 
basaltic  cliffs  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  Each  of 
these  is  three  to  four  miles  long.  The  clear,  cold, 
deep  Payette  lakes,  one  of  which  is  two  by  ten 
miles  in  magnitude,  lie  at  the  head  of  the  beau- 
tiful Long  valley. 

The  Bear  lake  country  has  a  mountain  of  sul- 
phur and  deposits  of  lead  and  coal.  The  latter 
is  also  mined  on  Irwin  creek  and  at  Lewiston. 
Near  Bear  river  is  the  soda  springs  health  resort, 
with  its  alterative  and  tonic  iron,  sulphur  and 
magnesia  waters,  sparkling,  effervescent  and 
pleasant,  and  highly  charged  with  carbonic-acid 
gas.  One  of  these  fountains  Fremont  named  the 
Steamboat  spring,  on  account  of  its  measured 
puffs  of  steam.  In  this  vicinity  are  sulphur  lakes, 
a  deep  ice  cave  and  the  beautiful  Swan  lake.  The 
most  famous  springs  are  the  Mammoth  and 
Ninety  Percent;  and  there  are  also  mud,  hot, 
ammonia  and  gas  springs.  These*  waters  are 
5,779  feet  above  the  sea,  among  the  Wasatch 
mountains,  in  a  pure  and  dry  air,  which  is  of 
great  benefit  to  consumptives.  They  were  the 


favorite  resort  of  Brigham  Young,  and  many 
Salt  Lake  Mormons  frequent  them  still.  Also 
other  well-to-do  persons  have  built  summer  cot- 
tages here.  Large  quantities  of  this  water  are 
bottled  and  shipped  to  the  markets. 

Besides  the  abundance  of  fish  in  the  waters, 
there  is  yet  a  great  number  of  game  animals,  even 
of  the  large  class,  as  bear,  deer,  antelope,  elk  and 
mountain  sheep,  among  the  quadrupeds;  besides 
large  quantities  of  partridge,  quail,  grouse,  swan 
and  wild  duck.  Formerly  there  was  also  an 
abundance  of  the  fur-bearing  animals,  including 
the  beaver,  martens  and  muskrats,  etc.,  and  also 
wolves,  red  and  silver-gray  foxes  and  some  speci- 
mens of  the  mountain  lion. 

In  the  vegetable  world  there  are  grapes, 
cherries,  blackberries,  gooseberries, huckleberries, 
strawberries,  salmon-berries,  several  useful  spe- 
cies of  pine  and  fir,  white  cedar,  hemlock,  yew, 
white  oak,  live  oak,  cottonwood,  poplar,  moun- 
tain mahogany  and  madrono.  Among  the  curi- 
osities were  the  camas  root,  which  was  formerly 
eaten  by  the  Indians,  and  the  quallah,  an  inferior 
root,  also  consumed  as  an  article  of  diet  by  the 
natives. 

Professor  F.  V.  Hayden,  in  his  "Geological 
Survey  of  the  Territories,"  in  referring  to  the  sur- 
face of  a  large  portion  of  Idaho,  describes  it  as 
literally  crumpled  or  rolled  up  in  one  continuous 
series  of  mountain  ranges,  fold  after  fold.  Per- 
haps even  better  examples  of  these  remarkable 
folds  may  be  found  in  the  country  drained  by 
Salmon  river  and  its  branches,  where  lofty  ranges 
of  mountains,  for  the  most  part  covered  with 
limestones  and  quartzites  of  the  carboniferous 
age,  wall  in  all  the  little  streams.  None  of  our 
published  maps  convey  any  idea  of  the  almost 
innumerable  ranges.  We  might  say  that  from 
longitude  110°  to  118°,  a  distance  of  over  five 
hundred  miles,  there  is  a  range  of  mountains,  on 
an  average,  every  ten  to  twenty  miles.  Some- 
times the  distance  across  the  range  in  a  straight 
line,  from  the  bed  of  a  stream  in  one  valley  to 
the  bed  of  the  stream  in  the  valley  beyond  the 
range,  is  not  more  than  five  to  eight  miles,  while 
it  is  seldom  more  than  twenty  miles.  "From 
these  statements,"  says  the  Professor,  "which  we 
believe  to  be  correct,  the  reader  may  form  some 
conception  of  the  vast  amount  of  labor  yet  to  be 
performed  to  explore,  analyze,  and  locate  on  a 


58 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


suitable  scale  these  hundreds  of  ranges  of  moun- 
tains, each  one  of  which  is  worthy  of  a  name." 

Though  the  foregoing  may  be  somewhat  exag- 
gerated, Idaho  is  in  reality  a  mountain  territory. 
It  is  from  the  interior  of  her  mountains  that  the 
chief  source  of  her  wealth  is  derived.  It  is  her 
mountain  sides  that  afford  the  nutritious  grasses 
that  sustain  hundreds  of  thousands  of  her  cattle, 
and  it  is  her  intermountain  vales  that  furnish  the 
soil  of  her  farms  and  ranches. 

In  the  north  are  the  Cceur  d'Alene  and  Bitter 
Root  mountains,  a  portion  of  the  latter  range, 
together  with  the  crest  of  the  Rocky  mountains, 
forming  the  dividing  line  between  Idaho  and 
Montana.  Spurs  from  the  main  range  of  the 
Rockies  ramify  into  all  sections  of  the  state.  The 
Sawtooth,  Salmon  river,  Wood  river,  Boise,  and 
other  ranges  are  the  scenes  of  active  mining 
operations  in  central  Idaho;  while  the  Wahsatch 
and  Owyhee  mountains  are  among  the  more  im- 
portant in  the  southeastern  and  southwestern 
portions,  respectively. 

The  average  elevation  of  the  state  is  about 
4,700  feet,  being  from  2,000  to  3,000  feet  less 
than  that  of  Wyoming,  Utah,  Nevada,  or  Colo- 
rado. The  highest  peaks  range  from  9,000  to 
13.000  feet  in  height.  The  lowest  altitude  is  at 
Lewiston,  where  the  Clearwater  joins  the  Snake 
at  an  elevation  of  680  feet. 

A  bird's-eye  view  of  the  state  would  represent 
a  vast,  wedge-shaped  plateau,  rising  from  an 
elevation  less  than  700  feet  in  the  extreme  west 
to  over  10,000  feet  in  the  extreme  east.  Over  this 
rugged  surface  countless  streams  are  flowing  as 
tributaries  to  the  three  principal  streams.  In  its 
long  serpentine  course  through  the  state,  the 
Snake  absorbs  the  waters  of  such  streams  as  the 
Clearwater,  Salmon,  Payette,  Boise,  Owyhee, 
Bruneau,  Wood  and  others.  Of  these  the  largest 
is  the  Salmon,  which,  rising  in  the  Sawtooth 
range,  after  a  long  circuitous  course,  receiving 
numberless  tributaries,  and  forcing  the  very 
mountains  asunder,  finally  empties  into  the 
Snake  not  many  miles  above  Lewiston.  The 
immense  water  power  of  Idaho  is  one  of  its  great 
resources,  affording  as  it  does  ample  facilities  for 
irrigating,  mining,  and  manufacturing  purposes. 

This  "northern"  region,  as  Colonel  McClure 


justly  remarks,  is  not  in  all  respects  "northern." 
It  is,  indeed,  the  "cold  blue  north"  in  this  respect, 
where  the  stars  glitter  in  the  clear,  sparkling  air 
of  the  majestic  winter;  but  the  cold  is  not  un- 
comfortable. The  air  is  so  dry,  pure  and  bracing 
that  even  zero  does  not  make  the  resident  flinch ; 
he  rather  enjoys  it.  Men  wear  fewer  clothes  than 
in  the  same  latitude  in  the  east,  and  at  the  same 
time  suffer  less.  Overcoats  are  seldom  worn,  ex- 
cepting by  travelers  in  conveyances.  Rheuma- 
tism and  consumption  are  unknown  here  except 
in  the  cases  of  those  immigrants  who  had  such 
ailments  before  locating  here.  Catarrh,  or  "cold 
in  the  head,"  is  seldom  experienced.  And  even 
those  who  come  here  with  these  troubles,  if  in 
the  incipient  stage,  are  almost  always  cured.  The 
same  remarks  are  practically  applicable  to  asth- 
ma and  all  other  throat  and  lung  diseases.  Moun- 
tain fever,  however,  is  sometimes  contracted,  but 
the  people  are  learning  to  avoid  this,  and  to  treat 
it  successfully  when  contracted. 

No  community  can  be  continuously  prosperous 
with  but  a  sole  dependence.  This  has  been  shown 
repeatedly  in  the  history  of  our  own  country. 
Fortunately  for  Idaho,  she  is  not  so  situated.  She 
is  not  a  land  of  mineral  veins  and  gold  placers 
only.  The  wealth  of  these  mineral  veins  and 
deposits,  and  the  fact  that  their  discovery  and 
development  came  in  advance  of  the  natural 
movement  by  which  her  other  resources  are  now 
being  developed,  have  served  somewhat  to  give 
the  impression  that  Idaho  is  only  a  mining  state. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  is  only  one  of  her  re- 
sources, and  one  that  is  destined  gradually  to  be 
overshadowed  by  those  giving  a  more  stable 
basis  of  permanent  and  unbroken  prosperity. 
Five  great  industries  occupy  the  attention  of  her 
people, — mining,  agriculture,  stock-raising,  fruit- 
growing and  lumbering.  The  last  four  are  in- 
creasing year  by  year  and  have  such  capabilities 
of  expansion  that  it  may  be  safely  predicted  that 
in  a  few  years  they  will  absorb  the  attention  and 
contribute  to  the  support  of  a  large  majority  of 
the  population,  in  connection  with  the  manufac- 
turing that  will  be  based  upon  them  and  grow 
out  of  them  and  be  provided  by  them,  with  the 
home  market  supplied  by  the  largely  increased 
population. 


M 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE   FIRST  SETTLEMENTS— THE   MARCH   OF   PROGRESS— INDIAN   DEPREDATIONS— MINING   DEVELOPMENTS. 


THE  first  settlements  made  by  whites  with- 
in the  present  boundaries  of  Idaho  were 
effected  by  Jesuit  missionaries,  as  is  true 
throughout  the  Pacific  coast  region;  and  pre- 
viously to  1863,  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in 
this  region,  there  were  but  two  or  three  settle- 
ments made  by  others.  In  the  primeval  stage 
the  country  was  not  at  all  inviting  to  civilized 
people.  The  almost  omnipresence  of  red  savages 
precluded  all  thoughts  of  prospecting  in  the 
mountains  for  valuable  minerals,  while  the  val- 
leys seemed  to  be  only  arid  deserts  absolutely 
irreclaimable  for  agricultural  purposes.  In  the 
outside  world  ideas  as  to  the  climate  were  de- 
rived only  from  hunters  and  trappers,  who  spent 
only  the  winters  here,  in  the  mountains,  where 
the  cold  was  intense  and  snow  abundant,  and 
from  emigrants,  who  passed  through  here  only 
during  hot  weather,  when  the  valleys  they  trav- 
ersed seemed  to  deserve  connection  with  what 
was  known  as  "the  Great  American  desert." 

One  authority  states  that  the  first  permanent 
settlement  in  Idaho  was  made  at  Mount  Idaho, 
the  present  county-seat  of  Idaho  county.  Prob- 
ably the  first  permanent  settlement,  however,  was 
made  in  1834,  in  which  year  Nathaniel  J.  Wyeth, 
with  a  party  of  sixty  men,  started  across  the  con- 
tinent and  established  Fort  Hall  as  a  trading 
post  near  Snake  river.  This  fort  was  the  most 
important  point  between  the  Missouri  river  and 
Salt  Lake  to  most  of  the  early  trans-continental 
emigrants.  It  was  at  the  crossing  of  the  Mis- 
souri-Oregon and  Utah-Canada  trails. 

On  the  I  ith  of  June,  1834,  Wyeth  and  his  party 
encamped  on  a  branch  of  the  Blackfoot,  near 
Port  Neuf ;  the  I2th  on  Ross'  Fork,  and  the  i4th 
on  Snake  river.  The  fort  was  permanently  lo- 
cated on  the  east  bank  of  the  Snake  river,  a  little 
north  of  the  Port  Neuf.  The  post  became  famous 
and  performed  good  service  during  the  several 
great  overland  emigrations.  The  emigrant  trail 
was  made  to  pass  by  it ;  it  was  near  to  the  Great 
Salt  Lake;  was  central  and  valuable  in  scores  of 

59 


ways.  From  this  point  in  time  radiated  roads  in 
every  direction, — to  Missouri,  to  California,  to 
Utah,  to  Oregon,  and  to  British  Columbia.  In 
1865  Angus  McDonald  valued  the  fort  and  lands 
belonging  to  it  at  one  million  dollars.  It  was 
near  the  old  war  ground  of  the  Blackfeet,  Snake, 
and  Crows,  and  prevented  many  a  massacre.  It 
was  several  times  attacked  and  nearly  burned, 
but  stood  to  its  duty  nobly.  Wyeth  and  his  party 
crossed  the  Snake  on  the  6th  of  August  and  ex- 
plored the  region  for  miles  around.  Crossing  the 
mountains,  they  encamped  on  Malade  river.  On 
the  1 3th  Camas  prairie  was  reached.  Two  days 
later  they  reached  Boise  river,  "crammed  with 
salmon."  On  the  23d  they  crossed  Snake 
river,  leaving  Idaho  behind  them,  camping  on  the 
rich  plains  of  Malheur. 

In  1836  Wyeth  was  forced  to  sell  Fort  Hall  to 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  The  latter  company 
had  already  erected,  probably  in  1835,  what  is 
known  as  old  Fort  Boise,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Boise  river.  The  original  structure  fell  down 
about  1847,  but  was  rebuilt  a  short  distance  north. 
The  new  building  continued  to  be  occupied  by 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  until  the  United 
States  acquired  undisputed  title  to  the  land. 

According  to  the  published  account  by  Mr. 
W.  H.  Gray,  the  first  mission  in  Idaho  was  es- 
tablished in  1836  at  Lapwai,  twelve  miles  from 
the  present  town  of  Lewiston.  A  printing  press 
with  type  was  presented,  in  1839,  by  the  mission- 
aries of  the  Sandwich  Islands  to  the  Presbyterian 
missionaries  of  Oregon,  and  it  reached  Lapwai 
that  year,  where  E.  O.  Hall  put  it  in  operation  to 
print  books  in  the  Nez  Perce  language.  Messrs. 
Rogers  and  Spalding  soon  learned  to  set  type, 
and  they  printed  small  books  in  the  Nez  Perce 
language  that  were  used  in  their  school.  That 
old  press  and  type  are  now  stored  in  the  state 
capitol  of  Oregon,  and  the  building  used  for  that 
primitive  printing  office  is  yet  standing,  though 
somewhat  modernized,  near  the  Lapwai  Mission 
in  Idaho.  This  was  the  first  printing  office  on 


60 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  Pacific  coast  of  America  north  of  Mexico. 
Thus  Idaho  has  the  honor  of  having  the  first 
printing  press  on  the  coast. 

The  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  seem  to  have 
been  in  the  main  more  successful  with  the  In- 
dians than  the  Protestants,  and  in  some  instances 
have  sustained  their  missions  to  the  present  day. 
Father  De  Smet  in  his  Letters,  published  at  Phil- 
adelphia in  1843,  is  responsible  for  the  following 
statement:  "The  Jesuits  De  Smet,  Mengarini, 
Point,  and  others  had  since  1840  made  several 
missionary  tours  through  the  Columbia  coun- 
tries, in  the  course  of  which  they  baptized  some 
thousands  of  Indians ;  they  also  erected  a  church 
at  a  place  near  the  Kallerspelm  lake  (Pend 
d'Oreille),  on  Clarke's  river,  where  the  Blessed 
Virgin  appeared  in  person  to  a  little  Indian  boy, 
whose  youth,  piety,  and  sincerity,  say  the  good 
fathers,  joined  to  the  nature  of  the  fact  which  he 
related,  forbade  us  to  doubt  the  truth  of  his  state- 
ment." 

Early  in  1854  a  small  colonyof  men  of  the  Mor- 
mon church  was  sent  here  to  form  the  nucleus  of  a 
settlement  on  Salmon  river,  among  the  buffalo- 
hunting  Nez  Perces.  They  erected  a  fort,  which 
they  named  Lemhi,  after  an  illustrious  name  in 
their  sacred  scriptures  commonly  known  as  the 
"Mormon  Bible."  The  next  year  others  joined 
them,  with  their  families,  horses,  cattle,  seeds 
and  farming  implements.  In  1857  Brigham 
Young  visited  this  colony,  attended  by  a  great 
retinue,  and  found  the  people  prosperous,  their 
crops  abundant  and  the  country  giving  promise 
of  considerable  wealth.  As  this  colony  continued 
to  grow,  the  Nez  Perces  Indians  became  sus- 
picious and  jealous,  knowing  that  our  govern- 
ment had  not  given  them  permission  thus  to 
squat  upon  these  lands,  and,  making  an  attack 
upon  them,  drove  them  out,  killing  three  of  their 
men  and  destroying  their  crops.  The  other  set- 
tlements at  this  time  were  a  few  French  Cana- 
dians cultivating  farms  in  the  Cceur  d'Alene 
country,  the  Jesuit  missions,  and,  east  of  the  Bit- 
ter Root  mountains,  Fort  Owen,  in  the  valley 
of  the  St.  Mary's  branch  of  Bitter  Root  river. 

The  county  of  Shoshone  was  set  off  from 
Walla  Walla  county  by  the  legislature  of  Wash- 
ington as  early  as  January  29,  1858,  comprising 
all  the  country  north  of  Snake  river  lying  east  of 
the  Columbia  and  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains, 


with  the  county-seat  "on  the  land  claim  of  Angus 
McDonald,"  and  this  was  subdivided  by  legisla- 
tive acts  in  1860-1  and  1861-2,  according  to  the 
requirements  of  the  shifting  mining  population. 
This  population  first  overran  the  Clearwater  re- 
gion, discovering  and  opening,  between  the  au- 
tumn of  1860  and  the  spring  of  1863,  the  placers 
on  Oro  Fino  creek,  North  Fork  and  South  Fork 
of  the  Clearwater,  Salmon  river  and  its  tribu- 
taries, and  finally  the  Boise  basin. 

We  might  say  that  the  first  distinctive  settle- 
ment of  Idaho  began  in  August,  1862,  when  the 
Boise  mines  were  discovered  by  George  Grimes, 
of  Oregon  City,  John  Reynolds,  Joseph  Branstet- 
ter,  D.  H.  Fogus,  Jacob  Westenfelten,  Moses 
Splane,  Wilson,  Miller,  two  Portuguese  called 
Antoine  and  Phillipi,  and  a  man  whose  name  is 
unknown.  Previously  to  this  time  the  movement 
proposed  for  the  organization  of  Idaho  territory 
met  with  but  little  favor.  By  the  spring  of  1863 
there  were  four  county  organizations  and  ten 
mining  towns,  and  the  total  population  in  this 
section  was  probably  about  twenty  thousand. 
There  had  been  a  large  immigration  the  preced- 
ing year,  owing  to  the  civil  war  and  the  fame  of 
the  Salmon  river  mines.  Some  of  the  immigra- 
tions of  that  year  halted  on  the  eastern  flank  of 
the  Rocky  range,  in  what  is  now  Montana,  and 
others  went  to  eastern  Oregon ;  but  none  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  Salmon  river  that  year  ex- 
cepting those  who  took  the  Missouri  river  route. 
Four  steamers  from  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  ascend- 
ed to  Fort  Benton,  whence  three  hundred  and 
fifty  emigrants  came  by  the  Mullan  road  to  the 
mines  on  Salmon  river.  Those  who  attempted 
to  get  through  the  mountains  between  Fort  Hall 
and  Salmon  river  failed,  some  losing  their  lives 
and  the  rest,  returning  to  some  distance,  went  on 
to  Powder  river. 

Grimes  creek  was  named  in  commemoration  of 
George  Grimes,  the  leader  of  the  Boise  expedi- 
tion already  mentioned,  who  was  killed  by  the 
Indians  while  prospecting  for  gold  on  that 
stream.  After  that  event  his  party  retreated  to 
Walla  Walla,  where  a  company  of  fifty-four  men 
was  raised  to  return  and  hold  the  ground.  They 
arrived  at  Grimes  creek  October  7th  and  founded 
Pioneer  City.  Others  quickly  followed,  and  in 
November  Centerville  was  started  a  few  miles 
south  on  the  same  stream.  Placerville,  at  the 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


61 


head  of  Granite  creek,  contained  three  hundred 
houses.  Buena  Vista,  on  Elk  creek,  and  Ban- 
nack  City,  on  Moore  creek,  also  sprang  up  this 
season,  in  December,  and  before  the  first  of  Jan- 
uary between  two  and  three  thousand  persons 
were  on  the  ground  ready  for  the  opening  of 
spring.  Up  to  this  time  the  weather  had  been 
mild,  allowing  wagons  to  cross  the  Blue  moun- 
tains, usually  impassable  in  winter. 

Companies  of  fifty  and  over,  well  armed  to 
protect  themselves  against  the  Indians,  who  were 
at  this  time  actively  engaged  in  hostilities,  were 
frequent  along  the  route  mostly  traveled,  and 
supplies  for  these  people  poured  rapidly  into  their 
settlements.  During  the  first  ten  days  of  Novem- 
ber twenty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  goods  went 
out  of  the  little  frontier  trading  post  at  Walla 
Walla  for  the  Boise  country.  Utah  also  contrib- 
uted a  pack-train  loaded  with  provisions,  which 
the  miners  found  cheaper  than  those  from  the 
Willamette  valley,  as  the  latter  had  to  be  trans- 
ported a  long  distance  up  swift-running  rivers 
and  pass  through  the  hands  of  numerous  middle- 
men. The  latter,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  navi- 
gability of  Snake  river  and  the  practicability  of 
delivering  their  goods  at  less  cost,  dispatched  a 
party  to  old  Fort  Boise  to  examine  the  character 
of  Snake  river  in  this  regard.  After  waiting  till 
the  river  had  arrived  at  its  lowest  stage  for  the 
season,  this  party  descended  to  Lewiston  on  a 
raft  constructed  by  them  for  the  purpose;  but 
subsequent  surveys  and  attempts  evolved  the  fact 
that  Lewiston  was  hopelessly  cut  off  from  Salt 
Lake  City  so  far  as  navigation  was  concerned. 

The  people  of  Boise  were  equally  interested  in 
means  of  travel  and  transportation,  and  there  was 
great  cause  for  disappointment  when  they  found 
that  only  wagons  and  pack  trains  could  be  relied 
on  to  convey  their  freight  from  Umatilla  landing 
on  the  Columbia  river,  three  hundred  miles  dis- 
tant. By  this  time  Lmatilla  had  supplanted  Walla 
Walla  in  this  trade. 

It  will  be  interesting,  in  this  connection,  to 
quote  the  language  of  a  prospector,  Sherlock 
Bristol:  "In  December,  1862,  I  prospected  the 
country  and  finally  settled  down  for  the  balance 
of  the  winter  and  spring  on  Moore  creek  (the 
origin  of  Idaho  City).  There  we  built  twenty 
log  houses, — mine,  William  Richie's  and  I. 
Henry's  being  among  the  twenty.  We  made 


snow-shoes  and  traversed  the  valleys  and  gulches 
prospecting.  As  the  snow  was  deep  and  it  was 
some  distance  to  the  creek,  some  one  proposed 
that  we  should  dig  a  well,  centrally  located,  to 
accommodate  all  our  settlement.  One  day,  when 
I  was  absent  prospecting,  the  well-digger  struck 
bed  rock  down  about  eighteen  feet,  but  found  no 
water;  but  in  the  dirt  he  detected  particles  of 
gold.  A  bucketful  panned  out  two  dollars  and 
seventy-five  cents.  When  I  returned  at  night  I 
could  not  have  bought  the  claim  on  which  my 
house  was  built  for  ten  thousand  dollars:  it 
proved  to  be  worth  three  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  whole  bench  was  rich  in  like  manner. 
My  next-door  neighbors — the  three  brothers 
named  White — for  nearly  a  year  cleaned  up  fif- 
teen hundred  dollars  daily,  their  expenses  not 
exceeding  three  hundred  dollars.  Bushels  of  gold 
were  taken  out  from  the  gravel  beds  where  Idaho 
City  now  stands." 

During  the  winter  of  1862-3  and  the  following 
spring  the  miners  were  busy  developing  and 
working  in  preparation  for  further  developing. 
Eighteen  dollars  a  day  was  ordinary  wages,  and 
eighty  dollars  to  the  pan  was  the  average  taken 
out  on  Grimes  creek.  Water  and  timber  were 
abundant,  which  made  life  much  easier  here  than 
at  many  other  points.  On  Granite  creek,  the 
headwaters  of  Placer  and  Grimes  creeks,  from 
ten  to  fifty  dollars,  and  often  two  and  even  three 
hundred  dollars  a  day  were  panned  out.  In  the 
dry  gulches  from  ten  to  fifty  dollars  a  day  were 
obtained  to  the  man. 

During  the  winter  B.  L.  Warriner  erected,  on 
Grimes  creek,  a  sawmill,  which  was  ready  to  run 
as  soon  as  the  melting  snows  of  spring  should 
furnish  the  water  power,  and  early  in  the  spring 
a  second  mill  was  erected,  near  Centerville,  by 
Daily  and  Robbins,  and  in  May  a  third  was 
erected.  The  first  steam  sawmill  was  running  in 
July,  being  built  in  Idaho  City  by  two  men,  eacn 
known  as  Major  Taylor!  This  mill  cut  from  ten 
to  fifteen  thousand  feet  in  ten  hours. 

The  killing  of  Grimes  and  other  white  immi- 
grants, with  depreciations  of  various  sorts,  by  the 
Shoshones,  led  to  the  organization  of  a  volunteer 
company  of  the  Placerville  miners  in  March,  this 
year  (1863),  whose  captain  was  James  Standifer, 
a  man  noted  for  his  energy  and  daring.  He  was 
six  feet  in  height,  with  broad,  square  shoulders, 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


fine  features,  black  hair  and  eyes  and  moustache, 
and  as  brave  as  any  Norseman.  Standifer  and 
his  men  pursued  the  Indians  as  far  as  Salmon 
falls,  killed  fifteen  of  the  savages  and  wounded 
about  as  many  more.  Returning  from  this  ex- 
pedition about  the  last  of  the  month,  Standifer 
raised  another  company,  of  two  hundred  men, 
who  made  a  reconnoissance  until  they  came  upon 
the  Indians,  fortified  at  Malheur,  where,  by  arti- 
fice, they  gained  entrance  to  their  camp  and  killed 
all  the  adult  Indians  and  even  the  children,  ex- 
cepting three  boys.  One  of  these,  four  years  old, 
was  afterward  adopted  by  John  Kelly,  a  violinist 
of  Idaho  City,  who  taught  him  to  play  the  violin 
and  to  perform  feats  of  tumbling.  He  was  after- 
ward taken  to  London,  where  he  drew  great 
houses,  and  then  to  Australia,  where  he  con- 
tinued on  exhibition. 

In  order  to  protect  themselves  against  the  hos- 
tile Indians  in  Idaho,  Fort  Boise  was  established, 
July  i,  1863,  by  P.  Lugenbeel,  with  two  com- 
panies of  Washington  infantry  in  the  regular 
service.  It  was  situated  on  the  Boise  river  about 
forty  miles  above  the  old  fort  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  near  the  site  of  the  present  Boise 
City.  The  structure  was  erected  out  of  brown 
sandstone  and  was  a  good  building.  The  reser- 
vation was  one  mile  wide  and  two  miles  long. 

At  this  period  mine  discoveries  and  develop- 
ments in  Idaho  began  to  attract  more  of  the 
public  attention.  Claims  in  the  Beaverhead 
country,  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Jefferson  fork 
of  the  Missouri  river,  were  held  as  high  as  ten 
to  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  Also  claims  wonder- 
fully rich  were  reported  on  Stinking  Water  creek, 
and  in  many  other  parts.  Bannack  City,  on  the 
Beaverhead,  and  Virginia  City,  on  a  tributary  of 
Jefferson  fork,  sprang  into  existence,  simulta- 
neously with  settlements  and  towns  in  the  Boise 
basin.  In  the  spring  of  1863  a  bateau-load  of 
miners  left  the  northern  part  of  the  territory  with 
a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  gold  dust. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  territory,  however, 
there  was  an  almost  insurmountable  obstacle  to 
immigration,  namely,  the  hostility  of  the  Black- 
foot  Indians,  who,  despite  their  treaty,  robbed  or 
murdered  wherever  they  could  find  white  men. 
Sometimes  whole  parties  were  killed  and  whole 


pack-trains  were  seized.  The  immigration  of 
1863  was  not  so  large  as  that  of  the  preceding 
year.  The  three  principal  streams  of  humanity 
westward  were  one  for  southern  Idaho  and  east- 
ern Oregon,  one  for  California  and  one  for  the 
Beaverhead  mines.  The  latter  party,  however, 
had  headed  for  the  Salmon  river  country,  fur- 
nished by  the  government  with  a  separate  escort 
under  Fisk,  and  changed  their  intention  before 
reaching  their  destination  and  stopped  in  the 
Beaverhead  country.  Four  steamers  left  St. 
Louis  for  Idaho  and  vicinity,  but  were  unable  to 
reach  Fort  Benton,  disembarking  their  passen- 
gers and  freight  two  to  eight  hundred  miles  be- 
low. The  emigrants  had  to  make  their  way  to 
various  points  as  well  as  they  could  on  horse- 
back and  on  foot  through  a  wild  and  inhospitable 
country;  and,  returning  east,  many  miners  had 
gathered  at  Fort  Benton,  expecting  to  take 
steamers  down  to  St.  Louis,  but  were  disappoint- 
ed, by  reason  of  the  failure  of  the  boats  above 
mentioned  to  arrive  at  the  fort,  and  the  miners, 
with  their  gold  and  provisions,  etc.,  had  to  go  all 
the  way  to  Salt  Lake  City  and  take  stages.  In 
anticipation  of  these  steamers,  too,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  wagons  had  gone  to  Fort  Benton,  to  be 
ready  to  convey  passengers  and  freight  to  their 
respective  destinations.  * 

Although  these  drawbacks  were  so  numerous 
and  heavy,  as  many  as  twenty-five  or  thirty  thou- 
sand people,  of  whom  nearly  two  thousand  were 
women  and  children,  succeeded  in  settling  in 
the  Boise  region.  Improvements  were  rapid  and 
prices  high.  One  importer  said.  "I  sold  shovels 
at  twelve  dollars  apiece  as  fast  as  I  could  count 
them  out,  on  one  occasion."  A  wagon-load  of 
cats  and  chickens  arrived  in  August,  which  sold 
readily,  the  cats  at  ten  dollars  apiece  and  the 
chickens  at  five  dollars!  But  in  the  line  of  woolen 
socks,  in  the  following  winter,  the  market  was 
for  once  overstocked,  some  of  the  stock  being 
used  for  cleaning  guns  and  some  even  left  to  de- 
cay in  the  cellars  of  the  merchants.  In  July  and 
August  ten  or  more  pack-trains  arrived  daily  in 
the  Boise  country.  Horses  proved  better  than 
cattle  for  use  on  the  roads,  as  their  noses  were 
higher  above  the  ground  and  they  were  not  so 
much  affected  by  the  alkaline  dust. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE   GROWTH   OF   QUART"2  MINING— DISCOVERIES— MINING  TOWNS— STAGE  ROUTES— INDIAN  TROUBLES- 
EMIGRATION   IN   THE   SPRING  OF   1864— SOCIAL   DISTURBANCES-EFFORTS   FOR   BETTER 
TRANSPORTATION   FACILITIES— STAMP   MILLS— A   REMINISCENCE- 
EARLY   RATING  OF   GOLD   AND   SILVER— THE 
UNITED  STATES  ASSAY  OFFICE. 


PROSPECTING  early  indicated  that  the 
future  mineral  wealth  of  Idaho  would  de- 
pend upon  quartz-mining,  and  accord- 
ingly efforts  were  early  made  to  develop  that 
feature  of  Idaho's  principal  industry.  In  the 
autumn  of  1863  it  was  found  that  thirty-three 
claims  of  gold  and  silver  quartz-mines  had  been 
made  on  the  south  Boise  alone,  all  of  which 
promised  well.  The  Ida  Elmore,  near  the  head 
of  Bear  creek,  the  first  and  most  famous  of  the 
south  Boise  quartz  mines  in  that  year,  was  dis- 
covered in  June.  In  an  arastra  it  yielded  two 
hundred  and  seventy  dollars  to  the  ton  of  rock; 
but  at  length  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  speculators. 
The  next  several  mines  of  this  class  were  the 
Barker,  East  Barker,  Ophir,  Idaho,  Independ- 
ence, Southern  Confederacy,  Esmeralda,  General 
Lane,  Western  Star,  Golden  Star,  Mendocino, 
Abe  Lincoln,  Emmett  and  Hibernia.  The  Idaho 
assayed,  thirty  feet  below  the  surface,  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  forty-four  dollars  in  gold 
and  ninety-four  dollars  and  eighty-six  cents  in 
silver;  Golden  Eagle,  two  thousand  two  hundred 
and  forty  dollars  in  gold  and  twenty-seven  dollars 
in  silver,  from  the  croppings.  At  the  Ida  Elmore 
a  town  was  laid  out  called  Fredericksburg,  and 
other  towns  were  also  laid  out  elsewhere,  many 
of  which  remained  towns  only  in  the  imagination. 
Rocky  Bar,  however,  laid  out  in  1864,  beautifully 
materialized,  while  Boise  City,  founded  at  the 
junction  of  Moore  creek  with  the  Boise  river,  has 
long  been  the  capital  of  this  commonwealth. 

The  first  discovery  on  Granite  creek,  in  the 
line  of  quartz-mining,  was  at  first  named  the 
Pioneer  and  afterward  Gold  Hill,  when  consoli- 
dated with  the  Landon ;  and  it  was  at  length  pur- 
chased by  the  "Great  Consolidated  Boise  River 
Gold  and  Silver  Mining  Company,"  which  had 
control  also  of  other  mines.  Even  the  poorest 


rock  in  the  Pioneer  assayed  over  sixty-two  dol- 
lars to  the  ton,  while  the  better  class  went  from 
six  to  twenty  thousand  dollars!  These  assays  be- 
came the  occasion  of  an  organization  in  San 
Francisco  of  the  Boise  River  Mining  and  Explor- 
ing Company,  which  contracted  for  a  ten-stamp 
mill  to  be  used  in  the  Boise  country. 

One  of  the  rich  lodes  discovered  in  1863  was 
the  Gambrinus,  owned  by  an  incorporated  com- 
pany of  Portland;  but,  HKC  many  other  openings 
of  mines,  it  lasted  but  a  short  time.  It  was  so 
rich  that  pieces  of  rock  which  had  rolled  down 
into  the  creek  and  become  water-worn  could  be 
seen  to  glisten  with  gold  at  a  distance  of  fifty 
feet.  On  Granite  creek  a  town  was  started,  called 
Quartzburg,  two  miles  west  of  Placerville;  but 
soon  after  mills  were  brought  into  the  vicinity 
at  a  little  distance,  the  initial  town  became  ex- 
tinct and  forgotten. 

The  greatest  discovery  of  this  year,  however, 
and  the  most  sensational,  was  the  result  of  a 
search  made  by  a  party  of  twenty-nine  from  Pla- 
cerville to  rediscover  the  famous  "lost  diggings" 
of  1845.  Crossing  Snake  river  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Boise,  they  proceeded,  not  in  the  direction 
supposed  to  have  been  taken  by  the  party  of 
1845,  but  went  along  Snake  river,  on  the  south 
side,  to  a  considerable  stream,  which  they  named 
Reynolds  creek,  after  a  member  of  their  own 
party.  While  encamped  here  two  of  the  men, 
Wade  and  Miner,  ascended  a  divide  on  the  west 
and  observed  that  the  formation  of  the  country 
indicated  a  large  river  in  that  direction.  Con- 
tinuing their  course  up  the  Reynolds  creek,  in 
the  direction  of  the  supposed  river,  and  crossing 
some  very  rough  mountains,  they  fell  upon  the 
headwaters  of  another  creek,  flowing  toward  the 
unknown  river,  where  they  commenced  prospect  • 
ing,  late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  i8th  of  May, 


63 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


and  found  a  hundred  "colors"  to  the  pan.  This 
place,  called  Discovery  Bar,  was  six  miles  belo\v 
the  site  of  Boonville,  on  Jordan  creek.  The 
"unknown"  river  proved  subsequently  to  be  the 
Owyhee,  whose  course  had  previously  been  but 
partially  known.  After  prospecting  ten  days 
longer,  locating  as  much  mining  ground  as  they 
could  hold,  and  naming  the  district  Carson,  they 
prospected  two  other  creeks,  Bowlder  and  Sink- 
er, without  making  any  further  discoveries,  and 
then  returned  to  Placerville. 

The  story  of  Discovery  Bar  naturally  set  every- 
body "crazy"  to  fly  to  that  point  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, and  within  two  days  as  many  as  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  men  are  said  to  have  left  Boise 
City  for  the  new  "diggings,"  with  the  usual  re- 
sult of  disappointment  to  a  large  majority.  The 
original  discoverers  had  "hogged"  everything. 
Only  about  one  in  ten  of  the  men  rushing  there 
remained. 

Next  was  the  discovery  of  silver-bearing  ledges 
of  wonderful  richness  on  tributaries  to  Jordan 
creek,  which  caused  a  second  rush  of  prospectors 
to  the  Owyhee  region,  late  in  the  autumn  of  1863. 
The  two  first  discoveries  here  were  named  Oro 
Fino  and  Morning  Star.  As  often  happens,  the 
first  discoveries  proved  ultimately  to  be  the  rich- 
est. Men  made  fifty  dollars  a  day  pounding  up 
the  Oro  Fino  rock  in  common  hand  mortars.  It 
assayed  seven  thousand  dollars  in  silver  and  eight 
hundred  dollars  in  gold  to  the  ton.  A  year  after- 
ward, when  a  larger  quantity  of  ore  had  been 
tested  by  actual  working,  ten  tons  of  rock  yielded 
one  ton  of  amalgam.  In  one  small  place  a  pound 
and  a  quarter  of  rock  gave  nine  ounces  of  silver 
and  gold,  and  one  pound  yielded  thirteen  dollars 
and  fifty  cents,  half  in  silver  and  half  in  gold.  It 
was  indeed  claimed  that  this  discovery  was  the 
second  in  importance,  in  regard  to  silver,  within 
the  United  States. 

The  first  town  laid  out  on  Jordan  creek  was 
Boonville,  at  the  mouth  of  a  canyon  between 
high  and  rugged  hills,  and  its  streets  were  nar- 
row and  crooked.  In  a  short  time  another  town, 
called  Ruby  City,  was  started,  in  a  better  loca- 
tion in  most  respects,  the  principal  nuisance  there 
being  the  fact  that  the  locality  was  subject  to 
high  winds.  During  the  ensuing  winter,  1863-4, 
each  of  these  places  contained  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  men,  while  about  five  hundred  were 


scattered  over  the  Carson  district.  In  December 
a  third  town  was  laid  out,  about  a  mile  above 
Ruby  City,  and  called  Silver  City.  Timber  was 
scarce  in  this  region.  Lumber,  which  had  to  be 
manufactured  with  the  vvhipsaw,  brought  forty 
dollars  per  hundred  feet. 

Throughout  Idaho  the  general  condition  of  the 
miners  in  the  autumn  of  1863  was  that  of  pros- 
perity. Bannack  City,  which  the  next  year  was 
changed  to  Idaho  City,  had  in  the  spring  of  that 
year  about  six  thousand  inhabitants,  with  two 
hundred  and  fifty  places  of  business,  Protestant 
and  Catholic  churches,  a  theater,  a  fire  depart- 
ment, three  newspapers,  etc.  At  the  same  time 
Centerville,  a  very  pretty  place,  grew  and  thrived, 
having  about  three  thousand  people.  From  this 
point  a  stage  road  was  in  process  of  improvement 
each  way, — one  to  Placerville  and  one  to  Idaho 
City.  Of  this  enterprise  Henry  Greathouse,  the 
pioneer  in  this  species  of  work,  was  the  proprie- 
tor. At  this  time  Placerville  had  a  population  of 
five  thousand,  and  that  of  Pioneer  City  was  two 
thousand,  chiefly  Irish,  on  account  of  which  fact 
it  was  sometimes  called  New  Dublin.  In  Boise 
society  was  chaotic,  arid  included  numerous 
rough  characters,  especially  lawless  men  from  the 
south.  As  this  was  during  the  progress  of  the 
civil  war,  many  of  the  most  intractable  characters 
of  the  rebellious  states  slipped  off  to  the  wilds 
of  the  west.  Misdemeanor  and  crime  advanced 
to  such  a  degree  as  to  become  reactionary  and 
suicidal,  and  therefore  the  criminal  period  was 
short-lived.  The  citizens,  however,  had  a  hos- 
pital, where  the  sick  were  kindly  cared  for;  but 
many  a  sturdy  miner  died  and  was  buried  far 
away  from  his  kindred,  who  have  never  known 
what  became  of  their  "friend  that  went  out  west." 
From  November,  1864,  to  November,  1865,  one 
year,  there  were  received  at  this  hospital  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  men  who  had  been  injured 
in  mining.  To  avoid  the  winter,  many  went  east, 
some  into  Colorado,  Utah,  Oregon  and  else- 
where, and  others  would  have  gone  did  not  the 
law  of  the  camps  require  each  man  to  work  his 
claim  at  least  one  day  in  seven  in  order  to  hold 
it.  One  of  the  laws  here  declared  that  "any 
citizen  may  hold  one  creek  claim,  one  gulch,  one 
hill  and  one  bar  claim,  by  location." 

It  will  be  interesting  to  notice  in  this  connec- 
tion a  characteristic  of  the  Californian  which  is 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


65 


conspicuous  in  the  Golden  state  even  to  this  day, 
and  that  is  a  freedom  from  the  Puritanic  re- 
straints of  the  east  and  a  kind  of  easy  and  social 
manner  more  characteristic  of  the  Kentuckian 
and  Tennesseean  than  of  any  other  people  in  the 
world.  During  this  period  of  which  we  are  writ- 
ing, 1863-5,  there  were  many  Californians  in 
southern  Idaho, — two  hundred  and  thirty  from 
Siskiyou  county  alone  in  the  Boise  basin.  Some 
of  these  free  and  easy-go-lucky  but  honest  and 
social  men  were  also  from  Oregon.  Generally 
they  were  enterprising  men,  also  patronizing 
charities  and  pleasures  liberally.  The  sport  which 
offered  the  most  novel  attractions,  while  morally 
unobjectionable  also,  was  that  furnished  by  the 
"sliding"  clubs,  of  which  there  were  several  in 
the  different  towns.  The  stakes  for  a  grand  race, 
according  to  the  rules  of  the  clubs,  should  not  be 
less  than  one  hundred  dollars  nor  more  than  two 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  for  which  they 
ran  their  cutters  down  certain  hills  covered  with 
snow  and  made  smooth  for  the  purpose.  Some 
of  the  larger  occasions  were  accompanied  by  un- 
usual festivities.  One  sled  was  so  large  as  to 
carry  twenty  persons,  and  the  position  of  the 
pilot  was  a  peculiarly  responsible  one,  and  many 
were  in  fact  injured  in  this  exciting  and  danger- 
ous sport.  Many  found  entertainment  by  patron- 
izing a  circulating  library  and  a  literary  club, — 
evidences  of  a  high  degree  of  civilization. 

The  winter  of  1863-4  proved  to  be  somewhat 
treacherous  in  one  important  respect.  It  was  so 
mild  and  yielded  so  little  snow  that  pack-trains 
and  wagons  kept  under  way  between  Walla  Walla 
and  the  mines  until  February,  and  stage  com- 
panies made  great  preparations  to  start  up  with 
their  great  trips  about  the  2Oth  of  that  month; 
but  about  that  time  a  heavy  snow  came,  accom- 
panied by  a  fall  of  the  temperature  to  a  point 
about  twenty-five  degrees  below  zero,  which  de- 
layed stage  traffic  till  the  ist  of  March,  but 
caught  many  travelers  en  route  to  their  destin- 
ations. The  snow  was  so  deep  that  even  six 
horses  could  not  pull  an  empty  sleigh  through. 
For  the  same  reason  the  express  from  Salt  Lake 
City,  which  was  due  early  in  February,  did  not 
arrive  until  in  March. 

Here  is  an  appropriate  place  to  give  some  of 
the  most  important  particulars  concerning  stage 
enterprises,  as  it  was  here  and  during  this  period 


that  some  of  the  most  exciting  experiences  in 
connection  with  them  were  undergone. 

The  line  from  Walla  Walla  to  Boise,  the  route 
most  used  in  those  days,  was  owned  by  George 
F.  Thomas  and  J.  S.  Ruckle,  who  announced 
that  they  would,  on  commencing  business,  use 
only  the  best  horses  out  of  a  band  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty,  to  be  driven  by  a  man  named  Ward, 
a  famous  coach-driver  from  California,  where 
coach-drivers  had  attained  the  highest  reputa- 
tion for  skill  in  the  world.  Thomas  himself  had 
been  stage-driver  in  Georgia.  Going  to  Califor- 
nia in  the  early  times  of  gold-mining  in  that 
state,  he  engaged  in  a  lucrative  business  and  be- 
came a  large  stockholder  in  the  California  Stage 
Company,  which  at  one  time  had  coaches  on 
fourteen  hundred  miles  of  road.  As  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  company  he  established  a  line  from 
Sacramento  to  Portland,  where  he  went  to  reside. 

On  the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  Nez  Perce 
country  he  went  to  Walla  Walla  and  ran  stages 
as  the  ever-changing  stream  of  travel  demanded. 
In  partnership  with  Ruckle  he  constructed  a 
stage  road  over  the  Blue  mountains,  at  a  great 
expense,  and  opened  it  in  April,  1865. 

Henry  Greathouse  was  another  stage  proprie- 
tor on  the  route  from  the  Columbia  to  Boise,  and 
was  an  enterprising  pioneer  who  identified  him- 
self with  the  interests  of  this  new  region.  Al- 
though a  southern  man  he  had  the  prudence  to 
remain  neutral  in  regard  to  the  great  and  excit- 
ing issues  between  the  north  and  south  during 
the  great  war.  While  he  was  making  arrange- 
ments to  put  on  a  line  of  stages  to  connect  with 
boats  at  Wallula,  he  succeeded,  on  the  i6th  of 
March,  in  bringing  through  to  Placerville  the 
first  saddle  train  for  a  month,  with  a  party  of 
twelve,  one  of  whom  was  a  woman.  They  were 
eleven  days  on  the  road. 

On  the  ist  of  April  the  pioneer  coach,  belong- 
ing to  the  Oregon  &  Idaho  Stage  Company, 
which  was  to  run  its  stages  from  Umatilla  land- 
ing to  Boise,  arrived  at  Placerville,  with  a  full 
load  of  passengers,  at  one  hundred  dollars  each. 
But  this  coach  had  come  from  Shasta,  California, 
and  had  taken  the  California  and  Oregon  stage 
road  to  Portland,  going  thence  to  The  Dalles  by 
steamer  and  there  taking  the  road  again.  It  had 
been  fifty-nine  days  on  this  trip.  Four  other 
coaches  of  this  line,  starting  from  Shasta  March 


66 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


2,  accomplished  the  journey  in  twenty-three  days. 
Ish  &  Hailey,  of  Oregon,  owned  this  line.  To 
Mr.  Hailey  is  due  the  honor  of  first  taking  a  com- 
pany through  the  Blue  mountains  from  the  Col- 
umbia into  Idaho  in  the  dead  of  a  snowy  winter. 
On  the  ist  of  May,  coaches  began  to  run  from 
Idaho  City  and  Placerville  to  Boise  City  and 
Owyhee.  Ward,  the  driver  previously  men- 
tioned, and  John  J.  McCommons,  owned  this  line 
at  first. 

Road  and  ferry  franchises  were  much  sought 
after.  A  new  road  up  the  John  Day  river  and 
through  Canyon  City  to  Boise  was  opened  on 
the  2Oth  of  June.  A  franchise  was  granted  to  a 
company  to  build  a  road  from  the  Camas  prairie 
north  of  Salmon  river  to  Boise,  but  it  was  after- 
ward found  impracticable  to  open  that  route. 
The  Owyhee  Ferry  Company  also  obtained  a 
franchise  at  the  first  session  of  the  Idaho  legis- 
lature. Bristol  established  a  ferry  across  Boise 
river  at  Boise  City,  and  another  across  Snake 
river  on  Jordan's  road  to  Owyhee.  Michael  Jor- 
dan, Silas  Skinner  and  W.  H.  Dewey  built  a  toll 
road  from  Owyhee  to  Boise  in  the  summer  of 
1864. 

Naturally  the  matter  of  cheaper  freights  en- 
gaged the  attention  of  many  enterprising  men, 
who  made  sundry  attempts  to  find  better  routes, 
or  routes  from  new  points,  from  Los  Angeles  to 
Fort  Benton  and  Portland,  and  several  large 
companies  were  incorporated  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  extensive  routes,  most  of  which 
found  that  they  were  undertaking  enterprises  too 
expensive.  In  May,  1864,  two  express  lines  were 
established  between  Boonville  and  Sacramento. 
They  left  Boonville  on  the  2d  and  4th  respec- 
tively, and  returned  successfully.  The  first  men- 
tioned arrived  at  Boonville  on  the  22d,  bringing 
the  Sacramento  Union  of  the  i6th,  to  the  great 
delight  of  the  Californians  here.  -These  lines  were 
successful  until  interrupted  by  Indian  hostilities. 

Westerfield  and  Cutter  ran  an  express  from 
Star  City,  Humboldt  valley,  to  Jordan  creek,  fur- 
nishing news  only  nine  days  old.  In  June,  John 
J.  McCommons  and  C.  T.  Blake  bought  out 
Hillhouse  &  Company,  who  owned  the  express 
line  between  Idaho  City  and  the  Owyhee  mines, 
which  they  operated  until  the  death  of  McCom- 
mons, by  the  hands  of  the  Malheur  Snake  In- 
dians, in  February,  1865. 


In  the  spring  of  1864  a  contract  to  carry  the 
tri-weekly  mail  from  Salt  Lake  to  Walla  Walla 
by  way  of  Fort  Hall  and  Boise  City  was  awarded 
to  Ben  Holladay  &  Company,  carriers  of  the  Cal- 
ifornia mail,  the  service  to  begin  July  ist;  and 
an  Indian  agent  was  sent  over  the  route  with 
men,  teams,  hay-cutting  apparatus  and  other 
means  and  appliances.  The  agent  arrived  .  in 
Boise  in  June.  The  main  line  from  that  place 
passed  directly  to  Payetteville,  a  station  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Payette  river,  crossing  the 
Snake  river  a  short  distance  above  the  mouth  of 
the  Payette  and  running  through  Burnt  Powder 
and  Grande  Ronde  valleys  to  Walla  Walla.  The 
first  overland  mail  reached  Boise  on  the  ist  of 
August. 

In  the  early  mining  period  of  Idaho  the  preju- 
dice against  Chinese  labor  was  as  great  as  it  was 
in  California,  and  the  immigrants,  indeed,  went 
so  far  as  to  adopt  regulations  against  their  em- 
ploy; but  at  times  and  places  white  labor  could 
not  be  secured  to  do  the  work,  and  despite  the 
regulations  a  few  Chinese  were  employed,  who 
were  obliged  to  pay  a  tax  of  six  dollars  a  month 
for  the  privilege,  one-half  of  this  to  go  into  the 
territorial  fund  and  one-half  into  that  of  the  coun- 
ty. The  places  where  Mongolian  labor  was  em- 
ployed were  those  where  the  richest  pockets  of 
gold  and  silver  had  been  abstracted  and  the  gath- 
erings were  more  tedious  and  not  so  remunera- 
tive; for  a  white  man,  naturally,  had  too  little 
patience  to  work  at  any  given  spot  when  he  heard 
rumors  of  greater  discoveries  elsewhere.  The 
most  of  these  white  miners  were  almost  constant- 
ly running  around  from  one  field  to  another. 

Silver  was  discovered  at  various  points  in  the 
Kootenai  region  as  early  as  1859,  especially  over 
in  British  territory,  but  little  was  done  to  open 
the  mines.  Gold  was  discovered  in  the  Pend 
d'Oreille  and  Coeur  d'Alene  country  as  early  as 
1853,  but  the  hostility  of  the  Indians  and  the  dis- 
coveries of  gold  elsewhere  diverted  attention 
from  this  region.  Good  prospects  were  found  on 
the  Kootenai  river  in  the  autumn  of  1863. 

In  the  spring  of  1864,  although  much  snow 
was  remaining  upon  the  ground,  many  prospec- 
tors from  eastern  Oregon  and  northern  Idaho 
located  claims  fifty  miles  north  of  the  United 
States  line  and  started  a  town  which  they  named 
Fisherville.  During  the  winter  early  in  1864  a 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


67 


fleet  of  thirty  bateaux  was  built  at  Colville,  on 
the  Columbia,  in  what  was  then  northeastern  Ore- 
gon, now  Washington,  and  the  building  of  a 
steamer  was  commenced,  to  run  on  that  river 
above  Colville,  and  was  completed  within  the 
next  two  years,  by  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation 
Company. 

The  favorite  country,  however,  for  the  immi- 
grant miners  of  this  period  was  still  southern 
Idaho  and  the  newly  created  territory  of  Mon- 
tana, which  for  a  year  was  a  part  of  Idaho. 
Among  the  more  important  discoveries  made  in 
1864  were  those  on  the  North  Boise,  where  the 
mining  towns  of  Beaver  City  and  Summit  City 
were  founded  in  the  latter  part  of  the  winter;  on 
the  Malade  river  in  Volcano  district,  forty  miles 
south  of  the  Little  Camas  prairie,  by  a  company 
led  by  J.  Z.  Miller;  in  the  Silver  Hill  district,  in 
July,  by  a  party  headed  by  James  Carr  and  Jesse 
Bradford,  and  here  two  towns,  Banner  and  Eu- 
reka, were  begun,  with  a  hundred  miners  each; 
and  minor  discoveries  in  many  other,  places. 

Naturally  many  discoveries  were  made  where 
quartz-mining  was  indicated,  but  nearly  all  these 
were  remote  from  the  few  mills  in  the  territory 
at  that  time,  and  capitalists  did  not  feel  justified 
in  rushing  up  a  mill  immediately  upon  the  dis- 
covery of  a  ledge,  on  account  of  the  uncertainty 
attending  the  durability  of  the  vield.  The  first 
quartz  mill  erected  in  the  Boise  basin  was  built 
by  W.  W.  Raymond  on  Granite  creek,  about  two 
miles  from  Placerville.  The  apparatus  arrived 
in  July  and  the  mill  was  started  in  September. 
It  consisted  of  ten  stamps,  each  weighing  nearly 
six  hundred  pounds  and  crushing  one  and  a  half 
tons  daily,  with  a  reserved  power  amounting  to 
half  a  ton  more  each.  This  mill  crushed  ore 
from  the  Pioneer,  Lawyer  and  Golden  Gate 
ledges,  and  from  its  first  week's  work  fifty  pounds 
of  amalgam.  A  novel  device  for  crushing  ore,  on 
a  small  scale,  was  profitably  practiced  at  the 
Landon  lode,  three  miles  northeast  of  Idaho  City, 
on  the  divide  between  Moore  and  Elk  creeks. 
Ordinary  sledge  hammers  were  fastened  upon  the 
ends  of  spring  poles,  and  by  this  process  one 
man  in  three  days  would  crush  two  hundred 
pounds  of  ore,  yielding  about  forty-six  dollars. 
But  soon  a  mill  was  placed  here,  by  the  Great 
Consolidated  Boise  River  Gold  and  Silver  Min- 
ing Company,  which,  with  five  stamps,  com- 


menced operation  in  December;  and  during  the 
year  other  mills  were  erected  in  the  district.  A 
ten-stamp  mill  was  started  in  December  on  the 
Garrison  Gambrinus;  two  others,  one  on  Sum- 
mit Flat,  owned  by  Bibb  &  Jackson;  another,  a 
mile  from  Idaho  City,  owned  by  F.  Britten  & 
Company;  another,  on  Bear  Run,  at  Idaho  City, 
attached  to  the  steam  power  of  Robie  &  Bush's 
sawmill,  to  do  custom  work.  This  sawmill,  which 
was  first  erected  at  Lewiston,  was  removed  to 
Boise  in  July,  and  was  burned  in  September;  it 
was  rebuilt  in  October,  with  the  quartz-mill  at- 
tached. At  South  Boise  between  thirty  and  forty 
arastras  were  run  by  water  power,  with  flattering 
results,  and  the  number  was  soon  increased  to 
eighty-four,  each  crushing  about  a  ton  a  day.  In 
the  arastra  the  Ophir  yielded  one  hundred  dollars 
to  the  ton. 

In  order  to  attract  the  attention  of  capitalists 
in  the  east  and  in  San  Francisco,  several  mining 
companies  of  Idaho  shipped  to  New  York  and 
San  Francisco  from  one  to  ten  thousand  tons  of 
ore,  but  this  was  an  expensive  task,  as  the  ore 
had  to  be  hauled  to  great  distances  by  the  em- 
ployment of  horses  or  mules. 

The  Confederate  Star  mine  yielded  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  per  ton,  and  the  Ada  El- 
more  one  hundred  dollars,  by  the  use  of  the 
quartz-mill  in  South  Boise,  owned  by  Carter, 
Gates  &  Company.  As  a  specimen  of  modern 
wickedness,  we  may  relate  here  the  instance  of 
the  operation  of  the  Ada  Elmore  mine  by  specu- 
lators, a  company  who  employed  an  agency  to 
run  a  tunnel  in  the  ledge,  at  an  enormous  ex- 
pense, in  such  a  way  as  purposely  to  let  the  roof 
fall  in,  so  that  by  additional  expense  they  could 
freeze  out  the  small  share-holders. 

An  eight-stamp  mill  at  this  time  was  built  in 
Portland  for  South  Boise,  intended  for  the  Idaho 
lode,  and  at  the  same  time' Andrews  and  Tudor, 
who  left  South  Boise  for  the  east  in  November, 
1863,  purchased  a  twelve-stamp  mill  in  Chicago, 
for  the  Idaho,  which  was  hauled  by  ox  teams 
from  the  Missouri  river  in  Nebraska,  at  a  cost  of 
thirty  cents  a  pound.  It  reached  its  destination 
in  October  and  was  ready  for  work  in  December. 
In  the  autumn  a  five-stamp  mill,  built  at  Port- 
land, was  placed  on  the  Comstock  ledge.  R.  B. 
Farnham  took  a  ton  of  rock  to  New  York  and 
on  its  merits  succeeded  in  forming  a  company, 


68 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


called  the  New  York  &  Idaho  Gold  &  Silver 
Mining  Company,  who  purchased  and  shipped 
to  South  Boise  a  thirty-stamp  mill,  which,  how- 
ever, arrived  too  late  for  work  that  year. 

South  Boise  had  at  this  time  four  towns, — Es- 
meralda,  Clifden,  Rocky  Bar  and  Happy  Camp, 
and  about  two  thousand  persons  were  scattered 
over  the  district.  A  good  wagon-road  was  com- 
pleted to  Boise  City  in  August,  by  Julius  New- 
berg  &  Company. 

In  1864  a  new  mining  district  was  discovered 
on  the  headwaters  of  the  middle  Boise  river, 
which  was  named  Yuba.  The  ledges  found  on 
the  south  and  middle  Boise  were  solid  quartz, 
larger  than  those  of  Owyhee  but  not  so  rich. 
They  were  in  granite. 

Among  the  many  companies  who  organized 
and  flourished  more  or  less  this  year,  1864,  we 
would  mention  the  Oro  Fino  Gold  &  Silver  Tun- 
nel Company,  which  was  incorporated  in  May, 
in  the  Carson  district,  in  the  Owyhee  country, 
for  the  purpose  of  running  a  tunnel  through  Oro 
Fino  mountain.  Thirty  locations  had  already 
been  made  upon  this  mountain,  one  of  which, 
named  the  War  Eagle,  subsequently  gave  its 
name  to  the  mountain  itself.  This  wonderful 
mass  of  mineral  constituted  the  dividing  ridge 
between  Jordan  and  Sinker  creeks;  and  it  was 
on  the  northeastern  side  of  this  ridge  that  the 
first  quartz-mill  of  the  Owyhee  region  was  placed. 

The  great  discovery  of  1865  was  what  has  since 
been  generally  known  as  the  Poorman  mine,  so 
named,  it  is  said,  because  the  discoverers  were 
without  capital  to  work  it.  The  ore  was  the  rich- 
est known,  and  so  easily  worked  that  it  could  be 
cut  like  lead,  which  indeed  it  resembled,  but  with 
a  tint  of  red  in  it,  which  gave  it  the  name  of  ruby 
silver.  It  was  a  chloride  of  silver,  richly  impreg- 
nated with  gold,  and  brought  four  dollars  an 
ounce  as  it  came  from  the  mine.  The  discoverers 
were  O'Brien,  Holt,  Zerr,  Ebner,  Stevens  and 
Ray,  according  to  one  authority,  but  according 
to  others  D.  C.  O'Byrne  or  Charles  S.  Peck. 

The  initial  point  of  discovery  was  about  a 
thousand  feet  from  what  is  now  called  the  dis- 
covery shaft,  the  ore  being  good  but  not  particu- 
larly rich,  and  the  vein  small.  Before  operations 
had  proceeded  very  far,  Mr.  Peck  found  the  rich 
"chimney,"  or  discovery  shaft,  concealing  the 
place  until  he  learned  from  Hays  and  Ray,  the 


first  locators,  the  boundaries  of  their  claim,  and 
that  it  included  his  discovery.  Peck  then  cau- 
tiously endeavored  to  buy  the  mine;  but,  finding 
that  it  was  held  too  high,  absented  himself  in  the 
hope  that  the  owners  would  diminish  their  price. 
In  the  meantime  another  of  the  prospectors  came 
upon  the  rich  chimney  and  located  it,  calling  it 
the  Poorman.  A  contest  now  arose  for  the  pos- 
session of  the  mine,  the  Hays  and  Ray  owners 
taking  Peck  into  their  company  for  finding  and 
tracing  the  vein  from  their  opening  into  the  Poor- 
man. The  Poorman  company  erected  a  fort  at 
the  mouth  of  their  mine,  which  they  called  Fort 
Baker,  and  mounted  some  ordnance.  They  took 
out  some  of  the  richest  of  the  ore  and  sent  it  to 
Portland,  where  it  aroused  a  great  sensation ;  but 
the  prospect  of  endless  litigation  over  the  pro- 
prietorship induced  both  companies  to  sell,  one 
to  Put.  Bradford  and  the  other  to  G.  C.  Robbins, 
both  of  Portland,  who  worked  the  mine  jointly, 
taking  out  nearly  two  million  dollars,  after  which 
they  sold  to  a  New  York  company. 

In  the  spring  of  1864  was  discovered  the  Mam- 
moth district,  south  of  the  Carson  district,  con- 
taining veins  of  enormous  size.  Flint  district, 
separated  from  the  latter  only  by  an  extension 
of  the  War  Eagle  mountains,  was  also  prospected 
with  good  results.  Of  this  the  Rising  Star  ledge 
was  the  principal  mine. 

INDIAN  HOSTILITIES. 

Indian  hostilities  seemed  to  increase  with  a 
prospect  of  permanence.  On  the  3d  of  May, 
1864,  a  party  of  whites  was  attacked  about  sixty 
miles  from  Paradise  valley,  and  J.  W.  Dodge, 
J.  W.  Burton  and  others  were  killed.  Between 
Warner  and  Harney  lakes,  Porter  Langdon  and 
Thomas  Renny  were  killed,  and  the  ranch  of 
Michael  Jordan  was  attacked  in  July,  the  owner 
soon  afterward  losing  his  life.  A  force  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-four  men  was  raised,  which 
overtook  the  Indians  in  a  fortified  canyon  and 
killed  thirty-six,  losing  two  of  their  own  number, 
besides  two  being  wounded.  Colonel  Maury  then 
took  the  field,  with  one  hundred  men  and  four 
howitzers,  encamped  on  Jordan  creek  and  en- 
gaged in  scouting  during  the  remainder  of  the 
summer.  About  this  time  the  people  of  Idaho 
petitioned  to  have  General  Conner  sent  to  them 
from  Utah ;  but  most  of  the  fighting  was  done  in 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


69 


Oregon,  by  the  First  Oregon  Cavalry,  who  ex- 
tended their  operations  to  Alvord  valley  and 
thence  into  Nevada  as  far  as  Mud  lake. 

The  spring  of  1865  opened  with  renewed  hos- 
tilities, and  a  detachment  of  Washington  infantry, 
under  Sergeant  Storm,  and  a  small  company, 
came  upon  Indians  on  Catherine  creek  and  killed 
eight  of  them.  The  Shoshones  becoming  power- 
ful by  their  many  depredations  upon  the  property 
of  the  whites,  began  to  give  unusual  trouble,  and 
the  people  throughout  the  Pacific  slope  petitioned 
the  general  government  for  better  defensive 
measures,  and  Charles  McDermitt,  of  the  Second 
California  Volunteer  Cavalry,  established  Camp 
Bidwell,  near  Goose  lake,  on  the  California  road, 
which  had  been  closed  by  hostilities,  and  from 
this  point  operated  with  good  effect.  After  the 
close  of  the  great  civil  war  the  general  govern- 
ment spared  several  detachments  for  the  far  west, 
which  in  a  year  or  two  reduced  the  hostilities  of 
the  Snake  Indians  and  kindred  tribes. 

The  winter  of  1864-5  set  m  during  the  month 
of  November  with  a  violent  snow-storm,  which 
inflicted  heavy  damages  by  destroying  miles  of 
flumes  in  eastern  Oregon,  letting  the  water  into 
the  ditches  and  carrying  dirt  into  the  claim  open- 
ings and  breaking  down  many  of  the  fences  of 
the  newly  improved  farms.  Heavy  rains  followed, 
which  made  the  season  unusually  severe.  But 
the  spring  opened  early,  and  there  was  a  heavy 
immigration,  which  arrived  before  the  freight 
trains  could  get  through.  The  new-comers,  many 
of  whom  were  the  "left  wing  of  Price's  army," 
created  first  a  bread  famine,  and  then  a  riot. 
There  was  food  enough  for  all,  however,  but  flour 
was  a  dollar  a  pound,  and  bread  an  "extra"  dish 
at  the  eating-houses.  Street  meetings  began  to 
be  held  by  the  idle  consumers  to  compel  the  mer- 
chants, who  had  a  little  flour  left,  to  reduce  the 
price.  A  mob  of  sixty  men  marched  to  the  store 
of  Crafts  &  Vantine  in  Idaho  City,  where  they 
found  about  two  hundred  pounds  of  flour  and 
seized  it.  Proceeding  to  the  store  of  Heffron  & 
Pitts,  the  command  was  given  by  their  leader  to 
seize  whatever  flour  thev  found.  At  this  point 
Jack  Gorman,  deputy  sheriff,  with  great  courage 
arrested  and  disarmed  the  leader,  a  blustering 
Missourian  six  feet  tall,  and  this  action  soon  re- 
sulted in  the  restoration  of  order.  The  merchants 
reduced  the  price  of  their  flour  to  fifty  cents  a 


pound,  and  not  long  after  that  the  coveted  com- 
modity was  as  low  as  six  cents  a  pound: 

Restrained  wickedness,  however,  soon  found 
opportunity  to  vent  itself,  for  the  mob  element 
set  fire  to  the  city,  May  18,  and  burned  the  most 
valuable  portion  of  it.  leaving  only  three  build- 
ings,— the  Catholic  church,  the  Jenny  Lind  the- 
ater and  the  office  of  the  Idaho  World.  Besides 
these  nothing  remained  but  the  scattered  houses 
on  the  hillside,  and  Buena  Vista  bar,  a  suburb. 
Into  these  the  homeless  were  gathered,  while  the 
Catholic  church  was  converted  into  a  hospital, 
the  county  hospital  being  among  the  structures 
consumed  by  fire.  Much  looting,  of  course,  was 
done  by  thieves  during  the  fire;  but  the  mer- 
chants fortunately  had  a  large  portion  of  their 
goods  stored  in  underground  excavations,  saved 
from  both  the  fire  and  the  thieves.  Their  aggre- 
gate losses  were  estimated  at  nine  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  town  was  immediately  rebuilt, 
with  many  improvements,  and  by  the  middle  of 
June  it  had  almost  its  former  proportions,  and 
more  than  its  former  dignity  of  appearance. 
Idaho  City  was  burned  twice  afterwards, — in 
1867  and  1868,  the  loss  in  the  former  year  being 
estimated  at  a  million  dollars! 

In  1865  the  emigration  from  the  Pacific  slope 
was  so  great  as  to  lead  to  increased  means  of 
transportation.  Hill  Beachy.  an  enterprising  citi- 
zen of  the  Boise  basin,  formerly  of  Lewiston,  es- 
tablished direct  overland  communication  with 
Star  City,  Nevada,  and  with  California,  supplying 
the  road  with  vehicles  and  animal  power  for  a 
distance  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles.  In 
April  he  passed  over  this  route  with  five  coaches, 
filled  with  passengers;  but  the  Indians  burned 
one  of  the  stations,  within  forty  miles  of  Owyhee, 
killing  the  keeper,  and  the  route  was  abandoned. 

John  Mullan,  who  published  a  miners'  and 
travelers'  guide  to  the  west  and  was  an  engineer 
of  the  military  road  from  Walla  Walla  to  Fort 
Benton  on  the  Missouri,  undertook  to  establish 
a  stage  line  from  Umatilla  to  Boise  City,  and 
another  from  the  latter  place  to  Chico,  California, 
organizing  the  Idaho  &  California  Stage  Com- 
pany. Early  in  September  they  advertised  to  sell 
tickets  from  Boise  City  to  San  Francisco,  Vir- 
ginia City,  Nevada,  and  several  other  points, 
promising  through  connections  and  rapid  transit; 
but  the  predatory  Indians  interfered  and  before 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  close  of  October  their  property  was  mostly 
stolen  and  the  running  of  stages  entirely  ceased. 
In  addition  to  all  the  obstacles  mentioned,  the 
citizens  of  Idaho  had  even  the  newspapers  of  Ore- 
gon to  fight,  which  by  this  time  began  to  defend 
the  trade  of  their  territory  at  the  expense  of  what 
rightfully  belonged  to  this  territory.  In  favor  of 
Oregon  there  were  already  in  operation  two  great 
regular  lines, — the  steamship  line  from  San  Fran- 
cisco to  Portland  and  the  Oregon  Steam  Naviga- 
tion Company  on  the  Columbia  river.  The  trav- 
eling time  from  San  Francisco  to  Idaho  by  the 
steamer  route  was  nine  days,  and  the  fare,  with 
meals,  was  one  hundred  and  forty-two  dollars. 
The  Idaho  Stage  Company  offered  tickets  to  the 
Golden  Gate  city  for  ninety  dollars,  and  promised 
to  take  passengers  to  Sacramento  in  six  days. 
Freight  from  San  Francisco  by  steamer  cost 
from  twenty-two  to  twenty-nine  cents  a  pound; 
overland,  about  twelve  cents.  The  Oregonians 
also  seized  upon  all  the  mountain  passes  and  river 
crossings  with  toll  roads  and  ferries,  thus  wring- 
ing tribute  from  all  the  traveling  public.  The 
Oregon  Road,  Bridge  &  Ferry  Company  was  in- 
corporated in  April,  1865,  and  their  object  was 
to  connect  all  the  stage  roads  from  Umatilla  and 
Walla  Walla  at  one  point,  Express  Rancho,  and 
thence  down  Burnt  river  to  Farewell  Bend,  or 
Olds  ferry,  and  so  on  down  Snake  river  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Owyhee,  with  the  control  of  all 
the  ferries  between  these  two  points. 

Many  attempts,  large  and  small,  were  made  in 
vain  to  establish  new  routes  of  transportation. 
Among  the  larger  was  that  of  the  Oregon  Steam 
Navigation  Company,  which  at  this  time  built  a 
boat  called  the  Shoshone,  above  tne  crossing  of 
Snake  river,  at  great  cost,  to  test  the  navigability 
of  the  stream.  She  made  her  trial  trip  May  16, 
1866.  It  was  expected  that  she.  would  carry  a 
large  amount  of  freight  from  Olds  ferry  to  the 
crossing  of  the  Boise  City  and  Owyhee  road, 
and  also  government  freight  to  Fort  Boise;  and 
also  that  in  case  she  could  run  up  to  Salmon  falls 
a  road  would  be  opened  to  South  Boise,  and  an- 
other to  the  mines  of  the  Volcano  district.  But 
this  experiment  failed,  for  the  boat  could  not  pass 
the  mouth  of  the  Bruneau  river,  little  more  than 
half  way  between  the  Boise  landing  and  Salmon 
falls,  and  there  was  not  wood  enough  along  the 
route  for  fuel.  In  connection  with  this  and  sim- 


ilar schemes  the  newspapers  of  the  respective  lo- 
calities carried  on  a  lively  contest. 

In  1865,  the  year  of  which  we  are  now  writing, 
the  overland  immigration  was  large.  Eighteen 
hundred  and  forty  wagons  passed  Fort  Kearney 
in  May,  the  most  of  which  made  their  way  to 
Idaho  and  Montana.  The  emigrants  coming 
with  these  trains  generally  possessed  consider- 
able means  and  comfortable  outfits;  probably 
nine-tenths  of  them  were  fully  equipped  for  mak- 
ing a  successful  and  permanent  settlement  in  the 
new  territory.  The  nuclei  of  towns  and  "cities" 
were  made  noisy  by  the  hammer  and  saw  of  the 
carpenter.  The  stages  also  brought  many  full 
loads  of  passengers  who  had  money.  But  the 
immigrants  who  brought  merchantable  goods 
with  them  were  the  most  welcome. 

During  the  next  year,  1866,  notwithstanding 
the  continued  depredations  of  the  Indians  and 
other  obstacles,  the  Humboldt  and  Chico  routes 
were  again  opened,  to  establish  communication 
with  the  coast.  For  this  purpose  the  money, 
men  and  horses  were  raised  by  citizens  of  Owy- 
hee and  Boise  City,  to  fight  the  Indians,  and 
money,  coaches  and  horses  were  raised  also  by 
Mr.  Mullan,  in  New  York  and  California.  Thirty 
wagons  were  advertised  to  start  from  Chico,  with 
a  number  of  the  company's  coaches,  early  in 
April;  and,  indeed,  trains  did  arrive  over  the 
Chico  route  by  the  middle  of  the  month.  This 
was  the  occasion  of  renewed  rejoicing,  for  the 
prospects  of  success  were  so  bright  that  the  Ore- 
gon Steam  Navigation  Company  offered  to  re- 
duce their  freight  charges.  To  aid  the  Idahoans 
by  way  of  competition  with  that  great  company, 
the  California  Navigation  Company  and  the  Cen- 
tral Pacific  Railroad  Company  offered  to  carry 
freight  free  to  Chico  landing.  Thus  freight  was 
carried  by  wagon  to  Ruby  City  and  Boise  for 
eleven  and  twelve  cents  a  pound.  Ox  teams  came 
through  in  one  month,  and  Mulian's  Stage  Com- 
pany put  men  and  teams  upon  the  road  to  im- 
prove it,  build  stations  and  cut  hay.  The  coaches 
began  running  in  August,  making  the  distance 
from  Chico  to  Silver  City  in  four  days,  and 
treasure  and  government  freight  were  also  car- 
ried over  the  route. 

About  this  time  also  a  man  named  Conness, 
of  California,  introduced  a  bill  in  the  senate  to 
provide  for  the  opening  of  a  wagon  road  from 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


71 


Boise  City  to  Susanville,  in  that  state,  with  a 
branch  from  Surprise  Valley  to  Puebla,  with  an 
appropriation  of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  surveys. 
This  was  called  the  Red  Bluff  route  and  was 
favored  by  the  i\orthern  Teamsters'  Association, 
which  advertised  to  take  freight  for  eleven  to  thir- 
teen cents,  and  obtained  many  consignments. 
Also,  Sacramento  merchants  subscribed  five 
thousand  dollars  as  a  bonus  to  the  first  train 
which  should  carry  one  hundred  tons  of  mer- 
chandise through  to  Owyhee  by  the  Truckee 
pass,  to  be  applied  to  the  extra  expenses  of  the 
trip.  Jesse  D.  Carr  secured  a  contract  for  carry- 
ing a  daily  mail  between  Virginia  City,  Nevada, 
and  Boise  City,  by  the  last  mentioned  route, 
which  ran.  east  of  the  Humboldt  mountains.  A 
large  amount  of  money  was  expended  in  these 
enterprises,  but  success  was  attained. 

From  a  valuable  work  written  by  Joaquin 
Miller  and  issued  by  the  publishers  of  this  His- 
tory of  Idaho  we  make  the  following  extracts, 
the  same  being  peculiarly  pertinent  and  interest- 
ing in  connection  with  the  account  of  the  early 
mining  enterprises  in  Idaho: 

There  is  a  sort  of  Freemasonry  among  miners  and 
all  sorts  of  honest  men  of  the  gold  mines.  The  men 
of  the  placer  gold  mines  are  and  have  been  from  the 
modern  Argonauts  a  sort  of  civilized  advance  army. 
They  are  men  who  have  stepped  to  the  front  from  out 
of  the  millions.  It  is  their  courage,  enterprise  and 
audacity  of  faith  that  has  set  them  to  the  front;  besides, 
they  are  generally  men  of  good  sense,  good  physique, 
good  education.  Travel — for  they  all  had  to  travel 
much  and  have  much  intercourse  with  traveled  men  to 
reach  the  gold  mines — gave  to  even  the  rudest  of  them 
a  sort  of  polish  not  found  so  general  in  any  other  large 
body  of  men  on  the  globe.  You  can  always  find  more 
sincere  manhood  and  real  politeness  in  a  mining  camp 
with  its  sprinkle  of  cattle  men,  grangers  and  the  like 
than  in  the  average  crowds  of  London  and  Paris. 

Being  among  the  first  in  the  new  mines  of  Oro  Fino 
in  the  spring  of  1861,  I  found  myself  at  once  among 
friends,  and  friends  of  the  best;  for  these  miners  of 
Pierce  City  and  Oro  Fino  were  not  only  gentlemen 
of  the  class  described,  but  they  were,  many  of  them, 
also  old  personal  friends  from  northern  California.  It 
was  the  glorious  old  Yuba  and  Shasta  days  over  again, 
and  they  were  very  happy  and  hopeful. 

Pierce  City  at  this  date  was  a  brisk  town,  neatly  laid 
out,  built  of  hewn  logs,  brooks  through  the  streets,  pine 
trees  here  and  there  on  the  gently  sloping  hillside  to 
the  sun,  with  white  tents  all  around  and  up  and  down 
the  mountain  of  dark  woods  to  the  east,  red-shirted 
men,  mules,  long  lines  of  laden,  braying  mules,  half- 


tame  Indians  with  pack  panniers,  a  few  soldiers  off  duty, 
crowds  of  eager  people  coming  and  going, — action, 
motion  everywhere.  The  old  days  had  come  again,  we 
all  believed,  and  miners  who  had  missed  fortune  in 
other  lands  and  laid  the  blame  upon  themselves  resolved 
not  to  miss  her  favors  now,  if  work  could  win  them. 

Oro  Fino  lay  a  brief  half-hour's  walk  to  the  south  at 
the  foot  of  a  steep,  wooded  mountain  and  in  the  forks 
of  a  creek  of  the  same  name  and  Rhodes  creek.  This 
Rhodes  creek  had  been  discovered  by  William  Rhodes, 
of  Siskiyou  county,  California.  He  was  a  manly  mu- 
latto of  great  good  sense  and  very  honest.  Oro  Fino 
was  a  hastily  built  place,  having  tumbled  together  in 
great  disorder  with  one  narrow  street,  and  made  up  out 
of  round  logs  and  mud  and  brush.  Compared  with 
Pierce  City,  it  was  a  wild-looking  place;  but  it  was 
very  orderly,  very  much  in  earnest,  and  preaching  and 
Sunday-school  here,  as  well  as  at  Pierce  City,  came  as 
regularly  as  the  Sunday.  There  were  a  good  many 
saloons  in  these  towns,  as  well  as  up  and  down  the 
creeks,  but  I  recall  no  drunkenness  nor  depravity  of 
any  sort.  Women  were  scarce  as  yet,  and  of  children 
there  was  the  merest  sprinkle.  But  many  of  these  first 
men  here  were  expecting  their  families  on  from  Califor- 
nia and  Oregon,  and  were  not  slow  in  their  support  of 
church  and  school. 

As  for  myself,  I  had  studied  law,  and  had  been  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  a  few  years  before,  and  came  here 
to  practice  my  profession.  But  the  place  was  so  or- 
derly, so  far  from  any  sort  of  disturbance  or  contention, 
that  there  was  absolutely  no  business  whatever  in  this' 
line.  I  found  plenty  of  lawyers,  but  no  law,  or  rather 
no  need  of  any  law. 

Having  two  brothers  with  me  and  finding  several 
cousins  here,  and  none  of  us  getting  any  foothold,  we 
pushed  out  over  the  mountains  to  the  east. 

Do  you  know  the  music  of  the  pick  and  shovel  as 
they  clang  and  ring  on  the  bed-rock,  the  rattle  and  the 
ring  of  the  sluice-fork  in  the  hands  of  the  happy,  tall, 
slim  man  who  stands  astride  the  sluice  and  slings  the 
gravel  behind  him  in  high  heaps  of  polished  pebbles? 
He  has  a  keen  eye.  There  may  be  a  big  nugget  on  the 
tines  of  his  broad  sluice-fork  at  any  moment.  He  is 
a  supple  man,  of  not  too  much  flesh,  and  keeps  his 
footing  finely  on  either  side  of  the  sluice-box  which  he 
bestrides.  To  fall  will  be  not  only  to  break  his  own 
knees,  but  to  endanger  the  backs  of  his  dripping  and 
bespattered  partners  in  the  pit  beneath  him. 

And  now  he  sees  something  glitter  in  the  swift  water 
that  washes  the  gravel  down  across  the  ripples.  Down 
goes  a  long,  dripping  arm  at  the  risk  of  his  neck;  but 
somehow  the  rugged,  slim  man  never  falls!  Up  goes 
the  long  right  arm  in  the  air.  A  shout!  The  men  in 
the  pit  look  up  altogether,  and  then  there  is  a  shout 
that  shakes  the  very  pine  tops  above  them.  The  gold 
nugget,  half  quartz,  is  nearly  as  big  as  a  hen's  egg. 
The  slim  man  on  the  high  sluice-box  who  holds  the 
nugget  high  in  the  air  laughs  and  shouts  with  the  rest. 
We  have  struck  it!  The  friendly  Freemasonry  sort  of 
good  will  and  well-wishing  among  miners  spread  in  a 


72 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


day   or   two   to    Pierce   City   and    Oro    Fino,   and   the 
place  was  soon  packed  with  prospectors. 

The  stampede  that  always  was  created  by  the 
news  of  a  new  discovery  of  gold  is  thus  described: 

Although  there  were  in  this  then  distant  land  'of 
Idaho  no  telegraph  wires  or  other  means  of  rapid  com- 
munication, the  discovery  of  new  gold  fields  or  a  rich 
strike  made  within  the  boundaries  of  the  territory  trav- 
eled with  the  rapidity  of  a  carrier  pigeon.  Apparently 
one  caught  the  news  from  the  breezes.  No  one  could 
give  the  source  of  the  whisperings  that  a  new  find  was 
reported.  It  was  sufficient  to  the  toilers  and  pros- 
pectors that  such  were  the  reports  without  investigating 
whence  they  came.  These  reports  grew  as  they  trav- 
eled. They  were  passed  from  cabin  to  cabin  along 
down  the  gulches  and  across  the  flats  and  bars.  Tom 
would  tell  Bill  that  near  the  bed-rock  they  were  getting 
five  cents  to  the  pan.  Bill  would  inform  Sam  that  in 
the  new  "diggin's"  they  were  getting  ten  cents  right  in 
the  grass  roots:  and  thus  it  kept  on  increasing  as  it 
traveled  until  it  would  reach  a  dollar  or  two  to  the 
pan! 

In  the  fall  of  1861  reports  began  to  be  noised  about 
Oro  Fino  that  new  places  had  been  discovered  on  the 
head-waters  of  the  Salmon  river,  which  were  said  to  be 
fabulously  rich.  The  matter  was  discussed  by  the 
miners  during  the  day  while  shoveling  gravel  and  sand 
in  their  sluice-boxes.  At  night  they  would  gather  in 
their  cabins  and  discuss  the  probabilities  by  the  snap- 
ping of  log  fires.  Then  it  was  noised  about  that  the 
Smith  boys  from  Pierce's  bar  had  left  their  claims  and 
disappeared  in  the  direction  of  the  new  El  Dorado,  and 
again  parties  from  Ore  Grande  and  Rhodes  creek  were 
making  preparations  to  start.  Later,  information  was 
circulated  about  the  camp  that  two  men  had  just  arrived 
for  the  purpose  of  laying  in  a  stock  of  supplies,  and 
who  confirmed  the  previous  reports  as  to  the  richness 
and  extent  of  the  new  find.  The  old  miners  who  had 
had  many  visions  and  dreams  of  wealth  to  be  obtained 
just  over  the  ridge  were  soon  worked  up  to  fever  heat. 
Horses  and  mules  to  pack  supplies  were  in  great  de- 
mand. Any  kind  of  an  animal  would  bring  four  times 
the  price  it  would  have  brought  a  few  months  before. 

Like  other  contagions,  this  mining  fever  is  catching, 
and  when  it  strikes  you  the  only  remedy  is  to  go.  You 
do  not  stop  to  consider  the  hardships,  but  only  have 
the  wish  to  reach  the  promised  land  and  acquire  the 
glittering  metal  that  would  serve  to  make  the  folks  at 
home  happy.  How  many  of  such  hopes  have  been 
blasted!  Yet  those  hopes  and  expectations  were  the 
incentives  which  caused  the  pioneers  to  push  out  into 
the  snow-covered  mountains  and  broad  valleys  and  lay 
the  foundations  for  civilization. 

During  the  early  mining  period  of  Idaho  the 
quality  and  amount  of  the  precious  metals  were 
rated  as  follows:  The  standard  of  gol.l  bars  was 


1,000,  and  anything  below  half  that  amount  was 
denominated  silver.  A  bar  495  fine  was  500  fine 
o.f  silver,  worth  ten  dollars  and  twenty-three  and 
one-fourth  cents  per  ounce.  A  bar  050  fine  was 
45  fine  of  silver  and  was  stamped  nineteen  dollars 
and  sixty-three  cents  per  ounce,  as  tne  Kootenai 
gold  for  example.  Santiam  (Oregon)  gold  was 
679  fine ;  Oro  Fino  gold-dust  assayed  sixteen  dol- 
lars to  the  ounce;  Elk  City,  from  fifteen  dollars 
and  seventy-five  cents  to  sixteen  dollars  and  for- 
ty-five cents ;  Warren's  diggings,  ten  dollars  and 
eight  cents  to  fourteen  dollars  and  fifty-four 
cents;  Florence,  from  eleven  dollars  and  eighty 
cents  to  thirteen  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents; 
Beaver  Head,  eighteen  dollars  and  thirty-seven 
cents  to  eighteen  dollars  and  fifty  cents;  and 
Boise,  fourteen  dollars  and  twenty-eight  cents  to 
seventeen  dollars  and  forty  cents,  little  of  it  as- 
saying less  than  fifteen  dollars,  at  which  price  the 
merchants  of  Idaho  City  agreed  to  take  it,  while 
paying  only  ten  dollars  for  Owyhee  and  twelve 
dollars  for  Florence. 

The  actual  amount  of  gold  produced  in  any 
particular  district  of  either  of  the  territories  for 
a  given  time  would  be  difficult  of  comptitation.  A 
Portland  paper  estimated  that  during  the  summer 
and  autumn  of  1862  about  three  million  dollars 
was  brought  to  that  city;  but  some  of  this  was 
not  Idaho  gold.  A  government  officer  reported 
that  between  seven  and  ten  million  dollars  was 
probably  a  fair  estimate  of  the  gold  taken  from 
the  Nez  Perce  mines  in  two  years.  In  six  months, 
from  June  to  November,  1863,  the  express  com- 
pany shipped  two  million  and  ninety-five  thou- 
sand dollars,  which  certainly  was  not  more  than 
one-third  of  the  product  of  Idaho  and  Montana 
for  1865  and  1866  at  a  million  and  a  half  dollars 
monthly.  For  1866,  J.  Ross  Browne,  in  his 
pamphlet  Mineral  Resources,  etc.,  states  that 
Montana  yielded  twelve  million  dollars,  Idaho 
six  millions,  Oregon  two  millions  and  Washing- 
ton one  million;  but  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle 
makes  the  product  of  Idaho  for  that  year  eight 
million  dollars,  and  for  1867  six  and  a  half  mil- 
lions, 1868  seven  millions,  1869  the  same,  1870 
six  millions,  1871  five  millions,  and  1872  only 
two  millions  and  five  hundred  and  fourteen 
thousand.  Of  course  only  guess  work  can  be 
made  of  the  quantities  mined  during  that  exciting 
and  chaotic  period. 


S3 

•4-* 

"3 
•^ 

in 


D 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


73 


In  1864  an  attempt  was  made  to  obtain  a  mint 
for  the  Boise  basin,  and  two  years  later  it  was 
proposed  to  bring  the  North  Carolina  mint  to 
Boise,  neither  of  which  movements  was  success- 
ful. In  the  first  year  congress  appropriated  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  for  a  branch  mint  at 
The  Dalles,  a  measure  which  Portland  vigorously 
opposed  because  of  more  local  interest;  and  be- 
fore the  mint  was  erected  at  The  Dalles  it  be- 
came apparent  that  on  the  construction  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  bullion  could  be  shipped 
to  Philadelphia  as  easily  as  to  The  Dalles,  and 
the  act  was  revoked,  which  was  a  definite  defeat 
of  any  proposition  for  a  mint  in  either  Oregon  or 
Idaho.  An  assay  office,  however,  was  erected  by 
the  United  States  government  in  i87O,-at  Boise, 
at  a  cost  of  eighty-one  thousand  dollars.  It  was 
built  of  sandstone,  sixty  feet  square,  two  stories 
high  above  the  basement  and  well  finished.  It 
was  built  under  the  direct  supervision  of  J.  R. 
McBride,  once  United  States  district  judge  of 
Idaho. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  ASSAY  OFFICE. 

The  assay  office  was  founded  here  by  the 
United  States  government  in  1871.  Minerals  are 
purchased  from  miners,  assayed  here  and  for- 
warded to  the  mint  in  Philadelphia,  free  of  trans- 
portation charges.  An  idea  of  the  importance 
of  this  institution  to  this  section  may  be  gained 
from  the  fact  that  in  1897  there  were  about  five 


thousand  depositors,  whose  bullion  amounted  to 
a  million  and  a  half  dollars  in  valuation, 
— an  increase  of  about  fifty  per  cent  in 
the  past  six  years.  The  building  occupied 
is  a  substantial  one  of  cut  stone,  is  fifty 
by  sixty  feet  in  dimensions  and  two  stories 
and  basement  in  height.  The  structure  was 
completed  the  same  year  that  the  office  was 
established  here,  and  was  erected  and  has  been 
maintained  by  the  government.  The  ground  on 
which  it  stands  is  bounded  by  Main,  Idaho,  Sec- 
ond and  Third  streets.  This  block  was  donated 
to  the  United  States  by  the  city,  which,  in  turn, 
has  been  incalculably  benefited  by  the  location 
of  the  assay  office  here.  The  building  is  in  the 
center  of  a  beautifully  kept  lawn,  tastefully  em- 
bellished with  flowers  and  fine  shade  trees,  the 
spot  being  considered  one  of  the  restful  and 
picturesque  places  of  interest  in  Boise. 

J.  W.  Cunningham,  who  for  many  years  has 
been  the  government  custodian  of  the  assay 
office,  is  eminently  qualified  for  the  responsible 
position,  as  he  thoroughly  understands  every  de- 
tail of  the  business  and  is  entirely'  trustworthy 
and  reliable.  It  was  in  1889  that  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  office  of  superintendent,  by  Presi- 
dent Harrison,  and  at  the  end  of  four  years  of 
service  he  was  superseded,  during  President 
Cleveland's  administration,  only  to  receive  a  re- 
appointment  at  the  hands  of  President  McKinley. 


CHAPTER  X. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


COLONEL  WILLIAM  H.  DEWEY. 

TT  MONO  the  prominent  influential  citizens 
j\  °f  Idaho,  Colonel  Dewey,  of  Dewey,  en- 
•*•  •*-  joys  a  unique  position  and  reputation.  He 
is  a  pioneer  Idahoan  in  the  true  sense  of  that 
word,  and  the  marvelous  development  of  the  in- 
terests and  industries  of  his  adopted  state  is  large- 
ly attributable  to  his  enterprise  and  sagacity.  He 
is  a  man  of  remarkable  resources,  and  has  never 
failed  to  measure  fully  up  to  all  the  requirements 
and  emergencies  of  life.  Although  over  seventy 
years  old,  he  is  well  preserved  and  exhibits  un- 
abated vigor  of  mind  and  body.  Colonel  Dewey 
is  a  native  of  the  state  of  New  York,  and  his 
first  American  ancestors  were  early  settlers  in 
Massachusetts. 

In  the  autumn  of  1863  he  came  to  Idaho  and 
located  where  the  town  of  Dewey  now  is,  but 
subsequently  removed  to  where  the  town  of  Ruby 
City  was  located,  and  with  others,  March  21, 
1864,  laid  out  the  town  of  Silver  City. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  introduces  this 
review  is  a  born  miner,  and  from  his  first  ar- 
rival in  Idaho  the  Colonel  became  prominently- 
connected  with  the  mining  interests  of  the  north- 
west, in  which  connection  it  is  perfectly  fair  to 
say  that  he  has  been  one  of  the  leading  and  prin- 
cipal factors  in  the  development  of  the  mineral 
resources  of  this  state.  He  owned  nearly  half  of 
the  South  Mountain  camp  during  the  period  of 
its  greatest  activity  and  was  one  of  three  men 
to  discover  and  locate  this  magnificent  property. 

He  purchased  the  Trade  Dollar  mine  in  1889, 
and  after  making  numerous  and  expensive  im- 
provements upon  it,  sold  to  the  present  owners 
one  hundred  and  thirty-four  thousand  of  the  five 
hundred  thousand  shares. 

He  also  owns  over  one-half  of  the  Florida 
Mountain  group  of  mines  and  has  just  succeeded 
in  forming  a  combination  of  these  mining  prop- 


erties, in  which  he  holds  the  strategic  position. 
The  accomplishment  of  this  consolidation  re- 
quired rare  tact  and  finesse. 

At  the  village  of  Dewey,  a  town  named  in  his 
honor,  the  Colonel  has  erected  one  of  the  best 
twenty-stamp  mills  in  Idaho,  or  even  in  the  west. 
He  has  also  erected  the  fine  Dewey  Hotel,  which 
is  considered  one  of  the  best  in  the  state,  and 
he  has  built  a  beautiful  residence  for  himself, 
and  in  addition  constructed  numerous  valuable 
residences  and  business  houses  in  the  town  of 
Dewey.  He  is  also  the  projector  and  owner  of 
the  Boise,  Nampa  &  Owyhee  Railway,  on  which 
line  is  a  splendid  steel  bridge,  crossing  the  Snake 
river  at  Guffey,  which  is  the  pride  of  the  whole 
state.  Colonel  Dewey  built  this  bridge  at  his 
own  expense,  and  also  the  railroad  from  Nampa 
to  Guffey,  which  he  is  now  extending  to  Murphy. 
He  is  also  preparing  to  extend  his  road  north 
from  Nampa,  the  survevs  now  having  been  com- 
pleted for  a  distance  of  fifty  miles.  When  all 
these  extensions  are  completed,  the  road  will 
connect  with  the  Central  Pacific  and  furnish  u 
continuous  line  from  San  Francisco  to  Butte, 
Montana,  and  thereby  shorten  the  distance  be- 
tween these  two  points  by  about  three  hundred 
miles. 

Colonel  Dewey  is  distinctly  a  man  of  great 
practical  turn  of  mind.  He  is  simple  in  his  habits 
and  unassuming  in  his  manners,  being  all  energy, 
push  and  enterprise.  He  was  cast  in  a  large 
mold  and  would  have  been  conspicuous  and 
successful  in  any  department  of  human  activity 
that  he  might  have  entered.  He  has  been  fre- 
quently urged  to  accept  nominations  for  import- 
ant official  positions,  but  has  invariably  declined. 
His  name  is  now  mentioned  in  connection  with 
the  nomination  for  United  States  senator  from 
Idaho.  This  is  against  the  Colonel's  wishes,  but 
his  many  friends  are  very  urgent  in  their  re- 


74 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


75 


quests  that  he  shall  openly  enter  the  field  for  that 
distinguished  office. 

HOMER  G.    PATTERSON. 

Homer  G.  Patterson  is  a  leading  member  of 
the  Idaho  legislature,  representing  Elaine  county, 
and  is  a  prominent  practitioner  of  dentistry  in 
Hailey.  Dentistry  may  be  said  to  be  almost 
unique  among  other  occupations,  as  it  is  at  once 
a  profession,  a  trade  and  a  business.  Such  being 
the  case,  it  follows  that  in  order  to  attain  the 
highest  success  in  it  one  must  be  thoroughly  con- 
versant with  the  theory  of  the  art,  must  be  ex- 
pert with  the  many  tools  and  appliances  inci- 
dental to  the  practice  of  modern  dentistry,  and 
must  possess  business  qualifications  adequate  to 
dealing  with  the  financial  side  of  the  profession. 
In  all  of  these  particulars  Dr.  Homer  George 
Patterson  is  well  qualified,  and  therefore  has  at- 
tained prestige  among  the  able  representatives  of 
dentistry  in  southern  Idaho. 

He  was  born  in  Ontario,  St.  Joseph  county, 
Indiana,  October  4,  1862.  The  family  is  of 
Scotch  origin  and  the  original  American  ances- 
tors were  colonial  settlers  of  New  York  and  par- 
ticipants in  the  events  which  formed  the  early 
history  of  that  state.  Among  those  of  the  name 
were  also  members  of  the  American  army  who 
fought  for  the  independence  of  the  nation.  James 
H.  Patterson,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born 
in  the  Empire  state  and  married  Miss  Wealthy 
J.  Foster,  a  native  of  Michigan.  When  a  young 
man  he  removed  to  Indiana  and  there  followed 
the  trade  of  carriage  and  wagon  maker.  Later 
he  went  with  his  family  to  Iowa,  and  subsequent- 
ly removed  to  Montgomery  county,  the  same 
state. 

The  Doctor  is  the  eldest  in  a  family  of  five 
children,  four  sons  and  a  daughter.  The  family 
circle  yet  remains  unbroken  by  the  hand  of 
death,  and  the  parents  are  now  residents  of  Port- 
land, Oregon.  Our  subject  was  a  child  of  seven 
years  when  they  went  to  Iowa,  and  a  youth  of 
nine  when  they  located  in  Montgomery  county, 
Iowa.  He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
and  read  medicine  in  the  office  and  under  the 
direction  of  Dr.  J.  B.  Hatton.  He  afterward 
went  to  Oregon,  where  he  studied  dentistry  in 
the  office  of  Dr.  Wise,  of  Portland,  and  in  1882 
he  went  to  California,  where  he  continued  his 


preparation  for  the  profession.  In  1889  he 
opened  a  dental  office  in  Bellevue,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1896,  when  he  came  to  Hailey, 
where  he  has  since  made  his  home.  He  has  a 
well  appointed  office  and  from  the  beginning  has 
met  with  gratifying  success,  his  patronage  con- 
stantly increasing. 

In  1882  occurred  the  marriage  of  Dr.  Patter- 
son and  Miss  Nettie  J.  Orr,  a  native  of  Illinois, 
and  their  union  has  been  blessed  with  four 
daughters  and  a  son,  namely:  Bessie,  Lena, 
Roy,  Lora  and  Irma.  The  parents  are  members 
of  the  Christian  church,  but  as  there  is  no  con- 
gregation of  that  denomination  in  Hailey  they 
attend  the  services  of  the  Methodist  church. 
Their  pleasant  home  is  characterized  by  a  charm- 
ing hospitality  and  is  the  center  of  a  cultured  so- 
ciety circle. 

The  Doctor  belongs  to  the  Modern  Woodmen 
of  America  and  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen..  In  addition  to  his  professional  in- 
terests he  has  several  placer-mining  claims,  and 
in  partnership  with  F.  M.  McDowell  leased  the 
Niagara  silver  mine  on  Boyle  mountain.  They 
have  uncovered  a  vein  of  excellent  ore  a  foot 
thick,  which  will  undoubtedly  make  the  mine  a 
paying  one.  In  his  political  views  Dr.  Patterson 
is  a  "silver"  Republican,  and  on  the  fusion  ticket 
he  received  a  flattering  majority  for  the  office  of 
state  representative.  He  served  in  the  fifth  ses- 
sion of  the  Idaho  legislature  and  his  course  indi- 
cated his  loyalty  to  the  best  interests  of  the  county 
and  the  commonwealth.  He  was  appointed  by 
the  governor  a  member  of  the  state  dental  board, 
and  by  said  board  was  elected  its  president. 
Through  the  work  and  influence  of  Dr.  Patter- 
son the  state  dental  law  was  adopted. 

CHARLES  A.  SCHNABEL. 

Thirty-seven  years  have  passed  since  Charles 
Augusta  Schnabel  came  to  Idaho.  This  state,  so 
aptly  termed  "the  gem  of  the  mountains,"  was 
then  a  wild  district,  its  lands  unclaimed,  its  re- 
sources undeveloped.  A  few  courageous  fron- 
tiersmen had  dared  to  locate  within  its  borders, 
but  the  work  of  progress  and  improvement  re- 
mained to  the  future,  and  there  was  little  prom- 
ise of  early  development.  In  the  years  which 
have  since  passed  Mr.  Schnabel  has  not  only  wit- 
nessed a  most  wonderful  transformation,  but  has 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


largely  aided  in  the  labors  which  have  trans- 
formed the  wild  tract  into  a  splendid  common- 
wealth. Now  in  his  declining  years  he  is  living 
retired,  enjoying  the  well  earned  rest  which  is 
the  merited  reward  of  a  long  and  honorable  busi- 
ness career. 

A  native  of  Prussia,  Mr.  Schnabel  was  born  in 
Elberfield,  October  18,  1828,  and  for  generations 
his  ancestors  had  resided  in  the  fatherland.  He 
acquired  his  education  in  the  public  schools,  and 
in  Germany  learned  the  trade  of  fringe  and  lace 
weaving.  When  a  young  man  of  twenty  years 
he  determined  to  try  his  fortune  in  America, 
landing  in  New  York  on  the  day  that  Zachariah 
Taylor  was  elected  president  of  the  United  States. 
He  then  made  his  way  to  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
where  he  had  a  brother  living,  and  in  that  city 
worked  at  his  trade  for  a  year,  when,  hearing  of 
the  rich  gold  discoveries  in  California,  he  deter- 
mined to  make  his  way  to  the  Pacific  coast. 
Twice  he  attempted  to  work  his  way  across  the 
country,  but  each  time,  after  getting  as  far  as 
western  Missouri,  lack  of  means  forced  him  to 
turn  back.  A  third  time,  however,  he  made  the 
attempt,  and  this  time  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
goal  of  his  hopes.  He  traveled  by  way  of  New 
Orleans  and  by  the  Panama  route  to  California, 
where  he  arrived  in  1853,  and  in  Sierra  county 
successfully  engaged  in  mining.  He  was  thus 
enabled  to  send  money  home  to  his  mother  and 
sisters,  but  in  the  winter  of  1862  mis- 
fortune again  overtook  him,  a  flood  carry- 
ing away  his  flumes  and  other  mining  ma- 
chinery. It  was  at  this  time  that  he 
learned  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Florence, 
Idaho,  and  so,  traveling  by  way  of  Portland, 
Oregon,  and  up  the  Columbia  river,  he  ultimately 
arrived  in  Florence,  in  May,  1862.  His  mining 
operations  in  that  locality,  however,  did  not  prove 
profitable,  and  in  the  spring  of  1863  he  went  to 
Idaho  City,  where  he  engaged  in  merchandising, 
his  sales  in  one  year  amounting  to  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  In  a  single  day  he  sold  and 
wrapped  goods  to  the  value  of  twenty-six  hun- 
dred dollars. 

Mr.  Schnabel  was  thus  closely  connected  with 
the  development  of  the  business  interests  of  the 
northwest,  and  has  taken  an  active  part  in  pro- 
moting all  enterprises  which  tend  to  advance  the 
welfare  of  his  state.  In  1859,  while  engaged  in 


mining,  he  visited  Virginia  City,  when  there  was 
one  store  in  the  town.  He  became  the  owner  of 
the  Monte  Christo  claim,  which  in  the  following 
spring  he  sold  to  Senator  Stewart  for  twelve  hun- 
dred dollars.  He  purchased  a  fourth  interest  in 
the  Hale  &  Norcross  claim  for  one  hundred  dol- 
lars, and  sold  it  the  following  spring  for  fifteen 
hundred  dollars.  That  claim  afterward  proved 
to  be  very  valuable,  yielding  rich  deposits  of  ore. 
While  at  that  point  Mr.  Schnabel  saw  the  first 
pony  express  that  ever  crossed  the  country.  In 
his  mercantile  ventures  his  success  was  assured 
from  the  beginning.  He  had  a  reputation  for  in- 
flexible integrity  that  extended  far  and  wide,  and 
his  word  was  ever  considered  as  good  as  his 
bond.  He  received  a  very  extensive  patronage 
from  the  Indians,  and  never  had  any  trouble  with 
them,  for  they  said  that  "he  has  but  one  tongue," 
meaning  that  they  always  found  him  truthful. 
What  higher  compliment  could  be  paid  a  busi- 
ness man? 

After  engaging  in  merchandising  for  a  year, 
Mr.  Schnabel  found  it  possible,  as  the  result  of 
his  success,  to  visit  the  fatherland  and  the  friends 
of  his  childhood.  Five  times  has  he  crossed  the 
Atlantic  to  Germany,  thus  continuing  the  ties 
of  comradeship  and  regard  with  many  in  the  old 
country.  In  1867  he  returned  to  Idaho,  and  en- 
gaged in  merchandising  with  Peter  Sonna  until 
1870,  when  he  sold  his  interest  to  his  partner 
and  again  made  the  voyage  across  the  Atlantic 
to  the  home  of  his  childhood  and  youth.  There 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Eva  Elizabeth  Shafer, 
his  old  sweetheart,  and  with  his  bride  came  to 
his  far  western  home.  Here  he  again  opened  a 
store,  and  was  successfully  engaged  in  merchan- 
dising until  1890,  when,  having  acquired  a  hand- 
some competence,  he  retired  to  private  life.  In 
1867  he  attended  the  World's  Fair  in  Paris,  and 
after  selling  his  store,  in  1890,  he  took  his  family 
abroad.  His'  seven  daughters  are  all  talented 
musicians  and  vocalists  and  in  the  art  centers 
of  the  world  they  were  given  opportunity  to  study 
music  under  some  of  the  most  famous  musicians 
of  the  age.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schnabel  may  well  be 
proud  of  their  family.  Their  eldest  daughter, 
Elizabeth  Idaho,  is  now  the  wife  of  Sherman 
King,  of  Boise.  The  others  are  Minnehaha,  Anna 
Columbia,  Victoria  America,  Rosa  May,  Augusta 
Octavia  and  Flora  Centennia,  which  latter  died 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


77 


at  the  age  of  thirteen  years  and  five  months.  The 
youngest  daughter  was  given  her  father's  middle 
name,  Augusta,  and  also  the  name  of  Octavia, 
by  reason  of  her  being  the  eighth. 

During  the  civil  war  Mr.  Schnabel  was  a 
stanch  advocate  of  the  Union  cause,  and  since  the 
organization  of  the  Republican  party  has  been 
one  of  its  earnest  and  zealous  supporters.  The 
cause  of  education  in  Boise  has  found  in  him  a 
warm  friend,  and  while  serving  as  school  trustee 
for  a  number  of  years  he  did  effective  service  in 
the  interest  of  the  city  schools.  'He  was  at  one 
time  the  nominee  for  county  commissioner. 
Reared  in  the  faith  of  the  Lutheran  church,  he 
has  always  had  great  respect  for  religion  and 
now  attends  the  Methodist  services,  but  is  not  a 
member  of  any  church.  He  is  now  enjoying  a 
well  earned  rest  and  the  esteem  of  his  fellow 
men,  who,  having  long  been  witnesses  of  his 
upright  career,  entertain  for  him  the  highest  re- 
gard. 

JOHN  CRETE,  SR. 

The  Fatherland  has  furnished  to  America 
many  of  her  valued  citizens, — men  who  have 
crossed  the  Atlantic  to  ally  fheir  interests  with 
those  of  "the  land  of  the  free."  Adapting  them- 
selves to  entirely  new  surroundings,  customs  and 
manners,  they  have  achieved  success  and  won  a 
place  among  the  representative  men  of  the  com- 
munities in  which  their  lots  have  been  cast.  Such 
is  true  of  John  Crete,  the  genial,  well  known 
and  popular  proprietor  of  the  War  Eagle  Hotel, 
at  Silver  City.  Born  in  Hasbrouck,  Hanover, 
Germany,  April  25,  1832,  he  was  a  son  of  a  Ger- 
man soldier  who  afterward  became  a  police  offi- 
cer, and  while  making  an  arrest,  was  beaten  by 
a  criminal.  His  injuries  brought  on  blood-pois- 
oning, from  which  he  died  when  fifty-two  years 
of  age.  His  wife  long  survived  him,  and  passed 
away  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety  years.  They 
had  six  children,  five  sons  and  one  daughter,  all 
now  deceased  but  two. 

John  Crete,  the  fourth  in  order  of  birth,  was 
educated  in  the  schools  of  his  native  land,  and 
in  1849,  when  seventeen  years  of  age,  crossed 
the  Atlantic  to  the  New  World,  hoping  to  better 
his  financial  condition  in  this  country,  where 
broader  and  better  opportunities  are  afforded 
young  men.  He  landed  in  New  York  and  there 
accepted  a  position  as  salesman  in  a  coffee  and 


tea  house,  where  he  remained  until  1860,  when 
he  sailed  for  California,  going  by  the  isthmus 
route.  At  the  old  town  of  Shasta  in  the  northern 
part  of  California  he  first  engaged  in  mining.  On 
the  ist  of  May,  1862,  with  seven  others,  he 
started  on  a  prospecting  tour  to  the  upper  coun- 
try, expecting  to  go  to  Florence,  Oregon,  but 
at  Canyon  City,  that  state,  they  discovered  gold, 
and  Mr.  Crete  engaged  in  prospecting  and  min- 
ing there  until  fall,  when,  attracted  by  the  dis- 
coveries in  the  Boise  basin,  he  came  to  Idaho. 
Here  he  engaged  in  mining  and  in  conducting  a 
pack  train  between  the  basin  and  Auburn,  Ore- 
gon. He  received  twenty-five  cents  per  pound 
for  all  goods  which  he  handled,  but  his  expenses 
in  other  lines  were  proportionately  high. 

In  the  fall  of  1863,  allured  by  the  rich  gold  dis- 
coveries at  Silver  City,  he  came  to  this  place 
and  began  quartz-mining,  but  the  evident  de- 
mand for  a  good  bakery  determined  him  to  with- 
draw from  mining  ventures  and  establish  a  bak- 
ery and  saloon.  This  he  did  on  the  I4th  of  June, 
1864,  and  from  the  beginning  he  prospered  in  the 
new  undertaking.  He  added  an  eating  house 
and  constantly  enlarged  his  facilities  to  meet  the 
growing  demand  of  the  trade  until  1878,  when 
he  purchased  the  War  Eagle  Hotel,  the  nucleus 
of  which  was  a  log  structure  that  had  been  built 
by  a  Mr.  Carrol,  who  was  killed  by  the  Indians 
in  June,  1864.  In  1867  it  was  enlarged,  and  after 
Mr.  Crete  became  the  owner  it  was  enlarged  to 
its  present  proportions  and  greatly  improved.  It 
now  contains  thirty-five  rooms  well  furnished, 
and  everything  possible  is  done  for  the  accommo- 
dation and  comfort  of  the  guests.  Joseph  Gross, 
who  is  acting  as  clerk,  is  a  well  known  California 
and  Idaho  pioneer  and  prominent  Freemason, 
and,  like  the  proprietor,  is  highly  esteemed  by 
the  traveling  public,  owing  to  his  obliging  ser- 
vice and  evident  desire  to  make  the  guests  of  the 
War  Eagle  at  home.  The  hotel  was  named  for 
the  War  Eagle  mountain,  which  stands  near  by 
and  which  rises  seven  thousand  and  five  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea  level  and  towers  one  thousand 
feet  above  Silver  City  and  the  surrounding  moun- 
tains. It  is  full  of  valuable  ore,  both  gold  and 
silver,  and  is  one  of  the  historic  places  of  inter- 
est in  the  state. 

In  New  York,  in  1856,  Mr.  Crete  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  Kornmann,  who  was 


78 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


of  German  lineage,  and  was  born  in  New  York 
city,  in  1841.  In  1861  she  accompanied  her 
husband  to  California,  where  she  remained  two 
years,  while  he  was  prospecting  in  Oregon  and 
Idaho,  and  then  joined  him  at  Silver  City  in  the 
fall  of  1864.  She  has  been  to  him  a  faithful  com- 
panion and  helpmeet,  and  has  thus  contributed 
to  his  success.  Three  sons  and  three  daughters 
have  been  born  to  them:  Louisa,  now  the  wife 
of  Anthony  Brooks,  of  Butte,  Montana;  August, 
who  is  engaged  in  business  in  Silver  City ;  Emma, 
who  is  the  widow  of  Alfred  Hicks  and  resides 
with  her  parents;  Minnie,  now  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Weston,  a  prominent  physician  of  Silver  City; 
Frederick,  who  is  his  father's  partner  in  several 
mining  enterprises;  and  John,  who  is  operating 
his  father's  electric-light  plant. 

Mr.  Crete  has  been  prominently  and  actively 
connected  with  various  interests  of  this  locality, 
and  has  done  much  to  promote  the  public  welfare 
and  general  prosperity.  He  has  built  a  system 
of  water-works,  by  which  a  supply  of  pure  spring 
water  is  brought  from  the  mountain  side  to  the 
hotel  and  also  supplies  many  of  the  homes  of 
Silver  City.  At  his  own  expense  he  erected  an 
electric-light  plant  of  twelve  hundred  candle- 
power,  and  thus  illuminates  the  hotel  and  busi- 
ness houses.  These  two  enterprises  have  proven 
of  great  practical  benefit  to  the  town,  and  indi- 
cated the  progressive  spirit  of  the  owner.  In  ad- 
dition to  his  hotel  property,  Mr.  Crete  also  has  a 
number  of  buildings  in  Silver  City,  and  in  con- 
nection with  his  brother  Fred  owns  the  San  Tuan 
group;  and  the  Banner  group  of  mines  is  owned 
by  John  Crete,  Sr.,  Fred  Crete,  Jr.,  and  Robert 
Leonard,  Sr. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Crete  is  a  Democrat, 
and  though  well  informed  on  the  issues  of  the 
day  and  interested  in  the  success  of  his  party  has 
never  sought  office.  He  has  taken  the  Royal 
Arch  degrees  of  Masonry,  is  past  master  of  the 
blue  lodge  and  has  held  nearly  all  the  offices  in 
the  chapter.  He  also  belongs  to  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  came  to  America 
with  the  hope  of  bettering  his  financial  condi- 
tion,— a  hope  that  has  been  more  than  realized; 
and  by  taking  advantage  of  opportunities  and  by 
unabating  energy  and  good  management  he  has 
won  a  handsome  competence  and  is  now  num- 
bered among  the  substantial  citizens  of  Owyhee 


county.  As  the  genial  proprietor  of  War  Eagle 
Hotel  he  has  a  wide  acquaintance  and  is  popular 
in  all  classes. 

JOHN  WAGENER. 

John  Wagener  is  one  of  the  owners  of  the 
Trook  and  Jennings  mine  and  five-stamp  mill, 
one  mile  southeast  of  Silver  City.  He  is  also 
proprietor  of  several  stock  ranches  and  since 
pioneer  days  has  been  active  in  the  development 
of  the  business  resources  of  this  state.  A  native 
of  Germany,  he  came  to  America  hoping  to  bet- 
ter his  financial  condition,  and  whatever  success 
he  has  achieved  is  due  entirely  to  his  own  la- 
bors. 

Mr.  Wagener  was  born  June  30,  1833,  and  in 
his  native  land  acquired  his  education.  When  a 
young  man  of  nineteen  years  he  bade  adieu  to 
home  and  friends  and  in  1852  sailed  for  America, 
coming  to  this  country  in  limited  circumstances 
and  without  any  knowledge  of  the  language, 
manners  or  customs  of  the  people.  It  is  aston- 
ishing how  rapidly  our  foreign-born  citizens 
adapt  themselves  to  new  surroundings  and  be- 
come an  integral  part  in  our  public  life.  Mr. 
Wagener  took  up  his  residence  in  New  York 
city  and  began  learning  the  wagonmaker's  trade, 
at  which  he  worked  for  a  number  of  years.  He 
then  left  the  Atlantic  for  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
in  1858  visited  Idaho,  when  it  was  still  a  part 
of  Washington  Territory.  He  crossed  the  plains 
to  Vancouver's,  thence  came  to  Florence  in  1862, 
and  after  engaging  in  placer-mining  at  the  latter 
place  for  a  year,  went  to  Idaho  City  in  the  Boise 
basin,  where  he  worked  at  placer-mining,  receiv- 
ing three  dollars  per  day  and  his  board  in  com- 
pensation for  his  services. 

In  January,  1864,  he  arrived  in  Boonville,  now 
called  Dewey,  and  engaged  in  sawing  lumber 
for  the  different  stamp  mills  then  being  erected 
in  that  locality.  In  1865  he  aided  in  the  erection 
of  the  mills.  As  the  years  passed,  his  diligence, 
energy,  enterprise  and  capable  management 
brought  him  success,  and  from  time  to  time  he 
made  judicious  investments  in  mining  and  ranch 
property.  He  has  been  the  owner  of  several 
mining  claims  and  for  a  number  of  years  past 
has  been  principally  engaged  in  milling  ore.  In 
connection  with  John  Scales,  he  is  now  the  owner 
of  the  Trook  and  Jennings  mine  and  the  five- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


79 


stamp  mill,  situated  on  the  War  Eagle  mountain. 
The  mill  was  built  in  1864  by  a  Mr.  Shonebar 
and  was  an  arastra  mill,  but  afterward  five 
stamps  were  added  to  it,  since  which  time  an  ex- 
tensive custom  business  has  been  carried  on  and 
mine  averages  five  dollars  per  ounce  and  the  ore 
has  yielded  as  high  as  two  hundred  dollars  per 
considerable  money  made.  The  bullion  from  the 
ton.  Both  the  mill  and  the  mine  are  now  on  the 
market,  for  though  a  very  desirable  property,  the 
owners  are  not  so  situated  as  to  give  it  the  needed 
development.  Mr.  Wagener  is  now  the  owner 
of  several  ranches,  and  is  becoming  quite  exten- 
sively interested  in  stock-raising. 

In  1884  was  celebrated  his  marriage  to  Miss 
Christina  Nelson,  a  native  of  Sweden,  and  to 
them  has  been  born  a  daughter,  Alice.  Their 
pleasant  home  is  located  near  the  mill.  In  his 
political  affiliations  Mr.  Wagener  is  a  Democrat, 
but  has  never  been  an  aspirant  for  office,  pre- 
ferring to  devote  his  energies  to  his  business  in- 
terest. His  activity  in  business  has  not  only  con- 
tributed to  his  individual  success  but  has  also 
been  an  active  factor  in  the  development  of  the 
state,  and  he  is  now  accounted  one  of  the  honored 
pioneer  settlers  of  Idaho. 

GENERAL  EDWARD    McCONVILLE. 

In  the  recent  trial  of  arms  in  which  America 
won  recognition  and  admiration  never  before  ac- 
corded her  by  the  older  "powers"  of  Europe, 
there  was  no  more  distinguished  or  valiant  sol- 
dier than  General  McConville,  of  Idaho,  who 
went  forth  as  one  of  ,the  commanders  of  the 
Idaho  troops  and  laid  down  his  life  on  the  altar 
of  his  country.  His  was  a  noble  life  and  a  glori- 
ous death,  and  his  name  is  enduringly  inscribed 
on  the  roll  of  America's  heroes.  Though  his  loss 
is  deeply  mourned  by  his  many  friends,  his  mem- 
ory will  ever  be  cherished  by  all  who  knew  him, 
and  the  cause  of  liberty  will  acknowledge  its  ad- 
vancement to  him  and  his  compatriots  who  have 
fallen  in  defense  of  the  honor  of  the  flag  and  the 
noble  principles  of  republicanism  and  justice 
which  it  represents. 

General  McConville  was  a  native  of  New  York, 
his  birth  having  occurred  at  Cape  Vincent,  Jef- 
ferson county,  June  25,  1846.  The  history  of 
the  family  furnishes  many  examples  of  valor,  for 
since  the  days  when  William  the  Conqueror 


fought  the  battle  of  Hastings  its  representatives 
have  won  honor  and  fame  in  the  military  and 
naval  service  of  France,  England,  Ireland  and 
America.  The  family  had  its  origin  in  France, 
its  branches  being  found  in  Brittany,  Gascony 
and  Normandy.  Two  representatives  of  the  name 
fought  with  William,  the  Norman  prince,  at  the 
battle  of  Hastings,  and  their  descendants  went 
to  Ireland  with  Sir  John  de  Coursey's  forces  in 
1166  A.  D.,  and  were  of  the  Normans  of  whom 
it  was  afterward  said  by  the  English  that  "they 
became  more  Irish  than  the  Irish  themselves." 
The  original  name  was  Conville,  but  after  taking 
up  their  residence  on  the  Emerald  Isle  the  Celtic 
"Me,"  signifying  "the  son  of,"  was  prefixed  to 
the  original  name  of  the  Norman  settlers  in  Ire- 
land. The  family  resided  in  the  northern  section 
of  that  country  and  a  number  of  'its  members 
served  in  the  army  of  King  James  II.  After  the 
defeat  of  that  monarch  several  of  them  accom- 
panied him  to  France  and  entered  the  service  of 
Louis  IV.,  both  in  the  army  and  navy  of  France. 
The  greater  number  of  the  McConvilles  resided 
near  Carlingford  Lough,  in  county  Down,  Ire- 
land, not  far  from  the  city  of  Newry.  A  number 
of  the  name  came  to  the  United  States,  but  the 
family  has  not  been  very  numerous  here,  and 
there  are  also  comparatively  few  of  the  name  in 
France,  England  and  Ireland.  For  centuries, 
however,  the  McConvilles  have  sent  forth  their 
sons  to  the  army  and  navy  service  and  from  the 
time  of  the  battle  of  Hastings  down  to  the  pres- 
ent, deeds  of  valor  have  illuminated  the  pages  of 
the  family  history  in  connection  with  the  wars 
of  France,  England,  Ireland  and  this  great  re- 
public. Several  representatives  of  the  name  were 
killed  in  our  great  civil  war,  while  fighting  for 
the  perpetuation  of  the  Union.  The  General's 
brother,  Hugh  McConville,  gave  his  life  for  his 
country  at  the  battle  of  Malvern  Hill,  and  his 
cousin,  John  McConville,  was  killed  at  Santiago, 
July  3,  1898,  in  the  glorious  assault  on  San  Juan 
hill.  ' 

General  McConville  was  reared  on  his  father's 
farm,  and  received  an  academic  education  in  the 
University  of  Syracuse.  He  was  but  a  youth  of  fif- 
teen years  when  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  was  in- 
augurated, but  the  spirit  of  patriotism,  so  dom- 
inant an  element  in  his  family,  soon  manifested 
itself,  and  he  offered  his  services  to  the  govern- 


80 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ment,  enlisting  as  a  private  of  Company  I, 
Twelfth  New  York  Volunteer  Infantry.  He  was 
enrolled  April  30,  1861,  at  Syracuse,  New  York, 
and  was  mustered  into  service  on  the  I3th  of 
May,  for  two  years.  He  was  appointed  corporal 
of  his  company,  October  27,  1862,  and  continued 
at  the  front  until  honorably  discharged,  May  17, 
1863.  Just  eight  days  later,  on  the  25th  of  May, 
he  re-enlisted,  at  New  York  city,  and  was  mus- 
tered in  July  18,  1863,  as  a  private  of  Company 
C,  Thirteenth  New  York  Cavalry,  to  serve  three 
years.  He  was  appointed  corporal  September  1 1, 

1863,  and  sergeant  February  4,  1864,  and  on  the 
7th  of  October  of  the  latter  year  he  was  assigned 
to  duty  with  the  pioneer  corps.    On  August  17, 

1864,  upon  the  consolidation  of  his  regiment,  he 
was  transferred  to  Company  H,  Third  New  York 
Provisional   Cavalry,   with   which   command  he 
remained  until  honorably  discharged,  September 
21,  1865.     He  participated  in  a  number  of  hard- 
fought   battles,  including  the    engagements    at 
Blackburn  Ford,  Virginia,  July   18,   1861:   Bull 
Run,  July  21,  1861 ;  York-town,  April  5  to  May  4, 
1862;  Games'  Mills,  June  27,  1862;  Malvern  Hill-, 
July   i,   1862;  Bull  Run,  August  30,   1862,  and 
Antietam,  September  17,  1862.    During  his  four- 
years  service  he  was  never  on  the  sick  list  a  sin- 
gle day.     He  was  twice  slightly  wounded,  but 
stopped  only  long  enough  to  have  the  bullet  ex- 
tracted and  the  wound  dressed  and  then  contin- 
ued on  the  march. 

In  1866  General  McConville  enlisted  again  in 
Company  G,  Twenty-first  United  States  Infantry, 
and  served  seven  years  in  the  regular  army.  In 
the  year  1870  he  was  sent  with  an  expedition 
against  the  Apache  Indians  in  Arizona,  and  in 
the  battle  of  Chifeto  he  was  distinguished  for  his 
gallant  conduct.  He  served  in  New  Mexico, 
Arizona  and  on  the  coast  until  he  was  mustered 
out  and  honorably  discharged,  -at  Fort  Lapwai, 
in  1873. 

In  June,  1877,  when  Joseph's  band  of  Nez 
Perces  Indians  began  their  cruel  depredations 
and  massacres  of  the  unprotected  settlers  on  Sal- 
mon river  and  Camas  prairie,  General  McCon- 
ville was  the  first  to  respond  to  the  call  to  arms, 
and  raised  Company  A,  of  the  First  Regiment 
of  Idaho  Volunteers,  at  Lewiston.  His  zeal,  ac- 
tivity and  bravery  in  protecting  the  defenceless 
and  scattered  population  won  for  him  the  grati- 


tude of  the  state  and  resulted  in  his  election  to 
the  office  of  colonel  of  the  regiment.  In  the  war 
he  was  ever  found  in  the  front  of  the  battle,  and 
proved  a  very  valuable  ally  to  General  O.  O. 
Howard.  On  July  10,  1877,  the  Indians  made  a 
night  attack  on  Fort  Misery,  in  which  General 
McConville  again  won  distinction  by  his  valor. 
The  volunteers,  eighty-five  strong,  were  en- 
camped on  the  brow  of  the  hill  and  General  How- 
ard was  on  the  opposite  side  of  Clearwater  river, 
when  General  McConville  suddenly  discovered 
the  hostile  Indians.  He  sent  Lieutenant  Lou 
Wilmot  to  General  Howard  with  the  informa- 
tion and  a  request  to  send  the  cavalry  to  his  as- 
sistance, and  at  the  same  time  was  asked  to  at- 
tack the  Indians  on  the  side  next  to  the  river. 
General  McConville  ordered  his  entire  force  to 
begin  throwing  up  rifle  pits,  their  knives  and 
their  tin  cups  being  their  only  implements  with 
which  to  accomplish  this  work,  but  a  circle  of 
pits  was  dug  on  the  brow  of  the  hill  and  soon 
after  dark  the  war  whoop  of  the  savages  was 
heard  all  around,  together  with  the  rapid  firing  of 
guns,  the  neighing  of  horses  and  the  snapping  of 
picket  ropes.  The  Indians  fought  desperatelv 
and  succeeded  in  capturing  forty-five  of  the 
horses  belonging  to  the  volunteers,  and  when 
dawn  broke  hundreds  of  cartridge  shells  were 
found  within  fifteen  feet  of  the  rifle  pits,  but  only 
one  man  was  wounded,  he  having  received  a 
slight  scratch  from  a  bullet  which  struck  his  gun, 
glanced  and  made  a  slight  wound  in  his  arm. 
When  the  bullets  were  flying  thickest  it  seemed 
as  though  General  McConville  was  almost  omni- 
present, his  form  outlined  against  the  sky  offer- 
ing a  prominent  mark  for  the  Indian  rifles,  but 
he  passed  through  the  deadly  fire  without  injury. 
During  the  progress  of  the  battle  it  became  nec- 
essary to  transfer  two  men  from  one  side  of  the 
hill  to  the  rifle  pit  on  the  opposite  side,  in  order 
to  strengthen  the  fire  on  that  side.  The  General 
gave  the  command  for  the  men  to  go,  but  al- 
though one  of  the  men  receiving  the  order  had 
fought  for  four  years  in  the  civil  war,  they  all 
hesitated  for  a  moment  before  entering  into  what 
seemed  to  promise  certain  death.  The  General 
saw  their  hesitancy,  and  instantly  jumped  into 
the  opening  and  commanded  the  men  to  follow. 
This  display  of  valor  at  once  inspired  them  to 
go  where  he  led,  and  the  brave  leader  walked 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


81 


across  the  hill  in  the  face  of  that  leaden  hail  as 
unconcernedly  as  though  he  were  treading  the 
streets  of  Lewiston.  Some  fifteen  or  twenty 
horses  had  been  saved  from  the  Indians,  and  the 
next  morning  when  the  volunteers  started  for 
Mount  Idaho  the  saddles  were  put  on  these 
horses  and  General  McConville  was  offered  one 
to  ride,  but  he  declined,  saying,  "Let  some  of 
the  older  men  ride,"  and  he  took  his  place  at 
the  head  of  the  column  and  marched  to  the  town. 
This  sharing  with  the  men  in  all  the  hardships 
of  war,  and  taking  his  place  at  points  of  greatest 
danger,  won  their  unbounded  admiration  and 
love,  and  probably  no  soldier  has  ever  had  the 
respect  of  his  men  to  a  greater  degree  than 
General  McConville. 

When  it  was  necessary  to  use  force  of  arms  to 
bring  the  savages  to  a  state  of  subordination,  so 
that  they  would  not  abuse  the  white  settlers,  he 
was  always  ready  to  engage  in  warfare,  but  when 
arms  could  be  laid  aside,  no  man  was  more  will- 
ing or  active  in  laboring  for  the  best  interests  of 
the  red  men  than  the  General.  When  the  Indian 
school  was  removed  from  Forest  Grove,  Oregon, 
to  Salem,  that  state,  he  was  sent  there  in  charge 
of  sixty  boys  and  forty  girls  to  perfect  arrange- 
ments to  accommodate  the  entire  school  of  over 
three  hundred  pupils.  The  land  was  heavily  tim- 
bered and  General  McConville,  with  the  aid  of 
the  Indian  boys,  felled  the  trees,  cleared  the  land 
and  erected  rough  houses,  to  be  utilized  until  the 
government  buildings  could  be  erected.  They 
carried  on  the  work  unremittingly,  and  since  his 
death  the  family  have  received  many  letters  from 
his  Indian  pupils,  expressing  their  profound  grief 
over  the  loss  of  their  kind  benefactor.  After 
completing  his  labors  in  connection  with  the 
school,  he  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the 
Lapwai  school,  a  position  which  he  very  ably 
filled  through  several  administrations  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  that  school,  with  its  magnificent 
buildings,  stand  as  a  monument  to  the  great- 
ness of  the  man.  He  endeavored  not  only  to 
train  the  children  along  intellectual  and  indus- 
trial lines,  but  also  to  develop  character  and  in- 
stil into  their  minds  high  and  lofty  principles. 
Soon  after  taking  charge  of  the  school  he  pro- 
cured an  American  flag,  and  called  out  the  entire 
school, — pupils,  teachers  and  employes  to  the 
number  of  two  hundred.  Then,  with  the  Indian 


band  at  their  head,  they  formed  a  hollow  square, 
and  a  large  flag-pole,  which  had  been  brought 
from  Craig's  mountain,  was  planted  in  the  center 
and  a  young  Indian  boy  and  girl,  selected  from 
their  number,  raised  the  starry  banner  for  the 
first  time  over  the  industrial  school  at  Lapwai. 
With  uncovered  heads  the  entire  school,  to  the 
accompaniment  of  the  band,  sang  our  national 
anthem,  "America,"  and  as  the  music  was  borne 
aloft  Old  Glory  floated  out  upon  the  breezes.  An- 
other instance  of  General  McConville's  intense 
loyalty  was  his  inauguration  of  a  service  con- 
sisting in  saluting  the  flag  each  morning  in  the 
chapel.  The  pupils  were  permitted  to  vote  on 
the  adoption  or  rejection  of. the  custom,  and 
every  vote  was  cast  in  its  favor.  The  salute  con- 
sists of  touching  the  head  with  the  right  hand, 
then  placing  it  on  the  heart,  then  pointing  to 
the  flag  as  they  repeat  the  words,  "We  give  our 
heads,  our  hearts  to  our  country, — one  country, 
one  language,  one  flag." 

Many  other  incidents  might  be  mentioned 
showing  General  McConville's  intensely  patriot- 
ic spirit  and  his  great  love  for  his  country.  He 
taught  the  children  of  the  forest  to  observe  every 
national  holiday,  all  religious  services  and  or- 
ganized a  number  of  Christian  Endeavor,  tem- 
perance and  literary  societies,  and  also  societies 
simply  for  social  intercourse.  He  came  in  close 
touch  with  his  pupils  in  their  moral,  intellectual 
and  social  life,  and  left  the  impress  of  his  in- 
dividuality upon  all. 

The  home  life  of  General  McConville  was  most 
happy  and  interesting.  On  the  1st  of  October, 
1878,  in  Lewiston,  he  had  married  Miss  Viola  C. 
Arant,  a  native  of  Kansas,  and  a  daughter  of 
Samuel  W.  Arant,  a  representative  of  an  old 
American  family.  They  had  four  children,  Harry, 
Alta,  Ermeth  and  Hugh.  The  family  have  a 
nice  home  in  Lewiston  and  are  held  in  the  high- 
est regard  throughout  the  community.  Mrs.  Mc- 
Conville is  a  lady  of  culture  and  refinement,  and 
is  meeting  her  great  loss  with  the  courage  and 
resignation  befitting  the  wife  of  such  a  brave  pa- 
triot. She  is  a  member  of  the  Eastern  Star,  the 
'Order  of  Rebekah  and  the  Rathbone  Sisters,  and 
is  busily  engaged  with  other  Lewiston  ladies  in 
providing  for  the  wants  of  the  Idaho  volunteers 
at  the  front.  The  General's  name  was  enrolled 
among  the  valued  members  of  the  Grand  Army 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


of  the  Republic,  and  he  had  taken  the  degrees  of 
the  York  and  Scottish  rites  in  Masonry.  He  was 
also  a  prominent  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias  fraternity,  a  charter  member  of  the  Uni- 
formed Rank  of  that  order  and  its  first  captain. 
Later  he  was  elected  major  of  the  Lewiston  regi- 
ment, subsequently  was  chosen  its  colonel,  and 
at  the  time  of  his  death  was  aid  de  camp  on  the 
staff  of  Major  General  James  R.  Cranahan,  with 
the  rank  of  colonel.  Thus  in  the  successful  con- 
duct of  his  school,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  home, 
family  and  friends,  General  McConville  spent  the 
last  years  of  his  life,  having  the  warm  regard 
and  sincere  respect  of  all  who  knew  him. 

On  the  22d  of  August,  1898,  President  Mc- 
Kinley,  by  proclamation,  called  for  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand  volunteers,  and  the 
governor  of  Idaho  also  issued  a  similar  proclama- 
tion. Every  company  of  the  Idaho  National 
Guard  responded  to  the  call,  and  from  May  7  to 
May  14,  1898,  the  companies  were  mustered  into 
the  service  of  the  United  States  as  Companies  A, 
B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G  and  H,  First  Idaho  Volunteers. 
General  McConville  was  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor to  the  rank  of  major  of  the  second  battalion, 
and  the  troops  left  Boise  May  i8th,  sailing  from 
San  Francisco  for  the  Philippine  islands,  June 
27,  1898.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  son  Harry, 
a  youth  of  seventeen  years,  who  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany B,  and  with  his  father  went  to  Manila  as 
color-bearer  of  the  regiment.  The  deeds  of  valor 
and  heroism  of  the  Idaho  volunteers  from  that 
July  day  in  1898,  when  the  Morgan  City  reached 
Manila  bay,  is  a  matter  of  history.  In  every  case 
they  have  covered  themselves  with  glory  and 
have  reflected  credit  upon  the  state  and  country 
which  they  represent. 

It  was  on  the  5th  of  February,  1899,  that  Gen- 
eral McConville  fell,  while  leading  his  battalion 
in  a  charge.  No  braver  man  ever  lived.  When 
he  was  shot  he  was  standing  on  a  little  knoll  in 
front  of  his  battalion  and  had  just  fired  a  rifle 
that  had  dropped  from  the  hands  of  a  fatally 
wounded  soldier.  At  the  same  time  a  Mauser 
bullet  entered  his  body  under  his  right  arm, 
passed  entirely  through  his  body  and  came  out 
under  the  left  arm,  while  another  ball  struck  his 
shoulder.  He  fell,  and  Adjutant  Roos  and  Lieu- 
tenant Martinson,  commanding  Lewiston's  com- 
pany, ran  to  him  and  carried  him  off  the  field. 


As  he  was  being  borne  along  he  said  with  a 
smile:  "It  was  glorious!  the  Idaho  boys  are 
covering  themselves  with  glory!"  He  was  taken 
to  the  field  hospital,  where  his  son  Harry  was 
by  his  side  and  closed  the  eyes  of  the  noble 
father.  He  was  brevetted  brigadier  general  be- 
fore he  died,  in  recognition  of  his  great  bravery 
and  gallant  service.  His  last  words  were  ad- 
dressed to  his  son:  "Go  home  and  take  care 
of  your  mother.  Tell  my  wife  and  the  children 
I  died  for  my  country."  His  remains  were 
brought  home,  attended  by  the  son,  who  was  dis- 
charged in  order  that  he  might  return  to  his 
mother  with  the  father's  body,  and  such  a  burial 
was  given  him  as  had  never  before  been  accorded 
any  citizen  of  Idaho.  Every  possible  tribute  of 
respect  and  love  was  paid  him,  and  with  military 
honors  he  was  laid  to  rest.  The  governor  of 
Idaho  in  acknowledgment  of  Harry  McCon- 
ville's  fidelity  to  his  father  and  to  his  country, 
commissioned  him  a  colonel  of  the  National 
Guard  of  the  state,  an  honor  never  before  con- 
ferred upon  one  so  young.  It  was  a  token  of 
Idaho's  high  appreciation  of  the  noble  father  and 
of  the  son's  devotion  to  the  father  and  the  starry 
flag.  Hon.  James  W.  Reid,  of  Lewiston,  pre- 
sented the  commission  at  the  funeral  of  the  Gen- 
eral, and  pronounced  the  eulogy  upon  the  dead 
hero  who  four  times  entered  his  country's  service 
and  valiantly  battled  for  its  interests.  "His  life 
was  noble,  and  the  elements  so  mixed  in  him  that 
Nature  might  stand  up  and  say  to  all  the  world, 
'This  was  a  man.'  " 

GEORGE  AINSLIE. 

Hon.  George  Ainslie  is  a  western  man  by  birth, 
training  and  choice,  and  possesses  the  true  west- 
ern spirit  of  progress  and  enterprise.  He  belongs 
to  the  little  group  of  distinctively  representative 
business  men  who  have  been  the  pioneers  in  in- 
augurating and  building  up  the  chief  industries 
of  this  section  of  the  country.  He  early  had  the 
sagacity  and  prescience  to  discern  the  eminence 
which  the  future  had  in  store  for  this  great  and 
growing  country,  and,  acting  in  accordance  with 
the  dictates  of  his  faith  and  judgment,  he  has 
garnered,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  the  generous 
harvest  which  is  the  just  recompense  of  indomit- 
able industry,  spotless  integrity  and  marvelous 
enterprise.  He  is  now  connected  with  many  ex- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


83 


tensive  and  important  business  interests,  is  one 
of  the  leading  lawyers  of  Boise,  and  is  a  recog- 
nized leader  in  Democratic  circles  in  Idaho. 

A  native  of  Boonville,  Missouri,  he  was  born 
October  30,  1838,  and  is  of  Scotch  descent.  Sev- 
eral of  his  paternal  ancestors  served  in  the  Brit- 
ish army  as  members  of  Scotch  regiments,  and 
the  grandfather  and  an  uncle  of  our  subject  both 
held  the  rank  of  colonel.  His  father  was  also  an 
officer  in  the  army  and  was  a  graduate  of  Edin- 
burg  University,  where  he  won  a  gold  medal  on 
the  completion  of  his  course.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  his  native  land  and  licensed  as  an 
advocate.  In  1836  he  came  to  America,  but 
after  the  birth  of  our  subject  returned  to  the 
land  of  his  nativity,  remaining  in  Scotland  until 
1844,  when  he  again  came,  with  his  family,  to 
this  country,  once  more  taking  up  his  residence 
in  Boonville,  Missouri,  where  he  was  the  qwner 
of  large  landed  interests.  He  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  salt  at  Boone's  Lick,  and  man- 
aged his  business  interests  with  such  ability  that 
his  efforts  were  crowned  with  substantial  success. 
He  married  Miss  Mary  S.  Borron,  a  native  of 
Lancashire,  England.  They  were  members  of  the 
Episcopal  church  and  people  of  the  highest  re- 
spectability. The  father  was  drowned  in  the 
Missouri  river  in  June,  1844,  and  the  mother, 
long  surviving  him,  departed  this  life  in  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio,  in  1886,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years. 

Hon.  George  Ainslie,  the  only  survivor  of  the 
family,  began  his  education  in  the  schools  of 
Scotland,  and  after  the  return  of  his  parents  to 
America,  pursued  a  high-school  course.  Later 
he  spent  one  year  in  the  St.  Louis  University, 
and  in  1856  was  offered  an  appointment  as  cadet 
at  West  Point,  by  Hon.  Henry  S.  Geyer,  United 
States  senator  from  Missouri,  but  owing  to  the 
opposition  of  his  mother,  who  believed  all  gradu- 
ates of  the  military  school  and  its  officers  were 
lore  or  less  dissipated,  he  did  not  accept  the 
Drier. 

Desiring  to  enter  the  legal  profession,  Mr. 
Ainslie  began  reading  law  under  the  direction  of 
Judge  Ben  Thompkins,  and  later  continued  his 
studies  in  the  law  office  of  Douglass  &  Hay  den. 
In  April,  1860,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and 
the  same  year  started  for  Pike's  Peak,  where  he 
engaged  in  mining  and  in  the  practice  of  his 
chosen  profession.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers 


of  that  locality,  where  he  remained  until  1862, 
when  he  went  to  Salmon  river,  attracted  by  the 
discovery  of  gold  at  that  place.  There  he  con- 
tinued until  the  snow  fell,  when  he  went  to 
Clackamas  county,  Oregon,  spending  the  winter 
in  school-teaching.  In  the  spring  of  1863  he 
came  to  the  Boise  basin,  where  he  practiced  law 
and  also  engaged  in  mining,  owning  an  interest 
in  the  General  Custer  mine,  which  paid  several 
million  dollars  in  dividends.  His  first  knowl- 
edge of  the  administration  of  the  law  in  this  then 
wild  district  came  to  him  in  rather  a  peculiar  but 
also  typical  manner.  In  the  winter  in  which  he 
came  to  Idaho,  on  the  arrival  of  himself  and 
party  at  Lewiston,  he  was  waited  upon  by  some 
gentlemen  who  desired  to  secure  his  services  in  a 
professional  capacity.  Some  days  before,  three 
men,  Dave  English,  Frank  Scott  and  William 
Peoples,  were  accused  of  having  robbed  a'  man 
by  the  name  of  Berry  on  the  Florence  trail.  They 
were  to  be  tried  by  a  "citizens'  court,"  and  de- 
sired the  services  of  an  attorney.  Mr.  Ainslie  con- 
sented to  act  in  their  defense  and  started  down 
town  to  see  his  clients,  who,  he  learned,  were 
confined  in  a  temporary  jail  under  guard.  Upon 
asking  the  guard  if  he  might  be  permitted  to  see 
his  clients,  he  was  told  that  he  could  not  see  them 
that  day,  but  if  he  would  call  next  morning  they 
would  grant  him  an  interview.  Accordingly  he 
called  at  a  seasonable  hour  the  next  day  and 
was  favorably  received  by  the  guards,  who 
ushered  him  through  several  rooms  and  finally 
led  him  to  a  rude  shed  at  the  back  of  the  build- 
ing, where  he  beheld  all  three  of  his  whilom 
clients  hanging  side  by  side.  This  was  Mr.  Ains- 
lie's  first  experience  with  Idaho  justice.  Realiz- 
ing the  importance  of  demurrer  and  the  irrele- 
vancy of  an  appeal,  he  retired  in  good  order.  He 
has  witnessed  great  changes  in  the  workings  of 
the  courts  since  that  time,  and  through  all  the 
years  has  enjoyed  a  liberal  patronage.  Of  recent 
years,  however,  he  has  largely  confined  his  at- 
tention to  the  branches  of  law  which  treat  of  min- 
ing and  of  water  irrigation.  He  is  careful  and 
painstaking  in  the  preparation  of  his  cases,  is 
logical  and  convincing  in  argument,  forcible  in 
his  appeals  to  court  or  jury  and  holds  high  rank 
as  one  of  the  ablest  representatives  of  the  pro- 
fession in  the  state. 

Since  his  arrival  in  Idaho  Mr.  Ainslie  has  taken 


84 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


a  deep  and  active  interest  in  political  questions, 
and  aided  in  formulating  the  first  Democratic 
platform  of  the  territory.  In  1865  and  1866  he 
was  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  from  1869  un- 
til 1873  he  edited  the  Idaho  World,  then  the 
only  Democratic  paper  in  the  territory.  He  was 
elected  and  served  as  district  attorney  for  the 
second  judicial  district  from  January,  1875,  to 
January,  1879;  in  1878  he  was  elected  a  delegate 
to  congress  and  re-elected  in  1880.  In  1889  he 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  constitutional  con- 
vention, and  was  chairman  of  the  committee  of 
the  executive  department.  In  1890  he  removed 
to  Boise,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home. 
Here  again  he  has  been  called  to  lead  the  Dem- 
ocratic forces  to  victory,  and  his  influence  in 
political  circles  is  most  marked.  He  has  perhaps 
more  than  any  other  man  shaped  the  policy  of 
the  party  in  Idaho,  is  one  of  its  most  trusted 
and  respected  leaders,  and  is  the  Idaho  member 
of  the  Democratic  national  committee. 

In  the  promotion  of  many  business  interests 
Mr.  Ainslie  had  also  been  an  important  factor, 
and  belongs  to  that  class  of  representative  Amer- 
icans who  advance  the  general  prosperity  while 
laboring  for  individual  success.  He  was  one  of 
the  organizers  of  the  Rapid  Transit  Company, 
of  Boise,  and  from  the  beginning  has  served  as 
its  president.  Through  his  instrumentality  the 
electric  street  railway  was  built  in  Boise,  before 
an  electric  line  was  laid  in  San  Francisco.  He 
was  one  of  the  organizers  and  stockholders  of 
the  Artesian  Hot  and  Cold  Water  Company.  In 
1891  he  organized  a  company  and  built  the  elec- 
tric-light works  at  Baker  City,  Oregon,  and  is 
now  at  the  head  of  that  enterprise  as  its  presi- 
dent. He  is  a  man  of  resourceful  business  ability, 
keen  discrimination,  sound  judgment  and  well 
defined  purposes,  and  carries  forward  to  success- 
ful completion  whatever  he  undertakes.  He  is 
also  interested  in  various  mines,  and  from  these 
varied  concerns  is  deriving  a  good  income. 

In  1866  Mr.  Ainslie  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Sarah  Owens,  a  native  of  Clay  county,  Mis- 
souri, and  to  them  have  been  born  two  daugh- 
ters: Lucy  Lee,  who  is  now  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Edward  Perrault,  of  San  Francisco;  and  Adelma, 
wife  of  John  F.  Nugent,  of  Silver  City,  Idaho. 
The  parents  were  members  of  the  Episcopalian 
church.  Theirs  is  one  of  the  beautiful  homes  of 


Boise,  its  characteristic  culture  and  intellectuality 
making  it  a  favorite  resort  with  the  best  people 
of  the  city. 

Mr.  Ainslie  has  ever  taken  a  deep  interest  in 
those  movements  or  measures  calculated  to  prove 
of  public  benefit,  and  withholds  his  support  from 
no  enterprise  that  tends  toward  the  general  good. 
Boise  owes  much  of  her  advancement  to  his  en- 
terprising and  carefully  directed  efforts,  for  its 
commercial  interests  have  been  the  important 
element  in  building  up  the  city.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Pioneer  Association  of  the  state,  of  which 
he  formerly  served  as  president,  and  during 
more  than  a  third  of  a  century  he  has  engraved 
his  name  deeply  on  the  pages  of  Idaho's  history. 

PRESLEY  M.  BRUNER. 

A  prominent  practitioner  at  the  bar  of  Hailey, 
and  ex-district  attorney  of  Alturas  (now  Elaine) 
county,  Idaho,  Presley  Morris  Bruner,  was  born 
in  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  September  15,   1850.     On 
the  paternal  side  is  of  German  lineage,  and  on 
the  maternal  of  Scotch  descent.     His  father,  J. 
A.  Bruner,  was  born  in  Virginia,  a  representative 
of  one  of  the  old  and  prominent  families  of  that 
state,  living-  in  the  Blue  mountain  region.     He 
married  Miss  Margaret  Morris,   a  daughter  of 
Judge   Presley    Morris,    of    Chillicothe,    Ohio. 
Her  father  was  a  descendant  of  the  McDonald 
clan  of  the  highlands  of  Scotland,  and  traced  his 
ancestry  back  to  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots.      Mr. 
Bruner's  father  was  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  and  devoted  fifty-six  years  of 
his  life  to  spreading  the  gospel  of  peace  on  earth, 
good  will  to  men.     He  removed  to  California  in 
1856,  going  by  way  of  the  isthmus,  and  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  days  as  a  member  of  the  j 
California  conference.     He  was  a  man  of  schol- 
arly attainments,  of  marked  ability  in  his  chosen 
calling,  a  persuasive  speaker  and  a  power  for  j 
good  among  men.    He  departed  this  life  in  1892, 
at  the  age  of  seventy  years,  and  his  wife  passed 
away  three  years  previously,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
nine.    She  was  to  him  a. most  faithful  helpmeet, 
ably  assisting  nim  in  his  work,  and  by  her  influ- 
ence, example  and  kindly  spirit  largely  augment- 
ing the  efforts  of  her  husband       This    worth} 
couple  were  the  parents  of  seven  children,  si> 
of  whom  are  living.    Three  of  the  sons  and  one 
of  the  daughters  completed  classical  courses  of 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


85 


study  and  four  of  the  sons  are  prominent  prac- 
titioners of  law,  three  being  located  in  Sacra- 
mento, California,  while  the  fourth,  our  subject, 
has  gained  prestige  at  the  bar  of  Hailey. 

Presley  M.  Bruner,  the  eldest  of  the  family, 
was  educated  at  the  University  of  the  Pacific,  at 
Santa  Clara,  California,  and  graduated  at  that 
institution  in  the  class  of  June,  1871.  He  after- 
ward studied  law  under  the  direction  of  Thomas 
H.  Laine  and  S.  F.  Lee,  the  latter  now  one  of  the 
prominent  attorneys  of  southern  California,  and 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  courts  of  Califor- 
nia in  1877.  Establishing  an  office  in  San  Jose, 
he  there  secured  a  good  clientage,  and  continued 
his  professional  labors  until  1881.  The  following 
year  he  came  to  Hailey  and  has  been  prominently 
identified  with  the  growth,  upbuilding  and  prog- 
ress of  the  city  since  that  time.  The  town  was 
then  in  its  infancy,  so  that  Mr.  Bruner  has  wit- 
nessed its  entire  advancement.  He  is  actively 
connected  with  a  profession  which  has  important 
bearing  upon  the  progress  and  stable  prosperity 
of  any  section  or  community,  and  one  which  has 
long  been  considered  as  conserving  the  public 
welfare  by  furthering  the  ends  of  justice  and 
maintaining  individual  rights.  His  reputation 
as  a  lawyer  has  been  won  through  earnest,  hon- 
est labor,  and  his  standing  at  the  bar  is  a  mer- 
ited tribute  to  his  ability.  He  now  has  a  very 
large  practice,  and  his  careful  preparation  of 
cases  is  supplemented  by  a  power  of  argument 
and  a  forceful  presentation  of  his  points  in  the 
court  room,  so  that  he  never  fails  to  impress 
court  or  jury,  and  seldom  fails  to  gain  the  verdict 
desired.  Mr.  Bruner  has  also  been  active  in  de- 
veloping the  mining  interests  of  this  vicinity, 
laid  out  the  town  of  Huston,  and  put  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  in  the  development  of  the  copper 
mines,  and  has  been  an  active  factor  in  further- 
ing many  enterprises  which  have  contributed  to 
the  welfare  of  Hailey,  as  well  as  his  individual 
prosperity. 

On  the  8th  of  June,  1871,  Mr.  Bruner  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Martha  M.  Wilson, 
daughter  of  James  Wilson,  a  respected  California 
pioneer.  Mrs.  Bruner  was  attending  college 
when  her  husband  was  a  student  there,  they  were 
graduated  in  the  same  class  and  almost  imme- 
diately afterward  they  united  their  destinies  for 
life.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  two  chil- 


dren, who  are  living:  Morris  Elwood,  who  is 
his  father's  law  partner,  but  is  now  in  Manila, 
having  volunteered  for  service  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war  with  Spain;  and  Bertha  J.,  a  graduate 
of  the  Hailey  high  school,  and  now  acting  as  a 
typewriter  and  clerk  in  her  father's  office. 

On  attaining  his  majority  Mr.  Bruner  became 
an  advocate  of  the  principles  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  on  that  ticket  was  elected  to  the  Ne- 
vada legislature  in  1873.  While  serving  in  that 
body  he  made  the  speech  nominating  John  P. 
Jones  for  the  United  States  senate.  In  1896, 
however,  he  differed  with  his  party  on  the  finan- 
cial question,  and  has  since  given  his  allegiance 
to  the  Populist  party,  becoming  one  of  its  stal- 
wart advocates.  He  served  as  chairman  of  the 
Populist  state  convention  of  1898,  and  is  an  ef- 
fective worker  in  promoting  the  cause  which  he 
now  espouses.  Socially  Mr.  Bruner  is  a  Mason, 
having  taken  the  degrees  of  the  blue  lodge  in 
Bellevue  in  1883.  He  also  belongs  to  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  having  been 
past  grand  master  thereof,  and  exemplifies  in  his 
life  the  beneficent  principles  of  the  societies. 

ROBERT  H.  LEONARD. 

Into  the  bosom  of  the  earth  the  hand  of  nature 
placed  many  rich  mineral  deposits,  and  the  great 
value  of  these,  together  with  the  magnificent  for- 
ests and  rolling  lands  of  Idaho,  have  gained  for 
the  state  the  well  deserved  title  of  the  "Gem  of 
the  Mountains."  Its  mines  are  now  yielding  a 
large  output  of  gold  and  silver,  which  adds  to 
the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  country  as  well 
as  of  the  individual  mine  owners.  Among  the 
enterprising  arid  prominent  business  men  who 
are  now  engaged  in  the  development  of  the  rich 
mineral  resources  of  the  state  is  Robert  H.  Leon- 
ard, of  this  review. 

The  home  of  his  childhood  was  the  far-off  state 
of  Maine.  He  was  born  near  the  Kennebec 
river,  in  the  Pine  Tree  state,  June  7,  1832,  and 
his  ancestors,  natives  of  England,  were  early  set- 
tlers of  that  northeastern  section  of  our  land 
which  was  named  for  the  mother  country.  The 
grandfather,  Isaac  Leonard,  was  a  ship-owner  of 
Maine,  and  served  his  country  in  the  war  of  1812. 
His  son  Isaac,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  also 
born  in  Maine,  and  became  a  sea  captain.  He 
married  Miss  Levina  Snow,  a  native  of  his  own 


86 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


state,  and  to  them  were  born  five  children.  The 
mother  died  and  the  father  afterward  married  her 
sister,  Priscilla  Snow,  by  whom  he  had  ten  chil- 
dren. The  sisters  were  both  members  of  the 
Methodist  church,  but  Mr.  Leonard  was  a  Uni- 
versalist  in  religious  faith.  He  died  at  the  age 
of  seventy-three  years. 

Robert  H.  Leonard,  whose  name  introduces 
this  review,  attended  the  common  schools  near 
his  boyhood's  home,  and  remained  in  New  Eng- 
land until  11852,  when,  attracted  by  the  discovery 
of  gold  on  the  Pacific  coast,  he  went  by  way  of 
the  Nicaragua  route  to  San  Francisco,  where  he 
arrived  on  the  I7th  of  November.  He  spent  a 
month  in  the  mines  at  Hangtown,  now  Placer- 
ville,  and  then  made  his  way  to  Sacramento,  and 
there  remained  a  short  time.  Then  he  went  to 
Marin  county,  California,  where  he  was  engaged 
in  lumbering  until  March  4,  1861.  He  then 
loaded  a  sawmill  outfit  upon  twelve  wagons  and 
started  for  Moro  county,  Nevada,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  sawing  lumber  for  some  time.  In  1862 
he  took  up  his  abode  in  Florence  and  engaged 
in  mining  on  Salmon  river.  There  he  was  asso- 
ciated with  eight  other  men,  and  putting  all  their 
earnings  together  they  divided  equally,  thus  mak- 
ing from  seven  to  twenty  dollars  per  day. 

On  leaving  that  place  Mr.  Leonard  returned  to 
Nevada  to  dispose  of  his  property,  and  in  May, 
1865,  came  to  Silver  City.  Here  he  accepted  the 
position  of  superintendent  of  the  Ainsworth  Mill 
and  Mining  Company,  and  for  a  number  of  years 
was  very  actively  engaged  in  mining  and  milling. 
He  had  charge  of  the  New  York  twenty-stamp 
mill  and  the  ten-stamp  Cosmith  mill.  In  1871 
he  began  the  same  business  on  his  own  account 
by  erecting  a  mill  where  the  Poorman  mill  now 
stands,  and  worked  the  first  one  hundred  tons 
of  ore  taken  out,  yielding  ninety  thousand  dol- 
lars or  nine  hundred  dollars  per  'ton.  In  1866 
he  took  by  steamer  to  New  York  eighteen  tons 
of  this  ore,  which  was  smelted  in  New  Jersey, 
yielding  five  thousand  dollars  to  the  ton.  The 
Poorman  mine  was  discovered  in  August,  1865, 
by  six  men,  all  of  different  nationalities,  who  sold 
their  interests  for  from  two  to  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, the  purchaser  being  P.  F.  Bradford,  who 
took  out  a  great  deal  of  money,  but  eventually 
sold  the  mine,  after  which  there  was  much  liti- 
gation concerning  it.  It  finally  became  the  prop- 


erty of  C.  W.  Moore,  of  Boise,  who  sold  it  to  an 
English  syndicate,  the  present  owners.  Mr. 
Leonard  has  operated  the  Dewey  mill  and  the 
mill  of  the  Florida  Mountain  Mining  and  Mill- 
ing Company,  and  now  has  a  third  interest  in 
four  claims, — the  Banner,  Harmon,  Coffee  and 
Star  Spangled, — a  rich  group  in  the  Florida 
mountains.  In  the  Coffee  mine  they  have  taken 
out  two  hundred  and  sixty  ounces  of  silver  and 
five  ounces  of  gold  to  the  ton.  Thev  have  an 
eight-foot  ledge,  of  which  three  feet  yielded  twen- 
ty-two dollars  in  free  gold,  and  parts  of  tne  Ban- 
ner mine  produce  pure  silver.  Mr.  Leonard  also 
owns  a  claim  on  the  south  side,  only  partly  pros- 
pected. He  has  made  judicious  investments  of 
his  capital  in  these  various  mining  interests,  and 
is  accounted  one  of  the  leading  mine-owners  in 
'  this  section  of  the  state. 

In  March,  1867,  was  celebrated  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Leonard  and  Mrs.  Adelaide  Victoria 
Chase,  nee  Durgin.  They  had  been  neighbors 
in  childhood  in  their  far-off  Maine  home,  and 
for  thirty-two  years  they  have  traveled  life's  jour- 
ney together.  They  have  had  three  children. 
The  two  sons,  Lewis  F.  and  Robert  H.,  were 
both  born  in  1868,  the  former  January  i,  the 
latter  November  26.  The  elder  was  accidentally 
killed,  but  the  younger  is  now  a  representative 
young  business  man  of  Silver  City.  He  was  the 
first  district  court  clerk  of  the  district  and  ex- 
officio  auditor  and  recorder  after  the  admission 
of  Idaho  as  a  state,  being  elected  to  that  office 
when  only  twenty-two  years  of  age.  He  is  now 
engaged  in  mining.  The  daughter,  Adelaide  E., 
is  now  the  widow  of  James  S.  Ryan,  and  is  quite 
celebrated  as  a  musician  and  vocalist,  having  re- 
ceived superior  advantages  in  her  art  as  a  stu- 
dent in  the  New  England  Conservatory  of  Music, 
in  Boston. 

In  1857,  in  the  old  town  of  Shasta,  California, 
Mr.  Leonard,  of  this  review,  was  made  an  Odd 
Fellow,  and  he  has  also  passed  all  the  chairs  in 
the  encampment.  In  1867  he  was  raised  a  Mas- 
ter Mason  in  the  old  lodge  in  which  his  father 
and  his  brother  had  been  initiated  into  the  mys- 
te:  ies  of  the  craft,  and  has  served  as  master  of 
the  blue  lodge  and  is  past  high  priest  of  Cyrus 
Chapter,  No.  2,  R.  A.  M.  Since  the  organization 
of  the  party  he  has  been  a  Republican,  unfalter- 
ing in  support  of  its  principles.  His  life  has 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


87 


been  one  of  continuous  activity,  in  which  has 
been  accorded  due  recognition  of  labor;  and  to- 
day he  is  numbered  among  the  substantial  citi- 
zens of  his  county.  His  interests  are  thoroughly 
identified  with  those  of  the  northwest,  and  at  all 
times  he  is  ready  to  lend  his  aid  and  co-operation 
to  any  movement  calculated  to  benefit  this  sec- 
tion of  the  country  or  advance  its  wonderful  de- 
velopment. 

JUDGE  JOHN  T.  MORGAN. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  review 
has  been  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  legislative 
and  judicial  history  of  two  states.  Probably  the 
public  life  of  no  other  illustrious  citizen  of  Idaho 
has  extended  over  as  long  a  period  as  his,  and 
certainly  the  life  of  none  has  been  more  varied 
in  service,  more  constant  in  honor,  more  fearless 
in  conduct  and  more  stainless  in  reputation.  His 
career  has  been  one  of  activity,  full  of  incidents 
and  results.  In  every  sphere  of  life  in  which  he 
has  been  called  upon  to  move  he  has  made  an 
indelible  impression,  and  by  his  excellent  public 
service  and  upright  life  he  has  honored  the  state, 
which  has  honored  him  with  high  official  prefer- 
ment. 

Judge  Morgan  was  born  in  Hamburg,  Erie 
county,  New  York.  His  ancestors,  leaving  the 
little  rock-ribbed  country  of  Wales,  became  early 
settlers  of  New  England,  and  through  many  gen- 
erations members  of  the  family  were  residents  of 
Connecticut  and  active  participants  in  the  affairs 
which  go  to  form  the  colonial  history  of  the  na- 
tion. In  the  war  of  the  Revolution  they  fought 
for  the  independence  of  the  country,  and  at  all 
times  have  been  loyal  to  American  interests. 
James  Clark  Morgan,  the  father  of  the  Judge, 
was  born  in  Connecticut  in  1798,  and  married 
Penelope  Green,  a  native  of  Herkimer  county, 
New  York.  He  was  an  industrious  farmer  and 
served  as  justice  of  the  peace  for  many  years, 
discharging  his  duties  most  faithfully.  In  his 
religious  views  he  was  a  Universalist.  He  died 
in  February,  1872,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four 
years,  and  his  wife  departed  this  life  in  her  forty- 
sixth  year.  They  had  six  children,  of  whom 
three  are  living. 

Judge  Morgan,  their  third  son,  in  1843  accom- 
panied his  parents  on  their  removal  to  Illinois, 
which  was  then  a  largely  undeveloped  state,  while 


Chicago  was  little  more  than  a  village  on  a  wet 
prairie.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm,  attended  the 
public  schools  of  Monmouth,  and  afterward  en- 
gaged in  teaching  school  in  order  to  continue 
his  own  education. 

In  1852  he  entered  Lombard  University,  at 
Galesburg,  Illinois,  where  he  was  graduated  in 
1855.  He  then  took  up  the  study  of  law  in  the 
office  of  General  E.  A.  Paine,  afterward  a  promi- 
nent brigadier  general  in  the  Union  Army,  and 
remained  in  that  office  for  three  years.  He  then 
entered  the  law  department  of  Albany  Univer- 
sity, New  York,  and  later  continued  his  studies 
in  the  State  Law  School  at  Poughkeepsie,  New 
York,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1856,  with  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Law. 

In  1856  he  began  the  practice  of  his  profession 
at  Monmouth,  Illinois,  and  soon  secured  a  large 
and  distinctively  representative  clientele,  but  the 
civil  war  was  inaugurated,  and  as  time  passed 
and  the  conflict  became  more  bitter  he  felt  that 
the  country  needed  his  services,  and  on  the  nth 
of  August,  1862,  enlisted  in  Company  F,  Eighty- 
third  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.  On  the  6th 
of  that  month  Governor  Yates,  the  famous  war 
governor  of  the  Prairie  state,  had  commissioned 
him  to  raise  a  company,  and  it  was  in  that  com- 
pany he  enlisted,  being  elected  its  captain,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  until  the  close  of  the 
war,  when  he  received  an  honorable  discharge 
on  the  26th  of  June,  1865.  While  in  the  service 
he  was  for  two  years  provost  marshal,  and  sta- 
tioned at  Clarkville,  Tennessee,  where  he  had 
charge  of  all  the  abandoned  and  contraband 
goods,  houses  and  lands  of  all  persons  who  had 
joined  the  rebel  army  in  that  vicinity. 

After  returning  to  the  north  Judge  Morgan  re- 
sumed the  practice  of  law  in  Monmouth.  His 
fidelity  to  his  clients'  interests  was  proverbial, 
and  his  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  princi- 
ples of  jurisprudence  won  him  marked  success 
in  his  chosen  calling.  In  1870  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  house  of  representatives, 
in  which  he  served  for  two  years.  In  1874  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  state  senate,  serving 
in  that  capacity  until  1878,  and  most  earnestly 
laboring  to  promote  the  interests  of  his  constit- 
uents and  of  the  commonwealth.  In  1867  he  was 
appointed  registrar  in  bankruptcy,  filling  the 
office  until  1879.  On  the  26th  of  June,  of  that 


88 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


year,  he  was  appointed  by  President  Hayes  chief 
justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  Idaho,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  presiding  over  that  court  of  last  resort 
he  also  served  as  ex-officio  judge  of  the  district 
court,  which  included  all  the  southeastern  part 
of  the  state,  including  the  counties  of  Oneida, 
Cassia,  Custer  and  Lemhi.  He  presided  over  the 
first  term  of  court  held  in  Cassia  and  Custer  coun- 
ties. Oneida  county  at  that  time  comprised  the 
territory  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  state  from 
Utah  to  the  Montana  line,  a  section  of  country 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  wide  by  three 
hundred  miles  long,  with  the  exception  of  a  small 
tract  known  as  the  Bear  Lake  country.  Judge 
Morgan  was  reappointed  chief  justice  of  the  su- 
preme court  of  Idaho  by  President  Arthur,  and 
satisfactorily  filled  that  position  until  1885,  when 
he  was  removed  by  President  Cleveland. 

After  filling  the  office  of  chief  justice  for  six 
years,  in  which  he  won  the  highest  commenda- 
tion of  the  bench  and  bar  of  the  northwest,  he 
resumed  the  private  practice  of  law  in  Boise,  and 
soon  secured  a  large  clientage  throughout  the 
eastern  part  of  the  state,  connecting  him  with 
most  of  the  important  litigation  carried  on  in 
the  courts.  When  the  subject  of  Idaho's  admis- 
sion to  the  Union  was  agitated  he  gave  his  earn- 
est efforts  to  the  creation  of  sentiment  favorable 
to  the  project,  and  when  it  became  necessary  to 
frame  a  state  constitution  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  convention  which  met  for  that  purpose, 
and  served  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  the 
legislative  department.  In  October,  1890,  he 
was  elected  one  of  the  justices  of  the  supreme 
court  of  Idaho,  and  again  ably  served  on  the 
bench  for  six  years,  until  March  4,  1897,  when 
he  again  resumed  his  law  practice.  Few  men  on 
the  Pacific  coast  have  been  as  long  in  public  ser- 
vice as  Judge  Morgan,  who  has.  filled  positions 
of  great  importance  and  responsibility  for  thirty- 
six  years,  throughout  which  his  course  has  ever 
been  above  reproach  and  his  fidelity  to  duty  most 
marked.  Since  his  arrival  in  Idaho  he  has  justly 
been  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  worthy  and 
prominent  men  of  the  state,  and  has  attained  a 
high  reputation  as  one  of  the  ablest  jurists  who 
ever  occupied  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court. 

The  Judge  was  happily  married,  in  November, 
1858,  to  Miss  Maria  Horroun,  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  they  have  three  children  living,  besides  one 


deceased,  namely:  Nellie  L.,  now  the  wife  of 
George  M.  Snow,  of  Boise;  Coral,  who  married 
Charles  P.  Durst  and  resided  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah,  until  her  death,  in  1890;  Ralph  Tod,  a 
practicing  attorney  at  Moscow,  Idaho;  and 
Grace,  wife  of  James  M.  Stevens,  of  Blackfoot. 
The  Judge  and  his  wife  have  a  delightful  home 
in  Boise  and  are  held  in  the  highest  esteem 
throughout  the  community. 

ANDREW  B.  ANDERSON. 

Mr.  Anderson,  who  is  president  of  the  Weiser 
Bank,  at  Weiser,  and  chairman  of  the  board  of 
commissioners  of  Washington  county,  dates  his 
residence  in  Idaho  from  1869.  He  is  a- native  of 
Kentucky,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  Louis- 
ville, February  21,  1846.  He  is  of  Scotch-Irish 
ancestry,  the  family  having  been  founded  in 
America  by  Thomas  Anderson,  the  grandfather, 
who  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  early  manhood,  tak- 
ing up  his  residence  in  Kentucky.  He  aided  his 
adopted  country  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  also  par- 
ticipated in  the  battles  with  the  Indians  during 
the  early  settlement  of  the  "dark  and  bloody 
ground."  He  married  a  Miss  Henry,  a  native  of 
that  state,  and  their  son  Joseph,  father  of  our 
subject,  was  born  and  reared  in  Kentucky.  He 
married  Miss  Rachel  Henry,  a  distant  relative  of 
his  mother,  and  in  1848  removed  with  his  family 
to  Missouri.  They  continued  their  westward 
journey  in  1860,  when  the  father,  accompanied  by 
his  wife  and  four  children,  started  across  the 
plains  to  California.  He  took  up  his  abode  in 
Butte  county,  and  there  resided  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age, 
while  his  wife  lived  to  be  fifty-five  years  of  age. 
Three  of  their  children  still  survive,  two  being 
residents  of  the  Golden  state. 

Andrew  Bradley  Anderson  was  only  two  years 
of  age  when  the  family  went  to  Missouri,  and  a 
youth  of  fourteen  at  the  time  of  the  emigration 
to  California.  He  continued  his  education  in 
Butte  county,  and  there  made  his  home  until 
1864,  when  he  removed  to  Canyon  City,  Oregon, 
where  he  engaged  in  placer  mining,  making  as 
high  as  one  hundred  dollars  per  day.  He  thus 
took  out  gold  in  considerable  quantities,  but 
afterwards  lost  much  of  it  in  other  mining  invest- 
ments. On  the  I3th  of  June,  1869,  he  arrived 
in  the  Boise  basin,  where  he  engaged  in  mining 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


89 


until  1881,  meeting  with  satisfactory  success.  He 
took  quite  a  large  amount  of  gold  from  one  of  his 
claims  and  then  sold  it  for  ten  thousand  dollars. 
In  the  year  mentioned  he  removed  to  the  Payette 
river,  near  Falk's  Store,  and  engaged  in  stock- 
raising,  an  enterprise  which  he  has  since  fol- 
lowed. He  has  owned  large  herds  of  cattle  and 
horses,  and  his  efforts  have  been  crowned  with 
prosperity.  In  1888  he  came  to  Washington 
county  and  purchased  two  hundred  acres  of  land 
six  miles  from  Weiser.  He  has  since  improved 
the  property,  has  a  good  residence  and  farm 
buildings  upon  it,  and  in  the  management  of  his 
property  displays  the  most  progressive  methods. 
Everything  about  his  place  indicates  the  careful 
supervision  of  the  owner,  whose  business  ability 
is  also  shown  in  other  lines  of  endeavor.  He  is 
one  of  the  leading  stockholders  in  the  Weiser 
Bank,  of  which  he  is  now  acceptably  serving  as 
president,  is  a  member  of  the  Telephone  Com- 
pany and  of  the  Payette  Irrigating  Ditch  Com- 
pany. His  wise  counsel  and  sound  judgment 
have  been  important  factors  in  the  successful  con- 
duct of  these  enterprises,  which  have  yielded  ex- 
cellent financial  returns  to  the  stockholders.  Mr. 
Anderson  is  a  most  progressive  business  man, 
ready  to  adopt  new  methods  and  measures  which 
are  an  improvement  on  those  already  in  vogue. 

In  1876  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  our 
subject  and  Miss  Rebecca  Elizabeth  Stewart,  a 
native  of  Missouri,  and  two  children  blessed  their 
union:  W.  A.  B.,  now  in  the  Weiser  Bank,  and 
Emma  Belle,  who  is  attending  school  in  Boise. 
Mrs.  Anderson  departed  this  life  in  1883.  She 
was  a  consistent  member  of  the  Episcopal  church, 
and  was  greatly  beloved  by  her  family  and 
friends,  so  that  her  death  was  deeply  deplored 
throughout  the  community. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Anderson  has  been 
a  life-long  Democrat,  and  in  1872  he  was  elected 
to  the  territorial  legislature,  where  he  served 
most  acceptably  to  his  constituents  and  credit- 
ably to  himself.  He  is  now  chairman  of  the 
county  board  of  commissioners,  and  uses  his  offi- 
cial prerogative  for  the  advancement  of  the  gen- 
eral welfare  and  the  promotion  of  the  county's 
best  interests.  All  measures  for  the  public  good 
receive  his  support  and  co-operation  and  his  in- 
fluence in  behalf  of  such  interests  is  most  effect- 
ive. He  was  made  a  Mason  in  1866,  in  Canvon 


City,  Oregon,  and  became  one  of  the  charter 
members  of  the  lodge  at  Weiser,  of  which  he  is 
now  past  master.  He  also  received  the  royal- 
arch  degree  in  Canvon  City,  has  held  various 
offices  in  the  chapter,  and  is  also  a  valued  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity.  In  his 
business  affairs  he  has  met  with  splendid  success, 
and  by  reason  of  his  energy,  ambition  and  care- 
ful discrimination  he  has  been  very  successful, 
and  is  now  regarded  as  one  of  the  wealthiest  men 
of  the  community  in  which  he  makes  his  home. 
A  man  of  unswerving  integrity  and  honor,  one 
who  has  a  perfect  appreciation  of  the  higher  eth- 
ics of  life,  he  has  gained  and  retained  the  confi- 
dence and  respect  of  his  fellow  men,  and  is  dis- 
tinctively one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Weiser 
and  Washington  county,  with  whose  interests  he 
has  been  identified  for  twelve  years. 

MOSES  H.  GOODWIN. 

The  history  of  mankind  is  replete  with  illustra- 
tions of  the  fact  that  it  is  only  under  the  pressure 
of  adversity  and  the  stimulus  of  opposition  that 
the  best  and  strongest  in  men  are  brought  out 
and  developed.  Perhaps  the  history  of  no  people 
so  forcibly  impresses  one  with  this  truth  as  the 
annals  of  our  own  republic ;  and  certainly  in  our 
own  land  the  palm  must  be  awarded  to  New  Eng- 
land's sturdy  sons.  If  anything  can  inspire  the 
youth  of  our  country  to  persistent,  honorable  and 
laudable  endeavor  it  should  be  the  life  record  of 
such  men  as  he  of  whom  we  write.  The  example 
of  the  illustrious  few  of  our  countrymen  who  have 
risen  from  obscurity  to  the  highest  positions  in 
the  gift  of  the  nation  serves  often  to  awe  our 
noting  men  rather  than  to  inspire  them  to  emula- 
tion, because  they  reason  that  only  a  few  can  ever 
attain  such  eminence;  but  the  history  of  such 
men  as  M.  H.  Goodwin  proves  conclusively  that 
with  a  reasonable  amount  of  mental  and  physical 
power  success  is  bound,  eventually,  to  crown  the 
endeavors  of  those  who  have  the  ambition  to  put 
forth  their  best  efforts,  and  the  will  and  manliness 
to  persevere  therein. 

The  history  of  the  Goodwin  family  shows  that 
four  brothers  of  the  name,  natives  of  England, 
crossed  the  Atlantic  and  located  in  New  Hamp- 
shire. Aaron  Goodwin,  the  grandfather  of  our 
subject,  sailed  with  Paul  Jones,  the  renowned 
naval  hero  who  won  fame  in  the  American  ser- 


90 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


vice  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  Aaron 
Goodwin  was  twice  taken  prisoner  by  the  British 
during  the  war,  but  when  released  loyally  re- 
turned to  his  duty  as  a  defender  of  the  colonies. 
His  son,  Moses  Goodwin,  was  born  in  New 
Hampshire  and  married  Hannah  Ricker,  whose 
father  was  also  in  the  naval  service,  on  the  ship 
commanded  by  Paul  Jones.  The  parents  of  our 
subject  were  industrious  farming  people  and 
were  members  of  the  Baptist  church.  The  father 
resided  upon  his  farm  in  the  old  Granite  state 
until  twenty-one  years  of  age,  when  he  removed 
to  Maine,  where  his  death  occurred,  in  the  sev- 
enty-seventh year  of  his  age.  His  wife  lived  to 
be  more  than  eighty  years  of  age.  In  his  early 
life  he  was  a  Whig,  and  on  the  dissolution  of  that 
party,  being  a  lover  of  liberty  and  opposed  to 
every  form  of  oppression,  he  joined  the  newly 
organized  Republican  party. 

Moses  Hubbard  Goodwin  was  the  sixth  in 
order  of  birth  in  a  family  of  seven  children  who 
reached  mature  years,  five  of  the  number  yet  liv- 
ing. He  was  born  in  Waldo  county,  Maine, 
December  29,  1834,  and  was  reared  on  his  fath- 
er's farm,  assisting  in  the  labors  of  the  fields 
through  the  summer  months,  while  in  the  winter 
season  he  pursued  his  education  in  the  schools 
of  the  neighborhood.  When  seventeen  years  of 
age  he  learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  and  after 
working  for  a  year  in  Boston  went  to  Minnesota, 
where  he  was  employed  for  two  years.  He  next 
went  to  Mississippi,  where  he  remained  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war.  An  attempt  was  made 
to  force  him  into  the  rebel  army,  and  this  being 
contrary  to  his  wishes  he  left  for  the  north.  Hav- 
ing, however,  contracted  a  severe  cold  which  set- 
tled on  his  lungs,  he  decided  to  go  to  California, 
hoping  thereby  to  benefit  his  health.  He  sailed 
from  New  York  on  the  2Oth  of  October.  1861, 
and  reached  San  Francisco  after  a  voyage  of 
twenty-two  days.  He  was  soon  able  to  resume 
work  at  his  trade,  and  was  thus  engaged  through 
the  winter.  In  the  spring  the  news  of  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  at  Auburn,  Oregon,  led  him  to 
start  for  that  place,  but  on  reaching  Portland  he 
learned  that  the  reports  of  rich  finds  were  largely 
exaggerated,  and  accordingly  he  remained  in 
Portland,  where  he  was  employed  from  Decem- 
ber until  June  by  the  Oregon  Navigation  Com- 
pany in  building  steamboats.  The  Boise  basin 


gold  excitement  then  brought  him  to  Idaho, 
where  he  arrived  in  July,  1863,  before  the  terri- 
tory was  organized. 

To  some  extent  Mr.  Goodwin  engaged  in  min- 
ing, but  there  was  a  great  demand  for  carpenter- 
ing, and  he  resumed  work  at  his  trade,  receiving 
eight  dollars  per  day  for  his  services.  He  aided 
in  the  erection  of  the  Mammoth  Quartz  Mill,  the 
second  mill  of  the  kind  in  the  state,  and  built, 
in  1864,  the  first  water  wheel  of  any  size  in  Idaho, 
— thirty  feet  in  diameter.  The  following  year  he 
assisted  in  building  the  Elkhorn  Mill,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1865  was  engaged  to  superintend  the  Mam- 
moth Mill  and  the  interests  of  the  company,  oc- 
cupying that  position  for  two  years.  On  the  ex- 
piration of  that  period  he  became  a  part  owner 
in  the  mill  and  continued  in  charge  until  1870, 
meeting  with  excellent  success  in  his  undertak- 
ings; but  his  health  failed  him  in  that  high  alti- 
tude and  he  removed  to  Payette,  where  he  pur- 
chased an  interest  in  a  band  of  cattle  and  a  farm. 
There,  in  addition  to  looking  after  the  stock,  he 
also  followed  carpentering  until  his  return  to  the 
east. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1876,  Mr.  Goodwin  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Emma  Frances 
Burdge.  Their  wedding  journey  consisted  of  a 
visit  to  the  Centennial  Exposition,  in  Philadel- 
phia, and  a  trip  to  his  old  home  in  Maine  to  see 
his  aged  mother  and  to  visit  the  scenes  and 
friends  of  his  youth.  The  following  spring  they 
returned  to  Idaho,  locating  in  Boise,  and  to  them 
has  been  born  a  daughter,  Mabel  C.,  who  is  now 
the  wife  of  R.  V.  Stone.  Mr.  Stone  is  now  en- 
gaged as  Mr.  Goodwin's  city  manager  for  the 
lumber  business. 

In  1877,  after  his  return  from  the  east,  Mr. 
Goodwin  purchased  and  put  in  operation  a  plan- 
ing-machine,  which  he  later  incorporated  in  the 
sawmill  which  he  now  owns.  In  1883  he  pur- 
chased the  water  power  and  the  mill  site,  the 
latter  consisting  of  four  acres.  Since  that  time 
he  has  carried  on  an  extensive  lumber  business. 
For  some  time  he  had  the  only  planer  and  im- 
proved machinery  in  that  line  in  the  city  and  was 
the  only  manufacturer  of  doors,  sash  and  blinds. 
He  cuts  his  pine  lumber  in  the  mountains,  sup- 
plies his  home  demands,  and  carries  on  two  lum- 
ber yards  and  offices  in  Boise.  He  is  a  very  en- 
terprising and  progressive  business  man,  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO, 


91 


these  qualities  have  gained  him  a  well  merited 
prosperity. 

Mr.  Goodwin  is  not  only  a  leader  in  industrial 
circles,  but  is  also  a  man  of  much  prominence  in 
political  affairs,  and  has  been  potent  in  molding 
public  thought  and  feeling.  He  is  a  stanch  Re- 
publican, unwavering  in  support  of  the  principles 
of  his  party.  He  was  twice  a  member  of  the  ter- 
ritorial legislature,  and  has  twice  been  elected 
and  served  as  a  member  of  the  county  board  of 
commissioners,  of  which  he  has  been  chairman. 
In  political  thought  and  action  he  has  always 
been  independent,  carrying  out  his  honest  views 
without  fear  or  favor.  In  business  he  has  achieved 
success  through  honorable  effort,  untiring  indus- 
try and  capable  management,  and  in  private  life 
he  has  gained  that  warm  personal  regard  which 
arises  from  true  nobility  of  character,  deference 
for  the  opinions  of  others,  kindliness  and  genial- 
ity. 

HON.  MICHAEL  CAREY. 

Hon.  Michael  Carey,  a  member  of  the  Idaho 
state  senate  (session  of  1899),  and  one  of  the  lead- 
ing mine-owners  of  the  commonwealth,  now  re- 
siding at  Ketchum,  Elaine  county,  is  a  native  of 
the  Emerald  Isle.  He  was  born  December  12, 
1844,  a  son  of  Michael  and  Mary  (Tracy)  Carey, 
both  of  whom  were  natives  of  Ireland,  whence 
they  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  the  United  States  in 
1850,  bringing  with  them  their  family  of  seven 
children.  They  settled  in  Keweenaw  county, 
Michigan,  where  the  parents  spent  their  remain- 
ing days.  The  father  was  a  man  of  intelligence 
and  a  surveyor  by  profession.  Both  he  and  his 
wife  were  members  of  the  Catholic  church.  Mr. 
Carey  departed  his  life  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of 
his  age,  and  his  wife  passed  away  in  her  fifty- 
sixth  year,  both  being  buried  in  northern  Mich- 
igan. 

Senator  Carey  is  their  youngest  child,  and  was 
only  six  years  of  age  when  the  family  arrived  in 
the  United  States.  He  acquired  his  education  in 
the  public  schools  of  northern  Michigan,  and  at 
the  age  of  sixteen  years  began  to  earn  his  own 
livelihood  by  working  as  a  miner  in  Houghton 
county,  Michigan,  where  he  remained  until  1864, 
when  he  went  to  California  by  way  of  the  Isth- 
mus route  and  mined  in  Mariposa  county  for  six 
years.  On  the  expiration  of  that  period  he  went 
to  Silver  City,  Idaho,  and  accepted  the  position 


of  manager  of  the  mines  there,  serving  in  that 
capacity  for  eight  years.  In  1878  he  accepted  the 
management  of  the  Virtue  mine,  at  Baker  City, 
Oregon,  where  he  remained  for  two  years,  and 
in  1881  came  on  a  prospecting  tour  to  Hailey. 
Here  he  leased  the  Elkhorn  mine,  at  Ketchum, 
and  in  six  months  took  out  thirty-one  thousand 
dollars.  After  the  term  of  his  lease  had  expired 
the  owners  took  out  ore  to  the  value  of  a  million 
dollars.  Mr.  Carey  subsequently  leased  the  Er- 
win  mine  from  the  Philadelphia  Company,  oper- 
ating it  for  two  years,  during  which  time  he  made 
a  shipment  of  five  hundred  tons  of  ore  to  Denver, 
which  yielded  one  hundred  dollars  to  the  ton  and 
netted  Mr.  Carey  thirty  dollars  per  ton  after  pay- 
ing the  company's  royalties.  Later  he  took 
charge  of  the  Ontario  group  of  mines,  of  which 
he  has  since  become  the  sole  owner,  and  which 
he  is  now  successfully  operating.  A  sketch  of 
these  mines  is  given  on  another  page  of  this  vol- 
ume. He  has  long  been  identified  with  the  min- 
ing interests  of  the  northwest,  and  his  labors 
have  been  effective  in  developing  the  rich  min- 
eral resources  of  this  state  and  thus  adding  to  the 
general  prosperity. 

Senator  Carey  gave  his  political  support  to  the 
Democracy  from  the  time  he  attained  his  major- 
ity until  the  organization  of  the  Populist  party, 
since  which  time  he  has  affiliated  with  the  latter, 
and  in  1898  he  was  elected  on  its  ticket  to  repre- 
sent Blaine  county  in  the  state  senate.  In  the 
discharge  of  his  duties  he  has  been  most  prompt 
and  loyal,  laboring  earnestly  for  the  general 
good.  He  considers  carefully  every  problem  that 
comes  up  for  solution,  and  after  determining 
upon  a  course  which  he  believes  to  be  right  noth- 
ing can  turn  him  aside  from  following  it.  In 
business  he  has  depended  upon  his  own  efforts 
from  youth,  and  all  that  he  has  acquired  is  the  de- 
served reward  of  his  own  labors. 

April  3,  1899,  Mr.  Carey  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Mrs.  Mary  Lowery,  a  native  of  King- 
ston, Canada,  who  came  to  Hailey  in  1887. 

ALBERT  WOLTERS. 

Among  the  prominent  residents  of  Hailey  is 
Albert  Wolters,  who  was  born  in  Germany,  May 
19,  1841,  his  parents  being  Carl  and  Augusta 
(Petri)  Wolters,  who  also  were  natives  of  the 
same  country,  where  the  father  served  as  a  min- 


92 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ing  official.  Our  subject  acquired  his  education 
in  Germany,  and  was  graduated  in  the  Mining 
Academy  at  Clausthal,  in  the  class  of  1862.  He 
then  studied  chemistry  at  the  University  at  Got- 
tingen,  and  in  1866  came  to  the  United  States, 
landing  in  New  York. 

He  remained  in  the  eastern  metropolis  only  a 
short  time,  and  then  went  to  Colorado,  and  after 
building  the  first  Gerstenhofer  roasting  furnace 
for  James  E.  Lyon  &  Company  established  an 
assay  office  in  Central  City.  He  moved  to  George- 
town January  20,  1868,  where,  in  partnership 
with  L.  Hupiden,  he  ran  the  first  silver  mill  ever 
constructed  at  Georgetown,  Colorado,  and  thus 
occupied  his  time  until  1869,  when  he  assumed 
charge  of  the  Baker  Silver  Mining  Company's 
mill  and  mine  until  the  works  were  destroyed  by 
fire.  He  next  received  from  President  Grant  the 
appointment  of  superintendent  of  the  United 
States  assay  office  in  Boise,  and  he  acceptably 
filled  that  position  until  July  i,  1883,  when  he 
came  to  Wood  river  and  purchased  an  interest 
in  the  Star  mine,  which  he  operated  from  1880 
until  1884,  within  which  time  the  mine  produced 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  sil- 
ver, the  silver  selling  at  from  one  dollar  and 
twelve  to  one  dollar  and  fifteen  cents  an  ounce. 
He  sold  his  interest  in  1884,  and  in  1889,  in  con- 
nection with  two  others,  leased  the  Star  mine  for 
three  years.  Two  years  of  that  time  were  spent 
in  development  work,  and  in  the  last  ten  months 
before  the  expiration  of  the  lease  they  took  out 
seventy  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Wolters  now  has 
extensive  and  valuable  mining  interests,  including 
the  Washington,  a  group  of  mines  at  the  head  of 
West  Boulder;  the  Senate  mine,  east  of  Bellevue; 
and  the  Big  Iron  mine  on  the  East  fork,  the  iron 
ore  being  used  for  fluxing.  He  is  now  half  owner 
of  the  Fair  Play  mine  and  of  the  Hey,  adjoining 
the  Star  mine,  and  is  now  engaged  in  developing 
and  operating  the  former.  He  is  also  conducting 
an  assay  office. 

In  1867  Mr.  Wolters  married  Miss  Amelia 
Otto,  a  native  of  Germany,  and  they  have  three 
daughters:  Marie,  now  the  wife  cf  John  Cramer, 
a  resident  of  Hailey;  Lucv,  wife  of  Richard  M. 
Angel,  county  attorney  for  Elaine  county;  and 
Ella,  who  is  now  studying  music  in  Valparaiso, 
Indiana.  Socially  Mr.  Wolters  is  connected  with 
Boise  Lodge,  No.  2,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  is  also  a 


member  of  Boise  Chapter,  No.  3,  R.  A.  M.  In 
the  former  he  has  served  as  master,  and  in  the 
latter  as  king.  He  gave  his  political  support  to 
the  Republican  party  until  1892,  when  he  with- 
drew on  account  of  the  different  views  which  he 
held  concerning  the  money  question.  He  then 
joined  the  ranks  of  the  Populist  party,  and  on 
that  ticket  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature  in 
1894.  He  was  an  active  and  influential  member 
of  that  body  and  was  prominent  in  the  introduc- 
tion and  passage  of  the  Elaine  county  bill  which 
created  the  county  of  Elaine.  This  was  a  meas- 
ure of  vital  importance  to  the  people  of  this  local- 
ity, and  though  it  met  with  much  opposition,  after 
a  six  weeks'  contest  it  was  passed.  From  1868 
until  1879  Mr.  Wolters  held  the  office  of  deputy 
United  States  commissioner  of  mining  statistics, 
and  during  that  time  made  extensive  annual  re- 
ports on  the  mining  resources  of  Colorado  and 
Idaho. 

In  Hailey  Mr.  Wolters  and  his  family  own  a 
nice  home,  and  the  members  of  the  household 
occupy  enviable  positions  in  social  circles.  Our 
subject  has  led  an  active  and  useful  life,  and  his 
well  directed  efforts  have  brought  to  him  a  hand- 
some competence.  He  enjoys  the  high  esteem 
of  all  who  have  the  honor  of  his  acquaintance, 
and  he  is  widely  known  throughout  Idaho. 

JAMES  I.  CRUTCHER. 

One  to  whom  has  been  entrusted  important 
public  service  and  over  whose  record  there  falls 
no  shadow  of  wrong  or  suspicion  of  evil,  is  James 
I.  Crutcher,  of  Boise.  President  Cleveland  rec- 
ognized his  eminent  qualifications  for  responsible 
duties  when  he  appointed  him  United  States 
marshal  for  Idaho,  in  which  position  he  served 
for  four  years  and  two  months,  in  a  manner  above 
suspicion.  His  unbending  integrity  of  charac- 
ter, his  fearlessness  in  the  discharge  of  duty  and 
his  appreciation  of  the  responsibilities  that  rested 
upon  him  were  such  as  to  make  him  a  most  ac- 
ceptable incumbent  of  that  office,  and  his  worth 
then,  as  now,  was  widely  acknowledged. 

A  native  of  Kentucky,  Mr.  Crutcher  was  born 
in  Shelby  county,  on  the  3ist  of  December,  1835. 
His  ancestors  were  early  settlers  of  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  and  members  of  the  family  be- 
came pioneers  in  the  development  of  Kentucky. 
It  was  in  that  state  that  Thomas  M.  Crutcher, 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


93 


father  of  our  subject,  was  born,  his  natal  day 
being  in  1810.  He  wedded  Miss  Mary  Ann  Ed- 
wards, a  native  of  Woodford  county,  Kentucky, 
who  also  belonged  to  a  family  of  equally  early 
settlement  in  the  south.  Her  father  was  James 
Edwards,  a  pioneer  widely  and  favorably  known 
in  Kentucky.  Thomas  M.  Crutcher  was  an  en- 
terprising farmer,  and  through  the  capable  man- 
agement ,of  his  agricultural  interests  won  a  com- 
fortable competence.  He  held  membership  in 
the  Christian  church,  and  died  in  the  seventy- 
third  year  of  his  age.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
died  when  he  was  only  four  years  of  age,  after 
which  he  was  reared  by  his  stepmother,  who  is 
still  living,  and  now,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-two  years,  is  spending  the  evening  of  her 
life  upon  the  old  homestead  in  Shelby  county, 
Kentucky. 

James  I.  Crutcher  acquired  his  education  in 
the  schools  of  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  and  in  1860 
left  his  native  state,  crossing  the  plains  to  Colo- 
rado with  a  party.  After  two  years  spent  in  the 
Golden  state  he  came  to  Idaho,  in  1862,  locating 
in  Elk  City,  where  he  engaged  in  mining  for  a 
few  months.  He  then  made  a  short  trip  to  Ore- 
gon, and  on  returning  to  Idaho  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Boise  county.  In  1865  he  was  elected 
sheriff  of  the  county.  At  that  time  the  office  was 
no  sinecure,  owing  to  the  rough  and  lawless  ele- 
ment that  had  come  to  the  new  district,  hoping 
to  gain  a  living  in  ways  that  would  not  bear  legal 
inspection.  However,  he  discharged  all  the  du- 
ties that  fell  to  his  lot  most  fearlessly,  never 
wavering  in  the  fulfillment  of  any  task  assigned 
him,  and  his  course  at  once  inspired  confidence 
in  the  law-abiding  citizens  and  terror  in  the 
hearts  of  the  evil-doers.  After  his  four  years' 
term  of  office  expired  he  resumed  his  mining 
operations,  and  since  then  he  has  been  largely 
interested  in  various  mines  which  have  yielded 
him  good  returns.  He  entered  upon  his  duties 
as  United  States  marshal  in  1894,  and  even  the 
most  malevolent  can  say  naught  against  his  faith- 
fulness and  ability  in  office.  Politically  Mr. 
Crutcher  has  always  been  an  ardent  Democrat, 
stanchly  supporting  the  principles  of  the  party 
and  doing  all  in  his  power  to  promote  its  growth 
and  insure  its  success  in  a  legitimate  way. 

In  1865,  in  Idaho  City,  Mr.  Crutcher  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Adelma  C.  Belknap. 


Her  father,  Dr.  David  H.  Belknap,  was  one  of 
the  pioneer  physicians  of  Oregon.  Her  mother, 
who  bore  the  maiden  name  of  Rachel  E.  Stub- 
bins,  was  born  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  in  1814, 
and  died  in  Silver  City,  Idaho,  in  1875.  To  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Crutcher  have  been  born  four  children, 
three  sons  and  a  daughter,  but  all  are  now  de- 
ceased, the  only  daughter,  Rachel  Harriet,  hav- 
ing passed  away  January  I,  1899,  at  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  four  months  and  fifteen  days.  The 
Daily  Capital  of  January  3,  1899,  expressed  the 
sentiment  of  the  entire  community  when  it  said: 
"In  any  form  and  at  any  time  the  angel  of  death 
is  most  unwelcome;  but  when  he  enters  the  home 
and  strikes  down  the  young,  the  talented,  the 
lovable,  when  he  bears  away  the  choicest  and 
only  jewel  of  the  hearthstone,  then,  indeed,  he 
seems  most  cruel.  Rachel  was  the  only  child  left 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crutcher.  One  by  one  the  oth- 
ers passed  into  the  empyrean  of  the  immortals, 
and  now  Rachel  has  joined  them,  leaving  the  par- 
ents in  the  dark  shadow  of  a  bitter  bereavement. 
The  many  friends  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crutcher 
extend  to  them  their  most  sincere  sympathies.7' 

Since  1894  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crutcher  have  resided 
in  Boise,  the  capital  of  the  state.  They  have  in 
their  possession  a  relic  in  the  shape  of  a  melodeon 
that  was  purchased  in  San  Francisco  in  1856  by 
Dr.  Belknap  and  taken  to  Portland,  Oregon; 
and  in  1863  the  old  instrument  was  transported 
across  the  country  from  Umatilla,  Oregon,  to 
Idaho  City  by  pack  animals,  a  distance  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  miles.  This  instrument  was  the 
first  used  in  all  southern  Idaho,  and  was  used  at 
funerals  for  many  years  and  at  parties,  etc. 

Mrs.  Crutcher  is  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Episcopal  church  and  one  of  the  leading  ladies 
of  Boise,  presiding  with  gracious  hospitality  over 
her  pleasant  home,  which  is  a  favorite  resort  with 
her  many  friends.  Mr.  Crutcher  was  made  a  Mas- 
ter Mason  in  Arrow  Rock,  Missouri,  and  has  also 
taken  the  Royal  Arch  degrees.  He  has  been  a 
prominent  factor  in  the  public  life  of  the  state, 
and  belongs  to  that  class  of  men  of  public  spirit 
and  patriotism  who  place  the  good  of  the  com- 
monwealth above  partisanship  and  the  welfare 
of  the  many  above  personal  aggrandizement.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  convention  which  framed 
the  present  constitution  of  the  state  of  Idaho,  and 
throughout  the  long  years  of  his  residence  here 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


he  has  ever  labored  for  the  advancement  and  up- 
building of  the  commonwealth.  Mr.  Crutcher  is 
an  excellent  type  of  the  southern  gentleman, 
courteous,  genial  and  kindly,  and  he  and  his  wife 
are  popular  throughout  Idaho,  where  their 
friends  are  legion. 

EDWARD   J.    CURTIS. 

Among  the  eminent  men  of  the  northwest 
whose  life  records  form  an  integral  part  of  the 
history  of  Idaho  was  numbered  Hon.  Edward  J. 
Curtis.  In  his  death  the  state  lost  one  of  its  most 
distinguished  lawyers,  gifted  statesmen  and  loyal 
citizens.  As  the  day,  with  its  morning  of  hope 
and  promise,  its  noontide  of  activity,  its  evening 
of  completed  and  successful  efforts,  ending  in  the 
grateful  rest  and  quiet  of  the  night,  so  was  the 
life  of  this  honored  man.  His  career  was  a  long, 
busy  and  useful  one,  marked  by  the  utmost  fidel- 
ity to  the  duties  of  public  and  private  life,  and 
crowned  with  honors  conferred  upon  him  in  rec- 
ognition of  superior  merit.  His  name  is  insep- 
arably interwoven  with  the  annals  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  with  its  best  development  and  its  stable 
progress,  and  his  memory  is  cherished  as  that 
of  one  who  made  the  world  better  for  his  having 
lived. 

Edward  J.  Curtis  was  born  in  Worcester,  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  1827  and  acquired  his  preliminary 
education  in  public  schools  and  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  private  tutors  in  his  native  town.  He 
was  thus  prepared  for  college  and  entered  Prince- 
ton, where  he  was  graduated  with  high  honors. 
On  the  completion  of  his  collegiate  course  he  re- 
turned to  Worcester,  but  soon  after  went  to  Bos- 
ton, where  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office 
of  the  renowned  jurist,  Rufus  Choate,  but  after 
a  short  time  the  news  of  the  discovery  of  gold 
reached  the  east,  and  in  company,  with  a  number 
of  young  men  he  started  for  California,  crossing 
the  plains  to  San  Francisco,  where  he  arrived 
early  in  1849.  Soon,  however,  he  went  to  San 
Jose,  where  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Judge 
Chipman,  and  later  removed  to  Sacramento, 
where  he  continued  his  studies  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Judge  Murry.  In  1851  he  removed  to 
Yreka,  where  he  became  editor  of  a  paper,  and 
was  elected  to  the  legislature  from  Siskiyou 
county,  serving  for  two  terms.  In  Sacramento, 
in  April,  1856,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  be- 


ginning practice  in  Weaverville,  Trinity  county, 
California,  where  soon  afterward  he  was  elected 
judge  of  the  court  of  sessions  of  northern  Cali- 
fornia. He  also  owned  and  published  the  Trinity 
County  Journal. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  Judge  Curtis 
was  commissioned  a  second  lieutenant  by  Gov- 
ernor John  L.  Downey,  in  a  company  of  the  Sec- 
ond Brigade  of  California  Volunteers,  but  his 
command  was  never  ordered  to  the  front.  When 
his  property  in  Weaverville  was  destroyed  by  a 
flood  he  removed  to  Virginia  City,  Nevada, 
where  he  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Hon. 
Thomas  Fitch,  the  famous  orator.  In  1864  he 
went  to  Silver  City,  Idaho,  with  Hon.  Richard 
Miller  and  the  noted  Hill  Beachy,  of  stage-line 
fame.  In  that  new  and  prosperous  mining  camp 
Judge  Curtis  and  Mr.  Miller  opened  a  law  office. 
In  1866  the  latter  was  appointed  by  the  president 
judge  of  the  second  judicial  district  of  the  terri- 
tory, and  the  former  was  elected  distrkt  attorney, 
after  which  he  became  a  resident  of  Boise.  From 
that  time  forward  he  was  prominently  connected 
with  the  events  which  form  the  history  of  the 
commonwealth,  with  its  business  interests  and 
political  life,  and  at  all  times  was  a  leader  in  pub- 
lic thought  and  action.  In  1869,  while  in  Wash- 
ington city,  he  was  appointed  by  President  Grant 
to  the  position  of  secretary  of  the  territory  of 
Idaho,  and  in  1872  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to 
the  Republican  national  convention  at  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  cast  his  vote  for  the  renomination 
of  the  hero  of  Appomattox.  Later  he  was  reap- 
pointed  territorial  secretary,  which  position  he 
held  for  eight  consecutive  years,  and  during  four 
years  of  that  time  was  acting  governor  of  Idaho. 
At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Indian  war  of  1877-8 
he  was  adjutant-general  of  the  territory,  and  as 
such  made  treaties  of  peace  with  several  hostile 
chiefs  in  southern  Idaho.  Such  was  the  excellent 
record  which  he  made  in  these  various  positions, 
and  so  high  was  his  standing  in  Washington  cir- 
cles that  President  Arthur  appointed  him,  entirely 
without  solicitation  on  the  part  of  Judge  Curtis, 
and  even  without  his  previous  knowledge,  to  the 
office  of  territorial  secretary,  and  by  President 
Harrison  he  was  reappointed  in  1889,  holding 
that  position  until  Idaho  was  admitted  to  the 
Union  and  passed  under  control  of  the  new  offi- 
cials, in  November,  1890. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


95 


His  efforts  in  behalf  of  Idaho  were  by  no  means 
confined  to  his  political  services.  He  was  the 
advocate  of  all  measures  which  tended  to  advance 
her  social,  moral,  material  and  intellectual  wel- 
fare, and  it  was  through  his  instrumentality  that 
the  Territorial  Library  was  established.  He  went 
to  Washington,  D.  C.,  to  get  an  appropriation 
for  that  purpose,  and 'through  the  co-operation 
of  Senators  Edwards  and  Sumner  he  secured  the 
sum  of  five  thousand  dollars,  the  full  amount 
asked  for.  This  library  grew  and  prospered  un- 
der his  fostering  care  and  would  now  do  credit  to 
any  state  in  the  Union.  After  his  retirement 
from  office  Judge  Curtis  .resumed  the  private 
practice  of  law,  in  which  he  continued  until  his 
last  illness.  He  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
members  of  the  bar  of  this  state,  and  on  account 
of  his  wonderful  command  of  language  and  his 
persuasive  eloquence  was  irresistible  before  a 
jury.  His  arguments,  too,  were  based  upon  the 
facts  in  the  case  and  the  law  applicable  to  them, 
and  displayed  a  profound  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  jurisprudence. 

In  1856,  while  in  Sacramento,  California,  Judge 
Curtis  married  Miss  Susan  L.  Frost,  of  New 
Haven,  Connecticut,  who  at  that  time  was  one 


of  the  popular  school-teachers  in  Sacramento. 
The  marriage  was  a  most  happy  one,  and  their 
union  was  blessed  with  five  children.  E.  L.  Cur- 
tis, the  eldest,  served  as  territorial  secretary,  act- 
ing governor  and  register  of  the  land  office,  tak- 
ing a  leading  part  in  public  affairs,  but  his  brill- 
iant career  was  terminated  by  death  in  1890. 
Anna,  the  only  daughter,  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  J.  K. 
DuBois,  a  physician  of  Boise;  and  the  younger 
sons  are  William  R.,  John  J.  and  Henry  C.  Mrs. 
Curtis  and  her  children,  with  the  exception  of  the 
eldest  son,  survive  the  husband  and  father  and 
are  yet  residents  of  the  capital  city,  where  the 
Judge  made  his  home  for  thirty  years.  He  was 
a  life-long  Republican  in  his  political  affiliations, 
was  a  member  of  Ada  Lodge,  No.  3,  I.  O.  O.  F., 
and  of  the  Pioneers  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  His 
death  occurred  December  29,  1895.  Faultless  in 
honor,  fearless  in  conduct,  stainless  in  reputation, 
— such  was  his  life  record.  His  scholarly  attain- 
ments, his  statesmanship,  his  reliable  judgment 
and  his  charming  powers  of  conversation  would 
have  enabled  him  to  ably  fill  and  grace  any  posi- 
tion, however  exalted,  and  he  was  no  less  hon- 
ored in  public  than  loved  in  private  life. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


*THE   SNAKE   RIVER   VALLEY— REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   EARLY    DAYS— ITS   PRESENT— ITS   FUTURE. 


IN  1833  Captain  Bonneville,  an  officer  in  the 
army,  secured  leave  of  absence  and  spent 
about  two  years  here,  mostly  in  the  Snake 
river  valley.  He  left  his  horses  for  the  winter 
with  some  Indians  at  a  camp  near  where  St.  An- 
thony is  now  located.  He  and  his  men  made 
their  way  down  Snake  river  in  boats  till  they 
reached  Black  Rock  canyon,  where  now  is  Idaho 
Falls,  the  thriftiest  town  in  southeast  Idaho;  but 
they  dared  not  venture  in  their  boats  through  the 
canyon. 

Captain  Bonneville  found  a  desolate  sage-cov- 
ered valley,  holding  out  no  promise  of  ever  being 
more  than  a  range  where  Indian  cayuses  might 
pick  a  precarious  living  on  bunch  grass.  Not  a 
tree  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  except  an 
occasional  wind-twisted  and  gnarled  juniper 
growing  out  of  the  seams  in  the  lava  rock  along 
the  banks  of  Snake  river. 

In  1849,  when  the  California  stampede  was  on, 
many  of  the  gold-seekers  passed  over  the  same 
Snake  river  valley,  and,  in  after  years,  relating 
their  experience,  described  it  as  one  of  the  most 
hopeless  spots  encountered  in  their  ox-train  jour- 
ney across  the  continent. 

In  1864  the  stampede  for  Alder  Gulch,  Mon- 
tana, was  fairly  under  way.  Whether  from  east 
or  west,  the  Snake  river  valley  was  on  the  route. 
A  ferry  was  put  in  by  John  Gibson  just  below 
where  Blackfoot  now  is,  and  soon  afterward  one 
by  a  man  named  Kutch,  some  miles  further  up 
the  river.  The  same  year  Harry  Rickets  started  a 
ferry,  known  as  the  Eagle  Rock  ferry,  to  catch 
the  travel  that  came  over  what  was  known  as 
Lander's  cut-off,  or  the  Soda  Springs  trail.  It 
was  in  this  year  also  that  Ben  Holiday  started 
his  ever  memorable  stage  line  and  put  up  stage 
•  stations  at  intervals  of  fifteen  to  twenty  miles. 


*This  very  interesting  reminiscent  and  descriptive 
chapter  is  contributed  by  that  well  known  pioneer  and 
representative  citizen  of  Idaho  Falls,  Mr.  Robert  An- 
derson. 


This  year  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  starting 
point  in  opening  southeast  Idaho  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  even  western  people. 

Early  in  the  century  Fort  Hall  had  been  estab- 
lished for  a  trading  post  with  the  Indians,  but  it 
was  no  more  than  an  isolated  post,  such  as  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  now  have  scattered  over 
the  northwest  territory.  The  camp  where  Cap- 
tain Bonneville  left  his  horses  was  not  a  fort  at 
all,  and  he,  by  the  way,  never  saw  his  horses 
again.  In  short,  prior  to  1864-5  tne  few  white 
people  in  the  country  were  hunters  and  trappers, 
— often  "squaw  men,"  who  were  little  more  civil- 
ized than  the  Indians,  their  only  associates. 

The  ferries  were  the  important  points  in  the 
country.  After  General  Conner's  battle  with  the 
Bannocks,  on  Bear  river,  in  1864,  in  which  he 
killed  more  than  half  the  "bucks"  of  the  tribe, 
travelers  and  the  ferry-owners  still  felt  insecure, 
and  some  of  Conner's  troops  were  stationed  at 
Eagle  Rock  ferry,  about  nine  miles  above  the 
present  Idaho  Falls.  That  ferry  in  1864  took  in 
tolls  over  thirty  thousand  dollars  in  greenbacks 
from  wagons  Montana  bound;  but  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  thirty  thousand  dollars  in  green- 
backs at  that  time  was  only  equal  to  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars  in  the  current  money  of  the  coun- 
try,— gold  dust, — and,  by  the  way,  Anderson 
Brothers'  Bank,  at  Idaho  Falls,  still  uses  on  occa- 
sions the  identical  gold-scales  used  by  Harry 
Rickets  in  1864  for  weighing  gold  dust. 

James  M.  Taylor,  an  energetic  man  well  known 
in  Colorado  and  Montana,  and  Robert  Anderson 
bought  out  the  Eagle  Rock  ferry  in  1865.  In  the 
winter  of  1865-6,  at  an  expense  of  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars,  under  a  territorial  charter  signed 
by  "Caleb  Lyon,  of  Lyonsdale,"  first  governor  of 
Idaho,  they  built  a  toll  wagon-bridge  across  that 
identical  Black  Rock  canyon  where  Captain 
Bonneville  had  to  let  his  boats  down  by  ropes 
held  on  to  by  men  on  shore.  The  bridge  tim- 
bers were  cut  and  hewn  out  at  Beaver  canvon  and 


96 


ttj 
J3 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


97 


in  six  feet  of  snow,  then  hauled  eighty  miles  in 
wagons  over  the  road  which  Ben  Holiday's  stage 
mules  could  not  keep  open  with  their  semi-occa- 
sional winter  trips.  As  an  instance  of  the  diffi- 
culties encountered,  and  the  high  cost  of  every- 
thing, it  is  interesting  to  recall  tnat  to  get  a  little 
strap-iron  for  stirrups  on  the  bridge  one  broken- 
down  wagon  was  bought  for  the  sake  of  the  tires, 
at  a  cost  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  All 
prices  were  high.  In  mining  camps  it  was  not 
uncommon  to  balance  gold  and  tobacco  against 
each  other  in  the  scales,  ounce  for  ounce.  In 
the  fall  of  1865  the  ferry  people  laid  in  their 
winter's  supply  of  potatoes  at  twenty-five  cents 
per  pound,  and  were  glad  to  get  them  at  that. 
The  common  price  for  bacon,  lard,  sugar,  coffee 
and  many  other  articles  of  food  was  one  dollar  per 
pound.  Flour,  and  a  poor  article  at  that,  was 
twenty-five  dollars  for  a  fifty-pound  sack. 

In  those  "good  old  days,"  besides  the  Indians 
squatted  round  the  store,  filling  the  air  with  the 
smell  of  their  sage-brush-smoked  buckskins  and 
breath  nauseating  with  the  smell  of  wild  garlic, 
were  a  very  few  trappers:  Beaver  Dick,  Johnny 
Poe,  and  then,  in  the  next  two  or  three  years, 
came  Captain  Heald,  Doc.  Yandell,  Shep.  Med- 
aira,  Charley  Conant,  for  whom  Conant  valley 
was  called,  "Tex."  (whose  name  was  Parker),  and 
old  Joe  Crabtree  (uncle  to  Lotta,  the  celebrated 
actress,  and  much  ashamed  that  his  niece  had 
descended  to  the  stage). 

Paul  Coburn  was  superintendent  of  the  stage 
line  and  Paul,  justly  or  unjustly,  was  not  held 
'above  suspicion.  In  July,  1865,  tne  stage  was 
robbed  at  Robbers'  Roost,  in  Portneuf  canyon, 
and  thirty  thousand  dollars  in  dust  was  carried 
off  by  the  robbers,  or  road  agents.  The  stage 
was  crowded  with  passengers  and  every  one  of 
them  was  killed  except  a  small  boy,  who  escaped 
in  the  brush  on  the  Portneuf  river,  and  a  man 
named  Carpenter,  who  got  off  with  the  loss  of 
a  leg.  Suspicion  pointed  to  Paul  as  a  silent 
partner  in  the  job,  but  it  was  never  established, 
though  a  vigilance  committee  came  down  from 
Montana  to  investigate. 

!n  tin-  spring  of   1866  the  wagon  bridge  was 

•-•<!  and  tin-  frrry  people  moved  down  from 

W^Hf  and  brought  the  name  of  Eagle  Rock 

witrnhem.     A  small  dwelling  house  was  built 

of  driftwood.     A  little  storeroom  and  a  black- 


smith shop  were  made  of  some  boards  and  old 
ferry-boat  timbers,  and  the  station  of  Eagle  Rock 
had  been  started. 

Wells,  Fargo  &  Company,  soon  after  this, 
bought  out  the  Ben.  Holiday  stage  line  and 
started  a  first-class  daily  service.  Local  charges 
for  passengers  was  twenty-five  cents  per  mile. 
William  H.  Taylor  was  superintendent,  Dan. 
Robbins  and  John  Burnett  being  his  assistants. 
A  few  of  the  old  drivers  were  Jack  Clark,  James 
Boyle,  Bilvon,  Tom  Lander  and  Black  Jack. 
Boyle  now  lives  at  Oxford,  Lauder  at  Market 
Lake.  The  others  have  probably  all  gone  over 
the  "great  divide." 

Good  hay  in  abundance  was  harvested  when 
it  grew  on  land  overflowed  by  the  melting  snow 
in  the  spring  and  was  hauled  to  the  various  sta- 
tions. The  stage  company  paid  for  cutting,  haul- 
ing and  stacking  at  the  stations  from  twenty 
to  forty  dollars  per  ton,  the  price  being  gov- 
erned by  the  distance  to  be  hauled. 

John  Creighton,  now  of  Omaha,  built  the  tele- 
graph line  from  Utah  to  Montana.  Stations  were 
located  at  Malad,  Ross  Fork,  Eagle  Rock,  and 
the  next  one  north  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Montana. 

Freighting  was  the  great  interest  through 
southeastern  Idaho.  On  it  depended  nearly  all 
business.  Long  trains  of  ox-wagons  were  con- 
stantly, during  the  season,  on  the  road.  Two, 
sometimes  three,  wagons  were  trailed  together, 
and  ten  or  twelve  yoke  of  oxen  in  each  team.  The 
stage  took  the  gold  dust  from  Montana  in  treas- 
ure-boxes, and  the  passengers  paid  two  dollars 
each  for  their  breakfast,  dinner  or  supper.  For 
beds  they  wrapped  themselves  in  their  blankets 
and  slept  on  the  floor  at  the  stations.  At  Eagle 
Rock,  one  night  a  little  later  on,  old  man  Corn- 
stock,  the  discoverer  of  the  Comstock  lode, 
poured  out  his  plaints  nearly  all  the  night  into 
the  unwilling  ears  of  the  tired  travelers  in  the 
house,  of  how  he  had  been  cheated  out  of  his  in- 
terest in  his  great  discovery.  He  was  then  on  his 
way  to  Cheyenne  to  join  a  party  about  to  start 
across  the  Black  Hill  country.  But  the  old  man 
never  found  another  "Comstock"  and,  heartsore 
and  bitter,  after  the  trip  was  made  and  they 
reached  Bozeman,  he  put  a  pistol  to  his  head  and 
ended  all. 

Such  was  the  history  of  the  Snake  river  valley 
for  the. next  four  or  five  years.  A  few  people 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


came  in  to  stay.  The  Morrisites  had  seceded 
from  the  Mormon  church  and  a  few  of  them  set- 
tled around  Soda  Springs,  the  ''Beer  Springs"  of 
Bonneville.  Stock-raising  was  beginning  to  at- 
tract attention.  John  Adams  started  a  little  store, 
and  fought  mosquitoes,  at  Market  Lake.  "Rush 
Reuben,"  whose  name  was  then  hardly  known 
as  Henry  Dunn,  settled  on  Blackfoot  river. 
Presto  Burrell  came  soon  afterward,  and  these 
two  still  remain  prosperous  and  respected  citi- 
zens. Charles  Higham,  with  his  family,  settled 
in  Lincoln  valley,  now  on  the  Reservation,  and 
his  sons  are  now  thrifty  stockmen.  N.  H.  Just, 
one  of  the  best  commissioners  our  county  ever 
had,  was  also  in  Lincoln  valley,  but  was  quite 
young.  S.  F.  Taylor  and  C.  G.  Martin  were  al- 
ways enterprising  in  the  stock  business.  "Ryland 
T.,"  one  of  the  most  noted  geldings  on  the  track, 
was  bred  by  Mr.  Taylor  and  sold  from  his  range. 
Still  no  agriculture  was  thought  of.  The 
windy,  sage-covered  plains  remained  unchanged 
from  what  Lewis  and  Clarke  saw  them  in  1802-3 
and  Bonneville  in  1833.  On  wintry  nights  the 
sharp  bark  of  the  coyote  and  the  weird  cry  of  the 
mountain  lion  alone  were  heard  to  break  through 
the  winter's  storm.  Otherwise  there  was  no 
sound.  In  the  house,  the  operator  sits  at  the 
table  and  reads  the  associated-press  dispatches 
being  transmitted  to  Montana.  It  was  a  lonely, 
uneventful  life.  There  was  time  and  food  for  re- 
flection. A  dispatch  from  Rome:  Victor  Eman- 
uel;  Garabaldi;  the  Pope.  From  London:  some 
great  commercial  house  failed;  prospective  war; 
an  ocean  steamer  sunk,  with  all  on  board.  Paris: 
Napoleon;  William;  Bismarck;  will  there  be  war? 
Then  the  marriages,  deaths,  fires,  intrigues,  elec- 
tions, defalcations,  assassinations.  One  might 
look  at  the  world,  imagining  himself  on  high,  as 
though  riding  with  the  spirit  on  Shelley's  cloud, 
Tie  watched  the  machinations  of  the  creatures 
called  men  on  the  earth  below, — their  petty 
strivings  to  undo  their  fellow  men,  and  for  their 
own  selfish  advancement;  their  hopes  and  fears; 
their  eager  quest  for  wealth,  fame  and  position. 
*  *  *  And,  after  all,  what  does  it  amount  to: 
"Imperious  Caesar,  dead  and  turned  to  clay, 
might  stop  a  hole  to  keep  the  wind  away."  Why 
should  a  bubble  in  midocean  concern  itself  as  to 
whether  it  is  larger  or  smaller,  as  to  whether  its 
prismatic  colors  are  brighter  or  duller  than  those 


of  other  bubbles  floating. round  it?  The  ripple 
of  a  wave;  a  drop  of  rain;  a  breath  of  air  and  it 
is  gone  forever, — taken  back  again  into  the 
bosom  of  the  great  ocean  from  which  it  sprang 
into  being  for  a  moment. 

In  the  spring  of  1869  Professor  Hayden  came 
with  his  geological  party.  He  spoke  favorably 
of  the  Snake  river  valley  as  a  possible  agricul- 
tural country.  He  reported  the  valley  as  "com- 
posed of  a  rich,  sandy  loam,  that  needs  but  the 
addition  of  water  to  render  it  most  excellent 
farming  land."  But  how  was  the  water  to  be  got 
from  the  riv£r  bed?  There  was  one  creek,  Wil- 
low creek,  which  might  be  utilized;  but  still 
farming  was  not  experimented  with. 

On  Willow  creek  and  the  river  near  was  the 
historical  gathering  ground  for  the  Indians. 
Spring  and  fall,  as  far  back  as  tradition  carried 
them,  Shoshones  and  Bannocks  had  congregated 
in  hundreds  to  fish  and  to  gamble — the  one  tribe 
against  the  other.  It  was  not  uncommon  for  a 
"buck"  to  gamble  away  the  last  thing  he  had  on 
earth  and  to  walk  away  at  last  as  naked  as  he 
came  into  the  world.  But  at  this  time  they  were 
peaceful.  Often  only  a  single  man  was  at  Eagle 
Rock  where  there  were  hundreds  of  Indians 
camped  around.  Mr.  J.  M.  Taylor  and  his  family 
had  sold  out  and  left  Idaho;  the  remaining  part- 
ner had  no  family  and  at  times  was  left  entirely 
alone,  acting  as  stage  agent,  operator,  post- 
master, storekeeper.  Stage  passengers  no  longer 
got  their  meals  at  the  bridge.  The  Corbett  sta- 
tion had  been  started  south.  Mrs.  Corbett, 
weighing  four  hundred  pounds,  is  still  hale  and 
hearty  and  living  in  the  county. 

In  1869  B.  F.  White,  afterward  governor  of 
Montana,  began  operating  salt  works  at  the  head 
of  Salt  river,  northeast  of  Soda  Springs.  For 
some  years  most  of  the  salt  used  in  Montana 
smelters  was  furnished  from  these  works.  From 
time  to  time  a  little  placer  mining  was  done  on 
the  banks  of  Snake  river,  and  the  same  is  the 
case  to  this  day,  but  it  has  never  been  a  profitable 
branch  of  industry. 

Fort  Hall  Indian  reservation  was  laid  out 
about  this  time,  and  Captain  Putnam,  for  whom 
Mount  Putnam  was  named,  was  in  command  of 
troops  there  for  a  number  of  years.  The  country 
by  this  time  was  showing  some  change — more 
people  had  settled.  A  few  who  are  still  in  Idaho 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


99 


are  O.  H.  Harkness,  founder  of  McCammon; 
John  Watson,  still  living  near  Blackfoot;  Will- 
iam Adams,  living  now,  as  then,  at  Market 
Lake;  John  Hill,  now  in  Idaho  Falls.  John 
Kelly  was  prospecting  for  gold  in  1865  and  is 
prospecting  still — a  type  of  hundreds  from  the 
days  of  '49;  now  almost  all  dead  and,  let  us  hope, 
at  last  finding  what  they  vainly  sought  on  earth 
in  the  golden  streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

Oneida  county  was  organized,  with  Malad  as 
the  county-seat,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
south  of  Eagle  Rock,  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  county  being  the  Montana  line. 

In  September,  1871,  J.  C.  Anderson  came  out 
and  settled  at  Eagle  Rock.  From  that  time  on 
till  1880  he  was  in  charge  of  all  business  at  Eagle 
Rock,  and  is  now  president  of  Anderson  Broth- 
ers' bank.  The  Chief  Joseph's  war  hardly  dis- 
turbed the  few  people  who  made  Eagle  Rock 
their  headquarters;  though  a  number  of  freight- 
ers or  travelers  were  killed  by  the  Indians  a  little 
farther  north.  About  1871  Orville  Buck,  with 
his  family,  located  on  Willow  creek,  about  fif- 
teen miles  from  Eagle  Rock,  where  he  still  lives. 
Peter  Kelly  tried  the  experiment  of  raising  a  few 
potatoes  and  cabbages.  He  was  successful,  and 
this  was  the  beginning  of  farming  in  what  is  now 
recognized  as  the  most  fruitful  region  in  the 
Rocky  mountains.  Poor  old  Pete!  He  was 
one  man  who  knew  he  could  not  resist  whisky, 
if  whisky  could  be  had,  and  he  voluntarily  iso- 
lated himself  and  lived  many  years  entirely  alone 
in  a  remote  locality  in  the  mountains,  not  seeing 
a  human  face  sometimes  for  months  together. 
May  St.  Peter  take  it  into  count  when  old  Peter 
applies  at  the  gates  of  Paradise! 

In  1879  Dr.  Amos  Woodward,  of  Ohio,  B. 
F.  White,  now  of  Dillon,  and  the  Anderson 
brothers,  commenced  the  construction  of  the  first 
irrigating  canal  in  southeast  Idaho.  When  fin- 
ished the  work  had  cost  seventy  thousand  dol- 
lars, and,  with  laterals,  was  about  fifty  miles  long. 
At  the  present  time  the  irrigating  canals  in  Bing- 
ham  county  may  be  measured  by  the  hundreds  of 
miles. 

The  Utah  &  Northern  Railroad  reached 
Eagle  Rock  in  June,  1879,  and  spanned  Snake 
river  with  its  bridge  on  the  I2th  day  of  the 
month.  The  town  was  laid  off,  shops  located, 
new  houses  began  to  spring  up,  and  the  remote 


wayside  station  was  transformed  into  a  busy 
town.  Farmers  began  to  locate  and  to  fence  and 
improve;  other  canals  were  constructed,  one  af- 
ter another,  and  the  valley  began  at  last  to  prove 
itself  what  Professor  Hayden  had  so  many  years 
before  said  it  was  capable  of  becoming.  Soon 
afterward  came  a  division  of  Oneida  county. 
Three  counties  were  organized,  Bingham,  Ban- 
nock and  Oneida,  and  any  of  the  three  is  now 
larger  than  some  of  the  eastern  states.  Black- 
foot  was  chosen  the  county-seat  of  Bingham. 

In  due  time  Eagle  Rock  organized  its  village 
government.  Dr.  F.  Chamberlain,  S.  F.  Taylor, 
Edward  Fanning,  Robert  Anderson  -and  W.  H. 
B.  Crow  were  the  first  trustees,  in  1889. 

A  convention  to  form  a  state  constitution  was 
assembled  in  Boise  City  in  July,  1889,  and  the 
delegates  from  southeast  Idaho  were  Judge  John 
T.  Morgan,  Sam.  F.  Taylor,  D.  W.  Standrod, 
H.  B.  Kinport,  F.  W.  Beam,  H.  O.  Harkness, 
Robert  Anderson,  W.  H.  Savidge  and  Homer 
Stull.  Idaho  was  admitted  as  a  state  into  the 
Union,  July  3,  1890. 

In  1892  a  "boomers'  "  company  was  organized 
at  Eagle  Rock  by  some  easterners.  One  of  their 
first  moves  was  to  change  the  name  of  Eagle 
Rock  to  Idaho  Falls,  because,  forsooth,  people 
would  be  led  by  the  new  name  to  imagine  great 
water  power  at  the  "Falls."  The  boom,  like 
nearly  all  booms,  was  a  calamity.  Fictitious 
prices  were  asked  and  paid,  town  lots  were  sold 
by  the  promoters  to  servant  girls  or  any  other 
victims,  all  over  the  northwestern  states;  and 
then  came  the  reaction,  from  which  the  town  has 
scarcely  yet  recovered.  But  you  can't  keep  the 
sun  at  daybreak  from  rising  by  beating  it  back 
with  a  hoe-handle.  Still  the  country  improves 
and  the  town  grows. 

"Tempora  mutantur,  et  nos  mutamur."  No 
longer  the  "Great  American  Desert!''  In  the 
last  year  or  two  there  have  been  world  develop- 
ments. A  trade  is  only  now  in  its  infancy  that 
is  going  to  revolutionize  relative  values  of  land 
on  the  American  continent  and  the  commerce  of 
the  world.  Asia  is  calling  to  America;  America 
is  eager  to  answer  to  the  cry.  Huge  cargoes  of 
wheat  leave  some  Pacific  port  almost  daily.  We 
do  not  yet  realize  what  this  all  means.  It  means 
the  west  is  coming  to  the  forefront.  It  means 
that  probably  the  greatest  city  on  the  American 


100 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


continent  is  to  be  on  the  western  coast.  It  may 
be  San  Francisco,  Portland,  Tacoma;  or  it  may 
be  the  foundation  stones  are  not  yet  laid  of  what 
is  yet  to  be  the  busiest  metropolis  of  all  Ameri- 
ca. Every  acre  of  land  on  the  Pacific  slope,  cap- 
able of  producing,  has  a  greater  intrinsic  value, 
acre  for  acre,  than  land  in  Illinois,  Ohio  or  Mis- 
souri. It  is  nearer  the  market  that  is  now  just 
opening. 

If  we  hark  back  to  remote  antiquity  there  is  a 
lesson  to  be  leaned.  We  see  that  the  earliest  de- 
velopments of  civilization  have  been  in  irrigated 
countries.  Culture  follows  wealth.  They  have 
been  the  most  civilized  because  the  richest. 
Egypt,  with  the  great  system  of  irrigation  from 
the  Nile,  is  first  to  attract  our  attention. 
Many  other  instances  will  present  themselves, 
but  we  will  only  note  that,  while  the  abundantly 
rain-watered  belt  of  country  along  the  eastern 
coast  of  North  America  was  a  scene  of  Indian 
strife  and  savagery,  irrigated  Peru  was  wealthy 
and  civilized.  Cortez  enriched  Spain  by  robbing 
the  temples  of  the  Incas  of  their  gathered  wealth. 


Crops  never  fail  in  an  irrigated  country:  wealth 
is  as  sure  to  follow  as  light  and  life  follow  the 
rising  of  the  sun. 

Now  we  make  the  assertion,  and  we  challenge 
contradiction,  that  the  Snake  river  valley  is  the 
most  favored  locality  in  the  great  west.  Nowhere 
else  can  be  found  so  vast  a  body  of  fertile  land 
and,  at  the  same  time,  an  ample  supply  of  water. 
When  the  Nile  fails  to  water  Egypt,  we  may  be- 
gin to  fear  Snake  river  may  also  fail.  Not  till 
then. 

It  is  true  beyond  controversy  that  the  one 
hundred  and  fifty  mile  stretch  from  Marysville 
at  the  north,  above  St.  Anthony,  to  old  Fort 
Hall,  south  of  Blackfoot,  can,  and  in  due  time 
will,  produce  more  wheat,  oats,  potatoes,  apples, 
etc.,  than  a  like  .number  of  acres  anywhere  else 
on  the  continent,  and  the  apples  are  said  to  have 
a  more  delicious  flavor.  Not  many  years  are  to 
pass  before  Bonneville's  desert  is  to  become  the 
Egypt  of  the  west  and  a  small  farm  to  the  moder- 
ate man  will  be  an  ample  inheritance. 


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CHAPTER  XII. 


POLITICAL— SECESS10NISM   AND   CRIME. 


BEFORE  the  mining  period,  commencing 
in  1862,  Idaho  was  a  comparatively  un- 
known region  belonging  nominally  to 
Oregon  and  afterward  to  Washington.  During 
the  years  1862-3  such  was  the  rush  of  immigra- 
tion to  this  section  that  Idaho  was  erected  into 
a  territory  of  the  United  States  government.  The 
enabling  act  to  organize  as  such  was  passed  by 
congress  in  the  spring  of  the  latter  year,  and  on 
the  22d  of  September  William  H.  Wallace,  late 
delegate  to  congress  from  Washington,  who  had, 
on  July  loth  preceding,  been  appointed  gover- 
nor of  Idaho  by  President  Lincoln,  issued  his 
proclamation  for  organizing  the  territory,  with 
the  capital  at  Lewiston ;  but  the  fact  of  this  proc- 
lamation was  scarcely  known  to  the  miners  in 
the  wilderness,  far  removed  from  mail  facilities, 
until  the  following  spring.  Meanwhile  the  laws 
of  Washington  were  in  force.  The  first  occur- 
rence of  the  name  Idaho  territory  in  the  public 
records  seems  to  have  been  under  date  of  August 
7,  1863,  in  Boise.  James  Judge  was  on  that  day 
made  assessor. 

Previously  to  his  election  as  delegate  Wallace 
had  districted  the  territory,  for  judicial  purposes, 
as  follows:  First  district,  Nez  Perces  and  Sho- 
shone  counties,  A.  C.  Smith  judge;  second,  Boise 
county,  Samuel  C.  Parks  judge;  third,  Missoula 
county  and  the  country  east  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, Sidney  Edgerton  judge.  Florence,  Ban- 
nack  City  and  Hellgate  were  appointed  as  the 
seats  of  federal  courts.  Edgerton  was  named  as 
the  chief  justice  of  the  territory,  and  probably 
should  have  been  given  the  more  populous 
region  of  the  Boise  basin ;  but  Wallace  was  prej- 
udiced against  "imported"  judges.  Alexander 
C.  Smith,  being  from  Olympia,  was  given  the 
region  containing  the  capital.  Parks,  on 
assuming  his  duties  at  Boise  City,  expressed 
a  hesitation  in  taking  the  place  due  to  Edger- 
ton. 

The  act  organizing  the  territory  fixed  the  num- 


ber of  representatives  for  the  first  session  of  the 
legislature  at  twenty — thirteen  in  the  lower 
house  and  seven  in  the  upper.  Of  the  seven 
councilmen  Boise  county  was  entitled  to  two, 
Idaho  and  Nez  Perces  one  each,  Missoula  and 
Shoshone  one  jointly,  Bannack  east  of  the 
Rocky  mountains  one,  and  all  the  remainder  of 
the  country  east  of  said  range,  one.  The  men 
elected  to  the  "senate"  were:  First  district,  E. 
B.  Waterbury,  Stanford  Capps  and  Lyman  Stan- 
ford; second  district,  Joseph  Miller  and  Ephraim 
Smith;  and  third  district,  William  C.  Rheem. 
Miller  was  elected  president  of  the  council  and 
J.  McLaughlin  secretary.  The  assemblymen 
were:  L.  Bacon,  of  Nez  Perces  county;  C.  B. 
Bodfish,  M.  C.  Brown,  R.  B.  Campbell,  W.  R. 
Keithly  and  Milton  Kelly,  of  Boise  county;  Al- 
onzo  Leland  and  John  Wood,  of  Idaho  county; 
L.  C.  Miller,  of  East  Bannack;  J.  A.  Orr,  of  Sho- 
shone county;  and  James  Tufts,  of  the  Fort  Ben- 
ton  district.  Tufts  was  chosen  speaker,  S.  S. 
Slater  chief  clerk,  Benjamin  Need  assistant  clerk, 
A.  Mann  enrolling  clerk,  P.  H.  Lynch  sergeant- 
at-arms,  and  W.  H.  Richardson  doorkeeper.  The 
oath  to  the  members  was  administered  by  Judge 
Parks.  Rheem,  of  the  council,  and  Parks,  with  a 
member  of  the  assembly,  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  prepare  a  code.  The  legislature  met 
December  10,  1863. 

By  the  election,  which  had  been  held  October 
31,  Wallace,  Republican,  was  chosen  as  a  dele- 
gate, and,  being  thus  taken  from  the  executive 
chair,  W.  B.  Daniels,  of  Yamhill  county,  Wash- 
ington, became  the  acting  governor. 

The  general  laws  passed  at  the  first  session  of 
the  legislature  were  not  remarkable.  Among 
the  special  laws  was  that  which  organized 
Owyhee  county  out  of  the  territory  south  of 
Snake  river  and  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains. 
The  name  "Owyhee"  is  from  the  Hawaiian  lan- 
guage, and  was  applied  to  the  river  of  that  name 
by  two  Kanakas  while  trading  with  the  Sho- 


101 


102 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


shones  in  the  service  of  a  mercantile  company. 
The  county  of  Oneida  was  erected,  with  the 
county-seat  at  Soda  Springs.  Alturas  county 
was  defined  as  bounded  by  Snake  river  on  the 
south,  Idaho  county  on  the  north,  Boise  county 
on  the  west,  and  the  one  hundred  and  twelfth 
meridian  on  the  east,  with  the  county-seat  at 
Esmeralcla.  Several  counties  now  in  Montana, 
east  of  the  Bitter  Root  mountains,  were  outlined, 
with  the  designation  of  their  county-seats,  as  fol- 
lows: Missoula,  Wordensville;  Deer  Lodge, 
Deer  Lodge;  Beaver  Head,  Bannack;  Madison, 
Virginia  City;  Jefferson,  Gallatin;  Choteau,  Fort 
Benton;  and  three  other  counties,  their  respect- 
ive seats  of  government  being  left  to  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  respective  counties.  This  act  of 
the  Idaho  legislature  was  a  public  testimonial  of 
the  comparative  importance  of  those  towns. 

The  legislature  also  incorporated  Idaho  City, 
changing  its  name  from  Bannack;  but  the  char- 
ter was  rejected  by  the  election  held  there  sub- 
sequently, while  the  people  at  the  same  time 
elected  a  full  set  of  city  officers.  Bannack  City 
was  incorporated  in  Beaver  Head  county,  and 
Placerville  in  Boise  county. 

Among  the  laws  intended  for  the  moral  im- 
provement of  society  was  one  "for  the  better  ob- 
servance of  the  Lord's  day,"  which  prohibited 
theatrical  representations,  horse  racing,  gamb- 
ling, cock  fighting,  or  any  noisy  amusements  on 
Sunday.  Another  act  prohibited  the  sale  of  ar- 
dent spirits,  firearms  or  ammunition  to  the  In- 
dians, but  the  law  allowed  Indian  evidence  to  be 
taken  in  cases  of  its  alleged  infraction.  A  law 
exempting  homesteads  from  forced  sales  was 
passed  in  order  to  encourage  permanent  settle- 
ment. Congress  was  memorialized  to  appropri- 
ate fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  construction  of 
a  military  wagon-road  to  connect  the  navigable 
waters  of  the  Columbia  with  those  of  the  Mis- 
souri namely,  from  the  forks  of  the  Missouri  on 
the  east  to  the  junction  of  the  Snake  and  Clear- 
water  rivers  on  the  west;  also  to  establish  a  mail 
route  from  Salt  Lake  City  to  Lewiston,  and  to 
treat  with  the  hostile  Indians  of  the  Yellowstone 
country.  The  mail  route  mentioned  was  estab- 
lished. 

In  the  spring  of  1864  the  territorial  officers 
were:  W.  H.  Wallace,  governor;  W.  B.  Daniels, 
acting  governor  and  secretary;  B.  F.  Lambkin, 


auditor;  D.  S.  Payne,  marshal;  and  D.  S.  Ken- 
yon,  treasurer. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  greater  increase  of 
population  in  the  southern  part  of  the  territory 
aroused  a  desire  among  the  people  here  to  have 
the  capital  removed  from  Lewiston  to  some  point 
southerly  and  more  central,  the  movement  for  a 
separate  territory  comprising  the  counties  east  of 
the  Bkter  Root  mountains  having  been  already 
under  way,  and  naturally  the  contest  grew  more 
and  more  heated  until  a  change  was  made. 

In  the  meantime  acting  Governor  Daniels  ren- 
dered himself  very  unpopular  by  his  opposition 
to  the  legislature  and  other  injudicious  acts, 
among  which  was  his  threat  to  give  the  public 
printing  to  a  San  Francisco  firm,  after  the  legis- 
lature had  appointed  Frank  Kenyon,  publisher  of 
the  Golden  Age,  for  the  work.  In  consequence 
of  the  evidences  of  his  unpopularity  he  resigned 
his  office  in  May,  leaving  the  secretaryship  in  the 
hands  of  Silas  Cochrane  until  another  appoint- 
ment should  be  made. 

In  regard  to  Kenyon  and  the  Golden  Age,  it 
will  be  interesting  to  notice  further  that  this 
paper  was  started  by.  A.  S.  Gould,  August  2. 
1862,  at  Lewiston.  Being  a  Republican,  he  had 
hot  times  with  the  secession  immigrants  from  the 
south.  On  raising  the  United  States  flag  over 
his  office — the  first  ever  raised  in  that  town — 
twenty-one  shots  were  fired  into  it  by  disunion 
Democrats.  Gould  was  succeeded  by  John  H. 
Scranton  for  a  short  time,  and  in  August,  1863, 
Frank  Kenyon  took  charge  of  the  journal  and 
was  soon  afterward  appointed  territorial  printer. 
With  the  decline  of  Lewiston  and  the  close  of  the 
second  volume,  Kenyon  started  with  his  paper 
for  Boise  City,  but  was  turned  back  by  influ- 
ences brought  to  bear  upon  him.  In  January, 
1865,  the  paper  was  suspended,  and  its  plant  was 
ultimately  removed  to  Boise.  Kenyon  started 
the  Mining  News,  at  Leesburg,  in  1867,  and  its 
publication  continued  eight  months,  when  the 
enterprise  was  abandoned  for  want  of  support. 
The  press  was  then  removed  back  to  Montana, 
whence  it  had  been  brought,  and  Kenyon  after- 
ward went  to  Utah  and  finally  to  South  America, 
where  he  died. 

SECESSIONISM  AND  CRIME. 
Idaho  was  opened  to   the  world  during  our 
civil  war,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  immi- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


103 


grants  were  secessionists  fresh  from  the  southern 
Confederacy,  while  there  were  also  not  a  few 
sympathizers  with  the  southern  cause  from  the 
northern  states.  During  those  exciting  times  it 
was  easy  to  stir  up  hot  blood.  Boise  county 
gave  in  1863  four  to  five  hundred  majority  for 
the  Republican  ticket;  but  such  was  the  rush 
there  of  emigrants  from  the  south  that  the  very 
next  year  there  was  a  majority  of  nine  to  ten 
hundred  for  the  Democratic  candidates,  who 
were  known  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the  great 
rebellion.  Both  these  and  the  criminal  element 
generally  had  the  cause  of  law-breaking  in  com- 
mon, and  therefore  the  early  government  of  Ida- 
ho territory  was  more  or  less  influenced  by  these 
elements. 

In  Boise  county  alone  there  were  more  than 
twenty  murders  in  1864,  with  other  crimes  in 
proportion.  The  sheriff  of  the  county  was  Sum- 
ner  Pinkham,  a  native  of  Maine,  who  proved  a 
faithful  and  fearless  officer.  At  the  district  court 
held  in  February,  1864,  the  grand  jury  found  in- 
dictments for  forty-seven  cases  of  crime. 

Correspondingly,  on  the  eve  of  the  presidential 
election  of  1864,  the  two  great  parties  evidenced 
the  differences  in  their  platform.  While  the  ad- 
ministration party,  consisting  of  Republicans  and 
Union  Democrats,  declared  it  to  be  their  highest 
dutv  to  aid  the  government  in  suppressing  the 
great  insurrection  by  force  of  arms,  the  opposi- 
tion party  advocated  putting  an  end  to  the  con- 
flict by  peaceable  means,  among  these  means  a 
possible  convention  of  the  states;  declared  that 
the  interference  of  military  authority  with  the 
elections  in  certain  border  states  was  a  "shameful 
violation  of  the  constitution,  and  that  the  repe- 
tition of  such  acts  in  the  approaching  election 
will  be  held  as  revolutionary  and  resisted  with  all 
the  power  and  means  under  our  control."  This 
language  was  specially  aimed  at  the  military  or- 
ders of  Colonel  Wright,  a  government  officer 
of  Oregon,  including  this  district.  The  adminis- 
tration was  also  charged  with  abusing  prisoners 
of  war.  All  this  had  the  effect  to  encourage  a 
disregard  of  all  the  laws  in  force  in  Idaho,  as 
such  were  considered  products  of  northern  tyran- 
ny. Hence  disunionism  and  lawlessness  generally 
worked  together.  The  result  of  the  election  was 
almost  entirely  Democratic,  but  one  Union  man 
being  sent  to  the  legislature;  and  the  only  Union 


officers  in  the  territory  were  those  appointed  by 
the  general  government. 

Union  editors  throughout  Idaho  had  to  be 
"careful."  The  Boise  News,  ostensibly  an  inde- 
pendent paper,  made  excuses  for  the  Democratic 
majority  in  1864  by  saying  tliat  the  miners  were 
driven  to  desert  the  administration  by  the  policy 
of  the  government  in  proposing  to  tax  the  mines, 
and  the  very  next  issue  announced  the  sale  of  the 
office  to  a  Democratic  publisher.  J.  S.  Butler 
acknowledged  that  he  sold  "the  best  newspaper 
in  Idaho"  rather  than  encounter  the  opposition 
of  the  disunionists.  Said  he,  "It  was  all  a  man's 
life  was  worth,  almost,  to  be  seen  showing  his 
head  in  the  early  days  of  Idaho."  Knapp  and 
McConnell  gave  the  same  account.  During  the 
hot  campaign  of  1864  the  leading  Democratic 
sheet  was  The  Crisis,  edited  by  H.  C.  Street, 
formerly  of  the  Democrat,  of  Idaho,  and  of  the 
Shasta  Herald  and  Colusa  Sun,  of  California. 

To  protect  themselves  and  their  property 
against  the  impetuous  element  described,  the  Re- 
publicans of  the  territory  felt  obliged  to  adopt 
the  methods  of  secret  societies,  by  organizing 
"vigilance  committees."  These  methods  seemed 
justifiable,  as  in  the  days  of  1854  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, when  the  rapid  spread  of  population  out- 
stripped the  cumbersome  machinery  of  legisla- 
tion and  court  procedure.  Criminals  of  all  sorts 
flocked  to  Idaho,  in  part  because  here  they  were 
beyond  the  reach  of  law  and  refined  customs.  A 
local  defense  committee  had  been  organized  by 
miners  on  Salmon  river  as  early  as  the  autumn 
of  1862,  which  drove  the  worst  element  from 
their  locality,  only  to  make  them  more  numerous 
in  other  parts  of  the  territory.  Histories  of  these 
crimes  are  abundant  before  us,  but  we  must  resist 
the  temptation  to  repeat  them,  for  there  is  no 
more  reason  for  the  recital  of  one  than  of  thou- 
sands of  others. 

Lewiston  was  the  second  community  to  organ- 
ize for  self-defense,  and  the  occasion  was  one  of 
the  most  atrocious  crimes  on  record,  the  murder 
of  Lloyd  Magruder,  a  prominent  citizen  of  that 
place,  and  four  others.  Magruder  had  taken  a 
lot  of  goods  and  a  band  of  mules  to  the  Beaver 
Head  mines,  realizing  about  thirty  thousand  dol- 
lars, with  which  he  started  to  return  in  October. 
Needing  assistance  in  the  care  of  many  pack  ani- 
mals and  desiring  company  on  the  long  and 


104 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


dreary  route,  he  engaged  four  men, — James  Ro- 
maine,  Christopher  Lowery,  Daniel  Howard  and 
William  Page, — all  of  whom  he  had  seen  in  Lew- 
iston  and  who  were  well  appearing,  to  return 
with  him  to  that  place.  Indeed,  the  three  first 
named  had  gone  to  Beaver  Head  with  no  other 
purpose  than  to  rob  and  murder  Magruder  on 
his  way  home.  Howard  was  a  good-looking, 
brave  young  man,  of  a  kindly  temper,  but  reck- 
less in  morals,  and  on  account  of  his  accomplish- 
ments, including  some  knowledge  of  medicine,  he 
was  called  "Doctor"  or  "Doc."  Romaine  was  a 
gambler.  Lowery  was  a  blacksmith,  who  had 
been  with  Mullan  in  his  wagon-road  expeditions. 
Page  was  a  trapper,  of  none  too  good  reputation. 
The  particulars  of  the  return  trip  of  Magruder 
and  his  murder,  etc.,  we  quote  from  H.  H.  Ban- 
croft's history: 

When  Magruder  was  about  to  start  he  was  joined  by 
the  persons  named,  Allen  and  Phillips,  having  about 
twenty  thousand  dollars  in  gold-dust,  and  the  unknown 
men  with  some  money.  They  traveled  without  acci- 
dent to  a  camp  six  miles  from  the  crossing  of  the 
Clearwater,  where  a  guard  was  stationed  as  usual, 
Magruder  and  Lowery  being  on  the  first  watch,  and 
the  snow  falling  fast.  When  the  travelers  were  asleep, 
the  mules  becoming  restless,  both  guards  started  out 
to  examine  into  the  cause  of  their  uneasiness,  Lowery 
taking  along  an  ax,  as  he  said,  to  make  a  fence  to 
prevent  the  animals  wandering  in  a  certain  direction. 
Magruder  was  killed  with  this  ax  in  Lowery's  hands. 
Howard  and  Romaine  murdered  the  two  brothers 
about  midnight  in  the  same  manner,  and  soon  after 
killed  Allen  and  Phillips,  Allen  being  shot.  So  well 
executed  was  the  awful  plot  that  only  Phillips  cried 
out,  when  a  second  blow  silenced  him.  Page  appears 
to  have  been  frightened  and  to  have  taken  no  part  in 
the  killing.  The  bodies  were  wrapt  up  in  a  tent  cloth 
and  rolled  over  a  precipice;  all  the  animals  except 
eight  horses  were  taken  into  a  canon  off  the  trail  and 
shot;  the  camp  equipage  was  burned,  and  the  scraps 
of  iron  left  from  the  burning  were  gathered  up,  placed 
in  a  sack  and  thrown  after  the  bodies  down  the  moun- 
tain. During  all  this  time  the  murderers  wore  moc- 
casins, so  that  the  damning  deed,  if  discovered,  might 
be  imputed  to  the  Indians. 

The  guilty  men  now  agreed  to  go  to  Puget  sound 
and  attempted  to  cross  the  Clearwater  forty  miles 
above  Lewiston;  but  the  weather  prevented  them  and 
they  kept  on  to  Lewiston;  here,  partially  disguised, 
they  took  tickets  by  stage  to  Walla  Walla,  and  thence 
to  Portland  and  San  Francisco.  Something  in  the 
manner  of  the  men,  the  "mark  of  Cain,"  which  seldom 
fails  to  be  visible,  aroused  the  suspicion  of  Hill  Beachy, 


owner  of  the  stage  line,  who,  on  examining  the  horses 
and  saddles  left  in  Lewiston,  became  convinced  of  the 
robbery  and  death  of  Magruder.  whose  personal  friend 
he  was,  and  whose  return  was  looked  for  with  anxiety, 
owing  to  the  prevalence  of  crime  upon  all  the  mining 
trails.  Accordingly,  with  A.  P.  Ankeny  and  others,  he 
started  in  pursuit,  but  before  they  reached  Portland 
the  murderers  had  taken  steamer  for  San  Francisco, 
where  they  were  arrested  on  a  telegraphic  requisition, 
and  after  some  delay  brought  back  to  Lewiston,  De- 
cember 7.  to  be  tried.  The  only  witness  was  Page, 
who  had  turned  state's  evidence,  revealed  minutely  all 
the  circumstances  of  the  crime,  and  guided  Magruder's 
friends  to  the  spot  where  it  was  committed  and  where 
the  truth  of  his  statement  was  verified. 

Meanwhile  a  vigilance  committee  had  been  formed 
at  Lewiston.  which  met  the  prisoners  and  their  guard 
on  their  arrival  and  demanded  the  surrender  of  the 
murderers;  but  Beachy,  who  had  promised  them  an 
impartial  trial,  succeeded  in  persuading  them  to  await 
the  action  of  the  law.  On  hearing  the  evidence  the 
jury,  without  leaving  their  seats,  rendered  a  verdict  of 
guilty,  January  26,  1864,  and  Judge  Parks  sentenced 
Howard,  Romaine  and  Lowery  to  be  hanged  on  the 
4th  of  March,  which  sentence  was  carried  into  effect. 
Page  was  himself  murdered  afterward,  in  the  summer  of 
1867,  by  a  desperado  named  Albert  Igo. 

This  was  the  first  case  in  the  courts  of  Idaho, 
and  was  tried  at  a  special  term,  the  term  of  court 
at  Idaho  City  being  postponed  on  account  of  it. 
The  legislature  of  Idaho  authorized  the  payment 
of  Beachy's  expenses,  which  were  over  six  thou- 
sand dollars.  He  died  in  San  Francisco,  May  24, 
1875. 

The  murders  just  described,  in  connection 
with  the  apparent  increase  of  crime,  caused  a 
iiiore  rapid  formation  of  vigilance  committees 
elsewhere,  but  inasmuch  as  the  courts  proved 
themselves  comparatively  prompt  in  the  convic- 
tion and  sentence  of  criminals,  the  Lewiston 
committee  was  disbanded  in  April.  By  this  time 
the  place  had  become  as  quiet  and  orderly  as  any 
village  in  the  east. 

Owyhee  had  a  few  crimes  and  a  number  of 
quarrels  among  the  miners,  but  on  the  whole,  as 
Maize,  a  local  historian  there,  said,  "society  was 
exemplary,  except  some  high  gambling.  If  a 
man  was  caught  doing  anything  wrong  we  just 
killed  him;  that's  all!"  South  Boise  and  the 
Lemhi  mines  were  cursed  with  the  presence  of 
desperadoes  from  Montana,  where  a  very  active 
committee  of  safety  was  in  operation.  Warren, 
for  no  apparent  reason,  was  never  a  resort  for 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


105 


villainous  characters.  But  the  Boise  basin  was 
the  most  afflicted  with  crime  of  all  the  districts 
of  the  territory.  For  some  unassigned  reason  the 
work  of  the  courts  in  this  region  was  not  effec- 
tual in  improving  the  general  state  of  society, 
while  politics  dominated  the  division  of  the  com- 
munity into  classes  to  such  an  extent  that  when 
a  crime  was  committed  the  perpetrator  was 
shielded,  at  kast  to  some  extent,  behind  the  im- 
munity of  political  sectarianism.  In  1864  the 
Union  men  of  Idaho  City  organized  themselves 
to  meet  the  coming  crisis,  precipitated  by  the 
"Democratic"  victory  of  that  year. 

Horse-stealing  and  the  theft  of  all  other  do- 
mestic animals,  especially  those  at  grazing  on  the 
ranches,  were  rife,  and  the  settlers  suffered  in- 
tensely. W.  J.  McConnell,  for  example,  a  gar- 
dener on  the  Payette,  was  left  without  a  horse, 
either  to  cultivate  his  crops  or  to  draw  anything 
to  market;  and  this  was  the  exciting  cause,  the 
last  in  a  series,  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the 
first  vigilance  committee  in  the  Boise  basin. 
Salient  features  of  this  occasion  were  these,  as 
related  in  Bancroft's  history. 

"Having  discovered  one  of  his  horses  in  a 
stable  in  Boise  City,  in  recovering  it  by  process 
of  law,  he  (McConnell)  found  the  costs  in  a  jus- 
tice's court  to  exceed  the  value  of  the  animal. 
This  he  paid  amid  the  jeers  of  a  crowd  composed 
of  idlers  and  disreputable  characters,  who  re- 
joiced in  the  discomfiture  of  the  'vegetable  man.' 
Thereupon  he  addressed  them  in  a  short  speech, 
which  contained  the  following  pertinent  words: 
'I  can  catch  any  damned  thief  who  ever  stalked 
these  prairies;  and  the  next  one  who  steals  a 
horse  from  me  is  my  Injun;  there  will  be  no  law- 
suit about  it.'  A  few  days  later  two  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  horses  and  mules  were  taken 
from  his  ranch  and  those  adjoining.  McConnell 
and  two  others  immediately  pursued,  overtak- 
ing the  robbers  near  La  Grande,  killing  three  and 
mortally  wounding  a  fourth,  in  a  short  and  sharp 
conflict.  Finding  the  leader  of  the  gang  had 
gone  to  La  Grande  for  supplies,  McConnell  fol- 
lowed. By  a  series  of  well  devised  maneuvers, 
the  man  was  captured  and  taken  to  camp.  A 
confession  was  exacted  of  all  the  names  of  the 
organizations  of  thieves  with  which  these  men 
were  connected,  and  the  prisoner  was  shot." 

The  bravery  and  skill  of   the    gardener    soon 


made  him  leader  in  the  organization  of  the  Pay- 
ette Vigilance  Committee,  whose  career  after- 
ward was  characterized  bv  many  strange  and  ex- 
citing incidents.  An  effort  was  made  in  the  win- 
ter of  1864-5  to  disband  this  committee,  as  being 
a  body  of  men  organized  to  violate  the  law,  but 
the  citizens  stood  by  them  and  secured  their  re- 
lease. The  farmers  had  no  further  trouble  with 
horse  thieves,  and  the  results  of  the  work  of  the 
committee  seemed  to  prove  as  good  as  those  of 
the  efforts  of  the  great  vigilance  committee  of 
San  Francisco  in  1854.  However,  crime  was  not 
fully  ended  in  Idaho.  The  carelessness  of  some 
of  the  citizens  in  many  districts  and  the  -wicked- 
ness of  others  constituted  a  major  element  in  the 
election  and  appointment  of  officers,  so  that 
crime  and  misdemeanor  were  still  rife  for  an  in- 
definite period,  especially  along  the  routes  of 
travel.  Besides  the  many  crimes  committed  by 
common  outlaws,  almost  every  public  official  also 
who  had  the  handling  of  the  public  money  was 
tempted  to  take  advantage  of  his  position  and 
embezzle  some  of  the  funds  that  came  into  his 
possession.  During  the  first  two  years  after  the 
organization  of  the  territory  the  murderers  of 
Magruder  were  the  only  ones  hanged  by  the  le- 
gally constituted  authorities.  It  is  estimated  that 
at  least  two  hundred  outlaws  were  executed  by 
vigilance  committees  in  Idaho  and  Montana  be- 
tween 1861  and  1866. 

Succeeding  Daniels.  Caleb  Lyon,  of  New 
York,  was  governor  of  Idaho.  In  1865  he  left 
the  care  of  the  territory  in  the  hands  of  C.  De 
Witt  Smith,  a  native  of  New  York,  a  young  man 
of  promise,  educated  for  the  bar,  and  for  some 
time  an  employe  of  the  onvernment  m  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  But  he  yielded  to  the  temptations 
peculiar  to  society  here,  indulged  in  peculation 
and  dissipation,  from  the  effects  of  the  last  of 
which  he  died,  at  Rocky  Bar,  August  19,  1865, 
six  months  after  his  arrival. 

Horace  C.  Gilson,  of  Ohio,  who  had  been  act- 
ing as  secretary  of  the  territory  under  Smith,  was 
commissioned  secretary  in  September,  and  thus 
became  acting  governor;  but  during  the  follow- 
ing summer,  he  too  became  a  defaulter,  in  the 
sum  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  absconded  to 
China.  Meanwhile  Governor  Lyon  made  such 
unwise  use  of  the  public  funds  as  practically  to 
result  in  robbing  the  territory.  The  territorial 


106 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


prisons,  which  were  the  jails  of  Nez  Perces  and 
Boise  counties,  being  under  the  care  of  the  terri- 
torial treasurer,  were  made  the  channel  of  most  of 
the  official  peculation. 

The  first  capital  of  the  territory,  as  already 
stated,  was  at  Lewiston,  as  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor of  Washington,  and  the  first  legislative  as- 
sembly, which  was  held  there,  adjourned  without 
making  any  change  in  the  location  of  the  seat  of 
government;  but  the  legislature  of  1864  removed 
it  to  Boise  City,  where  it  has  ever  since  remained. 
The  people  of  Lewiston  and  vicinity  were  natur- 
ally so  much  opposed  to  this  removal  of  the  capi  • 
tal  that 'the  county  commissioners  there  refused 
to  acknowledge  the  legality  of  the  proceeding, 
claiming  some  technical  irregularities,  and  they 
went  so  far  as  to  enjoin  the  removal  of  the  arch- 
ives and  thus  bring  the  matter  into  the  courts. 
A.  C.  Smith,  the  associate  justice,  before  whom 
the  issue  was  first  brought,  decided  in  favor  of 
the  Lewiston  people,  against  the  "law-and-order" 
party.  Governor  Lyon  had  escaped  all  respon- 
sibility by  leaving  the  territory,  and  the  new  sec- 
retary sided  with  the  legislature  and  the  Boise 
people.  Appeal  was  made  to  the  supreme  court, 
which,  according  to  law,  was  obliged  to  hold  its 
sessions  at  the  "capital"  in  August  of  each  year. 
The  judges,  however,  avoided  their  responsibility 
in  this  regard  by  holding  a  session  in  neither 
place,  and  for  ten  months  there  was  anarchy. 
In  the  midst  of  the  controversy  Secretary  Smith 
died,  and  for  a  while  there  seemed  to  be  neither 
capital,  governor  nor  secretary.  Finally  United 
States  Marshal  Alvord  received  orders  from 
Washington  to  take  the  archives  to  Boise  City, 
and  no  local  authority  dared  resist  the  orders  of 
the  general  government.  Thus  the  matter  was 
settled. 

The  legislature  of  1864  created  the  county  of 
Ada  out  of  the  southwestern  part  of  Boise 
county,  with  the  county-seat  at  Boise  City.  La- 
tah  county  was  created  from  territory  north  of  the 
Clearwater  and  west  of  Shoshone  county,  with 
the  seat  of  its  government  at  Coeur  d'Alene;  and 
the  remainder  of  the  narrow  strip  reaching  to  the 
British  Columbia  line  was  organized  into  the 
county  of  Kootenai,  with  the  seat  at  Seneaguo- 
teen.  But  the  county  boundaries  of  Idaho  in 
many  places  gave  much  trouble  on  account  of  the 
mountains,  and  several  lines  had  to  be  altered. 


Lemhi  county  (name  taken  from  the  "Mormon 
Bible")  was  organized  in  1869,  with  the  county- 
seat  at  Salmon  City;  Cassia,  in  1879,  with  the 
county-seat  at  Albion;  Washington,  also  in  1879; 
Custer,  in  1881 ;  and  Bear  Lake,  in  January,  1875, 
with  Paris  for  the  county-seat.  Nez  Perces 
county  was  organized  in  1867,  Idaho  county  in 
1875,  Bingham  in  1885,  Logan  and  Elmore  in 
1889,  Canyon  and  Lincoln  in  1891,  Bannock  and 
Fremont  in  1893,  Elaine  in  1895,  in  which  year 
Lincoln  county  was  reorganized  and  Logan  and 
Alturas  counties  abolished. 

The  legislature  of  1864  was  characterized  by 
the  passage  of  many  acts  granting  charters  for 
roads,  ferries  and  bridges,  thus  showing  the 
growth  of  the  permanent  population,  but,  as  a 
rarity  in  territorial  history,  did  not  ask  anything 
of  congress.  The  council  at  this  session  com- 
prised the  following  members:  J.  Miller  and  E. 
Smith,  Boise  county;  E.  B.  Waterbury,  Nez 
Perces;  S.  Capps,  Shoshone;  S.  S.  Fenn,  Idaho; 
S.  B.  Dilly,  Alturas;  J.  Cummins,  Owyhee,  presi- 
dent. Members  of  the  house:  H.  C.  Riggs,  W. 
H.  Parkinson,  J.  B.  Pierce  and  J.  Mclntosh, 
Boise  county;  E.  C.  Latta  and  Alexander  Blake- 
ly,  Idaho;  George  Zeigle  and  T.  M.  Reed,  Nez 
Perces;  E.  C.  Sterling  and  Solomon  Hasbrouck, 
Owyhee;  W.  A.  Goulder,  Shoshone;  W.  H. 
Howard,  Alturas  and  Oneida.  Blakely  was 
elected  the  speaker. 

But  the  next  legislature  passed  a  large  num- 
ber of  memorials  asking  appropriations  for  pub- 
lic buildings  and  other  enterprises,  also  for  such  a 
change  in  the  act  organizing  the  territory  as  to 
allow  a  popular  election  of  the  territorial  auditor, 
treasurer  and  superintendent  of  public  instruc- 
tion, and  the  probate  courts  to  have  jurisdiction 
in  all  civil  cases  where  the  amount  in  dispute  did 
not  exceed  a  thousand  dollars,  and  also  to  allow 
the  legislature  to  give  justices  of  the  peace  jur- 
isdiction up  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 
The  act  passed  by  the  first  legislature  increasing 
the  salaries  of  the  territorial  officers  was  so 
amended  as  to  exclude  the  governor  from  its 
benefit. 

Lyon  was  reappointed  governor  in  the  autumn 
of  1865,  and  he  returned  to  Idaho.  J.  S.  Butler, 
a  local  historian  of  the  time,  said  of  Lyon:  "He 
was  a  conceited,  peculiar  man,  and  made  many 
enemies  and  misappropriated  much  public 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


107 


funds."    Lyon,  indeed,  Bancroft  adds,  accepted 
his  reappointment  in  the  hope  of  gain.    While  in 
New  York,  pending  his  confirmation,  he  was  ap- 
proached by  one  Davis,  who  had  in  his  posses- 
sion a  number  of  small  stones  which  he  declared 
to  be  Idaho  diamonds,  found  in  Owyhee  county. 
The  secret  was  to  be  kept  until    they    met  in 
Idaho.     Lyon  arrived  first,  and  after  waiting  for 
some  time,  having  become  convinced  that  Davis 
was  drowned  on  the  Brother  Jonathan,  went  to 
Owyhee  and  imparted  his  secret  to  D.  H.  Fogus, 
to  whom  he  presented  one  of  his  diamonds,  re- 
ceiving in  return  a  silver  bar  worth  five  hundred 
dollars.  One  evening  the  governor  and  the  miner 
stole  away  over  the  hills   toward  the  diamond 
fields,  as  described  by  Davis,  in  order  to  make  a 
prospect.   But  the  sharp  eyes  of  other  miners  de- 
tected the  movement  and  they  were  followed  by  a 
large  number  of  treasure-seekers  who  aided  in  the 
search.     "The  result,"  says  Maize,  "of  two  days' 
hunting  was  several  barrels  full  of  bright  quartz 
and  shiny  pebbles.    Lyon  was  greatly  disappoint- 
ed and  showed  us  the  specimens,  on  one  of  which 
the  carbon    was    not    completely    crystallized." 
Along  the  beach  line  of  the  ancient  sea,  border- 
ing the  Snake  river  valley,  there  are  a  number  of 
stones  described  in  mineralogical  works  as  allied 
to  the  diamond. 

Lyon,  who  was  once  described  by  a  newspaper 
correspondent  as  "a  revolving  light  on  the  coast 
of  scampdom,"  found  himself  in  such  disgrace 
that  at  the  end  of  six  months  he  abandoned  his 
post,  leaving  the  administration  of  public  affairs 
in  the  hands  of  the  territorial  secretary,  S.  R. 
Hewlett,  who  acted  until  June,  1866,  when 
David  W.  Ballard,  of  Yamhill  county,  Oregon, 
was  appointed  governor.  The  latter  reappointed 
Hewlett  secretary. 

The  federal  act  organizing  the  territory  pro- 
vided that  each  member  of  the  legislature  should 
receive  as  a  salary  four  dollars  a  day  and  four 
dollars  for  every  twenty  miles  of  travel;  but,  as 
in  keeping  with  the  times,  these  figures  were  too 
low,  the  legislature  gave  six  dollars  more  per 
diem.  Also  the  salary  of  the  governor  was  doubled 
from  twenty-five  hundred  to  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  the  secretary's  from  fifteen  hundred  to 
three  thousand,  and  the  clerks  and  other  officers 
had  their  salaries  proportionately  increased. 
This  legislature,  it  seems,  were  on  the  whole  a 


rather  undignified  body,  quarreling  with  both  the 
governor  and  tke  secretary.  Bancroft's  History 
of  Idaho  speaks  as  follows: 

"With  a  virtuous  air,  the  legislature  demanded 
information  concerning  the  amount  of  federal 
appropriations,  the  money  received  and  the  cor- 
respondence with  the  treasury  department.  How- 
lett  replied  that  the  statement  given  in  the  gov- 
ernor's annual  message  was  correct;  that  he 
found  Secretary  Smith  to  have  expended  nine 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-eight  dollars 
for  the  territory,  but  that  he  had  no  knowledge 
of  any  other  money  having  been  received  by 
previous  secretaries,  nor  had  he  received  any,  al- 
though he  had  applied  for  twenty-seven  thousand 
dollars  on  the  approval  of  his  bond  for  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  The  legislature  chose  to  ig- 
nore Hewlett's  answer  and  telegraphed  to  Mc- 
Cullough,  secretary  of  the  United  States  treas- 
ury, alleging  that  Hewlett  had  refused  to  give  the 
information  sought.  This  brought  the  state- 
ment from  the  department  that  fifty-three  thou- 
sand dollars  had  been  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
former  secretaries,  and  that  twenty  thousand  dol- 
lars had  that  clay  been  placed  to  Hewlett's 
credit.  This  was  the  knowledge  that  they  had 
been  thirsting  for,  as  it  was  a  promise  of  the 
speedy  payment  of  their  per  diem." 

The  governor  seemed  to  be  as  conscientious  as 
any  man  could  be  in  vetoing  whatever  acts  of  the 
legislature  he  considered  disconsonant  with  the 
organic  act  of  the  territory,  which  was  its  consti- 
tion.  At  the  same  time  many  of  the  members 
had  evaded  taking  any  oath  of  office  which  re- 
quired allegiance  to  the  general  government,  and 
proceeded  to  pass  laws  over  the  governor's  veto. 
They  passed  an  act  abolishing  the  extra  pay  of 
the  governor  and  secretary;  an  act  depriving  the 
governor  of  the  appointing  power,  regardless  of 
the  organic  act,  and  reserving  it  to  themselves  or 
the  county  commissioners,  and  an  act  appropri- 
ating thirty  thousand  dollars  for  sectarian 
schools;  but  these  laws  were  disapproved  by  con- 
gress. The  great  majority  of  this  legislature 
had  the  opposition  to  a  Republican  government 
"on  the  brain,"  and  thus,  in  a  kind  of  mania, 
could  scarcely  think  of  anything  else  to  do  but 
pass  acts  militating  against  everybody  and  every- 
thing imported  from  the  east. 

During  the  proceedings  above  recited,  How- 


108 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


lett  was  necessarily  in  correspondence  with  the 
treasury  department  at  Washington,  and  had 
•  given  information  concerning  the  refusal  of  the 
majority  of  the  members  to  take  the  oath  of 
office.  Accordingly  the  department  instructed 
Hewlett  to  withhold  the  pay  of  the  rebelling 
members  until  they  had  taken  the  prescribed 
oath.  Of  course  this  raised  a  storm.  The  leg- 
islature passed  resolutions  charging  the  secre- 
tary with  incompetency,  malfeasance  in  office, 
etc.,  and  demanding  his  removal  from  office. 
Personal  violence  seemed  to  be  imminent.  The 
secretary  then  called  on  the  United  States  mar- 
shal for  protection ;  the  latter  in  turn  called  upon 
the  military  force  at  Fort  Boise,  and  a  squad  of 
soldiers  was  accordingly  stationed  in  front  of  the 
legislative  hall,  which  naturally  .rritated  the  dis- 
loyal members  still  more,  raising  their  temper  up 
to  white  heat.  In  order  to  prevent  bloodshed, 
Judges  McBride  and  Cummings  recom- 
mended that  Hewlett  pay  all  that  would 
then  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  the  next 
day  a  majority  did  this  and  received  their  pay. 
This  plan  was  successful  in  calming  the  troubled 
waters. 

The  governor,  David  W.  Ballard,  who  was  a 
native  of  Indiana,  had  emigrated  to  Oregon  in 
1852,  and  had  served  in  the  Oregon  legislature, 
from  Linn  county.  He  was  a  physician  by  pro- 
fession, a  gentleman  of  mild  manners  and  firm 
principle,  and  fearless  in  the  public  discharge  of 
duty.  His  policy  as  the  executive  of  the  terri- 
tory of  Idaho  was  such  as  to  excite  the  opposi- 
tion of  his  political  opponents,  among  whom 
were  the  impetuous  element  from  the  southern 
states,  who  were  generally  too  hasty  in  precipi- 
tating anything  like  a  fight.  This  opposition  was 
led  by  a  man  named  Holbrook,  the  delegate  of 
the  territory  in  congress.  Although  a  man  of  in- 
tellectual force,  having  been  a  student  at  Oberlin 
College,  in  Ohio,  he  became  a  victim  of  dissipa- 
tion after  his  emigration  to  the  Pacific  coast  in 
1859.  He  was  a  young  man,  not  yet  thirty 
years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  service  as  delegate 
in  congress,  when  he  was  endeavoring  to  secure 
for  the  territory  an  assay  office  and  an  appro- 
priation for  a  penitentiary.  He  was  finally  shot 
and  killed  by  Charles  Douglass  while  sitting  in 
front  of  his  law  office,  in  June,  1870.  But  his 
principal  work  at  congress  was  to  have  Ballard 


ousted  from  his  office  as  governor  of  Idaho.  Ac- 
cording to  his  request,  in  the  summer  of  1867, 
President  Johnson  suspended  Governor  Ballard 
and  nominated  for  his  place  Isaac  L.  Gibbs;  but 
before  the  commission  was  made  out  the  presi- 
dent changed  his  mind.  The  letter  containing 
the  notice  of  suspension,  which  had  been  sent  to 
Ballard,  was  forgotten,  and  the  suspension  was 
not  revoked  until  November,  when  Ballard  was 
restored  to  office. 

For  some  time  after  the  above  episode  the 
elective  officers  of  Idaho  were  those  nominated 
by  the  Democratic  party,  but  violent  characters 
among  them  became  gradually  more  and  more 
diminished  in  their  numbers  and  the  turbulent 
element  from  the  old  south  fell  to  such  a  small 
minority  that  they  dared  not  undertake  many 
"high-handed"  measures. 

In  1868  J.  K.  Shafer  was  elected  a  delegate 
to  congress  over  T.  J.  Butler,  the  founder  of  the 
Boise  News,  which  was  the  pioneer  journal  of 
southern  Idaho.  Mr.  Shafer  was  an  able  lawyer 
who,  a  native  of  Lexington,  Virginia,  had  emi- 
grated to  California  in  1849,  m  which  state  he 
was  the  first  district  attorney  of  San  Joaquin 
county,  and  for  ten  years  the  judge  of  the  dis- 
trict court  of  that  county.  Having  been  a  gradu- 
ate of  a  college  at  Lexington,  he  possessed  fine 
literary  attainments,  and  he  was  known  to  be  of 
irreproachable  character.  He  was  a  pioneer  here 
in  Idaho,  and  he  finally  died  at  Eureka,  Nevada, 
November  22,  1876. 

Ballard's  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
territory  as  an  executive  was  popular,  and  a  ma- 
jority of  the  citizens  of  Idaho  petitioned  for  his 
reappointment;  but  by  the  time  this  petition  was 
presented  another  man  had  been  appointed  gov- 
ernor, namely,  Gilman  Marston,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire. At  the  same  time  a  new  secretary  was  also 
appointed,  E.  J.  Curtis,  who,  in  the  absence  of 
the  governor,  administered  public  affairs  for  a 
year  and  a  half.  A  native  of  Massachusetts,  he 
adopted  the  profession  of  the  law,  emigrating  to 
California  in  1849,  resided  in  Siskiyou  county, 
which  he  twice  represented  in  the  legislature,  was 
judge  of  the  court  of  sessions  of  Trinity  county 
two  years,  came  to  Owyhee  in  1865,  and  finally 
settled  in  Boise  City,  and  continued  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law.  As  secretary  of  Idaho  he  brought 
order  out  of  confusion  and  by  protracted  hard 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


109 


labor  succeeded  in  having  established  a  working 
state  library. 

While  Mr.  Curtis  was  secretary  and  acting 
governor,  Marston  resigned  his  office  as  govern- 
or, and  Thomas  A.  Bowen,  a  southern  Repub- 
lican who  had  been  district  judge  in  Arkansas, 
was  appointed  in  his  place ;  but  he  soon  resigned 
and  Thomas  W.  Bennett  was  appointed.  He  was 
a  native  of  Indiana  who  had  graduated  at  As- 
bury  University  in  that  state  and  became  a  law- 
yer; was  a  captain  of  a  Union  company  in  the 
civil  war,  major,  colonel,  and  finally  brevet  briga- 
dier-general, and  in  1869  was  mayor  of  Rich- 
mond, that  state. 

Eastern  men  who  were  qualified  to  administer 
public  affairs  and  demanded  large  salaries  did  not 
desire  office  in  the  wild  west,  and  hence  it  was 
difficult  to  engage  them  to  come  to  Idaho  and 
reside.  Therefore  the  party  in  power  at  Wash- 
ington was  obliged  to  be  almost  continually  seek- 
ing for  men  to  accept  office  for  Idaho,  and  the 
men  selected  generally  desired  to  have  the  office 
only  on  condition  that  they  remain  east  and  draw 
the  salary. 

In  1870  the  Democrats  again  succeeded  in 
electing  their  candidate  as  delegate  to  congress, 
S.  A.  Merritt,  and  in  1872  John  Hailey,  whose 
sketch  is  given  elsewhere  in  this  volume,  received 
as  a  Democrat  an  overwhelming  majority.  In 
1869  McBride  resigned  his  office  as  chief  justice 
of  the  territory  and  David  Noggle  was  ap- 
pointed. The  latter  had  been  a  lawyer  in  Wis- 
consin, a  circuit  judge  and  a  leading  cam- 
paign speaker;  but  softening  of  the  brain  had  be- 
gun before  it  was  recognized,  and  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  office  here  in  Idaho  was  made  after 
that  disease  had  begun  to  influence  his  conduct. 
He  became  pliant  in  the  hands  of  the  forward 
politicians.  J.  R.  Lewis,  who  was  his  associate 
in  the  third  district,  was  an  upright  judge,  and  on 
that  account  made  himself  obnoxious  to  schem- 
ing politicians,  one  of  whom,  in  order  to  have  the 
judge  removed,  forged  a  letter  of  resignation  and 
forwarded  it  to  Washington.  The  same  means 
had  been  tried  to  get  rid  of  him  in  Washington 
Territory,  by  the  whisky  dealers  of  Seattle.  Be- 
fore the  trick  of  ousting  him  in  Idaho  was  dis- 
covered at  the  seat  of  the  federal  government, 
M.  E.  Hollister,  of  Ottawa,  Illinois,  was  ap- 
pointed in  his  place.  Hollister  succeeded  Noggle 


as  chief  justice  in  1875,  while  John  Clark  suc- 
ceeded Hollister  in  the  third  district.  William 
C.  Whitson,  who  had  been  justice  in  the  first  dis- 
trict, and  died  in  December,  was  from  Oregon, 
where  he  had  been  clerk  of  Polk  county.  He  as- 
sumed the  office  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-one 
years,  and  was  elected  county  judge  at  the  age 
of  twenty-eight.  He  was  a  man  of  liberal  educa- 
tion and  a  successful  attorney.  He  died  in  De- 
cember, 1875,  and  Henry  E.  Prickett,  who  had 
been  a  member  of  the  legislative  council,  was 
appointed  judge  of  the  first  district.  He  held 
the  position  to  the  year  1884,  which  fact  is  an 
evidence  of  his  capability. 

As  governor  of  the  territory  Bennett  was  suc- 
ceeded, in  1875,  by  D.  P.  Thompson,  a  rising 
man  of  Oregon,  appointed  by  President  Grant. 
Thompson  was  born  in  Ohio,  in  1834;  emigrated 
to  Oregon  overland  in  1853;  engaged  in  public 
surveys  until  1872,  among  other  transactions 
running  the  base  line  of  Oregon  across  the  Cas- 
cade mountains;  was  state  senator  from  1868  to 
1872,  from  Qackamas  county;  from  1872  to  1878 
was  extensively  interested  in  mail  contracts;  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Idaho  in  1875,  but  resigned 
the  next  year  for  business  reasons,  returning  to 
Oregon;  in  1878  was  elected  representative  to 
the  legislature  from  Multnomah  county;  in  1879, 
chosen  mayor  of  Portland;  organized  banks,  of 
one  of  which  he  was  president;  built  a  railroad 
around  the  falls  of  the  Willamette,  and  was  en- 
gaged in  many  other  business  enterprises,  in 
most  of  which  he  was  successful. 

His  successor  in  the  gubernatorial  office  here 
was  M.  Brayman,  then  J.  B.  Neil.  S.  S.  Fenn 
became  the  territorial  delegate,  after  a  successful 
contest  in  a  doubtful  election.  Curtis,  as  secre- 
tary, was  succeeded  in  1878  by  R.  A.  Side- 
botham,  and  he  by  Theodore  F.  Singiser.  In 
1878  George  Ainslie  was  elected  to  succeed  Fenn 
as  delegate. 

About  this  time  the  people  of  the  panhandle  of 
Idaho  began  to  make  a  move  to  be  either  an- 
nexed to  Washington,  or,  with  a  slice  from  Mon- 
tana, to  be  organized  into  an  independent  terri- 
tory, to  be  named  Columbia.  After  the  seat  of 
government  had  been  taken  away  from  Lewiston 
and  established  at  Boise,  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  territory,  they  felt  as  if  they  were  "left  out  in 
the  cold."  To  advance  their  claims  they  estab- 


110 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


lished,at  Lewiston,  a  newspaper  organ  named  the 
Radiator.  Several  propositions  were  made,  the 
most  important  of  which  was  the  memorial  of  the 
Idaho  legislature  in  1865-6  to  congress  praying 
for  an  elision  of  the  panhandle  and  an  indemnity 
in  the  form  of  a  slice  from  the  territory  of  Utah ; 
but  all  efforts  in  the  direction  of  readjustment  of 
boundary  lines  proved  to  be  in  vain.  However, 
there  were  a  number  of  settlements  that  were 


supposed  to  be  in  northern  Utah  which  proved 
on  survey  in  1871  to  belong  to  Idaho.  These 
were  Franklin,  Weston,  Malad,  Fish  Haven, 
Ovid,  Bloomington,  Paris  and  St.  Charles,  ag- 
gregating about  twenty-five  hundred  people,  who 
had  been  paying  taxes  to  Utah ;  and  the  addition 
of  this  strip  to  Idaho  also  brought  in  a  consid- 
erable amount  of  natural  wealth. 


LS«[6  pu»tlBHl«BCO.i:HH!»cn.U.l 


ENE    91  KENRY  TAYLOR   CHICAGO  I 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


WILLIAM  F.  KETTENBACH. 

WILLIAM  F.  KETTENBACH,  now  de- 
ceased, was  one  of  Lewiston's  most  en- 
terprising and  successful  business  men, 
and  for  many  years  was  president  of  the  Lewiston 
National  Bank.  He  left  the  impress  of  his  indi- 
viduality upon  the  commercial  life  and  prosperity 
of  the  city,  and  his  history  forms  an  important 
chapter  in  the  annals  of  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  this  section  of  the  state.  He  was  born 
in  New  York  city,  May  15,  1849,  Just  two  days 
after  the  arrival  of  his  parents,  Henry  and  Eliza- 
beth Kettenbach,  from  Germany.  They  were  na- 
tives of  that  land.  The  father  was  descended 
from  one  of  the  noble  families  of  Germany,  and 
held  the  office  of  colonel  of  cavalry  at  Wurtzburg. 
On  coming  to  America  he  took  his  family  to  In- 
dianapolis, Indiana,  and  there  the  subject  of  this 
review  was  educated.  When  sixteen  years  of  age 
he  left  school  and  proceeded  to  the  frontier, 
where  he  was  in  the  government  service,  acting 
as  a  scout  with  Kit  Carson  and  Buffalo  Bill. 
After  the  civil  war  he  for  some  years  acted  as 
guide  to  emigrant  trains  across  the  plains,  and 
then  returned  to  Indianapolis,  where  he  was  en- 
gaged in  the  wholesale  and  retail  grocery  busi- 
ness for  three  years.  He  then  devoted  his  ener- 
gies to  conducting  a  hardware  store,  and  in  the 
meantime  invested  largely  in  real  estate,  but  in 
the  financial  panic  of  1877  all  h'5  accumulations 
were  swept  away,  owing  to  the  great  depreciation 
in  values. 

in  1878  he  came  to  Lewiston,  a  poor  man,  and 
accepted  a  position  as  bookkeeper.  He  after- 
ward served  for  a  time  as  agent  for  the  Oregon 
Railway  &  Navigation  Company,  and  estab- 
lished the  first  general  insurance  business  in 
Lewiston.  In  1883,  success  having  come  to  him 
through  his  well  directed  efforts,  he  founded  the 
Lewiston  National  Bank,  of  which  John  Brearley 
was  elected  president.  Mr.  Brearley  died  soon 
afterward,  however,  and  Mr.  Kettenbach  was 


chosen,  his  successor  and  continued  to  fill  the 
position  most  creditably  and  satisfactorily  until 
September  9,  1891,  when  his  death  occurred. 
He  had  been  an  assiduous  worker  and  was  a  man 
of  great  energy  and  splendid  business  talent.  He 
not  only  organized  one  of  the  best  banking  insti- 
tutions of  the  state,  but  also  established  many 
other  enterprises  and  placed  them  on  a  paying 
basis.  He  accumulated  wealth  rapidly,  and  as 
time  passed  he  became  the  principal  owner  of 
the  bank.  His  life  was  one  of  great  activity  and 
usefulness,  and  he  did  much  to  promote  the  in- 
terests of  the  town  and  state.  He  was  a  man  of 
the  highest  business  integrity,  and  his  unassail- 
able reputation  enabled  him  to  succeed  in  enlist- 
ing the  investment  of  large  capital  in  Lewiston 
and  securing  to  the  town  an  impetus  such  as  it 
had  never  enjoyed.  Notable  among  the  enter- 
prises which  he  promoted  was  the  first  water  and 
lighting  system  of  the  city,  which  proved  of  in- 
calculable benefit.  He  gave  his  support  and  co- 
operation to  many  other  business  concerns  which 
have  been  important  factors  in  upbuilding  the 
town  and  advancing  its  prosperity,  and  it  was 
through  his  instrumentality  that  Charles  Francis 
Adams  became  largely  interested  in  real  estate 
here.  Mr.  Kettenbach  built  the  Lewiston 
National  Bank  Block,  which  is  the  best  bank 
building  in  the  state,  the  rental  from  its  offices 
bringing  the  bank  four  hundred  dollars  per 
month. 

Of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  Mr.  Ket- 
tenbach was  a  valued  member,  taking  an  active 
part  in  the  work  of  the  order.  He  was  a  charter 
member  of  Star  Lodge,  No.  27,  of  Indianapolis, 
and  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  Excelsior 
Lodge,  No.  2,  at  Lewiston.  His  home  life,  in 
the  midst  of  his  family,  offered  him  most  pleasant 
hours  of  recreation.  In  1872  he  was  happily 
married  to  Miss  Sallie  Benton.  a  native  of  Mon- 
rovia, and  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Morris  W.  Benton, 
a  talented  and  devoted  Methodist  minister,  who 


ill 


112 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


was  a  cousin  of  the  United  States  senator, 
Thomas  Benton.  Mrs.  Kettenbach  was  a  lady 
of  refinement  and  worth,  held  in  high  regard  by 
her  many  friends.  She  survived  her  husband 
several  years,  and  departed  this  life  March  4, 
1896. 

Their  union  was  blessed  with  four  children, 
but  only  two  are  now  living,  William  F.  and 
Grace  B.  The  latter  is  now  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Charles  Pfafflin,  of  Cincinnati.  She  is  possessed 
of  much  musical  talent  and  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Cincinnati  School  of  Music. 

The  son,  William  F.  Kettenbach,  is  now  the 
president  of  the  bank  founded  and  built  up  by 
his  father,  and  has  the  honor  of  being  the  young- 
est national-bank  president  in  the  United  States. 
He  was  born  November  i,  1874,  and  is  therefore 
twenty-five  years  of  age.  He  was  educated  in 
Butler  University,  in  Indiana,  and  was  in  college 
when  his  father's  death  occurred.  He  learned 
the  banking  business  under  his  father's  instruc- 
tions, having  filled  all  the  positions  from  that  of 
assistant  bookkeeper  up,  until  he  is  now  the  head 
of  the  institution,  and  is  displaying  an  ability  in 
the  administration  of  its  affairs  that  would  do 
credit  to  a  man  of  twice  his  years. 

In  October,  1895,  Mr.  Kettenbach  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  White,  a  daughter  of 
D.  M.  White,  a  noted  Idaho  pioneer,  who  was  a 
man  of  wealth  and  influence,  and  succeeded  Mr. 
Kettenbach's  father  as  president  of  the  bank,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  until  his  death,  Decem- 
ber n,  1898,  when  our  subject  became  president. 
To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kettenbach  has  been  born  a 
little  daughter,  Elizabeth.  They  reside  in  the 
beautiful  home  which  was  built  by  his  father, 
and  enjoy  the  highest  esteem  of  the  leading  cit- 
izens of  Lewiston,  among  whom  they  have  been 
reared.  Mr.  Kettenbach  affiliates  with  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  and  the  Order  of 
Red  Men,  and  his  wife  is  a  valued  member  of 
the  Episcopal  church. 

HON.  AUGUSTINE  M.  SINNOTT. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  appears  above 
was  born  on  Staten  Island,  New  York,  July  17, 
1858,  the  eldest  son  of  Philip  Sinnott,  deceased, 
and  Katharine  E.,  nee  Breen,  both  of  whom 
were  born  in  historic  Wexford,  Ireland,  and  emi- 
grated from  their  native  home  to  the  Empire 


state  of  America,  New  York,  when  very  voting, 
where  the  father  followed  the  trade  of  carpenter 
and  builder. 

Young  Augustine  attended  the  public  schools 
of  his  home  district,  where  he  achieved  particular 
distinction  as  a  scholar,  and  subsequently  grad- 
uated at  the  New  York  high  school  and  pursued 
a  course  of  study  in  the  College  of  the  City  of 
New  York.  His  portrait  and  biography  ap- 
peared in  Frank  Leslie's  Boys'  and  Girls'  Week- 
ly, in  his  fifteenth  year,  as  the  distinguished 
scholar  of  the  Staten  Island  public  schools,  after 
a  prize  contest.  The  island,  now  known  as  Rich- 
mond borough,  Greater  New  York,  at  that  time 
had  a  population  of  forty  thousand.  After  teach- 
ing in  district  schools  in  Illinois  for  two  years  he 
came  to  Colorado,  in  1881,  and  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  South  Park  Railway,  where  he  held 
a  clerkship,  and  later  was  in  the  train  service, 
until  the  summer  of  1883,  when  he  returned  to 
his  native  island,  in  New  York  bay,  and  in  the 
ensuing  September  led  Miss  Ella  O'Brien,  a  na- 
tive daughter  of  Staten  Island,  to  the  hymeneal 
altar.  Deciding  to  make  Idaho  their  future 
home,  the  young  couple  arrived  in  the  territory 
a  few  weeks  after  their  wedding,  and  shortly 
afterward  located  at  Glenn's  Ferry,  an  old  estab- 
lished post  on  the  "overland  trail,"  then  a  small 
flag-station  on  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Railway, 
consisting  of  a  ferry,  blacksmith  shop  and  a  few 
railroad  buildings,  but  which  afterward  became 
a  division  terminal,  in  which  event  shops,  round- 
house and  other  buildings  were  erected  by  the 
company,  wherein  a  large  force  of  labor  is  now 
employed. 

Coming  here  in  1883.  Mr.  Sinnott  entered  the 
railway  service  and  continued  in  the  track  and 
machinery  departments  as  a  locomotive  fireman 
and  clerk  until  1890,  when  he  was  elected  probate 
judge  and  ex-officio  county  school  superintend- 
ent of  Elmore  county,  which  had  been  organized 
by  statute  in  February,  1889,  with  Rocky  Bar 
for  the  county  seat.  This  was  not  Judge  Sin- 
nott's  first  political  achievement,  however,  for  in 
1884  he  had  been  elected  justice  of  the  peace  for 
Glenn's  Ferry,  and  re-elected  in  1886  and  1888. 
In  June,  1889,  upon  the  call  of  Governor  Steven- 
son for  the  Idaho  state  constitutional  convention, 
held  at  Boise  City  in  July  and  August  following, 
he  was  elected  on  the  Republican  and  Labor 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


113 


ticket  as  a  representative  to  that  body  from  El- 
more  county,  where  he  received  the  credit  of  the 
masses  of  his  county  for  extraordinarily  efficient 
service.  Being  the  secretary  of  the  committee 
on  labor  in  that  body,  all  articles  in  the  labor 
section  of  the  Idaho  state  constitution  were  pre- 
pared by  him.  The  Elmore  Bulletin,  the  leading 
Democratic  newspaper  of  his  county,  spoke  of 
him  as  "one  who  feared  not  the  party  lash,  was 
unswayed  by  railroad  influence  and  did  his  duty 
well." 

As  county  judge,  in  every  suit  tried  before  him, 
including  some  important  labor  suits,  when  ap- 
peal was  taken  to  the  higher  court  his  decision 
was  sustained.  He  was  the  presiding  magistrate 
in  the  examination  in  the  Kensler-Freel  murder 
trial,  one  of  the  greatest  sensations  in  the  crimi- 
nal history  of  Idaho. 

In  1891  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  after  study- 
ing three  years,  under  adverse  circumstances. 
Taking  charge  of  the  county  school  superintend- 
ent's office,  he  found  the  records  of  the  office  and 
the  school  system  of  the  county  to  be  a  disorgan- 
ized mass,  and  out  of  the  chaos  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  a  system  that  has  since  made  the  schools 
of  Elmore  county  second  to  none  in  the  state. 
In  the  fall  of  1898  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
county  attorney  of  his  county,  on  the  silver 
ticket,  which  position  he  now  holds. 

In  Ireland,  for  many  generations,  the  Sinnott 
family  were  conspicuously  active  in  Irish  affairs, 
both  in  peace  and  in  war,  taking  part  with  the 
Irish  insurgents.  In  the  year  1644  Sir  David 
Sinnott,  with  his  Celtic  and  Norman  forces,  held 
the  beleaguered  city  of  Wexford  against  Crom- 
well and  his  Covenanter  soldiery.  In  the  re- 
bellion of  1798  they  were  among  the  local  leaders 
in  Wexford  against  the  British  government,  and 
lost  all  they  had  in  the  struggle  for  freedom. 
Judge  Sinnott's  father  ''wore  the  blue"  in  the 
dark  days  of  1863,  and  physical  incapacity  alone 
prevented  the  son  from  being  accepted  and  doing 
likewise  in  this  last  war.  He  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Idaho  state  assembly  of  the  Knights  of 
Labor,  and  is  still  an  active  worker  in  labor's 
cause. 

Five  children,  of  whom  four  are  living,  bless 
his  marriage  union:  two  daughters,  Alice  and 
Katharine,  aged  thirteen  and  twelve  years  re- 
spectively, and  two  sons,  Philip  and  Thomas, 


nine  and  six  years  of  age.    The  family  resides  at 
Mountain  Home. 

JOSEPH  D.  DALY. 

Among  the  officers  of  Ada  county,  Idaho,  is 
Joseph  DeWitt  Daly,  who  is  now  acceptably  fill- 
ing the  position  of  tax  collector  and  assessor. 
He  possesses  that  spirit  of  enterprise  which  has 
produced  the  rapid  and  wonderful  development 
of  the  vast  region  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  manifests  a  loyalty 
and  faithfulness  that  has  made  his  service  most 
efficient,  winning  him  the  commendation  of  the 
best  citizens  of  the  community. 

A  native  of  Missouri,  he  was  born  in  Putnam 
county,  on  the  I3th  of  January,  1850,  his  parents 
being  William  and  Permelia  (Holland)  Daly.  His 
father  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  born  in  1801, 
and  by  occupation  was  a  farmer.  He  continued 
his  residence  in  Missouri  until  1852,  when  he 
removed  to  Oregon,  his  death  occurring  at  his 
home  near  Jacksonville,  that  state,  in  September, 
1892.  His  wife,  who  was  born  in  Tennessee,  in 
1811,  died  in  Missouri,  in  1866.  This  worthy 
couple  were  the  parents  of  twelve  children,  ten 
of  whom  are  living.  Six  of  the  sons  were  sol- 
diers in  the  Union  army  during  the  civil  war, 
and  two  of  them  served  throughout  the  entire 
conflict.  Few  families  can  show  such  a  record 
for  military  valor  or  have  so  effectively  labored 
for  the  welfare  of  the  nation.  Six  brothers  loyally 
following  the  old  flag  and  defending  the  cause 
it  represented,  is  a  history  of  which  any  family 
might  well  be  proud,  and  the  name  of  Daly  is 
deeply  engraven  on  the  military  annals  of  the 
country. 

Joseph  D.  Daly  acquired  his  education  in  the 
public  schools  of  northern  Missouri,  and  was 
reared  to  manhood  on  his  father's  farm,  early 
becoming  familiar  with  all  the  duties  and  obliga- 
tions which  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  agriculturist. 
After  attaining  his  majority  he  continued  the 
pursuit  to  which  he  had  been  reared,  being  num- 
bered among  the  energetic  farmers  of  Missouri 
until  1887,  when  he  removed  to  Idaho,  locating 
in  Ada  county,  ten  miles  west  of  Boise,  where 
he  still  owns  a  farm,  of  which  twelve  acres  has 
been  planted  to  fruit-trees.  In  the  cultivation 
and  improvement  of  his  land  he  displayed  great 
energy,  industry  and  sound  judgment,  and  his  ef- 


114 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


forts  were  crowned  with  a  fair  degree  of  success. 

In  politics  Mr.  Daly  has  always  been  an  earnest 
supporter  of  the  principles  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  has  ever  labored  for  its  growth  and 
success.  He  has  frequently  served  as  a  delegate 
to  various  state  and  other  conventions,  and  was 
a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  the  Idaho  legis- 
lature, at  its  third  session.  In  the  fall  of  1898, 
by  a  majority  of  three  hundred  and  twenty-one, 
he  was  elected  assessor  and  tax  collector  of  Ada 
county,  and  is  now  discharging  tne  duties  of  that 
office  to  the  complete  satisfaction  of  his  constit- 
uents. 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1869,  Mr.  Daly  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Rebecca  Ellis,  a  native  of 
Putnam  county,  Missouri,  born  in  September, 
1852,  and  a  daughter  of  Lewis  and  Mary  Ellis, 
both  of  whom  are  now  deceased.  Their  children 
are  Armedia,  Estella,  Lola,  Frederick  W.,  Gil- 
bert, Alice,  Millard  F.,  Annie,  Flossie  Z.  and 
Rebecca.  The  parents  and  children  are  members 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  take  an 
active  interest  in  its  work.  Mr.  Daly  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Meridian  Lodge,  No.  43,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and 
is  a  man  of  many  friends,  popular  with  his  party 
and  with  the  people  generally. 

THOMAS  C.  GALLOWAY. 

The  first  settler  of  Weiser  was  the  gentleman 
whose  name  introduces  this  article.  Before  the 
town  was  founded  he  located  on  land  that  is  now 
within  its  borders,  and  since  that  period  has  been 
actively  identified  with  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  the  little  hamlet  which  has  become  one 
of  the  flourishing  cities  of  Idaho.  His  residence 
in  the  state  covers  a  period  of  thirty-six  years, 
and  as  time  has  passed  he  has  risen  to  a  position 
among  the  most  successful  stock-dealers  and 
business  men  of  the  commonwealth.  His  landed 
and  other  possessions  are  now  very  extensive, 
and  he  is  thereby  enabled  to  live  a  retired  life 
"crowning  a  youth  of  labor  with  an  age  of  ease." 

Mr.  Galloway  was  born  at  Mineral  Point,  Iowa 
county,  Wisconsin,  on  the  6th  of  June,  1837,  and 
is  of  Scotch  descent.  His  grandfather,  Charles 
Galloway,  was  a  native  of  the  land  of  hills  and 
heather,  whence  he  emigrated  to  America,  locat- 
ing in  Richmond,  Virginia.  When  the  British 
empire  began  to  encroach  on  the  liberties  of  the 
colonists  he  joined  the  Americans  in  their  oppo- 


sition to  such  measures,  and  fought  throughout 
the  greater  part  of  the  war  for  independence. 
He  was  at  Yorktown  and  witnessed  the  surrender 
of  Lord  Cornwallis  to  General  Washington.  His 
son,  Charles  Galloway,  was  born  in  Virginia,  in 
1798,  and  wedded  Miss  Mary  Haney,  who  was 
born  in  Ireland,  in  1813.  In  1826  Charles  Gallo- 
way removed  to  Virginia,  and  in  1832  went  to 
Wisconsin,  where  he  made  his  home  until  1852, 
when,  with  his  wife  and  nine  children,  he  started 
across  the  plains  with  ox  teams  for  Oregon. 
That  year  there  was  a  fearful  epidemic  of  cholera, 
and  all  along  the  route  were  many  new-made 
graves  of  emigrants  who  had  fallen  victims  to 
the  disease.  Elias  Wiley,  an  uncle  of  our  subject, 
died,  but  all  of  the  Galloway  family  escaped. 
They  traveled  westward  with  a  large  party,  and 
in  consequence  were  not  attacked  by  Indians,  but 
the  red  men  stole  some  of  the  stock.  On  reach- 
ing their  destination  Charles  Galloway  secured 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  government 
land  in  Yamhill  county,  Oregon,  and  there  made 
his  home  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1882, 
when  he  had  attained  the  age  of  eighty-four 
years.  His  wife  passed  away  in  1884,  when  sev- 
enty-one years  of  age.  Of  the  nine  children  who 
accompanied  their  parents  on  the  long  and  weari- 
some journey  across  the  plains  six  are  still  living. 
Thomas  C.  Galloway,  the  fourth  in  order  of 
birth,  was  only  thirteen  years  of  age  at  the  time 
of  the  removal  to  the  northwest.  He  attended 
the  public  schools  of  Oregon  and  further  pursued 
his  studies  in  the  academy  at  Bethel,  Polk  coun- 
ty, that  state.  He  began  to  earn  his  own  liveli- 
hood when  only  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  by  chop- 
ping wood  and  other  kinds  of  manual  labor 
earned  the  money  which  enabled  him  to  pursue 
his  academic  course.  He  learned  the  printer's 
trade  in  Portland,  Oregon,  and  in  1859  he  went 
to  British  Columbia,  attracted  by  the  Carriboo 
gold  discoveries.  In  1860  and  1861  he  engaged 
in  teaching  school,  and  in  the  latter  year  returned 
to  the  Carriboo  country  with  a  pack  train  of  pro- 
visions for  the  miners.  He  had  eleven  horses  in 
his  train,  and  walked  all  the  way  from  The  Dalles, 
Oregon — a  distance  of  nine  hundred  miles.  On 
reaching  his  destination  he  disposed  of  the  pro- 
visions at  a  profit  of  fourteen  hundred  dollars. 
He  also  made  a  similar  trip  from  the  Fraser  river 
to  Carriboo,  where  he  disposed  of  his  goods  ad- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


115 


vantageously,  and  then  returned  to  Oregon.  In 
1863  he  came  to  Idaho  with  a  pack  train,  bring- 
ing the  first  sawmill  to  the  Boise  basin. 

Since  that  time  Mr.  Galloway  has  been  promi- 
nently connected  with  the  development  and  prog- 
ress of  this  section  of  the  state.  For  some  time 
he  engaged  in  mining  in  the  Boise  basin,  and  also 
transported  goods  for  others  by  pack  trains,  and 
in  the  month  of  September  came  to  the  present 
site  of  the  now  thriving  and  beautiful  little  city 
of  Weiser.  He  erected  the  first  building — a 
structure  of  willow  logs,  plastered  with  mud  and 
covered  with  a  dirt  roof,  but  having  neither  floor 
nor  door.  He  kept  the  pony-express  station  and 
furnished  food  to  the  traveler.  This  was  the  first 
hotel  in  the  town,  but  though  he  supplied  the 
meals  the  visitors  slept  in  their  own  blankets.  In 
1865  he  built  the  first  frame  house  in  the  town, 
paying  forty  dollars  per  thousand  feet  for  the 
lumber,  and  hauling  it  ninety  miles.  From  1864 
until  1868  he  was  an  express  agent,  and  for  many 
years  served  as  postmaster  of  Weiser.  He  be- 
came extensively  engaged  in  stock-raising,  and 
still  has  large  numbers  of  cattle  and  horses.  He 
was  instrumental  in  inaugurating  the  movement 
which  resulted  in  the  construction  of  the  splendid 
irrigation  ditch  which  takes  water  from  the  Wei- 
ser river,  eight  miles  above  the  town,  and  carries 
it  nine  miles  beyond  the  town.  It  now  irrigates 
six  thousand  acres  of  land  and  has  a  much  great- 
er capacity.  This  enterprise  was  started  by  the 
farmers  in  1881  and  was  not  a  success  until  Mr. 
Galloway  took  charge  of  the  same  in  1885.  He 
finally  sold  an  interest  in  the  property,  in  order 
to  get  money  to  complete  the  ditch.  There  is 
neither  bond  nor  mortgage  on  it,  water  is  sup- 
plied to  the  farmers  at  the  rate  of  a  dollar  and 
a  quarter  per  acre  and  the  enterprise  has  proven 
of  incalculable  benefit  to  this  section  of  the  state. 
Some  of  the  finest  crops  of  grains  and  fruits  are 
raised  on  the  lands  thus  irrigated,  and  it  is  the 
only  irrigation  company  in  Idaho  that  is  not  in 
debt  or  has  its  system  mortgaged.  Mr.  Galloway 
is  one  of  the  most  extensive  land-owners  of  the 
state,  having  thirteen  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in 
the  vicinity  of  Weiser,  and  eighty  acres  within 
the  city  limits.  In  1890  a  disastrous  fire  swept 
over  the  city,  destroying  a  large  part  of  the  old 
town,  twenty-two  houses  being  reduced  to  ashes, 
but  these  have  been  replaced  by  better  buildings, 


and  Mr.  Galloway  has  lived  to  see  the  town 
which  he  founded  becoming  an  enterprising  cen- 
ter of  trade,  enjoying  a  stable  growth  and  con- 
tinued prosperity. 

On  the  27th  of  February,  1868,  Mr.  Galloway 
married  Miss  Mary  Flournoy,  who  was  born  in 
Missouri,  but  was  of  Virginian  ancestry.  Her 
father  was  A.  W.  Flournoy,  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  Idaho.  Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Galloway  have 
been  born  nine  children,  all  of  whom  are  living. 
The  entire  expenses  incurred  by  the  family  for 
physician's  services  is  thirty-seven  dollars  and  a 
half,  and  the  lawyers'  fees  have  only  amounted  to 
ten  dollars — a  remarkable  record  indicating  the 
healthfulness  of  Idaho  and  the  good  sense  and 
sound  judgment  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Galloway.  Their 
eldest  daughter,  Anna,  is  now  the  wife  of  Lewis 
Dickerson,  who  resides  in  Weiser;  Francis  H. 
and  Mary  F.  are  graduates  of  the  State  Normal 
School  and  are  popular  teachers  in  Idaho; 
Charles  is  now  a  volunteer  soldier  in  Manila,  hav- 
ing enlisted  with  the  cadets  of  the  university,  at 
Moscow;  Flournoy,  'Guy,  Kate,  James  and 
Thomas  C.  are  all  at  home  with  their  parents. 

In  his  political  belief  Mr.  Galloway  is  a  silver- 
Republican.  He  has  been  twice  elected  and 
served  for  two  terms  in  the  territorial  senate,  has 
also  been  trustee  and  justice  of  the  peace  of  Wei- 
ser, and  has  ever  discharged  his  official  duties 
with  promptness  and  ability.  He  and  his  wife 
have  a  large  and  commodious  residence,  in  which 
they  are  spending  the  evening  of  their  lives  in 
peace  and  comfort.  Their  home 'is  surrounded 
by  fruit  trees  of  their  own  planting,  and  their 
labors  of  former  years  now  supply  them  with  all 
the  comforts  and  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life. 
Mr.  Galloway  takes  a  deep  and  abiding  interest 
in  everything  pertaining  to  the  well-being  of 
Idaho,  and  is  justly  accorded  a  place  among  her 
honored  pioneers. 

ABEL  A.  BERG. 

For  twenty-five  years  Abel  A.  Berg  has  been 
a  resident  of  Silver  City,  has  devoted  his  energies 
to  prospect  mining,  and  is  the  principal  owner 
of  the  Lone  Tree  group  of  mines,  located  near  the 
Trade  Dollar  mines.  He  is  a  native  of  Sweden, 
his  birth  having  occurred  near  Arvika,  on  the 
iQth  of  December,  1846.  His  parents,  Anderson 
and  Mary  (Danilson)  Berg,  were  also  natives  of 


11G 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


that  country,  and  were  members  of  the  Lutheran 
church.  The  son  acquired  his  education  in  his 
native  land  and  there  remained  until  twenty-five 
years  of  age,  when  he  resolved  to  seek  a  home 
and  fortune  in  America,  believing  that  the  su- 
perior advantages  of  this  country  would  sooner 
enable  him  to  acquire  a  competency.  It  was  in 
1871  that  he  sailed  westward  across  the  Atlantic, 
landing  at  New  York  city,  whence  he  journeyed 
across  the  country  to  California.  In  that  state  he 
worked  at  farming,  and  in  a  sugar  factory  in 
Sacramento,  but  came  from  the  latter  place  to 
Silver  City  and  secured  employment  in  the  Min- 
nesota mine  on  War  Eagle  mountain.  That 
mine  was  then  a  large  producer  and  its  stock  ad- 
vanced from  fifty  cents  to  fifty  dollars  a  share. 

As  his  capital  has  increased  Mr.  Berg-  has 
made  judicious  investments  in  mining  property, 
and  is  now  associated  in  business  with  Mr.  Ouin- 
lan,  Tim  Regan  and  Charles  M.  Hays.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  Lone  Tree  mines  he  is  now  the  owner 
of  other  valuable  property  on  the  Florida  moun- 
tains, none  of  which  is  far  from  Silver  City.  He 
has  made  a  three-hundred-foot  tunnel  in  the  Lone 
Tree  mine,  joining  the  Trade  Dollar  mine,  and 
the  ore  from  the  former  assays  from  ten  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  ton.  Mr.  Berg 
also  has  another  claim  below  the  Lone  Tree, 
known  as  the  Idaho  mine,  which  has  several 
•  tunnels  in  it,  while  its  ore  assays  as  high  as  the 
other.  The  Crown  Point  mine,  just  east  of  the 
Idaho,  is  also  his  property,  and  its  ore  has  as- 
sayed as  high  as  two  thousand  dollars  per  ton. 
He  owns  the  American  Eagle  mine,  immediately 
east  of  the  others,  and  also  has  a  tunnel  there, 
which  is  designed  for  a  cross  cut.  He  sold  his 
Hammerson  mine,  near  the  Black  Jack,  for  sev- 
enty-five hundred  dollars.  Mr.  Berg  has  gained  a 
broad  and  practical  knowledge,  and  is  considered 
a  mining  expert.  His  close  study  and  applica- 
tion, and  his  energy  and  indomitable  purpose, 
have  made  him  successful. 

Mr.  Berg  is  a  "silver"'  Republican  in  politics 
and  served  as  a  delegate  to  the  "silver"  Repub- 
lican county  convention.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Odd  Fellows  society,  has  filled  all  the  chairs  in 
both  branches  of  the  order,  and  has  twice  been  a 
representative  to  the  grand  lodge.  The  hope  that 
led  him  to  leave  his  native  land  and  seek  a  home 
in  America  has  been  more  than  realized.  He 


found  the  opportunities  he  sought, — which,  by 
the  way,  are  always  open  to  the  ambitious,  en- 
ergetic man, — and  making  the  best  of  these  he 
has  steadily  worked  his  way  upward.  He  pos- 
sesses the  resolution,  perseverance  and  reliability 
so  characteristic  of  people  of  his  nation,  and  his 
name  is  now  enrolled  among  the  best  citizens  of 
Owyhee  county. 

JAMES  A.   PINNEY. 

The  enterprise  of  our  American  citizens  has 
given  the  nation  a  position  among  the  powers  of 
the  world  that  it  has  taken  other  countries  many 
centuries  to  gain.  The  progressive  spirit  of  the 
times  is  manifest  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  yet  even  to  our  own  people 
the  growth  and  development  of  the  west  seems 
almost  incredible.  Less  than  half  a  century  ago 
Idaho,  California,  Montana,  Oregon  and  other 
western  states  were  wild  and  almost  unpeopled 
regions,  without  the  railroad  or  other  transporta- 
tion facilities,  without  the  telegraph  or  the  varied 
commercial  and  industrial  industries  of  the  east. 
The  hostile  Indians  made  it  a  hazardous  under- 
taking to  establish  homes  in  the  district,  but 
some  fearless  and  sturdy  spirits  pushed  their  way 
into  the  wild  region,  reclaimed  it  from  desolation 
and  Indian  rule,  and  to-day  beautiful  towns  and 
enterprising  villages  dot  the  landscape,  and  in 
no  particular  are  the  improvements  or  the  com- 
forts or  the  advantages  of  the  east  lacking  in  this 
district. 

Among  those  who  have  made  Boise  one  of  the 
most  attractive  and  progressive  centers  of  popu- 
lation in  the  northwest  is  James  Alonzo  Pinney, 
who  has  left  the  impress  of  his  individuality  upon 
many  of  the  business  interests  of  the  city  and 
thereby  become  an  essential  factor  in  the  history 
of  its  upbuilding.  He  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  born 
in  Franklin  county,  on  the  2Qth  of  September, 
1835,  descended  from  New  England  ancestry, 
the  family  having  been  established  in  Vermont 
at  a  very  early  day  in  the  colonial  epoch.  Four 
brothers  emigrated  westward  to  Franklin  coun- 
ty, Ohio,  one  of  whom  was  Azariah  Pinney,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject.  His  father,  Charles 
Pinney,  was  born  in  Ohio,  and  married  Miss 
Sarah  Gardiner  Fuller,  who  is  still  living,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-two  years.  Mr.  Pinney  departed 
this  life  in  his  eightieth  year.  They  were  valued 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


117 


members  of  the   Methodist  church.     They  had 
nine  children,  but  only  three  are  now  living. 

During  his  early  boyhood  Mr.  Pinney  accom- 
panied his  parents  on  their  removal  to  Iowa, 
where  he  acquired  his  education.  When  only 
fourteen  years  of  age,  in  company  with  his  father, 
he  crossed  the  plains  to  California  with  a  party 
of  seventy-three  men  and  two  boys.  They  left 
the  present  site  of  Omaha,  on  the  7th  of  May, 
1850,  and  drove  their  horses  to  Salt  Lake,  where 
they  exchanged  them  for  oxen,  and  then  contin- 
ued their  journey,  arriving  safely  at  Weberville, 
on  the  loth  of  August.  He  spent  eight  years  in 
Shasta,  Yreka  and  Crescent  City.  He  engaged 
in  clerking  for  a  time  and  then  followed  the  pack- 
ing business  until  1857,  when  he  returned  to  his 
relatives  in  Iowa,  making  the  journey  by  way  of 
the  isthmus.  He  remained  with  his  parents  for 
a  year  and  then  again  crossed  the  plains,  going 
to  Pike's  peak  and  later  to  Rogue  river  valley, 
Oregon.  Once  more  he  engaged  in  the  packing 
business,  and  in  1862  went  to  the  Salmon  river 
at  the  time  of  the  excitement  there.  In  the  fall 
of  that  year  he  came  to  the  Boise  basin  and  spent 
the  winter  at  Auburn,  Oregon,  where  he  engaged 
in  selling  goods.  In  February  he  left  that  place 
for  Idaho  City,  where  he  arrived  on  the  1st  of 
March,  1863.  There  he  engaged  in  general  mer- 
chandising, but  in  1864  a  destructive  fire  swept 
over  the  town  and  he  lost  everything  he  had.  He 
was  then  appointed  postmaster,  in  which  position 
he  served  until  1872.  In  1870  he  opened  a  book 
and  stationery  store  at  Boise,  where  he  has  since 
resided,  and  has  carried  on  an  honorable  and 
profitable  business.  Study  of  the  taste  of  the 
public  has  led  him  to  buy  advantageously,  and 
his  straightforward  business  methods  and  court- 
eous treatment  have  secured  to  him  a  liberal 
patronage.  He  has  also  been  largely  instru- 
mental in  the  improvement  of  the  town  by  the 
erection  of  a  number  of  important  buildings. 
He  built  an  attractive  residence  and  modern  store 
building,  and  at  a  cost  of  thirty-five  thousand 
dollars  erected  the  Columbia  theater,  which  has 
a  seating  capacity  of  one  thousand,  and  is  one 
of  the  best  theater  buildings  in  the  west. 

In  an  official  capacity  Mr.  Pinney  has  probably 
done  more  for  the  advancement  of  Boise  than 
any  other  one  man.  He  was  elected  mayor  of 
the  city  in  1881  and  served  continuously  until 


1885.  Again  he  was  elected  in  1888  and  served 
through  the  four  succeeding  years,  so  that  he 
had  control  of  the  reins  of  city  government 
for  almost  a  decade.  His  administration  was 
most  progressive,  and  during  his  service  Boise 
developed  from  a  new  and  somewhat  wild  west- 
ern town  to  a  city  whose  beauties  at  once  charm 
and  attract  the  visitor  and  have  gained  wide  re- 
nown. At  the  time  of  his  first  election  no  one 
could  cross  the  river  to  get  in  or  out  of  the  town 
without  paying  toll;  but  that  was  soon  done 
away  with.  A  fine  cemetery  ground  was  pur- 
chased and  improved ;  a  sewerage  system  was 
_  established  and  a  fine  city  hall  was  erected,  at  a 
cost  of  fifty  thousand  dollars, — a  building  which 
would  grace  a  city  of  much  greater  population 
than  Boise.  Some  opposed  this  work  of  improve- 
ment, others  found  fault  therewith,  but  Mr.  Pin- 
ney wisely  kept  on  in  the  work  he  had  planned, 
and  to-day  the  city  certainly  owes  to  him  a  deep 
debt  of  gratitude. 

In  the  social  life  of  the  city  he  has  also  been 
an  important  factor.  He  was  made  a  master 
Mason  in  1859,  in  Iowa  City  Lodge,  No.  4,  A.  F. 
&  A.  M.,  and  after  his  removal  to  this  state  be- 
came a  charter  member  of  Idaho  City  Lodge, 
No.  I, — the  first  lodge  organized  in  the  state. 
He  was  a  very  active  and  zealous  worker  therein, 
and  filled  nearly  all  of  its  offices.  He  demitted 
therefrom  in  order  to  join  Boise  Lodge,  No.  2, 
of  which  he  has  since  been  a  valued  member 
and  of  which  he  is  a  past  master.  He  has  also 
taken  the  Royal  Arch  and  Knight  Templar  de- 
grees, is  a  member  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  and  for 
six  years  he  filled  the  office  of  high  priest  oi  the 
chapter.  He  has  held  various  offices  in  the 
grand  lodge  of  Idaho,  and  in  1893  was  grand 
master.  He  has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
ritual  and  governs  his  life  by  the  beneficent  and 
humanitarian  principles  of  the  order. 

Mr.  Pinney  was  married  December  17,  1873, 
to  Miss  Mary  Rodger,  a  native  of  Oregon  and 
a  lady  of  Scotch  descent.  They  have  had  four 
children,  namely:  Ida  Belle,  wife  of  C.  F.  Bas- 
sett;  James  Rodger,  who  died  of  spinal  menin- 
gitis in  his  eighteenth  year,  while  attending 
school;  Paralee  and  Annise  Fuller.  The  family 
are  members  of  the  Episcopal  church  and  enjoy 
the  high  esteem  of  the  citizens  of  Boise. 

Mr.  Pinney  is  a    man    of    the  most  genuine 


118 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


worth,  whose  courtesy  is  unfailing,  whose  integ- 
rity is  above  question.  Without  ostentation  or 
any  desire  for  praise  he  has  labored  most  earn- 
estly for  the  welfare  of  Boise,  and  his  efforts 
have  redounded  to  the  credit  and  benefit  of 
Idaho's  capital  city. 

WILLIAM    LAUER. 

Since  the  establishment  of  Payette  William 
Lauer  has  been  identified  with  its  development 
and  upbuilding,  and  his  labors  have  been  most 
effective  in  promoting  its  welfare.  He  is  the  pio- 
neer hardware  merchant  of  the  town,  and  still 
continues  in  that  line  of  business,  his  well  di-  _ 
rected  efforts  bringing  him  success.  He  is 
among  the  worthy  citizens  that  the  Fatherland 
has  furnished  to  the  New  World,  his  birth  having 
occurred  in  Germany  on  the  nth  of  November, 
1833.  In  his  youth  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  t® 
New  York  with  his  father,  Isaac  Lauer,  who 
made  his  home  in  the  eastern  metropolis  until 
called  to  his  final  rest.  His  death  occurred  in 
his  eightieth  year. 

William  Lauer  had  attended  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  land,  and  was  fifteen  years  of  age 
when  he  came  to  America.  He  learned  the  tin- 
ner's trade  in  New  York  city,  and  there  remained 
for  seven  years,  when  he  resolved  to  leave  the 
Atlantic  coast  and  seek  a  home  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  In  1854  he  sailed  from  New  York  to  San 
Francisco,  and  engaged  in  merchandising  in 
Siskiyou  county,  California,  where  he  remained 
until  1861,  when  he  came  to  Idaho,  attracted  by 
the  Oro  Fino  excitement.  He  engaged  in  clerk- 
ing and  also  in  placer  mining,  but  his  efforts  in 
the  latter  direction  did  not  prove  successful.  For 
his  services  as  a  salesman,  however,  he  received 
one  hundred  dollars  per  month.  Later  he  visited 
the  various  mining  camps  in  Idaho,  was  in  Elk 
City  and  in  Florence,  finally  returned  to  Lewis- 
ton,  and  subsequently  went  to  Warren,  where  he 
met  with  success,  both  as  a  merchant  and  in  the 
mines,  for  the  mineral  deposits  were  very  rich  in 
that  locality.  In  1863  the  excitement  over  the 
discoveries  in  the  Boise  basin  was  at  its  height, 
and  with  others  he  went  to  that  section  of  the 
state.  For  two  years  he  engaged  in  clerking 
and  then  opened  a  store  of  his  own,  but  had 
been  in  business  only  nine  days  when  almost  the 
entire  town  was  wiped  out  by  fire,  and  his  savings 


of  many  years  were  totally  swept  away.  His 
losses  amounted  to  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  but, 
not  discouraged,  he  resumed  business  almost  im- 
mediately, the  new  store  rising  phoenix-like  from 
the  ashes.  He  continued  merchandising  there 
until  1878,  after  which  he  engaged  in  mining  and 
in  the  sawmill  business  until  1885,  when  he  sold 
out  and  came  to  Payette.  t 

This  town  had  just  been  established,  and  the 
depot  was  not  yet  built.  Mr.  Lauer  purchased 
two  lots,  erected  a  store  building  and  became  the 
pioneer  hardware  merchant  in  the  town.  He  has 
since  continued  in  this  line  of  business,  and  en- 
joys a  large  trade,  which  has  grown  with  the 
increasing  population.  By  close  attention  to 
business,  enterprise  and  untiring  industry,  he  has 
attained  a  fair  degree  of  prosperity,  and  notwith- 
standing his  heavy  losses  by  fire  is  now  ac- 
counted one  of  the  well-to-do  citizens  of  Payette. 

On  the  27th  of  February,  1867,  in  Portland, 
Oregon,  Mr.  Lauer  wedded  Miss  Bertha  Ober- 
dorfer,  a  native  of  Germany,  and  their  union  has 
been  blessed  with  four  sons  and  a  daughter. 
Isaac  H.  was  born  in  Portland,  but  the  others 
are  natives  of  Idaho.  Milton,  who  was  born  in 
Idaho  City,  is  now  a  successful  liveryman  of 
Payette;  James  A.,  born  in  Idaho  City,  is  en- 
gaged in  general  merchandising  in  Payette; 
Edwin  is  clerking  for  his  brother;  and  Lillie  is 
at  home  with  her  parents.  The  parents  and  chil- 
dren are  all  working  together  in  the  greatest  har- 
mony, and  all  are  respected  members  of  society 
in  Payette. 

Mr.  Lauer  has  been  a  life-long  representative 
of  the  Democracy,  and  does  all  in  his  power  to 
promote  its  growth  and  insure  its  success.  He 
has  been  a  useful  member  of  the  school  board 
and  was  serving  in  that  capacity  when  the  com- 
modious brick  school  building  was  erected.  Since 
1858  he  has  been  an  exemplary  and  leading 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, belonging  to  both  lodge  and  encampment, 
in  the  former  of  which  he  has  filled  all  the  chairs 
and  is  now  serving  his  third  term  as  noble  grand. 
Since  1861  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Idaho,  and 
through  the  thirty-eight  years  which  have  since 
passed  he  has  practically  witnessed  the  entire  de- 
velopment and  growth  of  the  state.  He  resided 
within  her  borders  when  her  towns  were  little 
more  than  mining  camps,  and  has  been  an  im- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


119 


portant  factor  in  the  work  of  progress  and  im- 
provement, so  that  he  well  deserves  mention 
among  the  honored  pioneers. 

JOHN  M.  SILCOTT. 

Almost  forty  years  have  passed  since  John  M. 
Silcott  took  up  his  residence  in  Idaho,  and  he 
is  therefore  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  widely 
known  pioneers  of  the  state.  He  came  in  the 
spring  of  1860  to  establish  the  government  In- 
dian agency  at  Lapwai,  and  has  since  been  iden- 
tified with  the  growth  and  development  of  this 
section.  He  is  a  Virginian,  his  birth  having  oc- 
curred in  Loudoun  county,  of  the  Old  Dominion, 
January  14,  1824.  His  French  and  Scotch  an- 
cestors were  early  settlers  there,  and  during  the 
Revolution  and  the  war  of  1812  representatives 
of  the  family  loyally  served  their  country  on  the 
field  of  battle.  William  Silcott,  the  father  of  our 
subject,  married  Sarah  Violet,  a  lady  of  Scotch 
ancestry,  and  about  1828  they  removed  with  the 
family  to  Zanesville,  Ohio,  where  the  father  en- 
gaged in  business  as  a  contractor  and  builder. 
He  was  liberal  in  his  religious  views,  and  his  wife 
held  the  faith  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  His 
political  support  was  given  the  Whig  party  and 
the  principles  advocated  by  Henry  Clay.  Only- 
two  children  of  the  family  of  five  are  now  living, 
the  sister  being  Sarah  T.,  who  married  Captain 
Abrams,  of  Brownsville,  Pennsylvania.  Mrs. 
Abrams  now  makes  her  home  in  Baltimore, 
Maryland.  In  1845  tne  family  removed  to  St. 
Louis,  where  both  the  parents  died. 

Mr.  Silcott  received  a  common-school  educa- 
tion in  Zanesville,  Ohio,  and  one  of  his  school- 
mates was  "Sunset"  Cox,  afterward  distinguished 
in  the  United  States  congress.  In  his  early  life 
our  subject  learned,  the  carpenter's  and  boat- 
builder's  trades,  which  knowledge  afterward 
proved  of  great  practical  benefit  to  him  in  his 
pioneer  life  in  the  west.  He  began  to  earn  his 
own  living  when  only  thirteen  years  of  age,  by 
working  on  a  flatboat  and  as  cabin  boy  on  a 
steamboat  plying  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  riv- 
ers. In  1847  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  was  sent  to  Brazos,  Santiago,  which 
was  then  occupied  by  General  Taylor  as  a  base 
of  supplies  for  the  American  army,  then  engaged 
in  war  with  Mexico.  The  news  of  the  great  gold 
discoveries  in  California  in  1849  decided  him  to 


make  the  voyage  around  Cape  Horn  to  San 
Francisco,  where  he  found  immediate  employ- 
ment at  his  trade,  wages  being  very  high  and 
mechanics  in  great  demand.  He  also  worked  at 
his  trade  in  Sacramento,  both  cities  being  then 
in  the  first  stages  of  their  great  growth,  which 
was  to  make  them  the  metropolitan  centers  of  the 
Pacific  coast.  Later,  with  three  others,  Mr.  Sil- 
cott went  to  Yreka,  where  they  acquired  placer 
claims  and  took  out  on  an  average  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars  per  day.  They  bought  a  wagon,  made 
a  cart  of  it  and  hauled  the  dirt  to  the  creek,  where 
they  washed  it  and  secured  the  gold.  They  very 
successfully  continued  their  labors  until  the  sum- 
mer, when  the  creek  dried  up  and  they  were 
obliged  to  abandon  work. 

Mr.  Silcott  then  engaged  in  prospecting  on 
Scott  river,  and  assisted  in  building  Fort  Simqua. 
In  1850  the  Rogue  river  excitement  caused  him 
to  make  the  voyage  to  Portland,  Oregon,  on  the 
steamship  named  for  that  state,  this  being  her 
first  trip  from  San  Francisco  to  Astoria,  at  which 
time  she  carried  the  news  of  the  admission  of 
California  to  the  Union.  After  prospecting  in 
Oregon  for  some  time  without  success  Mr.  Sil- 
cott returned  to  Sacramento  and  worked  at  his 
crade.  In  1858  he  made  his  way  to  the  Fraser 
river,  in  British  Columbia,  attracted  by  the  gold 
discoveries  in  that  region,  and  underwent  many- 
hardships  there,  having  to  fight  Indians  much 
of  the  time.  There  again  he  was  unsuccessful  in 
his  mining  ventures,  and  he  sold  his  outfit  in  or- 
der to  get  money  to  take  him  back  to  California. 
His  bacon  sold  for  one  dollar  per  pound,  but  on 
reaching  Portland  he  again  found  himself  with- 
out money  and  was  obliged  to  borrow  eighty  dol- 
lars from  a  friend.  He  then  made  his  way  to 
Fort  Walla  Walla,  arriving  there  about  the  time 
General  Harney  proclaimed  the  country  open  for 
settlement.  Mr.  Silcott  engaged  in  building  and 
selling  shacks  and  remained  there  until  1860, 
making  money  rapidly.  It  was  in  that  year  that 
he  came  to  Lapwai  and  established  the  Indian 
agency,  having  charge  of  the  same  for  a  year. 
In  the  fall  of  1861  he  went  to  the  Snake  river 
six  miles  below  Lewiston,  and  out  of  whip-sawed 
lumber  built  one  of  the  first  ferries  across  the 
Snake  river.  The  gold  discoveries  in  this  vicin- 
ity brought  many  hundreds  to  the  neighborhood, 
and  Mr.  Silcott  accordingly  did  a  large  business, 


120 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


taking  in  as  high  as  four  hundred  dollars  per  day. 
The  rate  for  ferrying  a  horse  and  wagon  \vas 
five  dollars,  and  for  each  additional  team  fifty 
cents;  a  man  unmounted  paid  fifty  cents;  for 
animals  with  packs  a  dollar  and  a  half  was  paid ; 
for  horses  and  cattle  fifty  cents  each;  hogs  and 
sheep  twenty-five  cents  each.  Large  flocks  and 
droves  were  frequently  taken  over,  and  in  conse- 
quence the  ferryman  made  money  rapidly.  In 
1862  he  established  the  ferry  across  Clearwater 
river  at  Lewiston,  and  has  since  conducted  the 
business.  As  time  has  passed  the  ferry  fare  has 
been  gradually  reduced  until  the  rate  is  now  very 
moderate,  a  farmer  with  a  team,  crossing  to  Lew- 
iston to  trade,  being  ferried  across  and  back  for 
twenty-five  cents. 

In  1862  Mr.  Silcott  aided  in  platting  Lewiston 
and  became  the  possessor  of  a  large  amount  of 
property  there.  Many  of  his  lots  were  "jumped" 
by  the  new  comers,  but  he  raised  no  objection,  as 
he  did  not  consider  the  land  of  much  value,  but 
with  the  passing  years  and  the  increase  of  popu- 
lation it  has  become  very  valuable  and  desirable. 
There  is  probably  no  resident  of  this  part  of  the 
state  more  widely  known  than  Mr.  Silcott.  As 
ferryman  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  all  who 
came  to  the  region,  and  his  identification  with  the 
growth  and  progress  of  the  city  has  also  made 
him  widely  known. 

In  those  early  days  there  were  few  white  wom- 
en in  the  country,  and  Mr.  Silcott  selected  for 
his  wife  a  beautiful  Indian  girl,  the  daughter  of 
Timothy,  the  Christian  Nez  Perces  chief,  a  life- 
long friend  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Spalding  and  the 
white  settlers.  Mr.  Silcott's  wife  was  baptized  by 
Mr.  Spalding  with  the  Christian  name  of  Jane. 
She  was  a  true,  good  wife  and  faithful  compan- 
ion, and  together  they  traveled  life's  journey  un- 
til 1895,  when  they  were  separated  by  death.  Mrs. 
Silcott  was  called  to  the  home  beyond  and  her 
last  resting  place,  on  the  Silcott  homestead,  is 
marked  by  a  marble  monument. 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Silcott  was  orig- 
inally a  Whig,  but  later  became  a  Democrat  and 
was  a  delegate  to  both  of  the  national  conven- 
tions which  nominated  Grover  Cleveland  for  the 
presidency.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee of  notification,  but  aside  from  this  he  has 
always  declined  office,  nor  has  he  identified  him- 
self with  any  society.  He  is  a  genial,  cordial 


man,  kind-hearted  and  charitable,  and  a  citizen 
of  the  utmost  worth  and  integrity.  In  1874  he 
erected  a  pleasant  home  on  the  banks  of  the  beau- 
tiful Clearwater,  near  the  boat  landing,  and  there 
resides,  the  good  genius  of  the  ferrv.  which  he 
has  now  operated  for  thirty-eight  years.  He  is 
one  of  Idaho's  honored  pioneers,  and  the  history 
of  the  state  would  be  incomplete  without  the 
record  of  his  life. 

THOMAS  DAVIS. 

The  founders  of  a  state  are  not  merely  the  men 
who  handle  the  reins  of  government  and  control 
the  public  policy,  but  are  also  those  who  carry 
civilization  into  hitherto  wild  regions  and  develop 
the  natural  resources  of  the  state.  Such  an  one 
is  Mr. -Davis,  who  came  to  Idaho  in  pioneer  days 
and  was  the  first  to  establish  the  fact  that  this  is 
an  excellent  fruit-producing  region.  Thus  he  in- 
troduced a  new  industry  and  thereby  largely  pro- 
moted the  material  welfare  of  the  region.  His 
business  interests  have  ever  been  energetically 
and  successfully  managed  and  his  reputation  in 
commercial  circles  is  above  reproach. 

Mr.  Davis  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  his  birth  having 
occurred  in  Cincinnati,  on  the  2d  of  January, 
1838.  His  father  died  during  the  early  childhood 
of  the  son,  who  was  then  bound  out  until  he  had 
attained  his  majority.  He  was  sent  to  the  district 
school  during  the  winter  season,  while  during  the 
summer  months  he  labored  early  and  late  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  fields.  When  a  young  man  of 
twenty-three  years  he  joined  a  company  of  sev- 
enty-five men  en  route  for  the  west.  He  drove 
his  own  team  of  mules  and  was  accompanied  by 
his  brother  Francis,  who  has  since  died.  They 
were  persuaded  by  some  Mormons  to  travel  by 
way  of  the  Sublette  cut-off.  Fort  Lemhi  was  then 
occupied  by  Mormons.  At  that  place  they  found 
they  could  go  no  farther  with  the  wagons  and 
that  it  had  been  the  plan  of  the  Mormons  to  force 
the  emigrants  to  sell  their  wagons  and  provisions 
very  cheap.  They  offered  to  buy  the  new  wag- 
ons for  five  dollars  each  and  for  the  provisions 
offered  prices  equally  low,  but  Mr.  Davis'  party 
were  not  to  be  cheated  in  this  way  and  resented 
the  conduct  of  the  followers  of  Joseph  Smith ;  so, 
loading  all  the  goods  they  could  upon  their 
horses,  they  made  huge  piles  of  the  remainder, 
together  with  the  wagons,  and  set  fire  to  all.  The 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


121 


horses,  however,  were  not  accustomed  to  carry- 
ing packs,  and  when  they  started  they  became 
frightened  and  stampeded.  The  utensils  and  pro- 
visions were  thus  badly  shaken  up;  but  after 
considerable  excitement  the  animals  were  quieted 
and  the  journey  was  resumed.  The  road  was 
mostly  an  Indian  trail,  leading  over  high  peaks, 
which  they  had  considerable  difficulty  in  climb- 
ing. On  the  3d  of  July  they  were  in  a  hard  snow  - 
storm.  On  one  occasion  they  found  a  white 
man  pierced  by  Indian  arrows,  but  they  did  not 
suffer  at  the  hands  of  the  hostile  savages,  and  on 
the  4th  of  July  reached  Elk  City  in  safety,  but 
without  provisions.  They  then  went  to  Walla 
Walla  and  later  came  to  Boise. 

Mr.  Davis  first  engaged  in  mining  at  Idaho 
City,  and  in  1863  took  up  three  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  government  land, — the  property  on 
which  his  beautiful  home  now  stands  and  on 
which  the  depot  is  located.  It  is  now  very  val- 
uable and  has  brought  to  the  owner  substantial 
financial  returns.  Owing  to  the  scarcity  of  vege- 
tables and  fruits,  Mr.  Davis  resolved  to  engage 
in  horticultural  pursuits,  and  has  since  followed 
that  calling  with  excellent  success.  He  purchased 
his  first  seed  crop  for  twenty-five  cents  per  pound 
— onions,  cabbages  and  potatoes, — and  at  the  end 
of  the  season  the  products  were  sold  for  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  In  the  spring  of  1864  he 
planted  the  first  orchard  in  this  section  of  the 
country,  setting  out  seven  thousand  apple-trees, 
which  had  been  shipped  to  him  at  a  cost  of  a 
dollar  and  a  quarter  each.  This  orchard,  now 
thirty-five  years  old,  is  still  standing  on  the  prop- 
erty, and  has  paid  for  itself  many  times  over,  but 
is  soon  to  be  cut  down,  for  the  ground  is  needed 
for  city  lots.  In  1872  the  apples  sold  at  twelve 
and  a  half  cents  per  pound  and  the  profits  were 
between  ten  and  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  The 
earlier  fruit  from  the  orchard  brought  as  high  as 


twenty-five  cents  per  pounu.  Other  citizens 
platted  orchards,  but  for  one  or  two  seasons  the 
grasshoppers  were  very  bad  and  destroyed  many 
of  them.  Mr.  Davis  resolved  to  save  his,  if  pos- 
sible, and  employed  a  large  force  of  men  for  sev- 
eral weeks  to  shake  the  trees  from  four  o'clock 
until  late  in  the  afternoon.  The  grasshoppers 
were  thus  shaken  to  the  ground  and  ate  the  vege- 
tation under  the  trees,  and  in  this  way  the  or- 
chard was  saved.  Mr.  Davis  now  has  seventy 
acres  planted  to  pears,  prunes  and  apples.  He 
is  also  the  owner  of  large  tracts  of  land  in  differ  • 
ent  sections  of  the  northwest ;  and  is  extensively 
engaged  in  the  raising  of  horses  and  cattle.  He 
is  equally  successful  in  this  line  ol  business,  for 
his  energy,  sound  judgment' and  thorough  relia- 
bility enable  him  to  carry  forward  to  successful 
completion  whatever  he  undertakes.  Other  busi- 
ness enterprise  in  which  he  is  interested  have 
contributed  largely  to  the  improvement  and  de- 
velopment of  the  city,  as  well  as  added  to  his 
individual  prosperity. 

In  1871  was  celebrated  the 'marriage  of  Mr. 
Davis  and  Miss  Julia  McCrumb,  a  native  of  Can- 
ada, who  came  to  Boise  in  1869.  They  now  have 
three  sons  and  two  daughters:  Thomas,  who  is  in 
charge  of  the  cattle  owned  by  his  father  in  Long 
Valley;  Harry,  who  is  managing  the  horse  ranch ; 
Ella,  Edwin  and  Hazel,  at  home.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Davis  are  Episcopalians  in  their  religious  faith, 
and  throughout  the  community  in  which  they  re- 
side they  have  many  warm  friends.  In  politic* 
the  subject  of  this  review  has  been  a  lifelong  Re- 
publican, and  is  an  honored  member  of  the  Pio- 
neer and  Historical  Societies  of  Idaho.  His 
adopted  state  owes  its  advancement  and  present 
proud  position  to  such  men,— men  possessed  of 
an  enterprising,  progressive  spirit,  who  are  re- 
liable in  business,  loyal  in  citizenship  and  faithful 
in  friendship. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


HISTORICAL   NOTES   ON   THE   WORK   OF   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH    IN   IDAHO. 


JTT  S  THE  Catholic  church  has  ever  been  the 
j\  pioneer  in  civilization,  so  that  we  find  her 
•*•  •*•  name  linked  with  the  early  history  of  all 
lands,  so,  too,  is  it  true  of  Idaho.  Long  before 
the  coming  of  the  first  settlers  to  our  present 
"Gem  of  the  Mountains,"  we  find  the  faithful 
Catholic  priest,  laboring  not  for  earth's  golden 
treasures  nor  ambition's  honored  guerdons,  but 
for  the  upbuilding  of  that  grand  edifice  whose 
corner-stone  is  Christ,  for  the  elevating  and  sav- 
ing of  souls  who,  without  the  ministration  of  the 
"Anointed  of  the  Lord,"  would  never  have  been 
drawn  from  the  darkness  of  semi-barbarism  into 
the  bright  light  of  Christian  faith.  It  is  fitting, 
then,  that  in  a  history  of  the  state  of  Idaho  the 
work  of  the  Catholic  church  be  not  omitted ;  so 
with  no  apology  to  the  reader  of  the  present  vol- 
ume the  author  presents  the  following  data  care- 
fully gathered  from  many  sources,  in  the  hope 
that  by  his  feeble  pen  the  work  of  so  many  of 
earth's  noble  men  may  be  preserved  to  future 
generations  as  an  incentive  to  devoted  labor  on 
the  part  of  their  followers,  not  less  than  as  a 
Cleans  of  spreading  a  knowledge  of  the  Catholic 
church,  the  mother  of  Christian  churches  and 
the  fountain-head  of  so  much  that  is  good  and 
true  in  history,  art,  science,  and  civilization. 

The  Catholic  missionary  to  whom  belongs  the 
honor  of  having  held  the  first  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction over  the  territory  now  comprising  the 
state  of  Idaho  was  the  Most  Rev.  F.  N.  Blanchet, 
archbishop  of  Oregon,  who,  in  1838,  in  company 
of  Rev.  Modest  Demers,  was  sent  out  to  the  Pa- 
cific coast  by  Archbishop  Signay,  of  Quebec,  to 
minister  to  the  Catholics,  chiefly  French  Cana- 
dians, in  the  employ  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, and  to  establish  missions  among  the  In- 
dian tribes.  When,  in  1846,  the  Pope  erected  the 
see  of  Walla  Walla,  what  is  now  Idaho  became 
part  of  the  jurisdiction  of  that  new  see's  incum- 
bent, the  Rt.  Rev.  Magloire  A.  Blanchet,  the 
Archbishop's  brother. 


However,  the  first  missionary  work  of  the 
Catholic  church  in  Idaho  was  not  done  by  these 
men,  but  by  the  famous  Indian  missionary,  Fata- 
er  De  Smet,  who,  whilst  on  his  way  from  St. 
Mary's  mission,  in  Montana,  to  Vancouver,  in 
the  spring  of  1842,  met  the  Coeur  d'Alene  In- 
dians on  the  spot  now  occupied  by  Fort  Sher- 
man. These  Indians  had  heard  of  the  arrival  of 
the  "Black  Robes"  among  the  Flatheads;  and 
wishing  to  be  equally  privileged  they  asked  the 
Father  to  remain  with  them,  to  teach  them  all 
about  "Our  Maker,"  as  they  called  God  in  their 
language,  and  all  about  the  future  rewards  and 
punishments  of  which  they  had  heard.  Not  being 
able  to  comply  with  their  request  for  a  longer 
time  than  three  days,  he  improved  the  oppor- 
tunity ,by  teaching  the  principal  prayers  and  dog- 
mas of  the  church  in  a  manner  of  his  own  con- 
ception that  was  very  ingenious.  With  the  aid 
of  an  interpreter  he  translated  into  the  Indian 
language  spoken  by  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  the  sign 
of  the  cross,  the  "Our  Father"  and  "Hail  Mary," 
the  Apostles'  Creed,  the  Ten  Commandments,  and 
the  Acts  of  Faith,  Hope,  Charity  and  Contrition. 
The  translation  being  completed,  he  made  all  the 
younger  members  of  the  tribe  stand  in  a  circle 
around  him,  demanding  that  they  should  always 
take  the  same  places  when  meeting  for  prayer 
and  instruction;  then  he  entrusted  to  the  mem- 
ory of  each  but  one  sentence  of  the  prayers,  so 
that  the  knowledge  he  desired  to  impart  would 
be  divided  among  them  all.  Frequent  repetition 
by  each  in  turn  of  what  he  had  memorized  se- 
cured to  all  in  a  few  days  the  knowledge  of  the 
prayers  in  their  entirety.  In  fact,  on  his  return 
trip  the  zealous  missionary  had  the  pleasure  of 
ascertaining  that  a  large  portion  of  the  members 
of  the  tribe  knew  the  prayers  by  heart.  This  in- 
duced him  to  send  missionaries,  and  in  the  fall 
of  the  same  year  Father  Nicholas  Point  and 
Brother  Charles  Huet  left  the  Flathead  mission 
in  Montana  under  the  escort  of  a  deputation  of 


122 


St.  John's  Cathedral,  Boise,  Idaho. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


123 


Coeur  d'Alenes  who  had  gone  there  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  the  promised  "Black  Robes"  to 
their  territory.  Father  Point  and  Brother  Huet 
selected  for  their  first  establishment  a  site  on  the 
south  fork  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river  and  placed 
it  under  the  patronage  of  St.  Joseph.  St.  Joe 
river  owes  its  name  to  that  first  Catholic  mission. 
Two  years  later  the  venerable  Father  Joset.  who, 
after  ministerial  labors  covering  more  than  half  a 
century,  still  lives  among  the  Indians,  joined 
himself  to  the  first  missionary.  About  this  time, 
the  fall  of  1844,  Father  De  Smet  converted  and 
baptized  a  number  of  Kootenai  Indians,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1845  about  a  dozen  of  the  Nez 
Perces  tribe,  mostly  chiefs,  begged  to  be  in- 
structed in  the  Catholic  faith.  As  the  Nez  Perces 
language  differed  from  that  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes, 
which  the  Fathers  had  already  succeeded  in 
learning,  they  had  to  have  recourse  to  a  Coeur 
d'Alene  Indian,  who  himself  spoke  the  Nez 
Perces  but  indifferently,  to  act  as  interpreter. 
With  his  aid  and  that  of  signs  they  succeeded  in 
converting  a  few  of  the  Indians  who  had  come  to 
the  mission.  They  came  again  in  1846,  and  one 
of  their  number,  an  old  chief,  was  baptized  at  a 
time  that  his  life  was  despaired  of  on  account  of 
a  serious  illness.  He  recovered,  however,  and 
lived  to  save  the  life  of  Mr.  Spaulding's  family  by 
giving  them  shelter  in  his  own  house  during  the 
turbulent  times  which  followed  upon  the  murder 
of  Dr.  Whitman. 

The  same  year  the  mission  on  the  banks  of  the 
St.  Joe  river  was  abandoned,  because  the  site,  al- 
though an  ideal  one  in  the  fall,  was  every  year 
flooded  by  the  spring  freshets  and  consequently 
rendered  unsuitable  for  the  agricultural  pursuits 
upon  which  the  Fathers  depended  so  much  to 
civilize  their  Indian  neophytes. 

The  location  of  the  second  Catholic  mission  in 
Idaho  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
river,  at  a  point  now  known  as  Qld  Mission  or 
Cataldo.  It  was  there  that  in  1853  was  begun 
by  Fathers  Gazzoli  and  Ravalli,  who  had  as- 
sumed charge  of  the  mission  two  years  pre- 
viously, the  building  of  the  first  Catholic  church 
erected  in  Idaho.  That  structure  still  stands,  a 
silent  witness  to  the  zeal  and  energy  of  the  Jesuit 
Fathers,  about  sixteen  miles  from  the  Coeur 
d'Alene  lake,  where  the  steamboats  make  their 
upper  landing.  Father  Ravalli  drew  the  plans 


for  the  imposing  structure  which  the  Indians,  un- 
der his  direction  and  that  of  Brother  Magri,  exe- 
cuted. The  magnitude  of  the  task  undertaken 
by  the  Fathers  and  the  untutored  savages  may 
partly  be  realized  when  one  reflects  that  they  had 
at  their  disposal  none  of  the  tools  and  conven- 
iences for  building  which  are  considered  indis- 
pensable in  civilized  communities.  They  manu- 
factured trucks,  harnessed  themselves  to  them, 
and  brought  down  the  timbers,  rocks,  etc.,  to  the 
spot  selected.  They  had  no  nails,  so  they  turned 
out  wooden  substitutes  which  to  this  day  hold  the 
different  parts  of  the  building  together.  The  red 
men  of  the  forest  received  no  pay  and  asked  none ; 
but  worked  solely  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  God. 
Not  to  be  allowed  to  work  on  the  building  was 
considered  severe  punishment,  which  was  some- 
times inflicted  for  disobedience  to  orders,  to  the 
great  humiliation  of  the  culprit. 

That  the  Jesuits  did  not  always  have  smooth 
sailing  with  their  Indian  converts  is  evidenced 
by  the  war  made  upon  the  government  troops  in 
1858,  in  which  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  in  spite  of  the 
efforts  made  by  Father  Joset  to  dissuade  them, 
took  an  active  part.  In  consequence  of  this  re- 
bellion the  Fathers  resolved  to  abandon  the  mis- 
sion; but  General  Clarke,  commander  of  the  De- 
partment of  the  Columbia,  and  Colonel  Wright, 
who  had  led  the  expedition  against  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes  and  other  tribes  and  had  defeated  them, 
urged  the  missionaries  to  stay  at  their  post,  say- 
ing: "These  Coeur  d'Alene  Indians  will  yet  be- 
come good."  Their  present  condition  fully  veri- 
fies that  prophecy. 

Because  of  a  decision  of  the  department  of  the 
interior  which  left  the  mission  ground  outside  of 
the  Indian  reservation,  and  because  the  rush  of 
miners  into  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mining  district 
brought  the  Indians  in  too  close  a  contact  with 
the  whites,  whose  association  has  always  been  a 
source  of  evil  to  them,  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mission 
was  removed  in  1878  to  the  spot  now  known  as 
De  Smet  mission.  De  Smet  mission  is  situated 
in  the  midst  of  a  rich  agricultural  district  about 
ten  miles  from  Tekoa,  Washington.  Any  one  de- 
sirous of  convincing  himself  of  the  success  of  the 
Jesuits  in  civilizing  and  Christianizing  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes  has  but  to  pay  a  visit  to  that  mission 
and  to  the  reservation  of  which  it  is  the  center. 
The  neat  farm  houses,  the  well  tilled  fields,  the 


124 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


general  appearance  of  prosperity  visible  every- 
where, show  that  the  savages  whose  excessive 
cruelty  distinguished  them  among  the  neighbor- 
ing tribes  and  won  for  them  the  title  indicative 
of  tneir  character,  that  of  Coeur  d'Alenes — 
'  Hearts  of  Awls" — are  now  peaceable  and  thrifty 
farmers,  a  credit  to  their  teachers  and  pastors. 

The  first  Catholic  priests  appointed  to  minister 
10  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  white  settlers  whom 
the  discovery  of  gold  was  daily  leading  to  the 
placer  diggings  of  southern  Idaho  were  the  Rev- 
erend Fathers  T.  Mesplie  and  A.  Z.  Poulin,  who 
were  sent  from  Portland  to  Boise  basin,  by  Arch- 
bishop F.  N.  Blanchet,  in  the  summer  of  1863, — 
less  than  a  year  after  the  arrival  of  the  first  min- 
ers. Fathers  Mesplie  and  Poulin  were  well  quali- 
fied for  work  amidst  the  mountain  wilds  and  in 
the  rather  chaotic  state  of  society  in  which  a 
rough  and  depraved  element  abounded.  Both 
were  gentlemen  of  culture,  well  educated  and  very 
anxious  to  build  up  the  church  in  the  district 
assigned  to  them;  they  were  also  of  good  phy- 
sique, strong,  hardy,  and  capable  of  bearing  un- 
flinchingly— in  their  travels  from  place  to  place, 
to  attend  sick  calls  or  afford  the  scattered  Cath- 
olic miners  an  opportunity  of  performing  their 
religious  duties — the  many  sufferings  consequent 
upon  the  severe  Idaho  climate.  Broad  and  liberal 
in  their  views,  they  were  riot  long  in  gaining  the 
will  of  the  sturdy  miners  who  had  come 
from  all  points  of  the  compass,  bringing  with 
them  the  virtues  and  vices  of  their  respective 
nationalities,  all  having  but  one  common  aim — 
the  amassing  of  gold ;  all  courageous  and  adven- 
turous, incapable  of  quailing  before  discourage- 
ment, and  prepared  to  encounter  any  disaster; 
many  of  them  rough  and  uncouth,  perhaps,  but 
invariably  generous  and  without  religious  preju- 
dice, ready  to  patronize  charity  at  all  times,  and 
doing  it  without  stint.  Thanks  to  the  unbounded 
charity  of  the  people  among  whom  they  had 
come  to  labor,  Fathers  Mesplie  and  Poulin 
were  able  within  the  short  period  of  six  months 
to  erect  four  churches, — St.  Joseph's,  at  Idaho 
City  (then  called  Bannock) ;  St.  Thomas',  at  Pla- 
cerville:  St.  Dominic's,  at  Centerville,  and  St. 
Francis',  at  Pioneer  City.  They  were  all  small 
frame  buildings,  it  is  true,  yet,  with  lumber  at  one 
hundred  dollars  per  thousand  feet  and  carpenter's 
wages  six  dollars  a  day,  the  task  to  raise  the 


money  for  these  structures  could  not  have  been 
altogether  a  sinecure,  even  considering  the  min- 
ers' promptness  in  answering  to  the  priests'  call 
for  assistance.  The  Idaho  City  church,  built  on 
East  Hill,  above  Bannock  Bar,  was  the  largest 
of  the  four  and  the  first  to  be  completed ;  it  cost 
between  three  and  four  thousand  dollars.  "Every 
man,  woman  and  child  almost,  in  and  around 
Idaho  City,"  says  Elliot's  History  of  Idaho,  "con- 
tributed, more  than  willingly,  more  or  less  to- 
wards this  sacred  object."  The  other  churches 
were  of  smaller  dimensions,  but  large  enough  to 
accommodate  the  congregations  of  the  respective 
communities  wherein  they  had  been  built.  Ser- 
vices were  held  in  all  of  them  on  Christmas,  1863. 
Father  Mesplie  celebrated  midnight  mass  at  St. 
Thomas',  Placerville,  whence  he  proceeded  to 
Pioneer  to  offer  up  the  second  mass,  and  thence 
to  Centerville,  where  he  celebrated  the  third; 
Father  Poulin  offered  up  the  customary  Christ- 
mas masses,  including  midnight  mass,  at  St.  Jo- 
seph's, Idaho  City.  As  the  Catholic  churches 
were  at  that  time  the  only  ones  in  the  Boise  basin 
we  need  not  be  surprised  to  read  in  the  news- 
paper accounts  of  that  first  Christmas  in  Idaho, 
that  they  were  filled  to  overflowing;  for  it  was 
but  natural  that  the  services  should  be  attended 
not  only  by  Catholics,  but  also  by  many  non- 
Catholics,  desirous  of  paying  on  that  day  of  all 
days  their  worshipful  homages  to  the  God  made 
man  for  their  salvation.  The  Catholic  miners 
of  those  early  days  and  their  fellow  citizens  gen- 
erally throughout  the  Basin  were  proud  of  the 
Catholic  church  edifices  that  had  been  reared  in 
their  midst,  as  they  visibly  attested,  when  in  May, 
1865,  Idaho  City  was  almost  totally  wiped  out 
by  fire;  for,  through  the  efforts  of  hundreds  of 
willing  hands,  St.  Joseph's  church  was  saved 
from  the  fury  of  the  flames,  although  all  the  other 
buildings  around  it  were  destroyed.  Immediately 
after  the  conflagration  Father  Poulin,  mindful  of 
the  great  law  of  charity,  opened  the  structure  to 
the  inmates  of  the  county  hospital,  which  the 
flames  had  not  spared.  This  action  of  the  Cath- 
olic priest  won  for  him  the  gratitude  of  the  entire 
community,  which,  after  that,  showed  itself  more 
generous  than  ever  in  responding  to  the  appeals 
he  made  for  carrying  on  his  work  among  them. 

The  second  great  fire  of  Idaho  City,  on  the 
171)1  of  May,  1867,  did  not  spare  St.  Joseph's  as 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


125 


the  first  had  done,  although  on  this  occasion, 
also,  great  exertions  were  made  by  bands  of  in- 
trepid and  devoted  men  to  save  the  edifice.  The 
church  and  structures  connected  with  it  were 
valued  at  ten  thousand  dollars  and  only  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  property  was 
saved.  Nothing  daunted  by  their  ill  fortune, 
Fathers  Mesplie  and  Poulin  went  resolutely  to 
work  on  the  building  of  a  new  house  of  worship; 
for  not  more  than  two  months  later  the  Idaho 
World  had  the  following  paragraph :  "Prominenf 
among  the  frame  edifices  in  Idaho  City  is  the 
new  Catholic  chapel,  upon  the  site  of  the  church 
destroyed  by  the  May  fire,  on  East  Hill.  It  is  not 
quite  completed,  but  it  already  presents  the  finest 
appearance  of  any  building  in  the  city,  and  is  a 
credit  to  the  place,  to  its  architects  and  builders 
altogether." 

In  the  territorial  legislature  of  1867  some 
members  of  the  church,  with  more  zeal  than  dis- 
cretion, had  a  bill  passed  appropriating  thirty 
thousand  dollars  of  territorial  money  for  the  erec- 
tion of  Catholic  schools.  The  bill  provided  for 
the  issue  of  territorial  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  drawn  in  favor  of  F.  N. 
Blanchet,  archbishop  of  Oregon,  bearing  interest 
at  the  rate  of  ten  per  cent,  per  annum,  and  re- 
deemable out  of  funds  accruing  out  of  the  sale 
of  the  thirty-sixth  section  of  school  lands.  Gov- 
ernor Ballard  vetoed  it  and  his  veto  was  sus- 
tained by  the  council  and  house.  The  ostensible 
object  of  the  framers  of  the  bill  was  to  assist  the 
Sisters  of  the  Holy  Name,  who  were  conducting 
successful  educational  institutions  in  Oregon,  in 
establishing  schools  in  the  Boise  basin,  whence 
the  support  for  the  measure  principally  came. 
The  governor  in  vetoing  it  rendered  a  real  service 
to  the  church;  for  its  real  object  was  a  political 
one,  namely,  to  secure  for  the  party  that  fathered 
it  the  support  of  the  Catholic  voters.  For  the 
small  benefit  the  Sisters  would  have  derived  from 
it,  the  church  would  have  had  to  bear  for  years 
the  odium  of  having  been  supported  from  the 
public  funds.  I  hardly  think  that  the  Sisters 
were  disappointed  because  the  bill  failed  of  be- 
coming a  law;  for  in  August  of  the  same  year 
two  of  them  came  overland  from  Portland  to 
Idaho,  accompanied  by  Father  I.  T.  Malo,  to  se- 
lect a  suitable  place  for  the  establishment  of  an 
academy.  The  citizens  of  Idaho  City  offering 


the  greatest  inducements,  it  was  decided  to  locate 
the  school  there.  It  was  opened  January  2,  1868. 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances;  but  the 
encouraging  prospects  of  the  first  year  did  not 
last;  for  in  1869  there  was  a  great  exodus  of 
miners  from  the  Basin  and  the  school  failing  to 
receive  the  necessary  support,  the  Sisters  gave  it 
up  in  June  of  that  year.  Bishop  Lootens,  who 
Mad  been  in  charge  of  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of 
the  then  territory  of  Idaho  since  February,  1869, 
attempted  to  keep  the  Sisters  in  his  vicariate  and 
to  locate  them  at  Boise;  but  as  he  could  not  give 
them  much  assistance  at  the  time  and  hoped  but 
little  for  the  future,  he  allowed  them  to  return  to 
Portland,  which  they  did  on  the  27th  of  June. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  L.  Lootens  was  the  first  vicar 
apostolic  of  Idaho,  having  been  appointed  to  that 
office  by  Pope  Pius  the  IX,  in  March,  1868,  at 
which  time  Idaho  was  cut  off  from  the  archdio- 
cese of  Oregon  City.  He  received  the  episcopal 
consecration,  with  the  title  of  bishop  of  Casta- 
balla,  at  the  hands  of  Archbishop  Alemany,  in 
the  cathedral  of  San  Francisco,  August  9,  1868. 
He  had  not  been  in  Idaho  more  than  six  months 
when  he  left  it  to  be  present  at  the  ecumenical 
council  of  the  Vatican,  whence  he  did  not  return 
until  1871.  During  his  absence  a  new  church 
was  built  at  Granite  Creek,  to  replace  one  de- 
stroyed by  fire;  and  another  was  erected  at 
Boise,  which  was  dedicated  on  the  25th  of  De- 
cember, 1870,  and  reduced  to  cinders  by  a  fire 
less  than  three  weeks  after  its  dedication.  These 
two  new  churches  were  only  partly  paid  for  when 
the  flames  consumed  one  of  them,  so  that  Bishop 
Lootens  found  on  his  return  from  Rome  the 
financial  burdens,  which  were  already  large  when 
he  left  his  infant  vicariate  apostolic,  increased  in- 
stead of  diminished.  These  financial  difficulties, 
coupled  with  failing  health,  prompted  him  to 
send  in  his  resignation  to  Rome.  This  he  did 
in  March,  1874;  but,  as  it  was  not  accepted  until 
the  next  year,  he  did  not  leave  Idaho  until  Octo- 
ber, 1875.  After  his  departure  the  vicariate  apos- 
tolic of  Idaho  reverted  once  more  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  archbishop  of  Oregon,  who  was 
named  its  administrator.  The  two  priests  left  in 
charge  of  southern  Idaho  at  this  time  were  Fath- 
ers Mesplie  and  Archambault.  The  former,  who, 
before  coming  to  the  Boise  basin,  had  worked 
as  an  Indian  missionary  in  Oregon,  spent  what- 


126 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


ever  free  time  his  arduous  duties  in  the  Basin 
and  surrounding  country  allowed  him,  in  work- 
ing for  the  conversion  and  civilization  of  the  In- 
dians of  southern  Idaho.  During  the  first  years 
of  his  stay  in  the  Basin  he  paid,  alternately  with 
Father  Poulin,  his  colleague,  semi-annual  visits 
to  the  Bannocks,  Shoshones  and  Snakes.  In  a 
letter  to  General  Parker,  commissioner  of  Indian 
affairs,  dated  February  13,  1871,  lie  says  that 
there  are  four  hundred  and  fifty  Catholic  Indians 
at  the  Fort  Hall  reservation,  which  had  just  then 
been  established,  and  he  asks  that  the  agent  at 
the  reservation  be  instructed  to  allow  him  and 
Father  Poulin  full  liberty  to  evangelize  these  In- 
dians, all  well  disposed  towards  the  "Black 
Robes."  On  the  return  of  Bishop  Lootens  from 
the  Vatican  council,  Father  Mesplie,  who  had 
gone  east  on  business  connected  with  his  Indian 
proteges  of  southern  Idaho,  met  his  superior  at 
Leavenworth,  Kansas,  accompanied  him  to  Idaho 
City,  where  they  arrived  May  2Oth,  made  two 
tours  of  the  white  settlements  of  his  mission  and 
then  went  on  horseback  to  the  Fort  Hall  Indian 
reservation,  reaching  it  on  the  8th  of  August, 
after  twelve  days'  travel.  From  there  he  writes 
to  father  De  Smet,  at  St.  Louis,  that  he  intends 
to  make  that  reservation  his  headquarters  for  fu- 
ture labors,  because  he  thinks  that  as  Captain  M. 
P.  Berry,  the  newly  appointed  agent,  is  favorably 
disposed  towards  the  work  of  the  Catholic  church 
for  the  Indians,  the  difficulty  of  converting  them 
will  be  materially  lessened.  He  did  not  stay  long 
with  them,  however;  for  in  August,  1872,  he  was 
appointed  a  United  States  Army  chaplain,  and 
having  been  assigned  to  duty  at  Fort  Boise,  he 
resided  there  permanently  from  that  time,  al- 
though he  visited  the  Boise  basin  occasionally, 
and  also  Owyhee  county,  where,  in  1872,  a 
church  had  been  built  at  Silver  City  through  his 
and  Father  Archambault's  instrumentality. 

Father  A.  J.  A.  Archambault  came  to  the  vic- 
ariate  of  Idaho  with  Bishop  Lootens  in  1869,  and 
left  it  in  1880.  He  was  a  zealous  worker,  spend- 
ing all  the  spare  time  his  onerous  pastoral  duties 
allowed  him  in  educating  the  young.  He  had  a 
private  school  at  Idaho  City  whilst  he  made  that 
town  his  place  of  residence,  and  one  at  Boise 
when  residing  there.  During  his  stay  in  Idaho 
City  the  convent  and  school  built  there  in  1867, 
at  a  cost  of  seven  thousand  dollars,  met  the  fate 


of  several  other  Catholic  church  structures  in 
Idaho, — it  was  consumed  by  fire.  This  sad  event 
took  place  on  the  27th  of  April,  1877.  But  for 
the  heroic  efforts  of  the  people  the  present  Idaho 
City  church  would  have  been  gutted  by  the 
flames  at  the  same  time,  for  the  burning  building 
was  in  dangerous  proximity  to  the  church. 

In  July,  1879,  Archbishop  Seghers,  who  had 
just  then  been  appointed  coadjutor  to  Arch- 
bishop Blanchet,  started  from  Portland  on  a  pas- 
toral tour  through  the  vicariate  of  Idaho,  which 
at  that  time  included  also  portions  of  Montana. 
He  went  by  way  of  The  Dalles  to  Lewiston,  visit- 
ing the  Lapwai  Indian  mission,  the  De  Smet  mis- 
sion, and  the  St.  Ignatius  mission,  among  the 
Flatheacls  in  Montana,  and  came  back  into  Idaho 
through  the  Salmon  river  country.  He  arrived 
at  Salmon  City,  October  3d,  and  on  October  4th 
held  the  first  Catholic  services  ever  held  in  that 
place;  he  had  the  same  privilege  at  Challis  and 
at  Bonanza.  When  he  arrived  at  the  latter  place 
the  Yankee  Fork  Herald,  in  a  very  complimen- 
tary article  on  the  archbishop,  stated  that  he  was 
the  first  minister  of  any  denomination  to  visit 
that  city.  He  left  Bonanza  on  horseback  on  the 
1 2th  of  October,  in  the  company  of  a  merchant 
and  three  miners,  and  after  a  very  perilous  jour- 
ney through  an  unknown  country  he  arrived  at 
Banner,  October  26th.  From  Banner  he  went 
to  Idaho  City,  visiting  all  the  towns  of  the  Basin, 
also  Boise  City  and  Silver  City,  being  everywhere 
warmly  received  by  Protestants  as  well  as  Cath- 
olics, who  flocked  to  the  churches  and  halls 
where  he  announced  the  good  tidings  of  salva- 
tion. He  made  a  second  visit  through  Idaho  in 
1882.  It  is  due  to  Archbishop  Seghers  that  the 
church  in  Idaho  was  again  given,  in  1885,  after 
ten  years  of  tutelage  under  an  administrator,  a 
shepherd  of  its  own  in  the  person  of  our  present 
worthy  bishop,  the  Rt.  Rev.  A.  J.  Glorieux. 

Shortly  after  Archbishop  Seghers'  first  visit  to 
Idaho  Father  Archambault  was  called  to  Port- 
land and  replaced  here  by  Father  L.  Verhaag, 
now  the  efficient  pastor  of  Baker  City,  Oregon. 
During  his  three  years'  stay  in  Idaho  he  liqui- 
dated the  debt  on  the  Boise  City  church  and  in- 
augurated the  building  of  a  new  house  of  wor- 
ship at  Granite  Creek,  Boise  county.  He  was 
the  first  Catholic  clergyman  to  hold  divine  ser- 
vices in  the  Wood  river  country,  which  he  visited 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


127 


in  July,  1880,  two  months  after  his  arrival  in 
Boise.  When  Father  Xattini  was  sent  to  assist 
him,  in  December,  1880,  Father  Verhaag  re- 
moved his  headquarters  from  Boise  City  to  the 
Boise  basin  and  left  Father  Nattini  in  charge  of 
the  former  town  and  of  the  Owyhee  county  mis- 
sions. During  the  latter's  incumbency  of  these 
missions  St.  Andrew's  church,  at  Silver  City,  was 
torn  down,  because  of  its  considerable  distance 
from  the  residential  portion  of  the  town  and  its 
inaccessibility  during  the  winter  months ;  a  large 
building  known  as  the  Graham  building  was 
purchased  from  the  Regan  Brothers,  for  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  was  converted  into 
a  church,  which  was  dedicated  on  the  5th  of  No- 
vember, 1882,  by  Archbishop  Seghers,  as  the 
Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Tears.  Father  Nattini 
also  purchased  the  bell  that  to  this  day  calls  the 
members  of  St.  John's  church,  Boise,  to  worship, 
as  well  as  the  bell  pealing  forth  from  the  little 
steeple  of  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Tears. 
When  the  latter  bell  was  first  heard  in  Silver 
City  the  following  paragraph  appeared  in  the 
Avalanche:  "We  uns  of  Silver  City  feel  quite 
civilized  when  we  hear  the  church  bell,  which, 
thanks  to  the  energy  of  Father  Nattini,  now  peals 
forth  in  clear,  ringing  tones,  calling  the  people  to 
worship.  Just  wait  now  till  the  new  fire  engine 
arrives,  and  we  guess  Boise  City  won't  put  on 
so  many  frills,  and  call  us  'that  little  one-horse 
mining  camp  over  in  the  snow  drifts.'  Ain't  it?" 
On  the  arrival  of  Father  Hartleib,  in  1882, 
Father  Nattini  began  to  give  a  great  deal  of  his 
time  to  the  Wood  river  country,  where  he  took 
up  his  permanent  abode  in  June,  1883,  and  where 
he  built  St.  Charles'  church  at  Hailey.  He  was 
also  instrumental  in  erecting  St.  Peter's  church 
at  Shoshone.  Father  Hartleib  took  his  place  and 
that  of  Father  Verhaag  as  missionary  rector  of 
the  counties  of  Ada,  Boise,  Owyhee  and  Wash- 
ington. One  of  the  latter's  first  duties  was  to  fin- 
ish St.  Patrick's  church  at  Granite  Creek,  which 
Father  Verhaag  had  begun.  During  the  seven 
years  of  his  pastorate  Father  Hartleib  attended 
most  zealously  the  numerous  but  scattered  settle- 
ments of  his  vast  parish.  There  was  not  a  Cath- 
olic home  that  the  Reverend  Father  did  not  visit 
at  least  twice  a  year,  to  offer  up  the  holy  sacrifice 
of  the  mass  and  dispense  the  sacraments  of  the 
church.  It  was  his  good  fortune  to  welcome  the 


Rt.  Rev.  A.  J.  Glorieux  when  he  came,  in  1885, 
to  assume  charge  of  the  church  in  Idaho,  as  its 
second  vicar  apostolic.  With  the  advent  of  Bish- 
op Glorieux  the  steady  upbuilding  of  the  church 
in  our  state  began  in  real  earnest,  and  under  him 
it  is  still  faithfully  continuing.  During  the  twen- ' 
ty-two  years  that  had  elapsed  since  the  arrival 
of  the  first  priests  in  southern  Idaho  to  work  for 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  whites  there  had  been 
a  manifest  lack  of  confidence  in  the  permanency 
of  the  towns  which  sprang  up  wherever  any  pre- 
cious metals  were  discovered;  the  churches  that 
were  built  during  that  period  denoted  that  the 
main  idea  which  presided  at  their  construction 
was,  "They  will  be  needed  only  for  a  short  time." 
The  clergymen  who  succeeded  one  another  in  the 
missions  worked  faithfully  for  the  welfare  of  the 
flocks  committed  to  their  charges;  but  they  built 
not  for  the  children  of  their  parishioners,  as  they 
did  not  expect  that  these  children  would  take 
their  parents'  places  before  the  altars  erected  in 
the  Idaho  wilds.  They  were  right  in  some  in- 
stances; for  of  the  churches  they  reared,  there 
are  those  that  have  since  been  either  torn  down 
or  turned  into  profane  uses  for  want  of  worship- 
ers. So  little  were  the  priests  of  early  days  im- 
pressed with  Idaho's  future  that  not  one  of  them 
stayed  with  the  vicariate  beyond  a  few  years, 
after  which  other  fields  of  labor  were  sought. 
Not  one  lies  buried  in  our  midst.  Whsn  Bishop 
Glorieux  took  charge  church  affairs  at  once  as- 
sumed a  different  aspect.  Fired  by  the  enthu- 
siasm with  which  their  bishop  set  to  work  under 
the  most  adverse  circumstances,  the  Catholic 
priests  and  people  became  inspired^  with  faith  in 
the  future  of  the  church  of  Idaho  and  thoroughly 
penetrated  with  the  idea  that  they  must  build 
for  the  coming  generations  as  well  as  for  the 
present. 

Bishop  Glorieux  arrived  at  Kuna  on  the  I2th 
of  June,  1885;  he  was  met  there  by  Father  F. 
Hartleib,  who  escorted  his  lordship  from  that 
place  to  Boise,  then  fifteen  miles  away  from  the 
railroad.  The  Father's  three  years'  sojourn  in 
Idaho  had  not  contributed  to  make  him  fall  in 
love  with  it  and,  during  the  course  of  the  lonely 
stage  trip  from  the  railroad  to  the  capital  city, 
he  rather  discouraged  than  encouraged  his  newly 
appointed  superior  by  the  gloomy  picture  he 
drew  of  the  condition  of  the  bishop's  new  field  of 


128 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


labor.    The  situation  at  Boise  bore  out  the  Fath- 
er's uninviting  description ;   for  all  that  the  Bish- 
op found  there  in  the  line  of  church  structures 
was  a  little  shanty  of  a  church  and  four  small 
rooms  back  of  it,  used  as  sacristy    and    living- 
apartments  by  the  priest  when  in  Boise.    Hardly 
any  one  was  aware  of  the  Bishop's  coming  and 
the  apathy  of  the  citizens,  Catholics  as  well  as 
Protestants,  was  such  that  no  attention  was  paid 
to  it.     Mr.  James  Flannagan,  one  of  earth's  no- 
blemen, with  that  generosity    characteristic    of 
Erin's  sons,  tendered  the  Bishop  the  hospitality 
of  his  home.     This  was  gratefully  accepted  and 
partaken  of  till  a  suitable  residence  was  built  near 
the  church,  which  was  to  be  the  future  cathedral. 
With  that  determination  of  which  Father  Glor- 
ieux  had  given  so  many  proofs  as  president  of 
St.  Michael's  College,  Portland,  where  it  attracted 
Archbishop  Seghers'  attention,  Bishop  Glorieux, 
after  a  few  days'  stay  in  Boise,  started  on  a  sys- 
tematic survey  of  the  eighty-four  thousand  square 
miles  of  territory  assigned  to  his  pastoral  care. 
In  it  he  found  less  than  three  thousand  Catholics, 
of  whom  eight  hundred  were  Coeur  d'Alene  and 
Lapwai  Indians.     Two  secular  priests  and  four 
regulars    constituted    his    clergy;     eight    frame 
churches,  two  schools   for  Indian  children  and 
one  school  for  white  girls  formed  the  sum  total 
of  the    religious    institutions.     Having    satisfied 
himself,  after  a  visit  to  every  inhabited  spot  of 
the  territory,  and  after  traveling  over  every  mile 
of  railroad  and  every  stage  line  in  it,  that  the 
city  offering  the  greatest  advantages  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  his  headquarters  was   Boise,  he 
made  it  the  seat  of  his  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction. 
However,  it  was  not  sufficient  to  call  Boise  the 
episcopal  city;    it  must  also  be  made  so  by  the 
character  of  its  religious  institutions.     It  had  a 
church,  which,  though  small,  was  large  enough 
for  the  Catholics  who  attended  it;    so  that  the 
Bishop's  first  care  was  to  build  a  residence  where 
he  and  his  priests  might  come  to  rest  and  study 
at    intervals    between    their    missionary    tours 
throughout    the    country.     This    residence    was 
built  in  1886,  at  a  cost  of  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred dollars.     The  Catholics  of  Boise  were  so 
few  and  so  little  blessed  with  this  world's  goods 
that  all  but  two  hundred  dollars  of  this  sum  came 
out  of  the  allowance  which  the  Association  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  whose  headquar- 


ters are  at  Paris,  France,  made  for  the  Bishop's 
sustenance.  To  it  the  Bishop  moved  his  small 
belongings  over  a  year  after  taking  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Boise,  from  Mr.  Flannagan's,  although 
he  still  continued  to  be  a  guest  at  the  latter's  hos- 
pitable board.  The  next  thing  in  the  line  of  im- 
provements was  the  enlargement  of  the  little 
church  and  its  appropriate  decoration.  This  was 
done  in  1887,  at  a  cost  of  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  dollars,  of  which  the  congregation  con- 
tributed about  one  hundred.  In  1889  the  Bishop 
built,  at  a  cost  of  six  hundred  dollars,  St.  Pat- 
rick's Hall,  to  provide  a  suitable  meeting  place 
for  the  societies  of  the  parish.  The  same  year  he 
brought  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  from 
Notre  Dame,  Indiana,  who,  on  the  gth  of  Sep- 
tember of  that  year,  opened  a  day-school  in  St. 
Patrick's  Hall,  adjacent  to  the  church,  and,  on 
the  2Oth,  a  boarding  school  and  academy,  with 
one  boarder,  Miss  Mamie  Harrington,  in  the 
house  now  the  property  and  home  of  Senator 
Shoup.  As  the  school  was  a  success  from  the 
very  beginning,  it  was  not  a  difficult  matter  for 
Bishop  Glorieux  to  induce  the  superiors  of  the 
Community  of  the  Holy  Cross  to  purchase,  for 
the  sum  of  six  thousand  dollars,  the  block  of 
ground  on  which  St.  Teresa's  Academy  now 
stands.  To  the  dwelling  which  stood  on  that 
block  and  which  had  been  Father  Mesplie's 
home,  as  U.  S.  chaplain  for  Fort  Boise,  the  Sis- 
ters removed  their  boarding  and  day  school  on. 
the  1st  of  April,  1890.  During  the  winter  of  the 
same  year  about  one  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars was  spent  on  an  addition  to  the  episcopal  res- 
idence. 

In  February,  1891,  the  Bishop  received  the 
news  of  the  serious  illness  of  his  mother  at  Dot- 
tignies,  Belgium.  She  had  not  seen  him  since  he 
left  his  native  land  to  come  to  the  missions  of 
Oregon,  in  1867,  and  when  she  realized  that  her 
end  was  near  at  hand  the  poor  mother  expressed 
a  longing  to  see  once  more  her  only  son,  who, 
after  leaving  her  to  become  a  poor  missionary 
priest  in  a  far  western  land,  had,  step  by  step, 
been  raised  to  one  of  the  highest  dignities  in  the 
gift  of  the  church.  Anxious  to  comply  with  her 
request,  and  at  the  same  time  to  fulfill  the  obli- 
gation which  calls  all  the  bishops  of  the  Amer- 
ican church  to  make  a  visit  to  the  supreme  Ro- 
man pontiff,  whose  spiritual  authority  the  Amer- 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


129 


lean  Catholics  recognize  in  common  with  the 
Catholics  throughout  the  world,  once  every  ten 
years,  he  left  Boise  on  the  2ist  of  February  and 
went  directly  to  Belgium  by  way  of  New  York 
and  Havre.  Alas!  When  he  reached  the  home 
of  his  childhood  he  found  it  desolate;  for  his  old 
mother  had  died  several  days  previously,  offering 
as  a  last  sacrifice  to  her  Maker  the  trial  caused 
by  the  absence  of  the  Bishop,  her  son.  After 
traveling  seven  thousand  miles,  it  was  a  hard 
blow  to  be  disappointed  in  the  attainment  of  the 
main  object  of  his  journey.  For  two  weeks  every 
throb  of  his  filial  heart  had  been  one  of  mingled 
fear  and  hope;  now  that  he  saw  his  fears  and 
not  his  hopes  realized,  he  said  with  Christian 
fortitude:  "God's  will  be  done."  Leaving  Dot- 
tignies  and  his  ancestral  home  after  a  few  days' 
stay,  he  proceeded  to  Rome,  where  he  was  re- 
ceived in  private  audience  by  the  Holy  Father 
and  where  he  assisted,  in  St.  Peter's  church,  at 
the  ceremonies  of  Holy  Week  of  that  year.  Hav- 
ing spent  several  weeks  in  the  capital  of  Chris- 
tendom, he  left  it  to  visit  the  principal  cities  of 
Italy,  Switzerland,  Austria,  Germany,  France, 
Belgium,  Holland,  England  and  Ireland,  and  re- 
turned to  his  vicariate  in  the  month  of  October. 
On  his  return  the  Catholic  citizens  of  Boise  gave 
him  a  public  reception  of  welcome  and  presented 
him  with  a  purse,  which,  though  small,  was  large 
for  the  congregation  whose  generosity  had  made 
it.  The  warmth  of  the  reception  and  the  heartiness 
with  which  the  good  Catholic  people  made  their 
gift,  satisfied  his  lordship  that  they  had  learned 
to  appreciate  the  work  he  had  done  for  them 
since  his  coming,  and  that  they  were  ready  to 
stand  by  him  in  the  future  in  any  undertaking 
that  his  zeal  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  God  or 
for  the  material  welfare  of  the  community  would 
suggest.  Through  the  time  of  the  Bishop's  ab- 
sence his  progressive  spirit  had  abided,  as  he  was 
pleased  to  ascertain  on  his  return;  for  he  found 
at  St.  Teresa's  Academy  the  building  of  a  ten- 
thousand-dollar  school  structure  well  under  way 
to  completion;  it  was  completed  on  the  1st  of 
January,  1892.  In  1893,  in  spite  of  the  financial 
crisis  of  that  fated  year,  Bishop  Glorieux  laid  the 
foundation  for  St.  Alphonsus'  Hospital,  which 
institution  was  not,  however,  made  ready  for  oc- 
cupancy until  the  2/th  of  December,  1894.  When 
the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  moved  into  it  fifteen 


thousand  dollars  had  been  spent  on  the  grounds 
and  structure  arid  five  thousand  dollars  more 
were  spent  afterward  in  finishing  and  furnishing 
the  house.  The  same  year  in  which  the  hospital 
was  completed  six  hundred  dollars  were  paid  out 
for  additions  to  St.  John's  church;  these  addi- 
tions furnished  seating  capacity  for  a  hundred 
and  fifty  more  people.  In  1895  the  same  church 
secured  a  four-hundred-dollar  organ  and  beau- 
tiful statues  of  the  Sacred  Heart  and  of  St.  John 
the  Evangelist,  its  patron. 

Ten  years  had  now  elapsed  since  Bishop  Glor- 
ieux' appointment  to  the  vicariate  apostolic  of 
Idaho,  and  since  his  selection  of  Boise  City  for 
the  place  of  his  residence,  and  each  year  some 
notable  improvement  was  either  inaugurated  or 
carried  out  under  his  inspiration  and  leadership. 
The  advance  made  by  the  church  in  Idaho  during 
the  first  eight  years  of  his  administration,  shining 
out  the  more  conspicuously  by  the  side  of  the 
stagnation  of  church  affairs  through  the  ten 
years  that  followed  upon  Bishop  Lootens's  resig- 
nation, moved  the  authorities  at  Rome  to  ad- 
vance Idaho  and  its  vicar  apostolic  a  step  in  the 
hierarchical  ranks.  Consequently,  His  Holiness 
Leo  XIII  erected  Idaho  into  a  diocese  and  trans- 
ferred Dr.  Glorieux  from  the  titular  see  of  Apol- 
lonia  to  the  newly  erected  see  of  Boise  City.  The 
promotion  was  a  graceful  acknowledgment  of 
the  Bishop's  services  to  the  church,  and  it  was 
also  an  honor  conferred  upon  the  young  state  of 
Idaho,  for  it  meant  that  the  ecclesiastical  author- 
ities regarded  the  church  work  there  as  estab- 
lished upon  a  basis  sufficiently  solid  to  permit 
it  to  stand  on  its  own  merits  and  resources.  In- 
deed, not  only  the  Catholics  of  Boise  had'  been 
benefited  by  the  Bishop's  zeal  and  earnestness, 
not  only  had  they  increased  in  numbers  and  been 
spiritually  advanced  under  his  administration,  but 
the  Catholics  of  the  whole  state  had  shared  to  a 
like  degree  in  the  pastoral  solicitude  of  their  pre- 
late and  had  seen  their  churches  and  the  worship- 
ers in  them  more  than  trebled  between  the  years 
1885  and  1895.  Their  Bishop  was  not  in  Boise 
alone,  he  was  everywhere  in  the  state;  for,  year 
after  year,  he  visited  all  the  towns  of  any  conse- 
quence within  its  confines,  baptizing,  preaching, 
administering  the  sacrament  of  confirmation, 
building  or  dedicating  churches,  schools  and  hos- 
pitals. What  is  more,  between  the  intervals  of 


130 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


rest,  which  he  usually  spent  in  Boise,  he  occupied 
himself  in  co-operating  with  its  most  progressive 
citizens  in  building  up  the  town.  Thus  he  was 
instrumental  in  the  organization  of  the  first 
board  of  trade,  in  1891,  and  as  long  as  that  board 
continued  in  existence  he  remained  one  of  its 
eleven  directors,  being  elected  each  succeeding 
term  by  the  almost  unanimous  vote  of  its  mem- 
bers. When  the  board  of  trade  gave  place  to  the 
mining  exchange,  Bishop  Glorieux  was  again  in 
the  van  as  one  of  its  leading  spirits,  and,  lately, 
the  chamber  of  commerce  has  placed  him  at  the 
head  of  some  of  its  most  important  committees. 
No  appeal  in  which  the  general  welfare  of  the 
city  is  at  stake  is  ever  overlooked  bv  Bishop  Glor- 
ieux, who  gives  to  it  unreservedly  all  the  time 
and  attention  his  episcopal  duties  permit.  An 
idea  of  the  work  the  zealous  prelate  accomplished 
outside  of  the  city  may  be  gathered  from  the  fol- 
lowing facts  and  data: 

In  October,  1885,  the  year  of  his  arrival  in 
Idaho,  he  dedicated  St.  Peter's  church  at  Shos- 
hone,  built  under  Father  Nattini's  supervision,  at 
a  cost  of  three  thousand  dollars;  in  1886,  the 
Church  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  erected  at  Keuter- 
ville,  through  the  zeal  of  Father  Diomedi,  S.  J., 
at  a  cost  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars, 
and  also  St.  Mary's  church  at  Ketchum,  built 
during  Father  Cesari's  incumbency  of  the  Wood 
river  missions;  in  1887  he  built  and  dedicated  St. 
Joseph's  church  at  Pocatello,  the  first  Catholic 
church  of  that  city,  reared  at  an  expense  of  six 
hundred  dollars:  in  1890  he  dedicated  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  erected  at  Moscow, 
under  the  pastorate  of  Father  Diomedi,  S.  J.,  at 
a  cost  of  two  thousand  dollars;  in  1889,  the 
church  of  Genesee  built  by  the  Catholics  of  that 
town  at  a  cost  of  five  thousand  dollars,  shortly 
before  Father  Hartleib  assumed  the  rectorate  of 
the  Latah  county  missions,  where  he  had  been 
transferred  from  the  missions  of  southern  Idaho 
on  his  return  from  a  trip  he  made  to  Europe  in 
1888-9,  and  tne  same  year  he  also  de<licated  St. 
Francis  Xavier's  church  at  Bellevue,  which  was 
built  under  his  personal  supervision,  at  a  cost  of 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars. 

The  churches  of  Emmett,  Mullan,  Coeur 
d'Alene  City  and  Rathdrum  were  built  in  1890 
and  had  cost,  the  two  former  eight  hundred  dol- 
lars each  and  the  two  latter  one  thousand  two 


hundred  dollars  and  five  hundred  dollars  respect- 
ively. 

In  1892  Father  Hendrickx  completed  a  church 
at  Garden  Valley,  at  a  cost  of  four  hundred  dol- 
lars; Father  Hartleib  the  church  at  Juliaetta, 
costing  three  hundred  dollars;  Father  Van  der 
Donckt  the  church  at  Glenn's  Ferry,  costing  sev- 
en hundred  dollars,  also  the  school  at  Pocatello, 
erected  at  a  cost  of  seven  thousand  dollars;  and 
the  Sisters  of  Providence  finished  their  forty 
thousand  dollar  hospital  at  Wallace, — all  of 
which  structures  Bishop  Glorieux  dedicated  that 
same  year. 

The  year  1894  saw  new  churches  erected  at 
Wallace  and  Bonner's  Ferry,  the  Bishop  person- 
ally supervising  the  building  of  the  Bonner's  Fer- 
ry church,  which  cost  one  thousand  two  hundred 
dollars,  and  Father  Keyzer  being  the  prime  mov- 
er in  the  erection  of  St.  Alphonsus'  church  at 
Wallace,  on  which  two  thousand  dollars  were 
spent;  these  the  Bishop  dedicated  the  same  year. 

The  year  1895  brought  with  it  the  building  of 
churches  at  Grangeville  and  Wardner.  Father 
William  Kroeger's  labors  made  the  Grangeville 
church  a  reality  and  Father  Keyzer's  zeal  se- 
cured the  Wardner  church.  Each  had  cost  one 
thousand  two  hundred  dollars  when  the  Bishop 
dedicated  it. 

In  1896  only  one  church  was  dedicated,  name- 
ly, the  Church  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  at 
Montpelier,  at  that  time  within  the  limits  of  the 
mission  of  Father  Van  der  Donckt,  who  collected 
and  expended  one  thousand  eight  hundred  dol- 
lars on  the  structure.  In  1897  Father  Kroeger 
finished  at  Keuterville,  at  a  cost  of  five  thousand 
dollars,  Holy  Cross  church,  which  took  the  place 
of  a  small  house  of  worship  erected  years  ago  by 
Father  Diomedi.  Holy  Cross  church  was  dedi- 
cated the  same  year.  In  1898  two  new  churches 
were  built  in  the  missionary  district  presided  over 
by  Father  Van  der  Donckt  and  were  dedicated  by 
the  Bishop, — one  at  Pocatello,  which  cost  seven 
thousand  dollars  and  replaces  the  one  built  in 
1887,  and  another  at  Idaho  Falls.  In  Wallace, 
Father  Becker  built  a  pastoral  residence  at  a  cost 
of  three  thousand  dollars,  and  the  Sisters  of  the 
Visitation  reared  at  Lewiston  a  school  building 
on  which  they  spent  ten  thousand  dollars. 

The  year  1899  has  already  witnessed  the  erec- 
tion of  churches  at  Dempsey  and  Payette  City 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


131 


and  is  destined  to  witness  the  construction  of  at 
least  one  other,  at  Weiser  City,  for  which  the 
money  has  been  collected  and  the  contract  let. 

The  above  enumeration,  as  the  reader  will  have 
noticed,  includes  only  the  new  churches,  schools 
and  hospitals  constructed  during  the  Rt.  Rev.  A. 
J.  Glorieux'  episcopacy.  It  must  be  added  that, 
with  the  exception  of  three,  the  churches  which 
he  found  when  he  took  charge  of  the  diocese 
have  been  almost  entirely  renovated  since,  at  dif- 
ferent intervals.  The  three  exceptions  are  the 
Old  Mission  church  in  Kootenai  county  and  the 
churches  of  St.  Thomas,  at  Centerville,  and  of  St. 
Francis,  at  Pioneer.  The  last  two  are  no  more; 
for  the  people  that  built  them  having  deserted 
their  homes  and  non-Catholics  having  come  to 
take  their  abodes  there,  the  churches  have  fallen 
into  decay.  Considering  that  the  Catholic  popu- 
lation of  the  vicariate  apostolic  of  Idaho  did  not 
reach  the  total  of  three  thousand  souls  in  1885 
and  that  to-day  the  diocese  has  not  above  ten 
thousand,  it  is  certainly  remarkable  that  so  many 
churches  and  religious  institutions  were  built  in 
it  in  so  short  a  time.  What  is  most  creditable  of 
all  is  the  fact  that  if  the  entire  church  debt  of  the 
diocese  were  divided  among  its  thirty-five 
churches,  the  amount  debited  to  each  would  not 
exceed  one  hundred  dollars.  We  venture  to  say 
there  is  not  one  other  diocese  of  the  eighty-four 
in  the  United  States  that  can  say  as  much  for  its 
financial  condition.  This  must  be  credited  to  the 
Bishop's  watchfulness  and  safe  financial  manage- 
ment, his  motto  in  matters  of  business  being, 
"Pay  as  you  go  along."  That  motto  has  always 
stood  him  in  good  stead ;  for  he  has  none  of  the 
worry  following  in  the  wake  of  debts  to  be  paid 
and  obligations  to  be  met  when  the  treasury  is 
empty.  The  Bishop's  spirit  has  been  imbibed  by 
his  priests,  and  thev  are  proud  to  point  to  their 
churches  free  of  all  debts  and  encumbrances. 

As  a  diocese  without  priests  is  like  an  army 
without  other  officers  than  a  general,  it  behooves 
us  to  add  a  few  words,  before  concluding  this 
chapter,  on  the  Bishop's  co-laborers  in  this  por- 
tion of  the  Lord's  vineyard. 

When  Bishop  Glorieux  came  to  Idaho  he 
found  in  the  field  two  secular  priests  doing  duty 
among  the  whites  in  southern  Idaho  and  four 
devoting  their  lives  to  the  Indians  in  the  northern 
portion  of  the  territory.  Now  there  are  six  secu- 


lar priests  under  him  in  southern  Idaho  and  three 
in  northern  Idaho,  besides  seven  regulars  of  the 
order  of  Jesuits  and  that  of  the  Divine  Saviour. 

To  assist  the  Bishop  in  Boise  are  the  Rev.  Fath- 
ers J.  Beusmans  and  J.  Van  der  Heyden.  The 
Rev.  T.  J.  Purcell  has  charge  of  Kootenai  county, 
where  he  attends  five  churches  and  four  missions 
without  churches.  Very  Reverend  J.  M.  Caruana 
is  the  superior  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  Indian  mis- 
sion, at  De  Smet,  and  is  assisted  by  three  fathers 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Latah  county  comprises 
the  missionary  field  of  Father  R.  Keyzer,  who 
attends  the  churches  of  Moscow,  Genesee  and 
Juliaetta  and  a  dozen  missions  without  churches, 
some  of  which  are  in  the  counties  of  Nez  Perces 
and  Shoshone.  Rev.  Father  J.  J.  Burri,  whose 
field  occupies  the  largest  territory  in  the  diocese, 
has  churches  at  Hailey,  Bellevue,  Ketchum, 
Shoshone,  Glenn's  Ferry,  and  Silver  City,  all  of 
which  he  attends  at  least  once  a  month.  He  has 
besides  about  fourteen  missions  without  churches 
in  the  counties  of  Custer,  Elaine,  Lincoln,  El- 
more,  and  Owyhee,  to  which  he  pays  from  two  to 
four  visits  a  year.  Rev.  J.  Thomas  is  the  spiritual 
director  of  the  Catholics  who  attend  the  churches 
of  Idaho  City,  Granite  Creek,  Garden  Valley, 
Emmett  and  Payette,  and  of  a  dozen  stations 
without  churches  scattered  through  the  counties 
of  Boise,  Canyon  and  Washington.  Rev.  Father 
L.  Mueller,  S.  D.  S.,  has  charge  of  Idaho  county, 
a  county  as  large  as  the  kingdom  of  Belgium. 
The  Catholic  churches  in  that  county  are  at  Keu- 
terville,  Cottonwood  and  Grangeville. 

In  Nez  Perces  county  Father  M.  Meyer,  S.  J., 
whose  residence  is  at  Lewiston,  attends  to  the 
whites,  whilst  Fathers  H.  Post,  S.  J.,  and  Al. 
Soer,  S.  J.,  have  charge  of  the  Lapwai  Indians. 
In  Bear  Lake  and  Bannock  counties  Catholics 
are  ably  ministered  unto  by  Father  W.  A.  J.  Hen- 
drickx,  whose  manifest  destiny  is  to  become  the 
apostle  of  the  Mormons.  He  recently  erected  a 
little  Catholic  church  at  Dempsey,  in  the  heart  of 
Mormondom  The  old  Coeur  d'Alene  Mission, 
where  some  Indians  congregate  occasionally  and 
where  there  are  also  a  few  whites  living,  is  under 
the  spiritual  supervision  of  Father  F.  Punghorst, 
S.  J.  Father  C.  Van  der  Donckt  is  Pocatello's 
pastor;  he  also  occasionally  visits  Idaho  Falls, 
where  there  is  a  church,  and  a  few  other  places 
in  the  counties  of  Le>"h>  Bingham,  Fremont  and 


132 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Cassia.  Father  Van  der  Donckt  enjoys  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  the  first  priest  ordained  for  the 
vicariate  of  Idaho  under  Bishop  Glorieux,  and 
also  of  being  the  oldest  in  point  of  years  of  ser- 
vice of  the  present  diocesan  clergy,  although  he 
has  yet  to  see  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  age.  He 
was  ordained  and  received  his  theological  train- 
ing at  the  American  College  of  Louvain,  Bel- 
gium, and  came  to  Idaho  in  the  fall  of  1887;  he 
has  been  in  the  harness  ever  since,  as  the  Bishop's 
right  hand.  Twice  since  he  was  appointed  to  the 
missions  of  southeastern  Idaho  have  they  been 
divided,  and  even  now  does  the  Father  call  for 
another  division  and  the  appointment  of  a  col- 
league for  part  of  the  district  to  whose  spiritual 
wants  he  attends.  Fathers  Hendrickx  and  Burri 
have  for  a  few  years  past  held  the  rectorship  of 
missions  which  Father  Van  der  Donckt  used  to 
look  after  single-handed,  together  with  the  dis- 
trict over  which  he  now  presides.  Wallace  and 
the  whole  Coeur  d'Alene  country  is  ably  rectored 
by  Father  F.  A.  Becker,  formerly  president  of  St. 
James'  College,  at  Vancouver. 

The  work  of  the  Catholic  church  nobly  carried 
on  in  the  state  of  Idaho  by  Bishop  Glorieux  and 
his  devoted  little  band  of  priests  is  supplemented 
by  the  labors  of  four  religious  communities  of 
Sisters,  numbering  fifty-six  subjects,  engaged 
some  in  nursing  the  sick  at  the  hospitals  of  Wal- 
lace and  Boise,  others  in  teaching  the  young  in 
the  church  schools  of  Boise,  Pocatello,  Genesee, 
Lewiston  and  De  Smet. 

Idaho  is  on  the  eve  of  an  era  of  prosperity  and 
progress.  The  railways  that  are  projected  and 
in  course  of  construction  at  various  points  of  its 
magnificent  commonwealth  testify  that  its  re- 
sources are  beginning  to  be  appreciated.  People 
are  bound  to  flock  to  its  borders  within  a  short 
time,  to  develop  its  mines,  to  cultivate  its  millions 
of  acres  of  virgin  soil,  and  to  appropriate  for  the 
use  of  mankind  the  magnificent  timber  of  its 
wide-stretching  forests.  Among  the  new  comers 
there  will  undoubtedly  be  a  fair  percentage  of 
members  of  the  Catholic  church.  The  writer 
would  say  to  them  that  not  only  will  they  be 
made  welcome,  but  that  their  spiritual  wants  will 
be  attended  to;  for  the  devoted  prelate  who 
guides  the  destinies  of  the  church  in  this  state  is 
ever  on  the  alert  to  procure  to  all  the  children 
of  his  flock  the  means  to  satisfy  the  spiritual  as- 


pirations of  their  nature.  In  many  places  they 
will  find  churches  as  beautiful  and  pastors  as  de- 
voted and  able  as  any  they  have  known  in  the 
homes  they  left  behind.  Where  there  are  no 
churches  as  yet  they  will  soon  be  built;  for  there 
is  not  now  a  community  with  at  least  twenty 
Catholic  families  that  does  not  have  its  own  Cath- 
olic church,  and  whilst  Bishop  Glorieux  remains 
at  the  helm  there  never  will  be. 

RT.  REV.  ALPHONSUS  J.  GLORIEUX. 

The  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  Boise  is  a  native 
of  Belgium,  his  birth  having  taken  place  at  Dot- 
tignies,  in  the  province  of  West  Flanders.  His 
parents  were  Auguste  and  Lucy  (Vanderghinste) 
Glorieux,  both  of  whom  were  devout  Catholics. 
The  father  was  a  man  of  influence  and  a  member 
of  the  council  of  his  township.  He  departed  this 
life  in  1848,  aged  forty-nine  years,  and  was  sur- 
vived by  his  wife  until  1891,  when  she  passed 
away,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years.  They  were  the 
parents  of  four  children,  our  subject  being  the 
only  son. 

Alphonsus  Joseph  Glorieux  attended  the  pub- 
lic schools  and  later  took  a  collegiate  course  of 
six  years  at  Courtrai,  where  he  was  graduated 
in  1863,  and  then  entered  the  American  College 
at  Louvain,  where  he  prepared  for  the  priesthood 
and  was  graduated  in  theology  in  1867.  He  was 
ordained  by  His  Eminence  Cardinal  Engelbert 
Sterckx,  in  August,  1867,  and  then  came  to 
America,  locating  in  Oregon,  where  he  entered 
upon  his  missionary  work,  being  appointed  to 
Roseburg,  from  which  charge  he  was  transferred 
to  Oregon  City  and  thence  to  St.  Paul,  or  French 
Prairie,  the  cradle  of  the  Catholic  church  in  Ore- 
gon. In  1871  he  was  made  president  of  St.  Mich- 
ael's College  in  Portland,  Oregon,  where  he  ac- 
quitted himself  with  such  ability  that  in  1884  he 
was  appointed  Vicar  Apostolic  of  Idaho,  the 
Catholic  interests  of  that  state  having  been,  after 
the  retirement  of  Bishop  Lootens,  under  the  care 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Oregon.  Bishop  Glorieux 
was  consecrated  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  in  April, 
1885,  the  officiating  prelate  being  His  Eminence 
Cardinal  Gibbons,  assisted  by  Archbishop  Gross, 
of  Oregon,  and  Bishop  Maes,  of  Covington,  Ken- 
tucky. He  came  immediately  to  Idaho,  which 
has  been  the  scene  of  his  labors  ever  since,  and 
here  he  has  been  an  incessant  toiler  in  the  vine- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


133 


yard  of  his  Master.  When  he  took  charge  of 
the  Idaho  field,  in  1885,  the  membership  of  the 
Catholic  church  numbered  two  thousand  and  five 
hundred:  the  number  now  exceeds  ten  thousand. 
There  were  ten  church  edifices  in  the  state:  there 
are  now  thirty-eight.  He  found  but  one  school: 
now  there  are  four  flourishing  institutes  of  learn- 
ing. At  that  time  there  were  no  Catholic  hos- 
pitals: now  there  are  three  and  all  are  doing  well. 
The  number  of  clergymen  has  increased  during 
his  term  from  six  to  twenty,  the  number  of  sisters 
from  fourteen  to  forty-five,  and 'not  only  has  the 
Catholic  church  of  Idaho  in  general  felt  the  pious 
impulse  of  Bishop  Glorieux'  consecrated  life, 
but  Boise  has  been  especially  favored  by  his  wise 
ministry.  Twice  has  the  church  building  been 
enlarged  to  accommodate  the  ever  increasing 
congregation,  the  large  episcopal  residence  has 
been  erected,  and  St.  Teresa's  Academy  and  St. 
Alphonsus  Hospital  have  been  built  largely 
through  his  labors. 


Bishop  Glorieux  travels  throughout  the  state 
each  year,  preaching  in  all  the  churches  and  mis- 
sions. He  is  one  of  the  best  church  organizers 
in  the  Catholic  denomination  in  America,  his  re- 
ligious zeal  and  piety  being  equaled  only  by  the 
purity  of  his  life  and  the  catholicity  of  his  re- 
ligious faith.  Not  only  as  a  devout  churchman, 
but  as  a  patriotic  citizen,  devoted  to  his  country 
and  its  flag,  is  his  life  lifted  far  above  the  com- 
monplace. There  has  not  been  an  enterprise  af- 
fecting Boise  or  the  state  in  which  he  has  not 
taken  a  deep  interest  and  of  which  he  has  not  in 
some  sense  been  a  promoter.  He  has  been  a 
member  and  one  of  the  directors  of  the  board 
of  trade  since  its  organization,  and  has  been  act- 
ive on  some  of  its  committees.  It  is  his  intention 
to  give  Idaho  his  best  efforts  for  her  advance- 
ment and  improvement,  both  morally  and  finan- 
cially, and  he  enjoys  the  very  high  esteem  of  all 
who  meet  him  and  who  know  him  to  be  the  un- 
assuming Christian  gentleman  that  he  is. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


THE   INDIANS   OF   IDAHO— NEZ   PERCES   AND   SHOSHONE   UPRISINGS. 


SOME  notice  of  the  original  inhabitants  of 
Idaho  is  due  the  reader  of  this  book, 
even  though  that  notice  must  necessarily 
be  short  and 'its  data  largely  traditional.  With- 
out a  written  language  of  any  kind,  unless  it 
was  the  use  of  the  rudest  and  most  barbarous 
symbols,  they  have  passed  away  and  left  no  re- 
corded history;  without  architecture,  except 
that  which  exhausts  its  genius  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  skin  wigwam  or  a  bark  lodge,  they 
have  died  and  left  no  monuments.  Traditions 
concerning  them  are  too  confused,  contradictory 
and  uncertain  to  satisfy  any  who  desire  reliable 
history.  Any  real  information  at  all  reliable  con- 
cerning them  began  with  the  publication  of  the 
journal  of  the  exploring  expedition  of  Lewis  and 
Clarke  in  1804  and  1805.  Incidental  notices  of 
various  tribes  have  been  given  to  the  world  by 
other  explorers  and  travelers,  but  very  much 
that  has  been  written  concerning  them  was  not 
the  ascertainings  of  patient  and  continued  per- 
sonal investigation,  nor  yet  the  impressions  of 
any  extended  personal  contact,  but  the  chance 
and  hasty  gatherings  of  unreliable  traditions,  or, 
what  was  even  less  to  be  depended  on  than  this, 
the  exaggerated  recitals  of  some  wild,  camp-fire 
stories.  All  these,  of  course,  have  a  value  as  liter- 
ature, and  occupy  an  interesting  place  in  roman- 
tic story,  but  their  ratus  as  history  is  not  great. 

When  these  people  were  first  brought  under  the 
study  of  civilized  men  two  facts  distinctly  marked 
them:  One  was  that  the  tribes  east  of  the  Cas- 
cade mountains  had  very  different  mental  and 
physical  qualities  from  those  residing  west  of  that 
range.  The  other  was,  that  there  was  no  form 
or  semblance  of  civilization  of  any  character 
among  them;  they  were  as  entirely  savage  and 
barbarous  as  the  tribes  of  ''darkest  Africa."  For 
this  first  fact  the  marked  difference  in  the  cli- 
mate, productions  and  consequent  modes  of  liv- 
ing necessary  for  them,  furnishes  a  reason,  if  not 
the  reason. 


West  of  the  Cascade  mountains  the  climate 
was  soft,  moist;  and  its  indigenous  productions 
were  those  that  a  rich  soil  would  send  forth  in 
such  a  climate.  -It  was  a  region  of  large,  deep 
rivers;  of  numerous  bays  and  inlets  from  the 
ocean  extending  far  inland,  all  filled  with  fish  of 
the  finest  and  richest  quality,  easily  taken,  and 
hence  inviting  to  a  life  of  effortless  indolence  and 
ease. 

Hence  these  aborigines  were  short  of  stature; 
heavy  and  broad  and  fat  of  body;  indolent  and 
sluggish  in  movement;  without  alertness  or  per- 
ception of  mind;  indolent  and  inactive  in  all  their 
habits;  sleeping  away  nearly  all  but  the  little 
time  that  was  requisite  for  them  to  throw  their 
barbed  harpoon  into  the  shining  side  of  the  sal- 
mon that  swam  on  the  shoals  and  sands  of  the 
rivers  and  bays  along  which  they  thus  droned 
away  their  meaningless  life,  and  the  few  ad- 
ditional moments  required  to  boil  or  roast  it 
sufficient  to  gratify  their  uncultured  appetite. 

East  of  the  Cascade  mountains  the  country 
was  a  high,  rolling,  mountain  prairie,  averaging 
from  one  to  six  thousand  feet  above  the  tides 
of  the  ocean.  The  streams  are  rapid,  boiling 
torrents.  The  climate  was  dry  and  the  natural 
vegetable  productions  were  minimized;  it  was 
almost  a  desert.  It  furnished  abundance  of  grass 
for  grazing,  and  its  vast  distances  of  hill  and 
plain  required  their  use  for  locomotion.  Hence 
these  tribes  were  equestrian,  rather  than  semi- 
aquatic  like  the  tribes  of  the  lower  rivers  and 
sea  inlets.  The  mountains  were  covered  with 
open  and  scattering  forests  of  pine,  with  occa- 
sional groves  of  fir  and  tamarack,  almost  with- 
out undergrowth,  through  and  over  which  the 
horseman  could  ride  almost  unhindered  in  any 
direction.  The  game,  such  as  elk,  deer,  ante- 
lope, bear,  buffalo,  mountain  sheep  and  goats, 
ranged  both  plain  and  mountain;  furnishing 
the  chief  food  of  the  tribes  that  inhabited  this 
region.  To  take  it,  however,  required  activity, 


134 


0. 

to 


a 
< 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


135 


cunning,  courage,  and  hence  developed  a  tall, 
stalwart,  erect,  active  race  of  men ;  lithe  and 
springy  as  a  panther;  which  animal,  indeed, 
many  of  the  Cayuse  and  Nez  Perces  would  re- 
mind the  jbservant  traveler  of  by  the  quick 
stealthiness  of  their  movement,  the  restless,  pene- 
trating glance  of  their  eye  that  caught  every 
quivering  motion  of  leaf  or  feature:  the  sensi- 
tiveness of  their  ear,  that  missed  no  snap  of  twig, 
or  tread  of  foot;,  and  their  ever-tensioned  sinews 
ready  for  the  spring  of  attack  or  the  speed  of  the 
flight. 

Of  all  the  Indians  in  Idaho  the  Nez  Perces 
had  the  highest  degree  of  intelligence,  and  prob- 
ably of  social  morality  also.  The  men  were  tall, 
large,  upright  in  bearing,  generally  of  open 
countenance  and  intelligent  expression.  The 
women  were  rather  fairer  in  color,  and  much  fair- 
er in  form  or  feature,  with  easier  and  more  grace- 
ful carriage  than  the  women  of  other  tribes. 
They  were  also  much  neater  in  person.  Though 
they  were  brave  in  war,  yet  it  was  long  before  a 
Nez  Perces  took  up  arms  against  the  white  man ; 
but  when  he  did  he  proved  himself  the  equal  in 
generalship  and  in  valor  to  his  white-faced 
brother.  The  Nez  Perces  have  withstood  contact 
with  civilization  better  than  any  other  tribe  of  the 
northwest,  and  they  have  taken  on  not  a  little  of 
the  spirit  of  its  progress.  They  have  many  farms, 
with  improved  implements  of  husbandry;  many 
homes  with  organs,  sewing  machines,  carpets  and 
other  comforts  of  civilized  life.  What  Lewis  and 
Clarke  found  them  when  they  reached  their 
country  in  the  autumn  or  1805,  and  what  Bonne- 
ville  described  them  as  he  found  them  twenty- 
five  years  later,  they  have  been  found  up  to  the 
present  time. 

The  Nez  Perces  have  had  some  chieftains 
worthy  in  all  respects  to  take  rank  with  Brandt, 
Tecumseh,  Keokuk,  or  any  of  the  chieftains  of 
the  eastern  states.  Ishholhoatshoats,  or  Lawyer, 
as  he  was  named  by  the  whites,  was  both  a  states  • 
man  and  a  warrior.  Bold,  yet  cautious,  he  knew 
when  and  how  to  strike  the  most  effective  blows. 
Timothy,  the  first  man  admitted  to  membership 
in  the  church  under  Mr.  H.  H.  Spaulding,  for  so 
many  years  the  teacher  of  this  people,  had  a  com- 
manding manhood,  and  was  the  brave  and  stead- 
fast friend  of  the  whites.  Joseph  the  younger, 
who  never  forgot  that  he  was  an  Indian,  and  as 


such  cleaved  to  his  people  to  the  last,  was  a 
consummate  soldier;  and,  though  his  forces  were 
much  smaller  than  those  of  General  Howard  in 
the  great  Nez  Perces  war  he  proved  that  on  the 
battlefield  or  in  the  march  he  was  as  brave  and 
resourceful  as  that  able  and  indefatigable  general, 
and  that  he  could  hold  his  warriors  to  the  rifle's 
front  as  steadily  and  long  as  he  could  his  trained 
soldiers. 

The  Cayuses  were  nearly  related  to  the  Nez 
Perces.  Their  country  lying  contiguous,  and 
being  of  much  the  same  character,  with  no  diffi- 
cult natural  barrier  between  them,  the  tribes  had 
intermarried  to  a  considerable  extent.  Still  the 
character  of  the  Cayuses  was  not  as  noble  and 
truthful  as  was  that  of  their  relatives.  They 
were  more  treacherous  and  warlike,  and  less  sus- 
ceptible to  improvement.  It  was  among  these 
people,  on  the  northern  margin  of  their  terri- 
tory, that  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman  established  his 
missionary  station  in  1836,  and,  after  he  had 
given  them  eleven  years  of  the  most  devoted 
instructions  in  the  arts  of  peace  and  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity,  it  was  they  who  barbar- 
ously murdered  him  and  his  devoted  and  culti- 
vated wife  in  a  moment  of  savage  frenzy.  In  all 
the  wars  with  the  whites  occurring  in  eastern 
Oregon  the  Cayuses  were  deeply  and  criminally 
involved.  Lacking  in  intelligence  and  nobleness 
of  the  Nez  Perces,  they  also  lacked  their  real 
bravery.  Still  they  were  cunning,  crafty,  full  of 
alertness  and  energy,  and  by  no  means  a  foe 
to  be  despised. 

The  Skizoomish  Indians  were  named  by  the 
early  French  voyageurs  Coeur  d'Alenes  (awl- 
hearts),  indicating  that  their  spirits  were  small 
and  hard,  as  shown  by  their  shrewdness  in  trade. 
In  1820  there  were  two  thousand  of  these  In- 
dians, but  by  the  year  1890  there  were  only  two 
hundred  and  fifty,  although  they  have  ever  been 
subject  to  hostilities  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States. 

The  native  wild  tribes  of  Idaho  are  now  of 
chiefly  historic  interest.  The  existing  remnants 
are  confined  to  reservations,  and  are  rapidly 
learning  the  arts  of  peace  and  civilization. 

The  Indians  inhabiting  the  most  northern  por- 
tions of  Idaho  were  the  Kootenais,  who  dwelt  in 
British  Columbia  and  the  extreme  northern  por- 
tion of  Idaho;  the  Pend  d'Oreilles,  who  dwelt 


136 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


about  the  lake  of  the  same  name,  and  for  from 
fifty  to  seventy-five  miles  above  and  below  the 
lake  on  Clarke's  Fork;  and  the  Coeur  d'Alenes, 
who  dwelt  on  Coeur  d'Alene  lake  and  its  tribu- 
taries. The  Pend  d'Oreilles  and  Coeur  d'Alenes 
belonged  to  the  Salish  family,  which  dwelt  south 
of  the  Shushwaps,  between  the  forty-ninth  and 
forty-seventh  parallels,  and  on  the  Columbia  and 
its  tributaries.  The  remnants  of  these  last-named 
Indians  now  in  Idaho  are  on  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
reservation.  They  number  at  present  less  than 
three  hundred,  all  converted  to  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic religion.  Most  of  them  have  farms  in  sever- 
ally, own  houses,  cattle,  sheep,  wagons,  mowers, 
reapers,  and  all  necessary  and  improved  agricul- 
tural implements,  raise  large  crops  of  wheat,  oats, 
potatoes,  hay,  etc.;  they  own  droves  of  hogs, 
and  are  to-day  probably  as  prosperous  and  peace- 
ful a  tribe  as  can  be  found  west  of  the  Rocky 
mountains.  This  tribe  are  self-supporting  and 
have  never  been  at  war  with  the  white  men. 
They  have  schools  under  the  direction  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  nuns,  and  many  of  their  young 
people  are  acquiring  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  Eng- 
lish language. 

The  Sahaptin  family,  like  the  Salish  just  de- 
scribed, belongs  to  the  inland  tribes  of  the  Co- 
lumbia group.  They  inhabited  the  region  be- 
tween the  Cascade  and  Bitter  Root  mountains, 
and  the  forty-fifth  and  forty-seventh  parallels.  Of 
its  nations,  the  Nez  Perces  or  Sahaptins  proper 
dwelt  on  the  Clearwater  and  its  branches,  and  on 
the  Snake  about  the  forks.  Ross,  in  his  work 
entitled  "Fur  Hunters,"  says  they  derive  their 
name  from  the  custom  of  boring  their  noses  to 
receive  a  white  shell,  like  the  fluke  of  an  anchor. 
Most  writers  follow  Ross  in  taking  for  granted 
that  these  Indians  were  so  named  from  some 
habit  of  piercing  their  noses,  though  there  is  no 
tradition  of  anything  of  the  sort.  According  to 
others  it  is  a  word  tortured  from  nez  pres,  mean- 
ing flat  nose,  which  was  given  them  by  the  old 
French  Canadian  trappers  in  early  days. 

Mr.  H.  H.  Bancroft,  to  whose  work  on  the 
Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  Coast  we  are  in- 
debted for  many  of  the  items  in  the  following 
pages,  states  that  in  bodily  strength  the  Sahaptin 
Indians  are  inferior  to  the  whites,  but  superior, 
as  might  be  expected  from  their  habits,  to  the 
more  indolent  fish-eaters  on  the  Pacific.  The 


Xez  Perces  and  Cayuses  are  considered  the  best 
specimens,  while  in  the  north  the  Kootenais  seem 
to  be  superior  to  the  other  Shushwap  nations. 
The  Salish  are  assigned  by  Wilkes  and  Hale  an' 
intermediate  place  in  physical  attributes  between 
the  coast  and  mountain  tribes,  being  in  stature 
and  proportion  superior  to  the  Chinooks,  but  in- 
ferior to  the  Nez  Perces.  Inland  a  higher  order 
of  face  is  observed  than  on  the  coast.  The  cheek- 
bones are  still  high,  the  forehead  'is  rather  low, 
the  face  long,  the  eyes  black,  rarely  oblique,  the 
nose  prominent,  and  frequently  aquiline,  the  lips 
thin,  the  teeth  white  and  regular,  but  generally 
much  worn.  The  general  expression  of  the  fea- 
tures is  stern,  often  melancholy,  but  not  as  a  rule 
harsh  or  repulsive.  Dignified,  fine-looking  men, 
and  handsome  young  women,  have  been  re- 
marked in  nearly  all  the  tribes,  but  here  again 
the  Sahaptins  bear  off  the  palm.  The  complexion 
is  of  decidedly  coppery  hue.  The  hair  is  gen- 
erally coarse  and  worn  long.  The  beard  is  very 
thin,  and  its  growth  is  carefully  prevented  by 
plucking.  Methods  adopted  by  other  tribes  to 
create  deformities  of  the  head  are  comparatively 
unknown  among  the  Nez  Perces,  who  are  gener- 
ally better  clad  than  some  of  their  neighboring 
tribes.  They  build  houses  of  straw  and  mats  in 
the  form  of  the  roof  of  a  house.  Lewis  and 
Clarke's  narrative  refers  to  one  of  these  as  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  long  and  about  fifteen 
wide,  closed  at  the  ends  and  having  a  number  of 
doors  on  each  side. 

War  and  hunting  were  their  chief  occupation, 
but  they  were  and  are  not  infrequently  compelled 
to  resort  to  roots,  and  berries,  and  mosses.  The 
favorite  roots  are  the  camas,  couse,  and  bitter 
root,  and  the  natives  to  obtain  these  make  regu- 
lar migrations  as  for  game  or  fish.  The  women 
are  generally  much  more  kindly  treated  among 
the  Nez  Perces  and  Pend  d'Oreilles  than  among 
the  generality  of  aboriginal  tribes. 

In  their  personal  habits,  as  well  as  the  care  of 
their  lodges,  the  Nez  Perces  and  Kootenais  are 
mentioned  as  neat  and  cleanly.  De  Smet,  how- 
ever, represents  the  Pend  d'Oreille  women  as 
untidy,  even  for  savages.  ''The  inland  families," 
says  Bancroft,  "cannot  be  called  a  warfike  race." 
They  seldom  resort  to  arms,  yet  when  fighting 
becomes  necessary,  the  Cayuses,  Nez  Perces, 
Flatheads,  and  Kootenais  are  notably  brave  war- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


137 


riors  for  defense  or  vengeance  against  a  foreign 
foe.  The  two  former  waged  both  defensive  and 
aggressive  warfare  against  the  Snakes  of  the 
south,  while  the  latter  joined  their  arms  against 
their  common  foes,  the  Blackfeet.  Departure  on 
a  warlike  expedition  is  preceded  by  ceremonies, 
including  councils  of  the  wise,  great,  and  old, 
smoking  the  pipe,  harangues  by  the  chiefs, 
dances,  and  a  general  review  or  display  of  eques- 
trian feats  and  maneuvers  of  battle.  After  battle 
they  smoke  the  customary  pipe  of  peace  with 
the  enemy,  and  renew  their  protestations  of 
eternal  friendship.  In  the  matter  of  marriage, 
the  standard  of  a  wife's  qualifications  is  her  ca- 
pacity for  work. 

The  Nez  Perces  have  more  and  better  stock 
than  other  nations.  Individuals  often  own  large 
bands  of  horses.  The  Kootenais  are  the  most 
northern  tribe  who  are  accustomed  to  the  horse. 
It  is  supposed  that  these  animals  were  introduced 
among  the  northern  tribes  by  Shoshones  from 
the  south,  the  last  named  being  connected  with 
the  Comanches,  who  obtained  horses  from  the 
Spaniards  during  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
rights  of  property  are  duly  respected,  but  it  is 
said  that  among  the  Salish  nations  on  the  death 
of  the  father  his  relatives  would  not  scruple  in  the 
least  to  seize  the  most  valuable  property,  regard- 
less of  the  rights  of  the  children  who  are  too 
young  to  take  care  of  themselves.  With  the 
Pend  d'Oreilles,  when  reduced  to  severe  straits, 
it  was  not  uncommon  to  bury  the  very  old  and 
very  young  alive,  because,  they  said,  "these  can- 
not take  care  of  themselves,  and  they  had  better 
die."  On  approaching  his  majority,  the  young 
Pend  d'Oreille  would  be  sent  to  a  high  mountain 
where  he  would  have  to  remain  until  he  dreamed 
of  some  animal,  bird,  or  fish,  which  was  to  be 
thereafter  his  medicine.  A  claw,  tooth,  or  feather 
of  such  animal  was  thereafter  to  be  worn  as  his 
charm.  The  howling  of  certain  beasts,  especially 
of  the  medicine  wolf,  was  supposed  to  forebode 
evil.  Among  the  Nez  Perces  it  was  the  custom 
to  overcome  the  spirit  of  fatigue,  or  mawish  as  it 
was  called,  by  a  certain  ceremony  which  was  sup- 
posed to  confer  great  powers  of  endurance.  This 
ceremony  was  repeated  yearly  from  the  age  of 
eighteen  to  forty,  and  the  performance  would 
last  three  to  seven  days.  It  consisted  of  thrust- 
ing willow  sticks  down  the  throat  into  the 


stomach,  a  succession  of  hot  and  cold  baths,  and 
fasting. 

Medicine-men  are  supposed  to  acquire  won- 
derful powers  by  retiring  to  the  mountains  and 
conferring  with  the  medicine-wolf,  after  which 
they  become  invulnerable,  and  bullets  fired  at 
them  flatten  on  their  breast.  They  have  a  super- 
stitious fear  of  having  their  portraits  taken. 
Steam  baths  or  sweat-houses  are  used  for  the 
purpose  of  purification  in  their  religious  rites. 
These  sweat-houses  usually  consist  of  a  hole  in 
the  ground  from  three  to  eight  feet  deep,  and 
about  fifteen  feet  in  diameter,  with  a  small  hole 
for  entrance,  which  is  closed  up  after  the  bather 
enters.  A  fire  is  built  in  this  retreat  by  means 
of  which  stones  are  heated.  In  this  oven-like 
receptacle,  heated  to  a  suffocating  temperature, 
the  naked  native  wallows  in  the  steam  and  mud, 
singing,  yelling,  and  praying,  and  at  last  rushes 
out  dripping  with  perspiration,  and  plunges  into 
the  nearest  stream. 

The  good  qualities  of  the  Kootenais  and  Nez 
Perces  have  been  commended  by  all  having  ac- 
quaintance with  them.  "Honest,  just,  and  often 
charitable;  ordinarily  cold  and  reserved,  but  on 
occasions  social  and  almost  gay;  quick-tempered 
and  almost  revengeful  under  what  they  consider 
injustice,  but  readily  appeased  by  kind  treatment; 
cruel  only  to  captive  enemies,  stoical  in  the  en- 
durance of  torture;  devotedly  attached  to  home 
and  family — these  natives  probably  come  as  near 
as  it  is  permitted  to  flesh  and  blood  savages  to 
the  noble  red  man  of  the  forest  sometimes  met 
in  romance." 

The  Nez  Perces  now  on  the  reservation  in  Nez 
Perces  county  at  Fort  Lapwai  belong  to  the 
treaty  Indians  as  opposed  to  the  non-treaty  Nez 
Perces  who,  under  Joseph,  were  banished  to  In- 
dian territory.  The  Nez  Perces  now  in  Idaho 
have  ever  been  stanch  friends  of  the  whites;  they 
are  brave,  but  industrious  and  peaceable.  With 
the  exception  of  the  agricultural  implements  is- 
sued to  them  by  the  government,  they  can  be 
justly  termed  self-supporting.  Their  means  of 
support  are  agriculture  and  stock-raising.  Each 
year  witnesses  decided  advancements.  The 
children  are  said  to  be  advancing  nearly  as  rapid- 
ly in  their  school-room  studies  as  average  white 
children,  and  show  a  remarkable  aptitude  in  all 
kinds  of  farm  and  garden  work. 


138 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


The  Lemhi  Indians  are  composed  of  Sho- 
shones,  Bannocks,  and  Sheep-eaters.  The  Sho- 
shone  or  Snake  Indians  are  fairly  honest,  peace- 
able and  intelligent.  The  Bannocks  possess  more 
of  the  sly  cunning  and  innate  restlessness  of  dis- 
position than  would  appear  to  be  good  for  them 
or  agreeable  to  their  nearest  neighbors.  The 
Sheep-eaters  are  naturally  quieter  and  less  de- 
monstrative than  either,  and  therefore  seem  more 
inclined  to  take  life  easy.  The  Shoshone  ele- 
ment largely  predominates. 

The  Shoshone  family  is  generally  included  in 
the  California  group  of  native  tribes.  Their  ter- 
ritory formerly  spread  over  southeastern  Oregon 
and  southern  Idaho,  extending  into  Utah,  Ari- 
zona, and  eastern  Idaho.  They  are  divided  into 
several  tribes,  of  which  the  Bannocks  were  orig- 
inally one.  The  word  "Shoshone"  means  "Snake 
Indian,"  though  Ross  is  authority  for  the  asser- 
tion that  it  means  "inland." 

The  Snakes  are  better  dressed  than  the  tribes 
farther  south,  and  make  some  pretensions  to 
ornamentation.  Their  clothing  is  generally  made 
of  the  skins  of  larger  game,  ornamented  with 
beads,  shells,  fringes,  feathers,  and  pieces  of  bril- 
liant-colored cloth.  Their  dwellings  are  also 
superior  to  those  of  the  Utahs,  though  consist- 
ing chiefly  of  skins  thrown  over  long  poles  lean- 
ing against  each  other  in  the  form  of  a  circle. 
A  hole  is  left  in  the  top  for  a  chimney.  Another 
one  in  the  bottom,  about  three  feet  high,  is  used 
as  a  door,  and  closed  by  placing  a  skin  against  it. 
The  poorer  Shoshones  live  on  pine-nuts,  roots, 
berries,  insects,  rats,  mice, and  rabbits.  Those  liv- 
ing in  Idaho, however,  generally  are  supplied  with 
plenty  of  fish  and  game.  In  their  native  wild 
condition  they  can  hardly  be  called  a  cleanly  race. 
Their  characteristic  weapon  is  the  poggamog- 
gon.  "It  consists  of  a  heavy  stone,  sometimes 
wrapped  in  leather,  attached  by  a  sinew  thong- 
about  two  inches  in  length  to  the  end  of  a  stout, 
leather-covered  handle  measuring  nearly  two 
feet.  A  loop  fastened  to  the  end  held  in  the  hand 
prevents  the  warrior  from  losing  the  weapon  in 
the  fight,  and  allows  him  to  hold  the  club  in  read- 
iness while  he  uses  the  bow  and  arrow." 

The  Snakes  had  a  limited  knowledge  of  pot- 
tery, and  made  very  good  vessels  from  baked 
clay.  Some  of  these  were  in  the  form  of  jars, 
with  narrow  necks  and  stoppers.  They  pos- 


sessed little  knowledge  of  the  use  of  boats  beyond 
crude  and  clumsy  logs  made  of  branches  and 
rushes,  generally  preferring  to  swim  the  streams. 
Dried  fish,  horses,  skins,  and  furs  were  their  cur- 
rency. No  trade  was  indulged  in  unless  preceded 
by  a  solemn  smoke.  Among  the  Idaho  Snakes 
four  and  five  beaver-skins  were  sold  for  a  knife 
or  an  awl.  Horses  were  held  at  the  value  of  an 
ax.  "A  ship  of  seventy-four  guns  might  have 
been  loaded  with  provision,  such  as  dried  buffalo, 
bought  with  buttons  and  rings."  The  standard 
of  values  was  absurdly  confused.  The  utility  of 
an  article  was  a  matter  of  no  consideration.  A 
beaver-skin  could  be  bought  with  a  brass  ring, 
but  a  necklace  of  bears'  claws  could  not  be 
bought  for  a  dozen  such  rings.  Axes,  knives, 
ammunition,  beads,  buttons,  and  rings  were  most 
in  demand.  For  clothing  they  had  little  or  no 
use;  a  blanket^vas  worth  no  more  than  a  knife, 
and  a  yard  of  fine  cloth  was  worth  less  than  a  pot 
of  vermilion.  They  had  no  established  laws.  Like 
all  other  Indians,  they  are  natural  gamblers,  and 
take  to  "poker"  with  an  aptitude  that  is  aston- 
ishing. They  are  skillful  riders,  and  possess  good 
horses.  "The  Snakes  have  been  considered," 
says  Ross,  "as  rather  a  dull  and  degraded  people, 
weak  in  intellect  and  wanting  in  courage.  And 
this  opinion  is  very  probable  to  a  casual  observer 
at  first  sight,  or  when  seen  in  small  numbers,  for 
their  apparent  timidity,  grave  and  reserved  hab- 
its, give  them  an  air  of  stupidity.  An  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  Snake  character  will,  however, 
place  them  on  an  equal  footing  with  that  of  other 
kindred  nations,  both  in  respect  to  their  mental 
faculties  and  moral  attributes."  "The  Shoshones 
of  Idaho,"  says  a  writer  in  the  California  Farmer, 
"are  highly  intelligent  and  lively,  the  most  virtu- 
ous and  unsophisticated  of  all  the  Indians  of  the 
United  States." 

The  Bannocks  are  naturally  a  brave  and  war- 
like race.  They  inhabited  the  country  between 
Fort  Boise  and  Fort  Hall.  As  the  name  implies, 
it  was  given  to  those  Indians  who  dug  and  lived 
on  roots.  At  least,  so  says  Johnston,  in  School- 
craft's  Archives. 

The  Sheep-eaters,  like  the  Bannocks,  are 
doubtless  an  offshoot  of  the  Snake  or  Shoshone 
Indians.  The  Tookarikkas,  or  Sheep-eaters,  oc- 
cupied the  Salmon  river  country,  the  upper  part 
of  Snake  river  valley,  and  the  mountains  near 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


139 


Boise  Basin.  They  belong  to  the  genuine  Snakes. 
Other  inferior  bands  were  the  Hokandikas,  or 
Salt  Lake  Diggers,  who  lived  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Salt  Lake,  and  Aggitikkas,  or  Salmon- 
eaters,  who  occupied  the  region  around  Salmon 
Falls,  on  Snake  river.  The  Bannocks  are  far 
inferior  to  the  Shoshones  or  Snakes  proper. 

Though  the  Lemhi  Reservation  is  situated  at 
an  altitude  of  5,500  feet,  agriculture  has  been 
pursued  with  fair  success.  These  Lemhi  Indians 
are  greatly  improved  in  habits  of  industry.  Be- 
sides cultivating  their  little  garden  patches,  many 
of  them  have  been  engaged  in  cutting  rails,  fenc- 
ing, and  ditching.  "The  possession  of  wagons," 
says  Mr.  Harries,  "by  some  Indians,  is  materially 
helping  to  lift  what  is  literally  a  heavy  burden  off 
the  backs  of  the  squaws  in  the  ma'tter  of  the 
hauling  of  the  firewood."  Some  difficulty  has 
been  encountered  in  educating  the  children,  as 
there  is  a  superstition  among  them  that  "if  the 
Indian  children  learn  to  read  and  write  they  will 
die."  This  feeling  has  such  a  strong  hold  upon 
the  mothers  particularly,  that  it  has  been  some- 
what difficult  to  overcome  the  prejudice  against 
education.  With  the  improvidence  characteristic 
of  the  race,  moreover,  the  rations  issued  to  the 
lodges  on  Saturday  seldom  last  beyond  Monday 
or  Tuesday,  so  that  unless  the  children  are  fed  at 
the  school,  they  are  not  likely  to  have  much  to 
eat  the  biggest  part  of  the  week.  Indians  are  not 
superior  to  the  generality  of  human  nature,  and 
naturally  encounter  some  difficulty  in  studying 
on  an  empty  stomach. 

The  Indians  stationed  at  the  Fort  Hall  agency 
are  both  Bannocks  and  Shoshones.  The  latter 
are  industrious,  good-natured,  and  quiet.  The 
Bannocks  are  more  restless  and  roving.  These 
Indians,  according  to  Dr.  Cook,  are  making 
steady  advancement  in  agricultural  and  civilized 
pursuits.  This  is  noticeable  to  all  who  come  in 
contact  with  them,  and  they  are  manifesting  an 
increased  desire  to  conform  to  the  customs  of 
civilized  life. 

The  use  of  sign-language  exists  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree  among  Idaho  Indians,  as  among 
most  tribes.  Thus  the  tribal  sign  of  the  Pend 
d'Oreilles  is  made  by  holding  both  fists  as  if 
grasping  a  paddle,  vertically  downward  and 
working  a  canoe.  Two  strokes  are  made  on  each 
side  of  the  body  from  the  side  backward.  The 


tribal  sign  of  the  Nez  Perces  is  made  by  closing 
the  right  hand,  leaving  the  index  finger  straight, 
but  flexed  at  right  angles  with  the  palm,  then 
passing  it  horizontally  to  the  left,  by  and  under 
the  nose.  That  of  the  Shoshone  or  Snake  In- 
dians is  the  right  hand  horizontal,  flat,  palm 
downward,  advanced  to  the  front  by  a  motion  to 
represent  the  crawling  of  a  snake.  For  that  of 
the  Bannocks,  make  a  whistling  sound  "phew" 
(beginning  at  a  high  note  and  ending  about  an 
octave  lower):  then  draw  the  extended  index 
finger  across  the  throat  from  left  to  right,  and 
out  to  nearly  arm's  length.  They  used  to  cut  the 
throats  of  their  prisoners. 

Major  Haworth  states  that  the  Bannocks  made 
the  following  sign  for  themselves:  Brush  the  flat 
right  hand  backward  over  the  forehead  as  if  forc- 
ing back  the  hair.  This  represents  the  manner  of 
wearing  the  tuft  of  hair  backward  from  the  fore- 
head. He  also  states  that  the  Shoshones  make 
the  same  sign  for  the  Bannocks  as  for  them- 
selves. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  how  readily 
ideas  may  be  conveyed  by  signs  and  gestures. 
Thus  the  Shoshone  sign  for  rain  is  made  by 
holding  the  hand  or  hands  at  the  height  of  and 
before  the  shoulder,  fingers  pendent,  palm  down, 
then  pushing  it  downward  a  short  distance.  That 
for  to  weep  is  made  by  holding  the  hand  as  in 
rain,  and  the  gesture  made  from  the  eye  down- 
ward over  the  cheek,  back  of  the  fingers  nearly 
touching  the  face. 

Brave  or  strong-hearted  is  made  by  the  Sho- 
shone and  Bannock  Indians  by  merely  placing 
the  clenched  fist  to  the  breast,  the  latter  having 
allusion  to  the  heart,  the  clenching  of  the  hand 
to  strength,  vigor,  or  force. 

As  a  good  example  illustrative  of  the  univer- 
sality of  sign-language,  may  be  mentioned  the 
conversation  which  took  place  at  Washington  in 
1880  between  Tendoy,  chief  of  the  Shoshone  and 
Bannock  Indians  of  Lemhi  reservation,  Idaho, 
and  Huerito,  one  of  the  Apache  chiefs  from  New 
Mexico,  in  the  presence  of  Dr.  W.  J.  Hoffman. 
Neither  of  these  Indians  spoke  any  language 
known  to  the  other,  had  lived  over  a  thousand 
miles  apart,  and  had  never  met  or  heard  of  one 
another  before. 

Huerito — Who  are  you? 
Tendoy — Shoshone  Chief. 


140 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Huerito — How  old  are  you? 

Tendoy — Fifty-six. 

Huerito — Very  well.  Are  there  any  buffalo  in  your 
country? 

Tendoy — Yes;  many  black  buffalo.  Did  you  hear 
anything  from  the  Secretary?  If  so  tell  me. 

Huerito — He  told  me  that  in  four  days  I  would  go 
to  my  country. 

Tendoy — In  two  days  I  go  to  my  country  just  as 
you  go  to  yours.  I  go  to  mine  where  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  snow  and  we  shall  see  each  other  no  more. 

Here  was  an  intelligent  dialogue  carried  on  by 
two  savages,  strangers  to  each  other,  without  a 
word  spoken  on  either  side.  Thus  to  make  the 
last  answer  as  Tendoy  did,  place  the  flat  hands 
horizontally,  about  two  feet  apart,  move  them 
quickly  in  an  upward  curve  toward  one  another 
until  the  right  lies  across  the  left,  meaning  night, 
repeat  this  sign,  two  nights,  literally,  two  sleeps 
hence;  point  toward  the  individual  addressed 
with  the  right  hand,  you;  and  in  a  continuous 
movement  pass  the  hand  to  the  right,  i.  e.,  toward 
the  south,  nearly  to  arm's  length,  go;  then  throw 
the  fist  edgewise  toward  the  ground  at  that  dis- 
tance, your  country;  then  touch  the  breast  with 
the  tips  of  the  left  ringers,  I ;  move  the  hand  slow- 
ly toward  the  left,  i.  e.,  toward  the  north  to  arm's 
length,  go  to;  and  throw  the  clenched  hand  to- 
ward the  ground,  my  country.  Make  the  sign  of 
rain  as  already  described,  then  place  the  flat 
hands  to  the  left  of  the  body  about  two  feet  from 
the  ground,  deep;  literally,  deep  rain,  snow. 
Raise  the  hands  about  a  foot,  very  deep,  much; 
place  the  hands  before  the  body,  about  twelve 
inches  apart,  palms  down,  with  forefinger  only 
extended  and  pointing  toward  one  another;  push 
toward  and  from  one  another  several  times,  see 
each  other;  then  hold  the  flat  right  hand  in  front 
of  the  breast  pointing  forward,  palm  to  the  left, 
and  throw  it  once  on  its  back  toward  the  right, 
not,  no  more. 

INDIAN    WARS. 

Idaho,  ethnologically,  was  divided  by  the 
Snake  river  into  two  grand  divisions,  the  Nez 
Perces  occupying  the  territory  north  of  the  river, 
and  the  Shoshones  the  southern  portion.  The 
Nez  Perces  were  of  a  higher  grade,  and  took  no 
part  in  the  five  years'  war,  from  1863  to  1868. 
They  had  their  grievances,  however,  such  as 
would  have  incited  inferior  tribes  to  rise  in  war; 
and  among  themselves  there  were  naturally  two 


parties, — a  peace  party  and  a  war  party.  The 
latter,  although  persuaded  to  sign  a  treaty  with 
the  whites,  violated  their  agreement  and  rose  in 
war,  but  were  soon  suppressed,  and  the  country 
was  opened  for  settlement  by  the  whites.  The 
discovery  of  gold  and  other  valuable  minerals  in 
the  Nez  Perces  region  caused  many  white  ad- 
venturers to  overrun  their  country  contrary  to 
the  provisions  of  the  treaty  and  thus  irritate  the 
Indians,  and  this  was  the  cause  of  the  formation 
of  the  ''war  party"  among  them.  Actual  war  was 
averted  by  the  combined  efforts  of  Superintend- 
ent Hale,  of  Washington,  and  Lawyer,  the  head 
of  the  Nez  Perces.  The  establishment  of  a  mili- 
tary post  at  Lapwai  was  a  permanent  "peace- 
maker." 

The  troubles  really  began  in  1855,  when  there 
was  a  strong  party  of  Indians  who  were  opposed 
to  the  formation  of  any  treaty  whatever.  Look- 
ing-glass, the  war  chief,  becoming  too  old  to 
lead  in  battle,  Eagle-from-the-Light  became  am- 
bitious to  succeed  to  his  honors  and  gave  his 
voice  for  war  at  a  council  held  at  Lapwai  in 
August,  1861.  Some  of  the  subordinate  chiefs 
supported  him,  but  Lawyer  was  against  his  pro- 
ject; and  a  company  of  dragoons  under  Captain 
Smith  at  Lapwai,  ostensibly  stationed  there  to 
protect  the  Indians  against  the  miners,  was  a 
standing  menace  to  those  Nez  Perce  Indians  who 
might  be  disposed  to  break  the  treaty.  The 
council  of  1861  adjourned  without  agreeing  to 
anything  important. 

Congress  was  asked  to  appropriate  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  a  part 
of  their  reservation  and  establishing  a  satisfac- 
tory treaty;  and  forty  thousand  dollars  was 
granted ;  but  if  this  money  ever  arrived  we  have 
no  account  of  it. 

As  white  men  rushed  in  and  made  valuable 
discoveries  in  minerals,  even  the  soldiers  at  the 
fort  were  withdrawn,  lest  they  might  desert  in 
the  craze  and  likewise  sally  out  for  prospecting 
and  mining.  The  irritability  of  the  Indians  be- 
coming more  evident,  however,  General  Alvord 
determined  to  have  a  permanent  fort  established 
at  Lapwai,  on  the  return  of  Maury's  command 
from  an  expedition  to  Fort  Hall,  in  the  autumn 
of  1862.  Fort  Lapwai  was  built  under  the  su- 
perintendence of  D.  W.  Porter,  of  the  First  Ore- 
gon Cavalry.  It  was  situated  upon  the  right 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


141 


bank  of  Lapwai  creek,  three  miles  from  its  con- 
fluence with  the  Cleanvater,  and  the  reservation 
was  a  square  mile. 

As  the  Indians  began  to  gather  at  the  council 
promised  in  November,  1862,  the  white  com- 
missioners were  obliged  to  announce  to  them 
that  no  money  had  yet  arrived  from  the  govern  • 
ment,  and  requested  them  to  postpone  the  con- 
ference to  the  next  May.  This  naturally  irri- 
tated even  the  most  peaceably  disposed  Nez 
Perces;  and  William  Craig  and  Robert  Newell 
exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  hold  them  in 
check. 

May  15,  1863,  the  time  fixed  for  the  confer- 
ence, arrived;  and  the  whites,  preparing  for  the 
occasion,  stationed  four  companies  of  the  First 
Oregon  Cavalry  at  Fort  Lapwai  and  made  as 
great  a  display  as  possible,  while  they  at  the  same 
time  erected  a  beautiful  little  tent  city  about  a 
mile  from  the  fort  and  entertained  the  Indian 
leaders  as  magnificently  as  possible,  in  order  to 
keep  their  good  will.  Eagle-from-the-Light,  Big 
Thunder  and  Joseph — all  chiefs  opposed  to 
another  treaty — were  present  with  twelve  hun- 
dred followers,  and  also  Lawyer  and  his  people, 
numbering  about  two  thousand.  On  the  part  of 
the  United  States  there  were  Superintendent 
Hale,  and  the  agents  Hutchins  and  Howe,  and 
Robert  Newell,  with  the  military  force  already 
mentioned.  When  all  was  ready,  a  delay  of  two 
weeks  occurred  because  the  Indians  would  have 
no  interpreter  excepting  Perrin  B.  Whitman, 
who  was  in  the  Willamette  valley  and  had  to  be 
sent  for.  The  Palouses,  taking  advantage  of  this 
period  of  idleness,  invaded  the  Nez  Perces  camp, 
bent  upon  mischief,  one  of  them  going  so  far  as 
to  strike  Commissioner  Howe  with  a  riding-whip, 
when  they  were  ordered  off  the  reservation  by 
Colonel  Steinberger,  and  Drake's  company  of 
cavalry  was  assigned  to  the  duty  of  keeping  them 
away. 

The  long  looked  for  council  began  its  sessions, 
about  the  last  of  May.  The  lands  in  considera- 
tion aggregated  about  ten  thousand  square  miles. 
The  chiefs  put  in  their  claims  to  certain  parts  of 
the  former  reservation ;  and  Big  Thunder  claimed 
the  spot  on  which  the  white  agency  was  located 
and  which  had  also  been  claimed  in  part  by  other 
white  parties.  Eagle-from-the-Light  laid  claim 
to  the  country  on  White  Bird  creek,  a  small 


branch  of  the  Salmon  river,  and  adjacent  to  the 
Florence  mines,  while  Chief  Joseph  declared  his 
title  to  the  valley  of  Wallowa  creek,  a  tributary 
to  the  Grand  Rond  river.  Each  of  these  chiefs, 
representing  his  band,  declined  to  sell-.  The  first 
proposition  of  the  commissioners  was  that  the 
Nez  Perces  should  sell  all  their  lands  except  five 
or  six  hundred  square  miles  on  the  south  side  of 
the  south  fork  of  the  Clearwater,  emoracing  the 
Kamiah  prairie,  to  be  surveyed  into  allotments, 
with  the  understanding  that  a  patent  was  to  issue 
to  each  individual  holding  land  in  severally,  with 
payment  for  improvements  abandoned.  But  to 
this  the  nation  would  not  agree.  The  whites  next 
proposed  to  enlarge  this  boundary  to  double  the 
size,  and  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  1855  to 
be  continued  to  them ;  and  seventy-five  thousand 
dollars,  in  material  utilities,  school-houses,  etc., 
was  offered  to  be  expended  among  the  Indians 
by  way  of  indemnity.  Lawyer  made  a  shrewd 
speech,  in  order  to  get  ahead  of  all  the  other 
chiefs  as  well  as  of  the  United  States.  Then  for 
several  days  various  propositions  were  made  al- 
ternately by  each  party  and  rejected,  and  fears 
were  entertained  that  the  council  would  end  with- 
out an  agreement  and  war  would  result.  But  the 
absence  of  most  of  the  chiefs  and  the  presence  of 
a  detachment  of  white  cavalry  caused  Lawyer  to 
make  propositions  that  were  acceptable  to  the 
commissioners,  and  a  treaty  was  signed  by  him. 
"From  the  subsequent  action  of  one  of  the 
chiefs,"  says  Bancroft's  history,  "it  is  presumable 
that  they  believed  that  by  refusing  to  sign  the 
treaty  made  with  the  majority  of  the  nation  they 
would  be  able  to  hold-  their  several  favorite 
haunts." 

This  treaty  reserved  about  a  million  and  a  half 
acres,  that  is,  about  five  hundred  acres  to  every 
individual  in  the  nation,  and  to  Lawyer  and  Big 
Thunder,  the  two  principal  men  in  the  nation, 
their  old  homes,  at  Kamiah  and  Lapwai  respect- 
ively. The  consideration  to  be  paid  for  the  re- 
linquished lands,  in  addition  to  the  annuities  due 
under  the  former  treaty,  and  the  goods  and  pro- 
visions distributed  at  the  signing  of  the  treaty, 
was  two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars. 
But  the  general  government  of  the  United  States 
had  its  attention  too  intently  fixed  upon  the  great 
civil  war  and  its  subsequent  issues  to  look  after 
the  Indians  of  the  northwest.  Characters  like 


142 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  "carpet-baggers"  of  the  south  were  left  to  ad- 
minister affairs  here  and  general  looseness  pre- 
vailed. The  only  natural  consequence  was  dis- 
satisfaction everywhere,  with  a  constant  danger 
of  an  Indian  uprising. 

In  1867  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  general 
government  to  have  the  Indians  obtain  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  provisions  of  all  the  treaty 
clauses  that  were  still  in  force.  A  special  agent 
was  appointed,  in  conjunction  with  Governor 
Ballard  and  others,  to  induce  the  Xez  Perces  to 
accept  the  new  provisions.  This  failing,  the 
treaty  was  ratified  in  its  first  form  by  six  hun- 
dred of  the  nation.  The  next  year  a  number  of 
chiefs  and  whites  went  to  Washington  to  talk 
with  the  president,  which  conference  resulted 
profitably,  and  Lawyer  and  Jason,  chiefs,  re- 
turned to  instruct  their  people. 

In  1869  the  government  made  a  radical  change 
by  assigning  to  each  Indian  agency  a  military 
officer  as  agent.  Lieutenant  J.  W.  Wham  was 
appointed  to  the  Lapwai  agency.  But  in  1870 
congress  passed  an  act  whereby  it  became  neces- 
sary to  relieve  officers  of  the  army  from  this  ser- 
vice and  to  substitute  the  missionaries  of  the 
various  religious  organizations  of  the  country. 
Accordingly  a  Presbyterian  was  sent  to  the  Nez 
Perces,  some  of  whom  had  been  made  Catholics, 
and  friction  naturally  resulted.  None  of  these 
church  missionaries  were  as  satisfactory  to  the 
Indians  as  their  former  agents  had  been,  and 
meanwhile  white  invasions  continued,  by  estab- 
lishing routes  of  travel,  building  bridges,  etc.,— 
all  of  which  tended  to  arouse  and  confirm  Indian 
suspicions  as  to  the  fidelity  of  the  white  man's 
government. 

The  limitation  of  the  Indian  to  narrower  quar- 
ters was  in  the  direction  of  compelling  him  to 
labor  for  his  livelihood  more  than  he  hacl  been 
accustomed  to,  with  the  result  that  any  one  would 
naturally  expect.  Besides,  the  policy  of  our  gov- 
ernment in  giving  annuities  and  payment  for 
lands  encouraged  idleness  among  them. 

Thus  for  years  sundry  propositions  and  decrees 
were  made  and  either  rejected  or  disregarded  by 
both  parties,  leaving  many  things  in  chaos  as  be- 
tween the  whites  and  reds.  After  the  close  of  the 
Modoc  war,  in  1 874,  General  Davis  ordered  a  march 
of  seven  hundred  miles  by  the  cavalry  through  the 
country  threatened  by  the  dissatisfied  tribes,  in 


order  to  impress  upon  their  minds  the  magnitude 
or  power  of  the  military  force  of  the  United 
States.  The  Indians  continued  to  roam  at  will, 
regardless  of  reservations,  while  the  white  set- 
tlers on  the  so-called  reservation  or  disputed  ter- 
ritory ended  their  uneasiness  by  having  the  gov- 
ernment annul  the  reservation  clause  of  the 
treaty,  June  10,  1875,  when  the  president  released 
fourteen  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  from  all 
Indian  title. 

At  this  juncture  the  department  at  Washington 
appointed  a  commission  to  repair  to  Idaho  and 
hold  a  consultation  with  Joseph  and  others,  in 
order  to  learn  more  thoroughly  the  exact  status 
of  affairs.  The  commission  learned  from  the 
shrewd  chief  that  he  cared  for  no  reservation  or 
anything  else  made  by  the  white  man,  and  he 
seemed  too  independent  to  parley  with  white 
men  about  the  matter.  The  commissioners,  how- 
ever, recommended  that  the  teachers  of  the  In- 
dian religion,  which  consisted  mainly  in  hatred 
to  the  white  man  and  to  all  division  of  land, 
should  not  be  permitted  to  visit  other  tribes  and 
influence  the  non-treaty  Indians ;  that  a  military 
station  should  be  established  at  once  in  the  Wal- 
lowa  valley,  while  the  agent  of  the  Nez  Perces 
should  still  strive  to  settle  all  that  would  listen 
to  him  upon  the  reservation;  that  unless  in  a 
reasonable  time  Joseph  should  consent  to  remove 
he  should  be  forcibly  taken  with  his  people  and 
given  lands  on  the  reservation;  and  that  if  they 
persisted  in  overrunning  the  lands  of  the  settlers 
and  disturbing  the  public  peace  by  threats  or 
otherwise,  sufficient  force  would  be  used  to  com- 
pel them  to  take  the  reservation  and  keep  the 
peace.  A  similar  policy  was  recommended  to- 
ward all  the  roaming  bands,  whether  they  had 
signed  any  treaty  or  not.  The  government 
adopted  these  suggestions,  stationing  two  com- 
panies of  cavalry  in  the  Wallowa  valley  and 
using  all  diligence  in  persuading  the  Indians  to 
go  upon  the  reservation ;  and,  at  length,  in  May, 
1877,  they  consented, — Joseph  and  White  Bird, 
for  their  own  and  smaller  bands,  agreeing  to  re- 
move at  a  given  time  and  select  their  lands, 
within  thirty  days.  On  the  twenty-ninth  day  the 
war-whoop  was  sounded  and  the  tragedy  of  Lost 
river  valley  in  Oregon  was  re-enacted  along  the 
Salmon  river  in  Idaho! 

For  this  purpose  the  Indians  had  been  gath- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


143 


ering  on  Cottomvood  creek  at  the  north  end  of 
Camas  prairie,  at  the  foot-hills  of  the  Florence 
mountains,  about  sixty-five  miles  from  Lewiston, 
with  the  ostensible  purpose  of  removing  to  the 
reservation.  General  O.  O.  Howard  was  at  Fort 
Lapwai,  and,  seeing  that  the  Indians  were  con- 
gregating in  large  numbers  near  the  reservation, 
instead  of  going  directly  upon  it,  sent  out  Cap- 
tain Perry  on  the  afternoon  of  the  last  day  of 
grace,  to  have  ready  a  small  detachment  which 
should  start  early  on  the  morning  of  the  I5th  to 
obtain  news  of  the  actions  and  purposes  of  the  red 
men.  The  same  evening  he  received  a  letter 
from  a  prominent  citizen  of  Mount  Idaho,  who 
expressed  fears  that  the  Indians  did  not  intend  to 
keep  faith  with  him;  but  the  General  took  no 
measures  to  prevent  the  disaster  feared. 

In  the  morning  the  detachment  under  Perry 
started  out  toward  Cottonwood  creek,  meeting 
two  reservation  Indians  who  excitedly  bore  the 
news  that  four  white  men  had  been  killed  on 
John  Day  creek,  and  that  White  Bird  was  riding 
about  declaring  that  the  non-treaty  Indians 
would  not  go  on  the  reservation.  Howard  has- 
tened to  the  agency  to  consult  with  J.  B.  Mon- 
teith,  the  Presbyterian  missionary  there,  taking 
with  him  the  Indian  witnesses,  who  stated  that 
the  white  men  were  killed  in  a  private  quarrel. 
This  report  necessitated  the  sending  of  other 
messengers  to  prove  the  truth  of  what  they  had 
heard  before  the  General  would  feel  justified  in 
displaying  any  military  force.  Late  that  after- 
noon they  returned,  and  with  them  another  mes- 
senger from  Mount  Idaho,  with  letters  giving  a 
detailed  statement  of  a  general  massacre  on  Sal- 
mon river  and  the  destruction  of  all  the  property 
of  the  settlers. 

At  Fort  Lapwai  were  two  companies  of  cav- 
alry, numbering  together  ninety-nine  men.  On 
the  night  of  the  isth,  above  mentioned,  Perry  set 
out  with  his  command,  Troop  F,  and  came  upon 
the  Indians  in  White  Bird  canyon,  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  I7th.  He  immediately  attacked 
them,  but  with  the  most  disastrous  results.  In 
about  an  hour  thirty-four  of  his  men  were  killed 
and  two  wounded!  He  retreated  to  Grangeville, 
sixteen  miles  distant,  leaving  his  dead  upon  the 
field! 

Of  course  the  whites  were  obliged  to  rise  sud- 
denly with  all  the  force  they  could  command. 


General  Howard  and  the  governors  of  Oregon, 
Washington  and  Idaho  issued  orders  for  the  rais- 
ing and  equipment  of  volunteer  companies  with 
all  haste.  By  the  22d  of  the  month  troops  enough 
had  gathered  to  enable  General  Howard  to  take 
the  field,  having  two  hundred  and  twenty-five 
men,  with  artillery,  ready  to  march.  The  war 
thus  inaugurated  on  the  23d  of  June  continued 
to  the  4th  of  October,  "with  interesting  incidents 
enough,"  says  Bancroft,  "to  fill  a  volume.''  Jos- 
eph continued  to  run  from  one  point  to  another, 
marvelously  escaping  capture  until  his  surrender 
to  Colonel  Nelson  A.  Miles,  near  the  north  end 
of  Bear  Paw  mountains,  on  the  5th  of  October. 

Miles  lost  two  officers — Captain  Hale  and 
Lieutenant  Biddle — and  twenty-one  killed  and 
forty-four  wounded.  The  number  of  persons 
killed  by  Joseph's  people  outside  of  battle  was 
about  fifty;  volunteers  killed  in  war,  thirteen; 
officers  and  men  of  the  regular  army,  one  hun- 
dred and  five,  and  the  wounded  were  not  less 
than  a  hundred  and  twenty.  Thus,  to  capture 
three  hundred  warriors,  encumbered  with  their 
families  and  stock,  required  at  various  times  the 
services  of  between  thirty  and  forty  companies  of 
United  States  troops,  aided  by  volunteers  and 
Indian  scouts!  The  distance  marched  by  How- 
ard's army  from  Kamiah  to  Bear  Paw  moun- 
tains was  over  fifteen  hundred  miles,  one  of  the 
most  famous  marches  on  record.  The  fame  of 
Joseph  became  widespread  by  this  enormous  out- 
lay of  money  and  effort  in  his  capture  and  from 
the  military  skill  he  displayed  in  avoiding  it  for 
so  long  a  time. 

When  the  Xez  Perces  surrendered,  they  were 
promised  permission  to  return  to  Idaho,  and 
were  given  in  charge  of  Colonel  Miles,  now  a 
general,  to  be  kept  until  spring,  it  then  being  too 
late  to  make  the  journey.  But  General  Phil. 
Sheridan,  in  whose  department  they  were,  or- 
dered them  to  Fort  Leavenworth  and  afterward 
to  the  Indian  Territory,  near  the  Ponca  agency, 
where  they  continued  to  reside  in  peace  and 
prosperity. 

In  1878  the  number  of  Xez  Perces,  exclusive  of 
Joseph's  followers,  still  off  the  reservation,  was 
five  hundred.  The  progress  of  the  Xez  Perces 
on  the  reservation  was  rather  assisted  than  re- 
tarded by  their  separation  from  the  non-treaty 
Indians.  Four  of  the  young  men  from  Kamiah 


144 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


were  examined  by  the  Presbytery  of  Oregon  in 
1877,  and  licensed  to  preach  and  teach  among 
their  tribe.  The  membership  of  the  Kamiah  and 
Lapwai  churches  in  1879  was  over  three  hundred. 
They  were  presided  over  by  the  white  minister, 
and  one  Nez  Perce  minister,  named  Robert  Wil- 
liams. In  1880  there  were  nearly  four  thousand 
acres  of  land  in  the  reservation  under  cultivation 
by  one  hundred  and  forty  Nez  Perce  farmers. 
Of  the  twelve  hundred  who  lived  on  the  reserve, 
nearly  nine  hundred  wore  the  dress  common  to 
the  whites.  In  education  they  were  slow.  Not- 
withstanding the  government  grant  of  six  thou- 
sand dollars  annually  for  school  purposes  for 
thirteen  years,  and  notwithstanding  all  the  mis- 
sionary work,  the  number  who  could  read  in  1880 
was  only  one  hundred  and  ten!  The  number  of 
children  of  school  age  was  two  hundred  and  fifty, 
only  about  one-fifth  of  whom  attended  school. 

July  i,  1880,  the  Stevens  treaty  expired  by  limi- 
tation, and  with  it  chieftainships  and  annuities 
were  abolished.  In  most  cases  chieftainship  had 
been  a  source  of  jealousy  to  the  Indians  and 
danger  to  the  white  people,  as  in  the  cases  of 
Joseph,  White  Bird  and  others;  but  the  influence 
of  Lawyer  and  his  successor  was  probably  worth 
much  more  than  the  salary  he  received,  in  pre- 
serving the  peace.  When  the  war  was  forever 
ended,  it  was  no  longer  needed  for  that  purpose. 

THE  SHOSHONE  WARS. 

Soon  after  the  termination  of  the  war  with  the 
Nez  Perce  Indians  in  the  north,  the  Shoshones 
of  the  southern  part  of  the  territory  of  Idaho  be- 
gan to  make  trouble.  During  the  Shoshone  war 
of  1867  Governor  Ballard  made  an  informal 
treaty  with  the  Bannock  branch  of  this  nation  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  territory,  by  which  they 
agreed  to  go  upon  the  Fort  Hall  reservation  be- 
fore June  i,  1868,  provided  the  land  should  be  set 
apart  for  them,  and  that  they  should  be  taught 
husbandry  and  mechanics  and  given  schools  for 
their  children.  The  Boise  and  Bruneau  branches 
were  gathered  under  an  Indian  agent  and  fed 
through  the  winter.  In  1868  all  these  Indians 
were  located  upon  the  reservation  about  Fort 
Hall,  although  a  few  afterward  strayed  back  to 
their  former  homes. 

This  year,  1868,  a  formal  treaty  was  made  with 
the  Bannocks  by  which  over  a  million  and  a  half 
acres  were  set  apart  for  their  use  and  also  for  the 


use  of  kindred  tribes.  But  these  Indians,  al- 
though patient  in  many  respects,  had  never  before 
had  the  occasion  to  learn  patience  in  the  new 
phase  brought  on  by  the  circumstances  inaugu- 
rated by  white  civilization.  They  commenced 
farming,  but  the  grasshoppers  destroyed  a  large 
portion  of  their  crops,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
United  States  government  was,  as  usual,  behind 
with  its  annuities.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  the 
Indians  were  permitted  to  go  to  the  buffalo 
grounds  and  to  dig  camas  on  Big  Camas  prairie, 
a  part  of  which,  it  was  agreed,  was  to  be  set  aside 
for  their  use  whenever  they  should  desire  it. 

Matters  generally  progressed  favorably  until 
the  death  of  the  principal  chief,  Tygee,  in  1871, 
and  then  the  Indians  began  to  evince  signs  of 
restlessness,  suspicion  and  even  hostility.  In 
1872  an  Indian  from  the  Fort  Hall  reservation 
attempted  to  shoot  a  farmer  at  work  making  hay 
on  the  South  Boise  river.  He  was  captured,  but 
finally  liberated  by  the  white  man  who  arrested 
him,  for  fear  of  arousing  a  general  conflict  with 
the  tribe.  But  during  the  summer  several  mur- 
ders were  committed  by  the  Indians  and  other 
misdemeanors  practiced. 

In  1873  the  government  ordered  a  special  com- 
mission to  investigate  causes  of  trouble  in  the 
district  of  Idaho;  and  they  modified  the  treaty 
in  force  with  the  Bannocks  and  Shoshones,  by 
which  the  latter  relinquished  their  right  to  hunt 
on  the  unoccupied  lands  of  the  United  States 
without  a  written  permit  from  the  agent;  but  by 
an  oversight  no  reference  was  made  to  the  privi- 
leges the  Indians  were  enjoying  on  Camas  prai- 
rie. They  soon  gathered  to  that  prairie  in  large 
numbers,  especially  in  the  Weiser  valley,  where 
there  were  many  white  settlers;  and  here  they 
were  met  by  Umatillas  from  Oregon,  held  a 
grand  fair,  horse-races,  etc.,  and  made  exchanges 
of  property  in  their  old  style.  When  the  number 
here  had  reached  about  two  thousand,  the  white 
settlers  in  the  vicinity  began  to  feel  uneasy.  The 
superintendency  of  Indian  affairs  here  having 
been  taken  away  from  the  governor,  the  only 
appeal  of  the  whites  was  to  the  Fort  Hall  agent, 
who  justified  the  giving  of  passes  to  the  Indians 
on  account  of  the  meagerness  of  the  commissary 
department  at  the  agency. 

Suspicion  and  discontent  were  further  aggra- 
vated in  1874  by  an  order  from  the  Indian  de- 
partment for  the  removal  of  about  a  thousand 


Too-Lah. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


145 


Indians  from  the  Lemhi  valley  to  the  Fort  Hall 
reservation,  who  refused  to  be  thus  removed. 
Among  these  were  a  band  of  "Sheep-eaters,"  who 
had  been  settled  in  the  Lemhi  valley  under  an 
.agent.  The  next  year,  however,  the  order  was 
withdrawn  and  a  reservation  of  a  hundred  square 
miles  set  apart  for  them;  and  during  this  year 
also  an  addition  was  made  to  the  Malheur  reser- 
vation in  Oregon,  which  was  still  further  enlarged 
in  1876. 

Meantime  the  Modoc  war  and  Joseph's  ob- 
streperousness  occasioned  a  great  deal  of  dis- 
turbance in  the  minds  of  the  Indians  of  southern 
Idaho  and  vicinity.  The  annihilation  of  the  Mo- 
doc  nation  was  followed  by  an  ominous  lull  for 
three  or  four  years.  Then  the  Nez  Perce  out- 
break occurred  and  great  fears  were  entertained 
by  the  whites  that  all  the  Indians  of  Idaho  and 
vicinity  would  join  in  the  great  revolt.  Even  the 
Piutes  were  in  sympathy  with  their  red  neigh- 
bors. Winnemucca,  their  chief,  appeared  on  the 
Owyhee  with  all  his  warriors;  but,  finding  the 
people  watchful  and  the  military  active,  he  had 
the  prudence  to  remain  quiet  and  let  the  Nez 
Perces  do  their  own  fighting.  The  presence  of 
the  Piutes,  in  connection  with  the  revival  and 
spread  of  the  "Smohallah"  or  "dreamers'  "  doc- 
trine that  the  red  man  was  ultimately  to  repossess 
all  the  land,  tended  to  augment  the  alarm  of  the 
white  settlers. 

Numbers,  among  men  as  well  as  among  boys, 
intensify  the  central  focus  of  excitement  and  mis- 
chief. By  the  summer  of  1877  the  Bannocks  be- 
came so  excited  and  even  turbulent  as  to  require 
a  considerable  military  force  at  the  agency. 

The  ensuing  spring  there  was  not  enough  food 
to  keep  them  all  on  the  reservation.  The  scarcity 
was  caused  partly  by  the  Nez  Perce  war,  which 
Bannocks  understood  plainly,  and  partly  by  the 
fact  there  was  a  greater  number  on  the  reserva- 
tion than  usual.  In  May  they  commenced  shoot- 
ing white  people  on  Camas  prairie,  which  terri- 
tory they  claimed,  under  the  treaty,  equally  with 
the  United  States.  Another  source  of  irritation 
was  the  fact  that  the  white  settlers  imported  and 
kept  swine,  which  destroyed  the  camas  root  in 
large  quantities. 

War  was  opened  by  the  Indians,  who  first  fired 
upon  two  herders,  wounding  them  severely.  They 
next  seized  King  Hill  stage  station,  destroying 


property  and  driving  off  the  horses,  the  men  in 
charge  barely  escaping.  About  the  same  time 
they  appeared  on  Jordan  creek,  demanding  arms 
and  ammunition,  seized  two  freight  wagons  near 
Glenn's  ferry  on  Snake  river,  driving  off  a  hun- 
dred horses,  cutting  loose  the  ferry-boat  and  de- 
stroying several  farm-houses  from  which  the  fam- 
ilies had  fled.  Throughout  the  territory  again, 
as  during  the  preceding  summer,  business  was 
prostrated,  farms  were  deserted  and  the  citizens 
under  arms. 

To  concentrate  troops  and  ascertain  the  locali- 
ty of  the  hostile  Indians  required  time.  Their 
movement  seemed  to  be  along  Snake  river  from 
Fort  Hall  to  the  Owyhee,  but  the  Piutes  under 
the  chiefs  Winnemucca  and  Natchez,  still  main- 
tained at  least  an  apparent  friendship,  while  those 
under  Eagan  and  Otis,  along  with  some  Mal- 
heurs  and  Umatillas,  engaged  in  their  murderous 
raids.  The  Bannocks  were  led  by  Buffalo  Horn, 
who  had  been  employed  as  a  scout  by  General 
Howard  in  the  Nez  Perce  war  but  deserted  that 
general  at  Henry  lake  on  account  of  a  difference 
of  opinion  concerning  the  practicability  of  cap- 
turing Joseph  at  a  certain  camp. 

It  was  not  until  the  8th  of  June  that  the  whites 
could  assume  the  aggressive,  on  which  day  J.  B. 
Harper,  of  Silver  City,  with  a  squad  encountered 
sixty  Bannocks  seven  miles  east  of  South  moun- 
tain in  Owyhee  county,  and  was  repulsed.  On 
the  nth  a  mail  stage  was  attacked,  the  driver 
killed,  the  mail  destroyed  and  some  arms  and 
ammunition  seized.  Malheur  Indians  from  Ore- 
gon were  on  the  way  toward  Boise.  On  the  151)1 
Howard  discovered  six  nundred  armed  Indians, 
the  main  body  of  the  enemy,  gathered  in  the  val- 
ley between  Cedar  and  Steen  mountains,  and  sent 
four  companies  of  cavalry  upon  them,  and  dur- 
ing the  first  engagement  Buffalo  Horn  was  killed. 
But  before  General  Howard,  who  had  in  the  dis- 
trict altogether  sixteen  companies  of  cavalry, 
came  to  the  scene  the  Indians,  as  usual,  had  dis- 
appeared. Going  northward  they  committed  as 
many  outrages  as  they  could,  in  the  destruction 
of  property,  while  Howard's  forces  were  far  too 
limited  to  make  a  successful  pursuit. 

On  the  2d  of  July  the  loyal  Umatillas,  under 
their  agent,  Connoyer,  met  the  enemy  four  hun- 
dred strong,  fighting  them  all  day  and  killing 
thirty,  with  a  loss  of  only  two.  Although  this 


146 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


prevented  a  raid  the  general  alarm  of  the  settlers 
was  scarcely  allayed.  A  thousand  or  more  wo- 
men and  children  were  gathered  at  Pendleton. 
General  Wheaton  at  Walla  Walla,  with  an  avail- 
able force,  was  appealed  to  for  help,  and  as  soon 
as  he  got  under  way  he  found  the  wilds  almost 
alive  with  Indians  on  the  war  path.  In  a  few 
days  Captain  Sperry  with  nearly  all  his  com- 
mand was  killed  at  Willow  Springs,  Oregon, 
and  white  families  were  rushed  to  places  of  safe- 
ty as  rapidly  as  possible,  while  the  governors 
and  generals  were  massing  their  meager  forces 
with  all  haste.  Skirmishes  and  small  battles 
were  hurriedly  entered  into,  generally  with  vic- 
tory to  the  whites,  until,  little  by  little,  the  great 
uprising  was  totally  suppressed, — this  requiring 
several  weeks. 

The  loss  of  property  was  immense.  To  the 
marauding  parties  were  added,  about  the  ist  of 
August,  a  portion  of  White  Bird's  band  of  Nez 
Perces,  who  had  returned  from  the  British  pos- 
sessions, where  they  had  not  met  with  satisfac- 
tory treatment  from  Sitting  Bull,  the  exiled 
Sioux  chief.  The  close  of  hostilities  soon  after 
their  arrival  rendered  them  powerless  to  carry 
on  war,  and  they  became  reabsorbed  in  the  Nez 
Perce  nation.  Directly  after  the  suppression  of 
these  raids  Camp  Howard  was  established  near 
Mount  Idaho,  and  also  Camp  Coeur  d'Alene, 
afterward  Fort  Coeur  d'Alene,  and  after  this 
there  was  no  more  trouble  with  the  Indians. 

Such  is  a  brief  synopsis  of  the  Indian  troubles 
which  so  long  retarded  the  development  of  Idaho. 
All  danger  from  that  source  has  now  been  re- 
moved forever.  The  feebje  remnants  of  once 


powerful  tribes  have  settled  down  to  the  prosaic 
arts  of  peace.  The  great  increase  of  white  popu- 
lation, the  Construction  of  railroad  and  telegraph 
lines,  the  rapid  diminution  of  their  own  num- 
bers, all  preclude  the  possibility  of  Indian  out- 
breaks in  the  future.  Yet  we  should  be  grossly 
lacking  in  appreciation  if  we  should  overlook  the 
struggles  and  hardships  endured  bv  the  early  set- 
tlers in  combating  these  treacherous  foes,  and 
rendering  the  land  safe  as  it  now  is  beyond  the 
shadow  of  peril.  Surely,  when  the  true  history  of 
heroism  is  written,  the  story  of  our  northwestern 
pioneers  should  receive  proper  recognition. 

TOO    LAH. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  Indian  characters 
connected  with  the  history  of  Idaho  was  Too 
Lah,  the  friendly  Nez  Perces  squaw  who  rode 
her  pony  twenty-five  miles  in  the  night  to  give 
warning  to  the  miners  at  Florence  that  the  In- 
dians were  massacring  the  white  settlers.  She 
started  from  Slate  creek  and  rode  to  Florence  in 
order  to  save  the  white  settlers,  and  covered  the 
distance  in  such  a  short  time  that  her  pony  died 
from  the  effects  of  the  hard  ride.  Her  noble  work 
accomplished,  she  then  returned  on  foot  to  her 
home  on  McKenzie  creek.  Naturally  the  white 
settlers  had  the  highest  appreciation  for  her  he- 
roic action  and  always  held  her  in  grateful  re- 
membrance. She  made  a  living  by  raising  and 
drying  fruit,  by  taking  in  washing,  by  nursing, 
and  at  one  time  was  engaged  in  driving  a  pack 
train  of  six  Indian  ponies  from  Grangeville  to 
Freedom.  She  died  in  1898  and  was  buried  at 
Meadow  Creek. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


JAMES   WILSON. 

JAMES  WILSON,  deceased,  was  for  many 
years  one  of  the  leading  farmers  and  stock- 
men of  Idaho,  and  during  his  residence  in 
this  state  did  as  much  as  any  other  man  in  the 
commonwealth    in    the    interests    of   agriculture 
and  stock-raising.    He  is  properly  classed  among 
.  the  pioneers  of  Idaho,  for  his  residence  dated 
from  1864,  and  from  that  time  until  his  death  he 
took  an  active  part  in  the  conduct  of  business 
interests  that  resulted  to  the  benefit  of  the  state, 
as  well  as  to  his  individual  prosperity. 

A  native  of  Washington  county,  Indiana,  he 
was  born  May  15,  1826,  his  parents  being  Jesse 
and  Sarah  (McCoy)  Wilson.  The  father  was  born 
near  Morgantown,  Virginia,  May  17,  1800,  and 
removed  to  Washington  county,  Indiana,  during 
the  pioneer  period  in  the  history  of  that  state. 
His  death  occurred  in  Grande  Ronde  valley,  Ore- 
gon, in  the  fall  of  1863,  but  his  wife,  who  was 
likewise  a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  died  in 
Washington  county,  Indiana,  in  1828.  When 
seven  years  of  age  James  Wilson  removed  from 
his  native  county  to  Vigo  county,  Indiana,  where 
he  resided  until  1854,  when  he  took  up  his  abode 
in  Wayne  county,  Iowa,  making  his  home  there 
until  the  spring  of  1862.  At  that  date  he  crossed 
the  great  plains  and  located  in  Oregon,  whence 
he  came  to  Idaho  in  March,  1864,  locating  in 
the  section  that  was  then  in  Boise  county  but  is 
now  in  Ada  county.  In  1887  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence about  twelve  miles  west  of  Boise  city,  on 
the  farm  where  his  death  occurred  March  20, 
1899.  At  the  time  of  his  demise  he  owned  in 
Ada  and  Elmore  counties  ten  hundred  and 
twenty-six  acres  of  land.  He  was  one  of  the 
leading  and  progressive  stockmen  of  the  state, 
his  ventures  in  that  respect,  however,  being  con- 
fined almost  exclusively  to  the  cattle  industry. 
He  introduced  into  Idaho  many  thoroughbred 
shorthorn  cattle,  thereby  greatly  improving  the 
grade  of  cattle  raised  and  thus  adding  to  their 
value  on  the  market. 


Mr.  Wilson  was  married  May  27,  1849,  in  In- 
diana, to  Miss  Nancy  Perkins,  who  was  born  in 
Indiana,  October  15,  1832,  and  died  in  Ada 
county,  Idaho,  July  30,  1888.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wilson  were  born  six  children,  namely:  Jesse, 
who  was  born  in  Vigo  county,  Indiana,  July  5, 
1850;  Charlotte,  born  in  the  same  county,  Sep- 
tember 19,  1852,  and  now  the  wife  of  D.  C.  Cal- 
houn;  Emily  J.,  born  in  Wayne  county,  Iowa, 
October  7,  1855;  Elizabeth  M.,  who  was  born  in 
Wayne  county,  Iowa,  February  15,  1858,  and  is 
now  the  wife  of  Phelps  Everett;  James  Lloyd, 
who  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  Iowa,  August 
4,  1860,  and  was  drowned  in  the  Boise  river,  in 
May,  1865;  and  William  E.,  who  was  born  in 
Oregon,  December  29,  1862. 

In  politics  James  Wilson  was  for  many  years  a 
supporter  of  the  principles  of  the  Democracy, 
but  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  voted  for  the 
men  who,  in  his  judgment,  were  the  best  quali- 
fied for  the  positions  to  which  they  aspired,  re- 
gardless of  their  political  affiliations.  As  early 
as  1869  he  was  made  a  Mason  in  Boise  Lodge 
and  ever  afterward  continued  a  worthy  exemplar 
of  the  lofty  teachings  and  purpose  of  that  fra- 
ternity. His  labors  in  behalf  of  the  farming  and 
stock-raising  interests  of  the  state  were  most 
effective  and  beneficial  and  therefore  his  death 
proved  a  loss  to  the  entire  commonwealth. 
Something  of  the  success  which  crowned  his  ef- 
forts may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  when  he 
came  to  the  Boise  valley  he  brought  with  him 
only  five  yoke  of  cattle  and  had  a  cash  capital 
of  only  two  dollars  and  sixty-five  cents,  and  at 
the  time  of  his  death  left  an  estate  valued  at  more 
than  sixty  thousand  dollars,  which  is  a  very  con- 
servative estimate.  This  he  divided  by  will 
among  his  relatives.  At  all  times  loyal  to  truth 
and  right,  fair  and  just  in  his  dealings,  and  faith- 
ful to  the  duties  of  friendship  and  of  citizenship, 
he  won  and  retained  the  confidence  and  respect 
of  all  with  whom  he  was  brought  in  contact. 

Jesse    Wilson,    the    eldest    child    of    James 


147 


148 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


and  Xancy  (Perkins)  Wilson,  is  a  native  of  In- 
diana, and  is  now  residing  upon  the  family  home- 
stead near  Boise.  His  education  was  acquired  in 
the  early  schools  of  Ada  county,  and,  like  his 
father,  he  has  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  life 
to  agricultural  pursuits  and  the  raising  of  fine 
cattle.  He  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  au- 
thorities on  stock  in  the  entire  state.  He  has 
made  a  close  study  of  the  best  methods  of  raising 
cattle  of  the  best  breeds,  and  of  their  qualities 
and  fitness  for  domestic  market  purposes,  and 
his  opinions  carry  weight  in  all  agricultural  and 
stock-raising  communities.  He  has  never  mar- 
ried, but  makes  his  home  on  the  farm  which 
was  left  him  by  his  father,  which  comprises  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  and  in  addition 
he  inherited  a  valuable  tract  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  in  Kendall  county.  He  has  some 
of  this  under  a  very  high  state  of  cultivation,  and 
everything  about  his  farm  bespeaks  the  thrifty, 
enterprising  and  progressive  owner.  Socially 
Mr.  Wilson  is  connected  with  Boise  Lodge,  No. 
2,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  in  politics  he  is  independent. 

THE    EASTMAN  BROTHERS. 

Tales  of  heroism  have  been  the  theme  of  song 
and  story  throughout  all  ages.  He  who  has  gone 
forth  to  battle  for  his  country,  his  home  or  his 
principles,  has  figured  in  history,  in  literature 
and  in  music,  and  his  bravery  has  stirred  the 
souls  of  men  through  all  times.  All  honor  to 
such  an  one,  and  yet  his  heroism  is  no  greater 
or  his  daring  more  pronounced  than  that  of  the 
honored  pioneers  of  the  west.  Men  reared  in 
comfortable  homes,  accustomed  to  all  the  con- 
veniences and  privileges  of  life  in  the  east,  have 
come  into  the  wild  western  districts  and  braved 
danger  and  hardships  untold.  Cut  off  from  all 
comforts  and  luxuries,  they  have  also  had  to  face 
death  at  the  hand  of  the  treacherous  Indian,  and 
in  little  bands  and  ofttimes  singly  they  have  had 
to  fight  for  liberty  and  life.  Volumes  have  been 
written,  yet  the  story  of  the  pioneers  has  never 
been  adequately  told.  They  deserve  all  praise 
and  honor  and  the  mighty  states  of  the  west  with 
their  splendid  improvements,  enterprises  and  to- 
kens of  civilization  are  monuments  to  their 
memory. 

The  Eastman  Brothers,  Benjamin  Manson  and 
Hosea  Bradford,  are  among  those  who  have 


founded  the  state  of  Idaho  and  brought  about  her 
present  prosperity  and  greatness.  They  are  now 
numbered  among  the  leading  business  men  of 
Boise,  where  many  important  business  interests 
are  found  as  the  result  of  their  diligence  and 
executive  ability.  They  are  natives  of  White- 
field,  New  Hampshire,  born  December  30,  1830, 
and  November  21,  1835,  respectively.  They  are 
descended  from  good  old  Revolutionary  stock, 
their  grandfather,  Ebenezer  Eastman,  having 
aided  the  colonies  in  their  great  struggle  for  in- 
dependence. He  and  his  wife,.  Susan  Eastman, 
were  members  of  the  Baptist  church  and  were 
industrious  farming  people,  noted  for  their  in- 
tegrity and  sterling  worth.  The  grandfather  died 
in  his  seventy-fifth  year,  and  the  grandmother  in 
the  ninetieth  year  of  her  age.  The  father,  Caleb 
Eastman,  was  born  on  the  farm  at  Lisbon,  and 
having  arrived  at  years  of  maturity  married 
Tabitha  Aldrich,  who  was  born  at  Sugar  Hill, 
New  Hampshire,  and  was  descended  from  one  of 
the  old  New  England  families.  They  became 
the  parents  of  fourteen  children,  of  whom  eight 
sons  and  four  daughters  grew  to  mature  years, 
and  one  of  the  sons  laid  down  his  life  on  the  altar 
of  his  country  in  the  civil  war. 

Benjamin  M.  and  Hosea  B.  Eastman  received 
but  limited  educational  privileges,  but  in  the 
school  of  experience  have  learned  many  valuable 
lessons.  While  in  the  old  Granite  state,  they 
engaged  for  a  short  time  in  the  sawmill  and 
lumber  business.  Attracted  by  the  varied  re- 
sources of  the  west  they  resolved  to  make  their 
way  to  the  Pacific  slope,  and  on  the  2ist  of 
October,  1861,  sailed  from  New  York,  making 
the  voyage  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  to 
California.  There  were  nearly  one  thousand  pas- 
sengers on  board,  and  on  one  occasion  they  had 
a  very  narrow  escape  from  shipwreck  at  the 
''ninety-mile  boulder."  The  long  voyage  ended, 
the  brothers  landed  at  San  Francisco,  and  at 
Vallejo  followed  the  plow  for  a  time.  In  the 
spring  of  1862  they  went  to  Mendocino  county, 
where  they  joined  a  party  planning  to  go  to  the 
mines  of  Idaho.  Not  having  money  enough  for 
both  of  them  to  make  the  trip,  they  drew  "cuts" 
and  it  was  thus  decided  that  Benjamin  should 
accompany  the  party.  He  located  a  claim  at 
Canyon  City,  Oregon,  and  soon  Hosea  B.  fol- 
lowed with  a  pack  train,  working  his  passage 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


149 


by  driving  mules.  During  the  journey  they  had 
considerable  trouble  with  the  Indians,  and  night 
after  night  a  guard  had  to  be  placed  around  their 
camp  as  they  slept. 

The  mining  camp  at  Canyon  City  did  not  prove 
a  paying  one,  and  thus  obliged  to  seek  another 
location  they  started  for  Owyhee  county,  Idaho. 
At  night  they  slept  on  their  arms  for  fear  of 
Indian  attacks,  but  at  length  reached  their  desti- 
nation in  safety  and  secured  good  claims  at  Silver 
City,  on  Jordan  creek. 

At  other  times,  however,  they  were  engaged  in 
serious  encounters  with  the  red  men,  and  their 
deeds  of  valor  form  part  of  the  early  history  of  the 
state.  Throughout  Idaho  and  other  sections  of 
the  west  were  wild  districts  not  yet  explored  by 
the  white  men.  The  Indians  regarded  the  ad- 
vance of  civilization  as  an  encroachment  on  their 
rights  and  rose  in  hostility,  making  raids  against 
the  pioneers,  carrying  off  their  stock  and  goods 
and  often  killing  the  men.  In  1864  they  made  a 
raid  on  Silver  City  and  drove  off  fifty  mules  and 
horses.  Twenty-one  men,  including  H.  B.  East- 
man, started  in  pursuit.  They  rode  all  one  day 
and  part  of  the  next,  and  then  came  up  with  the 
Indians  in  a  rocky  canyon.  Jordan,  Henderson, 
and  Mr.  Eastman  were  in  the  advance.  The  In- 
dians challenged  them  to  come  into  the  canyon. 
They  rode,  however,  to  a  bluff  on  the  left,  and  saw 
that  the  other  side  would  be  best  for  the  attack. 
While  crossing  over  they  shot  at  the  Indians  and 
killed  some  of  them.  At  the  top  of  the  bluff 
was  a  large  juniper  tree,  from  which  point  Mr. 
Eastman  saw  an  Indian,  two  hundred  yards 
away,  trying  to  drive  a  horse.  He  ran  his  own 
horse  toward  the  savage,  who  left  the  horse  he 
was  driving,  but  himself  dodged  behind  trees  and 
rocks  so  dextrously  that  Mr.  Eastman  could  not 
get  a  shot  at  him.  He  captured  the  horse,  how- 
ever. The  white  men  tied  their  horses  to  the 
tree;  Henderson,  Edgerton  and  Berry  took  their 
station  behind  rocks,  while  Mr.  Jordan  and  Mr. 
Eastman  got  into  a  little  thicket  of  bushes,  from 
which  vantage  point  they  fired  on  the  red  men. 
Mr.  Jordan  had  a  breech-loading  rifle,  and  just 
after  Mr.  Eastman  had  shot  at  the  Indians  skulk- 
ing behind  the  rocks  he  raised  his  gun  to  shoot, 
with  the  remark,  "See  the  d — d  Indian  jump  in 
the  air."  The  Indian  did  jump,  but  Mr.  Jordan 
also  fell  dead,  shot  through  the  heart.  Mr.  East- 


man then  took  his  papers  and  his  gun,  drew  the 
body  into  the  bushes  out  of  sight,  and  returned 
to  the  other  men  and  the  horses.  There  were 
more  than  three  hundred  Indians,  who  were  grad- 
ually closing  in  around  the  white  men.  Mr.  East- 
man was  shot  just  below  the  hip,  but  never  men- 
tioned it  until  the  fight  was  over.  Without  water, 
their  mouths  became  so  dry  that  they  could  not 
wet  the  patches  to  load  their  guns,  and  they  were 
finally  ordered  to  retreat.  By  this  time  the  In- 
dians had  come  very  near.  The  pack-horse  had 
strayed  off  some  distance,  but  Mr.  Eastman  man- 
aged to  capture  him  and  was  rushing  him  along 
a  rocky  path  when  he  fell,  and  our  subject's  horse 
got  his  foot  in  a  loop  of  the  rope  and  was  strug- 
gling. Henderson  saw  the  trouble,  drew  his 
knife  from  his  boot  and  cut  the  rope.  Mr.  East- 
man had  fallen  from  his  horse  and  in  the  tumble 
had  lost  his  hat.  He  started  to  get  it  when  Mr. 
Henderson  with  an  oath  bade  him  to  let  the  hat 
go  for  the  Indians  were  in  hot  pursuit.  Soon 
they  came  to  some  water  and  Mr.  Eastman  said 
he  would  drink  if  the  Indians  were  on  top  of  him, 
so  he  and  his  horse  took  a  few  swallows  of  water 
from  the  same  pool.  That  night  the  party 
camped  thirty  miles  from  Silver  City.  The  next 
day  Mr.  Eastman  was  in  much  pain  from  his 
wound  and  was  forced  to  ride  standing  in  his 
stirrups.  On  their  return  the  surgeon,  a  man  of 
very  little  ability,  said  that  the  ball  was  so  near 
an  artery  that  he  was  afraid  to  cut  it  out.  Three 
weeks  passed  in  which  he  constantly  grew  worse, 
and  at  last  he  said  the  bullet  must  be  gotten  out. 
The  surgeon,  therefore,  after  much  probing  and 
cutting  secured  the  ball.  The  operation  was  a 
most  painful  and  difficult  one,  but  Mr.  Eastman 
took  no  anesthetic  nor  uttered  a  word,  although 
he  afterward  said  it  required  more  nerve  than 
to  fight  the  Indians!  A  piece  of  his  trousers, 
which  had  also  been  carried  in  with  the  ball, 
was  taken  out,  and  after  that  the  wound  rapidly 
healed. 

On  another  occasion  Air.  Jennings,  who  was  a 
renowned  Indian  fighter,  with  a  party  of  twenty- 
men,  were  surrounded  by  Indians  in  the  South 
mountain  country,  where  they  were  prospecting. 
They  built  a  fort  and  fought  the  Indians  off  as 
best  they  could.  At  length  two  of  the  party  made 
their  escape  in  the  night  and  brought  the  news 
to  Silver  City,  arriving  at  two  o'clock  in  the 


150 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


night.  The  next  morning  at  sunrise  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men  started  to  the  rescue,  and 
when  they  arrived  the  Indians  at  once  fled.  Both 
the  Eastman  brothers  were  with  that  party. 

In  1868  H.  B.  Eastman  returned  to  Vallejo, 
California,  and  on  the  return  trip,  with  a  six-horse 
team,  the  wagon  was  put  on  runners  in  order 
to  cross  the  snow  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  moun- 
tains, on  the  loth  of  May.  They  had  reached 
Jordan  valley,  fifty  miles  from  Silver  City,  when 
Mr.  Eastman,  with  his  three  companions  in  the 
wagon,  was  attacked  in  passing  through  a  nar- 
row track  between  rocks.  One  of  the  men 
shouted  "Indians!"  and  jumped  from  the  wagon 
without  taking  a  gun  or  other  weapon  of  defense. 
The  man  who  sat  beside  Mr.  Eastman  was  shot 
in  the  breast,  the  other  man  had  a  ball  across  the 
back  of  his  neck,  while  a  third  ball  crossed  Mr. 
Eastman's  arm  and  the  off  wheel-horse  was 
slightly  wounded.  Mr.  Eastman  started  the  team 
on  the  run.  Looking  back  he  saw  the  man  who 
had  jumped  running  after  them,  and  giving  the 
reins  to  the  wounded  men  he  started  to  the 
defense  of  the  other.  As  he  advanced  he  fired, 
and  the  nearest  Indian  fell  into  the  bushes.  On 
the  run  he  reloaded  and  then  shot  the  other  In- 
dian dead.  With  the  rescued  man  he  then  got 
into  the  wagon  and  drove  as  fast  as  possible  four 
miles  to  a  little  station  where  there  were  a  few- 
soldiers,  hoping  that  the  stage  would  be  through 
a  little  later;  but  on  reaching  the  station  they 
were  told  the  stage  had  arrived,  the  driver  had 
been  shot  dead  by  the  Indians  and  a  ball  had 
struck  the  blinder  of  the  leading  horse,  which  in 
fright  had  left  the  road  and  broke  one  of  the 
wheels  of  the  stage.  There  were  eleven  passen- 
gers in  the  stage,  one  of  them  a  woman.  Mr. 
Eastman  afterward  drove  his  team  back  and  as- 
sisted the  soldiers  in  taking  up  the  dead  driver. 
The  man  who  had  been  shot  in  the  breast  after- 
ward recovered,  and  Mr.  Eastman  learned  that 
the  Indian  he  had  first  shot  had  his  leg  broken. 
Those  days  of  peril  are  now  over,  and  a  debt  of 
gratitude  which  cannot  be  paid  is  due  to  the 
sturdy  pioneers  who  braved  the  dangers  of  the 
west  and  steadily  advanced  in  the  work  of  re- 
claiming this  wild  but  rich  region  from  the  sav- 
ages. 

The  Eastman  brothers  continued  their  mining 
operations  for  a  number  of  years.  From  their 


claims  on  Jordan  creek  and  at  Silver  City  they 
took  out  on  an  average  an  ounce  of  gold  apiece 
each  day,  and  soon  had  some  seven  thousand 
dollars.  Later  they  purchased  an  interest  in  the 
Morning  Star  mine,  the  first  quartz  mine  in  the 
county.  It  proved  very  rich,  yielding  eight  hun- 
dred tons  which  assayed  five  hundred  dollars  to 
the  ton.  Most  of  the  bullion  taken  out  at  the 
time  was  sent  down  Snake  and  down  Columbia 
rivers  to  Portland.  In  1867-8  they  abandoned 
mining  and  purchased  a  half  interest  in  the  Idaho 
hotel,  of  Silver  City,  which  proved  a  profitable 
investment,  and  was  successfully  conducted  by 
them  until  1877,  when  they  sold  and  purchased 
the  Overland  hotel,  at  Boise,  a  property  which 
they  conducted  until  1891.  They  carried  on  one 
of  the  best  hotels  in  the  west,  supplied  with  all 
modern  conveniences  and  accessories,  and  its 
splendid  equipment  secured  it  a  very  large  pat- 
ronage. They  found  the  water  supply  of  Boise 
very  poor  and  immediately  set  to  work  to  secure 
better  water.  At  a  cost  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
they  established  a  small  plant,  which  became  the 
nucleus  of  the  present  fine  water  system  of  the 
city,  and  which  supplies  both  hot  and  cold  water 
to  many  of  the  best  homes  and  business  houses 
of  the  city.  The  hot  water  is  obtained  from  ar- 
tesian wells  on  the  mountain  side, — a  novel  fea- 
ture in  the  water  supplies  of  cities.  In  connection 
they  also  conduct  one  of  the  finest  natatoriums  in 
the  country.  The  Eastman  brothers  are  heavy 
stockholders,  both  in  this  enterprise  and  in  the 
electric  light  and  power  company  of  Boise.  The 
Artesian  Hot  and  Cold  Water  Company  have 
done  more  for  the  advancement  and  prosperity 
of  Boise  than  any  other  one  agency,  and 
this  has  resulted  largely  from  the  progres- 
siveness  and  industry  of  the  gentlemen  whose 
names  begin  this  review.  They  were  also 
instrumental  in  the  organization  of  the  Boise 
City  National  Bank,  in  1886,  the  officers 
of  which  are  Henry  Wadsworth,  of  San 
Francisco,  president;  H.  B.  Eastman,  vice 
president;  Alfred  Eoff,  cashier;  and  W.  B. 
Bruce,  assistant  cashier.  The  board  of  directors 
comprise  Alfred  Eoff,  W.  S.  Bruce,  B.  M.  East- 
man, H.  B.  Eastman,  Henry  Wadsworth.  The 
bank  is  capitalized  for  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. In  1891  the  bank  was  built,  of  fine  sand- 
stone quarried  near  the  city.  It  is  a  large  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


151 


substantial  bank  building,  fifty  by  seventy  feet, 
three  stories  in  height  with  a  basement. 

The  Eastman  residence  is  a  beautiful  home, 
supplied  with  all  modern  conveniences  and  sur- 
rounded by  most  attractive  grounds.  In  1872 
H.  B.  Eastman  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Mary  Blackinger,  who  was  bom  in  Buffalo,  New 
York,  in  1850.  They  now  have  two  sons,  Frank 
M.  and  Ben  S.,  who  are  being  provided  with  lib- 
eral educational  privileges.  In  politics  the  broth- 
ers have  ever  been  stalwart  Republicans.  Their 
attention,  however,  is  not  given  to  political  mat- 
ters, but  to  their  extensive  business  interests, 
which  have  brought  to  them  merited  prosperity 
and  have  also  advanced  the  welfare  of  Boise,  and 
in  the  history  of  Idaho  their  names  are  found 
among  those  who  have  conferred  honor  upon  the 

state. 

WILLIAM   J.    TURNER. 

The  first  resident  of  Mountain  Home  was  Wil- 
liam J.  Turner,  and  since  the  time  of  his  arrival 
here  his  history  has  been  inseparably  interwoven 
with  that  of  the  town.  He  is  now  its  postmaster 
and  proprietor  of  its  leading  hotel,  and  from  the 
beginning  he  has  been  most  active  and  earnest 
in  promoting  and  aiding  its  upbuilding  and  im- 
provement. A  native  of  the  Buckeye  state,  Mr. 
Turner  was  born  March  17,  1854,  and  is  of  Eng- 
lish and  Irish  descent,  his  ancestors  having  been 
early  settlers  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  where 
they  located  in  colonial  days.  They  were  promi- 
nently associated  with  many  events  which  go  to 
form  the  history  of  that  epoch  and  members  of 
the  family  also  aided  in  the  glorious  and  effectual 
struggle  for  independence.  The  grandfather, 
Thomas  Turner,  served  his  country  in  the  war  of 
1812.  Thomas  P.  Turner,  the  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  a  native  of  Maryland,  married  Miss  Ra- 
chel Linton,  and  with  his  family  removed  to 
Noble  county,  Ohio,  in  1831.  There  he  secured  a 
homestead,  erected  buildings  and  otherwise  im- 
proved the  property,  making  it  his  place  of 
abode  until  called  to  his  final  rest,  in  the  sixty- 
third  year  of  his  age.  His  wife  passed  away  in 
her  fifty-fourth  year.  They  were  the  parents  of 
eight  children,  but  only  three  are  now  living,  Mr. 
Turner  and  two  sisters. 

The  subject  of  this  review  was  reared  on  the 
old  home  farm  in  Ohio,  and  pursued  his  educa- 
tion in  a  little  log  schoolhouse,  wherein  he 


studied  his  lessons  through  the  winter  seasons, 
while  in  the  summer  months  he  assisted  in  the 
labors  of  the  field.  He  was  married  in  Ohio,  in 
1876,  to  Miss  Maria  Waller,  a  native  of  Ohio, 
and  their  union  has  been  blessed  with  four  child- 
ren: Fred  A.,  who  is  now  serving  as  deputy 
postmaster  at  Mountain  Home;  Bertha  B.;  Nel- 
lie and  Everett. 

William  J.  Turner  dates  his  residence  in  Moun- 
tain Home  from  August  22,  1881.  At  the  time 
of  his  arrival  on  the  present  site  of  the  now 
flourishing  town  there  were  no  houses  within  six 
miles  of  the  place.  Plans  had  been  made  for  the 
building  of  the  railroad,  however,  and  with  ex- 
cellent foresight  he  believed  that  the  possibilities 
of  establishing  a  thriving  commercial  center  were 
very  good.  The  town  was  platted  by  Robert  E. 
Strahorn  and  from  him  Mr.  Turner  purchased 
five  lots,  which  he  still  owns  and  which  are  now 
situated  in  the  business  section  of  the  place.  He 
is  also  the  owner  of  other  realty  interests  here, 
and  has  been  a  most  important  factor  in  pro- 
moting commerce  and  various  industries.  Mr. 
Turner  erected  the  first  building  in  Mountain 
Home, — the  structure  that  is  now  being  used  as 
the  post-office.  He  also  erected  the  first  hotel 
and  is  recently  completing  a  fine  hotel  property, 
sixty  by  one  hundred  feet,  three  stories  in  height 
with  basement,  and  containing  sixty-eight  rooms. 
It  will  be  a  credit  to  the  town  and  to  the  owner. 
No  enterprise  calculated  to  advance  the  gen- 
eral good  has  ever  failed  to  receive  his  support 
and  co-operation,  and  educational,  moral,  social 
and  material  interests  have  found  in  him  a 
friend. 

In  the  early  development  of  the  town  the  resi- 
dents of  Mountain  Home  were  J.  M.  Hager,  R. 
H.  Tragiskis,  James  Justin,  William. Gibson,  Gus 
Rikewyne  and  J.  A.  Tutwiler;  but  of  this  number 
Mr.  Hager  and  Mr.  Turner  are  the  only  ones  still 
living  in  the  town.  The  latter  is  now  serving  as 
postmaster.  July  i,  1899,  the  post-office  was 
made  a  presidential  office.  He  has  been  a  life- 
long Republican,  and  was  appointed  to  his  pres- 
ent position  by  President  McKinley,  since  which 
time  he  has  acceptably  discharged  his  duties,  his 
administration  being  most  efficient.  The  growth 
and  prosperity  of  Mountain  Home  bears  the  im- 
press of  his  individuality,  and  the  beautiful  and 
progressive  little  village  largely  stands  as  a  mon- 


152 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ument  to  his  enterprise  and  ability  in  the  active 
affairs  of  life. 

GEORGE    M.    PARSONS. 

Professional  advancement  in  the  law  is  pro- 
verbially slow.  The  first  element  of  success  is, 
perhaps,  a  persistency  of  purpose  and  effort  as 
enduring  as  the  force  of  gravity.  But,  as  in 
every  other  calling,  aptitude,  character  and  indi- 
viduality are  the  qualities  which  differentiate  the 
usual  from  the  unusual;  the  vocation  from  the 
career  of  the  lawyer.  Less  than  fifteen  years  ago 
George  Matthias  Parsons  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and  within  that  time  has  gained  an  eminence 
for  which  older  practitioners  have  striven  a  life 
time. 

He  was  born  in  Cambridge  City,  Indiana,  on 
the  I5th  of  January,  1850,  and  is  of  English  de- 
scent. His  ancestors  located  in  Massachusetts 
in  colonial  days,  later  removed  to  New  York  and 
were  prominent  factors  in  the  early  history  of  the 
country.  One  of  the  number,  Commodore  Deca- 
tur,  became  eminent  in  connection  with  the  navy 
of  his  native  land,  and  William  Parsons,  the 
grandfather  of  the  general,  participated  in  tne 
war  of  the  Revolution  and  the  war  of  1812.  He 
lived  to  be  eighty-three  years  of  age.  His  son, 
George  L.  Parsons,  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  and  after  arriving 
at  years  of  maturity  wedded  Miss  Mary  Elizabeth 
Matthias,  of  Ohio,  who  was  descended  from  an 
old  Virginia  family  that  was  early  established  in 
the  south.  Her  father,  Jacob  Matthias,  was  born 
in  the  Old  Dominion  and  removed  to  Ohio,  be- 
coming one  of  the  founders  of  the  town  of  Ham- 
ilton, in  which  he  long  made  his  home,  being 
numbered  among  its  most  influential  and  valued 
citizens.  George  L.  Parsons  died  at  the  age  of 
sixty-four  years,  and  his  wife  passed  away  when 
forty-four  years  of  age. 

In  the  public  schools  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  Gen- 
eral Parsons  of  this  review  began  his  education, 
which  was  completed  in  the  high  school  of  Ham- 
ilton, Ohio.  He  was  very  large  for  his  age,  when, 
as  a  youth  of  fifteen  years,  he  offered  his  services 
to  his  country  and  joined  the  "boys  in  blue"  of 
Company  F,  One  Hundred  and  Eighty-ninth 
Ohio  Infantry.  This  was  in  the  last  year  of  the 
war.  Thousands  of  brave  men  had  fallen  and 
thousands  of  homes  had  been  made  desolate  by 


the  loss  of  loved  ones.  The  people  realized  now 
all  that  war  meant  with  its  sufferings,  its  horrors, 
and  its  sacrifices,  and  it  required  no  small  amount 
of  courage  for  men  to  leave  their  homes  and  fam- 
ilies for  the  battle-field.  With  a  patriotism  which 
would  have  been  creditable  to  a  man  of  twice 
his  years,  General  Parsons  responded  to  the  call 
for  more  volunteers,  and  with  his  company  was 
engaged  in  scouting  duty  in  the  mountains  of 
Alabama  until  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities, 
when  he  was  honorably  discharged,  in  October, 
1865. 

Returning  to  his  home,  he  completed  his  edu- 
cation and  then  followed  various  enterprises  un- 
til 1871,  when  he  came  to  Idaho.  Since  that 
time  he  has  been  an  active  factor  in  the  public 
life  and  the  development  of  the  state,  ever  put- 
ting forth  his  best  efforts  for  the  advancement 
of  its  welfare  and  the  promotion  of  its  best  inter- 
ests. He  was  a  member  of  the  seventh  and 
tenth  general  assemblies.  In  1883-4  he  served 
as  judge  of  the  probate  court  of  Alturas  county, 
and  in  1885  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  since  which 
time  he  has  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. 

In  1892  he  was  elected  attorney  general  of 
Idaho,  and  in  1894  was  re-elected,  serving  in  that 
important  office  for  two  terms  most  creditably. 
For  many  years  he  was  a  stalwart  Republican, 
an  active  worker  in  the  ranks  of  the  party  and  an 
able  exponent  and  advocate  of  its  principles,  but 
when,  at  the  national  convention  in  St'.  Louis,  the 
party  declared  for  the  gold  standard,  with  much 
regret  he  abandoned  its  ranks  and  gave  his  sup- 
port to  the  cause  of  bimetallism,  of  which  he  is  a, 
firm  believer.  Soon  afterward  he  identified  him- 
self with  the  free-silver  party  of  Idaho,  by  which 
he  was  once  more  nominated  for  attorney  gen- 
eral, but  on  account  of  the  division  in  the  silver 
forces  was  defeated. 

On  his  retirement  from  office  he  resumed  the 
private  practice  of  law.  He  is  now  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Kingsbury  &  Parsons,  which  holds 
rank  among  the  leading  and  successful  law  part- 
nerships of  Idaho.  Their  fine  suite  of  rooms  in 
the  Sonna  Block,  in  Boise,  is  unsurpassed  in  any 
of  the  western  states,  and  is  supplied  with  a  most 
extensive  and  valuable  law  library.  Since  com- 
ing to  the  west  General  Parsons  has  also  success- 
fully engaged  in  mining  to  a  considerable  ex- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


153 


tent.  While  he  has  won  distinction  at  the  bar 
and  honors  in  public  life,  he  has  at  no  time  failed 
in  the  performance  of  the  least  duty  devolving 
upon  him,  and  at  the  time  of  the  Indian  outbreak 
in  1878  he  raised  a  company  and  served  as  its 
captain,  aiding  in  the  suppression  of  the  troubles. 
In  1875  General  Parsons  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Mary  E.  Welply,  of  Brooklyn, 
New  York,  and  a  lady  of  superior  culture  and 
natural  refinement,  who  holds  membership  in 
the  Episcopal  church.  In  1875  the  General  was 
made  a  Master  Mason,  in  Alturas  Lodge,  No. 
12,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  has  served  as  past  master,  and 
has  been  a  most  active  worker.  He  is  also  a 
valued  member  of  Phil.  Sheridan  Post,  G.  A.  R., 
of  Boise,  is  past  commander  of  E.  D.  Baker 
Post,  at  Hailey,  and  was  junior  vice  commander 
of  the  Department  of  Utah,  Idaho  and  Montana. 
He  is  a  man  of  fine  physique,  large  and  well  pro- 
portioned. His  entire  freedom  from  ostentation 
or  self-laudation  has  made  him  one  of  the  most 
popular  citizens  of  Idaho,  with  whose  history  he 
has  now  been  so  long  and  prominently  identified. 

WILLIAM    H.    BAUGH,    M.   D. 

Dr.  Baugh  is  the  well  known  physician  and 
druggist  of  Shoshone,  and  has  a  wide  acquaint- 
ance throughout  southern  Idaho.  A  native  of 
Missouri,  he  was  born  in  Boonville,  July  28, 
1864,  and  is  of  German  lineage.  His  paternal 
grandfather  removed  from  one  of  the  eastern 
states  to  Indiana,  and  there  the  Doctor's  father, 
Henry  Clay  Baugh,  was  born  and  reared.  In 
1860  he  removed  to  Missouri  and  married  Eliza- 
beth Steger,  of  that  state.  He  had  previously 
crossed  the  plains  to  California,  where  he  had  en- 
gaged in  mining  with  fair  success.  After  his 
return  to  Missouri  he  engaged  in  stock-raising 
until  1874,  when  his  life's  labors  were  ended  in 
death.  He  died  of  pneumonia  when  forty-eight 
years  of  age,  and  his  wife  passed  away  in  1880. 
They  were  both  members  of  the  Methodist 
church  and  people  of  much  worth.  They  left 
six  children. 

Dr.  Baugh,  the  eldest  of  the  family,  spent  his 
youth  in  the  state  of  his  nativity,  and  acquired 
his  medical  education  in  the  Missouri  Medical 
College,  at  St.  Louis,  where  he  was  graduated  in 
the  class  of  1891.  For  two  years  he  practiced  in 
that  state  and  then  came  to  Idaho,  forming  a 


partnership  with  Dr.  Smith,  at  Mountain  Home. 
On  leaving  that  place  he  took  up  his  abode 
at  Shoshone,  and  from  the  beginning  has  enjoyed 
a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  extending  over  a 
radius  of  forty  miles.  After  two  years  he  estab- 
lished the  only  drug  store  in  the  town,  having 
a  good  store,  twenty  by  ninety  feet,  which  is  sup- 
plied with  a  well  selected  stock  of  drugs,  paints, 
oils,  jewelry,  stationery,  cigars  and  tobacco.  He 
is  also  the  local  physician  and  surgeon  for  the 
Short  Line  Railroad  Company,  and  is  a  member 
of  the  State  Medical  Association.  In  addition  to 
his  other  business  interests  he  is  engaged  in 
sheep-raising,  which  is  now  a  very  important  in- 
dustry in  Idaho,  and  like  the  other  branches  of 
his  business  it  is  yielding  to  him  a  good  income. 
On  the  3ist  of  July,  1896,  was  celebrated  the 
marriage  of  Dr.  Baugh  and  Miss  Rose  Burke,  a 
native  of  Watertown,  New  York,  and  a  daughter 
of  Morris  Burke,  now  of  Shoshone.  The  Doctor 
is  a  very  prominent  Mason,  belonging  to  the 
blue  lodge,  chapter,  commandery  and  the  mystic 
shrine.  He  is  an  energetic  business  man  of 
marked  ability,  a  progressive  citizen  and  justly 
popular  in  his  wide  circle  of  acquaintances. 

JULIUS    S.    WATERS. 

A  distinguished  jurist  has  said:  "In  the 
American  state  the  great  and  good  lawyer  must 
always  be  prominent,  for  he  is  one  of  the  forces 
that  move  and  control  society.  Public  confidence 
has  generally  been  reposed  in  the  legal  profes- 
sion. It  has  ever  been  the  defender  of  popular 
rights,  the  champion  of  freedom  regulated  by 
law,  the  firm  support  of  good  government.  In 
tne  times  of  danger  it  has  stood  like  a  rock  and 
breasted  the  mad  passions  of  the  hour  and  finally 
resisted  tumult  and  faction."  A  review  of  the 
history  of  Julius  Spencer  Waters  shows  that  his 
life  is  largely  an  exemplification  of  this  state- 
ment; that  as  an  individual  he  has  shared  in  the 
work  thus  attributed  to  the  class,  and  through 
many  years  has  labored  for  the  good  of  the  na- 
tion, advocating  every  measure  intended  to  ad- 
vance the  welfare,  prosperity  and  happiness  of 
his  people.  His  ancestors  were  among  those  who 
fought  for  American  independence,  his  grand- 
father, Walter  Waters,  and  his  brothers  all  serv- 
ing in  the  colonial  army.  His  father,  William 
Waters,  was  born  in  Monroe  county,  New  York, 


154 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


in  1795,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812, 
participating  in  the  battle  of  Lundy's  Lane  under 
General  Scott.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the 
western  reserve  of  Ohio,  locating  in  Ashtabula 
county.  In  1837  he  removed  with  his  family 
from  Ohio  to  Boonville,  Warwick  county,  In- 
diana, and  when  his  son  Julius  was  eight  years 
of  age  went  to  Iowa,  taking  up  his  abode  near 
what  is  now  Mount  Pleasant,  Henry  county. 

About  this  time  the  family  was  bereft  by  death 
of  the  wife  and  mother.  Julius  S.  Waters  was 
born  in  Warwick  county,  Indiana,  March  25, 
1838,  and  although  now  in  his  ninth  year  had  had 
no  opportunity  to  secure  an  education,  having 
always  lived  in  a  wild  frontier  district,  having  no 
knowledge  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  great 
busy  world  outside.  Soon  after  the  death  of  the 
mother  the  family  became  scattered  and  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  although  a  mere  lad,  was 
thrown  entirely  upon  his  own  resources.  He  has 
thus  indeed  been  the  architect  of  his  own  for- 
tunes and  has  builded  wisely  and  well.  He  early 
gave  evidence  of  the  elemental  strength  of  his 
character  in  the  self-reliance,  energy  and  true 
pluck  which  he  has  displayed, — qualities  which 
have  marked  his  entire  career  and  have  brought 
to  him  a  well  merited  success.  Under  many  and 
diversified  circumstances  they  have  enabled  him 
to  conquer  obstacles  and  advance  to  a  position 
of  prominence  in  the  professional  and  political 
world.  Left  alone,  he  began  seeking  a  way 
whereby  he  might  earn  his  own  living,  and  soon 
secured  work  at  driving  oxen  in  breaking  prairie 
sod,  his  wages  being  four  dollars  per  month  and 
board.  He  eagerly  accepted  this  opportunity  of 
earning  his  livelihood,  and  after  four  months  of 
constant  hard  work  he  was  able  to  boast  of  being 
the  possessor  of  sixteen  dollars  cash,  which  he 
expended  for  such  warm  but  cheap  clothing  as 
would  protect  him  from  the  cold  during  the  com- 
ing winter.  It  was  in  that  winter  of  1850  that  he 
first  attended  school,  pursuing  his  studies  for 
three  months,  during  which  time  he  lived  with  an 
old  friend  of  his  parents,  working  nights,  morn- 
ings and  Saturdays  in  order  to  pay  for  his  board. 
The  following  summer  was  spent  as  the  former 
one,  save  that  he  received  five  dollars  for  his  ser- 
vices, and  again  in  the  winter  he  attended  school 
for  three  months,  his  wages  being  expended  for 
books  and  clothing.  At  this  time  he  could  only 


spell  and  read  a  little,  even  the  simpler  mathe- 
matics being  to  his  mind  as  enigmatical  as  the 
characters  on  a  tea  chest. 

In  the  fall  of  1852  he  began  to  have  aspira- 
tions for  something  a  little  higher  in  the  scale  of 
manual  labor  than  driving  oxen  and  decided  to 
learn  a  trade.  A  young  acquaintance  gave  him 
such  glowing  accounts  of  the  rising  town  of 
Galesburg,  Illinois,  that  he  decided  to  remove 
thither,  and  with  his  little  bundle  of  clothing 
swung  on  a  stick  over  his  shoulder,  and  only 
three  dollars  in  his  pocket,  he  started  on  foot  for 
Burlington,  Iowa.  After  a  tedious  and  laborious 
journey  through  the  then  wild  country  he  ar- 
rived at  Burlington  in  the  evening  and  at  once 
boarded  a  steamboat  and  paid  fifty  cents  for  his 
fare  to  Oquawka.  Much  of  the  remainder  of  his 
small  capital  went  for  food, — crackers  and  cheese. 
He  walked  from  Oquawka  to  Galesburg  in  a  day 
and  a  half,  and  as  he  made  his  way  through  the 
streets  of  the  town  he  passed  a  harness  and  sad- 
dle shop.  Thinking  he  would  like  to  learn  that 
trade  he  entered  and  making  his  wishes  known 
to  the  proprietor,  D.  M.  Chapin,  he  entered  upon 
an  apprenticeship,  during  which  time  he  not  only 
received  instructions  in  the  business  but  also 
was  given  much  valuable  advice  which  he  has 
profitably  followed  in  late  years,  his  employer 
proving  to  him  a  good  friend. 

On  completing  his  apprenticeship,  Mr.  Waters 
began  business  in  Burlington,  Iowa,  and  later 
returned  to  Mount  Pleasant,  where  he  carried 
on  operations  in  that  line.  In  1857  he  returned 
to  Indiana  to  visit  the  old  family  homestead  and 
renew  the  acquaintances  of  former  years,  and 
among  the  hallowed  scenes  of  his  childhood  he 
decided  to  remain  and  devote  as  much  time  as 
possible  to  such  studies  as  would  fit  him  for  the 
practical  duties  of  life.  His  new  home,  too,  was 
situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  the  division 
line  between  the  free  and  slave  districts,  and  there 
developed  the  strong  anti-slavery  views  and  ten- 
dencies which  were  so  manifest  in  later  years. 
The  Abolition  party,  then  well  organized,  found  in 
him  an  ardent  and  energetic  advocate,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1858,  although  not  yet  twenty-one,  he  was 
nominated  as  the  Abolition  candidate  for  the 
legislature.  Such  was  his  popularity  in  the  coun- 
ty that  he  received  four  hundred  votes,  when 
only  thirty-seven  votes  had  been  cast  for  John  C. 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


155 


Fremont  two  years  before.  The  county  was 
strongly  Democratic,  and  during  the  canvass 
made  by  the  youthful  candidate,  which  was  very 
thorough  and  vigorous,  he  was  frequently  bru- 
tally treated  and  almost  constantly  threatened 
with  violence  by  the  opposition.  After  the  fall 
election  of  1858  he  at  once  began  to  organize  his 
county  for  the  coming  contest  in  1860,  and  so 
well  did  he  succeed  that  the  Republicans  had  a 
small  majority.  During  that  campaign  Mr. 
Waters  was  a  delegate  to  the  state  convention 
which  nominated  Henry  S.  Lane  for  governor 
and  O.  P.  Morton  for  lieutenant  governor,  while 
the  name  of  Benjamin  Harrison  appeared  at  the 
foot  of  the  ticket  in  connection  with  the  office  of 
reporter  of  the  supreme  court.  Thirty-two  years 
later,  in  1892,  he  was  one  of  the  Harrison  presi- 
dential electors  for  Idaho. 

During  all  these  years  of  great  political  strife 
Mr.  Waters  applied  himself  closely  to  the  study 
of  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  since  which 
time  he  has  successfully  engaged  in  practice.  At 
the  breaking  out  of  the  great  civil  war  he  devoted 
himself  assiduously  to  promoting  the  cause  of  the 
Union  and  of  human  freedom,  and  never  during 
the  darkest  hours  did  he  doubt  the  final  triumph 
of  the  northern  arms.  In  1865  he  removed  to 
Labette  county,  Kansas,  becoming  one  of  its 
pioneer  settlers.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  Republican  party  there,  and  by  his  efficient 
labors  contributed  materially  to  its  great  success, 
attending  most  of  the  state  conventions  and  pre- 
siding as  chairman  at  many  of  the  county  and 
district  conventions.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1867,  was  elected  to  the  office  of  county  attor- 
ney in  1869,  and  was  re-elected  in  1870,  1876, 
1878  and  1880.  In  1882  he  was  chosen  to  repre- 
sent his  district  in  the  state  legislature,  and  in 
1883  was  appointed  by  President  Arthur  re- 
ceiver of  public  moneys  in  the  United  States  land 
office,  at  Hailey,  Idaho,  at  which  time  he  removed 
with  his  family  to  that  place,  filling  the  position 
for  four  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  period 
he  was  elected  on  the  Republican  ticket  to  the 
office  of  district  attorney  of  Alturas  county  for  a 
term  of  two  years.  In  1892  he  was  a  delegate 
to  the  Idaho  Republican  state  convention,  and 
was  there  nominated  as  one  of  the  Idaho  presi- 
dential electors.  He  came  to  Shoshone  in  1896, 
and  in  1898  was  elected  county  attorney  for  Lin- 


coln county,  in  which  office  he  is  now  acceptably 
serving.  At  the  bar  he  has  attained  prestige  by 
reason  of  ability,  comprehensive  understanding 
of  the  principles  of  jurisprudence  and  his  accu- 
racy in  applying  these  to  the  points  in  litigation. 
He  prepares  his  cases  very  carefully,  looking  up 
the  authorities  and  precedents  and  fencing  his 
argument-  about  with  logical  reasoning  that  is 
generally  incontrovertible. 

In  1860  Mr.  Waters  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Glenn,  of  Indiana,  but  she  was  spared  to 
him  only  a  short  time,  her  death  occurring  dur- 
ing the  war.  In  1870,  in  Labette  county,  Kansas, 
he  wedded  Mrs.  Amy  Myers,  a  native  of  Spencer 
county,  Indiana.  They  have  one  daughter, 
Maude,  an  accomplished  young  lady,  who  is 
skilled  both  in  instrumental  and  vocal  music. 
The  family  occupy  a  very  prominent  position  in 
social  circles  and  their  pleasant  home  is  cele- 
brated for  its  hospitality.  In  1869  Mr.  Waters 
became  a  Master  Mason,  and  the  following  year 
took  the  Royal  Arch  degrees.  He  has  been  mas- 
ter of  the  blue  lodge,  high  priest  of  the  chapter 
and  eminent  commander  of  the  commandery. 
During  a  large  portion  of  his  residence  in  Kansas 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Press  Association,  being 
editor  of  the  Oswego  Independent,  one  of  the 
leading  newspapers  of  Kansas.  Mr.  Waters  now 
occupies  a  position  of  distinction  in  connection 
with  the  bar  and  the  political  interests  of  Idaho. 
Starting  out  in  life  for  himself  ere  he  had  attended 
school  for  a  day,  working  at  the  breaking  plow 
for  several  seasons,  and  then  becoming  imbued 
with  a  laudable  ambition  to  attain  something  bet- 
ter, he  has  steadily  advanced  in  those  walks  of 
life  demanding  intellectuality,  business  ability 
and  fidelity,  and  to-day  commands  the  respect 
and  esteem  not  only  of  his  community  but 
throughout  the  state.  Over  the  record  of  his 
public  career  and  his  private  life  there  falls  no 
shadow  of  wrong,  for  he  has  ever  been  most  loyal 
to  the  ties  of  friendship  and  citizenship,  and  his 
history  well  deserves  a  place  in  the  annals  of 
his  adopted  state. 

KNOX    TAYLOR. 

This  gentleman,  who  has  furnished  for  this 
work  the  history  of  the  mines  with  which  he  has 
been  connected,  is  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  born 
at  Highbridge,  on  the  igth  of  October,  1873. 


loG 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


His  father  and  grandfather  are  the  principal  own- 
ers of  the  large  Taylor  Iron  and  Steel  Works  at 
his  native  place,  the  grandfather  being  the  presi- 
dent of  the  company.  Knox  Taylor  was  edu- 
cated in  the  noted  College  of  New  Jersey  at 
Princeton,  graduating  in  the  class  of  1895,  and 
he  has  made  metallurgy  and  mining  engineering 
a  specialty.  After  graduating  he  went  to  New 
Mexico  to  engage  in  mining,  as  his  chosen  voca- 
tion. 

In  October,  1896,  he  came  to  Ketchum,  Idaho, 
to  take  charge  of  the  large  mining  interests  which 
he  now  represents.  He  is  a  thorough  expert  in 
his  calling,  is  a  social  and  courteous  gentleman, 
and  withal  an  enthusiastic  sportsman.  Just  pre- 
vious to  his  interview  with  the  writer  of  this 
sketch  he  had  killed  five  out  of  eight  black-tailed 
deer  in  the  mountains  but  a  short  distance  from 
Ketchum;  and  May  23,  1899,  he  killed  a  black 
bear  near  the  town.  Wood  river,  directly  at  the 
door  of  the  residence  of  the  Philadelphia  com- 
pany, where  he  resides,  affords  an  abundance  of 
fine  trout. 

AUGUSTUS    G.    UPTON,   A.    M.,    D.    D. 

Although  Dr.  Upton  has  been  a  resident  of 
Weiser  for  little  more  than  three  years  he  has 
been  so  closely  and  prominently  connected  with 
the  educational  and  moral  interests  of  the  town 
during  that  time  that  no  history  of  the  communi- 
ty would  be  complete  without  the  record  of  his 
career.  It  is  a  widely  acknowledged  fact  that  the 
most  important  work  to  which  man  can  direct  his 
energies  is  that  of  teaching,  whether  it  be  from 
the  pulpit,  from  the  lecture  platform  or  from  the 
schoolroom.  Its  primary  object  is  ever  the  same, 
— the  development  of  one's  latent  powers  that 
the  duties  of  life  may  be  bravely  met  and  well 
performed.  The  intellectual  and  the  moral  na- 
ture are  so  closely  allied  that  it  is  difficult  to  in- 
struct one  without  in  a  measure  influencing  the 
other,  and  certainly  the  best  results  are  accom- 
plished when  the  work  goes  hand  in  hand. 
Christian  instruction  is  having  an  influence  over 
the  world  that  few  can  estimate,  for  it  is  in 
youth  that  the  life  of  the  man  is  marked  out,  his 
future  course  decided  and  his  choice  as  to  the 
good  or  evil  made. 

It  is  to  this  work  of  thus  instructing  the  young 
that  Dr.  Upton  devotes  his  time,  energies  and 


thought,  and  as  the  president  of  the  Weiser  Col- 
lege and  Academy  his  influence  in  this  direction 
is  most  widely  felt.  He  was  born  at  Heath,  Mas- 
sachusetts, on  the  7th  of  December,  1851,  and  is 
of  English  and  Scotch  lineage,  his  ancestors  hav- 
ing located  in  New  England  at  an  early  period 
in  the  colonial  history  of  the  country.  His  fath- 
er, Benjamin  Flint  Upton,  was  also  a  native  of 
the  Old  Bay  state,  and  by  trade  was  a  wagon  and 
carriage  manufacturer.  In  his  religious  views  he 
was  a  Congregationalist,  and  thus  amid  the  re- 
fined influence  of  a  Christian  home  Dr.  Upton  of 
this  review  was  reared.  He  was  educated  in 
Oberlin  College,  at  Oberlin,  Ohio,  and  on  the 
completion  of  the  classical  course  was  gradu- 
ated in  1873.  He  then  pursued  a  course  in  the- 
ology and  was  graduated  in  that  department  in 
1876.  For  a  time  he  was  a  member  of  the  faculty 
of  Oberlin  College,  holding  the  position  of  tutor 
of  Latin. 

On  leaving  that  excellent  institution  he  was 
ordained  to  the  ministry  of  the  Congregational 
church,  after  which  he  efficiently  engaged  in  his 
chosen  work  as  pastor  of  prominent  churches  in 
Ohio,  Michigan  and  New  York.  In  the  last 
named  state  he  was  for  some  time  secretary  of  the 
Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society,  but 
in  1888,  on  account  of  impaired  health,  he  re- 
signed his  position  and  moved  to  Colorado.  His 
residence  in  Weiser  dates  from  1895,  at  which 
time  he  accepted  the  presidency  of  the  Weiser 
College  and  Academy.  Under  his  wise  direction 
the  school  has  been  making  rapid  advances  and 
stands  among  the  first  educational  institutions  of 
the  state.  He  is  a  careful  and  capable  financier, 
giving  the  whole  energy  of  a  thoroughly  trained 
mind  to  the  work  of  placing  the  school  on  a 
stable  financial  and  educational  foundation.  He 
is  also  justly  regarded  as  a  talented  and  eminent 
minister  of  the  church,  and  the  spiritual  as  well 
as  the  intellectual  man  is  given  every  opportunity 
for  growth. 

In  1876  President  Upton  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Lucy  H.  Metcalf,  of  Elyria,  Ohio, 
daughter  of  E.  W.  Metcalf,  of  that  state.  She  is 
a  Christian  lady  of  superior  education  and  refine- 
ment, and  is  now  teaching  in  Weiser  College  and 
Academy,  her  marked  ability  ably  fitting  her  for 
the  work.  Both  the  Doctor  and  his  wife  enjoy 
the  esteem  of  their  students  and  a  large  circle  of 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


157 


friends,  and  are  valued  additions  to  the  social  and 
church  circles  of  the  place,  being  particularly 
active  in  the  work  of  the  Congregational  church. 
They  have  one  daughter,  who  is  with  them  in 
their  delightful  home,  which  was  erected  by  Dr. 
Upton  and  stands  on  an  eminence  overlooking 
the  beautiful  valley,  forming  a  delightful  scene. 
In  his  political  views  he  is  an  independent  Re- 
publican, but  takes  no  active  part  in  political 
work,  his  time  being  fully  occupied  by  his  school 
and  church  duties.  .At  this  point  it  would  be  al- 
most tautological  to  enter  into  any  series  of 
statements  concerning  his  high  intellectuality, 
broad  human  sympathies  and  tolerance  or  to  the 
effect  that  he  is  imbued  with  fine  sensibilities 
and  clearly  defined  principles,  for  all  this  has  been 
indicated  in  the  account  of  his  work.  Honor  and 
integrity  are  synonymous  with  his  name,  and  he 
enjoys  the  respect,  confidence  and  high  regard  of 
the  community. 

HON.   JAMES    GUNN. 

To  the  energetic  natures  and  strong  mentality 
of  such  men  as  James  Gunn,  member  of  congress 
from  Idaho,  is  due  the  success  and  ever  increas- 
ing prosperity  of  the  Populist  party  in  this  state, 
and  in  the  hands  of  this  class  of  citizens  there  is 
ever  assurance  that  the  best  interests  and  wel- 
fare of  the  party  will  be  attended  to,  resulting  in 
a  successful  culmination  of  the  highest  ambitions 
and  expectations  entertained  by  its  adherents. 
Given  to  the  prosecution  of  active  measures  in 
political  affairs,  and  possessing  the  earnest  pur- 
pose of  placing  their  party  beyond  the  pale  of 
possible  diminution  of  power,  the  Populist  lead- 
ers in  Idaho  are  ever  advancing,  carrying  every- 
thing before  them  in  their  irresistible  onward 
march.  Certainly  one  of  the  most  potent  ele- 
ments in  the  success  of  the  Populistic  movement 
in  Idaho  is  James  Gunn,  who  throughout  his  life 
has  been  a  loyal  citzen,  imbued  with  patriotism 
and  fearless  in  defense  of  his  honest  convictions. 
Through  the  long  years  of  the  civil  war  he  fol- 
lowed the  Union  banners  on  southern  battle- 
fields, and  to-day,  just  as  fearlessly  and  just  as 
loyally,  he  is  advocating  in  the  halls  of  congress 
and  before  the  people  the  principles  which  he 
believes  will  best  advance  the  welfare  of  the  na- 
tion. Such  is  the  man  whose  life  history  forms 
the  theme  of  this  article. 


Mr.  Gunn  was  born  on  the  6th  of  March,  1843. 
His  parents  were  John  Gunn  and  Mary  (Kerns) 
Gunn,  the  former  of  whom  died  before  the  war 
of  the  Rebellion.  The  mother  survived  him  for 
many  years  and  was  almost  a  centenarian  at  the 
time  of  her  death.  James  Gunn  is  the  eldest  of 
their  four  children.  He  attended  the  public 
schools,  also  acquiring  an  academic  education, 
and  began  to  earn  his  own  living  by  working  as 
a  farm  hand,  at  eight  dollars  per  month.  He 
saved  all  of  his  money  and  used  it  in  the  acquire- 
ment of  an  education.  In  this  way  he  fitted  him- 
self for  school-teaching,  and  after  pursuing  that 
profession  for  a  time  he  became  imbued  with  a 
desire  to  study  law.  With  him  to  will  has  ever 
been  to  do,  and  accordingly  he  entered  the  office 
of  Judge  Mills,  of  Grant  county,  Wisconsin, 
under  whose  direction  he  read  law  until  1862, 
when,  feeling  that  his  country  needed  his  ser- 
vices, he  put  aside  all  personal  considerations 
and  responded  to  the  president's  call  for  troops. 
In  August  of  that  year  he  joined  Company  G, 
Twenty-seventh  Wisconsin  Infantry.  He  parti- 
cipated in  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  and  in  the 
operations  that  drove  Price  out  of  Little  Rock, 
Arkansas.  He  was  afterward  transferred  to  the 
Department  of  the  Gulf,  and  was  connected  with 
the  expedition  against  Mobile,  participating  in 
the  siege  of  that  city.  He  was  on  duty  the 
night  the  Confederates  evacuated  the  fortifica- 
tions, and  after  the  close  of  operations  in  south- 
ern Alabama,  he  joined  the  army  that  was  massed 
on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande  river  for  the  pur- 
pose of  overawing  the  French  in  Mexico.  In 
October,  1862,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
first  lieutenant,  and  at  Fish  river,  Alabama,  in 
March,  1865,  was  made  captain.  He  served 
until  October  of  that  year,  when  he  was  hon- 
orably discharged.  He  made  for  himself  a  most 
honorable  military  record.  Always  found  at  his 
post  of  duty,  fearlessly  discharging  every  task 
assigned  to  him,  he  battled  earnestly  for  the  cause 
of  the  Union,  and  to-day  deserves  the  thanks  of 
a  grateful  people  for  what  he  and  his  comrades 
in  arms  did  for  the  nation. 

After  the  war  Mr.  Gunn  removed  to  Colorado, 
where  he  resided  during  the  early  days  of  its 
territorial  existence,  becoming  an  important  factor 
in  its  development  and  improvement,  and  where 
he  was  associated  with  some  of  the  most  import- 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


ant  enterprises  connected  with  the  opening  up 
of  that  country  to  settlement.  He  assisted  in 
building  some  of  the  first  wagon  roads  across 
the  crest  of  the  Rocky  mountains — by  this  means 
establishing  communication  between  the  eastern 
and  western  sections  of  the  state.  He  served  as 
mayor  of  Georgetown,  Colorado,  for  four  years 
.  and  was  one  of  the  committee  that  drew  up  the 
charter  for  that  city.  In  1875  he  removed  to  Vir- 
ginia City,  Nevada,  visited  various  places  in  Cal- 
ifornia and  was  finally  attracted  to  Idaho  by  the 
Wood  river  silver  excitement  in  1881-82.  He 
thus  became  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Wood 
river  valley,  and  in  many  ways  aided  in  advanc- 
ing civilization  and  progress  in  that  part  of  the 
state. 

In  1890  Mr.  Gunn  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Idaho  senate  from  Alturas  county  and  served 
on  several  important  committees.  He  was  an 
active  adherent  of  the  Republican  party  and  its 
principles  until  1892,  when,  on  account  of  the 
position  taken  by  the  party  on  the  money  ques- 
tion, at  the  Minneapolis  national  convention,  he 
severed  his  connection  therewith  and  became  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  Populist  party  in  Idaho. 
He  was  nominated  for  congress  at  the  first  state 
convention  held  by  the  party.  At  that  conven- 
tion but  six  counties  were  represented,  but 
though  the  contest  was  known  to  be  a  hopeless 
one  from  the  beginning  Mr.  Gunn  made  a  strong 
canvass,  speaking  in  nearly  every  precinct  in  the 
state,  with  much  power  and  earnestness.  In  1894 
he  was  again  nominated  by  the  Populists  for  con- 
gress, and  materially  increased  his  vote  over  that 
of  the  previous  election,  but  was  again  defeated. 
In  1896  a  union  was  effected  between  the  Popu- 
lists and  Democrats,  at  which  time  he  was  once 
more  nominated  for  congress  and  was  elected, 
carrying  the  state  by  a  plurality  of  forty- 
five  hundred  votes,  there  being  but  twen- 
ty-nine thousand  votes  cast  in  the  state. 
He  has  recently  completed  his  first  term 
and  the  people  of  his  state  have  no  reason 
to  regret  that  they  chose  him  as  their  representa- 
tive. When  the  Populist  party  was  organized  it 
was  clearly  seen  that  in  order  to  win  success  it 
should  have  an  organ  to  voice  its  sentiments  and 
advocate  its  principles;  accordingly  the  "Senti- 
nel" was  launched  upon  the  journalistic  sea.  This 
was  a  mere  venture.  Work  was  begun  on  a 


small  scale,  for  there  was  no  strongly  organized 
party  back  of  it  and  no  capital  save  that  contrib- 
uted by  the  people,  many  of  whom  were  poor  in 
purse,  but  rich  in  principles  and  in  the  sublime 
faith  that  these  would  finally  triumph.  Captain 
Gunn  early  became  associated  with  the  Sentinel 
as  its  editor,  and  continued  his  connection  there- 
with until  his  election  to  congress,  in  1896.  Owing 
to  his  untiring  efforts  and  his  signal  ability  as  an 
editorial  writer  the  paper  was  carried  through 
the  critical  period  and  became  a  recognized 
force  in  the  politics  of  the  state,  its  influence  on 
the  political  mind  being  immeasurable.  The  Cap- 
tain is  thoroughly  honest  in  his  convictions  and 
is  an  earnest  and  fearless  champion  of  what  he 
believes  to  be  right.  He  is  eloquent  and  convinc- 
ing in  argument  and  has  made  an  excellent  rec- 
ord in  congress,  while  his  true  manhood  and 
many  admirable  qualities  have  made  him  pop- 
ular in  Washington,  as  well  as  in  Boise  and  the 
state  of  his  adoption. 

JOHN   S.  WHITE. 

The  subject  of  this  review  has  been  long  and 
conspicuously  identified  with  the  history  of  the 
great  west,  and  in  varied  official  positions  has 
proved  a  wise  and  discriminating  factor  in  the 
public  life.  He  is  at  the  present  time  the  incum- 
bent of  the  important  office  of  judge  of  probate 
of  Elmore  county,  retaining  his  residence  at 
Mountain  Home,  the  flourishing  and  attractive 
little  city  which  is  the  capital  of  said  county. 

Judge  White  is  a  native  son  of  the  old  Empire 
state,  and  may  look  with  satisfaction  upon  a  line- 
age which  traces  back  to  the  stanchest  of  old 
New  England  stock.  He  was  born  in  Cortland 
county,  New  York,  on  the  loth  of  August,  1830, 
the  son  of  John  K.  and  Sally  (Griffin)  White, 
both  of  whom  were  born  in  Connecticut.  The 
ancestry  is  traced  back  to  Puritan  representatives 
who  founded  the  family  in  America,  having  come 
to  the  rugged  but  hospitable  shores  of  Massachu- 
setts on  the  Mayflower  and  landed  at  Plymouth 
Rock,  famed  in  history  and  story.  The  original 
American  ancestors  are  supposed  to  have  been 
of  Irish  and  Welsh  extraction. 

The  parents  of  Judge  White  removed  from 
their  native  state  to  Cortland  county,  New  York, 
where  for  many  years  the  father  was  engaged  in 
contracting  and  building,  having  previously 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


159 


learned  the  trade  of  a  mason.  He  was  a  man  of 
vigorous  intellectuality  and  sterling  rectitude  of 
character,  and  left  the  record  of  a  long  and  useful 
life.  He  lived  to  attain  the  age  of  seventy  years, 
and  his  wife  was  of  about  the  same  age  at  the 
time  of  her  death,  which  occurred  in  Minnesota, 
at  the  home  of  her  son,  the  subject  of  this  review. 
Both  were  worthy  and  devoted  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  exemplifying  in 
their  daily  walk  the  faith  which  they  professed 
and  in  that  faith  going  forward  to  the  eternal  life 
which  they  felt  was  assured  them.  They  became 
the  parents  of  three  sons  and  one  daughter,  of 
whom  Judge  White  is  the  only  survivor. 

John  S.  White  was  reared  to  maturity  in  his 
native  state,  and  there  received  an  excellent  ed- 
ucational discipline  in  the  public  schools.  In 
1855,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  he  deter- 
mined to  try  his  fortunes  in  the  west,  and  accord- 
ingly removed  to  Minnesota,  where  he  contin- 
ued to  reside  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
He  was  there  honored  with  official  position,  hav- 
ing served  as  deputy  sheriff  and  deputy  United 
States  marshal.  In  1879  he  again  turned  his  face 
westward,  casting  in  his  fortune  with  what  was 
then  the  comparatively  undeveloped  territory  of 
Idaho.  The  Judge  may  be  consistently  classed 
among  the  pioneers  of  the  commonwealth  which 
is  so  appropriately  christened  the  "Gem  of  the 
Mountains,"  and  that  he  has  been  a  valuable  citi- 
zen is  evident  from  his  tenure  of  offices  of  dis- 
tinctive trust  and  responsibility,  as  accorded 
through  the  suffrage  of  the  people.  He  first  lo- 
cated in  Boise,  where  he  entered  the  employ  of 
the  United  States  marshal,  E.  S.  Chase,  and  was 
given  the  position  of  warden  of  the  territorial 
penitentiary.  In  1884  he  removed  from  the  cap- 
ital city  of  the  territory  to  Shoshone,  where  he 
entered  the  employ  of  the  railroad  and  stage  com- 
pany, also  becoming  a  justice  of  the  peace,  in 
which  office  he  served  with  signal  ability,  his  rul- 
ings being  so  well  taken  as  to  gain  to  him  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  the  people.  Here  he 
entered  claim  to  a  tract  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  excellent  land,  which  he  improved,  erect- 
ing substantial  buildings  and  making  the  place 
a  valuable  one.  This  property  he  still  owns. 

In  1898  he  received  the  appointment  of  judge 
of  probate  of  Elmore  county,  whither  he  came  in 
the  spring  of  1897,  and  where  he  has  since  re- 


sided. His  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
office  is  careful  and  discriminating  and  gained 
to  him  the  commendation  of  the  public.  Thus  it 
was  but  natural  that  he  should  become  a  candi- 
date for  that  office  in  November,  1898,  his  name 
having  been  placed  on  the  silver-Republican  fu- 
sion ticket.  The  votes  were  a  tie  and  by  lot  he 
won,  the  drawing  being  done  by  the  county  com- 
missioner. 

The  marriage  of  Judge  White  was  solemnized 
in  Cortland  county,  New  York,  on  the  7th  of 
April,  1857,  when  he  was  united  to  Miss  Laura 
E.  Wheeler,  who,  like  himself,  is  a  native  of  that 
county.  She  is  the  daughter  of  Johnson  Wheeler 
and  is  the  only  survivor  of  the  family.  Judge  and 
Mrs.  White  have  one  daughter,  Katie  E.,  who 
became  the  wife  of  Harry  C.  Mollison.  She  was 
honored  with  the  office  of  president  of  the  Ladies' 
Silver  Club,  of  Mountain  Home,  and  proved  a 
most  capable  presiding  officer,  taking  a  deep 
interest  in  the  work  of  the  club. 

In  the  concluding  paragraphs  of  this  sketch 
we  must  revert  to  another  important  and  hon- 
orable chapter  in  the  life  history  of  Judge  White. 
His  patriotism  and  loyalty  have  ever  been  above 
question,  and  the  heroic  manifestation  of  these  at- 
tributes came  at  the  time  when  the  integrity  of 
the  nation  was  threatened  by  armed  rebellion. 
In  March,  1862,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the 
Second  Minnesota  Battery  of  Light  Artillery, 
with  which  he  served  until  the  expiration  of  his 
term,  covering  a  period  of  two  years.  The  san- 
guinary struggle  was  not  yet  ended,  and  the  ster- 
ling characteristics  of  the  man  prompted  him  to 
veteranize  and  to  again  enlist.  Thereafter  his 
military  record  of  active  service  continued  until 
victory  crowned  the  Union  arms  and  the  great- 
est internecine  war  of  history  was  terminated. 
The  government  which  he  had  served  so  faith- 
fully in  her  hour  of  need  granted  him  a  discharge 
in  September,  1865,  and  he  returned  to  his  home, 
once  more  to  take  up  the  pursuits  of  peace  in  a 
country  whose  integrity  he  had  helped  to  pre- 
serve. 

From  the  time  of  attaining  his  majority  Judge 
White  was  a  stalwart  supporter  of  the  Republican 
party  and  its  policies,  but  in  1896.  believing  that 
the  party  platform  did  not  represent  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  nation  and  that  certain  of  its  planks 
were  calculated  to  work  injury  to  that  great  sec- 


160 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


tion  of  the  west  with  whose  interests  he  is  identi- 
fied, he  joined  the  silver  wing  of  the  party,  with 
motives  as  purely  in  the  interest  of  the  country 
as  those  which  animated  him  when  he  went  forth 
to  face  her  enemies  on  the  field  of  battle.  He 
has  not  wavered  in  his  belief  in  the  elemental 
principles  of  the  Republican  party,  but  believes 
that  the  platform  of  1896  stands  as  a  blot  on  the 
'scutcheon  of  an  organization  whose  record  has 
theretofore  been  one  of  the  brightest  and  wisest. 
Judge  White  keeps  green  the  memory  of  the  days 
passed  on  the  tented  battle-field  and  manifests  his 
abiding  interest  in  his  old  comrades  in  arms  by 
retaining  membership  in  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  whose  ranks  are  rapidly  being  deci- 
mated by  the  ravages  of  time,  the  great  and  final 
promotion  having  come  to  the  greater  portion 
of  the  brave  boys  in  blue.  He  holds  member- 
ship in  U.  S.  Grant  Post,  No.  8,  at  Shoshone, 
and  has  filled  all  of  its  offices,  having  served  sev- 
eral terms  as  its  commander.  Judge  White  is 
uniformly  honored  and  esteemed,  and  his  record 
is  one  which  reflects  credit  upon  himself  and 
does  honor  to  the  vital  young  commonwealth  in 
whose  progress  and  welfare  he  is  so  deeply  con- 
cerned. 

JAMES    D.    McCURDY,    M.    D. 

In  an  analyzation  of  the  character  and  life  work 
of  Dr.  James  Darwin  McCurdy  we  note  many  of 
the  characteristics  which  have  marked  the  Scotch 
nation  for  many  centuries,  the  perseverance,  re- 
liability, energy  and  unconquerable  determina- 
tion to  pursue  a  course  that  has  been  marked 
out.  It  is  these  sterling  qualities  which  have 
gained  to  Dr.  McCurdy  success  in  life  and  made 
him  one  of  the  substantial  and  valued  citizens  of 
Idaho.  He  now  resides  in  Bellevue,  Elaine  coun- 
ty, and  while  he  has  retired  from  the  practice  of 
medicine  he  is  still  actively  interested  in  mining, 
being  the  owner  of  a  valuable  group  of  mines  in 
the  Wood  river  valley. 

Mr.  McCurdy  was  born  in  Kentucky,  March 
22,  1820.  The  family  originated  in  Scotland,  al- 
though the  grandfather  of  our  subject  came  to 
America  from  the  north  of  Ireland  and  took  up 
his  residence  in  Virginia.  He  loyally  served  the 
colonies  in  their  struggle  for  independence,  and 
afterward  emigrated  to  Kentucky,  becoming  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  that  state.  He  was  a  Pres- 
byterian in  his  religious  belief,  and  lived  to  an 


advanced  age.  The  Doctor's  father,  James  Dar- 
win McCurdy,  Sr.,  was  an  only  son  and  was  born 
in  Virginia.  He  married  Miss  Livenia  Sharp,  a 
native  of  Virginia,  and  a  daughter  of  Thomas 
Sharp,  who  also  removed  from  the  Old  Dominion 
to  Kentucky  during  the  early  history  of  the  lat- 
ter state.  Unto  James  D.  and  Livenia  McCurdy 
were  born  eleven  children,  two  of  whom  reached 
years  of  maturity.  The  father  died  at  the  age  of 
sixty-three  years,  and  the  mother,  long  surviving 
him,  passed  away  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven. 

The  Doctor  is  now  the  only  surviving  mem- 
ber of  the  family.  He  acquired  his  literary  edu- 
cation in  his  native  state  and  was  graduated  in 
Russellville,  Kentucky,  and  in  1848  the  degree  of 
M.  D.  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  University 
of  New  York.  Returning  to  Kentucky  he  there 
began  the  practice  of  medicine,  but  after  a  short 
time  removed  to  Missouri,  and  in  1852  crossed 
the  plains  to  Oregon.  Many  were  the  emigrants 
who  in  that  year  made  their  way  over  the  hot 
sands  and  through  the  mountain  passes  to  the 
Pacific  slope,  but  many  also  fell  by  the  wayside, 
stricken  down  with  the  dread  disease,  cholera. 
The  services  of  Dr.  McCurdy  were  in  great  de- 
mand t>y  the  sufferers,  and  keeping  two  horses 
ready  for  use  he  treated  the  emigrants  in  trains 
both  ten  miles  in  advance  and  ten  miles  in  the  rear 
of  his  own  train.  It  was  an  arduous  service,  but 
one  which  was  very  gratefully  received  by  those 
who  were  attacked  by  that  strange  and  generally 
fatal  illness. 

In  the  year  1853  Dr.  McCurdy  was  commis- 
sioned surgeon-general  of  the  Oregon  forces 
raised  to  suppress  an  outbreak  of  the  Rogue  river 
Indians,  in  southern  Oregon.  When  these  In- 
dians began  to  exhibit  hostilities  the  white  set- 
tlers made  a  requisition  on  the  governor,  George 
L.  Curry,  who  promptly  responded  with  a  pro- 
clamation for  volunteers,  who  with  equal  prompt- 
ness came  forward,  as  Americans  always  do 
when  duty  and  patriotism  call.  The  governor 
appointed  as  commander  in  chief  of  these  forces 
General  Joseph  Lane,  who  afterward  was  elect- 
ed one  of  the  two  first  United  States  senators 
from  Oregon  when  this  commonwealth  became  a 
state,  and  was  also  candidate  in  1860  on  the 
Breckinridge  ticket  for  the  office  of  vice-president 
of  the  United  States.  The  company  raised  in 
Salem  elected  James  W.  Nesmith  as  their  cap- 


X 


/  ^0,   /h-T-CL^.  *Uy 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


161 


tain,  who  succeeded  Lane  in  the  United  States 
senate;  and  also  elected  Lafayette  F.  Grover  as 
their  lieutenant,  who  was  afterward  governor  of 
the  state  of  Oregon  two  terms,  and  was  United 
States  senator  one  term.  Dr.  McCurdy  served  as 
surgeon-general  of  the  army  until  peace  was 
restored,  when  he  returned  to  Salem  and  re- 
sumed the  practice  of  his  profession. 

After  five  and  a  half  months  spent  upon  the 
journey,  Dr.  McCurdy  arrived  in  Salem,  Oregon, 
where  he  opened  an  office  and  engaged  in  prac- 
tice until  1857,  when  he  returned  to  his  old  Ken- 
tucky home  to  visit  his  aged  mother.  He  then 
went  to  Weston,  Platte  county,  Missouri,  where, 
on  the  2d  of  September,  1858,  he  was  happily 
married  to  Mrs.  James  H.  Baldwin,  nee  Susan 
B.  Thornton,  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Thorn- 
ton, a  pioneer  of  Missouri  and  a  descendant  of 
a  prominent  southern  family.  Mr.  Baldwin  in 
life  was  of  the  firm  of  Doniphon  &  Baldwin, 
leading  attorneys  of  Missouri.  The  Doctor  and 
his  young  wife  went  to  St.  Joseph,  Missouri, 
where  he  opened  a  drug  store,  which  he  success- 
fully conducted  for  seven  years,  when  he  sold  out 
and  removed  to  Denver.  He  conducted  a  drug 
store  and  also  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine in  Virginia  City  for  a  year,  and  then  again 
went  to  Salem,  Oregon,  where  he  resumed  his 
professional  duties.  His  wife  joined  him  there, 
and  they  continued  their  residence  at  that  place 
until  December,  1876.  when  they  removed  to 
Walla  Walla,  hoping  that  a  change  of  climate 
would  benefit  Mrs.  McCurdy's  health,  which  had 
become  impaired.  This  desirable  result  was  at- 
tained, and  in  addition  the  Doctor  acquired  a 
large  practice  there  and  also  became  interested  in 
ranch  property  and  in  the  raising  of  sheep.  His 
wife  also  assisted  him  in  the  latter  enterprise  and 
prosperity  attended  their  efforts.  They  still  own 
the  real  estate  at  Walla  Walla;  but  in  1882,  hear- 
ing of  the  great  mining  excitement  in  the  Wood 
river  valley,  the  Doctor  made  a  trip  to  this  part 
of  the  state,  found  the  mines  rich  and  productive, 
and  the  country  becoming  the  place  of  residence 
of  an  enterprising  and  progressive  population. 
He  therefore  invested  in  mines,  purchased  land 
and  built  a  good  home  in  Bellevue  and  is  now 
pleasantly  located  here.  He  continued  to  prac- 
tice his  profession  to  some  extent  until  1896, 
when  he  retired  altogether  from  professional  life 


in  order  to  devote  his  time  and  energies  to  the 
care  of  his  mining  and  other  property  interests  at 
Walla  Walla.  He  is  part  owner  of  seven  silver 
and  lead  mines  and  of  two  gold  mines.  The 
group  is  located  in  the  Camas  District,  No.  2,  of 
the  gold  belt,  and  the  mines  are  at  present  bond- 
ed by  a  syndicate  of  St.  Louis  men. 

The  Doctor  has  long  been  identified  with  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  having  been  made  a  Mason 
in  1850.  He  is  also  a  strong  advocate  of  tem- 
perance and  belongs  to  the  Good  Templars'  So- 
ciety. His  wife  is  an  active  member  of  the  Chris- 
tian church.  They  occupy  a  leading  position  in 
social  circles  where  true  worth  and  intelligence 
are  received  as  the  passports  into  good  society. 
In  his  business  ventures  the  Doctor  has  been 
very  successful,  his  enterprise  and  energy  over- 
coming all  obstacles  and  enabling  him  to  reach 
the  plane  of  affluence. 

WILLIAM    H.    TOWNSEND. 

Since  the  earliest  pioneer  development  of  Owy- 
hee  county,  William  H.  Townsend  has  resided 
within  its  borders.  Silver  City  had  as  yet  no 
beginning  when  he  arrived  on  its  present  site, 
in  1863,  and  De  Lamar,  Dewey  and  other  towns 
were  not  heard  of  for  many  years  afterward.  The 
rich  mineral  deposits  of  this  region,  however, 
have  attracted  a  large  population,  and  with  mar- 
velous rapidity  villages  have  been  builded  and  all 
the  enterprises  and  business  industries  of  older 
communities  have  been  introduced.  All  honor  is 
due  to  the  brave  band  of  pioneers  who  first 
opened  up  this  region  to  civilization,  among 
which  number  is  William  H.  Townsend. 

He  is  a  native  of  New  England  and  a  represent- 
ative of  one  of  the  oldest  American  families,  his 
English  ancestors  having  come  to  the  shores  of 
the  New  World  in  1630,  only  ten  years  after  the 
planting  of  the  colony  at  Salem.  Among  the 
heroes  of  the  Revolution  were  some  who  bore  the 
name  of  Townsend,  the  number  including  the 
great-grandfather  of  our  subject.  The  grand- 
father, William  W.  Townsend,  was  born  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  built  the  first  block  house  in 
Shoreham,  Vermont.  In  the  Green  Mountain 
state  occurred  the  birth  of  our  subject's  father, 
Vernon  Townsend,  who  on  attaining  his  ma- 
jority married  Eunice  Haskins.  In  his  early 
life  he  was  a  mechanic,  but  in  1844  ne  removed  to 


1C2 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


Wisconsin,  where  he  industriously  followed  farm- 
ing throughout  his  remaining  clays.  His  death 
occurred  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of  eighty- 
six  years,  and  most  of  his  family  were  long-lived 
people,  few  passing  away  before  arriving  at  the 
eightieth  milestone  on  life's  journey.  In  reli- 
gious belief  the  Townsends  were  Congregation- 
alists.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  about 
sixty  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  her  demise. 
Vernon  and  Eunice  (Haskins)  Townsend  had 
five  children,  of  whom  three  are  now  living. 

William  H.  Townsend  was  born  in  Vermont, 
April  12,  1832,  and  when  a  youth  of  twelve  sum- 
mers went  with  his  parents  to  Wisconsin,  where 
he  remained  until  1853,  when  he  crossed  the 
plains  to  California.  On  the  long  journey  across 
the  sands  and  through  the  mountain  passes  the 
party  with  which  he  traveled  was  attacked  by 
Indians,  and  Mr.  Townsend  received  a  flesh 
wound  in  the  thigh,  but  they  succeeded  in  driving 
off  the  red  men.  On  arriving  in  the  Gold- 
en state  our  subject  engaged  in  mining 
in  Siskiyou,  Trinity  and  Calaveras  counties,  and 
his  placer-mining  operations  in  Trinity  county 
yielded  him  one  hundred  dollars  per  day  on  an 
average.  Three  of  them  took  out  three  thou- 
sand dollars  in  one  week.  For  nine  years  Mr. 
Townsend  followed  mining  in  California,  and  in 
1862  went  to  Powder  river,  Oregon,  near  where 
Baker  City  is  now  located.  Subsequently  he 
came  to  Owyhee  county  with  a  party  of  thirty 
miners,  who  arrived  on  the  present  site  of  Sil- 
ver City  in  September  of  that  year.  This  rich 
mineral  district  had  been  discovered  the  previous 
year  by  the  celebrated  Jordan,  which  fact,  how- 
ever, was  unknown  to  Mr.  Townsend  and  his 
party.  Our  subject  secured  his  claim  in  the 
Gulch,  one  mile  below  where  the  town  of  Dewey 
now  stands,  and  during  the  first  six  weeks,  in 
connection  with  H.  B.  Eastman  and  A.  C.  Hud- 
son, he  took  out  three  thousand  dollars.  When 
the  quartz  mines  were  discovered  he  and  Mr. 
Eastman  engaged  in  packing  supplies  to  the 
miners  and  later  became  interested  in  the  Morn- 
ing Star  mine,  in  conjunction  with  Marion 
Aloore  and  D.  H.  Fogus.  They  took  considera- 
ble gold  from  that  claim,  the  first  ore  yielding 
nine  hundred  dollars  to  the  ton. 

Since  that  time  Mr.  Townsend  has  followed 
prospecting  and  locating  mines.  He  now  has  a 


mill  and  good  outfit  on  Jordan  creek,  three  miles 
from  De  Lamar,  where  he  has  impounded  a 
large  quantity  of  tailings  from  the  De  Lamar 
mines.  He  has  about  thirty  thousand  tons  of  ore, 
and  his  mill  has  a  capacity  of  twenty-five  tons 
daily.  A  flume,  a  mile  in  length,  conducts  water 
to  his  mill  for  power,  and  he  will  furnish  em- 
ployment to  several  men  when  his  plant  is  in 
operation.  His  practical  mining  experience  can- 
not but  render  his  new  enterprise  a  profitable  one, 
and  all  of  his  friends  wish  him  the  greatest  suc- 
cess. 

Mr.  Townsend  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Nellie  Scales,  a  sister  of  John  Scales,  of  Owyhee 
county.  They  have  five  children :  Lottie,  wife  of 
Fred  Crete,  Jr. ;  Albert,  who  is  his  father's  assist- 
ant in  business,  and  Jennie,  Harry  and  Alice,  all 
under  the  parental  roof.  The  family  have  until 
recently  resided  in  Silver  City,  where  Mr.  Town- 
send  owns  a  good  residence,  but  are  now  occupy- 
ing a  new  home  near  the  mill.  Mrs.  Townsend 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  church,  and  the 
subject  of  this  review  belongs  to  the  Independ- 
ent Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  has  passed  all  of 
the  chairs  three  times  and  is  one  of  the  most  val- 
ued representatives  of  his  lodge,  which  he  has 
represented  in  the  grand  lodge.  In  politics  he 
has  always  been  a  Republican,  but  differs  with 
the  main  branch  of  the  party  on  the  money  ques- 
tion. The  success  he  has  achieved  in  business 
is  due  entirely  to  his  own  efforts.  He  is  a  natural 
mechanic,  being  able  to  do  any  kind  of  work  in 
wood  or  iron,  and  this  is  of  great  benefit  to  him 
in  his  new  enterprise.  He  is  industrious  and 
energetic,  and  his  capable  management  has  re- 
sulted in  securing  to  him  a  comfortable  prop- 
erty, which  will  undoubtedly  bring  him  better 
financial  returns  in  the  future. 

PETER  PENCE. 

The  life  record  of  this  honored  pioneer,  and 
his  connection  with  many  of  the  leading  events 
in  the  history  of  Idaho,  form  no  unimportant 
chapter  in  the  annals  of  the  state.  He  has  been 
identified  with  its  early  development  through  the 
period  when  existence  in  the  northwest  was  at- 
tended by  many  difficulties  and  dangers,  and  with 
its  latter-day  progress  and  advancement  which 
have  placed  Idaho  on  a  par  with  many  of  the  older 
states  of  the  east.  His  early  years  were  spent  far 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


163 


.from  this  "Gem  of  the  Mountains."  He  was 
born  in  Armstrong  county,  Pennsylvania,  in 
October,  1837,  and  is  of  German  ancestry,  the 
founders  of  the  family  in  America  having  been 
early  settlers  of  the  Keystone  state.  The  grand- 
father of  our  subject,  George  Washington  Pence, 
served  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  Revolutionary  war 
and  lived  to  be  one  hundred  years  of  age,  while 
his  wife  reached  the  remarkable  age  of  one  hun- 
dred and  seven  years. 

Their  son,  who  also  bore  the  name  of  George 
W.  Pence  and  is  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  November  10,  1810,  and  is 
still  living  on  the  old  family  homestead  where  be 
first  opened  his  eyes  to  the  light  of  day.  He 
married  Deborah  McKee,  who  was  of  Irish  line- 
age. They  were  industrious  farming  people  and 
were  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  Mr. 
Pence  has  survived  his  fourth  wife.  By  his  mar- 
riage to  the  mother  of  our  subject  he  had  ten 
children,  eight  of  whom  are  living,  including 
Sarah  Pence,  who  resides  in  the  east  and  is  presi- 
dent of  the  National  League.  Other  members  of 
the  family  are  prominent  in  various  walks  of  life 
and  the  Pence  history  is  most  creditable  and 
commendable. 

Peter  Pence  was  reared  upon  his  father's  farm, 
assisting  in  the  labors  of  field  and  meadow 
through  the  summer  months,  while  in  the  winter 
season  he  attended  the  public  schools  of  the 
neighborhood.  In  1857  he  went  to  Kansas, 
where  he  was  living  all  through  the  troublous 
times  concerning  the  adoption  or  rejection  of 
slavery  in  that  state.  He  had  many  thrilling  ex- 
periences and  narrow  escapes,  which  if  written  in 
detail  would  form  an  interesting  volume.  He 
almost  met  death  at  the  hands  of  border  ruffians 
on  several  occasions,  and  at  one  time  was  way- 
laid by  the  "jayhawkers,"  who  stole  his  team 
from  him,  but  with  dauntless  courage  he  followed 
them  and  finally  succeeded  in  recovering  pos- 
session of  his  horses.  With  his  team  he  hauled  to 
Atchison  the  "Jim  Lane  cannon,"  with  which 
they  defended  the  town.  In  1861  Mr.  Pence 
made  three  trips  to  Denver,  Colorado,  freight- 
ing with  oxen  and  hauling  the  goods  that  stocked 
some  of  the  first  stores  built  in  that  city.  In  1862 
he  again  started  with  an  ox  team  on  the  long  and 
perilous  journey  across  the  arid  plains,  leaving 
the  Missouri  river  on  the  glh  of  June.  They  were 


harassed  by  Indians,  lost  some  of  their  stock  and 
saw  the  remains  of  many  emigrants  who  had  been 
killed  by  the  savages.  They  arrived  at  the  ford- 
ing place  of  the  Malheur  river,  September  26, 
1862,  but  were  there  delayed  for  a  day  by  the 
death  of  one  of  the  party.  At  that  point  they 
met  the  men  who  had  just  discovered  gold  in  the 
Boise  basin,  but  Mr.  Pence  was  prevailed  upon 
to  go  with  the  company  to  Batter  City,  Oregon, 
which  was  then  a  town  of  two  unfinished  houses. 
After  two  weeks  passed  there,  he  went  to  Auburn 
and  thence  came  to  the  Boise  basin,  where  he  ar- 
rived on  the  ist  of  November.  He  formed  a  part- 
nership with  Samuel  Kenney  and  they  whip- 
sawed  lumber,  for  which  in  the  spring  of  1863 
they  were  paid  three  hundred  dollars  per  thou- 
sand feet,  the  winter's  work  thus  bringing  them 
thirty  dollars  per  day.  Expenses,  however,  were 
very  high,  flour  sometimes  selling  for  a  dollar 
a  pound,  and  other  things  in  proportion.  In  1863 
Mr.  Pence  began  mining,  but  did  not  meet  with 
success  in  that  venture,  and  so  followed  freight- 
ing from  Umatilla  and  Walla  Walla  to  the  Boise 
basin  until  1866,  when  he  operated  a  horse-power 
threshing  machine  in  Boise  valley,  receiving  fif- 
teen cents  a  bushel  for  threshing  grain.  He  saw 
a  man  called  Beaver  Dick  stake  out  the  first 
ranch  located  in  the  Boise  valley,  the  land  being 
about  five  miles  above  Boise  City.  In  1867  he 
too  became  a  ranch  owner,  in  the  famous  Payette 
valley,  ten  miles  above  the  present  town  of  Pay- 
ette, turning  his  attention  to  the  raising  of  stock, 
in  which  he  has  since  been  successfully  engaged. 
He  has  had  as  many  as  two  thousand  head  of 
cattle  at  one  time,  and  his  sales  of  stock,  in  1887, 
amounted  to  forty-two  thousand  and  five  hun- 
dred dollars.  For  many  years  he  has  made  his 
headquarters  in  Payette,  and  at  various  times  has 
successfully  conducted  a  meat  market  in  connec- 
tion with  the  management  of  his  large  ranch, 
both  in  Boise  City  and  other  places. 

His  business  interests  have  been  conducted 
with  marked  ability,  and  he  is  widely  recognized 
as  one  of  the  leading  stock  dealers  of  the  state. 
His  realty  holdings  are  very  extensive,  including 
about  three  thousand  acres  of  rich  farming  lands, 
together  with  an  entire  block  in  the  city  of 
Payette,  on  which  his  residence  is  situated.  He 
also  owns  a  half  interest  in  the  Garie  addition  to 
Payette,  is  largely  interested  in  the  irrigation 


164 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ditch  known  as  the  Lower  Payette  ditch,  which 
supplies  water  in  the  lower  Payette  and  Snake 
river  valleys  to  the  Weiser  river,  a  distance  of 
twenty-two  miles,  and  is  at  present  president 
of  three  ditch  incorporations.  He  is  also  vice- 
president  of  the  Payette  Valley  Bank.  The  var- 
ied nature  of  his  business  interests  indicates  his 
resourceful  business  ability.  He  is  quick  to  note 
a  favorable  opportunity,  is  energetic  and  enter- 
prising, and  in  matters  of  business  management 
his  judgment  is  rarely  at  fault.  His  property  has 
been  worthily  acquired  and  is  a  fitting  reward 
to  one  who  has  experienced  all  the  hardships  of 
pioneer  life  in  the  northwest. 

On  the  6th  of  October,  1873,  Mr.  Pence  mar- 
ried Miss  Anna  Bixby,  who  was  born  in  Mis- 
souri, but  was  reared  in  Nebraska.  Her  father, 
Seth  Bixby,  was  a  prominent  California  pioneer. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pence  have  six  children,  four  sons 
and  two  daughters:  Emma  Belle,  wife  of  F.  M. 
Satoris;  Edward,  Lloyd,  Harry,  Walter  and 
Grace.  The  three  eldest  children  are  all  college 
graduates,  and  it  is  the  intention  that  the  young- 
er ones  shall  receive  equally  good  educational 
privileges,  that  they  may  thus  be  well  fitted  for 
the  practical  and  responsible  duties  of  life. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pence  are  charter  members  of 
the  Methodist  church  of  Payette,  and  have  ever 
taken  a  most  active  interest  in  its  work.  They 
contributed  liberally  toward  the  erection  of  the 
house  of  worship  in  Payette,  and  also  the  Meth- 
odist church  in  Weiser.  The  cause  of  education 
has  likewise  found  in  them  trustworthy  friends, 
and  no  worthy  movement  seeks  their  aid  in  vain. 
He  is  at  present  a  member  of  the  school  board  in 
Payette. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Pence  is  a  stalwart 
Republican.  He  served  as  the  first  mayor  of 
Payette,  proving  a  competent  and  faithful  offi- 
cial, and  is  now  a  member  of  the  town  council. 
He  is  a  charter  member  of  the  Masonic  lodge  of 
the  town  and  has  taken  the  Royal  Arch  degrees 
of  the  order.  Thus  has  he  been  prominently  con- 
nected with  the  business,  social,  educational  and 
moral  interests  of  his  adopted  state,  and  that,  too, 
from  the  earliest  period  of  its  development.  He 
came  to  Idaho  at  a  time  when  perils  and  hard- 
ships were  on  every  hand,  when  the  pioneers 
built  for  their  protection  at  different  points  along 
the  river  stockades  to  which  they  escaped  from 


the  savages.  Many  a  night  Mr.  Pence  has  slept 
with  his  family  in  the  bushes  for  fear  the  Indians 
would  attack  them  in  their  home  and  murder 
them  all.  On  other  occasions  he  has  hastily 
placed  wife  and  children  into  the  wagon  and 
driven  with  all  speed  to  the  stockade.  Atrocities 
committed  by  Indians,  and  often  by  the  lawless 
element  usually  found  in  a  new  community,  are 
too  terrible  to  relate;  but  that  period  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  state  has  long  since  passed;  law, 
order  and  peace  hold  dominion  over  this  beauti- 
ful region,  rich  with  the  bountiful  gifts  of  nature, 
and  Mr.  Pence,  with  many  others  of  the  brave 
pioneers,  is  now  enjoying  the  fruits  of  his  former 
toil. 

DAVID    HERON. 

In  a  pleasant,  attractive  brick  residence  in  a  de- 
sirable section  of  Boise  City,  are  living  to-day 
David  Heron  and  wife,  esteemed  citizens  and 
pioneers  of  Ada  county.  Mr.  Heron  has  fre- 
quently served  his  neighbors  and  friends  in  offi- 
cial positions  of  much  responsibility  and  trust, 
and  has  won  their  highest  praise  for  the  able 
and  conscientious  manner  in  which  he  discharged 
the  duties  resting  upon  him.  For  a  period  of  two 
years  he  was  the  recorder  and  auditor  of  this 
county,  for  a  similar  length  of  time  was  the 
county  assessor  and  during  some  six  years  was 
one  of  the  commissioners  of  Ada  county.  He 
has  just  reason  to  be  proud  of  his  record  as  a 
public  official,  and  no  breath  of  criticism  or  doubt 
of  his  strict  integrity  and  impartiality  has  ever 
diminished  his  fair  fame. 

The  parents  of  David  Heron  were  David  and 
Jennie  (McGee)  Heron,  both  natives  of  Scotland. 
They  emigrated  to  the  hospitable  shores  of 
America  in  1820  and  settled  in  Pottsville,  Penn- 
sylvania, where  for  many  years  Mr.  Heron  was 
engaged  in  the  coal  business.  In  1857  he  re- 
moved to  Jefferson  county,  Iowa,  where  he 
turned  his  attention  to  milling  and  was  thus  em- 
ployed until  the  time  of  his  death,  in  the  sev- 
enty-second year  of  his  age.  His  good  wife  sur- 
vived him,  her  demise  taking  place  when  she  was 
in  her  eighty-third  year.  In  religious  faith  they 
were  Presbyterians,  but  for  some  time  they  were 
members  of  the  Baptist  church.  Of  their  seven 
children  four  are  living. 

David  Heron  was  born  in  Blossburg,  Pennsyl- 
vania, February  11,  1833,  and  received  his  educa- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


165 


tion  in  his  native  state.  For  several  years  after  he 
embarked  in  business  he  was  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  lumber,  in  the  state  of  Iowa,  and 
in  1860  he  removed  to  Colorado,  of  whose  mining 
industries  he  had  heard  glowing  accounts.  He 
mined  in  Gilpin  county  for  some  time  arid  car- 
ried on  a  stamp  mill,  but,  not  meeting  with  the 
prosperity  which  he  desired  and  had  anticipated, 
he  came  to  try  his  fortunes  in  the  mines  of  the 
Boise  basin,  this  being  in  1863.  Mining  opera- 
tions, however,  did  not  seem  to  be  his  special 
field,  and  he  ultimately  became  a  farmer  and 
stock-raiser,  in  which  line  he  was  eminently  suc- 
cessful. He  selected  fertile,  productive  land,  on 
which  he  raised  as  high  as  eighty  bushels  of  oats 
to  the  acre,  and  one  season  he  sold  his  crop  of 
oats  at  fifteen  cents  a  pound.  The  prices  of  other 
things  were  in  proportion,  and  it  cost  a  dollar  to 
get  a  letter  here  from  Salt  Lake  City.  As  the 
years  rolled  away  Mr.  Heron  wrought  out  suc- 
cess and  is  now  the  owner  of  several  farms,  ag- 
gregating about  five  hundred  acres.  From  time 
'to  time  he  has  branched  out  into  other  lines  of 
business  or  investment,  and  is  at  present  a  stock- 
holder in  the  Artesian  Hot  and  Cold  Water  Com- 
pany of  Boise  City,  an  enterprise  which  has  been 
of  great  benefit  to  this  community. 

Mr.  Heron  is  a  man  of  deep  convictions  of 
right  and  duty,  makes  up  his  mind  on  all  mat- 
ters of  moment  independently,  and  then  acts  in 
strict  accordance  with  what  he  believes  is  best. 
He  has  been  a  lifelong  Republican,  and  it  was 
with  keen  regret  that  he  felt  impelled  to  step  out 
of  its  ranks  in  1896,  when  the  party  took  the  at- 
titude which  it  did  on  the  money  issue.  He  is 
frank  and  outspoken  in  favor  of  bi-metallism,  and 
believes  that  this  principle  will  eventually  tri- 
umph, and  that  the  people  of  this  democratic 
country  will  be  greatly  profited  thereby.  In 
the  meantime  he  is  content  to  wait,  as  hopefully 
as  may  be,  having  the  courage  to  remain  with 
the  minority. 

In  1861  Mr.  Heron  married  Miss  Fidelia  A. 
Canfield,  who  was  the  first  school-teacher  in  Cen- 
tral City,  Colorado,  and  a  pioneer  in  that  state,  as 
well  as  in  Idaho.  The  only  son  of  our  subject 
and  wife,  Frank  E.,  is  now  managing  one  of  their 
farms,  he  being  a  practical,  progressive  young 
agriculturist.  Mary  T.,  the  elder  daughter,  is 
now  the  wife  of  William  F.  Yarvan.  Alice  I.  is 


a  graduate  of  the  Boise  high  school,  subsequently 
graduating  in  the  Michigan  State  Normal 
school;  was  for  three  years  principal  of  the 
schools  of  St.  Louis,  Gratiot  county,  Michigan, 
and  is  now  occupying  a  similar  position  in  the 
Whittier  school  of  Boise  City.  She  has  had  ex- 
cellent advantages  and  seems  specially  qualified, 
both  by  nature  and  training,  for  her  chosen  work. 

WILLIAM    F.    SMITH,    M.    D. 

The  state  of  Idaho,  with  its  pulsing  industrial 
activities  and  rapid  development,  has  attracted 
within  its  confines  men  of  marked  ability  and 
high  character  in  the  various  professional  lines, 
and  in  this  way  progress  has  been  conserved  and 
social  stability  fostered.  He  whose  name  initi- 
ates this  review  has  gained  recognition  as  one 
of  the  able  and  successful  physicians  of  the  state, 
and  by  his  labors,  his  high  professional  attain- 
ments and  his  sterling  characteristics  has  justified 
the  respect  and  confidence  in  which  he  is  held  by 
the  medical  fraternity  and  the  local  public. 

A  representative  physician  and  surgeon  of 
Mountain  Home,  the  county  seat  of  Elmore 
county,  Idaho,  Dr.  William  F.  Smith  has  main- 
tained his  residence  here  since  the  year  1889, 
having  acquired  an  enviable  professional  pres- 
tige and  built  up  a  successful  practice.  Dr.  Smith 
is  a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion  state,  having 
been  born  in  the  beautiful  old  southern  city  of 
Richmond,  on  the  nth  of  August,  1863,  being  a 
representative  of  one  of  the  old  and  honored 
families  of  Virginia, — a  family  which  was  prom- 
inently identified  with  the  early  annals  of  that 
patrician  old  commonwealth.  The  Doctor's 
grandfather,  Hiram  M.  Smith,  and  his  father, 
Isaac  T.  Smith,  were  prominent  manufacturers 
of  Richmond,  and  during  the  late  civil  war  were 
extensively  engaged  in  the  manufacturing  of 
arms  and  munitions  for  the  Confederate  service, 
their  sympathies  being  naturally  with  the  cause 
of  the  south  and  the  institutions  which  time  and 
custom  had  amply  sanctioned  in  that  section  of 
the  Union.  The  grandfather  is  still  living,  hav- 
ing attained  the  venerable  age  of  ninety-one 
years. 

The  Doctor's  father,  Isaac  T.  Smith,  was  like- 
wise a  native  of  the  old  capital  city  on  the  James 
river,  and  there  he  was  reared  and  educated.  He 
married  Miss  Philomena  Clew,  a  native  of  New 


166 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


York,  and  of  French  ancestry.  They  became 
the  parents  of  seven  children,  all  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing but  one.  The  father  departed  this  life  in  1884, 
at  the  age  of  forty-four  years,  and  the  mother 
and  all  the  children,  with  the  exception  of  the 
subject  of  this  review,  still  have  their  home  in 
Richmond.  William  F.  Smith  was  the  eldest 
son  in  the  family,  and  he  grew  to  maturity  in  his 
native  city,  in  whose  schools  he  received  his  edu- 
cational discipline,  completing  his  more  purely 
literary  training  in  the  Richmond  College,  after 
which  he  pursued  his  medical  studies  in  the  Rich- 
mond Medical  College  and  in  the  local  hospitals, 
where  he  secured  excellent  clinical  work. 

In  the  year  1887  Dr.  Smith  left  his  southern 
home  and  journeyed  to  the  far  distant  northwest- 
ern coast  of  the  United  States.  For  a  time  he 
was  located  at  Pendleton,  Oregon,  where  he  be- 
gan the  practice  of  his  profession,  but  after  a 
short  interval  he  came  to  Mountain  Home,  where 
he  has  since  continued  in  active  and  successful 
practice.  At  the  time  of  his  arrival  here  there 
was  no  physician  in  the  town,  and  as  the  pioneer 
of  his  profession  in  the  locality  he  received  the 
heartiest  of  receptions  and  welcomes.  That  this 
cordial  welcome  was  merited  has  been  shown  in 
the  work  he  has  accomplished  and  in  the  popu- 
larity which  he  has  retained,  his  devotion  to  his 
profession  and  his  kindly  nature  having  gained 
him  the  friendship  and  support  which  have  so 
conserved  his  success  and  reputation.  Enthusi- 
astic in  the  technical  study  of  his  profession,  and 
desiring  to  keep  fully  abreast  of  the  advances 
made  in  the  science  of  medicine,  the  Doctor  took 
a  post-graduate  course  at  the  New  York  Poly- 
clinic  in  1895,  being  essentially  a  student  and 
maintaining  a  lively  interest  in  the  progress  of 
the  profession  to  which  he  is  devoting  himself. 

Dr.  Smith  is  a  member  of  the  Idaho  State  Med- 
ical Society,  the  American  Medical  Association, 
and  is  the  local  physician  and  surgeon  of  the 
Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad,  having  also  the 
railway  practice  at  Glenn's  Ferry.  He  served  as 
coroner  of  Elmore  county  for  several  years,  has 
also  been  physician  to  the  county  poor  and  has 
in  every  way  endeavored  to  make  his  professional 
work  a  power  for  good  in  the  community.  He  is 
animated  by  a  broad  sympathy  and  charity,  and  in 
his  care  and  solicitude  for  the  afflicted  has  had 
recognition  of  neither  poverty  nor  riches,  his  ser- 


vices being  accorded  with  equal  promptitude  and 
devotion  in  either  case.  His  kindness  and  sym- 
pathy have  endeared  him  to  all  classes  of  citizens, 
and  as  a  man  he  justifies  the  reputation  borne  by 
the  people  of  Virginia  for  never-failing  courtesy 
and  intrinsic  refinement. 

In  his  political  adherency  the  Doctor  has  been 
stanchly  allied  with  the  Democratic  party,  in- 
heriting the  loyalty  to  the  Jeffersonian  principles 
and  policies  from  his  ancestors.  He  has  taken 
an  active  part  in  the  work  of  his  party  in  the 
state,  and  he  was  one  of  the  electors  of  Idaho 
during  Mr.  Bryan's  Campaign,  in  which  connec- 
tion his  was  the  distinction  of  bearing  to  the  na- 
tional capital  the  results  of  the  election  in  his 
state.  He  is  conspicuously  identified  with  a  num- 
ber of-  the  principal  fraternal  and  social  orders. 
He  is  past  chancellor  commander  of  the  Knights 
of  Pythias:  has  passed  the  chairs  in  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  in  which  he  has 
represented  his  lodge  in  the  grand  lodge  of  the 
state;  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen,  and  is  a  prominent  and  valued' 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  being  past 
master  of  his  lodge,  and  having  passed  the  capitu- 
lar and  chivalric  degrees,  thus  securing  member- 
ship in  chapter  and  commandery,  while  his  iden- 
tification with  that  popular  adjunct  of  Freema- 
sonry, the  Mystic  Shrine,  indicates  that  he  has 
crossed  the  burning  sands  of  the  desert  and 
gained  distinction  as  a  noble  of  the  temple  of  that 
ancient  Arabic  order. 

Doctor  Smith  has  a  conveniently  located  and 
well  equipped  office  in  Mountain  Home,  and  also 
owns  other  property  in  the  thriving  little  city 
where  he  makes  his  home,  and  in  whose  progress 
and  material  prosperity  he  is  deeply  interested. 
He  is  well  known  throughout  the  county,  and 
his  personal  popularity  is  unmistakable. 

GARNER    MINER. 

For  thirty-eight  years  Garner  Miner  has  been 
a  resident  of  Idaho,  having  come  to  the  territory 
in  1861,  when  the  development  of  this  great 
northwest  was  in  its  incipiency  and  the  fron- 
tiersmen had  to  meet  many  privations  and  dan- 
gers. The  Indians  were  frequently  on  the  war 
path,  carrying  death  and  devastation  wherever 
they  went;  and  separated  from  the  base  of  sup- 
plies, from  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  the  east, 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


167 


the  pioneers  endured  hardships  undreamed  of  by 
the  present  generation.  In  those  clays  brave 
hearts  were  necessary,  indeed,  but  the  same  spirit 
of  Anglo-Saxon  daring,  fortitude  and  stability, 
which  has  characterized  the  people  of  this  fair 
land  from  its  earliest  colonization,  and  has  car- 
ried the  English  language  and  English  suprema- 
cy to  all  parts  of  the  globe,  found  renewed  mani- 
festations among  the  mountains  and  valleys  of 
Idaho,  and  thus  were  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
state,  which  now  occupies  a  prominent  place  in 
the  great  galaxy  of  states  west  of  the  Mississippi. 

In  all  the  work  of  progress  and  development, 
in  the  task  of  subduing  the  wild  land  to  the  pur- 
poses of  civilization,  Garner  Miner  bore  his  part, 
and  now  in  the  evening  of  life  is  living  retired  at 
his  pleasant  home  in  Caldwell,  enjoying  a  well 
earned  rest. 

Mr.  Miner  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Connecti- 
cut, on  the  5th  of  November,  1822,  his  parents 
being  John  and  Mary  (Marshall)  Miner,  also  na- 
tives of  the  Nutmeg  state.  In  their  family  were 
five  children.  Garner  Miner  attended  school  in 
New  Haven  and  in  New  York  and  subsequently 
removed  to  Ohio,  where  he  worked  at  the  car- 
penter's and  millwright's  trades.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  that  state,  in  1847,  to  Miss  Ann  Eliza 
Willson,  whose  birth  occurred  in  Wood  county, 
Ohio,  in  1827,  her  father  being  Almon  Willson, 
of  that  state.  The  young  couple  removed  to 
Michigan,  locating  in  Branch  county,  where  they 
resided  until  1852,  when  Mr.  Miner  started  on 
the  long  and  perilous  journey  across  the  plains 
to  California,  the  usual  dangers  of  which  were 
augmented  by  the  cholera,  which  struck  down 
many  a  company  of  the  emigrants,  the  new-made 
graves  of  its  victims  being  seen  all  along  the  way. 
Arriving  in  the  west,  Mr.  Miner  engaged  in  min- 
ing enterprises  in  Sierra  and  at  Dry  Creek,  after 
\vhich  he  turned  his  attention  to  agricultural  pur- 
suits. He  purchased  a  farm  in  the  fertile  valley 
of  the  Sacramento  river  and,  meeting  with  suc- 
cess in  his  ventures,  sent  for  his  wife,  who,  mak- 
ing her  way  to  New  York,  sailed  thence  to 
Nicaragua,  October  2,  1854.  On  reaching  San 
Francisco  she  was  met  by  her  husband,  and  to- 
gether they  proceeded  to  their  new  home,  where 
they  continued  to  dwell  for  some  years.  In  1861, 
attracted  by  the  gold  discoveries  at  Florence, 
Idaho,  they -came  to  this  state,  and  later  made 


their  way  to  the  Boise  basin.  Mr.  Miner  became 
the  owner  of  two-sevenths  of  seven  claims  in 
Illinois  Gulch,  the  company  of  which  he  was  a 
member  employing  twenty-one  men,  at  six  dol- 
lars each  per  day,  and  seven  dollars  each  night, 
to  operate  the  mines.  Excellent  returns  were 
gathered  from  their  labors,  Mr.  Miner's  net  divi- 
dend being  one  thousand  dollars  per  week.  After 
some  time  he  disposed  of  his  mining  interests, 
and  purchased  three  hundred  acres  of  land  on  the 
Payette,  where  he  successfully  engaged  in  farm- 
ing. He  had  ten  acres  planted  to  vegetables, 
which  at  that  time  brought  very  high  prices, 
onions  selling  for  ten  dollars  per  hundred  pounds 
and  other  things  in  proportion.  Mrs.  Miner  and 
her  three  little  daughters  made  the  journey  to 
Idaho,  by  way  of  steamer  to  Portland,  where 
they  were  met  by  Mr.  Miner,  who  with  ox  teams 
brought  them  to  the  farm.  Their  place  bordered 
an  old  Indian  trail,  along  which  bands  of  red 
men  frequently  passed.  During  periods  when 
the  savages  were  on  the  war  path,  Mrs.  Miner 
and  her  little  girls  spent  many  a  night  in  the 
wheat  field,  while  the  husband  and  father  like- 
wise slept  out  under  the  stars,  where  he  could 
see  both  up  and  down  the  trail,  his  rifle  within 
reach  in  order  that  he  might  protect  himself  in 
case  of  attack.  He  carried  on  his  farming  opera- 
tions until  1892,  when  he  removed  with  his  fam- 
ily to  Caldwell,  where  he  now  resides. 

The  eldest  of  the  three  daughters  of  the  fam- 
ily is  Mary  Francelia,  who  was  born  in  Ohio,  and 
during  her  early  girlhood  came  with  her  mother 
to  the  Pacific  coast.  She  grew  to  be  a  beautiful 
young  lady  and  then  became  the  wife  of  William 
Lynch.  He  died  in  1877,  and  she  is  now  the  wife 
of  a  Mr.  Fisher.  The  second  daughter,  Ada 
Caroline,  also  an  accomplished  and  cultured 
woman,  was  born  in  California,  married  Will- 
iam H.  Isaacs,  and  died  in  1895,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-eight  years.  Her  death  was  deeply  de- 
plored by  all  who  knew  her,  for  her  excellencies 
of  character  had  endeared  her  to  many  friends 
as  well  as  to  her  husband  and  parents.  Her 
daughter,  Ada  Norine,  is  now  living  with  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Miner.  The  third  daughter,  Martha 
Ellen,  who  was  also  born  in  California,  died  at 
the  age  of  twenty-eight  years,  and  thus  only 
one  of  the  children  is  left  to  the  parents  in  their 
declining  years. 


168 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


For  more  than  forty  years  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miner 
have  been  faithful  and  consistent  members  of 
the  Methodist  church.  They  have  passed  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  their  wedding  day,  on 
which  occasion  they  were  visited  by  many  friends 
in  Caldwell,  who,  unknown  to  them,  arranged 
to  celebrate  the  occasion  and  to  express  their 
esteem  for  the  worthy  couple  by  presenting  Mr. 
Miner  with  a  gold-headed  cane,  and  his  wife  with 
a  gold  badge  and  chain, — gifts  which  are  greatly 
prized  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miner  as  evidences  of 
the  spirit  which  prompted  their  bestowal.  With 
the  consciousness  of  lives  well  spent,  and  with 
pleasant  memories  of  good  deeds  performed  for 
their  fellow  men,  they  are  nearing  the  end  of  the 
journey  of  life,  but  their  influence  on  their  gen- 
eration cannot  be  measured,  nor  can  their  value 
as  pioneers  in  the  great  state  of  Idaho  be  over- 
estimated. They  well  deserve  mention  in  this  his- 
tory, and  with  pleasure  we  present  to  our  readers 
this  brief  record  of  their  lives. 

C.  W.  WERNICKE. 

The  county  treasurer  of  Lincoln  county,  Idaho, 
C.  W.  Wernicke,  is  also  the  pioneer  hardware 
merchant  of  Shoshone,  and  throughout  the  eight- 
een years  of  his  residence  here  has  been  prom- 
inently connected  with  the  various  interests 
which  have  contributed  to  the  growth,  prosper- 
ity and  advancement  of  town  and  county.  He 
belongs  to  that  class  of  progressive  German  citi- 
zens who  have  severed  the  ties  binding  them  to 
the  old  world  in  order  to  seek  homes  in  the  land 
of  the  free.  He  was  born  in  Goldburg,  Ger- 
many, on  the  I3th  of  January,  1847,  anc'  m  the 
land  of  his  nativity  acquired  his  literary  education 
and  learned  the  tinsmith's  trade.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  nineteen  years  when  he  decided  to  come 
to  America.  Hearing  of  the  advantages  afforded 
by  the  United  States  to  young  men  of  energy, 
diligence  and  ambition,  he  crossed  the  Atlantic 
resolved  to  try  his  fortune  among  new  scenes. 
He  had  only  money  enough  to  pav  his  passage, 
and  landed  in  New  York  city  almost  penniless, 
ignorant  of  the  language  and  customs  of  the  peo- 
ple among  whom  his  lot  was  to  be  cast.  With 
resolute  heart,  however,  he  started  out  to  seek 
work  and  secured  employment  at  his  trade 
in  Lyons,  Xew  York.  Later  he  worked  as  a 
tinsmith  in  Jackson  and  in  Paw  Paw,  Michigan, 


and  after  a  time  began  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count on  a  small  scale.  As  the  days  passed  his 
industry  and  economy  added  to  his  capital,  his 
business  was  proportionately  increased,  and  for 
twelve  years  he  successfully  carried  on  opera- 
tions in  that  line.  The  excitement  over  the  gold 
discoveries  at  Leadville,  Colorado,  drew  him  to 
that  state,  and  in  1881  he  came  to  Idaho,  first 
locating  in  Blackfoot,  where  he  carried  on  the 
hardware  business  for  two  years. 

On  the  expiration  of  that  period  Mr.  Wernicke 
came  to  Shoshone,  and  as  there  was  not  a  build- 
ing in  the  town  he  slept  in  a  tent  until  he  could 
erect  the  frame  structure  in  which  he  has  since 
conducted  his  store.  The  rough  lumber  with 
which  he  constructed  the  building  cost  eighty 
dollars  per  thousand  feet.  As  soon  as  it  was  com- 
pleted he  put  in  a  stock  of  shelf  and  heavy  hard- 
ware and  has  since  enjoyed  an  extensive  trade 
throughout  Shoshone  and  the  surrounding  coun- 
try, his  patronage  steadily  increasing  and  bring- 
ing to  him  a  well  merited  success.  In  addition  to 
his  mercantile  labors  he  is  also  discharging  the 
duties  of  county  treasurer  of  Lincoln  county,  to 
which  position  he  was  first  appointed,  entirely 
without  his  solicitation,  by  Governor  McConnell. 
Since  that  time  he  has  twice  been  re-elected  by 
popular  vote,  and  is  now  acceptably  and  credita- 
bly serving  for  the  third  term. 

Mr.  Wernicke  is  a  valued  and  prominent  mem- 
ber of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
has  passed  the  chairs  in  both  branches  of  the 
order  and  is  past  grand  master  of  the  state  and 
past  grand  representative  to  the  sovereign  grand 
lodge.  In  politics  he  has  been  a  life-long  Re- 
publican, and  keeps  well  informed  on  the  issues 
and  questions  of  the  day,  both  political  and  other- 
wise. His  honorable  business  methods,  his  trust- 
worthiness in  public  life,  and  his  cordial,  genial 
manner  have  gained  him  a  host  of  warm  friends, 
who  will,  we  feel  assured,  gladly  read  this  review 

of  his  career. 

DAVE  ADAMS. 

While  "the  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift  nor 
the  battle  to  the  strong,"  the  invariable  law  of 
destiny  accords  to  tireless  energy,  industry  and 
ability,  a  successful  career.  The  truth  of  this  as- 
sertion is  abundantly  verified  in  the  life  of  Mr. 
Adams,  who,  though  he  has  met  many  difficulties 
and  obstacles,  has  overcome  these  by  determined 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


1G9 


purpose  and  laudable  endeavor,  working  his  way 
steadily  upward  to  success.  He  is  now  account- 
ed one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  Silver  City, 
and  has  been  prominently  identified  with  the  de- 
velopment of  many  of  the  leading  business  in- 
terests of  Idaho  since  his  arrival  in  the  territory 
in  1868. 

Mr.  Adams  was  born  in  Clark  county,  Illinois, 
on  the  nth  of  April,  1843,  and  his  ancestors, 
who  were  of  Scotch  and  German  birth,  were 
early  settlers  of  Kentucky  and  Ohio.  His  father, 
Abner  Adams,  was  born  in  Ohio,  and  in  1851 
crossed  the  plains  to  California,  engaging  in 
mining  at  different  camps  in  that  state  until  1860, 
when  he  returned  to  his  old  home  for  his  family. 
He  had  gone  to  the  Golden  state  by  way  of  the 
northern  route,  but  took  his  family  by  the  south- 
ern route,  traveling  through  Texas,  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona  to  Watsonville,  Santa  Cruz  county, 
California,  where  he  made  a  location.  There  his 
death  occurred  in  1882,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one 
years,  but  his  wife  is  still  living  and  is  now  in 
her  seventy-ninth  year.  Their  children  are.  Re- 
becca, deceased;  Dave;  Green,  who  resides  in 
Silver  City,  Ida,ho;  Amanda,  Isabella,  George 
and  Albert,  all  residents  of  California. 

Dave  Adams  received  but  limited  educational 
advantages  in  his  youth.  He  pursued  his  studies 
in  a  little  log  schoolhouse,  but  the  instruction  was 
of  a  primitive  character,  and  in  the  school  of  ex- 
perience most  of  the  valuable  lessons  of  his  life 
have  been  learned.  In  1857  he  emigrated  with 
his  uncle  to  Pocahontas,  Arkansas,  and  a  year 
later  went  to  Fort  Smith,  that  state,  where  he 
was  employed  for  a  year  or  two  as  "devil"  in  a 
printing  office.  Subsequently  he  spent  a  short 
time  in  the  Indian  Territory  and  then  located  in 
Sherman,  Texas,  where  he  worked  in  a  printing 
office  until  the  4th  of  March,  1861.  On  the  day 
on  which  the  lamented  Lincoln  took  the  oath  of 
office  as  president  of  the  United  States,  he  started 
to  join  his  father  and  family,  who  were  then  en 
route  for  California.  They  were  frequently  at- 
tacked by  Indians  while  in  Arizona,  and  Mr. 
Adams  accordingly  learned  something  of  the 
inhuman  methods  of  warfare  as  practiced  by  the 
savages.  Late  in  the  fall,  however,  they  reached 
their  destination  in  safety,  and  the  subject  of  this 
review  soon  secured  a  position  in  a  printing 
office.  Such  establishments  have  often  been 


termed  "poor  men's  colleges,"  and  such  they 
were  to  Mr.  Adams.  While  working  at  his  trade 
he  gained  a  broad,  miscellaneous  knowledge  that 
has  made  him  a  well  informed  man,  and  he  has 
ever  maintained  a  deep  interest  in  the  living  ques- 
tions of  the  day  and  kept  well  informed  thereon. 
In  1864,  however,  Mr.  Adams  gave  up  his  posi- 
tion in  the  printing  office  in  order  to  enter  his 
country's  service  as  a  member  of  Company  A, 
Eighth  Regiment  of  California  Volunteers.  It 
was  expected  that  the  command  would  be  or- 
dered to  the  front,  but  instead  they  were  engaged 
in  defending  the  coast  until  the  close  of  hostili- 
ties. In  the  fall  of  1865,  at  the  Presidio,  in  San 
Francisco,  Mr.  Adams  received  an  honorable  dis- 
charge. He  remained  in  California  until  the 
spring  of  1866,  and  then,  with  a  horse  team,  took 
a  load  of  flour  to  Humboldt  county,  Nevada, 
where  he  engaged  in  various  occupations,  among 
which  were  operating  pack  trains  and  burning 
charcoal  for  smelting  companies.  In  the  spring 
of  1868,  in  company  with  seven  or  eight  others, 
he  walked  from  Humboldt  county,  Nevada, 
through  a  portion  of  Oregon  to  Silver  City, 
Idaho,  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles.  That 
summer  he  was  employed  on  the  Ike  Jennings 
ranch  in  Snake  river  valley, — the  place  now 
known  as  Oreana,  and  in  the  autumn  joined 
a  government  surveying  party  engaged  in  draw- 
ing township  lines  and  subdividing  the  land  on 
both  sides  of  Snake  river,  between  Walters'  Ferry 
and  the  mouth  of  the  Bruneau  river.  Soon  after 
his  return  to  Silver  City  he  accepted  a  position 
on  the  Tidal  Wave,  a  newspaper  then  published 
by  the  Butler  brothers,  but  in  July,  1869,  he  left 
that  office  to  go  on  a  prospecting  tour  in  the 
Salmon  river  mountains,  in  company  with  Henry 
Knapp,  a  printer  and  assayer.  That  fall  the  fam- 
ous Loon  Creek  Placer  Camp  was  discovered, 
and  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Knapp  were  the  first 
men  on  the  ground  with  the  exception  of  the  dis- 
coverers. They  located  several  claims,  and  as  a 
flourishing  town  soon  sprang  into  existence,  they 
admitted  M.  A.  Wentworth  to  a  partnership, 
built  some  houses,  and  on  pack  animals  brought 
in  a  stock  of  general  merchandise  from  Boise 
Basin  and  started  in  business.  They  also  estab- 
lished an  express  line  between  Loon  Creek  and 
Idaho  City,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  forty 
miles,  carrying  mail  and  express,  making  the 


170 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


journey  in  summer  on  horseback,  but  in  winter 
going  on  snow  shoes.  Flour  sold  as  high  as 
fifty  cents  per  pound.'  The  charge  for  carrying  a 
letter  either  way  was  fifty  cents;  newspapers  from 
fifty  to  seventy-five  cents;  magazines  one  dollar 
and  small  packages  in  proportion.  The  camp, 
however,  proved  to  some  extent  a  failure,  the 
mineral  deposit  not  turning  out  to  be  what  was 
expected.  The  firm  of  Adams,  Knapp  and  Went- 
worth  had  done  much  of  their  business  on  the 
credit  system,  and  when  the  miners  could  not  pay 
they  in  consequence  suffered  heavy  losses. 

In  the  fall  of  1870  Mr.  Adams  went  to  Boise, 
where  he  again  worked  in  a  printing  office.  In 
1871  he  returned  to  Silver  City  and  engaged  in 
mining  on  War  Eagle  mountain  for  a  few 
months,  when  he  secured  a  situation  on  the  Ava- 
lanche, then  published  by  W.  J.  Hill,  continuing 
in  that  position  until  July,  1874.  His  health  fail- 
ing him,  he  then  made  a  tour  of  the  coast  towns 
of  California,  and  at  San  Francisco  speculated 
unsuccessfully  in  mining  stock.  He  returned  to 
Silver  City  in  July,  1876,  and  a  few  days  later 
went  to  Boise,  where  he  secured  the  position  of 
foreman  on  the  Statesman,  which  was  then  pub- 
lished by  Judge  Milton  Kelly.  In  1877  he  again 
returned  to  Silver  City  and  worked  for  a  year  on 
the  Avalanche  for  Major  Hay,  but  the  following 
winter  he  engaged  in  mining  on  War  Eagle 
mountain  and  met  with  losses  in  the  venture.  In 
1879,  however,  he  conducted  a  number  of  suc- 
cessful speculations  at  Silver  City  and  surround- 
ing places,  and  in  October,  1880,  in  partnership 
with  Guy  Newcomb,  purchased  the  Avalanche 
plant,  conducting  the  paper  until  1882,  when  he 
sold  his  interest  to  Charles  M.  Hays.  Mr.  Adams 
then  purchased  the  Silver  City  Iron  Foundry, 
and  in  addition  to  its  operation  dealt  in  wood, 
conducted  a  number  of  speculations,  and  bought 
and  sold  real  estate.  In  1889  in  connection  with 
a  partner  he  opened  a  furniture  store,  and  three 
years  later,  closing  out  their  furniture  business, 
they  put  in  a  full  line  of  general  merchandise. 
The  same  year  the  partner  abscotided,  but  Mr. 
Adams  continued  the  business,  and  such  was 
the  confidence  of  the  people  in  him  that  he  soon 
won  a  very  large  patronage,  and  carried  on  the 
store  with  excellent  success,  eventually  having 
the  largest  trade  in  his  line  in  the  county.  On 
the  1st  of  May,  1898,  he  sold  out  in  order  to  give 


more  of  his  time  and  attention  to  the  conduct  of 
a  private  banking  business  which  he  had  pre- 
viously established  and  which  had  grown  to  con- 
siderable proportions.  In  the  year  1897  his  oper- 
ations in  that  line  amounted  to  nearly  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  for  the  bank  is 
considered  a  great  convenience  by  the  miners 
and  business  men  of  this  section  of  the  state.  He 
still  conducts  a  profitable  banking  business,  and 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  reliable  and  trust- 
worthy men  of  the  county.  His  success  is  cer- 
tainly well  merited,  as  it  has  been  won  entirely 
through  his  own  well  directed  and  honorable 
efforts. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Adams  was  long  a 
Republican,  voting  for  the  men  and  measures  of 
that  party  until  1896,  when  not  favoring  its 
stand  on  the  money  question  he  gave  his  support 
to  W.  J.  Bryan,  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
president.  He  was  elected  to  the  territorial  legis- 
lature in  1884,  and  therein  labored  with  patriotic 
and  untiring  zeal  for  the  adoption  of  many  meas- 
ures which  he  believed  would  advance  Idaho's 
best  good.  He  is  still  the  owner  of  extensive 
mining  interests,  and  his  business  career  is  one 
of  which  he  has  every  reason  to  be  proud.  Start- 
ing out  in  life  in  the  humble  capacity  of  errand 
boy  in  a  printing  office,  he  has  been  connected 
with  many  business  interests  and  has  ultimately 
not  only  won  prosperity,  but  through  all  has 
maintained  a  reputation  for  honesty  and  integrity 
of  character  that  is  unassailable.  His  connection 
with  the  journalistic,  mercantile,  mining  and 
banking  interests  of  the  state  has  gained  him  a 
wide  acquaintance  and  all  who  know  him  speak 
of  him  in  terms  of  the  highest  respect. 

COLUMBUS  R.  SHAW. 

One  of  the  most  enterprising,  energetic  and 
successful  business  men  of  Caldwell,  is  the  gen- 
tleman whose  name  appears  above.  He  is  a  na- 
tive of  the  state  of  Missouri,  his  birth  having  oc- 
curred in  Ray  county,  in  1859.  His  father,  Will- 
iam P.  Shaw,  was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  whence 
he  removed  to  Alissouri,  in  1833,  becoming  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  the  latter  state.  He  married 
Miss  Julia  A.  Waterman,  a  nadve  of  New  York, 
whose  people  were  also  numbered  among  the 
early  settlers  of  Missouri.  The  Shaw  family  is  of 
Irish  origin,  and  leaving  the  Emerald  Isle  crossed 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


171 


the  Atlantic  to  North  Carolina  during  the  colon- 
ial epoch  in  the  history  of  this  country.  In  re- 
ligious faith  they  were  Methodists,  and  were  peo- 
ple of  the  highest  respectability  and  worth.  The 
father  of  our  subject  died  in  his  sixty-ninth  year, 
and  the  mother  passed  away  in  the  forty-eighth 
year  of  her  age.  They  had  six  children,  three 
sons  and  three  daughters. 

Columbus  R.  Shaw,  the  youngest  of  the  family, 
acquired  his  education  in  the  schools  of  Missouri, 
and  in  1883  came  to  Idaho  as  terminal  agent 
for  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad  Company. 
Subsequently,  locating  at  Mountain  Home,  he 
engaged  in  cattle-raising  and  in  conducting  a 
stage  line,  -meeting  with  fair  success  in  his  under- 
takings. His  next  venture  was  in  the  lumber 
trade,  to  which  he  has  since  devoted  his  energies, 
building  up  a  large  and  profitable  business.  He 
makes  his  home  and  headquarters  at  Caldwell, 
but  his  operations  are  not  confined  to  the  one 
city.  He  carries  on  the  lumber  and  milling  busi- 
ness in  Boise  and  Guffey  also,  and  the  volume  of 
his  trade  has  constantly  increased  until  it  has  as- 
sumed extensive  proportions.  He  is  president  of 
the  board  of  trade  of  Caldwell,  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  Caldwell  Creamery  Company 
and  is  its  president,  and  in  this  as  in  his  other 
enterprises  displays  marked  ability  in  his  man- 
agement and  control  of  affairs.  In  matters  of 
judgment  he  is  rarely  at  fault,  and  his  keen 
discrimination,  resolute  purpose  and  untiring  en- 
ergy have  brought  him  most  gratifying  pros- 
perity. 

As  a  citizen,  Mr.  Shaw  is  public-spirited  and 
loyal,  manifesting  a  deep  interest  in  all  that  per- 
tains to  the  welfare  of  his  city  and  state  along 
educational,  moral,  social  and  material  lines.  He 
is  now  serving  as  a  member  of  the  city  council 
and  exercises  his  official  prerogatives  to  upbuild 
and  benefit  the  town.  He  is  now  chairman  of  the 
board  of  county  commissioners,  and  though  he 
takes  a  deep  interest  in  political  affairs,  and  keeps 
well  informed  on  the  issues  of  the  day,  he  cannot 
be  called  a  politician  in  the  sense  of  office-seeker, 
as  he  prefers  to  devote  his  time  and  energies  to 
his  extensive  and  varied  business  interests. 

In  1891  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Shaw  and  Miss  Mabel  Stucker,  of  Silver  City, 
Idaho.  They  now  have  four  children:  Clarence 
Rupert,  Inez,  Francis  and  Delia  Elizabeth.  Mrs. 


Shaw  is  a  valued  member  of  the  Episcopalian 
church  and  presides  with  gracious  hospitality 
over  her  pleasant  home  in  Caldwell,  which  is  the 
center  of  a  cultured  society  circle.  Mr.  Shaw  be- 
longs to  the  Masonic  order,  the  Odd  Fellows 
society  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity. 
He  is  justly  accorded  a  place  among  the  prom- 
inent and  representative  citizens  of  Idaho,  for  he 
belongs  to  that  class  of  men  whose  enterprising 
spirit  is  used  not  alone  for  their  own  benefit;  he 
also  advances  the  general  good  and  promotes 
public  prosperity  by  his  ably  managed  individual 
interests,  thus  placing  this  section  of  the  country 
on  a  par  with  the  older  east.  He  has  excellent 
ability  as  an  organizer,  forms  his  plans  readily 
and  is  determined  in  their  execution.  This  en- 
ables him  to  conquer  obstacles  which  deter  many 
a  man,  and  it  has  been  one  of  the  salient  features 
in  his  success. 

JOHN    C.    CONNORS. 

Entrusted  with  an  important  public  service,  the 
care  of  the  funds  of  Owyhee  county,  John  C. 
Connors  is  proving  himself  an  efficient  officer  as 
well  as  a  leading  business  man  of  Silver  City. 
The  greater  part  of  his  life  has  been  passed  at 
the  place  which  is  now  his  home,  and  for  many 
years  he  has  been  actively  connected  with  its 
mercantile  interests.  A  native  of  California,  he 
was  born  in  Placer  county,  on  the  loth  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1859,  a  son  of  Peter  Connors,  who  was 
born  in  county  Galway,  Ireland,  in  July,  1822, 
and  came  to  the  United  States  in  1846,  when  a 
young  man  of  twenty-four  years.  In  1852  he 
went  to  California  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  route 
and  at  times  made  considerable  money  in  his 
mining  ventures,  but  lost  much  of  it  in  other 
mining  speculations.  In  1866  he  came  to  Silver 
City  and  for  about  thirty  years  was  successfully 
engaged  in  mining  and  stock-raising  in  Owyhee 
county.  In  1875  he  devoted  his  energies  to 
mining  and  milling  and  also  conducted  a  dairy 
at  South  Mountain.  In  1882  he  located  a  ranch 
on  Trout  creek,  where  he  resided  until  1896, 
when  he  came  to  Silver  City  and  retired  from 
active  business  life.  He  now  makes  his  home 
with  his  son  John.  He  was  married  in  New  Or- 
leans, Louisiana,  April  10,  1849,  *o  Miss  Mary 
Dimond,  also  a  native  of  county  Galway,  Ireland, 


172 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


who  departed  this  life  on  the  ist  of  February, 
1880,  leaving  a  husband  and  family  to  mourn  her 
loss.  They  had  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are 
yet  living. 

John  C.  Connors  was  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth. 
He  spent  the  first  seven  years  of  his  life  in  his 
native  state,  and  then  came  with  his  parents  to 
Silver  City,  where  he  acquired  his  education  in 
the  public  schools.  After  putting  aside  his  text- 
books he  began  to  earn  his  own  livelihood,  and 
has  for  some  years  been  numbered  among  the 
leading  and  influential  business  men  of  the  com- 
munity. For  some  years  he  was  successfully 
engaged  in  the  stock-raising  business,  but  in 
1888.  in  partnership  with  Timothy  Shea,  he 
opened  a  meat  market  at  Silver  City,  and  the 
Owyhee  Meat  Company,  which  was  then  organ- 
ized, conducted  shops  at  this  place  and  also  at 
De  Lamar,  George  W.  Bruce  being  the  other 
member  of  the  firm  at  the  latter  place.  Mr.  Con- 
nors has  conducted  his  business  in  a  most  hon- 
orable and  upright  manner  and  in  consequence 
has  now  a  very  liberal  patronage,  enjoying  the 
leading  business  of  the  kind  in  this  part  of  the 
county.  His  efforts,  however,  have  not  been  lim- 
ited to  one  line  of  endeavor.  He  is  an  enterpris- 
ing and  resourceful  business  man,  who  having 
made  judicious  investments  in  real  estate  is  now 
the  owner  of  several  houses  in  Silver  City.  He 
also  has  eight  hundred  acres  of  land  in  Pleasant 
Valley,  where  he  raises  two  hundred  and  fifty 


head  of  cattle,  while  his  fields  are  largely  planted 
to  hay  for  the  use  of  his  stock. 

Mr.  Connors  was  married  on  the  3Oth  of  April, 
1891,  Miss  Alice  McMahon  becoming  his  wife. 
She  is  a  native  of  Owyhee  county  and  was  'a 
daughter  of  Patrick  McMahon  of  Silver  City, 
now  deceased.  One  son  has  been  born  of  this 
union,  Daniel  P.,  who  is  the  joy  of  his  parents' 
home.  In  his  political  associations  Mr.  Connors 
is  a  Democrat,  having  supported  that  party  since 
obtaining  the  right  of  franchise.  The  first  public 
office  he  held  was  that  of  county  commissioner, 
to  which  he  was  elected  to  fill  the  unexpired  term 
of  T.  Shea.  In  1896  he  was  elected  county  treas- 
urer and  so  acceptably  filled  the  office  that  he 
was  made  the  nominee  of  the  three  parties  at 
the  succeeding  election.  This  fact  is  certainly  a 
liigh  testimonial  of  his  efficiency  and  also  indi- 
cates in  an  unmistakable  manner  his  personal 
popularity.  He  is  an  active  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity  and  the  Odd  Fellows  lodge,  has 
filled  most  of  the  offices  in  both  organizations 
and  is  past  master  of  the  blue  lodge,  past  high 
priest  of  the  chapter  and  a  member  in  good 
standing  of  Idaho  Commandery,  No.  I,  K.  T. 
His  life  exemplifies  the  noble  principles  of  the 
craft,  and  his  brethren  of  the  order  hold  him  in 
the  highest  esteem.  In  his  business  dealings 
his  course  has  ever  been  marked  by  probity  and 
fairness,  while  in  public  life  patriotism  and  loyal- 
ty to  duty  are  his  chief  characteristics. 


(In 

(J 

o 

1 


|S 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


THE   MORMON   QUESTION— THE   FIFTEENTH   LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY— LOOKING  TO  STATEHOOD— CHANGES 

IN   JUDICIARY— CONSTITUTIONAL   CONVENTION. 


THE  fifteenth  legislative  assembly  of  Idaho 
convened  December  10,  1878,  when  the 
people  were  excited  over  Mormonism 
more  than  in  regard  to  all  other  things  together. 
In  all  contested  elections  the  Mormon  candidates 
were  excluded,  and  even  an  undue  prejudice  was 
bitterly  exhibited  against  them.  Congress  was 
memorialized  to  refuse  Utah  admission  into  the 
Union,  and  also  to  require  of  homestead  and  pre- 
emption settlers  an  oath  giving  a  statement  of 
their  polygamous  practices.  Already  the  local 
law  required  superintendents  of  schools  to  sub- 
scribe to  an  affidavit  that  they  were  neither  biga- 
mists nor  polygamists,  but  at  this  session  it  was 
so  altered  that  in  case  the  person  challenged 
were  a  woman  the  objectionable  terms  should 
not  be  included  in  the  oath! 

At  this  session,  also,  was  created  the  county  of 
Elmore  from  the  western  portion  of  Alturas 
county,  and  Logan  and  Custer  counties  were 
formed.  In  the  case  of  Elmore  county, 
after  much  display  of  parliamentary  tac- 
tics, the  bill  was  passed,  although  the  speaker 
became  so  excited  that  he  bolted  and  left  the 
chair  abruptly  during  the  reading  of  the  jour- 
nal on  the  last  day  of  the  session.  The  president 
of  the  council  also  left  his  chair  on  the  last  day 
of  the  session,  in  order  to  obstruct  the  passage  of 
a  measure  obnoxious  to  him.  In  neither  case  was 
the  action  successful,  as  the  house  immediately 
elected  George  P.  Wheeler,  of  Bingham,  chair- 
man, and  the  council  chose  S.  F.  Taylor,  of  the 
same  county,  president. 

To  encourage  the  settlement  of  the  territory  a 
board  of  immigration  was  established.  This  mea- 
sure was  recommended  by  the  committee  on  ter- 
ritorial affairs,  whose  report  set  forth  that  the 
natural  wealth  of  Idaho  was  less  known  to  the 
world  than  that  of  any  other  part  of  the  Union. 
This  legislature  appropriated  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars for  the  construction  of  a  road,  long  needed, 


between  Mount  Idaho  and  Little  Salmon  Mead- 
ows, more  closely  connecting  the  Panhandle  with 
the  main  body  of  the  commonwealth.  Congress 
was  also  memorialized  for  an  amendment  to  the 
alien  act,  so  as  to  except  mines  from  its  provis- 
ions and  encourage  the  immigration  of  miners, 
and  the  establishment  of  the  "University  of  Ida- 
ho" was  provided  for. 

Preparatory  to  the  admission  of  Idaho  into  the 
federal  Union,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  house 
by  Bruner,  of  Boise,  providing  for  a  constitu- 
tional convention ;  and  Perkins,  of  Alturas,  gave 
notice  in  the  council  that  a  joint  memorial  to 
congress  would  be  presented  for  adoption  in  due 
time  for  an  act  enabling  the  people  of  Idaho  to 
form  a  state  government.  The  citizens  of  Lewis- 
ton  held  a  mass  meeting  and  adopted  resolutions, 
which  they  forwarded  to  the  legislature,  demand- 
ing of  congress  admission  into  the  Union,  and 
indorsed  Delegate  Dubois  and  others  who  were 
laboring  to  secure  this  end.  Accordingly,  on 
the  29th  of  January  the  council  approved  a  house 
joint  memorial  for  the  admission  of  Idaho,  with- 
out a  dissenting  voice;  and  on  the  4th  of  Feb- 
ruary a  special  committee,  appointed  to  examine 
a  house  bill  providing  for  the  calling  of  a  con- 
stitutional convention,  made  a  favorable  report. 
Statehood  was  unanimously  regarded  as  a  great 
help  to  the  investment  of  capital  in  Idaho.  The 
year  1889  found  the  people  in  a  much  improved 
condition.  Both  mining  and  agriculture  were 
making  rapid  advances,  aided  by  the  opening  of 
routes  of  travel  and  transportation,  and  also  by 
plants  for  irrigation.  Prosperity  was  in  the  air. 
Nearly  all  the  old  political  acrimony  had  died 
out.  Even  the  scheme  for  annexing  the  Panhan- 
dle to  Washington  was  not  heard  of,  except  to 
be  denounced.  Such  an  expression  of  sentiment 
was  indeed  made  emphatic  by  resolutions  of  the 
legislature  and  of  both  the  main  political  plat- 
forms. The  little  opposition  to  statehood  was  tx- 


173 


174 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


hibited  principally  among  the  farmers,  who 
feared  increased  expenses  without  a  full  com- 
pensation. 

In  the  judiciary  of  Idaho  the  changes  during  its 
territorial  career  were  frequent.  James  B.  Hays 
was  appointed  chief  justice  in  1886,  in  place  of 
John  I.  Morgan;  Norman  Buck  and  Case  Bro- 
derick,  appointed  in  1884,  were  his  associates, 
while  James  S.  Hawley  was  the  United  States  at- 
torney. In  1888  Hugh  W.  Weir  was  chief  jus- 
tice, and  John  Lee  Logan  and  Charles  H.  Berry 
associates,  with  Hawley  still  the  federal  attorney. 
In  1889  Weir  was  superseded  by  James  H.  Beat- 
ty,  of  Hailey ;  and  Logan,  who  was  removed  on 
account  of  ill  health,  was  succeeded  by  Willis 
Sweet,  of  Moscow,  who  had  a  few  months  pre- 
viously been  appointed  United  States  attorney. 

Judge  Logan  came  to  Idaho  when  the  bench 
and  society  were  shaken  to  their  foundations  and 
mob  law  openly  advocated,  but  he  exhibited  a 
remarkable  degree  of  moral  courage  and  re- 
formed matters  as  if  by  magic.  The  people  rec- 
ognized in  him  a  splendid  lawyer  and  a  man  of 
firmness  and  clear  intellect.  He  conducted  and 
ruled  the  court,  instead  of  permitting  the  court 
to  rule  him.  He  was  just  and  fearless.  The  very 
first  criminal  cases  tried  before  him  showed  that 
he  was  a  judge  for  the  people  and  that  he  would 
apply  the  law  as  it  should  be  applied. 

With  a  change  of  administration,  and  the  elec- 
tion of  1888  in  Idaho,  came  a  general  change  of 
federal  and  territorial  officials.  Frederick  T. 
Dubois,  however,  was  again  chosen  delegate  to 
congress.  George  L.  Shoup  was  appointed  gov- 
ernor, E.  J.  Curtis  remained  secretary,  Joseph 
C.  Straughan  was  appointed  surveyor  general 
Richard  Z.  Johnson  was  elected  attorney  general 
of  the  territory,  James  H.  Wickersham  comp- 
troller, Charles  Himrod  treasurer,  and  Charles  C. 
Stevenson  superintendent  of  public  instruc- 
tion. Regents  of  the  university,  capitol  and  pri- 
son commissioners,  etc.,  were  appointed  by  the 
legislature.  Thus  it  may  be  seen  that  as  the 
country  grew  older  a  greater  and  greater  propor- 
tion of  the  territorial  officers  were  taken  from  the 
resident  population. 

April  2,  1889,  Governor  Stevenson  issued  a 
proclamation  that  the  people  elect  delegates  to 
a  constitutional  convention,  to  meet  at  Boise  City 
July  4  of  that  year,  although  as  yet  no  enabling 


act  had  been  passed  by  congress.  Shoup,  suc- 
ceeding Stevenson  as  governor  April  30,  issued 
another  proclamation,  indorsing  the  one  which 
Governor  Stevenson  had  published;  and  accord- 
ingly seventy-two  delegates  were  elected,  who 
met  and  continued  in  session  for  thirty-four  days, 
framing  a  constitution  for  the  coming  state, 
which  instrument  had  no  peculiar  features,  ex- 
cepting perhaps  the  one  which  emphasized  the 
prohibition  of  polygamy.  It  provided  for  the 
election  of  the  state  justices,  three  in  number,  by 
the  people.  Six  months'  residence  was  required 
as  a  condition  of  voting.  Taxes  for  state  pur- 
poses should  never  exceed  ten  mills  on  the  dollar; 
when  the  assessed  valuation  should  reach  fifty 
millions  of  dollars,  five  mills,  and  when  it  should 
reach  a  hundred  millions,  three  mills,  etc.,  as 
the  state  advanced  in  wealth.  The  capital  was 
located  at  Boise  for  twenty  years. 

According  to  Governor  Shoup,  the  population 
of  Idaho  in  1889  was  113.777,  of  whom  he 
thought  about  twenty-five  thousand  were  of  the 
Mormon  faith.  Although  public  sentiment  to  a 
considerable  extent  suppressed  the  visible  fact  of 
polygamy,  it  was  really  known  that  plural  mar- 
riages were  occasionally  contracted,  and  that  the 
doctrine  of  polygamy  was  taught  by  some  of  the 
Mormon  leaders.  It  was  not  so  much,  the  Gov- 
ernor said,  that  examples  of  plural  marriages 
were  known  that  the  Gentile  majority  made  war 
upon  Mormonism,  but  because  the  leaders  of  that 
faith  taught  that  all  laws  enacted  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  polygamy  were  unconstitutional,  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  an  interference  with  re- 
ligious liberty.  This  was  a  point,  he  claimed, 
most  dangerous  to  the  safety  of  society ;  for,  ac- 
cording to  that  heresy,  any  association  of  per- 
sons could,  under  the  cover  of  religion,  commit 
any  crimes  with  impunity.  The  legislature  of 
1884-5  passed  a  registry  law  requiring  voters 
to  take  an  extremely  rigid  oath  to  the  effect  that 
they  were  opposed  to  polygamy  both  practically 
and  theoretically. 

The  popular  vote  on  the  constitution  as  pro- 
posed took  place  on  the  5th  of  November,  1889, 
when  12,398  votes  were  given  for  the  document 
and  1,773  against  it.  At  this  time  the  territory 
was  about  evenly  balanced  between  the  two  main 
political  parties. 

In  order  to  settle  the  question  raised  by  the 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


175 


Mormons  as  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  reg- 
istry oath,  a  Mormon  voter  was  arrested,  charged 
with  conspiracy  and  imprisoned.  A  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  was  denied  and  the  case  was  taken 
to  the  United  States  supreme  court.  Pending 
this  case  Delegate  Dubois  was  taking  the  opin- 
ion of  congress  on  the  admission  of  Idaho,  and 
was  met  by  the  assertion  of  the  Mormon  leaders 
that  the  effort  to  disfranchise  twenty-five  thou- 
sand people  would  prove  a  stumbling  block  in  the 
way  of  statehood.  He  rejoined  that  rather  than 
have  the  territory  come  in  without  the  anti-Mor- 
mon clause  in  its  constitution  he  would  prefer 
that  it  should  remain  out  of  the  Union. 

Furthermore,  with  reference  to  loyalty  in  gen- 
eral,— for  he  remembered  the  secession  days, — 
"Our  constitution,'1  said  he,  "forbids  the  carrying 
of  any  flag  in  public  processions  except  the 
American  flag.  We  want  a  state  for  those  whose 
highest  allegiance  is  to  the  United  States,  or  else 
we  want  no  state  at  all." 

There  were  several  other  complications  besides 
the  "Mormon  test  oath"  in  the  way  of  a  smooth 
admission  of  Idaho  into  the  relation  of  a  state. 
One  was  the  objection  raised  by  the  Democrats 
as  a  partisan  measure,  that  Idaho  should  not  be 
admitted  without  Wyoming  and  New  Mexico  at 
the  same  time.  Another  was  that  should  there 
be  by  this  means  or  other  any  delay  in  the  ad- 
mission of  Idaho,  the  near  approach  of  a  new 


federal  census  would  occasion  a  new  basis  of 
representative  apportionment  and  thus  postpone 
Idaho's  admission  for  a  number  of  years.  Thus 
fears  and  hopes  alternated. 

It  is  well  to  glance  at  the  material  advance- 
ment now  being  made  here.  The  thirty-eight 
newspapers  of  the  territory  truthfully  asserted 
that  never  had  there  been  so  many  new  enter- 
prises inaugurated  in  Idaho  as  in  this  year  of 
1889, — irrigation  schemes  that  would  cost  mil- 
lions; new  mining  camps  as  fast  as  they  could 
be  built  and  machinery  could  be  transported  to 
the  mines;  homestead  filings  for  the  year,  861 ; 
homestead  proofs,  463;  desert  filings,  294;  des- 
ert proofs,  841;  pre-emption  filings,  841;  pre- 
emption proofs,  441;  timber-culture  filings,  293; 
timber-culture  proofs,  5:  mineral  filings,  72; 
proofs,  62.  All  these  meant  so  many  times  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  improved,  or  about  to 
be.  The  total  amount  of  land  surveyed  in  Idaho 
was  8,500,000  acres;  amount  of  land  patented  or 
filed  on,  4,500,000  acres;  land  in  cultivation,  sur- 
veyed and  unsurveyed,  600,000  acres.  Altogether 
Idaho  contained  about  55,000,000  acres,  12,000,- 
ooo  of  which  were  suitable  for  agriculture,  while 
nearly  as  much  more  could  be  made  so  by  irri- 
gation. There  were  5,000,000  acres  of  grazing 
land,  10,000,000  acres  of  timber  and  8,000,000 
acres  of  timber  land.  Idaho  had  indeed  advan- 
tages unsurpassed  in  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


GEORGE    H.    STEWART. 

PROBABLY  every  state  in  the  Union  has 
contributed  to  the  quota  of  prominent 
men  in  Idaho.  Among  the  number 
furnished  by  Indiana  is  Judge  George  Har- 
lan  Stewart,  who  is  now  presiding  over 
the  third  judicial  district  of  the  state.  He 
was  born  in  Connersville,  Indiana,  on  the 
26th  of  February,  1858,  and  is  of  Scotch  and 
English  lineage,  his  ancestors  having  located  in 
Pennsylvania  at  a  pioneer  epoch  in  the  history 
of  the  Keystone  state.  Representatives  of  the 
family  were  also  early  settlers  of  Ohio,  where,  in 
1821,  occurred  the  birth  of  Mathew  Stewart, 
father  of  the  Judge.  Having  arrived  at  the  years 
of  maturity  he  married  Miss  Nancy  Harlan, 
whose  father  was  a  Baptist  minister  and  an  early 
settler  of  the  state  of  Indiana.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Stewart  took  up  their  residence  near  Conners- 
ville, Indiana,  where  he  industriously  carried  on 
farming.  He  >vas  an  ardent  Republican,  a  lover 
of  civil  liberty  and  a  hater  of  every  form  of  op- 
pression. He  died  in  1887,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six 
years,  and  his  wife  departed  this  life  in  the  fifty- 
eighth  year  of  her  age.  They  were  the  parents 
of  eight  children,  of  whom  four  are  living. 

Judge  Stewart  is  the  second  eldest  survivor  of 
the  family.  In  the  common  schools  he  acquired 
a  sufficient  education  to  enable  him  to  engage  in 
teaching,  and  in  that  way  he  won  the  means 
which  enabled  him  to  continue  his  studies  in 
higher  institutions  of  learning.  He  attended  the 
Northern  Indiana  Normal  school,  located  at  Val- 
paraiso, Indiana,  where  he  graduated  in  1879, 
on  the  completion  of  the  scientific  course,  after 
which  he  took  up  the  study  of  law  in  the  same 
institution  and  was  graduated  in  the  law  depart- 
ment in  1 88 1,  and  the  same  year  he  was  admitted 
to  practice  before  the  supreme  court  of  his  native 
state. 

In  1882  Judge  Stewart  opened  a  law  office  in 
Fowler,  Indiana,  and  soon  won  a  fair  clientage, 


and  his  business  steadily  increased  as  he  gave 
evidence  of  superior  ability  in  the  handling  of 
intricate  law  problems.  In  1886,  on  account  of 
failing  health,  he  removed  to  Stockville,  Nebras- 
ka, where  he  practiced  law  until  1890,  during 
which  time  he  was  elected  and  served  as  county 
attorney  of  Frontier  county.  He  was  retained 
as  counsel  either  for  the  defense  or  prosecution 
in  nearly  every  case  of  importance  tried  in  south- 
western Nebraska,  and  gained  prestige  among 
the  members  of  the  bar  in  that  section  of  the 
state.  In  1890  he  came  to  Idaho  and  for  a  time 
was  associated  in  the  practice  with  Hon.  John 
S.  Gray,  and  later  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Hon.  W.  E.  Borah.  He  rapidly  gained  a  com- 
manding position  at  the  bar  of  the  state,  and  his 
clientage  constantly  increased  in  volume  and  im- 
portance. In  1893  he  was  elected  to  represent 
Ada  county  in  the  state  senate  and  served  in  that 
position  with  marked  credit  to  himself  and  sat- 
isfaction to  his  constituents.  In  1896  he  was  ap- 
pointed judge  of  the  third  judicial  district  upon 
the  resignation  of  Judge  Richards,  and  in  1898 
was  elected  to  the  same  position. 

His  campaign  and  election  constitute  one  of 
the  brightest  pages  in  the  political  history  of  the 
state.  He  was  nominated  upon  the  straight  Re- 
publican ticket  in  a  district  where  the  silver  vote 
was  in  the  majority  by  several  thousand.  In 
addition  to  this,  there  was  a  fusion  of  silver  Re- 
publicans and  Democrats,  while  the  Populist  can- 
didate withdrew  and  permitted  the  fusion  candi- 
date's name  to  go  upon  the  Populist  ticket.  So 
far  as  the  party  was  concerned,  the  three  silver 
parties  were  combined  and  practically  united  on 
one  candidate,  this  apparently  uniting  the  entire 
silver  force  in  an  overwhelming  silver  district. 
Notwithstanding  this,  Judge  Stewart  was  elected 
by  a  large  majority,  the  vote  of  his  home  county 
being  one  of  the  rarest  compliments  ever  paid  to 
the  personal  worth  of  a  candidate.  Men  of  all 
parties  voted  for  him  simply  because  they  had 


176 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


177 


discovered  in  the  two  years  he  had  sat  upon  the 
bench  that  he  not  only  possessed  exceptional  ex- 
ecutive ability  and  invincible  moral  courage  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties,  but  also  what  was  and 
is  perhaps  more  difficult  to  find,  that  peculiar 
turn  of  mind  without  which  a  man  may  be  strong 
in  the  pit  but  can  never  be  a  great  judge.  He 
had  won  and  held  so  firmly  the  people's  confi- 
dence that  the  party  lash  was  used  in  vain. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  career  as  a  legal 
practitioner,  his  efforts  have  been  attended  with 
success.  He  has  mastered  the  science  of  juris- 
prudence, and  his  research  and  thorough  prep- 
aration of  every  case  committed  to  his  care  en- 
abled him  to  meet  at  once  any  contingency  that 
might  arise.  His  cause  was  fenced  about  with 
unanswerable  logic,  and  his  arguments  were 
strong,  clear,  decided  and  followed  in  natural 
sequence,  forming  a  chain  of  reasoning  that  his 
opponent  found  very  difficult  to  overthrow.  His 
record  on  the  bench  has  been  most  creditable,  his 
rulings  ever  being  those  of  a  just  and  impartial 
judge,  while  his  charges  to  the  jury  are  clear  and 
concise,  and  his  decisions  plain  and  incapable  of 
being  misconstrued. 

In  addition  to  his  law  business,  Judge  Stewart 
has  other  business  interests.  He  is  the  owner  of 
some  valuable  realty,  including  a  forty-acre  or- 
chard of  winter  apples  near  the  city  of  Boise. 
He  has  other  property  interests  in  different  parts 
of  the  state,  having  made  judicious  investments 
of  his  earnings  at  the  bar. 

In  1881  the  Judge  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
School,  of  Connersville,  Indiana,  and  to  them 
were  born  two  children, — Charles  L.  and  Ethel 
C.  In  1885  Mrs.  Stewart  departed  this  life,  and 
in  1888  the  Judge  married  Miss  Agnes  L.  Sheets, 
a  native  of  Fowler,  Indiana.  They  have  a  de- 
lightful home  in  Boise  and  their  circle  of  friends 
is  only  limited  by  their  circle  of  acquaintances. 

In  his  political  connections  the  Judge  has  al- 
ways been  a  Republican  and  warmly  advocates 
the  principles  of  that  party.  He  is  president  of 
the  Bar  Association  of  his  judicial  district,  and  is 
a  valued  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He 
was  made  a  Master  Mason  in  Fowler,  Indiana, 
in  1883,  and  has  filled  most  of  the  offices  in  the 
blue  lodge,  and  is  now  an  acceptable  member  of 
Boise  Lodge,  No.  2,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  Boise 
Chapter,  R.  A.  M.  He  is  also  a  charter  member 


of  the  Elks  and  is  past  exalted  ruler  of  Capital 
City  Lodge,  No.  310. 

His  life  record  commends  him  to  the  confi- 
dence and  regard  of  all  and  no  man  occupies  a 
higher  position  in  the  public  esteem  than  Judge 
Stewart. 

MILTON    G.    CAGE. 

Among  the  practitioners  at  the  Boise  bar  hold- 
ing marked  prestige  among  the  members  of  the 
legal  fraternity  is  Milton  G.  Cage.  A  native  of 
Tennessee,  he  was  born  in  Tipton  county,  near 
Covington,  that  state,  January  26,  1862,  and  is 
descended  on  both  sides  from  prominent  old 
families  of  the  south.  His  paternal  ancestors 
came  originally  from  Wales  and  established  a 
home  in  America  at  an  early  period  in  our  coun- 
try's history.  His  father,  Gustavus  Adolphus 
Cage,  was  born  in  Middleton,  Tennessee,  and 
married  Miss  Charlotte  A.  Green,  a  native  of 
North  Carolina.  His  father  was  formerly  a 
planter  and  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life 
has  been  identified  with  the  ministry  of  the  Meth- 
odist church.  He  is  now  living  in  Colorado,  at 
the  age  of  eighty  years.  His  mental  faculties 
remain  unimpaired,  and  he  is  still  occasionally 
seen  preaching  in  different  pulpits,  as  opportunity 
calls. 

Milton  G.  Cage  was  only  ten  years  of  age  when 
he  accompanied  his  parents  on  their  removal  to 
Colorado.  He  was  graduated  in  the  high  school 
of  Greeley,  that  state,  in  the  class  of  1882,  and 
then,  determining  to  make  the  practice  of  law  his 
life  work,  he  became  a  student  in  the  office  of 
his  brother-in-law,  Hon.  Samuel  P.  Rose,  a 
prominent  attorney  of  Denver.  Under  his  pre- 
ceptorage  he  continued  his  reading  until  the 
fall  of  1883,  when  he  was  matriculated  in  the 
Michigan  State  University,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated, on  the  completion  of  the  law  course,  in 
1885.  He  then  began  the  practice  of  his  chosen 
profession  in  Denver,  and  in  1886  was  appointed 
assistant  United.  States  attorney  under  Henry 
W.  Hobson,  serving  in  that  capacity  until  July, 
1889. 

The  following  year  Mr.  Cage  came  to  Boise, 
and  at  the  bar  of  this  city  has  won  distinction  as 
a  most  able  lawyer,  well  versed  in  the  principles 
of  jurisprudence,  and  is  especially  skilled  in  the 
handling  of  the  points  in  evidence  and  the  force- 
ful presentation  of  his  cause  before  judge  or  jury. 


178 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


In  March,  1894,  he  was  appointed  receiver  of  the 
United  States  land  office.  He  proved  an  efficient 
and  capable  officer,  giving  good  satisfaction.  He 
is  in  politics  an  active  Democrat,  and  in  1898 
was  acting  secretary  of  the  Democratic  state  cen- 
tral committee  and  president  of  the  Jefferson 
Democratic  club.  He  was  a  very  active  worker 
in  the  campaign  of  1896,  and  his  labors  were 
most  effective. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  1894.  Mr.  Cage  married 
Miss  Caroline  C.  Sweet,  a  native  of  Iowa,  and 
they  have  two  sons, — Richard  M.  and  John  P. 
The  family  occupies  a  prominent  position  in  so- 
cial circles  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cage  have  a  circle 
of  friends  almost  coextensive  with  their  circle  of 
acquaintances. 

NATHAN    C.    DELANO. 

Xathan  C.  Delano  is  the  oldest  merchant  of 
Bellevue,  when  years  of  active  and  con- 
secutive connection  with  business  interests 
are  considered,  and  is  a  most  reliable  rep- 
resentative of  the  commercial  welfare  of  the 
town.  He  is  now  enjoying  a  large  and  con- 
stantly increasing  trade  and  his  prosperity  is 
the  reward  of  his  well  directed  efforts  and  untir- 
ing diligence.  A  native  of  New  York,  he  was 
born  in  Allegany  county,  October  31,  1852,  and 
on  the  paternal  side  is  of  French-Huguenot  an- 
cestry, while  on  the  maternal  side  he  is  of  English 
lineage.  Both  families  were  founded  in  America 
at  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  country, 
and  the  great-grandfather  Richardson  participat- 
ed in  the  Revolutionary  war,  while  the  grand- 
father, William  Richardson,  fought  in  the  war 
of  1812.  Nathan  C.  Delano,  Sr.,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  married  Maria  Richardson,  daugh- 
ter of  William  Richardson.  She,  too,  was  a  na- 
tive of  the  Empire  state.  Nathan  C.  Delano,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  died  in  New  York  state,  and 
five  years  later  his  widow  married  Thomas  H. 
Young.  This  couple,  with  their  family,  crossed 
the  plains  in  1849,  and  for  a  time  resided  in  Den- 
ver, Colorado.  They  afterward  returned  to  Lea- 
venworth,  Kansas,  where  the  father  engaged  in 
business  for  fourteen  years,  then  removed  to 
Texas,  and  in  1874  came  to  Idaho,  locating  near 
Glenn's  Ferry. 

Nathan  C.  Delano,  whose  name  heads  this  re- 
view, was  educated  in  Leavenworth,  Kansas, 


and  is  a  graduate  of  Bush's  Commercial  College. 
He  afterward  engaged  in  clerking  in  Leaven- 
worth  and  then  removed  to  Texas,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  farming.  From  the  Lone  Star  state 
he  removed  to  Idaho,  taking  up  lands  from  the 
government  on  Cold  Spring  creek,  eight  miles 
west  of  Glenn's  Ferry.  That  property  he  im- 
proved and  sold,  after  which  he  came  to  Bellevue, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  lumber  business  for  a 
year.  He  then  opened  his  general  mercantile  es- 
tablishment, and  with  the  exception  of  one  brief 
interval  has  carried  on  business  in  that  line  con- 
tinuously since.  In  1883  he  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  H.  H.  Clay  and  they  were  thus  asso- 
ciated for  fourteen  years,  the  relation  proving 
mutually  pleasant  and  profitable.  In  1893  Mr. 
Delano  was  elected  treasurer  of  Logan  county, 
and  served  two  years,  and  was  also  elected  as- 
sessor and  collector  of  taxes;  but  soon  after  this 
the  county  was  consolidated  with  Alturas,  and 
the  act  which  created  the  new  county  of  Blaine 
made  him  collector  and  assessor  of  Blaine  coun- 
ty. While  in  office  the  second  year  he  sold  out 
to  his  partner,  Mr.  Clay,  and  was  not  connected 
with  the  store  through  1896.  He  has  also  served 
as  treasurer  of  the  city  of  Bellevue.  In  1897  he  re- 
purchased his  interest  in  the  store,  and  has  since 
successfully  conducted  the  mercantile  enterprise 
which  he  established  in  1882.  He  has  a  large 
and  well  equipped  store,  and  carries  a  well  as- 
sorted stock  of  goods  in  order  to  meet  the  varied 
tastes  of  the  public.  His  methods  are  honorable, 
his  manner  courteous  and  obliging  and  his  prices 
reasonable,  and  he  has  thus  secured  a  liberal  and 
lucrative  patronage.  He  also  has  valuable  mining 
interests  in  Nevada. 

In  1883  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Delano  and  Miss  Jessie  Fisher,  and  their  union 
was  blessed  with  a  daughter,  Delia.  In  1891  the 
wife  and  mother  was  called  to  her  final  rest,  and 
in  1894  Mr.  Delano  was  again  married,  his  sec- 
ond union  being  with  Miss  E.  Church.  They 
also  have  an  interesting  little  daughter,  Helen. 
Theirs  is  one  of  the  pleasant  and  hospitable  res- 
idences of  the  town. 

In  his  political  views  he  was  formerly  a  Re- 
publican, and  gave  to  the  party  a  stanch  support 
until  its  policy  as  a  "gold"  party  was  announced. 
He  then  withdrew  his  allegiance,  and  has  since 
alHed  himself  with  the  Populist  movement,  be- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


179 


lieving  that  its  position  on  the  great  financial 
question  best  embodies  the  general  good.  He  is 
a  charter  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen  and  is  now  financier  of  that  lodge.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  and  has  filled  all  the  chairs  in  that 
order.  He  ranks  very  high  as  a  good  citizen  and 
reliable  merchant,  and  his  sterling  worth  com- 
mends him  to  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  all. 

JOHN    BRODBECK. 

One  of  the  representative  business  men  of 
Boise,  Mr.  Brodbeck,  is  a  pioneer  of  Idaho,  hav- 
ing come  to  this  state  in  1865.  He  is  a  native  of 
Switzerland,  where  he  was  born  April  4,  1833, 
and  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native  land 
and  there  learned  the  brewing  business.  His 
parents  were  Nicholas  and  Elizabeth  (Hagler) 
Brodbeck,  the  former  of  whom  was  a  miller  by 
trade,  and  he  and  his  wife  were  members  of  the 
Lutheran  church  and  were  people  of  high  re- 
spectability in  the  old  country.  He  died  in  his 
fifty-third  year  and  his  wife  survived  him  until 
attaining  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-five  years. 
They  had  five  sons  and  two  daughters,  one  of  the 
latter  and  our  subject  being  the  only  ones  now 
living. 

After  leaving  school  Mr.  Brodbeck  entered  a 
commercial  house,  remaining  there  four  years 
and  then  became  connected  with  a  brewing 
house.  Subsequently  he  came  to  America,  land- 
ing at  New  York,  whence  he  journeyed  to  Cali- 
fornia in  1857  and  settled  at  Scott  Valley,  where 
he  had  a  brother  living  near  Fort  Jones.  General 
Crook  was  then  a  second  lieutenant  at  the  fort 
and  Mr.  Brodbeck  became  intimately  acquainted 
with  him.  Our  subject  was  engaged  in  farming 
for  a  few  years,  but  hearing  of  the  silver  discov- 
eries in  Nevada  he  sold  out  and  went  to  that 
state,  where  he  remained  a  year  and  then  decided 
to  come  to  the  gold  fields  of  Idaho.  He  pur- 
chased an  ox-team  outfit,  and  with  the  pioneer 
Sommercamp  he  set  out  for  the  "Gem  of  the 
Mountains,"  walking  all  the  way  and  driving  one 
of  the  teams,  while  his  young  wife  came  also  at 
this  time.  When  they  left  Nevada  the  Indians 
were  on  the  war  path  and  emigrants  were  killed 
both  in  front  and  behind  them,  but  they  were  not 
molested  and  arrived  at  Boise  late  in  May,  1865, 
and  in  Idaho  City  on  the  first  of  June,  residing  in 


the  latter  place  for  thirteen  years.  Finding  noth- 
ing better  to  do,  Mr.  Brodbeck  bought  a  dray 
and  engaged  in  draying  for  two  years,  and  then 
purchased  a  brewery,  which  .he  conducted  suc- 
cessfully from  1867  to  1872.  In  1871  he  was 
elected  county  treasurer  of  Boise  county  and 
served  with  efficiency  in  that  capacity  for  two 
terms  of  two  years  each,  and  he  was  also  engaged 
in  mining.  In  1878  he  came  to  Boise  and  pur- 
chased from  Mrs.  Missed  what  is  now  the  city 
brewery  of  Boise,  which  he  has  since  most  suc- 
cessfully carried  on.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  brew- 
eries in  the  state  and  under  Mr.  Brodbeck's  able 
management  has  attained  an  enviable  reputation 
for  its  high  quality  of  home-made  beer.  Mr. 
Brodbeck  also  owns  the  City  Brewery  saloon. 
He  built  his  present  brick  brewery  in  1890  and 
during  the  twenty-one  years  he  has  been  in  busi- 
ness in  Boise  he  has  interested  himself  in  many 
of  the  improvements  of  the  town,  with  other  busi- 
ness men,  and  has  rendered  valuable  aid  to  many 
public  enterprises.  He  is  thoroughly  reliable  in 
all  his  transactions  and  possesses  the  esteem  and 
respect  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

On  February  29,  1860,  Mr.  Brodbeck  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Sarah  Grattiger,  and  of  this  union 
one  daughter  has  been  born.  She  is  now  Mrs. 
T.  P.  Woodcock.  In  1865  Mr.  Brodbeck  was 
made  a  member  of  Pioneer  Lodge,  No.  i,  I.  O. 
O.  F.,  at  Idaho  City,  and  since  then  has  passed  all 
the  chairs  in  that  order. 

CLARENCE   W.    BROOKS. 

A  little  thoughtful  consideration  of  the  career 
of  Clarence  W.  Brooks,  proprietor  of  the  Brooks 
House,  Idaho  Falls,  brings  one  to  the  conclusion 
that  he  has  in  most  of  his  business  operations 
been  impelled  by  the  spirit  of  the  pioneer.  He 
has  sought  out  new  plans  and  new  conditions 
likely  to  favor  his  projects,  and  after  he  has  made 
them  available  and  profitable,  he  has  sought  out 
still  others,  and  after  those  others.  The  wisdom 
of  his  selection  has  been  proven  by  the  success 
which  has  crowned  his  efforts.  Not  only  is  he 
one  of  the  boldest,  most  venturesome  and  most 
successful  hotel  men  in  the  west,  but  he  is  one 
of  the  best  all-round  hotel  men  "to  the  manner 
born"  and  experienced  in  the  best  houses  in  the 
country,  with  a  comprehensive  grasp  on  the 
hotel  business,  as  such,  and  an  intimate  knowl- 


180 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


edge  of  all  the   details  of  good  hotel-keeping. 
Clarence  W.   Brooks  was  born   in   Royalton, 
Vermont,  Ju.ie  22,    1848.     His  ancestors  came 
from  England  and.  settled  early  in  New  Hamp- 
shire.    His  paternal  grandfather  was  a  Revolu- 
tionary soldier,  and  lived   for  some  years  after 
American  independence,  for  which  he  had  fought, 
was  an  established  fact.    Austin  Brooks,  his  son 
and  the  father  of  Clarence  W.  Brooks,  was  born 
in    Vermont,    and     there    married    Miss   Susan 
Smith,  and  they  lived  and  were  farmers  at  Roy- 
alton for  fifty  years,  until  his  death,  in  July,  1880, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years.    His  widow  lives 
at  their  old  home  and  is  now  (1899)   seventy- 
eight  years  old,  still  active  in  her  interest  in  the 
Congregational  church,  of  which  her  husband  also 
was  a  lifelong  member.    They  had  seven  children, 
three  of  whom  are  living.     Clarence  W.  Brooks 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
town,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  took  a  position 
in  a  grocery  house  in  Boston.    After  three  years 
there  he  went  to  New  York  city,  where  he  se- 
cured his  first  experience  in  hotel  life,  and  for  five 
yearS  was  employed  in  leading  houses.     In  1874 
he  went  to  Denver,  Colorado,  and  was  connected 
with  the  Sargent  House  for  six  months.     After 
that,  for  six  years,  he  managed  the  hotel  at  Ante- 
lope Park,  Colorado.   For  a  time  he  was  at  Butte, 
Montana,  then,  in    1884,   he  bought  the  Eagle 
House  at  Idaho  Falls  and  renamed  it  the  Brooks 
House.     In  August,  1886,  he  sold  it  and  went  to 
Kansas,  where  he  remained  three  years,  during 
that  time  building  two  hotels,  in  two  different 
towns,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  took  control 
of  the  St.  James  Hotel,  Ogden,  Utah.     In  1892 
we  find  him  in  Chicago,  making  extensive  prep- 
arations for  a  hotel  enterprise  during  the  World's 
Fair.    After  the  close  of  the  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion of  1893  he  went  to  San  Francisco,  Califor- 
nia, and,  after  taking  in  the  Mid-winter  Exposi- 
tion there,  returned  to  Idaho  Falls.     In  1895-6 
he  was  the  lessee  and  manager  of  the  hotel  there, 
and  later,  during  the  Omaha  exposition,  and  until 
May,   1899,  he  was  proprietor    of    the    Brooks 
House  in  that  city.    At  the  date  last  mentioned 
he  bought  the  Brooks  Hotel  at  Idaho  Falls  and 
closed  it  and  remodeled  and  largely  rebuilt  it,  and 
re-opened  it  as  a  first-class  house  with  modern 
accessories  and  conveniences.     In  all  these  hotel 
enterprises  Mr.  Brooks  has  been  successful,  and 


he  has  never  given  up  a  house  except  to  improve 
his  fortunes  elsewhere  and  has  never  disposed  of 
one  which  he  had  not  placed  on  a  paying  basis. 
He  is  the  owner  of  four  hundred  acres  of  choice 
farming  land,  on  which  he  raises  hay  and  grain 
and  vegetables  in  great  variety,  and  which  has 
proven  a  valuable  auxiliary  to  his  hotel  at  Idaho 
Falls. 

Throughout  the  entire  west  Mr.  Brooks  is 
known  as  a  genial  and  successful  man,  and  Mrs. 
Brooks'  reputation  as  a  model  "landlady"  is  co- 
extensive with  his.  She  was  Miss  Mary  Wallace, 
of  Butler,  Pennsylvania,  and  she  is  a  woman  of 
education  and  refinement,  having  taken  such  a 
hearty,  sensible  and  helpful  interest  in  many  of 
his  enterprises  that  he  has  attributed  their  success 
to  her  in  no  small  degree.  Mr.  Brooks  is  known 
as  a  voting  Republican  who  does  not  work  at 
politics. 

JOSEPH    GEIGER. 

The  career  of  this  successful  business  man  has 
been  crowned  with  results  which  must  be  taken 
as  another  evidence  of  the  progressive  quality 
of  the  German-American  character.  Joseph  Gei- 
ger  was  born  in  Baden,  Germany,  July  28,  1853, 
was  educated  in  the  Fatherland  and  came  to  the 
United  States  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  poor 
in  purse  and  ignorant  of  the  English  language. 
After  spending  six  months  in  New  York  city,  he 
went  to  Texas,  where  he  remained  two  years. 
Then  he  lived  two  years  in  Iowa.  By  that  time 
he  was  pretty  thoroughly  Americanized,  for  he 
was  a  studious  and  observant  young  man,  with 
everything  to  accomplish  and  with  an  indomita- 
ble determination  to  make  his  way  in  spite  of  any 
and  all  obstacles. 

From  Iowa  he  came  to  Genesee  valley,  in 
Idaho,  and  took  up  a  government  ranch  of  three 
hundred  and  twenty  acres.  There  were  not,  at 
that  time,  more  than  half  a  dozen  settlers  in  the 
valley,  and  Lewiston  and  Walla  Walla  were  the 
nearest  towns.  Mr.  Geiger  built  upon  and  im- 
proved this  holding,  sold  it  at  a  profit  and  bought 
other  lands,  and  he  still  owns  one  hundred  acres 
of  rich  clover  land,  about  a  mile  from  the  center 
of  the  city  of  Genesee.  He  is  the  owner  also  of 
considerable  town  property,  including  one  of  the 
most  cosy  and  comfortable  homes  in  Genesee. 

In  1888  the  firm  of  Geiger  &  Kambitch  built 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


181 


and  established  the  Genesee  brewery,  one  of  the 
pioneer  concerns  of  the  town.  The  plant  has 
been  enlarged  from  time  to  time  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  the  increasing  trade  of  the  growing 
town,  and  it  has  been  kept  always  adequate  to 
the  demands  upon  it.  The  beer  made  by  Messrs. 
Geiger  &  Kambitch  is  of  superior  quality,  and 
finds  ready  sale  in  Genesee  and  throughout  the 
surrounding  country. 

In  1889  Mr.  Geiger  married  Miss  Meta  Smith, 
and  their  union  was  blessed  by  the  advent  of  one 
child,  a  daughter,  whom  they  named  Ann.  His 
young  wife  died  when  they  had  had  but  two  years 
of  happy  married  life.  In  1893  Mr.  Geiger  mar- 
ried Miss  Charlotte  Brager,  and  to  them  have 
been  born  two  children,  Tillie  and  Fred.  Mrs. 
Geiger  is  an  admirable  woman,  an  affectionate 
wife  and  mother  and  helpful  in  the  woman's  work 
of  the  city.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Cath- 
olic church. 

A  stanch  Democrat,  Mr.  Geiger  is  influential  in 
the  public  affairs  of  Genesee.  He  has  been  for 
two  terms  president  of  the  city  council  and  in 
other  ways  has  done  the  community  good  service. 
In  every  sense  of  the  term,  he  is  a  public-spirited 
citizen,  and  his  generosity  has  been  manifested 
rot  only  in  the  building  of  his  own  church,  but 
in  the  establishment  and  material  advancement 
of  the  other  churches  of  Genesee.  He  is  always 
ready  to  aid  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  any  move- 
ment which  has  for  its  object  the  promotion  of 
the  public  good.  He  is  unostentatious  in  his  pri- 
vate helpfulness,  but  it  is  known  that  more  than 
one  man  has  found  him  "a  friend  in  need." 

BENJAMIN   A.   JENNE. 

Character  and  ability  will  come  to  the  front 
anywhere.  As  boy  and  man,  many  a  man  has 
been  buffeted  by  fortune  and  had  almost  insur- 
mountable obstacles  thrust  in  his  path,  but  per- 
severance has  cleared  them  away  and  he  has  gone 
on  to  success.  Such  has  been  the  experience  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  one  of  the  rising  and 
popular  citizens  and  public  men  of  Bingham 
county,  Idaho,  a  man  with  a  heart  for  any  ven- 
ture, and  a  smile  for  friend  and  foe. 

Benjamin  A.  Jenne,  deputy  sheriff  and  jailer 
of  Bingham  county,  Idaho,  was  born  at  Poor 
Man's  Gulch,  California,  October  22,  1855,  and  is 
descended  from  English  and  French  ancestry. 


His  grandfather,  Benjamin  P.  Jenne,  was  born 
in  France,  whence  he  emigrated  to  the  United 
States  and  settled  in  St.  Lawrence  county,  New 
York.  There  his  son  Benjamin  P.  Jenne,  2d, 
was  born  and  reared.  He  went,  while  yet  a  young 
man,  to  California,  and  there  married  Miss  Annie 
Ann  Richardson,  who  died  in  giving  birth  to  her 
only  child,  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Benjamin 
P.  Jenne,  2d,  died,  aged  eighty-seven,  in  1894. 

When  he  was  four  years  old,  Benjamin  A. 
Jenne  was  taken  to  Ohio  to  live  with  his  uncle, 
Ansel  Jenne,  and  remained  there,  attending 
school  after  he  was  old  enough,  until  he  was 
twelve.  He  then  went  back  to  St.  Lawrence 
county,  New  York,  where  he  had  a  home  with 
relatives,  and  at  fifteen  began  to  earn  his  own 
living.  For  two  years  he  was  a  sailor  on  the 
great  lakes  between  Ogdensburg,  New  York, 
and  Chicago,  Illinois.  Then  he  went  into  the 
Michigan  lumber  country  and  worked  in  the 
woods  in  the  winter  months  and  in  a  sawmill  at 
Muskegon  during  the  balance  of  the  year.  After 
that  he  was  a  farmer  in  DeKalb  county,  Illinois, 
until  1878,  when  he  came  to  Idaho  and  found 
employment  as  a  stage-driver  between  Echo  and 
Park  City,  Utah.  After  two  years  of  such  ex- 
perience he  took  up  the  hotel  and  restaurant 
business,  in  which  he  has  since  been  continuously 
successful.  His  first  venture  of  this  kind  was  at 
Soda  Springs,  Idaho,  and  he  was  encouraged  by 
its  success  to  go  to  Idaho  Falls.  There  for  a 
time  he  kept  the  Burgess  House.  Then  he  built 
the  Grahel  House  and  still  later  finished  and  ran 
the  Berry  House.  As  a  hotel  man  he  is  known 
widely  and  favorably. 

Politically  Mr.  Jenne  has  been  a  Democrat 
ever  since  he  began  to  take  an  intelligent  in- 
terest in  public  affairs.  In  1896,  at  Idaho  Falls, 
he  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace,  in  which 
office  he  served  until  January  15,  1899,  when  he 
was  appointed  deputy  sheriff  of  Bingham  county, 
by  Sheriff  Clyne,  who  has  long  been  his  warm 
personal  friend,  in  recognition  of  his  influence 
in  furthering  Mr.  Clyne's  election. 

In  1880  Mr.  Jenne  married  Miss  Kittie  E. 
Sutor,  a  Pennsylvania!!  by  birth,  who  was 
brought  very  young  to  Michigan,  and  there 
grew  to  womanhood.  They  have  four  children: 
Ada  Blanche,  Earl  C.,  Fred  and  Cora  Belle.  Mrs. 
Jenne  is  conducting  a  successful  millinery  busi- 


182 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ness  at  Idaho  Falls.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church.  Mr.  Jenne  is  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows and  has  passed  all  the  chairs  in  both  branch- 
es of  that  order  and  has  also  been  twice  chosen  to 
represent  his  lodge  in  the  grand  lodge  of  the 

state. 

ISAAC    N.    SULLIVAN. 

As  long  as  the  history  of  jurisprudence  in 
Idaho  shall  be  a  matter  of  record,  the  name  of 
Judge  Isaac  Newton  Sullivan  will  figure  conspic- 
uously therein,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  his  has 
been  the  distinguished  honor  of  serving  as  the 
first  chief  justice  of  the  state  as  well  as  from 
the  fact  that  he  is  recognized  as  the  peer  of  the 
ablest  representatives  of  the  legal  profession  in 
the  entire  northwest.  For  the  third  term  he  is  oc- 
cupying a  position  on  the  bench  of  the  supreme 
court,  and  his  career  has  been  an  honor  to  the 
state  which  has  so  highly  honored  him. 

Judge  Sullivan  is  a  native  of  Iowa,  his  birth 
having  occurred  on  his  father's  farm  in  Coffin 
Grove  township,  Delaware  county,  November  3, 
1848.  He  is  of  Scotch,  Irish  and  German  extrac- 
tion, and  in  his  life  exhibits  some  of  the  most 
commendable  characteristics  of  those  nationali- 
ties. His  paternal  grandfather,  Aaron  Sullivan, 
was  born  in  the  north  of  Ireland  and  when  a 
young  man  emigrated  to  New  Jersey.  He  was 
married  in  New  Jersey  and  at  an  early  day  in 
its  history  removed  to  Ohio,  locating  in  Logan 
county,  near  Degraff.  He  had  seven  children, 
born  in  New  Jersey  and  Ohio,  and  reared  and 
educated  in  Ohio.  The  third  of  this  family  was 
Aaron  Sullivan,  father  of  the  Judge.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Jane  Lippincott,  and  in  1844  removed 
to  Iowa,  becoming  one  of  the  pioneers  and  prom- 
inent citizens  of  Delaware  county.  He  held  the 
office  of  justice  of  the  peace  and  also  that  of 
county  commissioner,  and  was  one  of  the  or- 
ganizers of  the  Republican  party  in  that  locality, 
being  a  great  lover  of  liberty  and  an  inflexible 
opponent  of  slavery  and  oppression  in  every  form. 
He  became  an  extensive  farmer  and  stock-raiser 
and  largely  promoted  the  agricultural  interests 
of  his  county.  He  died  in  1892,  in  the  eighty-sec- 
ond year  of  his  age,  and  the  community  mourned 
the  loss  of  one  of  its  most  upright  and  honorable 
citizens.  His  wife  had  departed  this  life  in  1886, 
at  the  age  of  sixtv-seven  vears.  They  were  mem- 


bers of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  church, — that 
offshoot  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  denom- 
ination which  took  a  firm  stand  in  its  opposition 
to  slavery. 

Judge  Sullivan  is  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth  in 
their  family  of  nine  children,  eight  of  whom  are 
yet  living.  His  elementary  education,  acquired 
in  the  public  schools,  was  supplemented  by  a 
course  in  Adrian  College,  of  Michigan,  and  sub- 
sequently he  pursued  the  study  of  law  under  the 
direction  of  Judge  J.  M.  Brayton,  of  Delhi,  Iowa. 
In  1879  he  was  admitted  to  practice  by  the  su- 
preme court  of  that  state,  and  continued  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Iowa  bar  until  1881,  at  which  time  he 
came  to  Idaho,  locating  in  Hailey,  Elaine  county, 
where  he  practiced  with  success  until  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  supreme  bench.  Nature  bountifully 
endowed  him  with  the  peculiar  qualifications  that 
combine  to  make  a  successful  lawyer.  Patiently 
persevering,  possessed  of  an  analytical  mind,  and 
one  that  is  readily  receptive  and  retentive  of  the 
fundamental  principles  and  intricacies  of  the  law; 
gifted  with  a  spirit  of  devotion  to  wearisome  de- 
tails ;  quick  to  comprehend  the  most  subtle  prob- 
lems and  logical  in  his  conclusions;  fearless  in 
the  advocacy  of  any  cause  he  may  espouse,  and 
the  soul  of  honor  and  integrity,  few  men  have 
been  more  richly  gifted  for  the  achievement  of 
success  in  the  arduous,  difficult  profession  of  the 
law. 

At  the  first  election  held  after  the  adoption  of 
the  Idaho  state  constitution,  in  1890,  Judge  Sul- 
livan was  chosen  a  justice  of  .the  supreme  court. 
The  judges  then  cast  lots  for  the  length  of  terms 
they  should  serve,  and  by  reason  of  securing  the 
shortest  term  Judge  Sullivan  became  the  first 
chief  justice  of  the  state.  In  1892  he  was  re- 
elected  for  a  full  term  of  six  years,  and  during  the 
years  1897  and  1898  he  was  again  chief  justice, 
and  in  November,  1898,  was  once  more  chosen 
for  the  high  office  which  he  is  now  so  creditably 
filling.  His  decisions  form  an  important  part 
of  the  judicial  history  of  the  state,  and  have  in 
many  instances  excited  the  highest  admiration  of 
the  bar  bf  the  state.  He  has  been  a  lifelong  Re- 
publican, but  disagrees  with  his  party  on  the 
money  question  and  was  elected  for  his  third 
term  on  the  silver  Republican  ticket. 

He  has  interests  in  both  farming  and  mining 
lands,  owning  a  number  of  patented  mining 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


183 


claims  which  yield  silver  and  lead  ores.  At 
Hailey,  where  he  has  so  long  resided,  he  has 
a  very  commodious  home,  containing  a  large  and 
valuable  law  library,  as  well  as  an  extensive  libra- 
ry of  general  literature,  which  indicates  the  cul- 
tured and  Intellectual  taste  of  the  inmates  of  the 
home.  The  Judge  was  happily  married  in  1870, 
to  Miss  Chastine  Josephine  Moore,  a  daughter 
of  S.  W.  Moore,  a  pioneer  settler  of  the  West- 
ern Reserve  of  Ohio.  They  have  two  sons,  both 
lawyers.  The  elder,  Willis  E.,  is  a  graduate  of 
the  Columbian  University,  of  Washington,  D.  C., 
and  is  now  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in 
Scranton,  Pennsylvania.  The  younger  son,  La 
Verne  L.,  is  a  graduate  of  the  same  university, 
and  is  now  with  his  parents  in  Hailey.  Mrs. 
Sullivan  is  a  valued  member  of  the  Methodist 
church,  and,  like  her  husband,  is  highly  esteemed 
by  many  friends  throughout  the  state.  In  man- 
ner the  Judge  is  quiet  and  unassuming,  and  this 
entire  lack  of  self-laudation  is  one  of  the  char- 
acteristics that  have  endeared  him  to  the  people. 
A  man  of  unimpeachable  character,  of  unusual 
intellectual  endowments,  with  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  law,  patience,  urbanity  and  indus- 
try, he  took  to  the  bench  the  very  highest  quali- 
fications for  this  most  responsible  office  in  the 
system  of  the  state  government,  and  his  record 
as  a  judge  has  been  in  harmony  with  his  record 
as  a  man  and  a  lawyer,  distinguished  by  unswerv- 
ing integrity  and  a  masterful  grasp  of  every  prob- 
lem that  has  presented  itself  for  solution. 

CARLYLE    L.    PELOT. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  a  majority  of  the 
pioneers  of  Idaho  Falls  were  young,  or  compara- 
tively young,  men.  They  did  not  come  to  mold 
a  new  community  in  accordance  with  antiquated 
precedents  which  had  been  worn  out  elsewhere. 
They  came  open-eyed,  susceptible  to  conviction, 
ready  to  take  conditions  as  they  existed  and 
shape  them  according  to  the  logic  of  the  time  and 
the  place.  How  they  succeeded,  every  one  knows 
who  knows  anything  of  the  history  of  the  town. 
One  of  the  most  far-sighted  of  these  pioneers 
was  the  man  whose  name  appears  above;  and  it 
is  the  purpose  of  the  writer  to  give  a  brief  ac- 
count of  his  antecedents,  his  life  and  his  suc- 
cesses to  the  present  time. 

Carlyle  L.  Pelot  descended  from  French  an- 


cestry. His  grandparents  in  the  paternal  line 
came  to  America  at  an  early  day  and  located  at 
Savannah,  Georgia.  There  Frank  L.  Pelot,  fath- 
er of  Carlyle,  our  subject,  was  born.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Bettie  Carlyle,  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
In  1856  they  removed  to  Missouri  and  settled 
near  Blackburn,  in  Salem  county,  where  Mr.  Pelot 
became  a  successful  farmer.  He  is  yet  living, 
aged  seventy.  His  wife  died  in  her  sixtieth  year. 

Their  son,  Carlyle  L.,  was  born  in  Woodford 
county,  Kentucky,  May  18,  1854.  He  was  two 
years  old  when  his  parents  located  in  Missouri, 
and  there  he  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
and  brought  up  to  the  life  of  a  farmer  and  stock- 
breeder, and  also  was  taught  all  the  arts  of  horse- 
taming,  etc.  Twenty  years  ago  a  change  of  cli- 
mate was  prescribed  for  him,  and  he  sought  a 
broader  field  of  enterprise  than  the  one  in  which 
he  had  been  working.  He  got  together  a  good 
"bunch"  of  horses  and  drove  them  to  Omaha  and 
shipped  them  to  Laramie,  Wyoming,  and  from 
there  drove  them  to  Idaho  Falls,  where  he  ar- 
rived July  3,  1879.  There  were  fifteen  men  in  his 
party,  and  a  large  portion  of  them  became  per- 
manent citizens  of  Idaho.  Mr.  Pelot  engaged  in 
the  livery  business,  opening  the  first  livery  stable 
in  the  town.  In  three  years  he  sold  it  to  Mr. 
Taylor,  and  during  the  succeeding  three  years 
followed  farming  on  Mr.  Taylor's  ranch.  Re- 
turning to  Idaho  Falls,  he  resumed  the  manage- 
ment of  the  livery  business,  under  an  arrange- 
ment with  Mr.  Taylor,  which  was  in  force  four 
years,  when  he  bought  the  business  which,  in 
the  spring  of  1899,  he  sold  to  S.  F.  Taylor.  He 
is  now  dealing  in  coal,  and  in  his  new  venture  is 
meeting  with  success. 

Mr.  Pelot's  experience  in  the  Snake  river  val- 
ley has  been  a  comprehensive  one.  When  he 
arrived,  there  were  only  seven  ranches  in  the  val- 
ley. Gradually  he  has  seen  it  dotted  with  bustling 
towns  and  villages  and  everywhere  with  homes 
and  ranches;  he  has  seen  a  band  of  brave  and  in- 
dustrious pioneers,  of  whom  he  was  one,  make 
a  wilderness  literally  bloom  like  a  rose;  he  has 
seen  the  old  order  of  things  pass  away,  and  wit- 
nessed the  dawn  and  advancement  of  civilization 
in  a  land,  strange,  rich  and  beautiful. 

In  1884  Mr.  Pelot  married  Miss  Alice  Buck, 
a  native  of  Maine,  and  they  have  five  children, — 
two  sons  and  three  daughters, — all  born  in  Idaho 


184 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Falls:    Bettie  C.,  Carlyle  L.,  Jr.,  Helen  H.,  Ellis 
S.  and  Alice  J. 

Mr.  Pelot  is  a  member  of  the  Woodmen  of  the 
World,  and  is  identified  with  other  secret  and 
social  organizations.  The  upbuilding  of  the  in- 
terests of  Idaho  Falls  has  always  had  his  helpful 
support,  for  he  is  as  public-spirited  as  he  is  en- 
terprising and  progressive.  Politically  he  is  a 
Democrat,  and,  while  he  is  not  an  active  poli- 
tician as  the  term  is  usually  applied,  he  exerts  a 
recognized  influence  upon  the  affairs  of  his  party. 

WILLIAM    H.    RIDENBOUGH. 

A  business  man  of  Boise  engaged  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  lumber  and  flour,  Mr.  Ridenbough, 
is  a  native  of  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  where  he  was 
born  April  17,  1853.  He  has  built  a  most  palatial 
residence  in  Boise,  and  his  home,  with  its  beauti- 
fully arranged  grounds,  fittingly  represents  the 
good  taste  of  its  builder.  In  Boise  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ridenbough  possess  a  large  number  of  friends, 
who  are  often  the  recipients  of  their  cordial  hos- 
pitality. 

J.    D.    C.   THIESSEN. 

One  of  the  best  known  and  most  successful 
sheep-raisers  and  wool-growers  of  Idaho  is  J.  D. 

C.  Thiessen,  of  Lewiston.    A  native  of  Holstein, 
Germany,  he  was  born  February   16,  1843,  and 
is  of  Danish  ancestry,  although  his  parents,  John 

D.  and   Mary   (Hanchild)   Thiessen,   were  both 
natives  of  Germany.     The  father  was  a  farmer 
and  trader.     In  religious  faith  both  he  and  his 
wife  were  Lutherans,  and  the  former  lived  to  be 
fifty-four  years  of  age,  while  the  mother  departed 
this  life  in  her  fifty-sixth  year.     Mr.  Thiessen  of 
this  review  is  the  fourth  in  their  family  of  seven 
children.     He  was  educated  in  his  native  land, 
and  when  twenty-three  years  of  age  emigrated 
to   the   United   States,    reaching   New   York   in 
1866.    Two  years  later  he  came  to  San  Francisco, 
where   he   pursued    a    course   in    a    commercial 
school   and   was   thus   fitted   for   life's   practical 
duties.    He  did  not  come  to  this  country  entirely 
empty-handed,  as  so   many  have   done,   having 
had  five  hundred  dollars  on  his  arrival.    He  was, 
however,  ignorant  of  the  English  language,  and 
had  to  meet  other  difficulties.  After  having  spent 
several  years  in  America,  he  received  three  thou- 
sand dollars  from  his  father's  estate,  but  lost  it 
in  mining  enterprises  in  California  and  Nevada, 


and  when  he  arrived  in  Lewiston,  November  10, 
1876,  he  had  just  eighteen  and  one-half  dollars 
remaining. 

Here  he  entered  the  employ  of  John  Brearley, 
but  soon  afterward  the  Indian  war  broke  out,  and 
he  engaged  in  packing  army  supplies  for  the  gov- 
ernment, receiving  eighty-five  dollars  per  month 
and  his  rations.  In  the  spring  of  1878  he  estab- 
lished a  saloon  in  Lewiston,  which  he  conducted 
for  a  year.  He  then  went  to  San  Francisco,  but 
after  about  a  year  returned  to  Lewiston.  In  1885 
he  received  the  appointment  of  deputy  sheriff  of 
Nez  Perces  county,  and  in  1886  he  became  con- 
nected with  the  stock  business,  raising  cattle  and 
horses.  In  1889,  however,  he  sold  his  cattle, 
numbering  about  two  hundred  head,  and  turned 
his  attention  to  the  sheep  industry,  in  which  he 
has  since  been  eminently  successful.  His  first 
purchase  consisted  of  nineteen  hundred  and 
sixty-four  head,  and  he  now  has  twelve  thousand 
old  sheep  and  five  thousand  lambs.  He  raises 
Merino  sheep,  slightly  mixed  with  Delaine,  and 
for  raising  in  large  flocks  he  has  found  this  breed 
well  adapted  to  Idaho.  The  bucks  average  twen- 
ty-eight pounds  of  wool  and  the  ewes  nine 
pounds  each.  He  says  that  the  tariff  on  wool  has 
doubled  its  price  and  he  now  has  two  years'  clip 
on  hand,  which  will  bring  him  handsome  returns. 
He  has  also  acquired  one  thousand  acres  of  land, 
on  which  he  raises  hay  and  grain,  employing 
from  fifteen  to  forty  men,  according  to  the  sea- 
son. He  has  one  of  the  most  desirable  business 
locations  in  Lewiston,  known  as  "The  Old  Cor- 
ner." He  has  also  erected  a  fine  residence  in  the 
city. 

In  1879  Mr.  Thiessen  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Lillie  Meister,  who  was  born  in  Chicago, 
March  10,  1862.  They  became  the  parents  of  six 
children,  four  of  whom  are  living;  Clarence  C. 
and  Sylvester  S.  are  attending  school  in  Port- 
land; George  Garfield  and  Vandaline  V.  are  at 
home. 

In  politics  Mr.  Thiessen  is  a  stalwart  Repub- 
lican. On  coming  to  this  country  he  studied 
closely  the  political  questions,  the  platforms  of 
the  parties  and  the  measures  advocated  by  each, 
and  has  always  been  identified  with  the  Republi- 
can party.  In  the  campaign  of  1896  so  active 
was  he  in  support  of  the  Republican  presidential 
nominee  that  his  friends  laughingly  termed  him 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


185 


"Mr.  McKinley."  He  is  an  intelligent,  enterpris- 
ing, progressive  man,  and  his  well  directed  ef- 
forts have  brought  to  him  a  success  that  numbers 
him  among  the  substantial  citizens  of  his  adopted 

state. 

WILLIAM    A.    BAKER. 

The  commercial  interests  of  Moscow  are  well 
represented  by  William  Alexander  Baker,  a  lead- 
ing and  enterprising  merchant,  whose  well  direct- 
ed efforts,  sound  judgment  and  reliable  dealing 
are  bringing  to  him  a  creditable  and  satisfactory 
success.  For  twelve  years  he  has  carried  on 
operations  in  Moscow,  where  he  deals  in  both 
new  and  second-hand  goods.  He  is  a  native  of 
Virginia,  born  in  Augusta  county,  July  13,  1855, 
of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  His  grandfather,  Guinn 
Baker,  was  the  founder  of  the  family  in  the  Old 
Dominion,  and  was  an  industrious  and  respected 
farmer  and  a  valued  member  of  the  Methodist 
church.  He  devoted  his  entire  life  to  agricultural 
pursuits  in  Virginia,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
eighty-two  years.  His  son,  Frank  Baker,  father 
of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  and 
married  Miss  Martha  Guinn,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia. They  removed  to  Tippecanoe  county, 
Indiana,  and  he  began  farming  on  a  tract  of  land 
of  forty  acres,  but  as  time  passed  he  extended  the 
boundaries  of  his  place  until  it  comprised  one 
hundred  and  forty  acres.  His  wife  died  in  her 
forty-second  year,  but  he  lived  to  be  seventy-one 
years  of  age.  Both  enjoyed  the  high  regard  of 
their  fellow  men,  and  their  lives  were  well  spent. 
They  had  a  family  of  three  daughters  and  two 
sons,  of  whom  four  are  living. 

William  A.  Baker,  their  eldest  child,  spent  his 
childhood  days  on  his  father's  farm  and  was  early 
inured  to  the  arduous  labors  of  the  fields.  He 
assisted  in  the  planting  and  harvesting  of  crops 
through  the  summer  months  and  attended  the 
public  schools  through  the  winter  season.  He 
began  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world  by  buy- 
ing and  raising  stock,  and  followed  that  business 
for  five  years,  after  which  he  removed  to  Dallas, 
Texas,  where  he  served  on  the  police  force  of  the 
city  for  a  year.  The  yellow  fever  then  broke  out, 
and  in  order  to  escape  the  dread  disease  he  re- 
moved to  Polk  county,  Oregon. 

In  1878,  in  Monmoudi,  Oregon,  Mr.  Baker 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Alice  Hooper,  a 
native  of  Indiana,  and  their  union  has  been 


blessed  with  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  de- 
ceased,— Etta  and  Earl  G.  Leta,  a  talented 
young  lady,  who  has  graduated  in  music,  is  now 
at  home  with  her  parents. 

Mr.  Baker  remained  in  Oregon  only  two  years, 
and  then  came  to  Idaho,  where  he  secured  a  claim 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  government 
land.  This  he  cultivated  for  a  time,  but  later  sold 
and  took  up  a  homestead  six  and  a  half  miles 
east  of  Moscow.  This  he  also  improved,  but  at 
length  disposed  of  that  property  and  invested  his 
money  in  city  realty  in  Moscow,  where  he  now 
owns  his  store  building  and  several  good  resi- 
dences. He  also  has  real  estate  in  Portland,  Ore- 
gon, and  other  property  in  Moscow.  His  store 
is  twenty-five  by  fifty  feet,  with  an  addition  in 
the  rear,  forty  by  sixty  feet.  He  carries  a  large 
stock  of  new  and  second-hand  furniture,  and  by 
close  attention  to  his  business,  straightforward 
dealing  and  courteous  treatment  of  his  patrons, 
he  has  secured  a  large  trade,  which  returns  to 
him  a  good  income. 

Mr.  Baker  joined  the  Masonic  fraternity  in 
Romney  Lodge,  No.  441,  F.  &  A.  M.,  in  Rom- 
ney,  Indiana,  in  1874,  and  is  now  treasurer  of  the 
lodge  in  Moscow,  wherein  he  has  also  filled  other 
offices.  He  and  his  wife  and  daughter  are  all 
members  of  the  Eastern  Star,  and  he  also  be- 
longs to  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees.  His  wife 
holds  membership  in  the  Christian  church,  while 
•he  gives  his  preference  to  the  Methodist  belief. 
In  politics  he  has  always  been  a  Republican, 
and  he  was  the  efficient  marshal  of  Moscow  for 
three  years,  manifesting  marked  fidelity  to  duty 
during  his  term  of  service.  The  success  he  has 
achieved  is  the  merited  reward  of  his  own  labors, 
and  he  has  justly  won  the  proud  American  title 
of  a  "self-made  man." 

* 

NEWELL   JONATHAN    BROWN,    M.    D. 

The  well  established  family  physician  obtains 
an  influence  in  any  community  which  is  more  far- 
reaching  than  that  of  any  man  sustaining  other 
relations  to  the  public.  The  reasons  for  this  are 
.  too  obvious  to  require  mention  here.  Dr.  N.  J. 
Brown  is  to  the  people  of  Hailey  the  ideal  family 
doctor,  and  he  is  the  oldest  physician  and  sur- 
geon in  the  place.  He  cast  his  lot  with  the  citi- 
zens of  Hailey  in  1883,  when  the  town  was  but 
two  years  old,  and  from  that  time  he  has  prac- 


186 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


ticed  his  profession  in  Hailey  and  its  tributary 
territory,  and  shown  a  helpful  interest  in  every 
movement  tending  to  the  greatest  good  of  his 
townspeople. 

Dr.  Brown  comes  of  a  good  old  English  family, 
and  was  born  in  Stanstead,  Canada,  March  10, 
1854.  Generations  before  that  time  his  progeni- 
tors had  come  over  in  the  Mayflower  and  located 
in  New  England,  whence  his  particular  branch 
of  the  family  had,  in  the  exigencies  of  life,  found 
its  way  to  the  Dominion.  The  "pilgrim"  of  the 
Brown  family  who  landed  at  Plymouth  Rock  was 
James.  Ozias  Gilbert  Brown,  the  father  of  Dr. 
N.  J.  Brown,  was  born  at  Epsom,  New  Hamp- 
shire, March  27,  1806,  and,  now  in  his  ninety- 
fourth  year,  is  living  in  Stanstead  county,  prov- 
ince of  Quebec,  rounding  out  a  life  as  a  useful 
citizen  and  a  successful  farmer.  He  married  Miss 
Margaret  Foss,  a  native  of  Canada  but  of  New 
Hampshire  lineage,  who  could  trace  her  ancestry- 
back  to  a  "pilgrim"  refugee.  She  died  at  the  age 
of  forty-eight  years,  leaving  five  children.  Her 
eldest  son  is  now  seventy-one  years  old.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  is  her  youngest  son.  Two 
of  her  sons  served  the  Union  cause  in  the  war  of 
the  rebellion  and  died  from  disease  contracted  in 
the  army. 

Dr.  Brown,  whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  was 
educated  at  McGill  University,  at  Montreal,  and 
at  Dartmouth  College.  His  degree  of  M.  D.  was 
conferred  upon  him  November  3,  1875,  and  he 
began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Montreal. 
Three  months  later  he  moved  to  Red  Oak,  Iowa, 
where  he  was  in  successful  practice  for  some  time. 
While  on  a  visit  to  some  friends  at  Grundy  Cen- 
ter, Iowa,  in  1877.  he  was  induced  to  locate  with 
them,  which  he  did  for  a  time. 

October  19,  1878,  Dr.  Brown  married,  at  El- 
clora,  Iowa,  Miss  Celia  Frances  Eastman,  the 
daughter  of  ex-Lieutenant  Governor  E.  W.  East- 
man, a  prominent  attorney  and  one  of  the  pio- 
neers of  that  state.  A  few  weeks  afterward  he  con- 
tracted pneumonia,  and  when  he  had  partially  re- 
covered he  was  advised  by  brother  physicians  to 
spend  some  time  in  the  climate  of  Colorado  as 
the  only  means  which  held  out  any  certainty  of 


his  complete  restoration  to  health.  He  went  to 
Colorado  December  28  following  and  remained 
there  until  his  removal  to  Hailey,  in  April,  1883. 
This  place  possessed  dual  advantages  for  him, 
being  both  prosperous  and  of  the  right  altitude 
for  him.  Health  awaited  him  here,  and  almost 
at  once  he  entered  upon  a  prosperous  and  grow- 
ing practice,  which  extends  for  many  miles 
throughout  the  country.  He  has  established  a 
commodious,  well  appointed  and  altogether  de- 
lightful home,  in  which  a  generous  hospitality  is 
dispensed. 

In  general,  Dr.  Brown  is  first  and  beyond  all 
a  physician.  His  profession  commands  him  be- 
fore any  other  interest.  But  at  the  same  time  he 
has  not  been  blind  to  his  opportunities,  and  has 
secured  several  valuable  gold  and  silver  mining 
interests,  to  the  development  of  which  he  devotes 
intelligent  attention,  with  good  prospect  that 
they  will  prove  profitable.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Medical  Association  and  of  the  Idaho 
State  Medical  Association,  and  has  been  local 
surgeon  of  the  Union  Pacific  and  the  Oregon 
Short  Line  Railroad  Companies  ever  since  1883. 
Fraternally  he  is  one  of  the  highest  Masons  in 
the  state,  belonging  to  the  blue  lodge,  chapter 
and  commandery,  and  has  taken  all  the  Scottish 
rite  degrees  up  to  and  including  the  thirty-second. 
He  is  also  a  Mystic  Shriner  and  a  Knight  Com- 
mander of  the  Court  of  Honor,  which  makes  him 
eligible  to  the  thirty-third  degree,  the  last  and 
highest  in  Freemasonry.  He  has  membership 
also  in  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen 
and  in  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  have  four  sons, — Newell 
J.,  Jr.,  Newbern  N.,  Austin  F.  and  Gilman. 

The  Doctor  has  identified  himself  with  every 
worthy  interest  of  Hailey  and  is  considered  one 
of  its  most  enterprising,  progressive  and  public- 
spirited  citizens.  He  is  popular  beyond  most  of 
his  fellow  townsmen  and  has  an  influence  second 
to  that  of  no  other.  He  possesses  a  frank  and 
genial  manner,  which  makes  him  friends  wher- 
ever he  goes,  and  such  is  his  strong,  helpful 
character  that  he  is  enabled  to  retain  all  of  these 
friends. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


THE   PRESS   OF   IDAHO. 


IX  THE  promotion  and  conservation  of  ad- 
vancement in  all  the  normal  lines  of  human 
progress  and  civilization  there  is  no  fac- 
tor which  has  exercised  a  more  potent  in- 
fluence than  the  press,  which  is  both  the 
director  and  the  mirror  of  public  opinion. 
Idaho,  both  as  a  territory  and  a  state, 
has  been  signally  favored  in  the  character 
of  its  newspapers,  which  have  been  vital,  enthu- 
siastic and  progressive,  ever  aiming  to  advance 
the  interests  of  this  favored  section  of  the  Union, 
to  aid  in  laying  fast  and  sure  the  foundations  of 
an  enlightened  commonwealth,  to  further  the 
ends  of  justice  and  to  uphold  the  banner  of  the 
"Gem  of  the  Mountains."  In  a  compilation  of 
this  nature,  then,  it  is  clearly  incumbent  that  due 
recognition  be  accorded  the  newspaper  press  of 
the  state,  and  in  view  of  this  fact  this  chapter  is 
thus  devoted,  in  appreciation  of  the  earnest  la- 
bors of  those  who  have  represented  Idaho  jour- 
nalism in  the  past  and  who  represent  it  in  these 
latter  days  of  the  century. 

THE    IDAHO    DAILY    STATESMAN. 

The  press  has  not  only  recorded  the  history  of 
advancement,  but  has  also  ever  been  the  leader 
in  the  work  of  progress  and  improvement, — the 
vanguard  of  civilization.  The  philosopher  of 
some  centuries  ago  proclaimed  the  truth  that 
"the  pen  is  mightier  than  the  sword,"  and  the 
statement  is  continually  being  verified  in  the  af- 
fairs of  life.  In  molding  public  opinion  the  power 
of  the  newspaper  cannot  be  estimated,  but  at  all 
events  its  influence  is  greater  than  any  other 
single  agency.  In  the  history  of  Idaho,  therefore, 
an  account  of  the  paper  whose  name  heads  this 
article  should  form  an  important  factor.  The  old- 
est newspaper  in  the  state,  for  thirty-five  years  it 
has  sent  forth  accounts  of  the  "Gem  of  the  Moun- 
tains," its  splendid  resources,  its  rich  mineral  de- 
posits, its  arable  lands,  its  valuable  forests,  its 
splendid  climate  and  beautiful  scenery,  and  has 


thus  attracted  to  the  state  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  her  best  people. 

But  this  is  not  all  the  work  accomplished  DV 
the  Statesman  during  the  thirty-five  years  that 
have  come  and  gone  since  there  drove  into  the 
little  mining  town  of  Boise  three  men,  who 
halted  their  two  bull  teams  in  the  sand  and  gravel 
of  Main  street.  These  men  all  bore  the  name  of 
Reynolds.  The  eldest,  however,  was  from  Maine, 
— James  S.  Reynolds.  He  was  about  forty  years 
of  age.  angular,  over  six  feet  in  height  and  hav- 
ing the  hardihood  that  came  through  labor  in 
the  lumber  camps  of  the  Pine  Tree  state.  He, 
however,  possessed  intelligence  and  great  force 
of  character,  and  for  a  number  of  years  remained 
at  the  head  of  the  Statesman,  meeting  with  ex- 
cellent success  in  its  conduct.  His  two  com- 
panions were  much  younger,  brothers  of  twenty 
and  eighteen  years.  The  elder  was  a  merry-faced, 
brown-eyed  young  man  with  long,  dark  curly 
hair;  the  younger  was  of  shorter  stature,  light 
complexion,  blue  eyes  and  in  manner  more  quiet 
and  reserved.  They  were  from  Missouri,  and  the 
date  of  their  arrival  was  July  15,  1864.  In  talk- 
ing with  some  of  the  men  of  the  town  it  was 
learned  that  the  Messrs.  Reynolds  had  a  print- 
ing outfit  in  their  two  wagons,  which  they  were 
transporting  from  The  Dalles,  Oregon,  to  Idaho 
City,  then  called  Bannack,  where  they  expected 
to  establish  a  printing-office.  Riggs  &  Agnew, 
at  whose  place  of  business  the  conversation  oc- 
curred, and  who  were  members  of  the  town-site 
company,  knew  the  value  of  a  newspaper  in  build- 
ing up  a  town,  and  in  connection  with  other  lead- 
ing citizens  of  Boise  induced  the  owners  of  the 
printing  outfit  to  remain  in  the  capital  city, — 
then  a  mere  hamlet. 

The  only  building  that  could  be  procured  by 
the  Messrs.  Reynolds  as  a  place  in  which  to  begin 
business  was  a  small  structure  of  cottomvood 
logs,  containing  two  rooms,  the  rear  one  with  a 
back  entrance  like  the  open  end  of  a  sawmill. 


187 


188 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


On  the  26th  of  July  the  first  copy  of  the  paper 
was  issued.  It  was  a  small,  four-column  paper, 
christened  the  Idaho  Tri- Weekly  Statesman.  The 
senior  member  of  the  firm  was  a  stanch  aboli- 
tionist and  Union  man;  the  brothers  were  from 
Missouri,  and  their  sympathies  were  strongly 
with  the  south;  but  though  their  views  were  so 
diametrically  opposite  they  managed  to  avoid  all 
disturbances  in  their  business,  and  the  little  paper 
flourished.  The  subscription  price  was  one  dollar 
a  week  by  carrier  or  twenty  dollars  a  year 
by  mril,  and  three  dollars  a  square  for  each  in- 
sertion for  advertisements  and  twenty-five  dollars 
a  thousand  for  bill-heads,  with  other  work  in  pro- 
portion. 

The  Statesman  Company  not  only  prospered 
but  made  money  very  rapidly.  In  its  first  issue 
the  following  paragraph  appeared  in  the  saluta- 
tory: "We  shall  in  the  first  place  try  to  make 
the  Statesman  a  newspaper  that  everybody  in 
the  territory  can  afford  to  buy,  and  if  possible  one 
that  few  can  afford  to  be  without.  *  *  *  We 
shall  undertake  to  so  conduct  the  Statesman  as 
shall  best  advance  the  interests  of  this  community 
and  this  territory,  knowing  that  in  so  do- 
ing we  shall  best  secure  our  own."  Thus 
was  outlined  a  policy  that  has  been  car- 
ried out  to  the  letter  through  all  these 
years.  While  of  marked  Republican  sym- 
pathies, it  has  always  endeavored  to  give  all 
the  news  and  to  deal  justly  and  fairly  by  all,  and 
it  has  been  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term  a  news- 
paper. In  the  interests  of  the  Republican  party, 
however,  it  has  labored  most  earnestly.  In  its 
first  issue  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  stood 
at  the  head  of  its  editorial  columns,  and  every 
four  years  since,  the  name  of  the  standard-bearer 
of  the  Republican  party  has  occupied  that  place. 

The  paper  was  published  as  a  tri-weekly  for 
some  years.  Almost  continually  A.  J.  Boyakin 
has  been  connected  with  the  paper,  and  on  the 
occasion  of  the  thirty-fourth  anniversary  of  its 
establishment  he  wrote  an  account  of  the  States- 
man, in  which  appeared  the  following:  "In  get- 
ting out  the  paper  on  time  we  worked  nearly  all 
night,  and  frequently  the  Boise  Basin  stage  would 
pull  out  ahead  of  us  and  we  would  have  to  send 
Dick  Reynolds  to  overtake  it  on  a  horse  with  the 
mail  packages  for  the  different  mining  camps. 
The  war  news  made  a  big  demand  for  the  States- 


man, and  we  ran  off  an  edition  of  a  thousand 
copies  each  issue.  When  the  details  of  a  great 
battle  came  we  would  get  out  an  extra,  print  sev- 
eral hundred,  and  send  a  man  on  a  fleet  horse 
with  them  to  the  Boise  Basin,  where  they  sold 
for  from  fifty  cents  to  a  dollar." 

In  the  summer  of  1866  T.  B.  and  R.  W.  Rey- 
nolds sold  their  interest  in  the  Statesman  to  the 
senior  member  of  the  firm  and  returned  to  Mis- 
souri. In  1867  James  S.  Reynolds  sold  out  to 
H.  C.  Street,  Claude  Goodrich  and  A.  J.  Boyakin, 
but  after  a  month  they  resold  to  Mr.  Reynolds, 
who  continued  as  owner  and  editor  until  1872, 
when  it  was  purchased  by  Judge  Milton  Kelly, 
one  of  the  supreme  justices  of  Idaho,  who  con- 
ducted it  as  a  tri-weekly  until  1888,  when  it  was 
changed  to  a  daily.  The  following  year  it  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  present  management,  The 
Statesman  Printing  Company. 

The  Statesman  is  the  oldest  paper  in  the  state, 
and  from  the  beginning  has  never  missed  a  pub- 
lication. Prosperity  has  attended  it  from  the 
start,  and  it  has  been  the  mirror  sending  the  re- 
flection of  Idaho's  beauty,  development,  history 
and  opportunities  throughout  the  world.  It  has 
also  been  characterized  by  a  broad  national  sym- 
pathy, and  perhaps  we  cannot  better  indicate  its 
patriotic  spirit  than  by  quoting  from  the  editorial 
in  the  issue  of  July  26,  1898, — the  thirty-fourth 
anniversary  of  its  founding:  "The  Statesman 
was  born  while  the  country  was  in  the  throes  of 
the  civil  war.  The  people  of  this  country  were 
divided,  apparently  hopelessly  so;  black  clouds 
overshadowed  the  nation  and  the  people  were 
shaken  by  storms  of  dissension.  Although  far 
removed  from  the  actual  scenes  of  warfare,  the 
infant  paper  uttered  its  first  cry  in  the  midst  of  a 
community  the  majority  of  whose  people  were 
moved  to  bitterness  against  their  country's  flag; 
but  that  cry  was  nevertheless  for  Old  Glory.  Sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  bitter  enemies,  the  sturdy 
little  journal  raised  its  voice  for  the  Union  cause 
and  prophesied  ultimate  victory  for  the  forces  of 
freedom.  To-day  it  is  a  most  gratifying  reflec- 
tion that  the  Statesman  celebrates  its  thirty- 
fourth  birthday  with  a  united  people  engaged  in 
a  warfare  against  the  enemies  of  liberty  in  a  for- 
eign land.  It  has  witnessed  the  healing  of  the 
old  wounds;  it  has  seen  the  gradual  reuniting  of 
the  people,  and,  on  this  anniversary  of  its  natal 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


189 


day,  it  beholds  the  north  and  the  south  hand  in 
hand  and  shoulder  to  shoulder,  fighting  a  com- 
mon enemy  that  the  tree  of  liberty  may  be 
planted  in  a  foreign  land,  the  shade  of  which  will 
protect  foreign  brothers  from  the  blighting  sun 
of  tyranny.  It  looks  to  the  west  and  it  sees  the 
stars  and  stripes  kissed  by  the  breezes  that  wave 
the  tropical  foliage  of  Hawaii,  and  it  rejoices  with 
the  people  in  the  extension  of  American  power 
and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  possession  of  na- 
tional forces  that  guarantee  maintenance  of 
American  prestige  gained  and  to  be  gained.'' 

THE    DAILY   AND   WEEKLY    PATRIOT. 

The  Patriot  is  published  at  Lewiston  by  Frank 
M.  Roberts,  having  made  its  first  appearance  be- 
fore the  public  on  the  ist  of  September,  1897,  as 
an  independent  paper,  with  strong  Republican 
proclivities,  but  devoted  to  the  upbuilding  of 
Lewiston  and  Nez  Perces  county.  From  the  be- 
ginning it  has  met  with  very  flattering  and  satis- 
factory success,  and  is  a  bright  and  entertaining 
journal,  ably  edited  by  its  owner,  Frank  M. 
Roberts. 

This  gentleman  was  born  in  Lancaster,  Schuy- 
ler  county,  Missouri,  on  the  28th  of  August,  1846, 
was  educated  in  the  state  of  his  nativity,  and  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  of  the  "art  preservative  of 
all  arts"  in  the  office  of  the  old  Jacksonville  Jour- 
nal, of  Jacksonville,  Illinois.  When  only  eigh- 
teen years  and  four  months  old  he  responded  to 
his  country's  call  for  troops,  and  enlisted  as  a 
defender  of  the  stars  and  stripes,  in  December, 

1864,  as  a  member  of  Company  K,  One  Hundred 
and  Fifty-fourth  Volunteer  Infantry.     Some  of 
his  relatives  were  in  the  Confederate  army,  but 
he  valiantly  served  the  Union  cause  until  honor- 
ably discharged,  at     Nashville,    in    September, 

1865,  after  the  close  of  hostilities. 

Since  that  time  Air.  Roberts  has  devoted  his 
energies  entirely  to  journalistic  work,  in  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Iowa,  New  Mexico,  Oregon  and  Idaho, 
and  for  some  time  was  in  the  government  print- 
ing office  in  Washington.  He  has  established 
many  successful  papers  in  the  states  mentioned, 
and  is  familiar  with  the  printing  business  and 
with  newspaper  work  in  every  department  and 
detail.  Perhaps  had  he  been  less  conscientious 
he  would  have  been  more  successful  as  the  world 
judges  success,  but  he  has  preferred  to  write  as 


he  believes,  to  support  the  measures  which  tend 
to  promote  the  public  good,  and  to  oppose  all 
which  are  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of 
society,  of  the  government  and  the  welfare  of 
mankind,  regardless  of  the  financial  results  that 
may  follow  his  course.  • 

In  1872  Mr.  Roberts  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Lydia  A.  Boyce,  who  died  in  1882,  leav- 
ing one  child,  a  son,  Coral  F.  In  August,  1897, 
he  was  again  married,  Mrs.  Anna  Myers,  of 
Lewiston,  becoming  his  wife.  He  is  a  well  known 
citizen  of  northern  Idaho  and  has  been  a  resident 
of  the  northwest  since  189^.  In  that  year  he  lost 
much  of  the  property  he  had  acquired,  through 
the  failure  of  a  bank  in  Kansas  City,  and  for 
some  time  thereafter  he  devoted  his  attention  to 
prospecting  in  the  mountains  of  Washington  and 
Idaho.  He  also  was  engaged  in  making  explora- 
tions of  the  cliff  dwellings  of  New  Mexico  and 
made  many  valuable  discoveries  of  great  benefit 
to  the  scientific  and  historic  world.  Since  com- 
ing to  Lewiston  he  has  been  accorded  a  place 
among  her  foremost  citizens,  and  The  Patriot 
ranks  among  the  best  journals  of  this  section  of 
the  state. 

THE   OWYHEE  AVALANCHE. 

This  very  influential  paper  was  established  as 
early  as  August,  1865,  bv  the  Wasson  brothers 
and  J.  C.  Hardin.  The  last  named  withdrew  from 
the  firm  a  year  later  and  the  Wassons  continued 
the  publication  a  year  longer.  On  the  I7th  of 
August,  1867,  they  sold  out  to  W.  J.  Hill  and 
H.  W.  Millard,  and  these  men  subsequently  sold 
the  concern  to  John  McConp-le,  November  7, 
1868,  and  he  managed  it  until  October  19,  1870, 
when  Messrs.  Hill  and  Millard  repurchased  the 
property,  and  at  the  same  time  purchased  the 
Tidal  Wave,  a  paper  which  had  been  in  existence 
a  year  or  more,  under  the  ownership  and  man- 
agement of  the  Butler  brothers.  The  two  paperi 
were  on  this  occasion  consolidated,  under  the 
name  of  the  Idaho  Avalanche.  A  few  weeks 
afterward  Mr.  Hill  bought  out  his  partner  and 
became  the  sole  proprietor. 

In  October,  1874,  during  the  flush  times  of 
Owyhee,  Mr.  Hill  established  a  daily  paper, 
which  he  continued  for  about  a  year  and  a  half. 
In  April,  1876,  he  leased  the  concern  to  Major 
J.  S.  Hay,  who  a  year  later  purchased  it  and  con- 


190 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


tinned  to  manage  it  until  October  16,  1880,  when 
he  disposed  of  it  to  Guy  Xewcomb  and  Dave 
Adams,  who  formed  a  partnership,  under  the 
style  of  Newcomb  &  Adams.  These  gentlemen 
ran  the  paper  until  May  20,  1882,  when  Mr. 
Adams  disposed  of  his  interest  to  C.  M.  Hays, 
who  also  bought  out  Mr.  Newcomb,  on  the  pth 
of  December,  1882.  Mr.  Hays  published  the 
paper  until  November  8,  1890,  when  he  leased  the 
office  to  John  Lamb  and  L.  A.  York,  who  con- 
trolled the  publication  until  the  spring  of  1892. 
Mr.  Lamb  then  retired  and  Mr.  York  again 
leased  the  plant,  and  on  June  i,  1894,  purchased 
it. 

August  20,  1897,  the  beginning  of  the  thirty- 
third  volume,  the  name  of  the  paper  was  changed 
from  the  Idaho  Avalanche  to  the  Owyhee  Ava- 
lanche, the  name,  indeed,  under  which  it  first  ap- 
peared, August  15,  1865.  The  Owyhee 
Avalanche  was  never  better  than  to-day,  and 
never  had  so  bright  a  future.  In  politics  Mr. 
York  is  a  ''silver"  Republican,  and  in  local  af- 
fairs independent.  The  paper  is  issued  every  Fri- 
day, at  Silver  City,  at  the  subscription  price  of 
three  dollars  a  year,  and  is  noted  for  its  reliability 
in  giving  the  news. 

THE    LEWISTON    TRIBUNE. 

A  daily  and  weekly  paper  published  at  Lewis- 
ton,  Idaho,  the  Tribune  is  the  principal  organ 
of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  state.  It  was  es- 
tablished by  A.  H.  and  E.  L.  Alford,  in  August, 
1892,  and  entered  upon  a  prosperous  existence. 
The  Alford  brothers  were  reared  in  Dallas, 
Texas.  A.  H.  Alford  acquired  his  newspaper 
knowledge  in  the  office  of  the  Dallas  Morning 
News,  with  which  paper  he  was  connected  for 
two  years,  after  which  he  was  employed  on  the 
Tacoma  Morning  Globe,  of  Tacoma,  Washing- 
ton. On  severing  his  connection  therewith  he 
came  to  Lewiston,  and  in  partnership  with  his 
brother  established  the  Tribune,  the  paper  and 
its  proprietors  at  once  becoming  prominent  fac- 
tors and  taking  a  leading  position  in  the  affairs 
of  Idaho.  The  efforts  of  the  brothers  have  met 
with  very  gratifying  success.  They  have  also 
been  interested  in  various  mining  enterprises  and 
in  Lewiston  real  estate,  which  is  rapidly  rising  in 
value. 

In  1896  A.  H.  Alford  was  elected  to  the  state 


legislature  and  had  the  honor  of  being  chosen 
speaker  of  the  house,  filling  that  important  po- 
sition with  marked  ability  and  fairness.  He  is 
now  one  of  the  regents  of  the  Idaho  State  Uni- 
versity and  is  president  of  the  State  Editorial 
Association.  Both  he  and  his  brother  are  active 
members  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  E.  L.  Alford 
having  attained  the  thirtieth  degree  in  the  Scot- 
tish rite,  while  A.  H.  Alford  is  a  Knight  Templar 
Mason.  Through  the  columns  of  the  Tribune 
they  wield  a  power  in  political  circles  that  is  im- 
measurable, and  the  cause  of  Democracy  owes 
much  to  their  efforts  in  its  behalf.  A.  H.  Alford 
is  a  most  progressive  citizen,  giving  a  loyal  sup- 
port to  all  measures  which  he  believes  will  prove 
of  public  benefit,  especially  to  all  that  tend  to 
advance  the  educational  status  of  the  state. 

THE    TIMES-DEMOCRAT. 

An  effective  exponent  of  the  generil  interests 
of  Latah  county,  the  Times-Democrat  was  es- 
tablished in  the  city  of  Moscow  on  the  ist  of 
March,  1891,  as  the  organ  of  the  Democratic 
party  in  northern  Idaho.  William  Taylor,  who 
was  its  founder,  continued  its  publication  for  a 
period  of  four  months,  when  he  sold  the  property 
to  Samuel  T.  Owings,  who  presided  over  the 
destinies  of  the  paper  for  three  months,  when  it 
passed  into  the  hands  of  J.  L.  Brown,  who  ef- 
fected its  purchase  on  the  ist  of  October,  1891. 
On  the  ist  of  April,  1892,  Mr.  Owings  again  be- 
came the  editor  and  publisher,  and  so  continued 
until  the  ist  of  June,  1899,  when  another  change 
was  made  in  the  management  of  the  journal,  the 
property  being  then  leased  to  the  present  editor 
and  publisher,  Hon.  Samuel  C.  Herren. 

Samuel  T.  Owings,  who  is  the  owner  of  the 
plant  and  for  the  longest  period  identified  with 
the  publication  of  the  paper,  and  who  will  take 
charge  again,  January  i,  1900,  is  a  native  of  Balti- 
more, Maryland,  where  he  was  born  on  the  ist 
of  September,  1868.  He  has  been  active  in  vari- 
ous business  enterprises  and  has  ever  maintained 
a  public-spirited  interest  in  all  that  has  conserved 
the  development  and  material  progress  of  Mos- 
cow and  Latah  county,  as  well  as  the  state  at 
large.  He  received  his  educational  discipline  in 
his  native  state,  and  became  a  resident  of  Mos- 
cow in  September,  1888.  Here  he  is  at  the  pres- 
ent time  engaged  in  the  grocery  business,  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


191 


he  has  large  mining  interests  in  British  Columbia. 
He  has  erected  several  residences  in  Moscow  and 
has  otherwise  contributed  in  many  ways  to  the 
progress  and  substantial  upbuilding  of  the  city, 
being  recognized  as  one  of  its  successful  and 
representative  business  men.  The  plant  of  the 
Times-Democrat  is  valued  at  thirty-five  hundred 
dollars,  and  this  is  but  one  of  his  property  in- 
terests in  the  city.  The  paper  is  issued  on  Thurs- 
day of  each  week,  being  a  five-column  quarto, 
and  in  its  letter-press  and  general  mechanical  ap- 
pearance is  a  model  country  paper. 

THE  NUGGET. 

The  Augget  is  the  appropriate  name  of  a  four- 
page,  five-column  weekly  paper  edited  and  pub- 
lished at  DeLamar.  Owyhee  county,  by  John 
Lamb.  It  was  established  in  May,  1891,  by  the 
present  proprietor  and  L.  A.  York,  and  since 
1893  has  been  run  solely  by  the  present  owner. 
It  is  independent  in  politics  and  devoted  to  local 
and  mining  interests. 

The  publisher  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  born 
in  1838,  of  north  Irish  stock,  both  of  his  parents 
having  been  born  in  the  Keystone  state,  of  Irish 
parentage.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  received 
his  education  in  the  public  schools  and  Waterford 
Academy,  in  his  native  state,  and  after  leaving 
home  resided  for  a  few  years  in  Alabama,  whence 
he  went  to  St.  Louis  and  engaged  in  journalism, 
and  was  for  four  years  connected  with  the  state 
board  of  immigration  of  that  state.  After  a  dozen 
years  spent  in  Missouri,  he  came  to  Idaho,  in 
1888. 

In  politics  Mr.  Lamb  is  a  "silver"  Republican. 
In  respect  to  local  responsibility  he  has  been  a 
justice  of  the  peace  in  his  county  almost  con- 
tinuously since  his  residence  there,  giving  gen- 
eral satisfaction,  he  never  having  had  a  case  ap- 
pealed from  his  court.  He  is  an  accomplished 
descriptive  writer,  and  is  recognized  as  a  prom- 
inent factor  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  interests  of 
the  state  through  the  use  of  his  pen. 

THE    MOSCOW    MIRROR. 

This  vital  and  ably  conducted  weekly  has  the 
distinction  of  being  the  pioneer  paper  of  Latah 
county,  its  first  issue  having  been  run  from  the 
press  in  July,  1882.  The  Mirror  is  issued  on  Fri- 
dav  of  each  week  and  is  devoted  to  the  interests 


of  Moscow  and  contiguous  districts  and  to  pro- 
moting the  development  of  the  great  state  of 
Idaho.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  paper  has 
never  missed  an  issue.  Ex-Congressman  Willis 
Sweet  was  its  editor  for  a  time,  and  in  1883  C.  B. 
Reynolds  purchased  the  plant  and  business  and 
continued  the  publication  of  the  paper  until  1889, 
in  which  year  it  was  purchased  by  the  Jolly 
brothers,  who  have  since  been  the  proprietors 
and  publishers.  The  three  brothers  have  given 
the  enterprise  their  personal  attention  and  have 
made  the  venture  a  genuine  success,  Elmer  E. 
Jolly  being  the  editor  and  manager.  The  original 
publisher  of  the  Mirror  was  C.  B.  Hopkins. 

Elmer  E.  Jolly  was  born  in  the  state  of  Minne- 
sota on  the  23d  of  May,  1861,  representing  sturdy 
Pennsylvania  ancestry.  In  the  town  of  Dunlap, 
Iowa,  he  learned  the  printer's  trade,  becoming 
familiar  with  the  varied  details  which  go  to  make 
up  the  "art  preservative  of  all  arts,"  and  acquiring 
a  knowledge  of  the  mechanical  processes  which 
are  employed  in  the  makeup  and  issuing  of  a 
modern  country  newspaper.  For  a  number  of 
years  he  "held  cases"  on  the  Logan  Observer,  at 
Logan,  Iowa,  after  which  he  came  to  Moscow 
and  became  foreman  of  the  Mirror  office,  in  the 
employ  of  Mr.  Reynolds.  His  brother,  Thomas 
H.  Jolly,  learned  the  trade  in  the  office  of  the 
Mirror,  and  another  brother,  James  D.,  also 
worked  in  the  office.  The  brothers  eventually 
purchased  the  property,  and  by  discrimination, 
careful  business  methods  and  by  supplying  to 
subscribers  a  paper  which  stands  as  an  exponent 
of  local  interests,  offering  the  news  in  acceptable 
form,  they  have  made  the  enterprise  a  success. 
Thomas  H.  Jolly  is  now  a  practicing  lawyer  in 
Moscow.  The  Mirror  is  edited  with  ability,  and 
its  mechanical  work  is  so  carefully  handled  that 
it  is  attractive  and  neat  in  appearance,  being 
creditable  alike  to  the  publishers  anu  to  the  town 
with  which  it  had  practically  a  simultaneous 
birth,  and  to  whose  advancement  it  has  contrib- 
uted in  every  possible  way.  The  political  policy 
of  the  Mirror  is  Republican. 

THE    KENDRICK    GAZETTE. 

The  Gazette  is  a  weekly  newspaper  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  the  Potlatch  country,  and  is  the 
organ  of  the  Democratic  party  of  Latah  county. 
It  was  founded  on  the  I4th  of  January,  1892,  by 


195? 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


Joseph  S.  Vincent,  who  has  since  been  its  editor 
and  proprietor.  The  paper  is  issued  on  Friday 
of  each  week  and  the  subscription  price  is  one 
dollar  and  a  half  annually.  In  his  efforts  Mr. 
Vincent  has  met  with  very  gratifying  success, 
and  the  paper  has  never  missed  an  issue.  The 
office  was  burned  out  August  16,  1892,  the  fire 
occurring  on  Thursday  night,  but  he  saved  the 
forms  and  issued  his  paper  on  time  the  next  day. 
Again  the  Gazette  went  through  a  fiery  baptism, 
March  16,  1894.  That  also  occurred  the  night 
before  the  time  of  publication,  but  he  got  every- 
thing out  of  the  building  and  the  paper  was  is- 
sued as  usual,  a  fact  which  indicates  the  indomit- 
able enterprise  of  the  owner. 

Mr.  Vincent  is  a  native  of  Idaho  and  one  of 
the  first  white  children  born  in  the  state,  his 
birth  occurring  in  Lewiston,  April  24,  1866.  He 
is  the  son  of  Judge  Vincent,  now  of  Mount  Idaho, 
who  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  California  and 
Oregon,  as  well  as  of  Idaho,  the  "Gem  of  the 
Mountains."  Our  subject  acquired  his  education 
in  his  native  city  and  learned  the  printer's  trade  in 
the  office  of  the  Lewiston  Teller,  under  the  di- 
rection of  his  grandfather  and  his  uncle,  Alonzo 
and  C.  F.  Leland,  who  were  the  founders  of  that 
paper.  He  remained  with  them  for  five  years  and 
then  came  to  the  infant  town  of  Kendrick,  in 
January,  1891,  where  he  leased  the  Advocate,  the 
pioneer  journal  of  the  place.  He  continued  its 
publication  until  the  fall  of  1892,  when  it  ceased 
to  be  issued,  but  in  the  meantime  he  had  founded 
the  Gazette  and  conducted  belli  papers  for  six 
weeks. 

On  the  23d  of  January,  1893,  Mr.  Vincent  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Mrs.  Alice  York,  a  native 
of  Corvallis,  Oregon.  She  was  the  widow  of 
A.  F.  York  and  the  daughter  of  J.  B.  Springer, 
a  respected  Oregon  pioneer.  They  have  a  bright 
little  daughter,  whom  they  have  named  Kather- 
ine  M.  Mr.  Vincent  is  an  Episcopalian,  and  his 
wife  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 

Mr.  Vincent's  name  is  on  the  membership  roll 
of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  and  he  was 
the  first  chancellor  commander  of  the  lodge  in 
Kendrick.  In  1897  he  was  representative  to  the 
grand  lodge  of  the  state,  and  was  re-elected  repre- 
sentative to  the  session  of  1899,  a  fact  which  indi- 
cates his  popularity  among  the  Knights  and  his 
fidelity  to  the  principles  of  Pythianism.  He  was 


chairman  of  the  Democratic  convention  of  Latah 
county  in  1896  and  was  also  made  chair- 
man of  the  fusion  convention.  He  has 
served  three  times  as  city  clerk  of  Ken- 
drick, is  now  the  trustworthy  and  capa- 
ble city  treasurer  and  was  appointed  by 
Governor  Steunenberfr  one  of  the  commissioners 
to  the  Trans-Mississippi  and  International  Expo- 
sition. As  a  journalist  he  ranks  high  and  has  not 
only  been  successful  in  the  publication  of  the  Ga- 
zette, but  through  its  columns  has  also  ma- 
terially promoted  the  interests  of  Kendrick. 

THE    POCATELLO    TRIBUNE. 

This  news  organ,  the  leading  paper  in  south- 
eastern Idaho,  is  owned  and  conducted  by  Ifft  & 
Wallin,  who  own  and  operate  the  most  complete 
printing  and  publishing  house  in  the  state  outside 
of  Boise  City. 

The  paper  was  founded,  as  a  weekly,  on  the 
I4th  of  August,  1889,  by  a  stock  company,  and 
began  its  career  as  a  distinctly  Republican  organ. 
For  the  first  several  years  it  passed  through  the 
hands  of  half  a  dozen  different  managements,  un- 
til January  i,  1893,  wrien  it  was  purchased  by 
George  N.  Ifft  and  William  Wallin,  who  have 
conducted  the  enterprise  ever  since.  Messrs.  Ifft 
and  Wallin  are  both  experienced  newspaper 
men.  On  taking  possession  of  this  property  they 
at  once  set  to  work  to  make  the  Tribune  a  first- 
class  newspaper  in  every  respect.  While  remain- 
ing always  a  Republican  organ,  the  journal 
stands  as  an  exponent  for  that  class  of  Republi- 
cans who  believe  firmly  in  silver,  and  it  has  be- 
come recognized  as  the  leading  exponent  of  the 
issues  of  the  "silver"  Republicans  of  the  state. 

In  keeping  with  the  competition  characteristic 
of  the  times,  the  Tribune,  in  March,  1897,  joined 
the  Associated  Press  and  began  the  publication  of 
a  daily  edition ;  but,  after  an  experience  of  about 
two  months  in  this  enterprise,  the  undertaking 
was  ascertained  to  be  unprofitable  and  was  ac- 
cordingly discontinued.  The  proprietors  then  be- 
gan the  publication  of  a  semi-weekly  edition, 
which  is  still  continued. 

In  May,  1897,  the  company  purchased  the 
plant  and  good  will  of  the  Idaho  Herald,  a  week- 
ly newspaper  which  had  been  published  in  Poca- 
tello  since  1885,  and  incorporated  it  with  its  own 
journal,  and  thus  the  Herald  was  merged  into 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


1:1:1 


the  Tribune.  On  January  i,  1899,  the  Tribune, 
in  connection  with  its  semi-weekly  edition,  began 
the  publication  of  a  weekly. 

THE    GENESEE    NEWS. 

The  value  of  the  local  newspaper  in  the  up- 
building of  the  best  interests  of  any  community 
is  universally  conceded.  The  rule  is  that  good 
papers  are  found  in  good  towns,  inferior  journals 
in  towns  of  stunted  growth  and  uncertain  future. 
It  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  size  as  of  excellence 
and  of  adaptability  to  the  needs  of  its  locality. 
These  conditions  given,  in  an  appreciative  and 
progressive  community,  the  size  of  the  paper  will 
take  care  of  itself  in  a  way  mutually  satisfactory 
to  publishers  and  patrons.  This  has  been  proven 
in  Genesee.  The  Genesee  News  was  first  issued 
in  1889.  In  1892,  when  it  came  into  the  hands  of 
Messrs.  Hopp  &  Power,  its  present  enterprising 
owners,  publishers  and  editors,  it  was  a  five-col- 
umn folio.  They  improved  it  in  every  way  to- 
ward perfection  as  a  local  newspaper  and  have 
enlarged  it  to  a  six-column  quarto,  and  their  pro- 
gressiveness  has  been  appreciated  and  rewarded 
by  an  increase  of  patronage,  in  both  the  subscrip- 
tion and  advertising  departments,  which  more 
than  recompenses  them  for  their  increased  outlay 
in  its  publication. 

Messrs.  Hopp  &  Power  are  newspaper  men 
of  experience,  taste  and  discrimination.  They  be- 
lieve that  first  of  all  a  local  journal  should  be  dis- 
tinctively local  and  should  command  all  worthy 
home  interests.  They  believe  that  a  home  paper 
to  be  successful  must  be  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  the  whole  family.  They  believe  that  a  family- 
paper  should  be  a  pure  paper,  so  clean  in  every 
line  that  it  will  not  offend  the  nicest  taste,  and 
that  its  publisher  should  so  respect  his  con- 
stituency as  to  assume  that  such  is  the  kind  of 
paper  it  would  place  in  the  hands  of  its  boys  and 
girls  fifty-two  times  in  the  year, — fifty-two  incen- 
tives to  higher  ideals,  never  one  suggestion  that 
can  debase  or  contaminate.  So  believing,  they 
have  made  the  News  a  strong  local  paper,  they 
have  made  it  a  family  paper  and  they  have  made 
it  a  clean  paper.  Beyond  this  they  have  given  it 
an  attractive  guise,  print  it  nicely  and  manage  its 
affairs  in  a  business-like  manner  that  make  the 
publishers  as  well  liked  in  the  community  as  is 
the  paper. 


The  News  is  an  independent  paper  politically 
and  is  published  in  the  interests  of  the  people  of 
Genesee  and  its  tributary  territory,  without  re- 
gard to  political  or  religious  affiliations.  It  is  the 
aim  of  the  publishers  to  help  every  worthy  home 
enterprise,  to  advocate  every  proposition,  with- 
out regard  to  source,  which  seems  to  them  to 
offer  anything  for  the  benefit  of  the  place.  It  is 
their  aim  to  so  set  forth  the  advantages  of  Gene- 
see  as  a  place  of  residence  and  for  business  in- 
vestment as  to  bring  to  it  men  and  women  who 
are  likely  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  city  by 
working  intelligently  to  advance  their  own. 

The  News  establishment  is  one  of  the  best 
equipped  printing  houses  in  this  part  of  the  state, 
and  the  job  printing  of  all  classes  done  by  Messrs. 
Hopp  &  Power  is  artistic  in  design  and  well 
clone  in  every  way,  and  their  facilities  are  such 
that  they  are  able  to  compete  in  prices  with  any 
printing  concern  in  the  state. 

The  Genesee  News  is  published  every  Friday, 
at  two  dollars  a  year.  Its  issue  for  February  25, 
1899,  was  a  special  illustrated  number,  devoted 
to  home  projects  and  enterprises  and  of  a  char- 
acter, in  a  literary  way  and  mechanically,  to  re- 
flect the  greatest  credit  on  its  publishers. 

THE    SALUBRIA    CITIZEN. 

This  journal  was  founded  in  the  year  1887,  by 
Dr.  S.  M.  C.  Reynolds,  under  the  name  of  the 
Idaho  Citizen.  It  was  a  five-column  folio  paper 
and  issued  weekly,  and  during  its  early  history 
the  proprietorship  was  changed  several  times.  In 
April,  1891,  and  while  owned  by  a  stock  com- 
pany, the  plant  was  consumed  by  fire  in  a  con- 
flagration that  did  considerable  damage  to  the 
town.  After  this  Eugene  Lorton  purchased  a 
complete  new  outfit  and  continued  the  publica- 
tion of  the  journal,  changing  its  name  to  the 
Salubria  Citizen,  its  present  title.  On  the  ist  of 
November,  1896,  Thomas  Nelson,  an  experienced 
newspaper  publisher  and  editor,  purchased  the 
paper  and  has  ever  since  owned  and  conducted  it. 
It  is  now  a  five-column,  eight-page  weekly,  de- 
voted to  the  interests  of  the  Salubria  valley,  while 
it  is  independent  in  politics.  Being  ably  man- 
aged and  well  supported,  it  has  become  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  development  of  the  locality 
and  in  the  increase  ot  general  intelligence.  It  is 
really  a  good  newspaper. 


194 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


Mr.  Nelson  is  a  native  of  the  state  of  Illinois, 
born  April  16,  1869,  and  has  been  a  printer  and 
newspaper  man  continuously  ever  since  the  four- 
teenth year  of  his  age.  He  learned  the  printer's 
trade  in  the  office  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  News, 
at  Denver,  Colorado,  and  was  employed  on  that 
paper  for  a  period  of  four  years.  He  then  re- 
moved to  southern  Colorado,  where  he  founded 
the  Lajara  Tribune  and  continued  its  publication 
for  nearly  a  year.  Next  he  worked  as  a  journey- 
man job  printer  until  1891,  for  two  and  a  half 
years  of  the  time  being  the  foreman  of  the  job 
department  of  the  Heppner  Gazette,  in  Oregon, 
tor  some  time  he  also  ran  a  job  printing  office  at 
Pendleton,  Oregon,  since  which  time  he  has  been 
connected  with  his  present  enterprise,  as  already 
stated. 

He  is  a  gentleman  thoroughly  posted  in  news- 
paper work  and  is  enthusiastic  in  his  support  of 
the  interests  of  Washington  countv.  He  is  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  Washington  Fair 
Association,  and  has  published  a  neat  pamphlet 
setting  forth  the  resources  of  the  county  in  an  at- 
tractive manner.  He  has  also  published  an  ex- 
haustive artrcle  on  the  same  subject  in  the  issue 
of  his  paper  dated  May  18,  1898. 

In  his  political  principles  Mr.  Nelson  is  inde- 
pendent. He  is  a  member  of  the  Woodmen  of 
the  World,  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees  and  of 
the  Typographical  Union.  January  i,  1894,  he 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Belle  Oswald,  of  Free- 
port,  Illinois,  the  daughter  of  James  Oswald,  of 
that  city.  They  have  two  interesting  little  girls, — 
Ruth  and  Myrtle.  Mrs.  Nelson  is  a  prepossess- 
ing and  amiable  little  lady.  The  family  deserve 
and  enjoy  the  highest  esteem  of  the  community. 

THE    WOOD    RIVER    TIMES. 

This  enterprising  daily  and  weekly  is  published 
at  Hailey,  Elaine  county,  by  T.  E.  Picotte,  who 
founded  it  June  15,  1881,  the  very  year  in  which 
the  city  itself  was  started,  as  a  small  village  of 
tents.  The  principles  emphasized  by  the  founder 
were  announced  to  be  independence,  impartiality 
and  fearlessness,  but  not  sensationalism,  and  fair 
wages,  fair  prices  and  fair  living. 

The  weekly  is  a  four-page  sheet,  twenty-four 
by  thirty-six  inches  and  seven  columns  to  the 
page,  and  placed  at  three  dollars  a  year;  while 
the  daily  is  twenty-two  by  thirty-three  inches  in 


dimensions,  with  six  columns  to  the  page,  and  is 
sold  at  ten  dollars  per  annum.  Politics,  "silver" 
Republican. 

Mr.  Picotte  has  been  a  newspaper  man  from 
boyhood.  He  was  born  in  Montreal,  Canada, 
October  26,  1848,  began  his  apprenticeship  at  the 
printer's  trade  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  in 
New  York  city,  and  when  the  civil  war  broke  out 
enlisted,  but  was  rejected  on  account  of  his  youth. 
A  little  later,  however,  he  succeeded  in  entering 
the  New  York  City  National  Guards,  in  Com- 
pany K,  One  Hundred  and  Second  Regiment; 
and  he  was  in  active  service  for  four  months. 
After  this  he  was  telegraphic  editor  on  the  Cour- 
rier  des  Etats  Unis,  of  New  York,  the  leading 
French  paper  in  the  United  States;  next  he  was 
proof-reader  on  the  Chicago  Republican,  now 
the  Inter  Ocean;  and  from  Chicago  he  went 
south  an.d  was  assistant  foreman  of  the  New  Or- 
leans Daily  Republican.  Thence  he  went  to  Aus- 
tin, Texas,  as  superintendent  of  the  state  print- 
ing. Returning  to  Montreal,  he  formed  a  part- 
nership with  his  brother  as  a  contractor  for  ma- 
sonry and  cut  stone,  and  after  a  time  he  came 
west  and  published,  in  Denver,  Colorado,  the 
Daily  Programme  and  a  weekly,  the  Colorado 
Real  Estate  and  Mining  Review.  Next  he  was 
mining  reporter  on  the  Virginia  Chronicle,  at 
Virginia,  Nevada,  two  years,  and  for  a  year  was 
local  editor  of  the  Daily  Independent,  at  the 
same  place.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  Sutro 
Independent,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sutro  tunnel, 
and  was  also  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Lyon 
County  (Nevada)  Times  two  years.  In  1882-3  he 
brought  to  Hailey  the  telegraphic  dispatches 
from  Black-foot,  the  nearest  point  on  the  railroad, 
a  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  distant,  and 
published  the  contents,  for  six  months,  during 
which  time  the  price  of  his  daily  was  at  the  rate 
of  twenty-six  dollars  a  year. 

In  1881  he  came  to  Hailey,  then  a  village  of  a 
few  tents,  where  he  founded  the  Wood  Rivet- 
Times.  His  varied  experience  in  life,  the  high 
responsibilities  he  has  so  often  carried,  and  the 
shrewd  insight  he  naturally  nas  in  the  affairs  of 
men,  have  combined  to  qualify  him  for  the  best 
management  of  a  public  journal.  He  is  also  in- 
terested in  various  mines,  has  built  a  good  dwell- 
ing in  Hailey,  and  is  esteemed  as  one  of  the  most 
valuable  citizens. 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


195 


In  October,  1863,  he  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Mrs.  E.  J.  Taylor,  who  by  a  former  mar- 
riage had  a  son  and  a  daughter.  Mrs.  Picotte 
departed  this  life  in  1891,  and  Mr.  Picotte  has 
since  remained  single.  He  is  giving  his  step-son 
and  daughter  a  liberal  education.  As  to  the  fra- 
ternities, he  is  an  active  member  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  of  which  he  was  adjutant 
general  in  1891-2  for  the  department  of  Idaho: 
and  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen 
he  was  the  first  deputy  grand  master  workman 
and  the  first  past  master  of  the  oldest  lodge  of 
the  order  in  the  state. 

IDAHO    FALLS   TIMES. 

The  Idaho  Falls  Times,  Hon.  George  Chapin, 
publisher,  is  a  six-column  quarto  weekly,  Demo- 
crat in  politics,  devoted  to  the  local  interests  of 
Idaho  Falls  and  Bingham  county.    It  was  first  is- 
sued in  1890,  by  the  Times  Publishing  Company. 
A  year  later  it  was  purchased  by  James  Lamer- 
aux,  from  whom,  after  he  had  published  it  six 
months,  Mr.  Chapin  bought  it.     It  was  first  is- 
sued by  Mr.  Chapin  in  January,  1892,  and  since 
then  has  appeared  regularly  and  on  time,  every 
Thursday,  and  has  taken  a  leading  place  among 
the  county  papers  of  the  west.     Its  plant  is  first- 
class  in  every  respect,  fitted  up  with  modern  ma- 
chinery and  with  type  of  new  and  attractive  faces, 
and  its  facilities  for  turning  out  good  job  work, 
large  or  small,  in  any  quantity,  are  in  all  ways 
adequate  to  any  probable  demand.    Hon.  George 
Chapin  was  born  in  Rochester,  New  York,  April 
3,  1839.     He  was  educated  in  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  and  began  his  literary  career  as  a  cor- 
respondent for  several  eastern  papers.     During 
the  civil  war  he  was  in  the  transport  service,  mov- 
ing materials  of  war  for  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment.    After  the  war  he  was  connected  with 
important  steamboat  enterprises  in  the  east  until 
1870.    His  health  declined  and  he  was  advised  to 
subject  himself  to  the  influence  of  a  mountain 
climate.     He   came   west,    and   in    the   mining 
camps    found    the     physical     improvement    he 
sought.  He  mined  on  Snake  river,  in  Boise  basin 
and  at  Rocky  Bar,  but  met  with  only  partial  suc- 
cess.    He  was  one  of  the  historic  six  men  who 
took  the  copper  plates  into  the  big  canyon  and 
were  the  first  to  use  that  method  to  secure  the 
fine  gold. 


After  mining  for  five  years,  Mr.  Chapin  en- 
gaged in  the  stock  business,  running  as  many  as 
fifteen  hundred  head  of  cattle  on  the  ranges,  and 
was  fairly  successful  until  the  feed  became  poor 
and  the  mortality  among  the  cattle  in  the  winter 
became  ruinous,  from  the  ordinary  loss  of  three 
to  five  per  cent.  Mr.  Chapin  sold  out  his  cattle 
interests,  bought  the  Idaho  Falls  Times  and  has 
since  devoted  himself  to  the  building  up  of  the 
paper  and  of  the  town,  fostering  all  local  inter- 
ests by  every  means  at  his  command  and  making 
his  paper  of  the  greatest  interest  to  the  agricul- 
tural class  in  all  the  country  round  about. 

Mr.  Chapin  was  married,  in  1861,  to  Miss 
Delphine  Henion,  daughter  of  Captain  Henion, 
of  New  York.  Their  daughter  Cornelia  is  the 
wife  of  A.  R.  Hutten,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York; 
Charles  D.  Chapin,  one  of  their  sons,  is  a  civil 
engineer;  Clarence,  the  other,  is  a  printer  and  is 
employed  in  his  father's  establishment. 

A  lifelong  Democrat,  Mr.  Chapin  has  been 
called  to  places  of  trust  and  responsibility.  In 
1878  he  represented  his  county  in  the  legislature. 
He  is  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  Knight  of  Pythias, 
and  he  and  his  family  attend  the  services  of  the 
Episcopal  church. 

THE    SHOSHONE   JOURNAL. 

The  Shoshone  Journal  was  founded  in  1882, 
by  W.  C.  B.  Allen.  At  first  this  paper  was  only 
a  two-page  weekly;  but  its  career  from  the  be- 
ginning to  1894  we  are  not  able  to  give.  In  the 
latter  year  it  was  purchased  by  a  stock  company 
of  Republican  gentlemen  and  since  then  it  has 
been  the  organ  of  their  party  for  Lincoln  coun- 
ty. It  is  now  leased  by  R.  M.  McCullom,  and 
the  same  policy  of  the  paper  is  c6ntinued.  Its 
greatest  specialty,  however,  consists  in  faithfully 
giving  the  local  news  and  in  aiding  the  develop- 
ment of  the  material  resources  of  its  section  of 
the  country.  For  these  purposes  it  is  indeed  a 
vigorous  sheet. 

Mr.  McCullom  is  a  newspaper  man  of  lifelong 
experience,  having  learned  the  printer's  trade 
when  a  boy,  and  having  adhered  to  his  favorite 
vocation  to  the  present  time,  including  editing 
and  publishing.  He  is  practically  identified  with 
the  best  interests  of  the  town,  is  married  and  has 
his  home  here.  After  an  absence  of  twenty-nine 
years  from  his  old  home  at  Ypsilanti,  Michigan. 


196 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


he  recently  made  a  visit  there,  which  was  particu- 
larly interesting,  in  view  of  the  many  changes  in 
the  country  in  that  time. 

THE    ELMORE    BULLETIN. 

This  able  journal,  owned,  edited  and  published 
by  George  M.  Payne  and  his  daughter,  Mabel,  is 
a  four-page,  seven-column  weekly  newspaper,  the 
Democratic  organ  of  Elmore  county,  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  the  town  of  Mountain  Home  and 
Elmore  county.  Mr.  Payne  established  this  pa- 
per in  1888  and  has  ever  since  controlled  its  pub- 
lication, meeting  with  success  in  the  enter- 
prise. In  1894  he  associated  with  him  his 
daughter,  Mabel,  who  is  now  its  business  man- 
ager, while  her  father  is  the  editor  and  the  pub- 
lisher. 

Mr.  Payne  is  a  native  of  Virginia,  born  in  Cul- 
peper  county,  November  27,  1834,  of  English 
ancestry  whose  first  American  representatives 
were  early  settlers  in  that  state.  His  parents, 
Richard  and  Susan  (Asbury)  Payne,  were  natives 
also  of  the  Old  Dominion  and  were  Methodists 
in  their  religion.  His  father,  a  planter,  died  in 
the  thirty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  and  his  mother 
survived  until  her  fifty-sixth  year.  Of  their  five 
children  only  two  are  now  living.  The  fourth 
of  these,  the  subject  of  this  outline,  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  in  Alabama,  and  at  the  age 
of  twelve  years  began  to  learn  the  printer's  trade, 
and  ever  since  then,  excepting  a  few  years'  min- 
ing in  California,  he  has  been  connected  with 
newspaper  work.  In  California  he  founded  and 
for  a  number  of  years  published  the  Amador  Dis- 
patch, until  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature of  that  state.  In  i86q  he  removed  to  Ne- 
vada, where  he  was  a  compositor  on  the  Virginia 
City  Enterprise ;  next  he  was  the  foreman  of  the 
office  of  the  Elko  Chronicle. 

In  1869,  after  a  visit  to  his  relatives  and  friends 
in  Alabama,  he  went  to  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
where,  April  16,  1872,  he  married  Miss  Ada  Cole, 
a  native  of  that  city.  After  this  he  spent  eight 
years  in  Nevada,  where  he  was  foreman  of  the 
Eureka  Sentinel,  and  in  1882  came  to  Hailey, 
Idaho,  where  he  had  the  position  of  foreman  of 
the  News-Miner  office.  In  1887  he  came  to 
Mountain  Home  and  purchased  the  Range  and 
Valley,  a  small  publication  owned  by  Frank  Ma- 
son. From  this  nucleus  he  developed  his  present 


enterprise,  the  Elmore  Bulletin,  which  is  an  in- 
fluential organ  of  local  interests. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Payne  have  but  the  one  child,  al- 
ready mentioned.  She  was  born  in  Louisville 
and  reared  here  in  the  west.  The  family  have  a 
nice  home  and  are  highly  esteemed  by  the  citi- 
zens of  Mountain  Home  and  vicinity,  in  the  in- 
terests of  which  they  are  so  enthusiastically  en- 
gaged. 

THE    BLACKFOOT    NEWS. 

The  Blackfoot  News  was  established  by 
Colonel  John  W.  Jones  in  Tune,  1887.  It  is  a 
Democratic  local  paper,  edited  witn  much  dis- 
crimination and  dressed  and  printed  with  taste 
and  care.  Its  subscription  price  is  two  dollars 
a  year.  For  twelve  years  it  has  been  preaching 
Democracy  and  helping  to  ouild  uo  Blackfoot 
and  the  surrounding  country.  It  has  never 
missed  one  issue,  and  only  one  issue  has  been 
delayed.  A  delay  of  two  days  occurred  in  Janu- 
ary, 1894,  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Mrs.  Jones. 

Colonel  John  W.  Jones  was  born  in  Virginia, 
September  12,  1839,  and  is  descended  from  Eng- 
lish ancestors.  His  grandfather,  Worthington 
Jones,  fought  for  America  in  the  Revolution  and 
again  in  the  war  of  1812.  Worthington  Jones's 
son,  W.  B.  Jones,  father  of  Colonel  John  W. 
Jones,  was  born  in  Virginia  and  became  prom- 
inent there  as  a  physician.  He  died  in  1842. 
Colonel  Jones  was  educated  in  the  Old  Dominion 
and  passed  his  youth  and  young  manhood  in  that 
state.  He  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  service,  in 
the  Fifty-sixth  Virginia  Volunteer  Infantry,  and 
was  elected  captain  of  his  company.  He  fought 
at  Fort  Donelson,  in  the  seven-days  fight  in  the 
Wilderness,  at  Gettysburg,  and  in  many  less  im- 
portant engagements,  and  was  wounded  four 
times  and  promoted  for  his  good  soldierly  qual- 
ities to  be  colonel  of  his  regiment.  His  regiment 
was  attached  to  Pickett's  division  of  Long- 
street's  corps,  in  command  of  General  Rob- 
ert E.  Lee,  and  laid  down  arms  at  the 
historic  surrender  at  Appomattox.  After  the 
war  Colonel  Jones  was  president  of  a  fe- 
male college  in  Arkansas  and  was  elected 
to  the  legislature  of  that  state.  He  came 
to  Idaho  in  1885,  and  two  years  later  es- 
tablished the  Blackfoot  News.  In  1893  he  was 
appointed  by  President  Cleveland  receiver  of  the 
United  States  land  office  at  Blackfoot.  In  1898 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


197 


he  was  commissioned,  by  the  governor,  as  lieu- 
tenant-colonel of  Idaho  troops,  and  went  with  his 
command  to  Manila  and  was  there  at  the  time  of 
Admiral  Dewey's  great  victory.  But  his  health 
failed  soon  afterward,  and  he  was  permitted  to  re- 
sign his  commission  and  return  to  the  more  fa- 
vorable climate  of  Idaho. 

In  1860,  Colonel  Jones  married  Miss  Anna 
Gregory,  a  native  of  Virginia  and  daughter  of 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  physicians  of  the 
south.  Mrs.  Jones  was  a  woman  of  many  graces 
and  rare  accomplishments,  and  her  death  was 
a  blow  not  only  to  her  husband  and  children  but 
to  the  entire  community,  in  which  she  had  striven 
loyally  to  help  in  such  works  as  commended 
themselves  to  her  excellent  judgment.  The  fam- 
ily consisted  of  five  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Norman,  the  eldest  son,  is  in  the  cattle  business 
in  Wyoming.  Percy  is  now  the  active  publisher 
of  the  Blackfoot  News.  Gregory  is  clerk  and 
stenographer  in  the  United  States  land  office  at 
Blackfoot.  John  W.,  Jr.,  is  a  recent  graduate 
from  the  law  department  of  the  Washington  and 
Lee  University  in  Virginia.  Blanche  is  her  fath- 
er's housekeeper. 

THE    NEWS-MINER. 

This  is  a  daily  and  weekly  paper  publisned  at 
Hailey,  Elaine  county.  The  daily  is  issued  every 
morning  except  Monday,  and  the  weekly  every 
Friday.  In  dimensions  the  latter  is  twenty-two 
inches  by  thirty-two  in  size,  a  folio  of  six  columns 
to  the  page,  while  the  daily  is  twentv  inches  bv 

•S  * 

twenty-six,  with  five  columns  to  the  page. 

As  the  name  implies,  this  periodical  is  devoted 
to  mining  and  local  news.  In  politics,  since  1892, 
the  publishers  have  advocated  the  cause  of  the 
People's  party.  It  was  first  published  in  Belle- 
vue,  by  Frank  A.  Harding,  under  the  simple 
name,  The  Miner.  The  News  was  started  in 
Hailey,  by  C.  H.  Clay,  and  in  1883  tnese  papers 
were  combined  and  passed  under  the  control  of 
the  present  owners,  Richards  &  Richards,  who 
changed  the  name  to  the  News-Miner.  1'he  price 
of  the  weekly  is  two  dollars  a  year,  while  that 
of  the  daily  is  ten  dollars;  and  they  both  have  a 
good  circulation. 

E.  R.  Richards  has  had  charge  of  the  journal 
for  the  past  four  years.  He  has  been  a  news- 
paper man  all  his  life,  in  the  east  and  in  the  west. 


He  learned  the  printer's  trade  when  a  young  man, 
in  the  state  of  Maine,  of  which  state  he  is  a  na- 
tive. As  newspaper  men  here  they  have  done  all 
in  their  power  to  advance  the  material  interests  of 
Hailey  and  Blame  county. 

THE    POCATELLO    ADVANCE. 

This  periodical  was  founded  in  Pocatello  in 
February,  1894,  a  weekly  seven-column  folio,  and 
is  the  organ  of  the  Democracy  of  Bannock  coun- 
ty and  the  state  of  Idaho.  It  was  established  by 
Frank  Walton,  who  conducted  it  for  the  Advance 
Publishing  Company.  In  March,  1898,  it  was 
purchased  by  Messrs.  Moore  &  Wright,  who 
now  manage  the  journal. 

H.  A.  Moore  was  formerly  the  publisher  of  the 
Herald  here.  He  learned  the  printer's  trade  in 
Kansas  and  Nebraska,  and  is  a  very  active  and 
able  newspaper  man. 

C.  E.  Wright,  the  junior  member  of  the  firm, 
has  long  been  in  the  newspaper  business,  in  Iowa 
and  Nebraska.  He  came  to  Idaho  in  1894,  and 
published  the  Elmore  County  Republican,  at 
Mountain  Home,  lor  three  years. 

Both  of  these  gentlemen  are  exerting  their  best 
energies  for  the  material  interests  of  their  com- 
tnunity,  and  are  accordingly  held  in  high  esteem 
by  the  citizens. 

THE    KENDRICK    TIMES. 

A  weekly  newspaper  published  at  Kendrick, 
Idaho,  is  the  Times,  which  was  established  in 
1893  by  the  Treisch  brothers.  It  was  issued  on 
Friday  and  was  an  independent  journal,  devoted 
to  local  news  and  to  the  upbuilding  of  Kendrick 
and  the  surrounding  country.  Its  founders  con- 
ducted it  for  two  years,  and  it  was  then  published 
by  E.  H.  Thompson  for  a  year.  On  the  ist  of 
June,  1897,  E.  E.  Aldeman  became  the  editor 
and  proprietor  and  has  since  remained  in  charge. 
In  1898  he  also  began  the  publication  of  the 
Canyon  Echo,  which  is  issued  on  Tuesday,  while 
the  Times  comes  out,  as  usual,  on  Friday.  Mr. 
Aldeman  is  a  stanch  Republican  in  his  political 
views,  and  edits  his  paper  in  the  interests  of  that 
party. 

He  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  that  state  and  in  Hiram  Col- 
lege, and  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life  has 
been  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber,  his 


198 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


present  enterprise  being  his  first  venture  in  the 
field  of  journalism,  but  he  is  meeting  with  very 
satisfactory  success  and  has  a  large  patronage 
from  the  business  public.  He  was  prominently 
connected  with  educational  affairs  while  residing 
at  Hart's  Grove,  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  and 
served  as  school  director  for  a  number  of  years. 
In  1874  he  became  connected  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  work 
of  the  order,  serving  as  junior  warden  of  his 
lodge.  He  is  now  a  member  of  the  city  council 
of  Kendrick  and  is  a  valued  citizen. 

THE    SOUTHERN    IDAHO    MAIL. 

The  Southern  Idaho  Mail  is  an  eight-page 
weekly  paper,  Republican  in  politics,  which  was 
first  issued  at  Blackfoot,  Bingham  county,  Idaho, 
by  the  Mail  Publishing  Company  (Willis  Earl 
Smith,  editor  and  publisher),  May  24.  1899.  It  is 
published  on  Wednesday  of  each  week  in  the  in- 
terest of  Republicanism,  the  city  of  Blackfoot 
and  Bingham  county.  It  is  ably  edited  and  well 
printed  and  is  a  high-toned  home  journal,  giving 
all  the  home  news  and  advocating  all  measures 
calculated  to  advance  the  interests  of  Blackfoot 
and  its  tributary  territory.  Its  reception  by  the 
people  of  Blackfoot  has  been  cordial  and  encour* 
aging  and  its  future  seems  bright  with  promise. 

Willis  Earl  Smith  is  a  native  of  Shellsburg, 
Iowa,  and  was  born  February  26,  1869.  He  re- 
ceived his  primary  education  in  the  Waco,  Ne- 
braska, high  school  and  was  graduated  from  the 
college  at  York,  Nebraska,  in  the  class  of  1888. 
He  learned  the  printer's  trade  in  his  native  town 
and  has  been  a  newspaper  man  since  he  left 
school.  Before  establishing  the  Southern  Idaho 
Mail  he  published  the  Herald  at  Wallace,  Ne- 
braska, and  the  World,  at  American  Fork,  Utah. 
Mrs.  Smith  has  established  a  prosperous  mil- 
linery business  at  Blackfoot.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith 
are  popular  in  society  and  leaders  in  many  good 
works. 

THE    ELMORE    REPUBLICAN. 

This  lively  journal  was  established  in  1889.  by 
a  man  named  Abbott.  At  first  it  was  an  eight- 
page  five-column  weekly,  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  Elmore  county  and  the  Republican  party  in 
general.  Later  it  was  purchased  by  a  company. 
In  1894  the  office  was  destroyed  by  fire  and  the 
files  of  the  paper  were  lost.  This  misfortune  has 


deprived  the  historian  of  many  desirable  items 
in  connection  with  the  career  of  the  paper,  as 
well  as  of  the  community  generally.  It  is  now 
owned  and  published  by  the  Simpson  brothers, — 
George  E.  and  Lawrence  E.  Simpson. 

The  Simpson  brothers  are  natives  of  the  state 
of  Indiana  and  are  both  practical  newspaper  men 
of  years  of  experience,  both  at  the  printing  trade 
and  as  publishers.  George  E.  Simpson  was  em- 
ployed on  the  Idaho  Statesman  eight  years,  and 
had  been  a  part  owner  of  the  Marion  County 
(Iowa)  Reporter;  and  Lawrence  E.  was  for  a 
time  proprietor  of  the  Pleasantville  (Iowa)  Tele- 
graph. George  E.  has  a  wife  and  two  children, 
while  Lawrence  E".  is  single.  The  latter  is  a 
member  of  the  order  of  Knights  of  Pythias  and 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and 
also  of  the  Order  of  Daughters  of  Rebekah.  Both 
these  gentlemen  are  capable,  agreeable  and 
obliging  young  men  and  are  giving  their  best 
energies  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  town  and 

county. 

THE    IDAHO    MINING    NEWS. 

The  News  is  published  monthly,  at  Boise,  by 
the  Idaho  Mining  Exchange.  The  first  issue,  in 
March,  1896,  was  devoted  to  the  Boise  eold  belt. 
In  that  instance,  through  absence  of  snow  at  the 
time,  the  Exchange  was  able  to  employ  a  writer 
to  visit  each  individual  property  and  describe  it, 
and  this  plan  has  been  followed  as  far  as  practi- 
cable throughout  the  various  other  mining  dis- 
tricts of  the  state.  In  the  edition  of  the  News  for 
May,  1896,  its  aims  and  purposes  are  thus  briefly 
defined :  "The  News  has  for  its  goal  a  complete 
description  of  the  mines  and  mining  of  the  whole 
state  of  Idaho.  Its  contributors  will  be  the  min- 
ing men,  its  editors  'the  committee  on  develop- 
ment, information  and  advertising'  of  the  Idaho 
Mining  Exchange.  The  magazine  does  not  rep- 
resent any  clique  or  locality  other  than  all  the 
inhabitants  and  the  whole  of  our  state.  Its  circu- 
lation includes  the  mining  men,  engineers, 
brokers,  companies,  bankers,  prospectors,  hotels 

and  exchanges  of  America." 

• 
THE    KEYSTONE. 

The  Keystone  is  the  appropriate  name  of  a 
sprightly  newspaper  published  weekly  at  Ketch- 
um,  Elaine  county,  this  state.  It  was  founded 
in  1 88 1,  by  George  J.  Lewis,  later  the  honorable 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


199 


secretary  of  state  of  Idaho,  and  was  ably  man- 
aged and  edited  by  him,  in  the  interest  of  Elaine 
county  and  the  then  very  prominent  mining  en- 
terprises of  the  Wood  River  valley.  At  length 
the  establishment  was  burned  down,  and  Mr. 
Lewis  rebuilt  and  set  up  again  a  printing  office, 
wherein  he  continued  the  publication  of  the  jour- 
nal. 

in  1886  Isaac  H.  Bowman,  the  present  pro- 
prietor, purchased  the  concern,  since  which  time 
he  has  been  the  successful  editor  and  manager  of 
the  paper.  This  organ  was  for  a  time  independ- 
ent in  politics,  but  it  is  now  a  Democratic  advo- 
cate, still  devoting,  however,  most  of  the  space  to 
local  news. 

Mr.  Bowman  is  a  native  of  the  state  of  Vir- 
ginia, born  February  6,  1840,  was  educated  in 
the  Old  Dominion  and  learned  the  printer's  trade 
there,  and  came  to  Idaho  in  1862,  and  thus  be- 
came one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Boise  Basin. 
In  1864  he  purchased  the  Boise  Xews  and  made 
it  the  Idaho  World,  and  controlled  its  publication 
successfully  during  all  the  formative  period  of  the 
territory  and  during  the  height  of  the  mining  ex- 
citements. In  1874  he  sold  out  and  removed  to 
Oakland,  California,  where  he  conducted  a  job- 
printing  office  and  was  the  founder  of  The  Mail, 
an  independent  paper.  After  running  this  paper 
for  two  years  he  sold  it  and  returned  to  Idaho, 
locating  in  Ketchum,  where  he  has  been  engaged 
as  already  outlined. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen  and  a  popular  man  in  social 
and  business  circles,  but  he  devotes  his  time  prin- 
cipally to  the  favorite  Keystone. 

THE    GRANGEVILLE    STANDARD. 

The  Standard,  a  weekly  paper,  published  at 
Grangeville,  is  issued  on  Friday  of  each  week, 
having  been  established  March  2C.  1899.  It  is 
published  in  the  interests  of  the  town  and  of 
Idaho  county  by  the  Standard  Publishing  Com- 
pany, which  is  composed  of  G.  W.  Goode  and 
C.  F.  Lake.  The  subscription  price  is  two  dol- 
lars per  annum,  and  the  journal  has  already  be- 
come a  welcome  visitor  at  many  homes  in  this 
locality. 

Mr.  Lake,  who  is  the  managing  editor,  is  a 
newspaper  man  of  experience.  He  was  born  in 
Wisconsin,  July  21,  1859,  was  educated  in  south- 


eastern Minnesota  and  entered  a  printing  office 
when  fourteen  years  of  age.  He  then  thoroughly 
mastered  the  trade  and  since  that  time  has  been 
continuously  engaged  in  journalistic  work.  He 
has  been  connected  with  various  papers  in  the 
east,  and  published  the  Spokane  Opinion  for  a 
time,  after  which  he  became  one  of  tue  founders 
of  the  Spokane  Daily  Times.  From  that  place 
he  went  to  Moscow,  in  1895,  and  from  there 
came  to  Grangeville  and  founded  the  Standard, 
becoming  its  managing  editor.  The  paper  is  a 
clean,  bright,  newsy  and  well  printed  sheet,  and 
from  the  beginning  has  received  a  good  advertis- 
ing patronage. 

THE    REPUBLICAN. 

The   Republican,   a   weekly    newspaper    pub- 
lished at  Preston,  is  issued  every  Wednesday  and 
is  an  eight-page,  four-column  quarto,  devoted  to 
local  interests  and  to  the  advancement  and  pro- 
mulgation of  Republican  principles.     The  pub- 
lishers are  R.  H.  Davis  and  W.  H.  Peck.     The 
former  is  a  newspaper  man  of  marked  ability  and 
wide  experience.     He  is  owner  of  the  Caldwell 
Tribune  and  the  Malad  Enterprise,  in  addition  to 
his  partnership  interest  in  the  Republican.     Mr. 
Peck,   the  junior  partner,  learned   the  printer's 
trade  in  the  office  of  the  Enterprise  at   Malad 
City,  where  he  was  employed  for  vears.    He  then 
worked  on  the  Caldwell  Tribune  for  two  years, 
after  which  he  took  charge  of  the  Republican, 
in  January,    1899.     Messrs.   Davis   &   Peck  are 
now  building  a  good  office  at  Preston  and  are 
enlarging  their  plant.    Theirs  is  the  pioneer  pa- 
per of  the  town,  and  it  was  first  published  in 
1893,  by  B.  N.  Davis,  a  brother  of  R.  H.  Davis, 
who  called  it  the  Standard,  under  which  name  it 
appeared  for  two  years.     It  was  then  leased  to 
L.   R.  Whitney,  who  changed  the  name  to  the 
Republican.    Mr.  Peck,  the  present  manager,  is  a 
bright  young  newspaper  man,  an  able  and  intel- 
ligent worker  and  has  made  his  paper  a  paying 
investment. 

JULIAETTA    NEWSPAPERS. 

The  first  paper  published  in  Juliaetta  was  the 
Juliaetta  Gem,  whose  initial  number  was  issued 
May  18,  1889,  with  W.  L.  Taylor  as  editor.  Mr. 
Taylor  was  a  young  man  of  talent,  and  was  a 
step-son  of  Judge  Piper.  He  continued  his  iden- 


200 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


tification  with  the  Gem  only  eighteen  months, 
when  the  enterprise  was  temporarily  abandoned, 
being  practically  resurrected  in  the  issuing  of  the 
Potlatch,  which  made  its  first  appearance  in  June, 
1891,  with  Collins  Ferryman  as  business  man- 
ager and  J.  M.  Bledsoe  as  editor.  Air.  Ferry- 
man managed  the  paper  with  much  energy  and 
ability,  securing  to  it  a  good  patronage  and  mak- 
ing a  success  of  the  venture.  After  the  lapse  of 
somewhat  more  than  one  year  the  newspaper  was 
sold  to  William  R.  McCracken,  who  rechristened 
it  the  Juliaetta  Advance.  He  continued  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Advance  for  two  years,  when  it 
was  discontinued  by  reason  of  the  general  de- 
pression in  financial  affairs.  Somewhat  later  the 
Potlatch  Press  was  started  here  by  the  Alford 
Brothers,  now  publishers  of  the  Lewiston  Tri- 
bune. They  conducted  the  business  with  marked 
ability,  making  the  Press  a  live,  newsy  journal. 
At  the  expiration  of  one  year  F.  J.  Bratton  be- 
came proprietor  and  published  the  paper  two 
years,  after  which  he  sent  the  press  to  Spaulding. 
The  Juliaetta  Register  made  its  first  appear- 
ance on  May  i,  1899,  M.  P.  Stevens  presiding 
over  its  destinies.  He  is  a  lawyer  by  profession, 
and  is  the  incumbent  of  the  important  offices  of 
justice  of  the  peace,  city  clerk  and  city  attorney. 
Mr.  Stevens  is  making  the  Register  an  excellent 
paper,  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  town  and 
surrounding  country,  and  it  merits  the  support  of 
all  residents  of  the  community. 

THE    IDAHO    COUNTY    FREE    PRESS. 

The  Free  Press  is  a  weekly  publication,  and 
was  founded  by  A.  F.  Parker,  its  present  editor 
and  proprietor,  in  June,  1886,  as  an  independent 
journal  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  town  of 
Grangeville  and  of  Idaho  county.  Mr.  Parker 
is  a  gentleman  of  considerable  literary  talent  and 
ability,  and  has  met  with  such  eminent  success 
in  the  conduct  of  his  journal  that  in  January, 
1899,  he  was  encouraged  to  produce  the  first 
issue  of  the  Daily  Press,  which  is  a  wide-awake 
and  popular  paper,  full  of  general  and  mining 
news.  He  is  an  energetic,  progressive  and  cap- 
able journalist  and  has  done  much  for  the  welfare 
of  the  state  in  setting  forth  its  advantages  and  re- 
sources in  the  columns  of  his  papers. 

A  native  of  England,  he  was  born  in  Wells, 
Somersetshire,  March  16,  1856,  and  when  only 


twelve  years  of  age  shipped  before  the  mast,  fol- 
lowing a  seafaring  life  until  1873.  In  1876  he 
made  a  voyage  around  Cape  Horn  to  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  came  directly  to  Idaho,  engaging  in 
quartz  mining  in  the  Brownlee  country,  in  Big 
Snake  river  canyon.  He  followed  that  pursuit 
until  advised  to  quit  on  account  of  the  Nez 
Perces  Indian  outbreak  in  1877,  when  he  entered 
the  service  of  the  government  as  scout,  courier 
and  guide.  He  also  served  in  the  same  capacity 
at  the  time  of  the  Bannock  Indian  outbreak,  in 
1878,  and  in  the  Sheep-eater  Indian  campaign  of 
1879. 

The  following  year  Mr.  Parker  located  in  Lew- 
iston, and  published  the  Nez  Perces  News  from 
January,  1880,  until  September,  1883,  when  he 
sold  out  and  joined  the  throng  making  its  way 
to  the  Coeur  d'Alene  district.  He  established 
the  Coeur  d'Alene  Daily  and  Weekly  Eagle,  at 
Eagle  City,  in  February,  1884,  and  served  as 
postmaster  and  deputy  recorder  there  through- 
out the  excitement,  making  sometimes  as  high  as 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  day  through 
his  labors  in  the  recorder's  office.  Since  that 
time  he  has  engaged  in  the  publication  of  The 
Idaho  County  Free  Press,  and  in  the  manage- 
ment of  his  investments.  He  has  various  mining 
interests  in  Idaho,  Nez  Perces  and  Washington 
counties  and  owns  a  large  amount  of  stock  in  the 
Cleveland  group  of  mines,  eight  miles  south  of 
Elk  City,  where  considerable  development  work 
has  shown  up  a  very  valuable  property.  He  also 
has  realty  interests  in  Grangeville  and  has  erected 
a  number  of  buildings  in  the  town,  thereby  ad- 
vancing the  work  of  public  improvement. 

On  the  4th  of  February,  1890,  Mr.  Parker  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  S.  Newman, 
the  youngest  daughter  of  Horace  S.  Newman, 
formerly  general  claim  agent  of  the  Union  Pa- 
cific Railroad  Company.  Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Parker  have  been  born  four  children,  but  they 
lost  their  eldest  in  her  fourth  year.  The  living 
are  Foster  C.,  and  Lyclia  and  Sylvia,  twins.  They 
have  a  delightful  residence  in  Grangeville  and 
are  numbered  among  the  most  highly  esteemed 
citizens  there. 

In  politics  Mr.  Parker  has  always  been  a  stal- 
wart Democrat,  but  his  publications  are  strictly 
neutral,  and  are  conducted  on  strictly  business 
principles.  He  was,  however,  a  Democratic 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


201 


member  of  the  convention  which  prepared  the 
state  constitution,  which  was  adopted  in  conven- 
tion in  Boise,  August  6,  1889,  and  which  is  now 
the  organic  law  of  Idaho.  He  is  one  of  the  two 
oldest  representatives  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
fraternity  in  Idaho,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Woodmen  of  the  World  and  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternities. 

THE    IDAHO    FALLS    REGISTER. 

The  Idaho  Falls  Register,  a  newsy,  eight-page, 
six-column  paper,  published  by  William  E. 
Wheeler,  is  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  city 
of  Idaho  Falls  and  the  county  of  Bingham.  It 
is  Republican  in  politics,  gives  all  the  local  news 
and  pays  much  attention  to  the  county's  agri- 
cultural interests.  It  is  ably  edited  and  well 
printed  and  has  had  a  powerful  influence  upon 
the  development  of  the  county.  Mr.  W'heeler 
issued  the  paper  first  at  Blackfoot,  July  i,  1880. 
He  removed  it  to  Idaho  Falls  in  1884,  and  it  at 
once  became  a  potent  factor  in  the  progress  and 
prosperity  of  the  field  in  which  it  circulates. 

William  E.  Wheeler  was  born  at  Peacham, 
Caledonia  county,  Vermont,  August  29,  1844, 
and  is  descended  from  a  family  which  settled 
early  in  Maine,  where  his  father,  Samuel  Dexter 
Wheeler,  was  born.  His  grandfather,  Colonel 
William  Wheeler,  fought  in  the  war  with  Mexico. 
Samuel  Dexter  Wheeler  married  Sarah  Jane  Bai- 
ly,  a  native  of  Peacham,  Vermont,  and  they  had 
five  children,  of  whom  only  three  survive.  Mr. 
Wheeler  was  a  shoemaker  and  farmer  and  he  and 
his  wife  were  Seventh-day  Adventists.  Mr. 
Wheeler  died  in  his  fifty-eighth  year.  His  widow 
has  now  reached  the  advanced  age  of  seventy- 
eight. 

When  William  E.  Wheeler,  the  eldest  of  the 
children  of  Samuel  Dexter  and  Sarah  Jane  (Bai- 
ly)  Wheeler,  was  fifteen  years  old,  the  family  re- 
moved to  Illinois,  where  the  boy  finished  his  edu- 
cation. He  was  not  yet  seventeen  when  the  civil 
war  began,  but  he  tried  to  enlist  in  the  Ellsworth 
Zouaves  and  was  rejected  because  he  was  not  of 
legal  military  age.  In  1864,  when  he  was  twenty- 
one,  he  tried  again  to  enter  the  army,  and  was 
accepted  as  a  member  of  Company  B,  One  Hun- 
dred and  Forty-sixth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  did  provost  and  guard  duty  in  southern  Illi- 
nois and  Kentucky.  He  was  at  Springfield, 
Illinois,  at  the  time  of  the  funeral  of  President 


Lincoln,  and  helped  to  guard  the  state  house 
while  the  remains  of  the  martyred  president  were 
lying  in  state  in  that  building.  He  was  honor- 
ably discharged  and  mustered  out  of  the  service 
at  Springfield. 

Mr.  Wheeler  began  his  journalistic  career  at 
Evanston,  Wyoming,  where  he  published  the 
Evanston  Age  until  1880.  He  then  removed  to 
Blackfoot,  Idaho,  where  he  established  the  Reg- 
ister, which  he  later  brought  to  Idaho  Falls  and 
made  an  influential  journal.  He  has  made  the 
Register  a  success  from  every  point  of  view  and 
has  never  been  stintful  of  time  or  means  in  pro- 
claiming to  the  world  the  advantages  of  this  part 
of  Idaho  for  residence  and  investment.  His  pub- 
lic spirit  has  been  recognized  by  his  fellow  citi- 
zens and  he  has  received  a  liberal  patronage.  He 
has  built  up  a  fine  printing  and  publishing  plant, 
and  it  is  as  well  equipped  for  development  and 
success  as  any  newspaper  in  the  state. 

Mr.  Wheeler  was  married,  in  1883,  to  Miss 
Elizabeth  W.  Dougherty,  a  native  of  Elgin, 
Illinois,  and  a  daughter  of  Michael  Dougherty 
who  came  to  the  United  States  from  Ireland. 
Mr.  Wheeler  was  made  an  Odd  Fellow  in  1865. 

THE    STANDARD. 

The  Standard,  an  interesting  journal  issued 
each  Friday,  in  Preston,  Oneida  county,  is  a  four- 
page,  six-column  quarto,  published  by  W.  H. 
Kenner.  It  is  devoted  to  local  interests  and  is 
the  organ  of  the  Oneida  stake  of  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints.  It  was  first 
published  in  1895  as  the  New  Era,  and  in  1896 
was  sold  to  Sponburg  &  Barnes,  who  changed 
the  name  to  Oneida  Herald  and  made  it  the 
organ  of  the  Democratic  party.  In  1898  it  was 
repurchased  by  the  original  company  and  as- 
sumed the  name  of  the  Standard,  under  which 
title  it  is  still  published. 

Mr.  Kenner,  its  editor,  was  born  in  St.  Francis- 
ville,  Clark  county,  Missouri,  January  19,  1860, 
and  went  to  Salt  Lake  as  an  emigrant.  He  was 
employed  by  Mr.  Ford  in  a  job-printing  office  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  later  worked  on  the  Herald  and 
subsequently  on  the  Tribune,  and  has  done  much 
newspaper  work  in  Utah,  Idaho  and  Wyoming. 
He  has  had  wide  experience  in  the  field  of  jour- 
nalism and  is  a  man  of  marked  ability  in  the 
newspaper  field.  He  is  now  serving  as  a  mem- 


202 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


her  of  Governor  Steunenberg's  staff,  and  is  a 
notary  public.  He  was  married  in  1883  to  Miss 
Ida  V '.  Conover,  daughter  of  Peter  Conover,  who 
emigrated  to  Salt  Lake  in  1848  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  Joseph  Smith's  body  guard.  He  was  the 
founder  of  Provo  City  and  built  the  first  house 
there.  In  the  Indian  war  he  served  as  a  colonel 
of  the  Utah  militia,  and  lived  to  the  ripe  old  age 
of  eighty-five  years.  Mrs.  Kenner  has  learned 
the  printer's  trade  with  her  husband,  and  is  his 
able  assistant  in  the  office.  They  now  have  two 
daughters,  Katie  and  Ada. 

THE  NORTH  IDAHO  STAR. 

This  is  a  weekly  paper  published  each  Friday 
in  Moscow,  and  is  the  property  of  Henry  C. 
Shaver,  who  is  both  editor  and  proprietor.  The 
paper  is  published  in  the  interests  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  and  of  northern  Idaho,  and  was  es- 
tablished October  i,  1887,  by  J.  L.  Brown,  who 
continued  its  publication  for  three  years.  He 
then  sold  to  the  Star  Publishing  Company,  who 
continued  in  control  until  October  9,  1893,  at 
which  time  the  journal  was  purchased  by  its 
present  owner. 

Mr.  Shaver  is  a  newspaper  man  of  experience 
and  ability.  He  was  born  in  Kendall  county,  Illi- 
nois, August  8,  1858,  and  when  a  child  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Iowa.  He  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  that  state  and  first  began  to 
learn  the  printer's  trade  in  the  office  of  the  Re- 
publican, at  Waverly,  Iowa.  After  completing 
his  apprenticeship  and  acting  as  compositor  and 
performing  other  duties  in  connection  with  print- 
ing for  some  years,  he  purchased  the  Cedar  Falls 
Recorder,  at  Cedar  Falls,  Iowa,  which  was  his 
first  business  venture  of  importance.  He  con- 
tinued the  publication  of  that  journal  for  four 
years  and  then  removed  to  Des  Moines,  Iowa, 
where  he  became  identified  with  the  Des  Moines 
Daily  Leader,  first  as  manager  of  the  job  de- 
partment and  later  as  manager  of  the  subscrip- 
tion department.  He  was  then  promoted  to  the 
reportorial  staff,  subsequently  became  city  editor 
and  finally  editor  in  chief,  holding  the  last  named 
responsible  position  for  six  years,  when  he  re- 
signed in  order  to  devote  his  entire  time  to  the 
Iowa  interests  of  the  Chicago  Herald,  with  head- 
quarters at  Des  Moines.  That  position  he  held 
until  June,  1893,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  a 


business  offer  from  the  Des  Moines  Leader,  mak- 
ing him  its  correspondent  in  Washington,  D.  C. 
At  the  same  time  he  acted  as  correspondent  for 
the  Omaha  World-Herald  and  the  Indianapolis 
Sentinel.  That  work  he  continued  until  the  fol- 
lowing autumn,  when  he  decided  to  come  west 
and  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  residents  of  Latah 
county,  Idaho.  Since  becoming  the  owner  and 
editor  of  the  Star  the  paper  has  materially  ad- 
vanced in  business  prosperity  and  journalistic 
standing  and  has  become  a  very  potent  factor  in 
promoting  the  interests  of  Moscow  and  the 
county. 

Mr.  Shaver  is  thoroughly  identified  with  the 
interests  of  his  adopted  town  and  county,  and, 
with  a  full  appreciation  of  their  excellent  ad- 
vantages and  resources,  he  has  put  these  before 
the  public  through  the  columns  of  nis  paper  and 
has  been  particularly  active  in  calling  attention  to 
the  wonderful  white-pine  belt  in  the  eastern  sec- 
tion of  the  state,  which  is  a  source  of  great 
wealth,  as  yet  undeveloped.  One  result  of  his 
labors  in  this  direction  has  been  the  organization 
of  a  company  which  now  has  its  plans  consum- 
mated to  build  a  railroad  to  the  center  of  the 
pine  belt,  that  it  may  be  advantageously  worked. 
In  the  near  future  the  work  of  construction  will 
be  instituted,  and  when  the  road  is  completed  the 
future  of  Moscow  as  a  large  manufacturing  town 
is  assured. 

Mr.  Shaver  was  married,  June  i,  1893,  to  Miss 
Emilie  Cozier,  a  daughter  of  Rev.  B.  F. 
Cozier,  a  prominent  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  and  a  sister  of  United  States 
Attorney  Cozier.  They  have  one  child, 
Seymour.  Mrs.  Shaver  is  a  valued  member  of  the 
Methodist  church.  In  politics  Mr.  Shaver  is  an 
inflexible  adherent  of  the  Republican  party  and 
does  all  in  his  power  to  promote  its  growth  and 
insure  its  success.  He  belongs  to  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  the  World,  and  is  a  popular  and 
representative  citizen  of  northern  Idaho. 

THE    POST. 

An  excellent  weekly  newspaper  published  at 
Paris,  the  county-seat  of  Bear  Lake  county,  is 
the  Post,  which  is  a  five-column  quarto.  Repub- 
lican in  its  political  proclivities,  and  the  official 
organ  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter 
Day  Saints  in  Idaho.  The  paper  was  established 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


203 


in  1880  by  the  officers  of  the  Bear  Lake  stake,  a 
division  of  the  church  as  to  territorial  jurisdic- 
tion, and  it  has  been  continued  under  the  same 
management  up  to  the  present  time.  During  the 
years  of  its  publication  two  judges  have  "gradu- 
ated" from  the  office  of  the  Post, — Judge  Charles 
H.  Hunt,  who  was  employed  in  the  office  in 
1881;  and  Judge  Rolapp,  of  Ogden,  Utah,  who 
was  connected  with  the  enterprise  in  1885. 

In  the  years  1881  and  1882  James  H.  Wallis 
figured  as  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Post,  again 
becoming  the  manager  of  its  destinies  in  1885-6, 
and  after  an  interim  again  assuming  its  manage- 
ment in  1892,  since  which  time  he  has  been  at  the 
helm.     In  the  meantime  he  had  been  employed 
on  the  Salt   Lake   Herald.     During  the   entire 
period  of  its  existence  the  Post  has  been  a  potent 
factor  in  promoting  the  interests  of  Paris  and 
Bear  Lake  county,  as  well  as  of  the  Republi- 
can party  and  the  church,  and  its  affairs  have 
been  ably  handled.     James  H.  Wallis,  who  has 
so  long  been  the  editor  and  publisher  of  the  pa- 
per, is  a  native  of  London,  England,  having  been 
born  in  the  famous    Tower    of    London.      His 
father,  James  Wallis,  was  camp  artificer  for  the 
English  government,  and  resided  in  the  historical 
tower,  of  which  the  latter's  father  was  turnkey, 
so  that  it  was  long  occupied  by  the  family.  James 
H.  Wallis  was  born  on  the  i3th  of  April,  1861, 
and  received  his  education  in  his  native  city,  after 
which  he  served  the  full  bound-apprenticeship  of 
seven  years  at  the  printing  trade,  in  which  he  be- 
came as  thorough  and  skillful  a  workman  as  only 
the  old  system  can  insure.     He  eventually  em- 
braced the  faith  of  the  Church  of  Christ  of  Lat- 
ter Day  Saints,  and  sailed  for  the  United  States 
in  April,  1881,  making  this  change  of  residence 
by  reason  of  his  religious  convictions,  the  doc- 
trines of  the  church  being  to  gather  its  adherents 
together.     At  first  he  was  employed  by  George 
Q.  Cannon,  in  Salt  Lake  City,  whence,  in  Octo- 
ber of  the  same  year,   1881,  he  came  to  Paris, 
where  he  became  interested  in  political  affairs. 
His  management  of  the  Post  has  been  such  as  to 
make  it  a  strong  defender  of  the  rights  of  the 
people.     He  was  a  Democrat  until  Cleveland's 
second  administration,  when  he  became  identified 
with  the  Republican  party,  of  whose  principles 
he  has  ever  since  been  a  stanch  advocate. 
Mr.  Wallis  graduated  in  the  law  department  of 


the  Nebraska  State  University,  and  in  1890  was 
elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  Juab  county, 
Utah.  He  is  now  United  States  commissioner 
for  the  state  of  Idaho,  receiving  the  appointment 
from  the  federal  judge,  and  in  the  sessions  of  the 
state  senate  of  1898-9  he  held  the  office  of  general 
committee  clerk.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
national  executive  committee  of  the  Republican 
party. 

In  1881  Mr.  Wallis  was  married  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Todd,  of  London.  They  crossed  the  At- 
lantic together  and  were  married  in  Salt  Lake 
City.  They  became  the  parents  of  eleven  child- 
ren, and  all  save  one  of  the  number  are  still 
living. 

Mr.  Wallis  is  a  man  of  marked  intellectuality, 
is  a  bright  journalist  and  able  statistician,  and  is 
well  and  favorably  known  throughout  the  state. 

THE    LEWISTON    TELLER. 

The  Teller  is  an  independent  weekly  newspa- 
per which  was  founded  in  1876  by  A.  Leland  and 
his  son,  C.  F.  Leland,  the  terms  being  five  dollars 
per  annum.  Those  gentlemen  published  the  pa- 
per successfully  until  1890,  at  which  time  it  was 
purchased  by  C.  A.  Foresman,  who  has  since 
conducted  it  as  a  Republican  journal,  and  since 
1898  has  issued  it  bi-weekly.  It  has  a  wide  cir- 
culation in  Latah,  Nez  Perces  and  Idaho  coun- 
ties, and  is  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  in- 
fluential Republican  papers  in  the  state,  having 
been  a  potent  factor  in  the  growth  and  upbuild- 
ing of  this  section  of  Idaho. 

Mr.  Foresman,  the  editor  and  proprietor,  was 
born  in  Indiana,  May  29,  1859,  was  educated  in 
the  State  Normal  School  and  came  to  Idaho  in 
1889.  Here  he  was  principal  of  the  Lewiston 
schools  for  six  years,  and  in  1894  he  was  elected 
state  superintendent  of  schools.  He  is  a  man 
of  scholarly  attainments  and  broad  general  cul- 
ture, and  has  given  to  the  school  system  of  the 
state  an  impetus  whose  effect  will  long  be  felt. 
His  strong  mentality  is  shown  through  the  col- 
umns of  the  Teller,  which  is  a  most  interesting 
journal,  faithfully  mirroring  forth  the  events  of 
the  locality,  state  and  nation.  Mr.  Foresman  has 
built  a  nice  home  in  Lewiston,  is  married  and 
has  two  children.  His  wife  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  church,  and  he  is  past  grand  chan- 
cellor of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  of 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Idaho.  He  and  his  family  are  held  in  high  es- 
teem in  Lewiston  and  he  is  justly  regarded  as 
one  of  the  prominent  and  representative  citizens 
of  his  adopted  state. 

THE    MONTPELIER    EXAMINER. 

The  ancestors  of  Charles  E.  Harris,  editor  and 
proprietor  of  the  Montpelier  Examiner,  settled 
at  Jamestown,  Virginia,  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury and  he  was  born  in  West  Virginia  in  1866. 
He  has  been  thirty  years  in  the  west  and  fifteen 
years  a  newspaper  man  in  Oregon,  Montana, 
Wyoming  and  Idaho,  and  during  that  time  has 
established  four  papers. 

The  Montpelier  Examiner  was  first  issued  in 
March,  1895.  It  is  an  eight-page,  six-column 
sheet,  Independent-Democratic  in  politics,  and  is 
the  official  paper  of  the  city  of  Montpelier,  which 
has  a  population  of  nearly  two  thousand,  and  of 
Bear  Lake  county,  which  has  a  population  of  ten 
thousand,  and  it  covers  the  whole  field.  Its  sub- 
scription price  is  two  dollars  a  year  and  it  circu- 
lates in  three  states,  Idaho,  Wyoming  and  Utah. 
It  has  the  most  complete  plant  in  southern  Idaho, 
and  the  office  turns  out  fine  job  printing  in  all 
branches. 

•  Mr.  Harris  was  married,  in  1895,  to  Mary  Rob- 
inson, of  Park  City,  Utah.  He  is  a  citizen  of 
much  public  and  personal  popularity,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  Odd  Fellows 
and  Woodmen  of  the  World.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  board  of  regents  of  the  University  of  the 
State  of  Idaho  and  was  nominee  on  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket,  in  1898,  for  the  office  of  state  sena- 


tor, being  defeated  by  a  majority  of  only  seventy- 
three.  He  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  rising  men 
of  this  part  of  the  state,  and  those  who  have  been 
watching  events  closely  in  Idaho  predict  that 
he  will  come  to  the  front  in  an  unmistakable  way 
as  soon  as  local  conditions  are  favorable. 

THE    ENTERPRISE. 

This  is  a  weekly,  five-column  quarto  news- 
paper, published  every  Saturday  at  Malad,  Onei- 
da  county,  in  the  interests  especially  of  its  city 
and  county,  and  in  general  politics  it  is  a  Re- 
publican organ,  wielding  a  great  influence  in  the 
advancement  of  Republican  principles.  The 
paper  was  founded  by  J.  A.  Streight,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1886.  After  he  had  conducted  it  a  year 
he  sold  it  to  R.  H.  Davis,  a  gentleman  of  con- 
siderable ability,  who  has  since  been  its  pub- 
lisher; and  since  1896  W.  E.  Beers  has  been  its 
successful  manager. 

Mr.  Beers  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  born  at  the 
capital  of  that  state.  He  acquired  a  practical 
knowledge  of  the  printer's  trade  while  a  boy; 
and  his  business  life  since  then  has  been  such 
as  to  make  him  an  accomplished  newspaper  man- 
ager. After  coming  west  he  was  a  reporter  for 
the  Oregonian  and  other  Oregon  papers  in  the 
Idaho  legislature  during  the  session  of  1896-7, 
coming  to  this  state  for  that  purpose.  He  has 
since  been  located  at  Malad,  where  he  has  a  home 
and  family ;  and  he  has  located  here  with  the  in- 
tention of  making  this  his  permanent  abode.  He 
is  considered  by  the  citizens  a  valuable  acquisi- 
tion to  the  community. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


JAMES    H.    HAWLEY. 

NO  COMPENDIUM  such  as  the  province 
of  this  work  defines  in  its  essential  limita- 
tions will  serve  to  offer  fit  memorial  to 
the  life  and  accomplishments  of  the  hon- 
ored subject  of  this  sketch — a  man  remarkable 
in  the  breadth  of  his  wisdom,  in  his  indomitable 
perseverance,  his  strong  individuality,  and  yet 
one  whose  entire  life  has  not  one  esoteric  phase, 
being  an  open  scroll,  inviting  the  closest  scru- 
tiny. True,  his  have  been  "massive  deeds  and 
great"  in  one  sense,  and  yet  his  entire  life  ac- 
complishment but  represents  the  result  of  the 
fit  utilization  of  the  innate  talent  which  is  his, 
and  the  directing  of  his  efforts  in  those  lines 
where  mature  judgment  and  rare  discrimina- 
tion lead  the  way.  There  is  in  Mr.  Hawley  a 
weight  of  character,  a  native  sagacity,  a  far- 
seeing  judgment  and  a  fidelity  of  purpose  that 
commands  the  respect  of  all.  A  man  of  inde- 
fatigable enterprise  and  fertility  of  resource,  he 
has  carved  his  name  deeply  on  the  record  of  the 
political,  commercial  and  professional  history  of 
the  state,  which  owes  much  of  its  advancement 
to  his  efforts. 

James  H.  Hawley  was  born  in  Dubuque,  Iowa, 
on  the  1 7th  of  January,  1847,  ancl  m  ms  yeins 
mingles  the  blood  of  English,  Dutch  and  Irish 
ancestors.  The  Hawley  family  was  founded  in 
America  in  1760.  William  Carr,  the  maternal 
great-grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  a  major 
in  the  Revolutionary  army;  and  the  grandfather, 
Henry  Carr,  commanded  a  company  in  the  war 
of  1812,  with  the  rank  of  captain.  Thomas 
Hawley,  his  father,  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  and  became  a  civil  engineer  by  profes- 
sion. He  married  Miss  Annie  Carr,  who  died 
during  the  infancy  of  her  son  James.  In  1849 
the  father  went  to  California,  and  in  1856  took  up 
his  residence  in  Texas.  When  the  civil  war  was 
inaugurated  he  joined  the  Confederate  army,  and 
served  throughout  that  great  struggle  as  major 


of  a  regiment  of  engineers.  He  is  still  living  in 
the  Lone  Star  state.  He  was  married  a  second 
time,  and  by  that  union  had  five  children,  but 
our  subject  is  the  only  son  by  the  first  marriage. 

In  his  native  city  Mr.  Hawley  of  this  review 
acquired  his  early  education.  In  1861  he  ac- 
companied an  uncle  to  California,  and  was  pre- 
paring to  enter  college  there  when  he  heard  of 
the  wonderful  discoveries  of  gold  in  the  Salmon 
river  country,  in  Idaho.  Hoping  to  gain  wealth 
in  that  district  he  left  California  April  8,  1862, 
arriving  at  Florence  the  latter  part  of  the  month 
while  the  mining  excitement  was  at  its  height. 
Since  that  time  he  has  been  identified  with  min- 
ing interests,  though  his  efforts  have  been  con- 
fined by  no  means  to  one  line  of  endeavor.  In 
December,  1862,  he  went  to  Dallas,  Oregon, 
and  in  May,  1863,  came  to.Boise  county,  locat- 
ing at  Placerville,  working  for  several  months 
on  Gold  Hill  mountain.  He  then  purchased 
placer  claims  near  Ophir  creek,  and  in  1863-4 
prospected  in  various  sections  of  Idaho,  his  part- 
ners being  James  Carr  and  James  Bradford. 
They  were  the  discoverers  of  the  Banner  mining 
district,  and  Mr.  Hawley  was  interested  in  many 
of  the  first  locations  there.  He  also  made  many 
of  the  first  locations  at  what  is  now  Quartzburg. 

In  December,  1864,  however,  he  returned  to 
San  Francisco,  California,  where  he  attended 
school  and  studied  law,  remaining  there  until  the 
fall  of  1868,  when  he  returned  to  Idaho  and  re- 
sumed mining  operations  at  Banner.  In  the 
spring  of  1869  he  worked  placer  claims  on  Cali- 
fornia Hill,  and  through  the  summer  was  at 
Gold  Hill  mountain.  He  also  prospected  in  the 
Loon  creek  country,  returning  in  the  fall  to 
what  is  now  Quartzburg,  where  he  prospected 
for  quartz.  That  autumn  he  discovered  what  is 
known  as  the  Iowa  mine,  a  very  valuable  prop- 
erty. While  working  one  day  he  found  a  very 
rich  deposit,  and,  gathering  some  of  the  rocks 
into  a  flour  sack,  he  took  it  to  the  creek,  where 


205 


20G 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


he  washed  out  the  gold  to  the  value  of  one  thou- 
sand dollars!  He  was  interested  in  most  of  the 
best  placers  in  the  basin,  notably  the  Ebenezer 
and  Yellow  Jacket,  and  still  has  large  mining  in- 
terests in  various  parts  of  the  state.  When  the 
mining  exchange  was  established  in  Boise,  in 
1895,  he  was  chosen  its  first  president,  and  has 
since  held  that  position. 

Throughout  his  entire  life  Mr.  Hawley  has 
been  an  advocate  of  Democratic  principles,  and 
has  been  a  most  active  worker  in  the  interests  of 
his  party  in  Idaho.  In  1870  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  lower  house  of  the  territorial 
legislature,  receiving  the  largest  majority  given 
any  one  on  the  ticket.  During  that  session  he 
served  as  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee. 
He  was  chief  clerk  of  the  house  at  the  seventh 
session,  was  a  member  of  the  council  of  the 
eighth  session  and  was  chief  clerk  at  the  ninth 
session  of  the  territorial  legislature.  In  1878  he 
served  as  county  commissioner  of  Boise  county. 
In  the  meantime  he  had  studied  law  and  was  at- 
taining considerable  prominence  at  the  bar.  He 
began  his  legal  studies  in  San  Francisco  and  con- 
tinued them  at  every  available  opportunity  until 
February  14,  1871,  "when  he  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  the  supreme  court  of  the  territory. 
He  acted  as  deputy  district  attorney  under  Hon. 
George  Ainslie  for  several  years.  In  1878  he 
removed  to  Idaho  City  and  was  nominated  and 
elected  on  the  Democratic  ticket  to  the  position 
of  district  attorney  for  the  second  district,  em- 
bracing Boise,  Alturas,  Lemhi  and  Custer  coun- 
ties. It  was  during  his  term  that  there  occurred 
the  great  mining  excitement  in  the  Wood  river 
country  and  in  Custer  county,  bringing  with  it 
a  great  increase  in  the  population  and  a  great 
accumulation  of  criminal  work  in  the  courts,  but 
Mr.  Hawley  discharged  his  duties  with  marked 
fidelity  and  ability,  and  in  1880  was  renominated 
for  the  same  position.  So  great  was  his  popu- 
larity that  the  Republicans  would  make  no  nom- 
ination, and  he  was  therefore  practically  elected 
by  acclamation.  In  1883  he  removed  to  Hailey, 
Alturas  county,  where  he  remained  until  1886, 
when  he  came  to  Boise,  where  he  has  since  made 
his  home.  In  1885  he  was  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  to  the  position  of  United  States 
district  attorney,  in  which  capacity  he  served 
most  acceptably  for  four  years.  It  was  during 


that  time  that  the  Mormon  troubles  arose  in  the 
territory  and  he  became  prominent  as  the  prose- 
cutor of  many  of  that  sect  under  the  Edmund 
Tucker  law,  though  he  vigorously  opposed  the 
test-oath  law,  being  persuaded  that  it  was  wrong 
in  principle.  He  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the 
settlement  of  the  Idaho  land  matters  under  the 
Sparks  administration,  and  in  1884-5,  while  as- 
sistant prosecuting  attorney  of  Alturas  county, 
with  Hon.  N.  M.  Ruick  as  principal,  he  had 
charge  of  and  settled  amicably  the  strikes  on 
Wood  river.  In  1888  he  received  the  Democratic 
nomination  for  congress  and  was  defeated  after  a 
vigorous  campaign  by  ex-Senator  Fred  T.  Du- 
bois.  He  was  elected  chairman  of  the  Boise 
county  Democratic  committee,  in  which  capacity 
he  served  for  six  years,  doing  excellent  service 
for  the  party  by  his  capable  and  wise  manage- 
ment of  its  forces.  He  has  been  a  member  of 
every  Democratic  state  convention  since  his  ar- 
rival in  Idaho  with  the  exception  of  that  of  1896 
and  has  been  one  of  the  leading  figures  in  Idaho 
politics  for  a  third  of  a  century.  In  1896  he  took 
the  stump  for  Bryan,  and  his  voice  was  heard  in 
every  precinct  in  Idaho,  ably  expounding  the 
doctrines  in  which  he  believes. 

But  it  is  as  a  learned,  experienced  and  eminent 
lawyer  that  Mr.  Hawley  is  most  widely  known. 
He  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  criminal  lawyers 
of  the  northwest,  and  it  is  a  notable  fact  that  he 
has  tried  more  criminal  cases  than  any  lawyer  on 
the  Pacific  coast.  He  was  associated  with  Hon. 
Pat  Reddy,  of  San  Francisco,  in  the  Coeur 
d'Alene  mine  trials,  of  1892,  and  out  of  between 
seven  and  eight  hundred  indictments  by  federal 
and  state  courts  they  cleared  every  one  of  the 
defendants,  carrying  some  of  the  cases  into  the 
United  States  supreme  court,  where  they  were 
likewise'victorious.  Mr.  Hawley  enjoys  a  very 
extensive  and  remunerative  practice,  mostly  in 
the  departments  of  criminal,  mining  and  irriga- 
tion law. 

The  home  relations  of  our  subject  are  most 
pleasant.  He  was  married  on  the  4th  of  January, 
1875,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Bullock,  of  New  York 
city,  and  to  them  have  been  born  nine  children, 
six  of  whom  are  living.  Edgar  T.,  the  eldest 
son,  is  now  lieutenant  in  the  Idaho  regiment,  and 
is  serving  his  country  in  the  Philippines;  Jesse 
B.  is  a  student  in  the  high  school;  Emma  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


207 


Bessie  are  attending  the  Sisters'  school;  and 
James  H.  and  Harry  R.  are  at  home.  The  family 
is  one  of  prominence  in  the  community,  and  the 
members  of  the  household  occupy  high  positions 
in  social  circles.  Mr.  Hawley  belongs  to  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  in  which  he  is 
past  noble  grand,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Benevolent  and  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks.  He  was  also  at  one  time 
president  of  the  Bar  Association  of  Idaho.  The 
future  of  such  a  man  can  be  forecast  at  least  to 
this  extent:  it  will  be  characterized  by  great  ac- 
tivity in  the  important  things  that  concern  the 
interests  of  society  and  government.  The  world 
is  always  in  need  of  men  of  his  character  and 
ability,  men  who  are  high-minded, public-spirited, 
energetic  and  enterprising,  who  believe  that  the 
citizen  owes  a  solemn  duty  to  the  community; 
and  while  the  demands  on  such  men  are  in- 
creased by  their  willingness  to  sacrifice  for  the 
public  good,  fortunately  they  are  possessed  of  the 
patriotism,  humanity  and  public  spirit  which 
prompt  them  to  respond  whenever  the  public  will 
imposes  a  burden  upon  their  time  and  patience; 
and  while  their  successes  are  regarded  as  per- 
sonal achievements,  they  are  also  credited  as  vic- 
tories for  society  and  civilization. 

NORMAN    M.    RUICK. 

This  distinguished  practitioner  at  the  bar  of 
Idaho  has  been  connected  with  the  leading  inter- 
ests of  the  state  for  some  years,  and  in  all  the  re- 
lations of  life  he  has  commanded  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  his  fellow  men  by  his  fidelity  to 
duty  and  his  devotion  to  the  interests  entrusted 
to  his  care.  He  comes  from  the  far  east,  being  a 
native  of  Connecticut.  His  birth  occurred  in 
Granby,  that  state,  on  the  4th  of  October,  1854, 
and  his  ancestry  includes  both  Irish  and  Puritan 
stock.  His  paternal  great-grandfather,  a  native 
of  the  Emerald  Isle,  emigrated  to  the  New  World 
and  took  up  his  residence  in  Hartford  county, 
Connecticut,  where  he  resided  for  many  years. 
When  the  colonies  attempted  to  throw  off  the 
yoke  of  British  tyranny,  he  joined  the  army  and 
valiantly  fought  in  the  war  which  gave  to  the 
nation  her  independence.  The  grandfather  of  our 
subject,  William  Ruick,  Sr.,  and  the  father,  who 
also  bore  the  name  of  William,  were  -both  born  in 
Granby,  Connecticut,  the  latter  on  the  loth  of 


July,  1822.  He  was  a  carriage-maker  by  trade 
and  followed  that  pursuit  in  order  to  gain  a  liveli- 
hood for  his  family.  He  married  Miss  Temper- 
ance C.  Hutchinson,  a  native  of  Mansfield,  Con- 
necticut, and  a  representative  of  one  of  the  old 
Puritan  families  of  New  England.  The  Ruick 
family  for  several  generations  had  been  connected 
with  the  Methodist  church,  of  which  denomina- 
tion the  parents  of  our  subject  were  also  mem- 
bers. The  mother  departed  this  life  in  1884,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-two  years,  and  the  father  was 
called  to  his  final  rest  in  1888,  in  the  sixty-sixth 
year  of  his  age.  They  had  five  sons  and  a  daugh- 
ter, and  the  sons  are  all  yet  living. 

Norman  Melville  Ruick,  whose  name  intro- 
duces this  review,  remained  on  the  home  farm 
with  his  father,  assisting  in  the  labors  of  field  and 
meadow  until  seventeen  years  of  age.  Then,  as 
so  many  other  country  boys  have  done,  he  went 
to  the  city  to  try  his  fortune.  The  ranks  of  prom- 
inent business  men  in  our  industrial  and  commer- 
cial centers  are  constantly  being  recruited  from 
the  farm,  where  the  outdoor  life  and  exercise 
have  developed  sturdy  youths  well  fitted  to  cope 
with  the  ofttimes  difficult  problem  of  securing  a 
start  in  the  financial  world.  Making  his  way  to 
Troy,  New  York,  Mr.  Ruick  first  served  an  ap- 
prenticeship at  the  machinist's  trade  in  the 
Schenectady  Locomotive  Works,  but  he  did  not 
find  this  entirely  congenial.  He  seemed  to  pos- 
sess a  natural  predilection  for  the  law,  and  de- 
voted all  his  leisure  hours  to  reading  the  text- 
books containing  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  science  of  jurisprudence.  When  his  term  of 
apprenticeship  was  ended  he  entered  the  law  of- 
fice of  King  &  Rhodes,  of  Troy,  New  York,  and 
after  a  thorough  course  of  study  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  by  the  supreme  court  of  Indiana,  in  In- 
dianapolis, in  1877. 

For  three  years  Mr.  Ruick  engaged  in  practice 
in  that  city,  and  then  went  to  Tucson,  Arizona, 
with  a  view  of  locating  there,  but  changing  his 
mind  he  came  to  Idaho,  by  way  of  San  Francisco, 
locating  in  the  Wood  river  country,  where  he  re- 
mained for  a  number  of  years.  He  practiced 
law  in  Bellevue  and  Hailey  and  served  as  assist- 
ant district  attorney  for  Alturas  county  for  two 
years.  He  was  three  times  the  nominee  of  his 
party  for  the  position  of  district  attorney,  and 
filled  that  position  in  1885  and  1886.  In  1892 


208 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  and  served 
with  distinction  as  chairman  of  the  judiciary  com- 
mittee. He  was  the  author  of  the  "Ruick  law," 
making  all  obligations  to  be  paid  in  money  pay- 
able in  any  lawful  money — gold,  silver  or  green- 
backs— notwithstanding  anything  in  the  contract 
to  the  contrary.  Since  his  arrival  in  the  state  Mr. 
Ruick  has  been  an  important  factor  in  political 
circles.  In  1894  he  was  elected  chairman  of  the 
Populist  state  central  committee,  and  with  signal 
ability  conducted  the  memorable  campaign  of 
that  year.  As  an  organizer  he  has  few  equals 
and  no  superiors  in  Idaho.  He  marshals  his 
forces  with  the  skill  and  precision  of  a  general 
on  the  field  of  battle,  and  at  the  same  time  does 
it  with  such  tact  that  the  most  harmonious  work- 
ing is  secured  within  the  ranks  of  the  party.  It 
was  he  who  conceived  the  plan  and  was  largely 
instrumental  in  carrying  to  a  successful  issue  the 
combination  between  the  Populists  and  Demo- 
crats in  1896,  which  resulted  in  the  election  of  the 
Democratic-Populist  state  ticket,  giving  a  ma- 
jority in  the  legislature  and  thus  sending  a  Popu- 
list to  the  United  States  senate. 

Upon  becoming  chairman  of  the  state  central 
committee,  Mr.  Ruick  removed  to  Boise,  where 
he  has  since  made  his  home,  successfully  engag- 
ing in  the  practice  of  law.  He  is  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  criminal  lawyers  in  the  state,  his  ser- 
vice as  prosecuting  attorney  causing  him  to  give 
special  attention  to  this  department  of  jurisprud- 
ence. His  ability  in  this  direction  has  caused  him 
in  many  instances  to  be  employed  by  various 
counties  as  assistant  prosecutor,  and  he  has  al- 
most invariably  succeeded  in  winning  the  suits 
with  which  he  has  thus  been  connected.  Pos- 
sessed of  a  keen  and  penetrating  intelligence,  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  law  and  an  indomit- 
able will,  he  has  attained  an  eminent  position  in 
his  profession,  and  in  legal  circles  is  known 
throughout  the  entire  northwest. 

On  the  1 7th  of  August,  1888,  Mr.  Ruick  was 
married  to  Mrs.  Manda  D.  Reiff,  and  their  union 
has  been  blessed  with  two  sons  and  a  daughter, 
— Norman  M.,  Eleanor  and  Melville.  In  his 
religious  belief  Mr.  Ruick  is  a  Christian  scientist, 
and  socially  is  connected  with  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America  and  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen.  In  the  latter  he  has  served  as  past 
master  in  the  local  lodge  and  has  been  representa- 


tive to  the  supreme  lodge.  He  is  of  a  genial  na- 
ture and  gentlemanly  bearing,  which  character- 
istics are  evidences  of  a  commendable  character, 
and  he  is  one  of  the  popular  and  esteemed  citizens 

of  Boise. 

DAVID    C.    CHASE. 

David  C.  Chase,  the  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
the  great  Payette  Valley  Mercantile  Company, 
Limited,  doing  business  in  Payette,  Idaho,  is  a 
native  of  Ohio,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  John- 
sonville,  Trumbull  county,  on  the  26th  of  April, 
1853.  He  traces  his  descent  from  English  ances- 
tors who  were  early  settlers  of  Connecticut,  and 
participated  in  many  of  the  leading  events  which 
go  to  make  up  the  history  of  that  state.  His 
father,  David  Chase,  was  a  New  England  farmer, 
and  died  when  his  son  and  namesake  was  only  a 
small  boy.  The  latter  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  Meadville,  Pennsylvania,  and  began 
life  as  a  newsboy,  selling  papers  on  the  streets 
and  afterward  on  the  train.  As  the  years  passed 
and  he  became  fitted  for  more  responsible  duties, 
he  resolved  to  learn  telegraphy.  This  he  did,  and 
was  employed  in  the  railroad  service  for  twenty 
years,  being  with  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad 
from  1873  until  I&91> — one  of  its  most  competent, 
faithful  and  trusted  employes. 

His  industry  and  economy  in  that  time  had  en- 
abled him  to  save  some  capital,  and  in  the  latter 
year  he  became  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Pay- 
ette Valley  Mercantile  Company,  Limited.  He 
was  elected  its  secretary  and  treasurer,  a  position 
which  he  has  since  filled  with  great  acceptability, 
for  in  no  small  degree  the  success  of  the  house  is 
attributable  to  his  efforts.  The  company  do  a 
large  wholesale  and  retail  business,  dealing  in 
general  merchandise,  and  enjoy  an  extensive 
and  constantly  growing  trade.  They  have  one 
of  the  best  department  stores  of  the  northwest, 
stocked  with  everything  found  in  their  line,  and 
have  gained  a  reputation  for  reliability,  fair  deal- 
ing, moderate  prices  and  courteous  treatment, 
and  this  insures  them  a  liberal  share  of  the  public 
patronage. 

In  1879  Mr  Chase  was  happily  married  to 
Miss  Mary  A.  Platt,  of  Lynn,  Indiana,  and  they 
have  a  son  and  daughter,  Eva  Fredericka  and 
Danna  Carl.  The  former  is  a  graduate  of  St. 
Margaret's  School  of  Boise,  and  also  of  the  Ken- 
wood Institute,  of  Chicago.  The  family  is  one 


PUBLISHING     CD     CHtCARQU.l, 


ENG  BY  HENRY  TAYLOR   JR   CHICAGO 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


209 


of  prominence  in  the  community,  and  the  hospit- 
able doors  of  the  Chase  household  are  ever  open 
for  the  reception  of  their  many  friends.  Mrs. 
Chase  is  a  valued  and  active  member  of 
the  Episcopal  church.  Mr.  Chase  is  a  lead- 
ing representative  of  Washoe  Lodge,  No. 
28,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  has  the  honor  of  be- 
ing the  first  man  on  whom  was  ever  conferred 
the  degrees  in  his  lodge,  and  is  now  serving  his 
second  term  as  master.  He  also  belongs  to  Pay- 
ette  Chapter,  No.  8,  R.  A.  M.  In  politics  he  is 
a  Silver  Republican,  and  keeps  well  informed  on 
the  issues  of  the  day,  but  has  never  been  an  office- 
seeker,  preferring  to  devote  his  time  and  attention 
to  his  business  interests.  His  home  in  Payette 
is  a  fine  brick  residence,  situated  in  the  midst 
of  carefully  kept  grounds.  He  also  owns  other 
buildings  and  several  valuable  city  lots,  together 
with  a  forty-acre  farm,  of  which  twenty  acres 
have  been  planted  to  winter  apples.  He  ranks 
very  high  in  business  circles,  and  his  advance  has 
been  most  marked.  A  third  of  a  century  ago  he 
was  a  little  newsboy.  To-day  he  is  active  in  the 
management  of  one  of  the  important  business 
enterprises  of  the  state,  and  is  the  owner  of  much 
valuable  realty.  He  has  certainly  won  the  proud 
American  title  of  a  self-made  man,  and  his  suc- 
cess is  most  creditable. 

JAMES  HARVEY  FORNEY. 

A  visit  to  the  library  of  the  gentleman  whose 
name  is  above  and  a  chat  with  him  in  his  pleas- 
ant home  at  Moscow,  are  sufficient  to  dispel  any 
idea  that  the  new  west  is  without  culture  or  men 
of  ability  interested  in  its  educational  progress, 
and  development.  Mr.  Forney  has  given  some 
of  the  best  years  of  an  active  and  useful  life  to 
the  cause  of  education  in  Idaho,  and  has  attained 
more  than  local  distinction  otherwise. 

James  Harvey  Forney,  a  prominent  citizen  of 
Moscow,  Idaho,  and  ex-United  States  district  at- 
torney for  the  district  of  Idaho,  was  born  in 
Rutherford  county,  North  Carolina,  forty-seven 
years  ago,  a  son  of  James  H.  and  Emily  (Logan) 
Forney.  The  old  homestead  in  North  Carolina, 
where  Mr.  Forney  was  born,  has  been  in  the  pos- 
session of  his  family  for  four  generations.  The 
Forneys  are  of  French-Huguenot  descent  and 
Mr.  Forney's  great-great-grandfather,  who  was 
born  in  1640,  fled  from  his  native  land  in  1685, 


after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and 
settled  in  Alsace,  on  the  Rhine.  His  son,  Mr. 
Forney's  great-grandfather,  was  born  in  1721. 
In  1754  he  married  a  Miss  Maria  Bergner,  of 
Canton  P>erne,  Switzerland,  and  thereafter  settled 
in  Lincoln  county,  North  Carolina. 

The  fact  that  they  and  their  sons,  Jacob,  Peter 
and  Abraham,  were  uncompromising  Whigs,  and 
that  the  family  sustained  the  cause  of  American 
liberty  by  the  expenditure  of  their  means  and  by 
force  of  arms,  did  not  tend  to  make  their  relations 
with  Cornwallis'  men  any  more  pleasant,  and 
they  were  deprived  of  about  everything  they  pos- 
sessed, even  to  their  gold,  silver  and  jewelry, 
much  of  which  was  brought  from  Europe.  The 
head  of  this  loyal  family  died  in  1806,  near  the 
place  where  he  had  first  settled.  The  eldest  son, 
Jacob,  was  born  November  6,  1754,  and  married 
Mary  Corpening  of  Rutherford  county.  North 
Carolina.  Not  long  after  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lution he  bought  a  valuable  tract  of  land  near 
Morgantown,  North  Carolina,  where  he  lived  a 
long,  useful  and  quiet  life,  and  there  died  No- 
vember 7,  1840,  aged  eighty-six  years.  James  H. 
Forney,  the  second  son,  married  Emily  Logan,  of 
Rutherford  county,  North  Carolina,  and  his  sec- 
ond son,  named  in  his  father's  honor,  is  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen,  James  Harvey  Forney 
entered  Wofford  University,  South  Carolina,  and 
after  four  years'  study  was  graduated  with  sec- 
ond honor  in  a  large  class,  and  delivered  the 
salutatory  address.  In  1875  he  went  to  Califor- 
nia and  there  taught  school  and  read  law,  as 
occasion  offered.  In  1878,  at  the  organization  of 
Hastings  Law  College,  he  was  among  the  first 
pupils  enrolled,  and  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1879.  Immediately  thereafter  he  came  to 
Idaho,  settling  in  Idaho  county,  and  in  January, 
1880,  was  appointed  deputy  district  attorney.  At 
the  ensuing  election  he  was  elected  district  at- 
torney, and  under  the  territorial  and  state  gov- 
ernments was  re-elected  five  consecutive  times. 

In  1894  he  resigned  the  position  of  district  at- 
torney for  the  second  judicial  district  of  the  state, 
and  was  appointed  United  States  attorney  for  the 
district  of  Idaho.  Under  the  territory  and  state 
of  Idaho  and  United  States,  he  held  the  position 
of  district  attorney  for  seventeen  consecutive 
years.  He  has  been  engaged  in  a  large  number 


210 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


of  criminal  prosecutions  and  was  appointed  spe- 
cial prosecutor  for  the  state  in  all  cases  arising 
out  of  the  riots  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  district  in 
1899.  He  is  a  man  of  broad  culture,  and,  in  ad- 
dition to  a  fine  law  library,  he  has  a  well  selected 
miscellaneous  library  of  twelve  hundred  volumes. 
He  has  lived  at  Moscow  since  1890. 

In  1881  he  married  Mary  E.  Belknap,  of  Santa 
Barbara,  California.  She  is  the  daughter  of  Hon. 
C.  G.  Belknap  and  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
the  Pacific.  They  have  two  daughters,  Rosa 
Alletha  and  Cora  May  Forney. 

Mr.  Forney  has  held  the  position  of  grand 
master  of  the  Odd  Fellows  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
Idaho;  was  the  first  acting  president  of  the  fac- 
ulty of  the  University  of  Idaho  and  has  served  as 
regent  and  president  of  the  board  of  regents  of 
the  university. 

FREDERICK    S.    KOHLER,    M.  D. 

The  wise  system  of  industrial  economics  which 
has  been  brought  to  bear  in  the  development  of 
Nampa  has  challenged  uniform  admiration,  for 
while  there  has  been  steady  advancement  in  ma- 
terial lines  there  has  been  an  entire  absence  of 
that  inflation  of  values  and  that  erratic  ''boom- 
ing'' which  have  in  the  past  proved  the  eventual 
death  knell  to  many  of  the  localities  in  the  west, 
where  "mushroom  towns"  have  one  day  smiled 
forth  with  "all  modern  improvements"  and  prac- 
tically on  the  next  have  been  shorn  of  their  glories 
and  of  their  possibilities  of  stable  prosperity  until 
the  existing  order  of  things  shall  have  been  radi- 
cally changed.  In  Nampa,  progress  has  been 
made  continuously  and  in  safe  lines,  and  in  the 
healthful  growth  and  advancement  of  the  city 
Dr.  Kohler  has  taken  an  active  part.  Hardly 
had  the  town  a  beginning  when  he  located  here, 
becoming  its  pioneer  druggist  and  physician. 
Here  he  has  since  carried  on  business,  and  while 
in  professional  lines  he  has  achieved  individual 
success,  he  has  also  labored  for  the  growth  and 
development  of  the  place  in  which  he  resides. 

The  Doctor  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  his 
birth  having  occurred  in  Lewistown,  December 
18,  1838.  He  is  of  German  lineage,  and  three 
generations  of  the  family  had  previously  resided 
in.  the  city  of  his  nativity.  His  parents  were 
Henry  and  Mary  (Livermore)  Kohler,  the  former 
for  manv  vears  a  successful  merchant  of  Pennsvl- 


vania,  where  he  remained  until  called  to  the  home 
beyond,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years.  His  wife  was 
a  representative  of  an  old  Virginian  family,  and 
lived  to  be  seventy-five  years  of  age.  They  had 
eight  children,  of  whom  the  Doctor  was  the 
youngest.  He  was  educated  at  Dartmouth  and 
Swarthmore  Colleges,  was  graduated  in  1860, 
and  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  became 
surgeon  of  the  Twenty-first  Pennsylvania  Cav- 
alry, under  General  Sheridan.  He  remained  at 
the  front,  alleviating  the  suffering  of  the  wound- 
ed, throughout  the  war,  and  was  present  at  the 
surrender  of  General  Lee,  which  was  the  climax 
of  the  great  tragedy  which  had  engaged  the  at- 
tention of  the  nation  through  four  long  years. 

When  hostilities  had  ceased  the  Doctor  return- 
ed to  Lewistown,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  prac- 
ticed his  profession  for  five  years,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Yevay,  Indiana,  making  his  home  there 
for  ten  years.  In  1882  he  went  to  Denver,  but 
during  his  year's  residence  there  he  found  that 
the  altitude  was  too  high  for  him,  and  he  removed 
to  Morgan,  Utah,  where  he  remained  until  1887, 
when  he  came  to  the  new  town  of  Nampa.  Here 
he  has  resided  continuously  since,  and  in  his  drug 
store  and  in  the  practice  of  medicine  he  has  re- 
ceived a  liberal  patronage.  He  has  always  been 
a  close  student  of  his  profession,  and  his  skill  and 
ability  have  made  him  very  successful. 

Soon  after  the  war,  Dr.  Kohler  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Sallie  Carson,  who  died  four 
years  later,  leaving  two  sons,  William  Henry  and 
B.  Rush,  both  practicing  physicians.  The  Doctor 
has  never  married  again.  He  is  a  Democrat  of 
•the  old  school,  and  keeps  well  informed  on  the 
issues  of  the  day,  although  he  does  not  aspire  to 
official  preferment.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  and  among  those  who 
wore  the  blue,  as  well  as  his  associates  in  busi- 
ness and  social  life,  is  held  in  high  esteem. 

MESERVE    M.    GETCHELL. 

The  popular  postmaster  of  Silver  City  and  one 
of  the  proprietors  of  the  Idaho  Hotel  of  that 
place  is  Mr.  Getchell,  who  was  born  at  Baring, 
Maine,  January  5,  1868.  His  ancestors  were  na- 
tives of  Wales,  who  emigrated  to  this  country 
at  an  early  day.  His  great-great-grandfather, 
Benjamin  Getchell,  was  born  February  4,  I753» 
married  Mehitable  Meserve  and  moved  to  St. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


211 


Stephens,  New  Brunswick.  He  assisted  in  the 
capture  of  the  English  schooner  Diligence  and 
her  armed  cutter  Tatmagouch  July  14,  1775,  be- 
ing a  volunteer  in  Captain  John  Preble's  com- 
pany, the  colonel  of  the  company  being  John 
Allen.  The  great-grandfather,  Joseph  Getchell, 
and  his  son  of  the  same  name,  fought  in  the 
Revolutionary  war  and  were  members  of  the  vol- 
unteer crew  on  the  sloop  Unity,  which,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Jeremiah  O'Brien,  cap- 
tured the  English  armed  schooner  Margaretta, 
June  12,  1775. 

The  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Daniel  Get- 
chell, was  born  in  St.  Stephens,  New  Brunswick, 
January  24,  1785,  and  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Grimmer,  who  was  born  May  6,  1806.  He  died 
January  10,  1876.  Their  son,  Asher  B.  Getchell, 
the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  at  St.  James 
Mills,  New  Brunswick,  September  3,  1829.  When 
he  was  ten  years  old  he  removed  to  Baring, 
Maine,  where  he  grew  to  manhood  and  married 
Miss  Julia  F.  Smith,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  S.  M. 
and  Mary  Ellen  (Nickerson)  Smith  and  a  de- 
scendant of  one  of  the  Pilgrims  who  came  over 
in  the  Mayflower.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Getchell  are  still 
living,  as  are  five  of  their  six  children. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  town  and  spent  his 
boyhood  days  upon  a  farm.  For  several  years 
he  followed  various  lines  of  business,  being  em- 
ployed in  a  sawmill,  then  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  and 
also  in  a  shoe  factory  at  Northwood,  New  Hamp- 
shire. In  July,  1889,  he  took  up  his  residence 
in  Silver  City,  being  engaged  as  a  clerk  in  the 
drug  store  and  also  in  the  post-office  under  his 
uncle,  S.  T.  N.  Smith.  When  the  latter  pur- 
chased the  Idaho  Hotel,  December  I,  1889,  Mr. 
Getchell  became  clerk  in  the  hotel,  holding  that 
position  until  assuming  the  duties  of  postmaster. 
Although  always  a  stanch  Republican,  Mr.  Get- 
chell 's  popularity  with  all  parties  was  shown  by 
his  appointment  as  postmaster  under  President 
Cleveland  and  his  continuance  in  office  under 
President  McKinley. 

Under  the  efficient  management  of  Mr.  Get- 
chell the  post-office  at  Silver  City  now  holds  rank 
as  a  third-class  office,  and  he  has  made  various 
improvements  and  changes  which  add  greatly  to 
the  convenience  and  comfort  of  the  public.  The 
assistant  postmaster,  Asher  A.  Getchell,  is  a 


brother  of  our  subject,  and  by  his  accommodating 
and  genial  manners  has  made  himself  very  popu- 
lar. Both  gentlemen  have  a  large  circle  of  friends 
and  are  among  the  most  useful  and  progressive 
citizens  of  Silver  City. 

Mr.  Getchell  was  united  in  marriage  Decem- 
ber 27,  1891,  to  Miss  Ida  Maud  Hays,  born  in 
Silver  City  July  16,  1870,  a  daughter  of  Hon.  C. 
M.  Hays,  district  attorney  and  one  of  Idaho's 
most  prominent  citizens,  whose  sketch  will  be 
found  on  another  page.  They  had  one  child,  who 
died  September  3,  1893.  Mrs.  Getchell  passed 
away  August  7,  1897,  deeply  mourned  by  all  who 
knew  her.  She  was  a  woman  of  amiable  disposi- 
tion and  kind  heart,  devoted  to  her  husband  and 
her  home  and  beloved  by  every  one.  December 
28,  1898,  Mr.  Getchell  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  Elizabeth  Hutchinson,  daughter  of 
James  Hutchinson,  of  Silver  City. 

Mr.  Getchell  is  past  noble  grand  of  Lodge  No. 
5,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  at  Silver  City.  He  is  chairman  of 
the  Republican  central  committee  of  Owyhee 
county,  and  is  a  leader  in  his  party. 

JAMES   P.   GRAY. 

Thirty-five  years  have  passed  since  James  P. 
Gray  came  to  Idaho  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  its 
pioneers.  People  of  the  present  end-of-the-cen- 
tury  period  can  scarcely  realize  the  struggles  and 
dangers  which  attended  the  early  settlers,  the 
heroism  and  self-sacrifice  of  lives  passed  upon  the 
borders  of  civilization,  the  hardships  endured, 
the  difficulties  overcome.  These  tales  of  the  early 
days .  read  almost  like  a  romance  to  those  who 
have  known  only  the  modern  prosperity  and  con- 
veniences. To  the  pioneer  of  the  early  days,  far 
removed  from  the  privileges  and  conveniences  of 
city  or  town,  the  struggle  for  existence  was  a 
stern  and  hard  one,  and  these  men  and  women 
must  have  possessed  indomitable  energies  and 
sterling  worth  of  character,  as  well  as  marked 
physical  courage,  when  they  thus  voluntarily 
selected  such  a  life  and  successfully  fought  its 
battles  under  such  circumstances  as  prevailed  in 
the  northwest. 

James  P.  Gray  was  a  young  man  of  eighteen 
years  when  he  took  up  his  residence  in  the  min- 
ing camp  at  Idaho  City.  His  early  life  was  spent 
in  Illinois,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  Peoria 
county,  that  state,  December  10,  1846.  He  is  of 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  and  his  grandfather,  Will- 
iam Gray,  emigrated  from  the  north  of  Ireland 
with  his  wife,  taking  up  his  residence  in  Indiana, 
where  occurred  the  birth  of  Thomas  Gray,  the 
father  of  our  subject.  In  the  Hoosier  state 
Thomas  was  reared,  and  having  attained  years 
of  maturity  was  married  there  to  Rebecca  Coch- 
ran,  by  whom  he  had  seven  children,  five  of 
whom  are  yet  living.  In  1864  the  father,  accom- 
panied by  three  of  his  sons,  including  James, 
crossed  the  plains  to  the  Pacific  slope.  They  left 
Atchison,  Kansas,  on  the  6th  of  May,  with  twen- 
ty-two wagons  in  their  train,  loaded  with  freight 
and  drawn  by  oxen.  Near  Fort  Laramie  they 
were  attacked  by  Indians,  and  William  Gray,  who 
was  with  another  part  of  the  train  from  the  other 
members  of  his  family,  was  killed. 

At  length  the  father  and  his  other  two  sons 
arrived  in  Idaho  City,  and  engaged  in  mining 
and  teaming  there,  but  not  meeting  with  very 
great  success  in  placer  mining,  they  came  to  what 
is  now  Washington  county  and  turned  their  at- 
tention to  stock-raising.  The  father  took  up  three 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  government  land 
near  the  city  of  Weiser,  and  devoted  his  attention 
to  the  management  of  his  ranch  until  1881,  when 
he  one  day  went  out  in  search  of  a  bear  that  he 
had  seen  prowling  around  the  place.  He  was 
accidentally  shot  by  a  man  who,  catching  sight 
of  a  moving  object,  thought  it  was  the  bear  and 
fired.  Mr.  Gray  was  taken  to  Boise  for  medical 
treatment,  but  after  lingering  for  some  months 
he  passed  away,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in 
the  cemetery  at  the  capital  city.  The  stream 
which  bordered  his  ranch  is  known  as  Gray's 
creek,  for  he  was  the  first  settler  in  that  locality. 
He  was  one  of  the  prominent  and  influential  citi- 
zens of  the  community,  and  served  for  two  terms 
in  the  territorial  legislature,  thus  taking  an  active 
part  in  shaping  the  early  policy  of  the  state.  The 
sons  inherited  the  farm,  but  afterward  sold  it,  and 
George  D.  Gray  now  resides  in  the  old  town  of 
Weiser. 

James  P.  Gray  of  this  review  aided  his  father 
for  some  time  after  coming  to  Idaho,  but  event- 
ually entered  upon  an  independent  business 
career,  purchasing  three  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  of  land  on  Weiser  river,  where  he  carried 
on  farming  and  stock-raising  for  some  years, 
meeting  with  excellent  success  in  his  undertak- 


ings. In  1898,  however,  he  sold  that  property 
and  purchased  eighty  acres  a  short  distance  north 
of  the  city.  Erecting  thereon  a  good  residence 
he  devoted  his  energies  to  the  cultivation  of  his 
fields  and  the  care  of  his  stock,  and  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  progressive,  practical  and  en- 
terprising farmers  in  southwestern  Idaho.  He  is 
one  of  the  best  known  stock-raisers  of  Washing- 
ton county,  and  for  the  past  twenty-seven  years 
has  threshed  most  of  the  grain  in  this  section  of 
the  country.  He  displays  great  diligence  and 
sound  judgment  in  the  management  of  his  busi- 
ness interests,  and  has  thereby  become  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  competence. 

On  the  3  ist  of  October,  1871,  Mr.  Gray  mar- 
ried Miss  Clarissa  E.  Brassfield,  a  native  of  Mis- 
souri, and  to  them  have  been  born  eleven  chil- 
dren, ten  of  whom  are  living,  namely:  Laura, 
wife  of  David  Jones ;  Elizabeth,  who  died  at  the 
age  of  two  years;  Sarah,  wife  of  Nathan  Kimble; 
and  Lucetta,  Thomas,  Josie,  Ethel,  James,  Alba, 
Emma  and  Edward,  who  are  still  under  the  pa- 
rental roof.  The  daughters  are  valued  members 
of  the  Baptist  church,  and  the  family  enjoy  the 
friendship  of  many  of  the  best  people  of  this  lo- 
cality. In  his  political  views  Mr.  Gray  is  a  Dem- 
ocrat, and  on  that  ticket  was  elected  sheriff  of 
Washington  county,  in  which  office  he  served 
most  acceptably  for  four  years.  He  is  well  and 
favorably  known  by  the  citizens  of  the  county  and 
the  pioneers  of  the  state,  and  merits  honorable 
mention  among  the  representative  men  of  Idaho. 

ALMON   S.   SENTER. 

An  eventful  career  was  that  of  Colonel  Almon 
S.  Senter,  who  for  some  years  figured  conspicu- 
ously in  connection  with  the  mercantile  and  of- 
ficial interests  of  Lincoln  county.  At  the  time 
of  his  death,  March  6,  1899,  he  was  serving  as 
district-court  clerk  and  ex-officio  auditor  and  re- 
corder of  Lincoln  county,  and  he  was  also  an 
enterprising  and  prominent  merchant  of  Sho- 
shone.  A  native  of  the  old  Granite  state,  he  was 
born  February  18.  1845,  and  is  a  representative 
of  one  of  the  old  and  honored  families  of  New 
Hampshire,  of  English  descent.  His  ancestors 
were  early  settlers  of  Londonderry,  that  state,  and 
one  of  his  great-granduncles  served  in  the  Col- 
onial army  during  the  Revolutionary  war.  The 
grandfather  and  father  of  our  subject,  both  of 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


213 


whom  bore  the  name  of  Thomas  Senter,  were 
natives  of  New  Hampshire,  the  latter  born  in 
Petersboro.  He  wedded  Miss  Mary  C.  Gid- 
dings,  a  native  of  Temple,  New  Hampshire,  and 
also  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  prominent  col- 
onial families.  Mr.  Senter  was  an  industrious 
farmer,  who  followed  agricultural  pursuits 
throughout  his  entire  life.  Both  he  and  his  wife 
were  Methodists  in  religious  belief,  and  the  father 
lived  to  be  sixty-four  years  of  age,  while  the 
mother  departed  this  life  in  her  forty-seventh 
year,  leaving  a  family  of  eleven  children,  the  eld- 
est but  seventeen  years  of  age,  the  youngest  only 
three  months  old. 

Colonel  Senter  was  at  that  time  a  little  lad  of 
five  summers.  He  was  reared  to  manhood  in 
Hudson,  New  Hampshire,  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools,  and  when  thirteen  years  of  age 
began  to  earn  his  own  living  by  working  on  a 
farm  at  six  dollars  per  month.  He  was  but  six- 
teen years  of  age  when  the  country  was  plunged 
into  civil  war,  and  in  the  following  year  he  re- 
sponded to  the  call  for  aid,  enlisting  August  29, 
1862,  as  a  member  of  Company  G,  Second 
Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery.  He  served  in 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Plymouth,  Little  Washington,  Golds- 
boro,  Fort  Fisher,  Smithfield  and  various  other 
engagements,  and  received  an  honorable  dis- 
charge, September  5,  1865.  He  was  always  found 
at  his  post  of  duty,  faithfully  defending  the  cause 
represented  by  the  starry  banner,  but  was  never 
wounded  or  taken  prisoner,  and  returned  to  his 
home  a  veteran  and  a  victor. 

Taking  up  the  pursuits  of  civil  life,  Mr.  Senter 
engaged  in  car-building  and  had  charge  of  the 
car  shops  at  Reno,  Pennsylvania,  in  the  employ 
of  the  Atlantic  &  Great  Western  Railway  Com- 
pany. On  the  4th  of  August,  1886,  he  removed 
to  Omaha,  Nebraska,  where  he  was  employed  in 
the  car  shops  until  May  7,  1887,  when  he  was  sent 
to  take  charge  of  the  car  shops  at  North  Platte, 
Nebraska.  He  continued  in  that  position  for  six 
and  a  half  years,  during  which  time,  in  August, 
1868,  the  Indians,  under  command  of  Chief 
Turkey  Leg,  the  Cheyenne  chief,  derailed  a  train 
of  freight  cars  at  Plum  Creek  and  plundered  and 
burned  them.  Mr.  Senter  then  organized  a  com- 
pany of  thirty-eight  men  to  go  in  pursuit  and  save 
the  goods,  if  possible.  The  Indians  had  loaded 


their  ponies  with  all  the  goods  they  could  carry 
and  then  fired  the  train,  and  as  our  subject  and 
his  men  came  nearer  the  smoke  was  carried  by 
the  wind  far  over  the  prairies,  and  the  red  men 
were  seen  galloping  away  in  the  distance,  with 
pieces  of  high  colored  goods  tied  to  the  ponies' 
tails  and  streaming  behind  in  the  breeze  for  many 
yards  as  the  bolts  unrolled.  About  the  time  Mr. 
Senter  reached  the  scene  Captain  Pollock,  with 
a  company  of  United  States  regulars,  came  up 
and  took  charge  of  the  pursuit  of  the  Indians. 

In  1874  Mr.  Senter  received  the  government 
contract  to  transport  supplies  to  the  Red  Cloud 
and  Spotted  Tail  Indian  agencies,  and  had  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  oxen  to  convey  the 
goods.  He  handled  during  that  year  over  three 
million  pounds  of  supplies,  and  lost  on  the  con- 
tract about  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

In  1874  Mr.  Senter  also  resigned  his  position 
in  the  railroad  shops  and  established  a  general 
mercantile  store  in  North  Platte,  where  he  car- 
ried on  a  successful  business  until  June  i,  1882. 
He  then  sold  out  and  began  dealing  in  stock,  to 
which  enterprise  he  devoted  his  energies  until 
March  7,  1883,  when  he  came  to  Idaho,  arriving 
in  Shoshone,  on  the  I5th  of  the  same  month. 
Here  he  engaged  in  merchandising,  and  erected 
a  large  store  building,  which  he  filled  with  cloth- 
ing, dry  goods,  boots  and  shoes.  He  had  a  lib- 
eral patronage  and  his  honorable  methods  com- 
mended him  to  the  confidence  and  good  will  of 
all.  He  also  engaged  in  the  fire-insurance,  real- 
estate  and  undertaking  businesses,  and  was  the 
manager  of  the  Shoshone  Falls  Stage  Company, 
having  been  a  prominent  factor  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  route  to  the  fine  falls  twenty-five 
miles  distant.  These  falls,  with  the  surrounding 
territory,  form  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
magnificent  scenes  in  all  Idaho, — a  state  noted 
for  the  splendid  scenic  pictures  it  affords. 

In  public  life  Mr.  Senter  was  long  a  prominent 
factor.  He  always  supported  the  Republican 
party  and  on  that  ticket  was  elected  clerk  of  the 
district  court  and  ex-officio  auditor  and  collector 
of  Lincoln  county,  discharging  his  duties  in  a 
most  capable  and  satisfactory  manner.  His  life 
was  a  very  busy  one,  yet  no  public  or  private  duty 
was  neglected  by  him,  and  his  fidelity  in  all  rela- 
tions won  him  uniform  confidence  and  regard. 
He  was  appointed  by  Governor  McConnell  one  of 


214 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


the  trustees  of  the  Idaho  Soldiers'  Home  and  was 
commissary  general  of  subsistence  on  the  staff 
of  Governor  Shoup,  with  the  rank  of  colonel  of 
cavalry.  He  had  a  remarkable  memory  for  dates, 
and  could  recall  with  accuracy  the  time  of  many 
incidents  in  his  past  life.  Socially  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  served  as 
master  of  the  lodge.  He  also  belonged  to  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  and  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  in  which  he  was  past 
department  commander  of  Idaho. 

On  the  I4th  of  October,  1875,  was  celebrated 
the  marriage  of  Colonel  Senter  and  Miss  Emma 
Honn,  a  native  of  Ohio.  They  were  married  in 
Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  and  by  their  union  were 
born  two  children, — Kate  Irene  and  Clyde  A. 
The  daughter  is  now  the  wife  of  Henry  A.  Brown, 
who  assisted  her  father  in  the  store.  The  son 
followed  his  father's  example  of  patriotism,  and 
with  loyal  spirit  volunteered  in  his  seventeenth 
year  for  service  in  the  war  with  Spain,  and  after 
his  discharge  at  Manila,  March  17,  1899,  he  re- 
turned home,  arriving  May  5, 1899,  having  fought 
to  establish  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  rule 
over  the  Philippines.  Clyde  A.  Senter  was  mus- 
tered into  the  United  States  service  May  12,  1898, 
went  to  Manila  by  way  of  San  Francisco,  and 
took  an  honorable  part  in  seven  battles  in  the 
Philippines. 

Such  in  brief  is  the  life  history  of  Colonel 
Senter.  The  character  of  the  man  has  been 
shadowed  forth  between  the  lines  of  this  review, 
and  in  a  summary  of  his  career  we  note  only  a 
few  of  the  salient  points, — his  activity  and  sound 
judgment  in  business  affairs  and  his  conformity 
to  the  ethics  of  commercial  life,  his  loyalty  to  the 
old  flag  in  times  of  war  and  likewise  in  days  of 
peace,  his  faithfulness  to  public  office,  and  his 
genuine  friendship  and  regard  for  true  worth  of 
character.  These  are  the  qualities  which  made 
Colonel  Senter  a  valued  citizen  in  whatever  com- 
munity he  has  made  his  home. 

ALEXANDER    S.    ROBERTSON. 

In  the  field  of  political  life  and  commercial  ac- 
tivity Alexander  S.  Robertson  has  won  distinc- 
tion, and  to-day  is  numbered  among  the  leading, 
influential  and  honored  citizens  of  Nampa.  A 
young  man,  he  possesses  the  enterprising  spirit 
of  the  west,  which  has  been  the  dominant  factor 


in  producing  the  wonderful  development  of  this 
section  of  the  country.  Brooking  no  obstacles 
that  honest  effort  can  overcome,  he  has  steadily 
worked  his  way  upward  until,  having  long  since 
left  the  ranks  of  the  many,  he  to-day  stands 
among  the  successful  few. 

A  native  of  Ontario,  he  was  born  in  Elgin 
county,  June  22,  1863,  and  when  a  child  of  two 
years  was  taken  to  Whiteside  county,  Illinois,  by 
his  parents,  J.  A.  and  Christina  (McFarlane) 
Robertson.  They  made  their  home  in  Morrison 
and  the  father  was  accounted  one  of  the  indus- 
trious and  leading  farmers  of  that  community. 
In  1878  the  father  removed  with  his  family  to 
Exeter,  Fillmore  county,  Nebraska,  where  he  car- 
ried on  agricultural  pursuits  until  1883,  when  he 
went  to  Custer  county,  Nebraska,  and  engaged 
in  the  banking  business,  being  president  of  the 
State  Bank  at  Arnold  for  several  years.  In  1890 
he  took  up  his  residence  in  Boise,  where  he  still 
makes  his  home.  He  has  put  aside  all  business 
cares,  and  now  in  his  sixty-fifth  year  is  enjoying 
the  rest  which  he  has  so  truly  earned  and  richly 
deserves.  His  wife  is  sixty-two  years  of  age,  and 
they  have  seven  children,  all  of  whom  are  yet 
living. 

Alexander  S.  Robertson  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  Fulton,  Illinois,  and  Exeter, 
Nebraska,  and  received  his  business  training  un- 
der the  direction  of  his  father,  in  whose  bank  at 
Arnold  he  served  as  cashier  for  six  years.  In 
1890  he  came  to  Nampa,  where  he  established  a 
drug  store,  which  he  still  conducts.  He  has  built 
up  an  excellent  trade,  for  his  establishment  is 
well  equipped  with  everything  found  in  a  first- 
class  drug  store,  and  his  straightforward  dealing 
and  courtesy  to  his  patrons  have  won  him  their 
confidence  and  regard.  He  is  by  all  accorded 
the  position  of  the  leading  druggist  of  Nampa, 
and  the  success  which  he  is  now  enjoying  is  well 
merited. 

In  political  affairs  Mr.  Robertson  has  ever 
taken  a  deep  and  commendable  interest,  studying 
closely  the  questions  which  affect  the  public  wel- 
fare and  influence  the  policy  of  the  nation.  He 
voted  with  the  Republican  party  until  1896,  in 
which  year  he  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  na- 
tional convention  at  St.  Louis.  There  the  atti- 
tude of  the  party  on  the  money  question  caused 
him,  together  with  many  other  delegates  from 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


215 


the  northwest,  to  withdraw,  and  since  that  time 
he  has  been  an  active  "silver"  Republican. 
His  influence  in  political  life  has  been 
marked  and  has  ever  been  exerted  in  be- 
half of  the  principles  which  he  believes  contain 
the  best  elements  of  good  government.  In  1893 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  state  legislature, 
and  later  was  chosen  to  represent  his  district  in 
the  state  senate  in  the  assembly  of  1895-6.  In 
every  position  of  honor  and  trust  which  he  has 
filled  he  has  made  a  creditable  record  for  himself 
and  his  constituents,  and  at  all  times  he  views 
broadly  and  patriotically  the  questions  which 
come  up  for  settlement. 

On  the  i3th  of  March,  1885,  occurred  the  mar- 
riage of  Mr.  Robertson  and  Miss  Lelia  D.  Gor- 
don, of  Whiteside  county,  Illinois,  and  they  now 
have  four  children, — two  daughters  and  two 
sons:  James  D.,  Mary,  Ada  and  Stewart.  The 
mother  is  a  valued  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  and  her  many  excellencies  of  character 
have  gained  her  a  large  circle  of  friends.  Socially 
Mr.  Robertson  is  connected  with  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America  and 
the  Home  Forum.  He  has  a  wide  acquaintance 
throughout  the  state  and  is  highly  respected  as 
a  successful  business  man  of  integrity  and  ability. 

WILLIAM    L.    RYDER. 

Prominent  among  the  business  men  of  Payette 
is  William  Louis  Ryder,  who  for  eight  years  has 
been  closely  identified  with  the  history  of  the  city 
as  a  representative  of  one  of  its  most  important 
business  interests.  He  is  a  man  of  keen  dis- 
crimination and  sound  judgment,  and  his  execu- 
tive ability  and  excellent  management  have 
brought  to  the  concern  with  which  he  is  con- 
nected a  large  degree  of  success.  The  safe,  con- 
servative policy  which  he  inaugurated  commends 
itself  to  the  judgment  of  all,  and  has  secured  to 
the  company  a  patronage  which  makes  the  vol- 
ume of  trade  transacted  over  its  counters  of  great 
importance  and  magnitude.  The  prosperity  of 
the  Payette  Valley  Mercantile  Company,  Limited, 
is  certainly  due  in  a  large  measure  to  its  president 
and  manager, — the  gentleman  whose  name  in- 
itiates this  review. 

Mr.  Ryder  claims  Kentucky  as  the  state  of  his 
nativity,  and  was  born  in  Louisa,  Lawrence  coun- 
ty, February  5,  1847.  His  ancestors  were  early 


settlers  of  the  east  and  south.  His  grandfather, 
John  Ryder,  removed  from  Pennsylvania  to  Vir- 
ginia, and  Levi  Ryder,  father  of  our  subject,  from 
Virginia  to  Kentucky.  He  married  Miss  Martha 
Burns,  and  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  harness,  saddlery  and  other  goods  in  that 
line.  He  died  of  pneumonia,  in  the  thirty-fifth 
year  of  his  age.  His  wife  survived  him  for  some 
time,  and  reached  the  age  of  seventy-six  years. 
Her  people  were  all  representatives  of  profes- 
sional life. 

William  L.  Ryder  was  one  of  two  sons,  but  is 
now  the  only  survivor  of  the  family.  He  was 
only  five  years  of  age  when  his  father  died,  and 
for  a  time  lived  with  his  grandfather  and  after- 
ward with  an  uncle,  but  when  only  twelve  years 
of  age  began  to  provide  for  his  own  maintenance, 
following  any  pursuit,  howevei  humble,  that 
would  yield  him  an  honest  living.  One  of  the 
first  positions  which  he  secured  was  that  of  driver 
of  a  cart  used  in  hauling  dirt  for  a  railroad  grade. 
Later  he  secured  a  situation  in  a  drug  store, 
working  nights  and  mornings  for  his  board  and 
the  privilege  of  attending  school.  In  1861,  when 
the  civil  war  was  inaugurated,  he  was  a  slender 
youth  of  fourteen,  but  he  made  four  different  at- 
tempts to  enlist  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  at 
length  served  without  being  mustered  in,  joining 
his  regiment  in  1863. 

After  the  war  Mr.  Ryder  went  to  Pikeville, 
Kentucky,  where  he  opened  a  drug  store,  which 
he  conducted  until  1868,  when  he  sold  out  and 
returned  to  Virginia.  There  he  engaged  in  rail- 
roading for  a  year,  and  in  1869  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  as 
brakesman.  He  was  with  that  company  for  twen- 
ty-two years  and  steadily  worked  his  way  upward, 
gaining  promotion  from  time  to  time  until  he  was 
made  superintendent.  Xo  higher  testimonial  of 
his  efficient  service  could  be  given  than  the  state- 
ment of  his  long  connection  with  a  corporation 
which  demands  fidelity  and  ability  on  the  part  of 
its  employes.  In  1891,  however,  he  resigned  and 
came  to  Payette,  where  he  aided  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Payette  Valley  Mercantile  Company. 
Limited,  of  which  he  was  made  president  and 
manager,  a'  position  which  he  has  filled  continu- 
ously since.  He  devotes  his  energy  almost  ex- 
clusively to  the  conduct  of  the  store,  but  has  made 
investments  in  property,  and  is  the  owner  of  a 


216 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


valuable   farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
near  Parma. 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Ryder  is  a  Sil- 
ver-Republican, and  is  deeply  interested  in  the 
growth  and  success  of  that  part}'.  He  has  twice 
served  as  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees  of 
Payette.  He  is  also  an  exemplary  Mason,  thor- 
oughly informed  on  the  teachings  and  practices 
of  that  benevolent  fraternity.  He  has  taken  the 
York  and  Scottish  degrees,  has  attained  the 
thirty-second  degree  in  the  consistory,  and  also 
belongs  to  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  was  made  a 
Mason  in  Bethany  Lodge,  Xo.  21,  A.  F.  &  A. 
M.,  in  Shoshone,  and  while  residing  in  Pocatello 
passed  all  the  chairs  and  was  master  for  two 
terms.  He  is  a  charter  member  of  Washoe 
Lodge,  Xo.  28,  in  Payette,  and  has  been  its  mas- 
ter for  three  years.  He  received  the  Royal  Arch 
degrees  in  Ogclen,  was  high  priest  at  Pocatello 
for  two  years,  and  is  now  holding  the  same  office 
in  the  chapter,  in  Payette.  He  is  familiar  with 
the  ritual,  and  is  also  active  in  the  work  of  the 
order  which  prompts  the  relief  of  suffering.  He 
is  a  man  of  broad  sympathies,  and  the  poor  and 
needy  have  found  in  him  a  friend.  The  difficul- 
ties which  he  had  to  encounter  in  his  own  busi- 
ness career  have  made  him  very  ready  to  extend 
a  helping  hand  to  those  who  try  to  aid  them- 
selves, and  in  his  business  he  ever  rewards  faith- 
ful service  on  the  part  of  his  employes  when 
opportunity  offers. 

JOSEPH    CARMAN    PENCE. 

For  thirty  years  Joseph  Carman  Pence  has 
been  a  resident  of  Idaho,  and  has  been  exten- 
sively interested  in  one  of  the  leading  industries 
of  the  state — stock-raising.  He  was  born  in  Des 
Moines  county,  Iowa,  on  the  28th  of  May,  1844, 
and  is  a  representative  of  an  old.  Pennsylvania- 
Dutch  family  that  was  founded  in  America  in 
colonial  days.  Some  of  its  members  participated 
in  the  Revolutionary  war,  valiantly  aiding  in  the 
struggle  for  independence.  William  Pence,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  the  Keystone 
state,  and  in  early  manhood  married  Miss  Mary 
Thurston,  who  was  a  native  of  the  same  county 
in  which  her  husband's  birth  occurred.  During 
the  pioneer  epoch  in  the  history  of  Iowa,  they 
emigrated  to  Burlington,  that  state,  and  there 
spent  their  remaining  days,  the  father  dying  in 


his  fifty-fourth  year,  while  the  mother  passed 
away  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  her  age.  They 
were  the  parents  of  six  sons  and  four  daughters, 
of  whom  six  are  yet  living. 

Mr.  Pence  of  this  review  is  the  ninth  of  the 
children  in  order  of  birth.  He  was  reared  and 
educated  in  his  native  state,  and  when  eighteen 
years  of  age  responded  to  his  country's  call  for 
aid  in  crushing  out  the  rebellion  in  the  south. 
Joining  the  Union  army  in  1862,  he  became  a 
member  of  Company  A,  Nineteenth  Iowa  Volun- 
teer Infantry,  and  participated  in  the  battle  of 
Prairie  Grove,  the  siege  and  capture  of  Vicks- 
burg  and  the  capture  of  Brownsville,  Texas. 
Later  his  command  was  sent  to  Pensacola,  Flor- 
ida, where  it  spent  the  winter  of  1864-5,  and  in 
the  spring  went  to  Mobile  and  was  engaged  in 
the  siege  of  Spanish  Fort,  which  was  at  the  close 
of  the  war.  Mr.  Pence  received  an  honorable 
discharge,  having  for  three  years  faithfully  de- 
fended the  stars  and  stripes.  Then  he  returned 
to  Iowa,  where  he  remained  until  the  following 
spring,  when  he  started  westward  with  a  com- 
pany who  crossed  the  plains  with  mule  and  horse 
teams. 

They  traveled  by  way  of  the  Bozeman  route, 
this  being  the  second  year  that  route  was  ever 
followed.  On  arriving  in  the  northwest,  Mr. 
Pence  engaged  in  freighting  from  Fort  Benton 
to  Helena,  and  in  1869  went  to  White  Pine,  Ne- 
vada. He  engaged  in  the  cattle  business  in  that 
state  and  in  Idaho,  owning  as  high  as  six  hun- 
dred head  of  cattle  at  a  time.  They  sold  their 
stock  directly  from  the  ranches  and  were  able 
to  command  a  good  price,  the  enterprise  thus 
proving  a  profitable  one.  In  1881  Mr.  Pence 
came  to  Boise  and  began  dealing  in  sheep.  For 
eight  years  he  owned  an  extensive  sheep  ranch, 
having  thereon  as  many  as  seven  thousand  head 
of  sheep  at  one  time.  His  capable  management 
and  business  ability  made  this  undertaking  suc- 
cessful, and  largely  added  to  his  capital.  On  the 
expiration  of  eight  years  he  purchased  a  tract 
of  land  at  Boise,  which  he  planted  with  prunes, 
and  his  orchards  have  borne  plentifully.  In  all 
that  he  has  undertaken  through  a  long  business 
career  he  has  met  with  success,  owing  to  his 
careful  direction,  his  perseverance  and  his  enter- 
prise, and  to-day  a  handsome  bank  account  indi- 
cates the  result  of  his  labors.  He  was  one  of  the 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


217 


organizers  of  the  Capital  State  Bank,  of  Boise, 
and  from  the  beginning  has  been  one  of  its  stock- 
holders and  directors. 

On  the  22d  of  August,  1877,  Mr.  Pence  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Susan  M.  Keene,  a 
native  of  Dallas,  Texas,  and  to  them  were  born 
five  children,  four  of  whom  are  living,  namely: 
Ruth,  Laura,  Myrtle  and  Homer.  The  mother 
departed  this  life  June  5,  1896,  and  her  death  was 
deeply  mourned  by  her  many  friends.  The  two 
older  daughters  have  since  cared  for  the  home, 
and  Mr.  Pence  is  justly  proud  of  his  family. 
Their  residence  is  a  commodious  brick  dwelling, 
which  was  erected  by  our  subject  in  1882.  In 
politics  he  has  always  been  Republican,  taking 
due  interest  in  supporting  the  principles  of  that 
party  and  in  promoting  the  public  welfare  gen- 
erally. Socially  he  is  connected  with  the  Knights 
of  Pythias  fraternity,  and  is  a  valued  member  of 
Phil.  Sheridan  Post,  No.  4,  G.  A.  R.  In  all  the 
relations  of  life  and  to  all  the  duties  of  citizenship 
he  is  as  true  and  faithful  as  when  he  followed  the 
nation's  starry  banner  upon  southern  battle- 
fields. 

FRED  W.  GOODING. 

Fred  W.  Gooding,  ex-assessor  and  tax  col- 
lector of  Lincoln  county  and  one  of  the  most 
prominent  and  extensive  sheep-raisers  of  this 
section  of  the  state,  was  born  in  England,  May  8, 
1856,  his  parents,  John  and  Elizabeth  (Wyatte) 
Gooding  being  likewise  natives  of  that  country. 
Emigrating  to  the  United  States,  they  took  up 
their  residence  in  Paw  Paw,  Van  Buren  county, 
Michigan,  where  they  still  make  their  home,  the 
father  being  a  retired  farmer  of  that  locality. 
Both  he  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Epis- 
copal church.  They  had  six  sons  and  a  daugh- 
ter, and  three  of  the  sons  are  now  successful 
sheep-raisers  of  Lincoln  county,  Idaho. 

Fred  W.  Gooding  was  eleven  years  of  age 
when  he  arrived  in  Michigan  with  his  parents. 
He  acquired  the  greater,  part  of  his  education  in 
that  state,  and  in  1878  went  to  California,  where 
he  engaged  in  farming  in  Tehama  and  Colusa 
counties.  Subsequently  he  returned  to  Michigan 
and  a  little  later  pursued  a  business  course  in  the 
Northern  Indiana  Normal  College,  at  Valparaiso. 
In  the  spring  of  1882  he  came  to  Idaho  and  en- 
gaged in  the  wholesale  and  retail  butchering  busi- 
ness in  Ketchum  until  the  spring  of  1888,  when 


he  turned  his  attention  to  the  sheep-raising  in- 
dustry. He  then  purchased  sixteen  hundred  head 
of  sheep.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  purchased 
two  thousand  more.  The  winter  of  1889-90  was 
an  unusually  severe  one,  many  of  the  sheep  died 
and  many  sheep-raisers  lost  everything  they  had. 
Mr.  Gooding  not  only  suffered  heavy  losses,  but 
was  in  debt.  However,  he  sustained  a  most  cred- 
itable reputation  for  honesty  in  business  affairs, 
and  was  thus  enabled  to  secure  credit  and  make 
a  new  start.  He  had  purchased  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land  at  a  place  now  called  Good- 
ing,— named  in  honor  of  the  Gooding  brothers, 
—and  in  the  fall  of  1890  he  again  purchased  more 
sheep.  Since  that  time  he  has  prospered,  and 
has  had  as  many  as  thirty  thousand  sheep  on  his 
ranch  at  one  time.  His  farm  is  excellently 
equipped  for  the  purpose  used,  and  he  and  his 
brothers  are  regarded  as  among  the  most  intelli- 
gent, progressive  and  prominent  sheep-raisers  of 
the  county.  Mr.  Gooding  now  has  eleven  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  land,  on  which  he  raises  large 
quantities  of  alfalfa  hay  for  his  sheep.  He  man- 
ages his  business  interests  carefully  and  system- 
atically, and  his  diligence,  enterprise  and  honor- 
able dealing  have  brought  him  a  most  desirable 
prosperity. 

Mr.  Gooding  also  owns  a  pleasant  residence  in 
Shoshone,  where  he  and  his  family  reside.  He 
was  married  in  1884  to  Miss  Mary  L.  Griffin,  a 
native  of  Oregon  and  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Grif- 
fin, one  of  the  pioneers  of  that  state.  They  have 
two  children,— Edward  and  Alta.  Mrs.  Gooding 
and  her  daughter  are  valued  members  of  the 
Episcopal  church,  and  the  family  is  highly  es- 
teemed in  the  community.  In  the  fall  of  1894  Mr. 
Gooding  was  elected  county  commissioner  of 
Logan  county,  and  that  winter  Elaine  county  was 
created  out  of  portions  of  Logan  and  Alturas 
counties,  and  Mr.  Gooding  was  appointed  com- 
missioner of  the  new  county  of  Elaine;  but  be- 
fore the  expiration  of  his  term  Lincoln  county 
was  created  and  he  was  appointed  assessor  and 
tax  collector,  to  which  position  he  was  elected 
by  popular  vote  in  the  fall  of  1896.  He  was  the 
nominee  of  the  Republican  party  and  received 
an  overwhelming  majority,  which  indicated  the 
faithfulness  and  ability  with  which  he  has  dis- 
charged his  duties  during  the  first  term,  and 
also  stood  in  evidence  of  his  popularity  as  a  citi- 


218 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


zen.  He  has  been  an  active  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights 
of  Pythias  fraternity,  has  filled  all  the  highest 
offices  therein,  is  a  member  of  the  grand  lodge 
of  the  latter  organization  and  is  favorably  known 
in  its  circles  throughout  the  state. 

CHARLES    O.    STOCKSLAGER. 

One  of  the  leading  representatives  of  the  bench 
of  Idaho  is  Judge  Charles  O.  Stockslager,  now 
presiding  over  the  courts  of  the  fourth  judicial 
district.  He  maintains  his  residence  in  Hailey, 
and  in  that  city  and  throughout  this  section  of 
the  state  is  widely  known  as  a  jurist  of  marked 
ability,  whose  "even-handed  justice"  has  won  him 
"golden  opinions"  from  the  bar  and  from  the 
general  public. 

A  native  of  Indiana,  he  was  born  in  Harrison 
county,  February  8,  1847,  and  is  a  son  of  Captain 
Jacob  Stockslager,  whose  birth  occurred  in  Vir- 
ginia and  who  won  his  title  in  gallant  service  in 
the  American  army  during  the  hostilities  with 
Mexico.  He  was  married  in  the  Old  Dominion 
to  Miss  Jane  W.  Newell,  also  a  native  of  Virginia, 
and  later  they  removed  to  Indiana,  becoming 
owners  of  a  farm  near  the  homestead  of  William 
Henry  Harrison.  When  a  young  man  Captain 
Stockslager  engaged  in  boating  on  the  Ohio 
river  for  several  years,  then  devoted  his  energies 
to  agricultural  pursuits,  and  subsequently  car- 
ried on  merchandising.  He  also  served  his  coun- 
ty as  sheriff  for  several  terms  and  was  a  loyal  and 
progressive  citizen,  who  lived  an  honorable  and 
upright  life  and  won  the  regard  of  all  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact.  He  was  called  to  his  final 
reward  at  the  age  of  eighty-four  years,  and  his 
wife  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years.  They 
were  parents  of  four  children,  three  of  whom  are 
.living.  Two  of  the  sons  loyally  served  their 
country  in  the  civil  war.  The  eldest,  S.  M. 
Stockslager,  was  a  captain  in  the  Thirteenth  In- 
diana Cavalry,  has  since  been  a  member  of  con- 
gress and  is  now  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law 
in  Washington,  D.  C.  Thomas,  the  second  mem- 
ber of  the  family,  enlisted  when  only  sixteen  years 
of  age,  in  the  company  of  which  his  brother  was 
captain  and  served  as  a  private  until  the  close  of 
the  war. 

Judge  Stockslager  spent  his  boyhood  days  un- 
der the  parental  roof,  devoting  his  energies  to  the 


work  of  the  fields,  the  duties  of  the  school-room 
and-the  enjoyment  of  those  pleasures  which  usu- 
ally occupy  the  attention  of  the  American  youth. 
Having  acquired  his  preliminary  education  in 
the  common  schools,  he  entered  the  normal 
school  at  Lebanon,  Ohio,  and  later,  having  deter- 
mined to  enter  the  legal  profession,  read  law  in 
the  office  of  Ritter  &  Anderson,  prominent  attor- 
neys of  Columbus,  Kansas.  In  1874  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  and  at  once  began  practice,  con- 
tinuing an  active  member  of  the  profession  in 
that  state  until  1887.  During  that  time  he  was 
elected  and  served  as  clerk  of  the  district  court, 
as  county  attorney  and  as  mayor  of  the  city  of 
Galena,  Kansas,  and  in  all  those  positions  proved 
a  capable  and  faithful  officer. 

In  1887  he  was  appointed  by  President  Cleve- 
land receiver  of  the  United  States  land  office,  at 
Hailey,  Idaho,  and  came  to  the  territory  to  fill 
that  position  of  trust.  Since  that  time  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  the  city  which  is  now  his  home, 
and  in  1890,  at  the  first  state  election,  he  was,  by 
popular  ballot,  chosen  judge  of  the  fourth  judicial 
district.  Four  years  he  sat  upon  the  bench,  and 
so  ably  did  he  discharge  his  duties  that  in  1894 
he  was  re-elected,  and  in  1898  he  was  again 
selected  for  that  position.  He  has  a  broad  and 
comprehensive  understanding  of  the  principles  of 
jurisprudence,  a  mind  free  from  judicial  bias. 
While  in  active  practice  he  was  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  prominent  representatives  of  the  pro- 
fession. Thoroughly  versed  in  the  science  of 
jurisprudence  and  equally  at  home  in  every 
branch  of  the  law,  his  defenses  were  able,  logical 
and  convincing.  His  arguments  showed  thor- 
ough preparation,  and  he  lost  sight  of  no  fact  that 
might  advance  his  clients'  interests,  and  passed 
by  no  available  point  of  attack  in  an  opponent's 
argument.  On  the  bench  his  rulings  are  .ever 
just,  incisive  and  incapable  of  misinterpretation. 
With  a  full  appreciation  of  the  majesty  of  the  law 
he  exemplifies  that  justice  which  is  the  inherent 
right  of  every  individual,  and  fearlessly  discharges 
his  duties  with  a  loyalty  to  principle  that  knows 
no  wavering,  and  has  the  sincere  respect  of  the 
entire  Idaho  bar. 

Judge  Stockslager  was  married  in  1876  to  Miss 
Ingobo  Chrisman,  and  to  them  were  born  a  son 
and  daughter,  Rosco  N.  and  Ingobo.  After  five 
years  of  happy  married  life  the  wife  and  mother 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


219 


was  called  to  her  final  rest,  and  her  death  was 
deeply  mourned  by  many  friends  as  well  as  her 
immediate  family.  The  Judge  remained  single 
until  1883,  when  he  married  Miss  Carrie  F. 
Bryce,  of  St.  Louis,  and  to  them  have  been  born 
two  sons.  Leslie  B.  and  William  M.  Mrs.  Stocks- 
lager  is  a  leading  member  of  the  Baptist  church 
of  Hailey,  while  Judge  Stockslager  is  a  member 
of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  and 
for  many  years  was  an  active  member  of  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  Their  genial 
qualities  render  them  popular  in  social  circles, 
and  the  best  homes  of  the  locality  are  open  to 

them. 

ALONZO    L.    RICHARDSON. 

Thirty-eight  years  have  passed  since  Alonzo  L. 
Richardson  came  to  Idaho, — then  a  sparsely  pop- 
ulated territory  of  the  extreme  northwest,  its 
splendid  resources  undeveloped,  its  advancement 
a  development  of  the  future.  For  many  years 
he  has  been  closely  identified  with  the  work  of 
progress,  and  is  now  filling  the  position  of  clerk 
of  the  United  States  court  in  Boise. 

A  native  of  Missouri,  Mr.  Richardson  was  born 
in  Franklin  county,  that  state,  on  the  iQth  of 
December,  1841,  and  is  a  representative  of  one 
of  the  old  families  of  Virginia.  His  ancestors 
located  there  in  1750,  and  there  occurred  the 
birth  of  Daniel  Richardson,  the  great-grand- 
father of  our  subject.  He  removed  from  the  Old 
Dominion  to  Kentucky  and  subsequently  to  Mis- 
souri, being  a  pioneer  of  those  states.  The  father 
of  our  subject  also  bore  the  name  of  Daniel  Rich- 
ardson and  was  a  native  of  Kentucky.  He  mar- 
ried Dorcas  Caldwell,  a  native  of  Missouri,  and 
in  1843  started  with  his  family  to  cross  the  plains 
to  Oregon,  being  in  the  second  emigration  to  that 
far  distant  territory.  Gold  had  not  then  been  dis- 
covered in  California,  and  the  tide  of  emigration 
had  not  set  toward  the  Pacific  coast.  The  hard- 
ships and  dangers  of  such  an  undertaking  were 
many,  and  to  add  to  the  difficulties  the  father  was 
taken  ill  and  died  at  Fort  Hall,  Idaho,  then  a 
Hudson  Bay  station,  when  only  thirty  years  of 
age.  Mrs.  Richardson  continued  on  her  way  to 
her  destination,  and  some  time  after  her  arrival 
in  Oregon  City  she  married  Sidney  W.  Moss, 
now  one  of  the  oldest  living  pioneers  of  that 
place. 

Alonzo  L.  Richardson  was  only  two  years  of 


age  at  the  time  of  the  removal  to  the  Pacific 
coast.  He  was  reared  and  educated  in  Oregon 
City,  and  in  1861  removed  to  Pierce,  Idaho.  The 
following  year  he  went  to  Florence,  this  state, 
during  the  mining  excitement  there,  and  in  1863 
went  to  Idaho  City.  For  a  number  of  years  he 
was  engaged  in  placer  mining  and  owned  a  num- 
ber of  good  claims,  but  the  money  easily  won  is 
soon  spent  and  he  did  not  save  much  from  those 
investments.  In  1863  he  went  to  Montana  on  a 
prospecting  tour,  but  returned  the  same  winter, 
traveling  through  the  snow  by  way  of  Fort  Lem- 
lin  to  Boise,  where  he  arrived  at  the  Christmas 
season.  Continuing  his  journey  to  Idaho  City, 
he  was  there  employed  in  a  lumber  yard  for  three 
years,  and  in  1866  was  made  manager  of  a  saw- 
mill. The  following  year  he  located  in  Boise  and 
entered  the  employ  of  a  lumber  company,  acting 
as  bookkeeper  during  a  part  of  the  time  he  was 
connected  with  that  firm.  In  1872  he  was  ap- 
pointed clerk  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  terri- 
tory, and  the  same  year  received  the  appointment 
of  clerk  of  the  district  court,  holding  both  posi- 
tions for  fifteen  years,  or  until  the  state  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Union,  in  1890.  He  was  then  ap- 
pointed clerk  of  the  United  States  circuit  court 
by  Judge  Sawyer  and  clerk  of  the  district  court 
by  Judge  Beatty,  and  has  since  ably  and  effici- 
ently filled  both  these  offices.  His  long  connec- 
tion with  such  position  has  given  him  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  requirements  thereof,  and  his 
faithfulness  and  thoroughness  have  won  him  the 
fullest  confidence  and  good  will  of  the  bench  and 
bar  of  the  state  of  Idaho.  He  is  also  interested 
in  various  mines. 

In  1872  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Richardson  and  Mrs.  Caroline  A.  Yarington.  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania.  They  have  two  children. 
May  and  Harvey  L..  and  by  her  former  marriage 
Mrs.  Richardson  had  one  daughter,  Estella  B. 
Yarington. 

The  family  hold  a  membership  in  the  Episco- 
pal church,  of  which  Mr.  Richardson  has  served 
as  vestryman  for  a  number  of  years.  In  poli- 
tics he  is  a  stalwart  Republican  and  gives  an  un- 
wavering support  to  the  men  and  measures  of 
that  party.  Widely  known  in  Masonic  circles 
throughout  the  state,  he  has  taken  the  degrees  of 
the  blue  lodge,  chapter  and  commandery  of 
Boise,  has  held  a  number  of  offices  in  these  or- 


220 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


ganizations,  was  secretary  of  the  commandery 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  is  past  junior  warden 
of  the  grand  lodge  of  the  state.  He  has  a  wide 
acquaintance  among  the  prominent  men  of 
Idaho,  and  his  genuine  worth  has  made  him  pop- 
ular in  all  circles.  He  has  watched  the  entire  de- 
velopment of  the  state  since  the  days  when  its 
mountainous  regions  and  beautiful  valleys  were 
the  haunts  of  red  men,  and  has  borne  no  unim- 
portant part  in  the  development  of  the  rich  re- 
sources of  the  state — a  work  that  has  placed 
Idaho  among  the  foremost  of  the  common- 
wealths of  this  great  western  district. 

DAVID    T.    MILLER. 

In  both  the  military  and  political  service  of  his 
country  David  Truxton  Miller  has  won  dis- 
tinction by  his  loyalty  to  the  public  good,  his 
fidelity  to  the  trust  reposed  in  him.  On  southern 
battle-fields  he  has  followed  the  stars  and  stripes 
to  victory,  and  in  the  civic  department  of  the  na- 
tion's service  he  has  labored  to  promote  the  prin- 
ciples which  underlie  good  government  and 
form  the  foundation  upon  which  all  stable  pros- 
perity must  rest.  He  has  inscribed  his  name 
high  on  the  roll  of  Boise's  distinguished  citizens, 
and  is  now  serving  as  deputy  collector  of  internal 
revenue  there. 

Born  in  Ohio,  on  the  2d  of  May,  1843,  Mr. 
Miller  is  of  English  and  Irish  lineage,  his  ances- 
tors having  come  to  America  in  1728.  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  family  participated  in  the  war 
for  independence,  and  in  one  of  the  battles  of  the 
Revolution  the  paternal  great-grandfather  of 
our  subjest  sustained  a  gunshot  wound  in  his 
thigh.  Although  he  carried  the  ball  to  the  clay  of 
his  death,  he  attained  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty 
years.  His  son,  David  Miller,  the  grandfather 
of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Alexander,  Virginia, 
and  became  the  father  of  John  Wesley  Miller, 
who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  on  arriving 
at  years  of  maturity  married  Matilda  Ford,  a  na- 
tive of  Washington  county,  Ohio.  They  became 
the  parents  of  eight  children,  five  of  whom  are 
living.  Throughout  his  entire  life  the  father  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  iron,  thus  providing 
for  his  family.  He  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of 
ninety  years,  and  his  wife  was  eighty-nine  years 
of  age  at  the  time  of  her  death. 

David  T.  Miller,  whose  name  introduces  this 


sketch,  spent  the  first  ten  years  of  his  life  in  New- 
ark, Ohio,  and  then  accompanied  his  parents  on 
their  removal  to  Iowa,  a  location  being  made  at 
Sigourney,  where  he  pursued  his  education  in  the 
public  schools.  Later  he  became  a  student  in  the 
Iowa  State  University,  but  left  that  institution  in 
December,  1863,  in  order  to  enter  his  country's 
service  as  a  member  of  Company  G,  Fifteenth 
Iowa  Volunteer  Infantry.  The  civil  war  was 
then  at  its  height  and  thousands  of  brave  men  on 
both  sides  had  sacrificed  their  lives  for  the  cause 
which  they  were  following.  It  required  great 
courage  for  volunteers  to  go  to  the  front  and 
take  the  place  of  those  who  had  been  shot  down 
in  battle,  for  the  country  now  realized  that  the 
war  was  no  holiday  affair,  but  an  awful  actuality 
that  carried  death,  destruction  and  sorrow  with 
it.  Prompted  by  an  unfaltering  patriotism,  how- 
ever, Mr.  Miller  donned  the  blue.  He  was  with 
Sherman  throughout  his  brilliant  campaign  and 
on  the  celebrated  march  through  Georgia  to  the 
sea,  and  thence  through  the  Carolinas,  and  with 
the  victorious  army  participated  in  the  grand  re- 
view in  Washington,  "where  wave  after  wave  of 
bayonet  crested  blue"  swept  through  the  streets 
of  the  city.  Through  all  his  service  Mr.  Miller 
was  never  off  duty  for  a  single  day,  and  though 
often  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  was  never 
wounded  or  disabled.  In  July,  1865,  he  received 
an  honorable  discharge  and  with  a  military  rec- 
ord of  which  he  may  justly  be  proud  he  returned 
to  his  home. 

He  then  resumed  his  interrupted  education  by 
pursuing  a  two  years'  course  in  the  State  Normal 
School  of  Iowa,  after  which  he  engaged  in  teach- 
ing and  also  read  law  in  the  office  of  Judge  Cory, 
of  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  being  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1870.  He  then  began  practice  in  Ottumwa,  con- 
tinuing a  member  of  the  bar  of  that  place  until 
1891,  when  he  came  to  Boise  and  opened  a  law 
office  in  April.  He  soon  won  a  liberal  clientage, 
and  also  became  active  in  the  movements  calcu- 
lated to  advance  the  interests  of  the  city.  He  was 
very  prominent  in  an  effort  to  build  a  railroad 
from  Boise  to  Butte,  Montana,  but  on  account 
of  the  financial  panic  which  occurred  this  project 
had  to  be  abandoned. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Miller  has  always 
been  a  stalwart  Republican  and  is  widely  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  influential  and  capable  work- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


221 


ers  in  the  ranks  of  the  party  in  Idaho.  In  1892 
he  received  the  nomination  of  his  party  for  repre- 
sentative to  the  state  legislature,  made  an  excel- 
lent canvass  and  was  elected.  Further  honors 
awaited  him,  for  after  the  assembling  of  the  ses- 
sion he  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  house,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  in  a  most  creditable 
manner.  His  knowledge  of  parliamentary  law, 
his  absolute  fairness  and  freedom  from  all  par- 
tisan or  personal  bias,  his  uniform  courtesy  and 
urbanity,  all  combined  to  make  him  one  of  the 
most  able  speakers  that  has  ever  occupied  the 
chair  in  the  lower  house.  In  the  fall  of  1896  he 
made  a  vigorous  canvass  in  behalf  of  President 
McKinley,  and  his  logical,  instructive  and  enter- 
taining addresses  did  not  a  little  in  turning  the 
tide  of  favor  for  the  Republican  candidates. 
Recognition  of  his  services  came  through  his  ap- 
pointment to  the  position  of  deputy  United  States 
collector  of  internal  revenue,  and  on  the  1st  of 
December,  1897,  'le  entered  upon  the  discharge 
of  the  duties  of  the  office.  The  business  of  the 
office  has  been  largely  increased  during  his  in- 
cumbency, and  he  is  now  taking  in  many  thou- 
sands of  dollars  annually  for  the  government. 

On  the  2nd  of  October,  1872,  Mr.  Miller  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  Griswold,  and 
with  their  two  children,  Maud  and  Sidney,  they 
occupy  a  very  pleasant  home  in  Boise,  where  they 
enjoy  the  warm  regard  of  many  friends.  Mr. 
Miller  is  widely  and  favorably  known  throughout 
the  state,  his  abilities  well  fitting  him  for  a  posi- 
tion of  leadership  in  political,  professional  and 
social  life.  The  terms  progress  and  patriotism 
might  be  considered  the  keynote  of  his  character, 
for  throughout  his  career  he  has  labored  for  the 
improvement  of  every  line  of  business  or  public 
interest  with  which  he  has  been  associated,  and 
at  all  times  has  been  actuated  by  a  fidelity  to  his 
country  and  her  welfare. 

ALBERT  K.  STEUNENBERG. 
Numbered  among  the  successful  and  rep- 
resentative citizens  of  Caldwell.  Canyon 
county,  is  Albert  K.  Steunenberg,  brother 
of  the  present  governor  of  Idaho.  He  is 
cashier  of  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Caldwell, 
which  institution  was  established  in  January, 
1894.  During  the  five  years  of  its  existence  the 
bank  has  flourished,  largely  owing  to  the  fine 


executive  ability  and  genius  as  a  financier  which 
are  marked  qualities  of  Mr.  Steunenberg.  The 
capital  stock  of  the  bank  is  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars,  and  an  annual  dividend  of  ten  per  cent  is 
paid  to  stockholders.  The  volume  of  business 
transacted  has  materially  increased  from  year  to 
year,  and  entire  satisfaction  has  been  expressed 
by  every  patron  of  the  bank  with  the  manner  in 
which  their  affairs  have  been  handled.  The  bank 
transacts  a  regular  banking  business,  and  sells 
exchange  throughout  the  United  States  and 
Europe.  The  organizers  of  the  Commercial 
Bank  were  John  C.  Rice,  W.  S.  Badley,  S.  S. 
Foote,  Robert  Aikman,  Jacob  Plowhead,  S.  F. 
Chancy  and  A.  K.  Steunenberg.  The  officials  of 
the  bank  then  elected  and  still  serving  in  their 
respective  capacities  were  J.  C.  Rice,  president; 
Jacob  Plow-head,  vice-president,  and  A.  K. 
Steunenberg,  cashier. 

The  subject  of  this  article  is  a  native  of  the 
state  of  Iowa,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  Knox- 
ville,  September  n,  1863.  His  parents,  B.  and 
Corinne  (Keppel)  Steunenberg,  were  both  na- 
tives of  Holland,  and  were  married  in  that  land 
of  dykes  and  windmills.  The  father  was  a  shoe- 
maker by  trade  and  worked  at  thai  calling  for 
several  years.  He  enlisted  in  the  United  States 
service  during  her  war  with  Mexico,  and  has 
always  been  a  loyal  citizen  of  the  land  of  his 
adoption.  For  some  years  he  lived  in  Holland, 
Michigan,  and  later  he  made  his  home  in  Keo- 
kuk.  Iowa,  and  Knoxville,  Iowa.  He  is  still  a 
resident  of  Knoxville,  and  has  attained  the  sev- 
enty-fifth year  of  his  age.  His  wife  died  many 
years  ago,  in  June,  1876,  when  she  was  forty- 
six  years  old.  Their  ten  children  all  survive  and 
are  occupying  respected  positions  in  the  several 
communities  in  which  they  dwell. 

After  he  had  completed  his  public  school  edu- 
cation in  Knoxville,  his  native  town,  Albert  K. 
Steunenberg  began  learning  the  printer's  trade, 
as  did  also  his  brother  Frank.  At  the  end  of  four 
years  of  persistent  labor,  during  which  period  he 
had  occupied  the  various  positions  in  the  office 
and  had  become  fairly  familiar  with  every  detail 
of  the  business,  he  started  out  as  a  journeyman, 
and  in  May,  1886,  came  to  Caldwell.  Here  he  pur- 
chased the  Tribune  press,  type  and  equipments, 
and,  aided  by  his  brother,  Frank,  whom  he  sent 
for,  he  resuscitated  the  newspaper  and  made  a 


222 


HISTORY   OF  WAHO. 


successful  and  representative  journal  of  the  same. 
The  brothers  are  both  practical  printers  and  men 
of  sound  judgment  and  business  ability,  and  dur- 
ing their  partnership  they  were  instrumental  in 
bringing  Caldwell  to  the  front  as  one  of  the  live 
towns  of  the  state  in  the  estimation  of  the  public. 
Though  they  were  affiliated  with  the  Democratic 
party,  personally,  they  edited  the  paper  as  an  in- 
dependent journal.  For  the  past  five  years,  as 
previously  stated,  our  subject  has  given  his  chief 
attention  to  the  duties  which  devolve  upon  him 
as  cashier  of  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Caldwell. 
He  has  never  craved  public  office,  and  has  served 
as  a  member  of  the  city  council  and  as  a  school 
trustee  merely  because  strongly  urged  to  do  so 
for  the  benefit  of  the  town. 

For  the  past  twelve  years  Mr.  Steunenberg  has 
held  the  honored  position  of  secretary  of  the 
grand  lodge  of  the  state  of  Idaho  in  the  Odd 
Fellows  society.  He  is  an  active  member  of  the 
local  lodges  of  Odd  Fellows  and  Knights  of 
Pythias. 

In  1890  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Steunenberg  and 
Miss  Carrie  Coulter,  a  native  of  his  own  state, 
was  solemnized  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  A  little 
son  and  daughter  brighten  the  home  of  our  sub- 
ject and  wife,  they  being  named,  respectively, 
Bess  and  Ancil  K.  Mrs.  Steunenberg  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Christian  church. 

ALEXANDER    DUFFES. 

The  pretty,  flourishing  town  of  Xampa, 
Canyon  county,  was  founded  about  thir- 
teen years  ago  by  Alexander  Duffes,  who 
has  made  his  home  here  continuously  since 
the  nth  of  November,  1885,  and  has  given  his 
most  earnest  efforts  toward  the  development  and 
improvement  of  the  town.  At  that  time  the  rail- 
road had  been  constructed  through  this  section 
and  a  small  station  had  been  built  at  Nampa. 
Mr.  Duffes,  passing  through,  on  his  way  to  his 
old  home  in  Canada,  saw  the  possibilities  of  the 
place  as  a  location  for  a  town,  and  decided  to  cast 
his  lot  here.  He  obtained  a  quarter  section  of 
land  of  the  government  and  laid  part  of  it  off 
into  town  lots,  investing  considerable  money  in 
improvements.  He  donated  building  sites  to 
various  denominations  for  churches,  set  aside  a 
block  for  a  school-house,  and  in  many  ways  pro- 
vided for  the  advancement  of  the  citizens.  His 


wisdom  and  foresight  have  been  abundantly 
proven;  the  town  has  steadily  grown,  and  it  is 
now  one  of  the  most  promising  locations  in  the 
county.  Many  of  the  substantial  business  blocks 
and  residences  here  were  built  by  Mr.  Duffes, 
and  are  monuments  to  his  good  taste  and  skill. 

A  native  of  the  state  of  New  York,  Alexander 
Duffes  was  born  on  the  26th  of  March,  1839,  in 
the  town  of  Utica.  His  parents,  John  and  Eliza- 
beth (Ferrier)  Duffes,  were  both  natives  of  Scot- 
land and  in  1835  sailed  across  the  sea  to  America, 
where  they  desired  to  found  a  new  home.  For  a 
number  of  years  they  dwelt  in  the  vicinity  of 
Hamilton,  Canada,  the  father  working  at  his 
trade,  that  of  carpenter  and  builder.  He  lived  to 
a  good  old  age,  dying  when  in  his  seventy-ninth 
year.  His  faithful  wife,  who,  like  himself,  was  a 
devoted  Presbyterian,  died  when  in  the  prime  of 
life,  aged  about  forty-eight  years.  They  were  the 
parents  of  six  children,  two  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters. Two  of  the  number  have  passed  to  the  bet- 
ter land,  two  reside  in  Canada  and  two  live  in 
Xampa. 

In  his  early  manhood  our  subject  learned  the 
builder's  business  with  his  father,  and  for  a  period 
of  eleven  years  was  engaged  in  merchandising  in 
the  town  of  Burlington,  Ontario.  He  prospered 
in  his  financial  undertakings,  and  finally  sold  his 
stock  of  goods,  while  retaining  his  real  estate  in- 
terests, which  were  not  inconsiderable.  For 
various  reasons  he  decided  to  travel  more  or  less 
extensively  in  the  west  and  to  see  something  of 
his  native  land,  particularly  of  the  great  north- 
west. He  went  to  Portland,  Oregon,  where  he 
remained  for  about  a  year,  and  among  other 
places  which  he  visited  were  points  in  British  Co- 
lumbia, Montana,  Oregon  and  Washington.  It 
was  when  he  was  pursuing  his  eastward  journey 
that  he  conceived  the  idea  of  building  a  town  on 
the  present  site  of  Nampa,  and  with  characteristic 
energy  and  directness  of  purpose  he  at  once  set 
about  realizing  his  dream. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Duffes  adheres  to 
the  principles  of  the  Republican  party,  and  has 
never  had  aspirations  to  public  distinction.  So- 
cially he  is  identified  with  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen. 

Thirty  years  ago,  in  1869,  the  marriage  of 
Alexander  Duffes  and  Miss  Hannah  Lucinda 
Cummings  was  solemnized.  Mrs.  Duffes  was 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


223 


born  and  reared  in  the  town  of  Cumminsville, 
Canada,  which  place  had  been  named  in  honor  of 
her  father,  who  was  an  influential  citizen  and 
early  settler  there.  The  only  child  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Duffes  is  Picton  Warren,  of  Nampa.  Mrs. 
Duffes  was  called  to  her  reward  eight  years  ago, 
in  1891,  loved  and  mourned  by  all  who  enjoyed 

her  friendship. 

JOHN    C.   FOX. 

Eighteen  years  have  come  and  gone  since 
John  C.  Fox  arrived  in  Hailey.  The  town 
was  then  in  its  infancy,  and  throughout 
the  intervening  period  he  has  been  a 
prominent  factor  in  the  advancement  of  the  com- 
mercial interests  upon  which  the  growth  and 
prosperity  of  a  village  always  depend.  Widely 
known,  his  life  history  cannot  fail  to  prove  of  in- 
terest to  his  many  friends,  and  it  is  therefore  with 
pleasure  that  we  present  this  record  of  his  career 
to  our  readers. 

Mr.  Fox  was  born  July  2,  1847,  m  Pennsyl- 
vania, a  son  of  Daniel  Fox,  who  was  of  German 
descent.  The  father  married  Mrs.  Jane  Titman, 
a  daughter  of  Issachar  and  Elizabeth  (Morris) 
Corson.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  our  sub- 
ject was  of  French-Huguenot  ancestry,  de- 
scended from  Cornelius  Corson,  who  belonged 
to  the  religious  sect  so  bitterly  persecuted  in 
France.  The  edict  of  Louis  XIV.,  which  resulted 
in  the  expulsion  of  all  the  Huguenots  from  the 
country,  was  dated  October  18,  1685,  and  it  must 
have  been  soon  after  that  when  Cornelius  Corson 
fled  from  the  land  of  his  birth.  He  took  up  his 
residence  on  Staten  Island,  for  his  will  was  pro- 
bated there  in  1693.  His  son,  Benjamin  Corson, 
emigrated  to  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  where 
several  generations  of  the  family  have  resided. 
Among  those  who  have  borne  the  name  have 
been  several  prominent  physicians  and  scholars 
of  note,  and  the  family  history  is  one  of  which  the 
descendants  may  well  be  proud.  At  an  early  day 
the  Corsons  became  members  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  and  in  harmony  with  the  teachings  of 
that  sect  were  opposed  to  warfare,  so  that  there 
is  no  account  of  members  of  the  family  taking 
part  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  In  the  war  of 
1812,  however,  there  were  loyal  representatives 
of  the  name,  and  thirty-one  of  the  family  partici- 
pated in  the  civil  war,  some  as  privates,  others  as 
colonels  or  in  high  offices,  and  still  others  as 


surgeons.  One  of  the  name  participated  in  fifty- 
seven  battles  and  skirmishes.  The  history  of  this 
distinguished  family  has  been  compiled  by  Dr. 
Hiram  Corson,  M.  D.,  of  Plymouth  Meeting, 
Pennsylvania,  and  this  information  has  been 
taken  from  a  volume  of  that  work  now  in  pos- 
session of  John  C.  Fox,  who  is  a  representative 
of  the  family  of  the  seventh  generation  from  the 
original  American  progenitor.  His  father  lived 
and  died  in  Pennsylvania,  passing  away  at  the 
age  of  forty-seven  years,  while  the  mother  died  at 
the  age  of  seventy-three  years.  They  were  the 
parents  of  six  children,  three  of  whom  are  living. 
To  the  public-school  system  of  his  native  state 
John  C.  Fox  is  indebted  for  his  early  educational 
privileges,  which  were  supplemented  by  a  course 
in  the  Millville  Seminary  and  in  the  Dickinson 
Seminary,  at  Williamsport.  Thus  well  fitted  by 
a  liberal  education  to  take  up  the  practical  duties 
of  life,  he  entered  upon  his  business  career  as  a 
clerk  in  a  mercantile  establishment.  In  1872  he 
came  to  the  west,  locating  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
where  he  accepted  a  position  in  the  mercantile 
house  of  Walker  Brothers,  with  whom  he  re- 
mained for  nine  years,  a  most  trusted  and  faith- 
ful employe.  During  that  time  he  gained  a  most 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  business,  and  in  1881 
he  came  to  Hailey,  where  he  began  merchandis- 
ing on  his  own  account.  The  town  had  but  just 
been  established  and  he  opened  his  store  in  a 
tent.  His  trade  rapidly  increased,  for  he  soon 
won  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  the  people, 
and  in  a  short  time  he  was  enabled  to  erect  a 
board  store.  This  was  later  replaced  by  a  brick 
structure,  but  in  1890  a  conflagration  swept  over 
Hailey  and  his  store  was  destroyed,  his  loss  in  a 
single  hour  amounting  to  sixteen  thousand  dol- 
lars. With  characteristic  energy,  however,  he 
erected  a  new  and  even  better  brick  building, 
thirty  by  seventy  feet,  and  his  establishment 
would  do  credit  even  to  many  a  city  of  much 
larger  size  than  Hailey.  He  first  carried  a  stock 
of  general  merchandise,  but  gradually  he  limited 
this  to  ladies'  dress  goods,  notions  and  such 
things  as  are  usually  found  in  a  dry-goods  estab- 
lishment. His  stock  is  large  and  carefully  se- 
lected, and  meets  with  the  favor  of  the  public. 
In  the  center  of  the  store  is  a  novel  feature,  a 
pretty  little  fountain,  furnishing  pure  water  at  all 
times  to  the  patrons. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Mr.  Fox  was  married  in  1874,  the  lady  of  his 
choice  being  Miss  Fanny  E.  Lovell,  a  native  of 
Dubuque,  Iowa,  and  a  representative  of  an  old 
Virginia  family.  They  now  have  five  children, 
four  sons  and  a  daughter:  James  Otis,  Earl  W., 
John  Russell,  Janette  Rachel  and  Howard 
Creasy.  Mr.  Fox  and  his  family  attend  the  Epis- 
copal church.  He  was  made  a  Master  Mason  in 
Orangeville,  Pennsylvania,  April  24,  1874,  and 
also  belongs  to  the  chapter  and  commandery.  In 
politics  he  has  always  given  his  support  to  the 
Republican  party,  but  now  affiliates  with  the  sil- 
ver wing  of  the  organization.  He  takes  a  deep 
interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  town,  county  and 
state,  withholding  his  support  and  co-operation 
from  no  movement  or  measure  which  he  believes 
will  prove  of  public  benefit.  Every  educational, 
social  and  moral  interest  receives  his  aid,  and  his 
labors  have  been  most  effective  in  the  advance- 
ment of  the  town.  In  his  business  his  keen  dis- 
crimination, his  courteous  treatment  of  his  cus- 
tomers and  his  strict  conformity  to  the  ethics  of 
commercial  life  have  gained  him  a  large  patron- 
age and  brought  him  a  good  income,  and  his  rep- 
utation in  commercial  circles  is  unassailable. 

MILTON    KELLY. 

Judge  Milton  Kelly,  now  deceased,  who  at- 
tained considerable  prominence  as  one  of 
Idaho's  most  loyal  citizens  and  public-spirited 
men,  was  born  in  Onondaga  county,  New  York, 
September  9,  1818,  and  descended  from  Irish  an- 
cestors who  were  early  settlers  in  New  England. 
He  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm,  obtaining  his 
early  education  in  Bloomfield,  New  York,  and 
when  still  young  taught  school.  He  went  to 
Ohio,  subsequently  removing  to  Wisconsin, 
where  for  some  time  he  was  engaged  in  the  mer- 
cantile business,  and  then  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  about  1845.  He  then  took 
up  the  practice  of  his  profession,  for  which  he 
was  peculiarly  fitted  by  his  natural  abilities, 
and  during  his  thirteen  years  of  active  profes- 
sional life  in  Wisconsin  he  became  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  the  leading  men  and  was  promi- 
nently identified  with  shaping  the  destiny  of  the 
then  new  state. 

In  1861  Judge  Kelly  went  to  California  and  the 
following  year  removed  to  the  new  mining  town 
of  Auburn,  Oregon,  where  he  engaged  in  the  ex- 


press and  transportation  business,  between  that 
town  and  Placerville,  Boise  county,  Idaho,  later 
making  his  home  in  Placerville.    In  the  autumn 
of  1863,  following  the  act  of  organization  of  the 
territory  of  Idaho,  he  was,  at  an  election  held  in 
Boise  county,  elected  a  member  of  the  first  ses- 
sion  of  the   Idaho  territorial   legislature,  which 
was  held  in  Lewiston,  Nez  Perces  county,  then 
the  capital.     In  framing  the  laws  of  government 
for  the  new  territory  Judge  Kelly's  knowledge 
and   wide  experience   made  his  services  of  the 
greatest  value,  the  result  being  the  adoption  of 
general  laws  and  the  passage  of  such  special  acts 
as  were  needed,  which  proved  entirely  satisfac- 
tory to  the  people  and  served  as  a  basis  for  future 
legislation,  with  but  few  material  changes,  for  a 
number   of  years.     Judge   Kelly   continued  the 
practice  of  law  and  was  also  engaged  in  mining 
until  April,  1865,  when  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  associate  judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  the 
territory  and  was  assigned  to  the  first  judicial  dis- 
trict, embracing  the  counties  of  Nez  Perces,  Sho- 
shone  and  Idaho,  which  then  covered  the  entire 
area  now  known  as  northern  Idaho.    This  office 
Judge   Kelly    received   from    President   Lincoln 
just  before  the  latter's  death,  it  being  the  last 
appointment  that  the  martyred  president  made. 
While  in  office  the  Judge  resided  at  Lewiston, 
but  at  the  close  of  his  term  he  came  to  Boise  to 
live,  and  on  January  2,  1871,  he  purchased  the 
Idaho  Statesman  of  James  Reynolds  and  became 
its  owner,  editor  and  publisher.    During  his  man- 
agement the  paper  grew  in  the   esteem  of  the 
people  and  was  a  very  potent  factor  in  advancing 
the  best  interests  of  Idaho,  its  circulation  grow- 
ing until  it  found  a  place  in  the  homes  of  nearly 
all  the  families  of  the  territory.     He  brought  to 
his  work  as  an  editor  keen  judgment,  discrimina- 
tion and  the  impulses  of  a  genuine  patriot,  while 
as  a  writer  he  was  clear,  direct  and  terse.     He 
seldom  made  a  mistake  in  estimating  the  char- 
acter of  his  fellow  men.     His  opinions  were  his 
own  and  were  given  with  such  candor  and  cour- 
age that  they  commanded  the  respect  of  the  peo- 
ple.    During  the  seventeen  years  that  he  was  at 
the  helm  of  the  Statesman,  Idaho  passed  through 
its  most  interesting  and  eventful  days,  and  Judge 
Kelly's  influence  was  always  used  on  the  side  of 
right,  and  to  him  in  a  great  measure  is  due  much 
of  the  development  and  good  government  of  the 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


Gem  State  of  the  Mountains.  In  the  spring  of 
1889  the  veteran  pioneer  journalist  and  patriot 
found  himself  advanced  in  years  and  enfeebled  in 
health,  and,  an  opportunity  offering,  he  sold  his 
paper  to  the  Statesman  Publishing  Company, 
which  has  since  conducted  it  in  an  able  and  effi- 
cient manner. 

Retiring  from  active  life  to  his  home  on  the 
warm-springs  tract  of  land  lying  five  miles  from 
the  city,  Judge  Kelly  devoted  his  time  to  making 
improvements  at  the  springs.  He  had  not  been 
in  retirement  long  before  he  suffered  from  a  se- 
vere attack  of  paralysis,  from  the  effects  of  which 
he  passed  away  on  April  9,  1892.  He  was  a  man 
of  the  kindest  impulses,  a  loving  husband  and 
father,  and  a  warm-hearted  and  sympathetic 
friend.  His  record  as  a  judge  and  journalist  dur- 
ing his  prominent  career  in  Idaho  was  a  pure  and 
spotless  one  and  gained  for  him  the  highest 
esteem  of  his  fellow  men  in  the  territory,  where 
he  had  been  such  a  worthy  and  useful  citizen. 

In  1843  Judge  Kelly  was  married  to  Miss  Lois 
Eliza  Humphrey,  a  native  of  Connecticut  and  a 
descendant  of  one  of  the  old  Xew  England  fami- 
lies, and  of  this  union  four  children  were  born, 
namely:  Ellen,  who  became  the  wife  of  Hon. 
James  H.  Bush,  whose  biography  also  appears  in 
this  work;  Kate  Amanda,  who  married  Hon. 
Joseph  Perrault,  United  States  surveyor  general 
of  Idaho;  Homer  H.,  who  resides  at  Payette; 
and  Anna  D.,  the  wife  of  Edgar  J.  Sencerbox. 

Judge  Kelly  was  in  his  political  affiliations  a 
Republican  and  one  of  the  organizers  of  that 
party.  He  was  a  great  lover  of  liberty  and  an 
ardent  opponent  of  oppression  in  any  form,  and 
he  made  good  use  of  his  great  ability  and  natural 
talents  in  assisting  in  the  removal  of  the  stain  of 
human  slavery  from  the  honor  of  his  country. 

SIMON    J.    FRIEDMAN. 

One  of  the  pioneer  merchants  and  enter- 
prising, progressive  business  men  of  Hailey, 
Simon  J.  Friedman,  was  born  in  Germany, 
April  5,  1846,  a  son  of  Itzig  and  Ber- 
tha (Usher)  Friedman,  also  natives  of  that  coun- 
try. The  father  is  still  living,  at  the  age  of  ninety 
years.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  Germany, 
gained  his  mercantile  experience  in  his  father's 
store,  and  in  1869,  when  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  came  to  the  United  States,  for  he  had  heard 


of  the  superior  advantages  and  facilities  afforded' 
young  men  in  the  new  world,  and  resolved  to 
win  success  here  if  possible.  He  first  took  up  his 
residence  in  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  and  accepted 
a  position  as  salesman  in  the  store  of  Fred  Auer- 
bach  &  Brothers,  with  whom  he  remained  for 
eleven  and  a  half  years,  gaining  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  merchandising  and  of  the  methods 
of  business  as  practiced  in  America.  He  was  a 
most  trusted  and  faithful  employe  and  had  the 
entire  confidence  of  the  house  with  which  he  was 
connected. 

From  Salt  Lake  City  Mr.  Friedman  went  to 
southern  Utah,  where  he  opened  a  store  on  his 
own  account.  In  the  spring  of  1881,  learning  of 
the  great  silver  and  gold  discoveries  in  the  Wood 
river  country  of  Idaho,  he  was  among  the  first  to 
reach  this  section.  The  town  of  Hailey  had  just 
been  laid  out  and  a  few  tents  raised.  Mr.  Fried- 
man put  up  a  tent  twenty  by  forty  feet  and  there- 
in began  the  sale  of  dry  goods,  clothing  and 
boots  and  shoes.  This  was  the  small  beginning 
of  what  has  become  one  of  the  leading  mercantile 
establishments  of  the  city.  In  the  fall  of  1881  he 
erected  his  fire-proof  building,  twenty-eight  by 
fifty  feet.  He  was  the  architect  of  the  structure 
and  superintended  its  erection.  Over  the  build- 
ing he  put  a  foot  of  dirt,  covering  the  whole  with 
a  roof  to  turn  snow  and  water.  His  store  has  since 
been  enlarged  until  it  is  now  thirty  by  ninety 
feet,  with  a  forty  fpot  basement  filled  with  a  well 
selected  stock  of  dry  goods,  clothing,  boots  and 
shoes,  and  such  have  been  the  liberal  and  honor- 
able methods  that  have  marked  the  conduct  of  his 
business  that  he  now  has  a  large  patronage  and 
enjoys  the  confidence  and  regard  of  his  custom- 
ers. His  was  the  first  fire-proof  building  of  the 
tow:n,  and  when  the  great  conflagration  of  July 
2,  1889,  swept  over  the  city  his  store  stood  un- 
harmed, he  remaining  in  the  building  during  the 
progress  of  the  fire  and  caring  for  his  property. 
In  recognition  of  his  efficient  and  able  labors 
during  that  time  of  great  excitement  the  Union 
Insurance  Company  sent  him  a  letter  of  thanks 
and  presented  him  with  a  silver  pitcher  and  tray. 

In  addition  to  his  mercantile  interests  Mr. 
Friedman  has  extensive  and  important  mining 
interests.  He  is  one  of  the  stockholders  in  the 
Venus  group  of  mines  on  the  East  Fork,  includ- 
ing eight  mines  in  all,  some  of  them  very  rich 


226 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


and  promising  large  returns.  Some  have  been 
large  producers,  others  are  leased  and  others  are 
not  being  worked  because  of  the  low  price  of 
silver.  By  great  diligence,  keen  discrimination 
in  business,  careful  management  and  judicious 
investments,  he  has  acquired  a  large  amount  of 
property  and  has  erected  one  of  the  good  resi- 
dences that  adorn  the  town,  yet  he  is  conservative 
and  takes  but  little  money  out  of  his  mercantile 
business,  using  only  the  profits  in  outside  invest- 
ment. 

On  the  nth  of  April,  1886,  Mr.  Friedman  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Lucia  Meyer,  a  native 
of  Germany,  and  their  union  has  been  blessed 
with  four  children,  Beatrice,  Myrtle,  Jerome  and 
Frederick.  He  and  his  family  are  liberal  mem- 
bers of  the  Israelite  faith,  and  he  is  a  valued  rep- 
resentative of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows.  He  belongs  to  Utah  Lodge,  No.  i,  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  and,  having  been  connected  with 
the  fraternity  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  is  num- 
bered among  its  veterans,  and  has  been  presented 
with  the  Veteran  Odd  Fellow  medal.  His  pleas- 
ant, genial  manner  has  made  him  popular  in 
social  circles,  and  his  sterling  worth  commends 
him  to  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  all  with 
whom  he  has  been  brought  in  contact. 

DAVID    S.    LAMME. 

The  history  of  the  pioneer  settlement  of 
Payette  would  be  incomplete  without  the 
record  of  this  gentleman,  who  from  the 
earliest  founding  of  the  town  has  been  a  prom- 
inent factor  in  its  substantial  growth  and  im- 
provement. When  Idaho  was  cut  off  from  the 
advantages  and  comforts  of  the  east  by  the  long, 
hot  stretches  of  sand  and  the  high  mountains,  he 
made  his  way  across  the  plains,  braving  all  the 
trials  and  hardships  of  pioneer  life  in  order  to 
make  a  home  in  the  northwest— rich  in  its  re- 
sources, yet  unclaimed  from  the  dominion  of  the 
red  men. 

Mr.  Lamme  is  a  native  of  Hancock  county,  Il- 
linois, born  February  n,  1842,  and  is  of  French 
and  Irish  descent.  The  Lammes  were  of  French 
origin,  and  at  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  the 
east  crossed  the  Atlantic.  Representatives  of  the 
name  participated  in  many  of  the  leading  events 
mentioned  in  the  annals  of  the  country,  and  in  the 
Revolutionary  war  they  aided  in  the  struggle  for 


independence.  Jonathan  Lamme,  father  of  our 
subject,  was  born  in  Sangamon  county,  Illinois, 
and  married  Lydia  Hamilton.  One  of  her  ances- 
tors also  was  a  Revolutionary  hero,  and  her  fam- 
ily is  of  Irish  lineage.  Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lamme  were  born  six  children,  of  whom  four 
sons  and  a  daughter  are  living.  Both  parents 
died  when  about  forty-five  years  of  age,  and  the 
children  were  left  to  make  their  own  way  in  the 
world. 

David  S.  Lamme  spent  the  days  of  ,his  boy- 
hood and  youth  in  the  county  of  his  nativity, 
and  provided  for  his  own  livelihood  by  working 
as  a  farm  hand  and  following  other  occupations 
that  would  supply  him  with  the  necessaries  of 
life.  He  was  married  in  1861  to  Miss  C.  C. 
Beary,  a  native  of  Summit  county,  Ohio,  and  in 
1864,  with  his  wife  and  child,  started  across  the 
plains  with  oxen,  their  destination  being  Idaho. 
They  traveled  with  a  large  party,  forming  the 
"Big  Missouri  Train,"  there  being  one  hundred 
wagons  and  one  hundred  armed  men.  The  In- 
dians were  very  troublesome  that  year  and  they 
had  several  skirmishes  with  them,  four  or  five 
of  the  company  being  killed,  while  several  others 
were  wounded.  Their  stock  stampeded  and  the 
long  journey  of  five  months  was  a  very  hard  and 
trying  one,  but  on  the  5th  of  September  they 
reached  the  Payette  valley. 

For  nine  years  Mr.  Lamme  engaged  in  min- 
ing in  the  Boise  Basin  and  made  thirty  thousand 
dollars,  but  lost  it  again  in  quartz-mining  specu- 
lations. He  still  has  rich  specimens  of  gold 
quartz  taken  from  Mountain  Chief,  the  mine  in 
which  he  sunk  his  money.  He  was  at  one  time 
offered  ten  thousand  dollars  for  his  interest  in 
the  mine,  but  refused  it..  This  mine  is  still  be- 
lieved to  be  very  rich,  but  as  yet  has  been  only 
partially  developed.  After  failing  in  his  mining 
ventures  Mr.  Lamme  purchased  three  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  of  land,  the  purchase  price 
being  twenty-two  hundred  dollars,  going  in  debt 
for  the  greater  part  of  it.  At  the  end  of  two 
years,  however,  he  was  enabled  to  pay  the  entire 
amount,  and  successfully  continued  his  farming 
operations  until  1883,  when  he  sold  his  land,  and 
on  the  1 5th  of  May  came  to  the  present  site  of 
Payette.  The  railroad  was  then  in  course  of  con- 
struction, but  the  town  was  not  surveyed.  He 
purchased  a  small  lot  and  called  the  hamlet 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


227 


Boomerang,  by  which  name  it  was  known  for 
some  time,  but  was  finally  changed  to  Payette — 
taken  from  the  Payette  river,  which  was  named 
in  honor  of  a  Frenchman  in  the  employ  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Mr.  Lamme  built  a 
cheap  house  on  the  site  of  his  present  fine  resi- 
dence and  conducted  a  boarding. house  for  four 
months.  He  then  secured  a  small  stock  of  goods 
from  Chicago  and  opened  a  general  mercantile 
store,  which  he  has  since  conducted  with  gratify- 
ing success.  After  selling  goods  at  his  residence 
for  five  years,  he  built  his  present  brick  business 
block,  twenty-six  by  eighty  feet,  and  in  this  he 
has  since  conducted  a  large  and  constantly  in- 
creasing business.  In  addition  to  his  mercantile 
interests  and  city  property,  he  owns  five  hundred 
acres  of  valuable  land  and  is  a  stockholder  in  the 
Lower  Payette  Ditch  Company,  which  provides 
an  ample  water  supply  for  irrigation  purposes. 

The  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lamme  is  a  com- 
modious and  pleasant  residence,  built  of  brick, 
and  there,  in  the  midst  of  many  friends,  they  are 
now  enjoying  the  fruits  of  former  toil.  All  the 
hardships  and  trials  of  pioneer  life  have  passed, 
and  with  advancing  civilization  the  comforts  and 
many  of  the  luxuries  that  go  to  make  life  worth 
the  living  have  come  to  them.  Mrs.  Lamme  is 
a  valued  member  of  the  Methodist  church,  and 
with  her  husband  enjoys  the  high  regard  of  Pay- 
ette's  best  citizens.  In  politics  Mr.  Lamme  is  a 
Democrat,  and  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the 
affairs  of  the  city.  For  years  he  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  city  board  of  trustees,  was  one  of  the 
incorporators  of  the  town,  and  at  all  times  has 
given  his  support  to  those  measures  which  he 
believes  are  for  the  public  good.  In  1884  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Idaho  legislature  and 
therein  served  with  the  same  loyalty  to  his  con- 
stituents and  regard  for  the  best  interests  of  the 
state  that  have  ever  characterized  his  career  in 
the  walks  of  both  public  and  private  life. 

ERNEST   L.    BALLARD. 

The  clerk  of  the  district  court  and  ex-officio 
auditor  and  recorder  of  Owyhee  county,  Idaho, 
residing  in  Silver  City,  is  a  native  of  the  state  of 
Virginia,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  Lynchburg 
on  the  ist  of  February,  1862.  His  ancestors, leav- 
ing their  home  in  England,  crossed  the  briny  deep 
to  the  New  World  and  became  residents  of  Penn- 


sylvania at  the  time  William  Penn  founded  the 
colony.  They  participated  in  the  events  which 
go  to  make  up  the  early  history  of  the  Keystone 
state,  and  representatives  of  the  name  also  fought 
for  America  in  the  war  of  1812.  Removing  from 
Pennsylvania  to  Virginia,  the  family  became 
identified  with  the  interests  of  the  south.  Henry 
Clay  Ballard,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born, 
reared  and  educated  in  the  Old  Dominion  and 
became  a  railroad  contractor.  He  married  Miss 
Sally  Pollard,  and  during  the  civil  war  he  served 
as  a  captain  in  General  Munford's  cavalry  in  the 
Confederate  army.  He  continued  to  reside  in 
Virginia  until  1880,  when  he  removed  to  Colo- 
rado. He  is  now  engaged  in  railroad  contracting 
in  British  Columbia,  and  has  reached  the  age  of 
fifty-seven  years.  For  many  years  he  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  in  his 
life  exemplifies  the  beneficent  teachings  of  that 
order.  His  wife  died  in  1880,  in  her  fortieth 
year,  leaving  the  husband  and  two  children  to 
mourn  her  loss.  The  daughter  is  now  Mrs. 
Carr,  of  Liberty,  Missouri. 

The  son,  Ernest  L.  Ballard,  is  indebted  to  the 
schools  of  the  Old  Dominion  for  the  educational 
privileges  he  received.  He  remained  a  resident 
of  Virginia  until  1880,  when  he  went  with  his 
father  to  Leadville,  Colorado,  where  he  engaged 
in  mining  for  about  a  year.  He  then  went  to 
Georgetown  in  the  same  state,  and  there  devoted 
his  energies  to  railroading  and  mining  until  June, 
1886,  at  which  time  he  came  to  Owyhee  county, 
Idaho.  He  followed  mining  at  Flint  for  three 
years,  and  on  the  expiration  of  that  period  made 
a  tour  of  the  prominent  mining  localities  on  the 
Pacific  slope,  returning  to  Silver  City  after  an 
absence  of  a  year  and  a  half.  He  has  since  re- 
mained in  Owyhee  county,  and  in  1893  was 
elected  county  sheriff.  He  acceptably  filled  that 
position  and  in  the  fall  of  1894  was  elected  dis- 
trict clerk  for  a  term  of  four  years.  His  fidelity 
to  duty  and  his  promptness  in  the  discharge  of 
the  tasks  that  devolved  upon  him  led  to  his  re- 
nomination  in  the  fall  of  1898.  Over  his  public 
record  there  falls  no  shadow  of  reproach,  and  he 
belongs  to  that  class  of  representative  American 
citizens  who  hold  public  office  as  a  sacred  trust. 

Mr.  Ballard  was  married  April  30,  1893,  to 
Miss  Nellie  L.  Stevens,  of  Flint,  a  daughter  of 
W.  S.  Stevens,  a  respected  pioneer  of  Owyhee 


228 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


county.  They  have  one  child,  William  Henry, 
and  throughout  the  community  they  are  held  in 
high  regard. 

WILLIAM    T.    RILEY. 

William  T.  Riley  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  town  of  Hailey,  and  throughout  the  period 
of  its  existence  he  has  been  identified  with  its 
development,  and  his  name  is  therefore  insep- 
arably interwoven  with  its  history.  The  won- 
derful upbuilding  of  the  northwest  is  due  to  such 
men, — men  of  enterprise,  sagacity,  sound  judg- 
ment and  rare  discrimination,  whose  methods  are 
practical  and  whose  plans  are  comprehensive  and 
far-reaching. 

Mr.  Riley  was  born  in  Allegany  county,  New 
York,  March  31,  1843.  His  father,  John  Riley, 
was  born  on  the  Emerald  Isle,  came  to  America 
when  a  young  man  and  was  married  in  Mon- 
mouth,  Xew  Jersey,  to  Miss  Mary  Bowles.  They 
became  pioneers  of  western  New  York,  where 
the  father  carried  on  agricultural  pursuits  until 
his  death.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Catholic 
church  and  his  wife  belonged  to  the  Episcopal 
church.  His  death  occurred  in  the  forty-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  and  his  wife  passed  away  at  the 
age  of  seventy  years.  Of  their  family  of  three 
sons  and  four  daughters,  only  four  are  now 
living. 

The  youngest  son  of  the  family,  William  T. 
Riley,  was  reared  and  educated  in  Allegany 
county  and  had  attained  the  age  of  eighteen  years 
when  President  Lincoln  issued  his  first  call  for 
volunteers  to  aid  in  suppressing  the  rebellion. 
\Vhen  the  need  for  soldiers  became  more  press- 
ing, he  offered  his  services,  and  in  September, 
1861,  was  assigned  to  Company  D,  Eighty-sixth 
New  York  Volunteer  Infantry,  serving  for  three 
years  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  When  that 
period  had  elapsed  the  south  was  still  uncon- 
quered,  and  Mr.  Riley  determined  to  stand  by 
the  Union  until  the  supremacy  of  the  national 
government  should  be  permanently  established. 
He  re-enlisted  in  General  Hancock's  army,  and 
participated  in  all  of  the  many  battles  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  in  which  that  vast  body 
of  brave  men  won  honor  and  glory.  At  the 
battle  of  Locust  Grove,  following  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  he  sustained  a  gunshot  wound  in 
his  right  arm,  which  has  resulted  in  resection 


of  the  elbow  joint,  thereby  shortening  the  mem- 
ber five  inches  and  rendering  it  almost  useless; 
but,  notwithstanding  it  is  a  great  hardship,  it 
is  nevertheless  a  badge  of  the  greatest  honor, 
ever  indicating  his  faithful  service.  He  partici- 
pated in  the  grand  review  in  Washington,  the 
most  brilliant  military  pageant  ever  witnessed  in 
the  New  World,  "wave  after  wave  of  bayonet- 
crested  blue"  sweeping  by  the  President's  stand, 
amid  the  applause  of  a  grateful  nation  anxious 
to  yield  its  tributes  of  praise  and  love  to  the 
heroes  who  through  four  years  had  followed  the 
starry  banner. 

When  hostilities  had  ceased  and  the  country 
no  longer  needed  his  services,  Mr.  Riley  returned 
to  his  home.  He  came  to  the  west  at  the  time  of 
the  building  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  and 
conducted  stores  all  along  the  line,  finally  locat- 
ing at  Kelton,  where  he  engaged  in  merchan- 
dising and  also  served  as  postmaster,  stage  agent 
and  express  agent.  In  1881  the  great  Wood 
river  excitement  was  at  its  height,  and  he  came 
to  Elaine  county,  where  in  connection  with  John 
Hailey,  A.  H.  Boomer  and  two  others  he  laid 
out  and  platted  the  town  of  Hailey.  He  has  since 
been  closely  identified  with  its  interests  and  has 
been  one  of  its  most  successful  and  useful  citi- 
zens. After  platting  the  town  he  had  charge  of 
the  sale  of  its  lots,  and  much  of  its  property  has 
passed  through  his  hands,  while  he  still  has  con- 
siderable realty  here.  For  some  years  he  con- 
ducted a  drug  store,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Riley  &  Tracy,  and  enjoyed  a  good  trade.  In 
1890  he  was  appointed  register  of  the  land  office, 
where  he  remained  for  four  years  and  was  also 
county  treasurer  and  agent  for  the  Wells-Fargo 
Express  Company.  He  withholds  his  support 
from  no  movement  or  enterprise  for  the  public 
good,  and  his  work  in  behalf  of  the  town  has 
rendered  him  one  of  the  most  valued  citizens. 
He  became  active  in  the  organization  of  the 
water  company,  which  has  brought  pure  water 
from  the  mountains  under  pressure,  thus  secur- 
ing to  Hailey  a  good  water  supply  for  both  fire 
and  domestic  purposes.  He  has  been  superin- 
tendent of  the  company  since  its  organization 
and  to  him  is  due  much  of  the  credit  for  securing 
this  most  necessary  adjunct  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  town. 

In  1871  Mr.  Riley  was  united  in  marriage  to 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


229 


Miss  Frances  Heckman,  of  Angelica,  New  York, 
and  their  union  has  been  blessed  with  four  sons 
and  six  daughters.  The  eldest  daughter,  Jessie 
M.,  is  now  principal  of  the  Ketchum  school,  and 
was  recently  the  prominent  candidate  of  the  fu- 
sion party  for  superintendent  of  schools.  The 
younger  children  are  Bertha  B.,  Mary  and  Esther 
(twins),  and  Harriet,  John  H.,  Russell  T.  and 
Weston  T.  Six  of  the  ten  children  are  now 
living. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  Episcopal 
church,  and  are  greatly  esteemed  in  the  town 
in  which  they  reside.  Mr.  Riley  is  a  member 
of  the  lodge  and  chapter  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, has  filled  various  offices  in  the  former  and 
is  past  master  workman  in  the  local  lodge  of  the 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen.  He  is  a 
very  prominent  and  influential  member  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  is  past  com- 
mander of  the  department  of  the  state  of  Idaho. 
He  is  therefore  widely  known  among  those  who 
wore  the  blue  and  has  the  warm  regard  of  his  old 
associates  in  arms.  His  life  has  been  one  of 
activity  and  usefulness,  and  he  is  to-day  as  true 
to  his  duties  of  citizenship  as  when  he  followed 
the  old  flag  upon  southern  battle-fields. 

THOMAS    M.   JEFFREYS. 

Thomas  M.  Jeffreys,  probate  judge  and  super- 
intendent of  public  instruction  in  Washington 
county,  Idaho,  is  a  native  of  Oregon,  his  birth 
having  occurred  in  Yamhill  county,  on  the  7th 
of  April,  1852.  His  father,  Woodson  Jeffreys, 
was  born  in  Jackson  county,  Missouri,  in  1825, 
and  in  early  manhood,  in  Oregon,  married  Jane 
Forrest,  also  a  native  of  Missouri.  They  crossed 
the  plains  to  Oregon  in  1845,  being  nine  months 
in  accomplishing  the  long  and  weary  journey 
across  the  plains,  their  way  being  beset  by  many 
obstacles,  difficulties  and  dangers.  They  located 
on  government  land  in  Yamhill  county,  and  dur- 
ing the  first  winter  suffered  many  hardships 
and  privations.  Their  stock  of  provisions  was 
almost  exhausted  and  they  subsisted  on  boiled 
wheat  and  what  game  they  could  kill.  Mr.  Jeff- 
reys also  participated  in  the  wars  with  the  In- 
dians in  those  early  years  of  his  residence  in  the 
northwest,  and  was  a  brave  pioneer  and  a  man 
of  sterling  character.  In  1865  he  came  to  Idaho, 
accompanied  by  his  wife  and  five  children,  and 


purchased  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of 
land  at  Weiser,  where  he  built  a  residence  and 
began  the  development  of  the  farm  upon  which 
his  widow  yet  resides.  In  connection  with  his 
brother  he  was  extensively  engaged  in  stock- 
raising,  both  in  Oregon  and  Idaho.  They  were 
enterprising,  ambitious  and  fearless,  and  recog- 
nizing an  excellent  business  opportunity,  they 
drove  large  herds  of  cattle  to  the  Carr.iboo  coun- 
try, where  by  furnishing  the  miners  with  beef, 
they  made  large  sums  of  money.  Mr.  Jeffreys 
departed  this  life  in  1881,  at  Weiser,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-six  years,  respected  by  all  who  knew  him. 
His  wife,  who  still  survives  him,  is  now  sixty- 
five  years  of  age,  and  like  her  husband  is  a 
consistent  member  of  the  Christian  church.  In 
the  early  days  he  served  as  county  commissioner 
when  the  county  comprised  Ada,  Canyon  and 
Washington  counties,  and  discharged  the  duties 
of  that  important  position  with  promptness  and 
fidelity.  He  was  an  important  factor  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  state,  and  his  labors  proved 
very  effective  in  opening  up  this  region  to  the 
advance  of  civilization. 

Judge  Jeffreys,  whose  name  introduces  this 
review,  was  the  eldest  child  of  Woodson  and  Jane 
Jeffreys.  He  spent  his  youth  in  his  parents' 
home  and  was  well  fitted  for  the  practical  and 
responsible  duties  of  life  by  liberal  educational 
privileges.  His  early  advantages  in  that  direc- 
tion were  supplemented  by  a  course  in  Kentucky 
'University,  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  where  he 
was  graduated  in  the  law  and  commercial  de- 
partments in  the  class  of  1876.  He  then  returned 
to  his  home  in  Idaho,  where  for  some  years  he 
was  successfully  engaged  in  school-teaching,  be- 
ing numbered  among  the  most  efficient  educators 
of  the  state.  For  five  years  he  was  also  engaged 
in  general  merchandising  at  Weiser,  but  is  now 
devoting  his  energies  to  the  public  service,  faith- 
fully performing  the  duties  entrusted  to  his  care. 

Since  attaining  his  majority  he  has  exercised 
his  right  of  franchise  in  support  of  the  men  and 
measures  of  the  Democracy,  and  is  a  recognized 
leader  in  the  party  ranks  in  this  section  of  the 
state.  In  1881  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
territorial  legislature  and  has  also  served  for  two 
terms  as  treasurer  of  Washington  county.  On 
His  retirement  from  that  office  he  was  elected 
probate  judge  and  superintendent  of  schools,  and 


230 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


is  now  serving  his  second  term  in  those  offices, 
discharging  his  duties  in  a  manner  highly  satis- 
factory to  the  people  and  creditable  to  himself. 

In  1881  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Jeffreys  and  Mrs.  M.  G.  Jewell,  who  by  her 
former  marriage  had  one  son,  C.  W.  Jewell.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Jeffreys  have  a  daughter,  Ethel  F. 
They  have  a  nice  home  and  fruit  farm  at  Weiser, 
and  occupy  a  leading  position  in  social  circles 
where  true  worth  and  intelligence  are  received 
as  the  passports  into  good'  society.  They  are 
valued  members  of  the  Baptist  church,  and  give 
their  support  to  all  measures  tending  toward  the 
moral  and  educational  advancement  of  the  com- 
munity. 

HON.    DE    FOREST   H.   ANDREWS. 

It  is  the  enterprise  and  character  of  the  citizens 
that  enrich  and  ennoble  the  commonwealth. 
From  individual  enterprise  have  sprung  all  the 
splendor  and  importance  of  this  great  west.  The 
greatest  business  men  have  developed  from  the 
humblest  origins,  and  from  clerkships  have 
emerged  men  who  have  built  up  great  business 
enterprises.  Among  those  who  have  achieved 
prominence  as  men  of  marked  ability  and  sub- 
stantial worth  in  Boise  is  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  De  Forest  H.  Andrews,  one  of  the  most 
successful  real-estate  dealers  of  Idaho. 

A  native  of  Auburn,  New  York,  he  was  born 
on  the  23d  of  May,  1841,  and  is  a  representative 
of  one  of  the  old  families  of  that  state.  His  grand-_ 
father,  Salmon  Andrews,  was  a  resident  of  Syra- 
cuse, New  York.  His  father,  Salmon  S.  An- 
drews, was  born  in  the  Empire  state,  and  there 
married  Miss  Sarah  Stolp,  a  lady  of  German 
descent.  In  1843  they  removed  to  Aurora,  Illi- 
nois, where  for  a  time  Mr.  Andrews  was  engaged 
in  farming.  Later  he  removed  to  Valparaiso, 
Indiana,  where  he  died  at  the  age  of  seventy 
years.  Mrs.  Andrews  then  made  her  home  with 
her  son  in  Leadville,  Colorado,  where  she  died 
in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  her  age.  This  worthy 
couple  were  the  parents  of  eleven  children,  but 
only  three  are  now  living. 

De  Forest  H.  Andrews  acquired  his  education 
in  the  public  schools  of  Indiana  and  Illinois. 
Throughout  his  business  career  his  energies  have 
been  devoted  principally  to  stock-raising,  to  min- 
ing and  to  real-estate  dealing.  In  1860  he  emi- 
grated to  Colorado,  where  he  engaged  in  mining, 


at  Leadville  and  Aspen,  and  in  Gilpin  and  Boul- 
der counties.  He  was  successful  in  his  ventures 
there  and  ultimately  sold  his  mining  interests  for 
eighty-five  thousand  dollars.  In  1890  he  came  to 
Boise  and  purchased  property,  since  which  time 
he  has  engaged  in  the  real-estate  business,  both 
on  his  own  account  and  for  others.  He  has  been 
a  very  prominent  factor  in  the  growth  and  up- 
building of  the  city,  for  through  his  instrumen- 
tality many  substantial  improvements  have  been 
made.  He  has  large  realty  holdings  in  the 
Thatcher,  Broadway,  Park,  South  Boise  and 
Londoner  additions,  and  the  amount  of  his  sales 
would  reach  a  large  figure. 

In  1872  Mr.  Andrews  married  Mrs.  Isabella 
L.  Rice,  a  native  of  Steubenville,  Ohio,  and  to 
them  were  born  five  children,  but  all  are  now 
deceased.  By  her  former  marriage  Mrs.  Andrews 
had  three  children, — George  W.,  Nellie  N.  and 
William  C.,  all  of  whom  have  reached  mature 
years.  She  is  a  valued  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational church  and  a  lady  whose  many  estim- 
able qualities  have  gained  her  many  friends. 

On  attaining  his  majority  Mr.  Andrews  gave 
his  political  support  to  the  Democratic  party. 
Later  he  became  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Greenback  party,  and  is  now  a  Populist.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  enterprising  little 
city  of  Nevadaville,  Colorado,  and  for  some  time 
was  its  progressive  and  efficient  mayor.  When 
thene  was  a  fusion  between  the  Populist  and 
Democratic  forces  he  was  nominated  for  election 
as  a  member  of  the  state  legislature,  but  was  de- 
feated at  the  ensuing  election,  in  Gilpin  county, 
Colorado.  In  1896  he  was  nominated  on  the 
Democratic-People's  party  ticket  in  Ada  county, 
Idaho,  and  elected  by  a  safe  majority.  As  a 
member  of  the  legislature  he  was  instrumental 
in  introducing  and  securing  the  passage  of  the 
irrigation  bill,  a  very  important  measure,  result- 
ing greatly  to  the  benefit  and  improvement  of 
the  state.  In  1898  he  received  his  party's  nom- 
ination for  governor,  a  high  tribute  to  his  worth 
and  an  unmistakable  indication  of  his  popularity 
in  Populistic  circles.  His  business  career  is  one 
most  commendable.  He  follows  most  systematic 
methods,  is  thoroughly  reliable,  has  strict  regard 
for  the  ethics  of  commercial  life,  and,  by  enter- 
prise and  careful  management,  has  secured  a 
most  gratifying  success. 


Scene  on  Alpheus  Creek. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


OWYHEE   COUNTY— ITS   HISTORY,  TOWNS,  INDUSTRIES. 


IN  1862  the  present  county  of  Owyhee  was  a 
part  of-  Boise  county,  which  comprised  all 
of  the  western  portion  of  Washington  Ter- 
ritory lying  south  of  what  was  then  called  Idaho 
county,  its  area  being  nearly  equal  to  that  of  Penn- 
sylvania. When  Idaho  was  created  a  territory  by 
act  of  congress,  March  3,  1863,  Boise  county  be- 
came part  and  parcel  of  the  territory  of  Idaho, 
and  at  the  first  session  of  the  territorial  legisla- 
ture, held  at  Lewiston,  Idaho,  Owyhee  county 
was  created,  December  31,  1863,  out  of  all  terri- 
tory south  of  Snake  river  and  west  of  the  Rocky 
mountains. 

In  1864  Oneida  county,  and  in  1879  Cassia 
county,  were  cut  off  of  Owyhee  county,  reducing 
it  to  its  present  limits.  Its  northern  boundary 
line  is  the  Snake  river.  Cassia  county  on  the 
east,  state  of  Oregon  on  the  west,  and  the  state 
of  Nevada  forms  its  southern  boundary.  Its  area 
is  8,130  square  miles,  being  somewhat  larger  than 
the  state  of  Massachusetts.  Its  name,  "Owyhee," 
is  believed  to  have  been  borrowed  from  the  Ha- 
waiian language,  and  to  have  been  given  to  the 
Owyhee  river  by  two  Kanakas  in  the  employ  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 

Prior  to  the  spring  of  1863,  Owyhee  county 
was  an  unexplored  country,  inhabited  only  by 
bands  of  hostile  Indians,  while  at  that  time  the 
diggings  of  Boise  basin  and  Oro  Fino  boasted 
of  a  population  of  over  ten  thousand  miners.  A 
legend  of  the  early  immigrants  to  Oregon  of  the 
"Blue  Bucket  diggings,"  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Owyhee  mountains,  wherein  they  used  sinkers 
of  gold  for  fishing  purposes,  led  several  adven- 
turous spirits  to  organize  a  party  of  discovery  at 
Placerville,  in  May,  1863.  The  party  consisted 
of  the  following:  Michael  Jordan,  A.  J.  Miner, 
J.  C.  Boone,  P.  H.  Gordan,  L.  C.  Gehr,  G.  W. 
Chadwick,  Cy  Iba,  William  Phipps,  Joseph  Dor- 
sey,  Jerome  Francisco,  John  Moore,  J.  R.  Cain, 
W.  Churchill,  H.  R.  Wade,  A.  J.  Reynolds, 
James  Carroll,  William  Duncan,  Dr.  A.  F.  Rudd, 


F.  Height,  W.  L.  Wade,  John  Cannon,  M.  Con- 
ner, C.  Ward,  R.  W.  Prindall,  D.  P.  Barnes,  W. 
T.  Carson,  J.  Johnson,  A.  Eddington  and  O.  H. 
Purdy,  in  all  numbering  twenty-nine. 

We  take  the  following  from  the  narration  of 
O.  H.  Purdy,  a  member  of  the  party,  a  well- 
known  citizen  of  Silver  City,  who  was  killed  in 
the  skirmish  with  the  Bannack  Indians  at  South 
mountain,  in  June,  1878: 

We  crossed  Snake  river  at  the  mouth  of  Boise  river, 
traveling  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  until  we  came  to, 
at  that  time,  quite  a  large  stream,  which  we  named,  in 
honor  of  the  laziest  man  in  the  company,  "Reynolds 
creek."  We  camped  here  one  day.  During  the  day, 
two  of  the  party,  Wade  and  Miner,  ascended  the  divide 
westerly  from  camp,  on  a  tour  of  observation,  and  dis- 
covered still  farther  south  and  west  what  appeared  to 
be  a  large  stream,  judging  from  the  topographical  for- 
mation of  the  mountains,  which  were  well  timbered. 
This  was  reported  to  the  balance  in  camp. 

The  next  morning  (May  18,  1863),  our  party  of  twen- 
ty-nine men  and  about  sixty  horses  and  mules  was 
headed  in  the«direction  of  the  supposed  water-course, 
which  we  reached  about  four  o'clock  p.  m.,  at  a  point 
we  named  "Discovery  Bar,"  about  six  miles  below 
where  Booneville  now  is.  The  locality  presenting  a 
favorable  place  for  camping,  it  was  so  agreed.  Dr. 
Rudd,  a  verdant  emigrant,  not  waiting  to  unpack  his 
mule,  took  his  shovel,  and,  scooping  up  some  of  the 
loose  gravel  on  the  bank  of  the  creek,  "panned  it  out" 
and  obtained  about  a  hundred  "colors."  The  excite- 
ment and  amazement  which  followed  this  "discovery" 
can  better  be  imagined  than  described.  In  ten  minutes, 
every  man,  with  pan  and  shovel  (except  the  lazy  man), 
was  busy  digging  and  panning,  and  upon  their  return 
about  an  hour  after,  each  man  had  favorable  prospects 
to  exhibit. 

The  prospecting  continued  up  the  creek  for  ten  or 
twelve  days,  when,  at  "Happy  Camp,"  the  laws  of  the 
district  were  made  and  adopted,  the  creek  and  district 
named,  and  claims  located — the  creek  and  district  tak- 
ing the  names  of  two  of  our  company,  Michael  Jordan 
and  W.  T.  Carson. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  know  the  future  of  this 
party  of  twenty-nine,  but  a  great  many  of  them 
have  unfortunately  passed  into  obscurity.  Michael 


231 


232 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


Jordan  and  James  Carrol]  fell  victims  to  Indians 
in  1864.  H.  R.  Wade  was  the  first  county  treas- 
urer-elect, and  he  and  W.  T.  Carson  died  at  Silver 
City  in  1865.  William  Duncan  died  in  1873,  in 
Nevada.  J.  R.  Cain  moved  to  Boise  valley. 
Height  and  Iba  emigrated  to  southeastern  Idaho, 
and  Height  recently  sold  the  Hailey  hot  springs, 
of  which  he  was  the  proprietor.  Purdv.  as  stated 
before,  met  his  fate  bv  Indians  in  1878.  The 
return  of  the  party  to  Boise  basin  with  the  news 
of  the  discovery  at  once  created  a  "stampede" 
for  Owyhee,  and  the  mining  towns  of  Boone- 
ville  and  Ruby  City  were  speedily  in  course  of 
erection,  and  gold  hunters  busily  engaged  in 
changing  the  formation  of  Florida  and  War 
Eagle  mountains.  In  July,  1863,  the  first  quartz 
ledge  was  discovered  and  located,  in  Whiskey 
gulch,  by  R.  H.  Wade  &  Company.  A  few  days 
after,  the  Oro  Fino  quartz  ledge  was  discovered 
and  located  by  A.  J.  Sands  and  Svale  Neilson, 
who  a  month  later  also  located  the  "Morning 
Star."  The  first  quartz  mill,  called  the  "Morning 
Star,"  with  an  equipment  of  eight  stamps,  was 
erected  by  Moore,  Fogus  &  Company.  In  May, 
1864,  the  Oro  Fino  Gold  &  Silver  Tunnel  Com- 
pany was  incorporated  in  Carson  district,  to  run 
a  tunnel  through  Oro  Fino  mountain,  on  which 
were  at  that  time  thirty  locations,  one  of  which 
was  the  "War  Eagle,"  which  gave  its  name  sub- 
sequently to  the  mountain.  The  tunnel  com- 
pany, however,  never  materialized,  though  the 
project  has  again  been  agitated  in  the  later  days. 
The  great  discovery  of  1865  was  the  celebrated 
Poorman  mine.  According  to  Professor  Gilbert 
Butler,  it  was  discovered  by  O'Brien,  Holt,  Zerr, 
Ebner,  Stevens  and  Ray,  and  was  first  called  the 
"Hays  &  Ray."  Some  say  it  was  discovered  by 
D.  C.  O'Byrne,  and  others  mention  Charles  S. 
Peck.  It  is  said  that  it  was  first  discovered  by 
Peck,  about  one  thousand  feet  from  the  present 
discovery  shaft,  in  which  he  (Peck)  uncovered  a 
rich  chimney,  but  concealed  his  discovery,  and, 
finding  that  it  lay  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
Hays  &  Ray  claim,  endeavored  to  purchase  the 
mine  from  the  owners,  but  was  unsuccessful. 
The  chimney,  however,  was  uncovered  by  an- 
other company  of  prospectors,  and  the  mine  was 
then  named  the  "Poorman,"  on  account  of  the 
discoverers  being  without  capital  to  work  it. 
Peck  was  subsequently  given  an  interest  in  the 


mine  by  the  owners,  but  in  the  meantime  a  fight 
for  possession  was  imminent,  the  owners  barri- 
cading the  entrance  of  the  mine  and  mounting  a 
couple  of  pieces  of  ordnance,  naming  the  forti- 
fications "Fort  Baker."  The  ore  taken  from  the 
Poorman  was  a  silver  chloride,  richly  impreg- 
nated with  gold,  easily  worked,  and  soft  as  lead, 
which  it  resembled,  tinted  crimson,  which  gave  it 
its  name  of  ruby  silver.  As  it  came  from  the 
mine  it  readily  sold  for  four  dollars  an  ounce, 
which  was  said  to  be  much  below  its  real  value. 
At  a  depth  of  one  hundred  feet  a  body  of  na- 
tive ore  was  uncovered  weighing  about  five  hun- 
dred pounds,  which  was  one  solid  mass  of  ruby 
silver  crystals,  specimens  of  which  were  exhibited 
at  the  Paris  exposition  of  1866  and  were  awarded 
a  gold  medal.  Two  thousand  tons  of  second  and 
third-class  rock  yielded  $546,691.59,  and  tailings 
went  over  $70.00  to  the  ton,  first-class  rock  rang- 
ing from  four  thousand  dollars  to  five  thousand 
dollars  per  ton.  Other  mines  of  note  were  dis- 
covered in  Carson,  Mammoth  and  Flint  districts, 
and  between  1863  and  1865  two  hundred  and 
fifty  mining  locations  were  recorded,  the 
principal  ones,  aside  from  those  previously  men- 
tioned, being  the  Golden  Chariot,  War  Eagle, 
Ida  Elmore,  Whiskey  Gulch,  Minnesota,  Silver 
Bullion,  Hidden  Treasure,  Noonday,  Centurion, 
Golden  Eagle,  Allison,  Blazing  Star,  Montana, 
Home  Ticket,  Floreta,  Silver  Legion,  Eureka, 
Calaveras,  Caledonian,  Empire,  Dashaway,  Red 
Jacket,  Mahogany,  Stormy  Hill,  South  Chariot, 
Illinois  Central,  Belle  Peck,  North  Extension 
Poorman,  South  Poorman,  Lucky  Poorman,  Big 
Fish,  Boycott,  Glenbrook,  Clearbrook,  Idlewild, 
North  Empire,  South  Empire,  San  Juan,  Du- 
buque.  Silver  Cloud,  Louisiana,  Ruby  Jackson, 
Silver  City,  Ruth,  Sinker,  By  Chance,  Potosi, 
Rattling  Jack,  St.  James,  Northern  Light,  Crook 
&  Jennings,  Brannan,  Home  Resort,  Savage, 
Piute,  Miami,  Lone  Tree,  Home  Stake,  Little 
Fish,  Silver  Cord.  Golden  Cord,  Standard,  Phi- 
lox,  Webfoot,  Wilson,  Idaho,  Gentle  Emma, 
Stoddard,  Ohio,  Henrietta,  Tremont,  Crown 
Point,  Redemption,  Booneville,  Empire  State, 
Florida  Hill,  Seventy-Nine,  Paymaster,  Cumber- 
land, Black  Jack,  Leviathan,  Sierra  Nevada, 
Yreka,  Owyhee  Treasury,  Avenue,  Rose,  Hud- 
son, Phoenix,  and  Carson  Chief,  all  in  Carson 
district,  besides  the  Webfoot  and  Garfield  in 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


233 


Wagontown  district,  and  Rising  Star,  Astor  and 
Twilight  in  Flint  district. 

The  Owyhee  mines,  up  to  1881,  were  worked 
to  a  depth  which  varied  from  one  hundred  and 
fifty  to  one  thousand  five  hundred  feet.  The 
Owyhee  Treasury,  at  a  depth  of  one  hundred 
feet  down,  yielded  ore  worth  seventy-five  cents 
per  pound.  A  "stringer"  in  the  mine,  worked  in 
a  common  mortar,  yielded  forty-six  dollars  to  a 
pound  of  ore. 

The  mining  camps  for  several  years  flourished 
and  enjoyed  a  continuous  run  of  unparalleled 
prosperity  until  the  year  of  1875,  when  the  sus- 
pension of  the  Bank  of  California  and  other 
causes  for  a  while  paralyzed  the  mining  indus- 
tries of  the  county,  and  resulted  in  the  withdrawal 
from  the  field  of  a  number  of  large  companies 
who  had  been  in  active  operation  here. 

While  it  was  considered  somewhat  hazardous 
in  the  early  history  of  this  county  to  follow  the 
pursuit  of  what  might  be  termed  "experimental 
farming"  in  a  country  which  was  generally  re- 
garded as  the  home  of  the  miner,  and  a  locality 
where  the  sage  brush  blossomed  as  the  rose,  nev- 
ertheless a  few  hardy  pioneers  of  agricultural  pro- 
clivities, like  their  worthy  congeners,  the  honest 
miners,  prospected  the  soil  with  good  results; 
others  followed  in  their  footsteps,  and  to-day, 
where  formerly  the  hardy  sage  brush  flourished 
and  the  wary  coyote  trod,  we  find  thousands  of 
acres  covered  with  thriftv  farms  and  ordiards, 
yielding  annually  almost  fabulous  quantities  of 
cereals  and  esculents.  The  valleys  of  the  Bru- 
neau,  Reynolds  creek,  Castle  creek,  Catherine 
creek  and  Sinker  creek  are  unsurpassed  for  fer- 
tility and  productiveness  of  soil,  and  the  moun- 
tain slopes  in  season  are  luxuriant  with  the  most 
nutritious  grasses,  affording  the  best  of  ranges 
for  stock  raising.  With  irrigation  scientifically 
applied,  Owyhee  farmers  have  succeeded  in  trans- 
forming what  was  termed  in  immigration  days 
the  "God-forsaken  country"  to  an  earthly  para- 
dise. Wheat  is  always  a  sure  crop,  and  great 
success  has  been  met  with  with  barley  and  oats. 
Hay  of  all  descriptions,  mostly  alfalfa,  is  pro- 
duced in  large  quantities;  and  potatoes,  cab- 
bages and  all  the  smaller  garden  vegetables 
grown  in  great  profusion.  Fruits,  vines  and 
shrubs,  wherever  planted,  have  turned  out  thrifty 
and  produced  largely. 


To  the  weary  traveler  crossing  the  dreary, 
monotonous  and  arid  plains  of  Owyhee,  the 
emerald  and  picturesque  ranches,  sequestered  in 
the  deep  canyons  of  the  creeks,  are  a  source  of 
joy  and  beauty. 

It  was  early  discovered  that  cattle  that  were  fed 
on  the  nutritious  bunch  grass  and  white  sage 
that  abounded  on  the  plains  and  mountain  slopes 
of  Owyhee  county  attained  a  perfection  of  bone, 
muscle  and  flesh  not  equaled  by  any  other  lo- 
cality, and  this  led  to  a  rapid  settling  of  the 
ranges  of  Bruneau,  Reynolds,  Castle,  Catherine, 
Sinker,  Cow  and  Sucker  creeks,  which  were 
speedily  covered  with  immense  herds  of  hardy 
cattle.  In  1882  the  number  of  cattle  assessed  in 
the  county  was  24,559,  which  was  believed  to  be 
6,000  short  of  the  actual  figure.  In  1885  it  was 
estimated  that  there  were  over  60,000  head  of 
cattle  within  the  confines  of  Owyhee  county.  In 
1888-9  tne  cattle  interests  in  the  county  reached 
their  maximum,  and,  as  we  are  reliably  informed, 
there  was  at  that  date  over  100,000  head  of  cattle 
in  the  county.  At  that  date  the  principal  cattle 
owners  were:  Murphy  &  Horn,  12,000  head; 
Scott  &  Company,  18,000  head;  Grayson  &  Com- 
pany, 16,000  head;  Hardiman  Bros.,  5,000  head; 
Sommercamp,  5,000  head;  Jack  Sands,  3,500 
head;  Con  Shea,  5,000  head;  Sparks  &  Harrell, 
5,000  head;  Bruce  Brothers,  2,500  head;  total, 
72,000  head.  Add  to  this  several  stock  raisers 
with  herds  numbering  500  to  1,000,  a  very  low 
estimate  would  be  18,000  head,  making  a  grand 
total  of  100,000  head.  These  were  the  flush  cattle 
times  of  Owyhee,  when  the  cattle  kings  viewed 
with  swelling  pride  their  increasing  herds  and 
pocketbooks;  but  a  couple  of  severe  winters,  the 
inability  to  find  sufficient  suitable  food  for  such 
large  herds,  and  several  other  causes,  created  a 
great  loss  of  cattle,  and  the  cattle  trade  gradu- 
ally shrank  to  its  present  condition,  there  not  be- 
ing, it  is  believed,  at  present  date,  over  15,000 
head  of  cattle  within  the  county. 

But  the  loss  of  one  industry  has  been  the  gain 
of  another,  viz.,  the  sheep  industry,  which  from 
small  beginnings  has  gradually  risen  to  its  pres- 
ent proportions,  and  it  is  generally  estimated 
that  at  this  date  there  are  over  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  head  of  sheep  in  Owyhee 
county. 

The  first  settlement  in  the  countv  was  made  at 


234 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


Booneville,  now  Dewey,  which  took  its  name 
after  Boone,  one  of  the  discovery  party  of  twenty- 
nine.  A  little  later  the  town  of  Ruby  City  sprang 
into  existence,  and  by  the  summer  of  1864 
boasted  of  a  population  of  eight  to  nine  hundred, 
and  was  made  the  county  seat  upon  the  organi- 
zation of  the  county  on  December  31,  1863.  Its 
location  being  an  unfavorable  one,  a  rival  town 
sprang  up,  which  was  named  Silver  City,  which 
not  only  gradually  absorbed  Ruby  City,  but  be- 
came the  county-seat  in  1866.  Fairview,  located 
on  the  apex  of  War  Eagle  mountain,  was  also  a 
thriving  little  burg,  and  would  have  been  made 
the  county  seat  were  it  not  for  its  inaccessibility. 
It  was  destroyed  by  fire  October  16,  1875,  loss 
being  about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and' 
never  recuperated  from  the  disaster. 

De  Lamar,  another  flourishing  town,  with  a 
population  nearly  equal  to  that  of  Silver  City, 
was  first  settled  in  1888,  and  has  since  shown  con- 
siderable improvement.  Guffey,  the  baby  town 
of  the  county,  and  the  terminal  point  of  the  B. 
N.  &  O.  Railroad,  is  rapidly  increasing  in  popula- 
tion, making  extensive  improvements,  and  giving 
great  promise  for  the  future. 

The  United  States  census  of  1890  gave  the 
population  of  Owyhee  county  as  2,021.  At  the 
last  presidential  election,  in  the  fall  of  1896,  there 
were  1,240  votes  cast,  and  the  estimated  popula- 
tion of  the  county  at  present  date  is  about  5,000. 

The  total  value  of  taxable  property  in  Owyhee 
county,  as  per  assessment  roll  of  July,  1896, 
amounted  to  $795,549.00,  which  embraced  10,- 
769  head  of  cattle,  122,777  sheep,  8,299  horses, 
170  jacks  and  mules,  and  188  hogs.  The  total 
value  of  taxable  property  in  Owyhee  county,  as 
per  assessment  roll  of  July,  1897,  amounted  to 
$894,786.00,  which  embraced  11,636  head  of  cat- 
tle, 118,705  sheep,  8,687  horses,  238  jacks  and 
mules,  and  231  hogs. 

THE    ONLY    LEGAL    HANGING    IN    THE 
COUNTY. 

The  morning  of  Friday,  October  15.  1881,  the 
day  appointed  for  the  execution  of  Henry  Mc- 
Donald, dawned  dark  and  disagreeable,  a  heavy 
snow  storm  prevailing,  as  if  nature  was  angry 
that  man,  created  in  the  image  of  God,  should 
fall  so  low  as  to  make  capital  punishment  a  neces- 
sity. All  preparations  for  the  execution  had  been 


completed  by  Sheriff  Springer,  and  at  one  o'clock, 
p.  m.,  the  prisoner  was  taken  from  his  cell,  and  in 
company  with  the  sheriff  and  deputy,  walked 
down  to  Jordan  street,  where  a  wagon  was  in 
waiting  to  carry  him  to  the  gallows  and  the 
grave.  He  showed  no  signs  of  emotion ;  walked 
very  erect,  and  got  in  the  wagon,  in  company 
with  the  sheriff,  deputy  and  Father  Nattini,  and 
was  driven  to  the  place  of  execution,  at  the  old 
Ruby  City  cemetery,  which  has  been  unused  for 
many  years.  About  three  hundred  people  gath- 
ered about  the  scaffold,  many  having  come  in 
from  the  adjacent  valleys.  At  seventeen  minutes 
past  one  o'clock  the  prisoner  firmly  ascended  the 
scaffold,  and  until  1 145  remained  in  consultation 
with  Father  Nattini,  at  which  time  Sheriff 
Springer  read  the  death  warrant.  McDonald 
shook  hands  with  those  who  had  guarded  him 
while  in  jail  here  and  the  priest,  bidding  them 
good-bye,  but  had  nothing  else  to  say.  James  T. 
Griffin  pinioned  his  hands  and  feet,  and  Father 
Nattini  adjusted  the  black  cap.  At  six  minutes 
before  two  o'clock  the  sheriff  sprung  the  trap, 
and  thus  without  a  sign  of  emotion  or  word  of 
complaint  the  bloodstained  soul  of  Henry  Mc- 
Donald was  ushered  into  eternity.  In  fourteen 
minutes  life  was  pronounced  extinct  by  Dr.  Belk- 
nap,  and  the  remains  were  buried  within  a  few 
yards  of  the  scaffold. 

The  evidence  in  this  case  is  well  known  and 
the  law  has  been  vindicated.  Not  only  should 
the  youths  of  this  place  remember,  but  those  men 
who  are  ready  to  draw  the  deadly  knife  and  re- 
volver, that  "He  who  sheds  man's  blood,  by  man 
shall  his  blood  be  shed."  This  is  the  first  execu- 
tion by  law  in  this  county;  may  we  hope  that 
another  will  never  be  required. 

THE    MARION    MORE    TRAGEDY. 

As  there  are  several  versions  afloat  of  this  la- 
mentable affair,  we  present  to  our  readers  such 
facts  as  we  have  been  able  to  glean  from  the 
sources  at  our  command,  which  will  probably  be 
new  to  the  rising  generation  and  will  refresh  the 
memories  of  the  old  timers. 

During  the  winter  of  1867-8  a  dispute  arose 
between  the  celebrated  "Ida  Elmore"  and  "Gold- 
en Chariot"  Mining  Companies  as  to  the  respec- 
tive boundaries  of  their  mining  lines,  which  at 
first  it  was  thought  would  be  settled  by  com- 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


235 


promise  or  litigation.     To   the   surprise   of  all, 
however,  force  was  resorted  to,  and  each  party 
secured    the    services    of    well    known    fighters, 
heavily  armed,  to  protect  their  interests.    March, 
1868,  found  both  parties  strongly  fortified  and 
closely  watching  each  other,  and  on  the  morning 
of  March  25  hostilities  were  commenced  by  the 
Golden  Chariot  party  storming  the  works  of  their 
opponents.     Desperate  fighting  ensued  and  dur- 
ing the  charge  John  C.  Holgate,  an  owner  in  the 
Golden  Chariot,  was  shot  in  the  head  and  died 
instantaneously.    Shooting  was  kept  up  at  inter- 
vals  during  the   night,   and   the   next   morning 
Meyer  Frank,  one  of  the  Ida  Elmore  contingent, 
was  fatally  wounded  and  died  a  few  hours  subse- 
quently.       At  noon   another   Ida   Elmore  man 
named   James   Howard  was  seriously  wounded 
and  several  others  on  both  sides  received  slight 
wounds. 

On  the  28th  Governor  Ballard  issued  a  proc- 
lamation commanding  both  parties  to  disperse 
peaceably  and  submit  to  the  proper  authorities, 
and  a  squad  of  United  States  cavalry  was  sent 
from  Fort  Boise  to  the  seat  of  war.  On  the 
morning  of  the  2f)t\\,  however,  the  principal  par- 
ties on  both  sides  effected  a  compromise  and  hos- 
tilities ceased  and  the  armed  men  were  with- 
drawn. 

On  the  evening  of  April  i,  1868,  Sam  Lock- 
hart  was  seated  in  front  of  the  stage  office  at  the 
Idaho  hotel,  when  Marion  More,  accompanied 
by  one  Jack  Fisher  and  two  or  three  others,  came 
up,  and  an  altercation  ensued  between  Lockhart 
and  the  More  party,  and  shooting  commenced  on 
both  sides.  Several  shots  were  exchanged  and 
Lockhart  was  wounded  in  the  left  arm.  Fisher 
received  an  ugly  wound  in  the  left  thigh.  More 
was  shot  in  the  center  of  the  left  breast  and  ran 
about  fifty  yards,  falling  in  front  of  the  then 
called  Oriental  restaurant,  into  which  he  was 
taken  and  promptly  attended  to,  but  he  was  pro- 
nounced in  a  dying  condition,  and  death  ended 
his  sufferings  the  following  afternoon. 

More  was  well  known  in  Idaho  as  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  More  &  Fogus,  and  his  death  was 
universally  regretted.  His  remains  were  con- 
veyed by  the  Masonic  fraternity,  of  which  he  was 
a  member,  to  Idaho  City,  where  they  were  in- 
terred. Subsequent  to  the  affray  several  arrests 
were  made,  but  proceedings  were  afterwards 


quashed  and  peace  and  quietness  again  reigned 
in  the  town  of  Silver  City.  Lockhart's  arm  was 
amputated,  but  blood  poisoning  ensued,  and  he 
died  on  the  I3th  of  July  following. 

THE    BALDWIN    AFFAIR. 

The  failure  of  the  Bank  of  California  in  Au- 
gust, 1875,  led  to  the  closing  of  several  of  the 
prominent  mines  on  War  Eagle  mountain  for 
lack  of  funds,  causing  considerable  distress  and 
destitution  among  the  miners  and  their  families, 
a  good  many  of  the  miners  being  forced  to  quit 
work  upon  seeing  no  prospect  of  securing  their 
pay. 

For  a  while  the  "Golden  Chariot,"  which  since 
November  15,  1875,  had  been  under  the  superin- 
tendency  of  M.  A.  Baldwin,  met  its  engagements 
in  due  season,  but  eventually  allowed  two  months 
to    elapse    without  a  pay  day,  though  making 
many  promises  which  did  not  materialize.    Cer 
tain  actions  on  the  part  of  the  officers,  such  as 
removing  the  valuable  property  of  the  company 
and  the  peremptory  closing  of  the  mine,  were 
looked  upon  as  rather  suspicious  by  the  miners, 
who  were  smarting  under  their  grievances  and 
roused  to  action  by  the  destitution  of  their  fam- 
ilies, which  they  justly  attributed  to  the  conduct 
of  the  company,  and  after  a  cool  and  deliberate 
consultation  they  concluded  to  take  action  them- 
selves, and  not  wait  for  the  uncertain  and  tor- 
tuous  windings  of  the  law.      About    midnight 
Friday,  June  30,  1876,  about  one  hundred  men 
comprised  of  the  "Golden    Chariot"    employes, 
and  miners  from  other  mines,  assembled  and  pro- 
ceeded to  the  office  of  the  company,  located  near 
the  mill,  and  conducted  the  superintendent,  M. 
A.  Baldwin,  to  a  house  at  Fairview  and  placed 
him  under  guard,  at  the  same  time  informing 
him  that  he  would  not  be  released  unless  assur- 
ance was  given  that  the  employes  of  the  com- 
pany would  receive  their  just  dues.     Everything 
was  conducted  in  a  very  peaceable  manner,  and 
Mr.  Baldwin's  wants  fully  provided  for.    On  the 
assurance  of  the  San  Francisco  officials  of  the 
company  that  the  pay  of  the  miners  would  be 
forthcoming,    Mr.    Baldwin    was    released    from 
durance  vile  on  July  21,  1876,  and  allowed  to  pro- 
ceed to  San  Francisco.     He  returned  from  there 
a  month  later,  and  the  miners  were  paid  off  as 
promised,  and  operations  for  a  short  period  re- 


236 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


sumed,  but  eventually  the  mine  was  closed  down 
and  has,  with  the  exception  of  an  occasional 
spurt,  remained  in  stafu  quo  ever  since. 

SILVER    CITY. 

Silver  City  is  a  flourishing  mining  camp  in 
southwestern  Idaho,  containing  a  population  of 
nearly  two  thousand  people.  It  was  laid  out  in 
1864  and  through  its  mining  interests  is  known 
in  nearly  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  The  town 
lies  in  a  canyon,  on  the  headwaters  of  Jordan 
creek,  and  at  an  altitude  of  about  6,300  feet.  War 
Eagle  mountain  on  the  east,  and  Florida  moun- 
tain on  the  west,  rise  to  heights  of  about  eight 
thousand  feet,  the  former  being  the  higher  and 
the  most  prominent  peak  in  southern  Idaho. 
From  the  summit  of  War  Eagle  mountain,  on  a 
clear  summer's  morning,  with  the  aid  of  a  tele- 
scope one  can  see  the  Teton  range  in  Wyoming, 
the  southwestern  corner  of  Montana,  the  Was- 
atch  range  in  Utah,  a  butte  in  Washington,  four 
hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  northwesterly, 
and  glimpses  within  the  state  lines  of  Nevada, 
California  and  Oregon. 

The  climate  during  the  summer  months  is 
nearly  perfect,  the  days  never  getting  very  warm, 
and  the  nights  so  cool  that  quite  a  weight  of 
clothing  is  necessary  for  comfort.  Mosquitoes, 
gnats  or  fleas  are  unknown.  In  the  winter  the 
snow  sometimes  falls  to  considerable  depth,  but 
the  cold  is  not  severe,  and  teaming  of  any  char- 
acter can  be  done  at  all  seasons. 

The  social  life  of  Silver  City  is  free  from  the 
petty  jealousies  and  heart-burnings  that  are  so 
common  in  small  places,  where  the  ''upper  ten" 
and  "codfish  aristocracy"  swell  over  their  infe- 
riors. Here  there  is  a  pleasant,  natural  commin- 
gling between  all  classes,  and  a  cordial  hospitality 
rules  society.  Church  services  ars  conducted  at 
odd  intervals,  there  being  no  resident  ministers. 
The  Masonic  order  has  two  lodges  in  Silver  City, 
— chapter  and  blue  lodge, — and  Odd  Fellows 
three, — encampment,  subordinate  and  Rebekah. 
The  Knights  of  Pythias  are  also  represented  with 
a  strong  lodge.  Silver  City  Union,  No.  66,  of 
the  W.  F.  of  M.,  was  organized  August  8,  1896, 
the  first  officers  installed  being:  O.  D.  Brum- 
baugh, president;  Simon  Harris,  vice  president; 
W.  H.  Hutchins,  financial  secretary:  D.  C.  Wil- 
son, recording  secretary;  Thomas  James,  treas- 


urer;   T.  W.  Drew,  conductor  pro  tern.;    and  J. 
McLeavey,  warden  pro  tern. 

Since  its  organization  the  union  has  paid  out 
in  benefits  to  members  and  their  families  about 
six  thousand  dollars,  and  also  expended  fourteen 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  on  the  Miners'  hospital, 
of  Silver  City,  which  was  opened  during  the  latter 
part  of  October,  1897. 

Besides  the  social  position  which  this  associa- 
tion holds  in  the  community,  it  has  ever  been 
ready  to  preserve  the  harmony  which  exists  be- 
tween the  large  mining  companies  and  their  em- 
ployes. Its  membership  in  1898  was  five  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five,  all  in  good  standing,  and 
financially  the  union  has  ever  kept  itself  in  a 
flourishing  condition. 

Silver  City  has  six  general  merchandise  stores, 
two  hardware  stores,  a  tin  shop,  two  meat  mar- 
kets, two  hotels,  four  restaurants,  eight  saloons, 
bakery,  one  shoe  shop,  a  photograph  gallery, 
brewery,  soda-bottling  works,  two  livery  stables, 
a  feed  store,  three  drug  stores,  a  jeweler,  three 
blacksmith  shops,  a  furniture  store,  two  lum- 
ber yards,  a  tailor  shop,  three  barber  shops, 
a  newspaper,  four  lawyers,  two  doctors,  etc., 
etc. 

This  is  essentially  a  mining  town  and  is  wholly 
dependent  upon  this  industry  for  its  support  and 
prosperity.  The  whistle  of  hoisting  and  mill  en- 
gines, and  the  sullen  roar  of  giant-powder  blasts, 
are  music  to  her  people.  She  has  four  stamp 
mills  carrying  an  aggregate  of  fifty  stamps,  and 
two  arastras.  The  mines  are  about  equally  di- 
vided between  War  Eagle  and  Florida  moun- 
tains, each  being  covered  with  a  network  of  veins 
carrying  precious  metals. 

War  Eagle  mountain  is  of  granite  formation. 
The  veins  lie  generally  north  and  south  and  the 
mountain  is  traversed  east  and  west  by  numerous 
porphyry  dykes.  Generally  speaking,  the  bonan- 
za ore  bodies  found  in  that  locality  have  been 
where  the  veins  came  in  contact  with  these  dykes. 
The  ores  of  this  mountain  are  free  milling  and 
carry  a  nice  percentage  of  gold,  the  bullion  run- 
ning from  $3.50  to  $13.00  per  ounce.  War  Eagle 
has  a  credited  production  record  of  about  thirty 
millions  of  dollars,  taken  out  during  the  first  ten 
years  of  the  camp's  history. 

Florida  mountain,  until  very  lately,  was  con- 
sidered to  be  of  porphyry  formation  with  some 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


granite  upheavals,  but  the  deep  mining  now  done 
by  the  companies  operating  thereon  has  exploded 
this  idea,  and  demonstrated  that  the  rock  masses 
are  of  granite,  capped  with  porphyry.  The  veins 
of  this  mountain  also  maintain  a  north  and  south 
course,  but  dykes  are  not  as  common  as  on  War 
Eagle.  The  ores,  too,  generally  carry  more  iron, 
requiring  concentration  before  amalgamation. 
Some  of  the  largest  and  most  exclusive  gold 
veins  in  the  camp  are  found  on  Florida  moun- 
tain, which  furnished  the  rich  auriferous  deposits 
that  attracted  the  attention  of  the  early  prospect- 
ors to  this  camp.  Florida  mountain  is  covered  to 
considerable  depth  by  gravel  and  loam,  making  it 
extremely  difficult  to  prospect,  but  when  access 
to  her  treasure  vaults  is  once  obtained,  powder, 
steel  and  muscle  are  sure  to  win. 

The  country  surrounding  Silver  City  abounds 
in  game  of  all  kinds,  and  the  mountain  streams 
are  plentifully  supplied  with  speckled  trout,  mak- 
ing it  a  grand  locality  for  camping  parties  in  the 
heated  term.  Grouse,  sage  hens  and  prairie 
chickens  are  numerous.  In  the  higher  mountains 
deer  are  found  in  large  numbers,  and  antelope 
are  frequently  seen  in  isolated  valleys  near  South 
mountain,  and  on  the  lava  beds  which  skirt  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  county. 

THE    IDAHO    HOTEL. 

The  Idaho  Hotel,  of  Silver  City,  was  first 
erected  at  Ruby  City,  Owyhee  county,  as  early 
as  1863,  by  J.  K.  Eastman;  and  the  following 
year,  when  Silver  City  was  started,  the  building 
was  taken  down  and  moved  to  the  latter  place. 
Mr.  Eastman  conducted  the  hotel  for  a  time  and 
then  sold  it  to  Tim  Regan  and  M.  McGregor, 
who  were  the  proprietors  and  managers  until 
December,  1889,  when  S.  T.  N.  Smith  purchased 
the  establishment.  He  conducted  the  hostelry 
until  April,  1898,  when  it  was  bought  by  Shea, 
McLain  &  Getchel,  who  are  now  running  it  as  a 
first-class  hotel. 

It  has  sixty  well  furnished  rooms,  a  large  and 
commodious  sample  room,  a  stage  office  and  an 
express  office.  The  present  proprietors,  ener- 
getic, ambitious  and  polite,  take  great  delight  in 
preserving  the  fine  prestige  of  the  institution  and 
even  of  making  all  the  improvements  that  may  be 
demanded  by  varying  circumstances.  They  have 
a  large  patronage  of  the  first  class. 


TRADE   DOLLAR   MINING  AND   MILLING 
COMPANY. 

The  Trade  Dollar  Mining  and  Milling  Com- 
pany was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the 
state  of  Kentucky,  in  July,  1891.  The  head- 
quarters of  the  company  are  at  Pittsburg,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  the  present  officers  are:  President, 
Hon.  J.  M.  Guffey;  vice  president,  A.  W.  Mellon; 
secretary  and  treasurer,  T.  B.  McKaig;  superin- 
tendent, James  Hutchinson;  foreman,  Joe  H. 
Hutchinson;  accountant,  L.  J.  Weldon.  The 
company  owns  the  following  mines  located  on 
the  southern  slope  of  the  Florida  mountain,  all  of 
which  are  patented:  Colorado,  Sierra  Nevada, 
Jumbo,  South  Pluto,  Black  Bart,  J.  G.  Blame, 
Pluto,  Pluto  millsite,  Trade  Dollar,  Fraction, 
Elaine  Extension,  Caroline;  and  the  following 
claims  unpatented:  Alpine,  Harrison,  Alleghany, 
Standard  and  Little  Chief. 

The  company  did  not  have  a  patented  claim 
when  Mr.  Hutchinson  assumed  charge,  and 
three-fourths  of  the  producing  territory  at  the 
present  time  is  from  claims  acquired  since  he  as- 
sumed charge.  The  property  to-day  ranks  with 
the  best  paying  properties  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
At  the  present  time  there  is  over  three  miles  of 
track  laid,  railed  and  tied ;  and  over  five  miles  of 
tunnels,  drifts,  adits,  etc.  The  main  tunnel  is 
3,854  feet  in  length,  and  connects  with  the  Black 
Jack  tunnel  at  its  northern  boundary.  The  com- 
pany plant  is  very  complete,  consisting  of  a  ten- 
stamp  combination  mill,  office  buildings,  depart- 
ment shops,  bunk  and  boarding  houses,  Inger- 
soll-Sergeant  air  compressor,  compound  Corliss 
engine,  drill  press,  lathe — in  fact,  a  full  and  com- 
plete mining  and  milling  outfit. 

The  officers  at  the  eastern  end  have  been 
liberal  and  progressive,  and  the  management  at 
this  end  conservative  and  intelligent.  While  it 
may  seem  preposterous,  the  facts  are  that  the 
Trade  Dollar  in  1897  paid  larger  dividends  than 
any  one  mine  in  Cripple  Creek,  according  to  pub- 
lished records  of  dividends. 

CUMBERLAND    GOLD    MINE. 

This  mine,  which  is  located  on  the  eastern  side 
of  War  Eagle  mountain,  is  owned  by  James 
Shaw,  and  has  been  operated  under  bond  by 
Sonneman  &  Branscombe,  of  Spokane,  since 


238 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


September,  1897,  since  which  time  the  property 
has  been  equipped  with  hoist,  shaft  house,  ore 
house,  and  other  improvements  made  necessary 
for  extensive  work. 

The  situation  is  on  the  mineral  zone  which 
contains  all  the  famous  properties  of  War  Eagle 
mountain,  and  on  the  system  of  veins  on  which 
are  located  the  Oro  Fino,  Elmore,  Golden 
Chariot,  Minnesota,  Mahogany,  the  aggregate 
production  of  which,  amounting  to  thirty-six  mil- 
lion dollars,  did  much  towards  producing  the 
enormous  amount  of  gold  bullion  produced  by 
Owyhee  county  in  the  past.  The  Cumberland  is 
the  southerly  extension  of  the  Oro  Fino,  a  cele- 
brated producer,  and  a  parallel  location  to  the 
Golden  Chariot,  which  carried  pay  ore  to  a  depth 
of  one  thousand  five  hundred  feet,  and  has  a  rec- 
ord of  shipments  through  Wells-Fargo  express  of 
fourteen  million  dollars.  The  Cumberland  is 
virgin  ground,  and  is  proving  on  development  to 
be  as  rich  as  any  of  the  adjacent  properties.  It 
is  the  second  quartz  property  to  have  been 
opened  in  Owyhee  county,  the  Oro  Fino,  on  the 
same  vein,  being  an  earlier  location.  In  the  early 
sixties,  a  no-foot  shaft  was  sunk  on  the  Cum- 
berland vein,  and  some  sloping  done  on  the 
richest  ore ;  but,  on  account  of  the  large  amount 
of  trouble  from  the  placer  miners,  and  the  depth 
demanding  a  power  hoisting  plant,  work  was 
stopped,  and  the  shaft  quickly  filled  to  the  collar 
with  the  debris  washed  down  the  canyon.  The 
property  eventually  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Shaw,  who  has  run  upwards  of  200  feet  of  tunnel 
on  the  vein  above  the  collar  of  the  old  shaft. 
Most  of  the  ground  above  this  tunnel  he  has 
stoped,  and,  in  spite  of  large  expense  attached  to 
hauling,  arastra  milling,  and  large  loss  in  tail- 
ings, the  greater  percentage  of  the  silver  value 
escaping,  has  averaged  a  clean-up,  of  over  one 
hundred  dollars  per  ton. 

The  ore  is  quartz,  occasionally  stained  by 
small  percentage  of  copper,  and  carrying  nothing 
else  but  silver  and  gold,  in  proportion  of  one 
ounce  of  gold  to  ten  of  silver,  or,  at  present  quo- 
tations, eighty  per  cent,  gold  and  twenty  per 
cent,  silver.  Very  often  the  gold  percentage 
will  exceed  ninety,  but  never  less  than  eighty. 
The  gold  values  are  entirely  free-milling,  the  sil- 
ver occurring  as  silver  glance  (argentite),  and 
occasionally  as  native  silver. 


On  securing  the  property,  Sonneman  &  Brans- 
combe  immediately  commenced  to  secure  depth, 
by  sinking  a  winse  in  the  Shaw  tunnel,  and  by 
cleaning  out  and  sinking  to  greater  depth  the 
old  shaft,  unentered  for  thirty  years.  Besides  the 
increased  value  and  size  of  ledge  in  the  winse,  the 
showings  uncovered  in  the  old  shaft  are  most 
pleasing.  Considerable  sloping  had  been  done 
to  within  forty  feet  of  the  bottom,  but,  in  the  faces 
of  these  old  slopes,  a  vein  is  left  which  pays  well 
to  extract,  and  below  these  slopes,  to  Ihe  bollom 
of  the  shaft,  and  in  the  botlom,  is  a  good  vein 
ready  for  sloping  and  of  high-grade  ore.  t)uring 
Ihe  winler  the  work  will  be  continued  by  sinking 
shaft,  which  has  a  present  depth  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  feel,  by  Ihree  shifls,  and  pushing 
both  the  one  hundred  foot  level  and  the  Shaw 
tunnel  ahead.  These  developments  are  made  jus- 
tifiable by  Ihe  presence  of  ore  in  the  faces  of  both 
tunnels,  the  vein  in  Ihe  shafl  being  nearly  two 
feel  in  widlh,  and  running  over  two  and  one-half 
ounces  in  gold  and  thirty  ounces  in  silver. 

While  all  development  indicates  thai  Ihe  ore 
bodies  in  the  Cumberland  will  equal  in  richness 
and  tonnage  those  of  Ihe  adjacent  properties,  Ihe 
facl  is  already  proven  lhal  in  ihis  mine  is  a 
strong,  perfectly  continuous  ledge,  the  ore  chute 
being  three  hundred  feel  long  and  of  an  average 
widlh  of  twelve  inches,  which  will  yield  to  ordi- 
nary mill  methods  a  return  sufficienl  lo  reward 
the  investors  heavily  and  encourage  others  to  in- 
vestigate, develop  and  reopen  the  long  neglected 
veins  of  War  Eagle  mountain. 

DE    LAMAR. 

The  town  of  De  Lamar  is  prettily  nestled  in  a 
cluster  of  hills,  prominenl  among  which  is  Ihe 
De  Lamar  mounlain,  dislant  sixty  miles  from  Ihe 
capilal,  Boise  Cily,  and  nine  miles  from  Ihe  coun- 
ly  seal,  Silver  Cily.  Il  is  lighled  eleclrically,  and 
supplied  wilh  lelegraphic  and  lelephonic  com- 
munications with  the  outer  world.  The  town  is 
located  on  the  banks  of  Jordan  creek,  famous  in 
the  early  history  of  Owyhee  county,  Ihe  ap- 
proaches of  Ihe  lown  being  lined  with  well  built 
residences.  In  the  cenler  of  Ihe  town  is  located 
the  plant  of  the  De  Lamar  Mining  Company, 
Limited,  consisting  of  mill  buildings,  department 
shops,  offices,  hotel  and  bunk  houses,  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  principal  mercanlile  houses.  A 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


23<t 


little  farther  on,  still  within  the  hearing  of  the 
hum  of  industry,  is  another  branch  of  the  town, 
called  by  the  residents  "Tough  Town,"  which  in 
mercantile  activity  fully  equals  that  of  the  town 
proper.  From  there  the  road  to  Oregon  is 
skirted  by  the  residences  of  ranchers,  teamsters, 
milk  dealer's  and  woodmen,  with  here  and  there 
an  occasional  evidence  of  mining  industry,  such 
as  the  Henrietta  mill,  Jones'  mill,  and  John 
Scales'  mill,  at  Wagontown. 

The  earliest  settlement  was  at  old  Wagon- 
town,  located  about  two  miles  below  the  center  of 
the  town  of  De  Lamar,  which  was  a  road  station 
on  the  stage  line  running  from  Silver  City  to 
Winnemucca,  Nevada.  The  first  mine  was  lo- 
cated by  J.  W.  Stoddard,  which  was  afterwards 
patented,  and  is  now  a  portion  of  the  De  Lamar 
group.  John  A.  Wilson  was  the  discoverer  of  the 
Wilson  mine,  which  forms  the  nucleus  of  the 
De  Lamar  group.  He  disposed  of  his  properties 
in  September,  1888,  to  Captain  De  Lamar,  who 
subsequently  purchased  the  Sommercamp  and 
Lepley  claims.  Captain  De  Lamar  vigorously 
developed  his  properties,  erecting  mill,  hotel,  and 
other  necessary  buildings.  Peter  Adams  opened 
a  boarding  house,  and  Tom  Jones,  John  Arvid  - 
son,  Lewis  Walker  and  others  erected  buildings, 
and  1890  found  the  town  in  a  booming  condition, 
and  with  a  good-sized  future.  Montie  B.  Gwinn, 
of  Caldwell,  and  others,  opened  a  general  mer- 
chandise store,  under  the  name  of  the  De  Lamar 
Mercantile  Company,  which  is  now  being  carried 
on  by  Isay  &  Gombrig. 

In  the  early  part  of  1891,  Captain  De  Lamar 
disposed  of  his  entire  interests  to  the  De  Lamar 
Mining  Company,  Limited,  an  incorporated  com- 
pany of  London,  England,  who  have  since  their 
inception  made  many  substantial  improvements, 
besides  erecting  a  substantial  hotel,  with  first- 
class  appointments,  taking  the  place  of  the  one 
erected  by  Captain  De  Lamar,  which  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire;  and  it  is  largely  due  to  the  un- 
ceasing application  of  the  resident  managers  that 
the  company  possesses  a  plant  whose  standard  of 
excellence  is  unexcelled  by  that  of  any  mining 
company  in  this  portion  of  the  west.  The 
claims  of  the  De  Lamar  Company  number- 
ing about  forty,  are  located  on  De  Lamar  moun- 
tain, and  in  the  vicinity  are  located  the  Big  I, 
Silver  Vault,  Garfield,  Lepley,  and  many  other 


promising  mining  properties,  which  are  being  ex- 
ploited with  excellent  results.  The  De  Lamar 
hotel,  owned  by  the  mining  company,  is  ably 
managed. 

The  public  schools  are  in  a  flourishing  condi- 
tion, under  excellent  supervision,  with  a  member- 
ship of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils. 

A  flourishing  miners'  union,  a  lodge  of  Odd 
Fellows,  with  a  Rebekah  lodge,  comprise  the  se- 
cret organizations,  and  the  welfare  of  the  town 
is  generally  looked  after  by  the  De  Lamar  Xug- 
get,  a  spicy  and  entertaining  newspaper  men- 
tioned in  the  chapter  concerning  the  press  of  the 
state. 

The  De  Lamar  Mining  Company,  Limited, 
was  incorporated  in  March,  1891,  under  the  laws 
of  Great  Britain,  with  a  nominal  capital  of  400,- 
ooo  shares  of  one  pound  sterling  each.  The  prin- 
cipal officers  of  the  company  in  1898  were: 
Francis  Muir,  Esq.,  of  London,  chairman  board 
of  directors;  Charles  Pakeman,  Esq.,  of  London, 
secretary  board  of  directors;  D.  B.  Huntley,  resi- 
dent manager;  E.  V.  Orford,  accountant  and  resi- 
dent assistant  manager;  and  Thomas  Davey.mine 
foreman.  The  company  are  the  owners  of  about 
forty  mining  claims  and  mill-sites,  mostly  pat- 
ented, and  situated  at  the  town  of  De  Lamar. 
These  several  groups  of  mines  were  located  in 
the  eighties,  and  in  1887  were  purchased  of  the 
original  owners  by  Captain  J.  R.  De  Lamar,  who 
in  the  early  part  of  1891  disposed  of  them  to  the 
De  Lamar  Mining  Company,  Limited,  the  pur- 
chase price,  it  is  said,  being  about  two  millions  of 
dollars. 

The  working  openings  of  the  mines  embrace 
about  six  miles,  and  the  main  workings  of  the 
property  extend  seven  hundred  feet  in  vertical 
depth;  and  beyond  this  an  incline  shaft  is  now 
being  sunk  for  prospecting  purposes.  A  three- 
rail  gravity  tramway,  about  two  thousand  and 
three  hundred  feet  in  length,  connects  the  mines 
with  the  mill,  which  is  a  pan-amalgamation 
plant,  equipped  with  forty  stamps,  twenty-eight 
pans,  etc..  and  has  a  capacity  of  treating  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  tons  of  ore  daily.  Connected  with 
this  mill  is  a  fifty-ton  plant  of  the  Pelaton-Clerici 
cyanide  process.  These  mills  are  run  by  a  Corliss 
engine  of  two  hundred  and  fiftv  horse  power, 
and  for  about  three  months  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  the  water  power  is  utilized  by  means  of  a 


240 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


six-foot  Pelton  water  wheel.  The  plant  owned  by 
the  company  is  the  most  complete  one  in  this  sec- 
tion of  the  country,  consisting  of  hotel  and  office 
buildings,  store  houses,  department  shops,  mill, 
assay  buildings,  bunk  and  boarding  houses,  tram- 
ways, etc.,  and  is  covered  by  an  insurance  of  fully 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 
The  company  also  carries  a  large  stock  of  wood 
and  other  material,  and  duplicates  of  machinery, 
in  which  there  is  a  large  amount  invested.  The 
mills  and  mines  give  employment  to  about  two 
hundred  men,  there  being  no  interruption  to  the 
work,  except  on  prominent  holidays. 

The  energy  and  perseverance  of  the  local  man- 
agers, together  with  the  liberal  support  of  the 
home  management,  has  placed  this  company  in 
the  foremost  rank  of  the  best  mining  properties 
of  the  west,  and  the  gross  output  since  the  or- 
ganization of  the  company  to  date  amounts  to 
over  five  million  dollars. 

The  Miners'  Union  of  De  Lamar  is  the  oldest 
existing  branch  of  the  W.  F.  of  M.  in  Owvhee 
county,  and  was  organized  on  April  18,  1896,  the 
first  officers  installed  being:  President,  J.  J. 
Bennett;  vice-president,  Thomas  Duncalf;  re- 
cording secretary,  Samuel  Honey;  financial  secre- 
tary, Ed.  Wood;  treasurer,  William  Cayzer;  con- 
ductor, Charles  Morris;  warden,  William  Brash- 
er; trustees,  James  H.  Rodda,  Fred  Tyacke,  John 
Pascoe,  Richard  Temby  and  Henry  Warren. 

Since  its  organization  the  Miners'  Union  of  De 
Lamar  has  paid  out  in  benefits  to  members  and 
their  families  some  four  thousand  dollars,  and, 
aside  from  its  social  features,  has  been  ever  the 
means  of  maintaining  the  harmonious  feeling 
which  exists  between  the  De  Lamar  company  and 
its  employes.  Its  present  membership  amounts 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty,  all  in  good  standing. 
Its  financial  affairs  are  in  a  nourishing  condition, 
and  the  great  good  it  has  accomplished  in  De 
Lamar  is  acknowledged  by  all. 

DEWEY. 

The  town  of  Booneville  was  first  settled  in  the 
summer  of  1863,  the  first  inhabitant  being  Cap- 
tain Boone,  from  whom  the  town  was  named. 
For  a  time  the  town  enjoyed  a  large  population, 
and  was  in  a  very  prosperous  condition ;  but  sub- 
sequently fell  into  decay,  and  for  a  good  many 
years  was  simply  a  stopping  place  for  wayfarers, 


stages  and  teamsters,  the  only  building  of  prom- 
inence being  the  old  Booneville  hotel.  In  the 
spring  of  1896,  the  hotel  and  surrounding  prop- 
erty was  purchased  by  Colonel  W.  H.  Dewey, 
and  operations  were  at  once  set  on  foot  for  the 
improvement  of  the  town.  During  the  summer 
of  1896,  the  Florida  M.  &  M.  Company  erected 
a  twenty-stamp  mill,  which  is  by  far  one  of  the 
largest  and  best  equipped  in  the  west.  The  Hotel 
Dewey  was  also  erected,  a  large  and  commodious 
building,  whose  appointments  and  architectural 
structure  are  unequaled  bv  any  hotel  in  the  state. 
The  building  is  of  the  southern  hotel  order,  three 
stories  in  height,  surmounted  by  a  large  cupola, 
and  fronted  with  a  double  portico.  The  building 
is  thirty  by  sixty  feet,  with  an  L  of  thirty  by  sev- 
enty-eight feet.  To  the  left  of  the  hall  are  the 
bar-rooms,  card-rooms  and  the  store-rooms,  the 
bar  fittings  being  very  elaborate,  and  unexcelled 
in  this  section  of  the  country.  To  the  right  of  the 
hall  are  the  offices,  reading-room,  billiard-room 
and  wash-room.  The  hall  terminates  with  the 
dining-room  and  kitchen,  and  the  upper  stories 
are  devoted  to  parlors  and  rooms,  single  and  en 
suite,  elegantly  furnished  with  modern-style  fur- 
niture, equal  to  that  of  any  caravansary  on  the 
coast.  In  the  third  story  is  a  large  hall,  com- 
pletely fitted  up  for  theatricals,  dances  and  other 
amusements.  The  hotel  is  heated  by  steam-heat- 
ing apparatus  of  the  latest  pattern,  and  lighted 
by  an  electrical  plant  supplied  by  the  mill,  and 
the  sanitary  and  sewerage  conditions  are  as  per- 
fect as  can  be  made  by  labor  and  science. 

Adjoining  the  hotel  are  the  offices  of  the  Flori- 
da M.  &  M.  Company,  and  the  residence  of  the 
superintendent,  both  of  which  are  of  modern  de- 
sign, artistic  structure  and  substantial  erection. 
Facing  the  hotel,  several  substantial  buildings 
have  been  erected,  viz.,  general  store,  butcher 
shop,  steam  laundry,  barber  shop,  variety  store, 
postoffice,  livery  stable  and  barn,  etc.,  and  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  store  building  is  a  large  hall, 
fitted  up  for  lodge  rooms,  assemblages,  etc. 

The  water  facilities  and  fire  svstem  of  the  town 
are  the  best  to  be  found  in  any  mining  camp  this 
side  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  the  water  being 
piped  from  natural  springs  located  nearly  two 
miles  from  the  town,  and  conveyed  to  tanks  hav- 
ing a  capacity  of  1,500  barrels,  situated  at  an  ele- 
vation of  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  on 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


241 


the  hill  east  of  the  hotel,  giving  a  pressure  of 
about  two  hundred  and  forty  pounds  to  the 
square  inch  through  a  four-inch  main,  to  twelve 
fire-plugs  located  in  different  parts  of  the  town; 
and  thereby  securing  for  the  town  an  almost  com- 
plete immunity  from  fire.  There  has  also  been 
constructed  an  ice  house  and  slaughter  house, 
and,  in  fact,  nothing  has  been  neglected  in  the 
way  of  making  the  town  complete  as  to  conven- 
iences for  its  inhabitants,  as  well  as  an  illustration 
of  what  can  be  done  by  applied  energy  and  in- 
dustry. 

In  the  spring  of  1897,  through  the  efforts  of 
Colonel  Dewey,  a  postoffice  was  established,  and 
the  name  of  the  town  changed  to  Dewey,  in  com- 
pliment to  its  founder;  and  James  Gartland,  the 
genial  accountant  of  the  F.  M.  &  M.  Company, 
and  affable  manager  of  the  Hotel  Dewey,  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  postmaster. 

The  town  of  Dewey  is  located  at  the  base  of 
Florida  mountain,  and  in  easy  distance  of  all  the 
principal  mining  properties  located  on  that 
mountain,  and  is  also  the  terminal  point  of  the 
B.  N.  &  O.  R.  R.  Company,  now  in  course  of 
construction. 

REYNOLDS  CREEK. 

Reynolds  Creek  valley  is  sixteen  miles  from 
Silver  City  and  fifteen  from  Snake  river.  The 
earliest  settlers  here  were  Thomas  Carson,  Joseph 
Babbington  and  James  C.  Bernard,  who  came  in 
the  spring  of  1864.  Since  then  the  valley  ..has 
been  settled  rapidly,  the  population  now  number- 
ing over  two  hundred.  The  chief  productions  of 
the  valley  are  hay,  grain  and  fruit,  which  find  a 
ready  market  at  the  mining  camps,  and  consid- 
erable attention  is  given  also  to  the  rearing  of 
live  stock. 

The  village  itself  is  characterized  principally 
by  J.  M.  Brunzell's  hotel  and  Share's  stage-house. 
The  latter  well  known  resort,  familiar  to  the  pa- 
trons of  the  California,  Oregon  &  Idaho  Stage 
Company,  as  well  as  to  the  wayfaring  public  in 
general,  was  opened  in  April,  1877,  by  Charles  E. 
Share,  as  a  stage  station  and  teamsters'  headquar- 
ters, and  has  been  continued  by  him  ever  since 
without  interruption. 

GUFFEY. 

This  village  is  the  present  terminal  point  of 
the  Boise,  Nampa  &  Owyhee  Railroad,  located 


at  the  Snake  river,  thirty  miles  from  Silver  City 
and  one  mile  below  the  railroad  bridge  of  the 
B.,  N.  &  O.  Railroad.  The  first  building  was 
erected  May  27,  1897,  by  Fred  Brunzell,  and  the 
town  now  comprises  a  general  store,  express  and 
post  offices,  hotel,  blacksmith  shop,  livery  stables, 
stage  barns,  boarding-houses,  etc.,  and  enjoys  a 
population  of  over  a  hundred,  with  indications 
of  a  steady  increase. 

The  railroad  bridge  at  Guffey  was  completed 
by  the  Boise,  Nampa  &  Owyhee  Railroad  Com- 
pany during  the  summer  of  1897.  The  height 
from  low  water  to  the  track  is  fifty  feet.  The 
bridge  consists  of  two  spans,  each  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  in  length. 

GRAND   VIEW. 

This  post  office  is  located  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Snake  river,  forty-five  miles  from  Silver  City 
and  twenty-two  miles  from  Mountain  Home.  It 
is  an  outlet  for  a  large  scope  of  agricultural  coun- 
try, there  being  several  fine  ranches  in  the  back 
country  and  vicinity.  It  is  also  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  Owyhee  Land  &  Irrigation  Company, 
who  are  the  owners  of  a  fine,  substantial  hotel 
and  store,  besides  the  ferry. 

The  chief  productions  of  the  valleys  and 
ranches  bordering  on  the  canal  are  hay,  grain 
and  fruits,  which  are  raised  in  large  quantities, 
and  considerable  attention  is  given  to  placer-min- 
ing along  the  banks  of  the  Snake  river. 

The  earliest  settlers  here  were  Captain  White, 
John  McVann,  Wenzel  Turmes .  and  Henry 
Dorsey. 

BRUNEAU   DAM. 

This  dam,  located  on  Bruneau  river,  a  mile  and 
a  half  above  its  mouth,  was  constructed  by  the 
Owyhee  Land  &  Irrigation  Company,  is  twenty - 
five  feet  high  and  one  hundred  and  ninety  feet 
wide  at  the  bottom,  and  a  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  long  at  the  top.  Upon  this  foundation  is  a 
crib  dam,  made  of  iron  and  timber,  one  hundred 
and  seventy-six  feet  long  on  the  crest,  terminat- 
ing at  each  end  in  vertical  masonry  abutments. 

At  the  south  side  are  the  headgates  of  the 
canal,  having  an  opening  of  forty  feet  in  width, 
and  from  this  point  the  canal  follows  the  contours 
about  ten  miles  in  a  westerly  direction  and  at  a 
distance  of  one  to  two  miles  south  of  Snake 
river. 


242 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Bruneau  valley  is  situated  in  the  northeastern 
part  of  Owyhee  county,  is  fourteen  miles  in 
length  and  one  to  two  miles  wide.  The  Bruneau 
river  flows  through  the  center  of  the  valley  and 
empties  into  the  Snake  river. 

The  earliest  settlers  in  this  valley  were  John 
Turner,  "Uncle  Abe"  Roberson,  James  H.  Whit- 
son  and  B.  F.  Hawes,  who  located  here  in  the 
sixties. 

Fruit,  grain  and  hay,  especially  the  latter,  are 
the  chief  products  of  the  soil.  Some  live  stock, 
including  sheep,  is  raised.  The  horses  bred  and 
reared  here  are  as  good  as  the  average  in  the 
best  of  localities.  The  temperature  rarely  falls 
to  zero. 

The  town  of  Bruneau  has  a  general  store,  hotel, 
postoffice,  blacksmith  shop,  etc. 

HOT    SPRINGS. 

Hot  Springs  district  comprises  the  upper  half 
of  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Bruneau,  and  takes 
its  name  from  the  innumerable  hot  springs  which 
are  located  mainly  on  the  ranches  of  the  Rober- 
sons,  Arthur  Pence  and  Lewis  &  Olsen.  The 


soil  is  extremely  fertile  and  abundantly  watered 
by  the  Bruneau  river,  and  the  ranches  are  noted 
not  alone  for  their  picturesque  beauty  but  also 
for  their  large  productions  of  hav,  cereals,  fruit, 

etc. 

THE    OREANA    VALLEY 

embraces  Picket,  Hart's  and  Catherine  creeks, 
and  is  about  fifteen  miles  long,  one  to  three  miles 
wide  and  has  many  creeks.  Grain,  hay  and  fruit 
are  the  principal  productions. 

The  town  of  Oreana  has  a  general  store,  black- 
smith shop  and  school,  besides  the  postoffice, 
which  was  established  here  in  1884. 

The  earliest  settlers  here  were  James  and  John 
Driscoll  and  Tim  Shea,  who  located  here  early  in 
the  sixties. 

CASTLE    CREEK    VALLEY 

is  about  fifteen  miles  long  and  one  to  two  miles 
wide,  through  which  flows  the  beautiful  creek. 
Farming  and  stock-raising  are  the  chief  indus- 
tries, the  valley  being  good  for  hay. 

The  earliest  settlers  in  this  valley  were  Captain 
G.  W.  Paul,  M.  H.  Presby,  P.  S.  Cooper  and 
W.  H.  Barnes. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS. 


CHRISTOPHER   W.    MOORE. 

ONE  of  the  honored  pioneers  and  distin- 
guished citizen  of  Boise  is  the  well 
known  president  of  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Idaho,  Christopher  Wilkinson  Moore. 
To  him  there  has  come  the  attainment  of  a  dis- 
tinguished position  in  connection  with  the  great 
material  industries  of  the  state,  and  his  efforts 
have  been  so  discerningly  directed  along  well 
defined  lines  that  he  seems  to  have  realized  at 
any  one  point  of  progress  the  full  measure  of  his 
possibilities  for  accomplishment  at  that  point.  A 
man  of  distinct  and  forceful  individuality,  of 
broad  mentality  and  most  mature  judgment,  he 
has  left  and  is  leaving  his  impress  upon  the  in-, 
dustrial  world.  For  years  he  has  been  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  development  of  the  natural 
resources  of  the  state,  in  the  upbuilding  of  the 
capital  city  and  in  the  promotion  of  the  enter- 
prises which  add  not  alone  to  his  individual  pros- 
perity, but  also  advance  the  general  welfare  and 
prosperity  of  the  city  in  which  he  makes  his 
home. 

Mr_.  Moore  was  born  in  Toronto,  Canada,  No- 
vember 30,  1835,  and  is  of  Scotch-Irish  descent. 
His  parents,  Christopher  and  Eliza  (Crawford) 
Moore,  spent  the  greater  part  of  their  lives  in 
and  near  Toronto,  Canada,  where  the  father  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  merchandising.  They 
were  both  members  of  the  Methodist  church,  and 
their  well  spent  lives  won  them  the  deserved  es- 
teem of  their  fellow  men.  The  father  departed 
this  life  in  his  seventieth  year,  and  the  mother 
in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  her  age.  They  were 
the  parents  of  six  children,  four  of  whom  are  now 
living. 

Mr.  Moore  of  this  review  acquired  his  educa- 
tion in  the  schools  of  Toronto,  Canada,  and  of 
Wisconsin,  and  on  the  5th  of  May,  1852,  started 
with  his  parents  and  family,  in  company  with  a 
party,  for  the  Pacific  coast.  He  was  then  only 
in  his  seventeenth  year.  The  journey  was  made 


across  the  plains  to  Oregon  with  teams,  and  they 
experienced  many  hardships  and  trials  before 
their  destination  was  reached.  They  had  in  their 
train  about  three  hundred  head  of  cattle  and 
horses,  and  Mr.  Moore  was  one  of  the  drivers. 
The  stock  of  advance  emigrants  had  eaten  all 
the  grass  near  the  trail  at  watering  places,  and 
taking  a  buffalo  robe  with  him,  he  frequently, 
with  one  other  person,  would  drive  the  stock  sev- 
eral miles  from  the  trail  to  a  point  where  they 
could  find  feed.  There,  wrapping  themselves  in 
the  robes,  they  would  lie  down  and  sleep,  while 
the  stock  grazed.  At  daybreak  they  would  peer 
cautiously  from  their  hiding  places,  and  if  there 
were  no  Indians  in  sight,  would  catch  their  horses 
and  drive  the  stock  back  to  camp. 

On  one  occasion  they  made  a  drive  of  forty 
miles,  during  which  time  they  had  no  feed  or 
water,  to  Snake  river,  where  they  found  no  feed 
could  be  secured  on  that  side  of  the  stream,  and 
consequently  it  became  necessary  to  swim  across 
to  where  they  could  see  an  abundance  of  good 
grass.  Mr.  Moore  and  another  boy  undertook 
this,  and  after  getting  the  stock  in  the  river  they 
followed  on  their  horses.  After  a  time  it  became 
evident  that  they  were  making  but  little  head- 
way. His  companion  and  his  horse  sank  in  a 
whirlpool.  After  a  few  seconds  they  came  up 
at  different  points,  and  Mr.  Moore  called  to  the 
young  man  to  catch  the  horse  by  the  tail  and 
let  him  troll  him  out.  He  answered  that  he  could 
swim  out  alone,  but  as  he  was  hampered  by  his 
boots  and  clothing,  made  little  progress  and  after- 
ward was  engulfed  in  another  whirlpool.  Several 
days  later  the  body  was  seen  on  the  rocks  in 
Salmon  Falls,  some  distance  down  the  river.  A 
number  of  years  later,  when  Mr.  Moore  was  one 
evening  in  the  company  of  a  number  of  travelers, 
at  a  wayside  inn  between  the  Columbia  river  and 
Puget  Sound,  one  of  them  told  how  his  son  was 
drowned  in  the  Snake  river  while  he  and  another 
boy  were  driving  stock  across  Mr.  Moore  at 


243 


241 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


once  said:  ''I  was  the  other  boy!"  The  old 
gentleman  was  greatly  affected  and  asked  many 
questions  about  his  lost  son. 

On  another  occasion,  only  a  few  days  later, 
Mr.  Moore  was  connected  with  a  typical  experi- 
ence of  the  pioneer  emigrant.  A  white  man  was 
found  shot,  not  far  from  camp, — the  deed  of  an 
Indian,  it  was  thought.  The  murderer  was 
tracked  in  the  sand  until  finally  the  footprints 
led  to  the  river  where  the  sand  was  wet.  There 
the  impressions  were  those  of  a  man's  boots,  with 
heels  on ;  so  it  was  known  that  the  murderer  was 
a  white  man  and  not  an  Indian.  The  track  was 
followed  until  they  succeeded  in  arresting  the 
criminal,  who,  it  seems,  in  company  with  the 
murdered  man,  had  found  a  stray  cow  on  the 
Sweetwater  river,  which  the  other  man  insisted 
on  retaining.  Several  weeks  later  the  murderer, 
finding  this  man  lying  on  the  sand  one  day, 
guarding  the  stock  while  grazing,  came  up  to 
him  with  the  remark,  "Now  I  will  get  even  on 
you!"  He  then  drew  a  revolver  and  shot  him  in 
the  head.  After  the  arrest  of  the  criminal  a  jury 
of  six  men  was  chosen  from  a  neutral  train,  and, 
the  verdict  of  guilty  being  rendered,  the  mur- 
derer was  blindfolded  and  shot,  and  both  buried 
in  the  same  grave! 

Such  are  some  of  the  experiences  which  at- 
tended the  early  crossing  of  the  great  plains.  The 
men  who  came  to  found  homes  in  the  west  had 
to  endure  many  hardships.  There  was  constant 
danger  of  Indian  attacks.  The  efforts  of  such 
men  as  Mr.  Moore,  however,  have  wrought  a 
great  transformation,  and  the  law-abiding  settle- 
ments, the  flourishing  towns  and  enterprising 
cities  of  Idaho  form  a  state  which  occupies  a 
creditable  place  in  the  Union.  Rich  in  natural 
resources,  its  future  history  will  be  still  more 
creditable  than  its  past,  and  on  its  annals  will  be 
found  the  name  of  Christopher  W.  Moore  as  one 
who  aided  in  its  splendid  development. 

On  coming  to  the  west  he  first  engaged  in 
raising,  buying  and  selling  live  stock,  and  ship- 
ping to  Puget  Sound  and  Victoria,  British  Co- 
lumbia. His  efforts  in  that  direction  were  at- 
tended with  success,  and  thus  he  gained  a  good 
start  in  business  life.  In  1862  he  went  to  north- 
ern Idaho,  and  the  following  year  came  to  where 
Boise  now  is,  with  the  expectation  of  remaining 
onlv  a  few  months;  but  the  citv  has  since  been 


his  home,  and  through  the  intervening  years  he 
has  been  prominently  connected  with  the  growth 
and  development  of  its  business  interests.  He 
was  first  actively  engaged  in  merchandising,  sell- 
ing goods  in  Booneville.  Ruby  City  and  Silver 
City.  He  was  the  first  merchant  of  Owyhee 
county.  He  continued  his  mercantile  operations, 
with  excellent  success,  until  1867,  when,  in  con- 
nection with  Messrs.  B.  M.  DuRell,  William 
Roberts  and  D.  W.  Ballard,  the  last  named  the 
governor  of  Idaho,  they  organized  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Idaho,  at  Boise.  Mr.  DuRell  was 
the  first  president  and  Mr.  Moore  the  first  cash- 
ier. He  is  now  the  only  survivor  among  the  gen- 
tlemen who  organized  the  institution.  He  con- 
tinued to  serve  as  cashier  for  nine  years,  or  until 
1876,  after  which  he  was  a  member  of  the  direc- 
torate until  1890,  and  in  that  year  was  elected 
president,  in  which  capacity  he  has  since  served 
with  marked  fidelity  and  ability.  Not  a  little 
of  the  success  of  the  bank  is  due  to  his  progres- 
sive efforts,  wise  policy  and  sound  judgment.  The 
bank  is  capitalized  for  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars and  has  rendered  dividends  to  the  amount 
of  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  was  the 
second  national  bank  organized  west  of  the 
Rocky  mountains,  its  predecessor  being  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Portland,  Oregon.  It  has  been 
a  credit  to  the  city  and  its  history  has  been  one 
of  eminent  success. 

Mr.  Moore  is  a  man  of  resourceful  business 
ability,  whose  efforts  have  been  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  one  line  of  endeavor.  In  various  other 
ways  he  has  promoted  the  material  welfare  of 
Boise.  He  is  president  of  the  Artesian  Hot  and 
Cold  Water  Company,  which  furnishes  hot  and 
cold  water  to  most  of  the  best  residences  and 
buildings  of  the  city,  obtaining  its  supplies  of  hot 
water  from  artesian  wells  two  and  one-half  miles 
distant.  He  first  introduced  hot-water  heating 
into  his  own  home  and  the  system  was  gradually 
extended  until  the  business  has  become  an  im- 
portant enterprise  of  the  city.  In  connection, 
they  also  conduct  a  splendid  natatorium,  with 
one  exception  the  largest  and  finest  bathing  es- 
tablishment in  the  west.  He  is  also  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Capital  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company,  who  furnish  an  ample  supply  of  light 
and  power  for  the  needs  of  the  city.  Mr.  Moore 
is  interested  in  several  other  lines  of  business,  and 


8  I 


i 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


245 


has  been  largely  concerned  in  farming  and  stocK  • 
raising,  but  has  now  turned  over  that  line  of  busi- 
ness to  his  sons.  He  carries  forward  to  success- 
ful completion  whatever  ne  undertakes  and  his 
labors  have  been  crowned  with  success. 

On  the  3d  of  July,  1865,  was  celebrated  the 
marriage  of  Mr.  Moore  and  Miss  Catharine 
Minear,  of  West  Virginia,  one  of  the  pioneer 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  of 
Boise,  and  a  lady  most  highly  esteemed  for  her 
many  graces  of  character.  Their  union  has  been 
blessed  with  six  children, — three  sons  and  three 
daughters, — namely:"  Alice,  w^ife  of  Dr.  H.  L. 
Bettis;  Laura  B.,  wife  of  J.  W.  Cunningham; 
Crawford,  Anna  L.,  Marion  P.  and  Raymond  H. 
The  sons,  Crawford  and  Marion,  are  now  en- 
gaged in  stock-raising.  The  family  residence  is 
one  of  the  most  commodious  and  beautiful  homes 
in  the  county,  surrounded  with  large  and  well 
kept  grounds  which  furnish  a  fitting  setting  to  the 
palatial  dwelling. 

Since  attaining  his  majority,  Mr.  Moore  has 
exercised  his  right  of  franchise  in  support  of  the 
men  and  measures  of  the  Republican  party  and 
is  a  stalwart  advocate  of  its  principles.  He  be- 
longs to  no  secret  or  social  organizations  save  the 
Pioneer  Society  of  Idaho,  of  which  he  is  now 
president.  He  has  been  very  successful  in  his 
business  life  and  as  a  citizen  is  regarded  as  of 
the  highest  worth. 

JOHN    L.    WEAVER. 

Among  the  distinguished  citizens  of  Boise  is 
Hon.  John  L.  Weaver,  who  is  now  serving  as 
adjutant-general  of  the  state.  For  many  years  a 
prominent  representative  of  the  Christian  minis- 
try, honored  and  respected  in  every  class  of  so- 
ciety, he  has  for  some  time  been  a  leader  in 
thought  and  action  in  the  public  life  of  the  state 
jnd  his  name  is  inscribed  high  on  the  roll  of 
fame,  his  honorable  and  brilliant  career  adding 
luster  to  the  history  of  Idaho. 

General  Weaver  was  born  in  Switzerland 
county,  Indiana,  May  26,  1856,  and  is  descended 
from  Swiss,  French  and  Scotch  ancestors,  who 
early  became  residents  of  America.  Many  years 
ago  the  Weaver  family  resided  in  Pennsylvania, 
but  the  grandfather  of  our  subject  removed  to 
Indiana  during  the  pioneer  epoch  of  that  com- 
monwealth, and  Robert  F.  Weaver,  father  of 


the  General,  was  born  in  Switzerland  county. 
Having  arrived  at  years  of  maturity,  he  married 
Miss  Jane  Banta,  who  was  also  a  native  of  that 
county.  Industrious  and  enterprising,  he  became 
one  of  the  substantial  farmers  of  the  Hoosier 
state,  where  he  made  his  home  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  when  he  had  attained  the  age  of 
seventy-seven  years.  His  wife  has  also  departed 
this  life.  They  were  Universalists  in  religious 
faith,  and  their  sterling  worth  won  them  the  re- 
gard of  all.  Of  their  family  of  ten  children,  seven 
are  yet  living. 

General  Weaver,  who  is  the  youngest,  acquired 
his  literary  education  in  colleges  of  Indiana,  and 
later  began  reading  law.  Having  largely  mastered 
the  principles  of  jurisprudence,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Indiana  bar  and  practiced  in  that  state 
until  his  removal  to  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  where 
he  was  ordained  as  a  minister  of  the  Christian 
church,  in  January,  1890.  He  filled  the  pulpit  of 
the  Christian  church  in  Perry,  Iowa,  for  .a  time, 
then  accepted  a  call  from  the  church  in  East  Des 
Moines,  and  in  the  years  1892-3-4  was  engaged 
in  evangelistic  work.  On  the  expiration  of  that 
period  he  came  to  Boise  and  accented  the  pas- 
torate of  the  Christian  church  in  this  city.  He 
is  a  forceful,  earnest  and  convincing  speaker. 
His  addresses  are  always  logical  and  instructive, 
showing  careful  thought  and  deep  research,  and 
whether  in  the  pulpit  or  on  the  political  platform 
his  words  have  that  strength  and  eloquence  which 
arise  from  the  speaker's  belief  in  the  thoughts  he 
is  presenting. 

With  a  just  appreciation  of  the  duties  of  citi- 
zenship, General  Weaver  has  studied  closely  the 
political  problems  which  affect  the  welfare  of  the 
nation,  and  for  many  years  gave  an  unwavering 
support  to  the  men  and  measures  of  tne  Repub- 
lican party;  but,  when  he  could  no  longer  agree 
with  that  organization  on  account  of  the  atti- 
tude which  is  assumed  on  the  money  question,  he 
withdrew  from  its  ranks  and  in  1896  became  an 
advocate  of  W.  J.  Bryan  in  his  candidacy  for  the 
presidency.  He  has  since  affiliated  with  the 
Democratic  party,  and  in  1898  was  appointed  by 
Governor  Stuenenberg  to  the  position  of  adju- 
tant-general of  Idaho  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  resignation  ol  General  I>.  W.  Fiegins,  who 
went  with  the  Idaho  volunteers  to  Manila  and 
is  now  engaged  in  service  in  th :  Philippines. 


246 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


General  Weaver  entered  upon  his  duties  May  16, 
1898,  and  has  entire  supervision  of  the  military 
forces  of  the  state.  His  conscientious  purpose 
and  fidelity  insure  a  faithful  performance  of  duty, 
which  his  strong  mentality  will  also  render  ca- 
pable. 

On  the  igth  of  February,  1880,  General 
Weaver  married  Miss  Ida  M.  Jayne,  a  native  of 
Indiana,  and  a  daughter  of  Celey  Jayne,  of  that 
state,  who  was  killed  while  serving  as  art  officer 
in  the  Union  army  during  the  civil  war.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Weaver  have  three  daughters:  Lucile,  Lot- 
tie J.  and  Rachel  Mary.  Mrs.  Weaver  has  for 
ten  years  been  supreme  chief  of  the  Rathbone 
Sisters  of  the  World,  the  ladies'  department  of 
the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity.  She  was  a 
delegate  from  Iowa  to  the  World's  Columbian 
Exposition,  in  Chicago,  being  also  a  delegate  to 
the  National  Congress  of  Women.  General 
Weaver  belongs  to  the  Knights  of  Pythias  lodge 
and  to  'the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
is  past  grand  high  priest  of  the  encampment  and 
past  brigadier-general  of  the  patriarchs  militant. 
He  is  a  gentleman  of  marked  ability,  of  scholar- 
ly attainments  and  superior  mental  culture,  and, 
while  commanding  the  respect  of  those  with 
whom  he  has  come  in  contact  in  public  life,  in 
private  he  has  won  the  love  and  warm  regard  of 
many  friends  by  his  many  admirable  traits  of 
character  and  good  qualities  of  heart  and  mind. 

WILLIAM    H.    REDWAY. 

Business  enterprise  and  success  at  Caldwell, 
Idaho,  have  an  able  representative  in  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  William  H.  Redway,  dealer  in 
hardware  and  groceries. 

He  was  born  in  Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  De- 
cember ii,  1858,  son  of  A.  G.  Redway,  an  hon- 
ored pioneer  of  Idaho,  whose  history  is  referred 
to  at  length  on  another  page  of  this  work.  Wil- 
liam H.  was  very  small  at  the  time  the  family 
came  west  and  settled  on  the  Idaho  frontier,  and 
here  he  was  reared,  his  education  being  received 
in  St.  Michael's  school  at  Boise  and  St.  Mark's 
school  at  Salt  Lake  City,  both  institutions  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Episcopalian  church.  After 
completing  his  studies  at  Salt  Lake  City  he  re- 
turned to  Boise  and  accepted  the  agency  of  the 
Utah,  Idaho  &  Oregon  sta?e  line,  which  business 
occupied  his  time  and  attention  for  three  years. 


During  that  period  he  was  in  what  was  known 
as  the  Wood  river  excitement,  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business  for  eight  years.  Selling  out  his 
business  on  Wood  river,  he  moved  to  Salt  Lake 
City,  where  he  became  bookkeeper  for  a  large 
dry-goods  house.  In  1892  he  came  to  Caldwell 
and  bought  out  tne  mercantile  firm  of  the  M.  B. 
Gwinn  Mercantile  Company,  and  has  since  been 
in  business  at  this  place,  keeping  a  large  and 
carefully  selected  stock  of  goods  and  controlling 
a  large  trade,  his  success  being  gained  through 
honorable  and  upright  methods.  Mr.  Redway 
ranks  to-day  as  one  of  the  most  prosperous  and 
popular  merchants  of  the  town  and  stands  high 
also  in  the  business  circles  of  the  state. 

October  25,  1891,  he  married  Miss  Edith  Ja- 
cobs, daughter  of  an  honored  pioneer  of  Idaho, 
who  came  here  in  1863  and  who  was  one  of  the 
prominent  merchants  of  Boise.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Redway  have  three  little  daughters,  Mary  E., 
Annie  L.  and  Helen  E. 

Both  he  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Epis- 
copal church  of  Caldwell,  and  he  maintains  fra- 
ternal relations  with  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  and  K.  of  P. 

ISAAC    F.    SMITH. 

Isaac  F.  Smith,  of  Weiser,  who  is  serving  as 
clerk  of  the  district  court  and  ex-offkio  auditor 
and  recorder  of  Washington  county,  was  born 
in  Butte  county,  California,  on  the  28th  of  July, 
1854.  His  father  was  born  in  Ohio.  Tulv  27,  1823, 
and  married  Miss  Josephine  C.  Whitaker.  In 
1849  they  crossed  the  plains  with  ox  teams  to 
California,  bringing  with  them  their  firstborn, 
Walter  W.  Smith,  who  is  now  a  resident  of 
Washington  county,  Idaho.  The  father  engaged 
in  mining  on  Feather  river  for  a  time,  and  in 
1854  removed  to  Xevada  and  thence  to  Utah,  re- 
maining in  the  latter  territory  for  nine -years.  In 
1880  he  took  up  his  abode  in  Weiser,  Idaho, 
where  he  spent  his  remaining  days,  his  death 
occurring  in  the  home  of  our  suoject,  in  1896, 
when  he  had  reached  the  age  of  seventy-three. 
He  was  an  honorable  and  worthy  citizen,  re- 
spected by  all  who  knew  him.  His  wife  had 
died  in  Silver  City,  Xevada,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
one  years. 

Isaac  F.  Smith,  the  younger  of  their  two  chil- 
dren, was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Vir- 
ginia City,  Xevada,  and  in  Oakland,  California, 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


247 


and  has  been  prominently  identified  with  the  de- 
velopment of  the  mineral,  mercantile  and  agri- 
cultural resources  of  this  section  of  the  country. 
He  engaged  in  mining  in  Utah  for  six  years,  was 
a  clerk  in  a  general  mercantile  establishment  at 
Rush  Lake,  and  in  1880  came  to  Weiser,  since 
which  time  he  has  been  one  of  the  leading  pro- 
moters of  many  of  the  best  interests  of  Wash- 
ington county.  He  first  entered  from  the  govern- 
ment one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  four 
miles  northwest  of  the  town,  built  a'  residence 
and  made  other  substantial  improvements,  and 
still  owns  the  property.  From  1885  until  1890 
he  was  employed  as  a  salesman  in  the  store  of 
Mr.  Haas,  and  in  the  latter  year  was  called  to 
public  office,  being  nominated  by  the  Republican 
party  for  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  district  court 
and  ex-officio  auditor  and  recorder  of  Washing- 
ton county.  He  discharged  his  duties  so  accept- 
ably during  his  first  term  that  he  was  renomi- 
nated  and  again  elected,  and  for  the  third  time 
has  been  elected  to  that  position,— a  fact  which 
indicates  in  an  unmistakable  manner  his  fidelity 
to  duty,  his  promptness  and  ability,  as  well  as  his 
personal  popularity. 

In  1877  Mr.  Smith  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Harriet  Hunt,  a  native  of  Ogden,  Utah, 
and  a  daughter  of  Marshall  Hunt,  then  residing 
in  that  city.  They  now  have  six  children:  Isaac 
F.,  Harriet  H.,  Walter  F.,  Isadore,  Bert  and 
Hazel.  Mr.  Smith's  name  is  enrolled  among  tjie 
members  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  and 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  he  also  holds  mem- 
bership in  the  Episcopal  church.  He  is  now  a 
silver  Republican,  differing  from  the  main  branch 
of  his  party  on  the  money  question.  He  keeps 
well  informed  on  all  the  issues  of  the  day  and  is 
therefore  able  to  give  an  intelligent  and  earnest 
support  to  the  principles  in  which  he  so  firmly 
believes.  In  Weiser  he  has  a  nice  home,  and  he 
and  his  family  enjoy  the  high  esteem  of  all  who 
know  them. 

WILLIAM    N.    NICHOLS. 

Among  the  earnest  men  whose  depths  of  char- 
acter and  strict  adherence  to  principle  excite  the 
admiration  of  his  contemporaries,  Mr.  Nichols 
is  prominent.  He  is  now  the  esteemed  and  ca- 
pable chairman  of  the  Owyhee  county  board  of 


commissioners  and  resides  at  Silver  City.  At 
present  he  is  connected  with  various  mining  and 
business  interests  and  is  the  possessor  of  an  am  • 
pie  fortune;  but  the  time  was  when  his  means 
were  very  limited,  and  to  his  own  well  directed 
efforts  his  success  is  attributable. 

Mr.  i\ichols  was  born  in  Shelby  county,  Ohio, 
on  the  9th  of  May,  1853,  and  is  of  German  line- 
age. His  father,  L.  H.  Nichols,  was  a  native  of 
Buffalo,  New  York,  and  married  Miss  Anna  Bell 
Newell,  of  Pennsylvania.  They  removed  to  Wis- 
consin, where  they  made  their  home  for  many 
years.  In  1853,  however,  the  husband  and  father 
crossed  the  plains  to  California,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  mining  for  some  time  and  then  returned 
to  the  Badger  state.  In  1858  he  again  crossed 
the  plains,  his  destination  being  Pike's  peak.  He 
was  a  regular  physician  and  served  his  country 
as  a  surgeon  during  the  civil  war.  After  the 
close  of  hostilities  he  returned  to  his  Wisconsin 
home,  where  he  resumed  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. He  died  in  1887,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
seven  years,  and  his  wife  passed  away  at  the  age 
of  seventy-eight  years.  They  had  a  family  of  six 
children,  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  of  whom 
three  are  now  living. 

William  N.  Nichols,  the  fourth  in  order  of 
birth,  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and  in 
the  State  University  of  Wisconsin.  He  came  to 
Silver  City,  Idaho,  on  the  i8th  of  June,  1873,  and 
here  engaged  in  bookkeeping  and  mining  for  a 
number  of  years.  He  was  at  South  mountain 
during  the  "boom"  times  at  that  camp,  after 
which  he  opened  an  assay  office  in  Silver  City 
and  acquired  a  successful  business  and  won  an 
enviable  and  wide  reputation  for  the  accuracy 
and  reliability  of  his  work.  He  was  also  agent 
for  the  California,  Oregon  &  Idaho  Stage  Com- 
pany at  Silver  City  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
has  held  many  positions  of  trust  and  responsibil- 
ity during  his  residence  in  Owyhee  county.  In 
1878  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  territorial 
legislature,  and  in  1894  was  elected  county  com- 
missioner. So  ably  did  he  discharge  his  duties 
that  he  was  re-elected  in  1896  and  is  now  serving 
as  chairman  of  the  board.  He  is  a  most  progres- 
sive and  enterprising  officer,  and  has  exercised 
his  official  prerogatives  to  advance  many  inter- 
ests and  make  many  needed  reforms.  In  1897  he 
sold  his  interest  in  the  Alpine  group  of  mines  to 


248 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  Trade  Dollar  Mining  Company,  but  still  re- 
tains large  mining  and  other  business  interests, 
from  which  he  derives  a  handsome  income.  His 
capable  management  of  his  business  affairs  and 
his  enterprise  and  sound  judgment  have  been 
crowned  with  success,  and  he  is  now  accounted 
one  of  the  substantial  citizens  of  the  community. 
On  the  ist  of  July,  1880,  Air.  Nichols  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Ora  B.  Justice,  and 
the  hospitality  of  their  pleasant  home  is  enjoyed 
by  many  friends.  Mr.  Nichols  has  been  a  life- 
long Republican,  and  now  belongs  to  the  silver 
wing  of  that  party.  He  is  a  most  reliable  and 
capable  public  officer,  who  takes  a  deep  interest 
in  promoting  the  welfare  of  county  and  state.  No 
trust  reposed  in  him  has  ever  been  betrayed,  and 
he  is  greatly  respected  by  all  who  have  been  at  all 
familiar  with  his  honorable  and  useful  career. 

C.    M.    SCOTT,    M.  D. 

In  viewing  the  mass  of  mankind  in  the  varied 
occupations  of  life,  the  conclusion  is  forced  upon 
the  observer  that  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases 
men  have  sought  employment  not  in  the  line  of 
their  peculiar  fitness  but  in  those  fields  where 
caprice  or  circumstances  have  placed  them,  thus 
explaining  the  reason  of  the  failure  of  ninety-five 
per  cent,  of  those  who  enter  commercial  and  pro- 
fessional circles.  In  a  few  cases  it  seems  that 
men  with  a  peculiar  fitness  for  a  certain  line  have 
taken  it  up,  and  marked  success  has  followed. 
Such  is  the  fact  in  the  case  of  the  subject  of  this 
biography.  Dr.  Scott  is  one  of  the  most  capable 
physicians  in  his  section  of  the  state,  and  as  pro- 
prietor of  the  Payette  Valley  Pharmacy,  he  has 
shown  that  he  is  endowed  with  that  commercial 
instinct  and  foresight  which  enable  one  to  enter 
into  competitive  business  relations,  and  by  the 
pursuit  of  honorable  business  methods  gain 
prosperity. 

A  native  of  Kentucky,  he  was  born  in  Bran- 
denburg, May  6,  1854.  His  fatner,  Captain  Will- 
iam Scott,  was  born  in  the  same  state,  and  mar- 
ried Indiana  Roberts.  He  was  a  steamboat  pilot 
and  was  engaged  as  pilot  on  General  Grant's  boat 
during  the  siege  of  Vicksburg.  Although  born 
and  reared  in  the  south,  he  strongly  opposed  the 
institution  of  slavery  and  advocated  the  cause  of 
freedom.  When  the  troubles  between  the  two 
sections  of  the  country  precipitated  the  nation 


into  civil  war,  he  took  his  stand  as  a  stanch 
Union  man  and  was  an  ardent  admirer  and  sup- 
porter of  President  Lincoln.  Captain  Scott  died 
in  the  forty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  and  his 
wife  died  at  the  age  of  forty-five.  They  left  three 
sons, — one  a  fruit-grower  in  Anaheim,  Califor- 
nia, the  second  a  successful  lawyer  of  Seattle, 
Washington,  and  the  third  the  Doctor. 

Dr.  Scott  acquired  his  early  education  in  Ken- 
tucky and  afterward  attended  scnool  in  Indiana, 
for  the  family,  on  account  of  their  anti-slavery 
views,  were  obliged  to  leave  Kentucky,  and  went 
to  the  Hoosier  state.  Determining  to  devote  his 
energies  to  the  practice  of  medicine,  he  fitted 
himself  for  the  profession  by  a  course  in  Rush 
Medical  College,  in  Chicago,  and  was  graduated 
in  the  class  of  1883.  He  then  practiced  for  a 
year  in  Nebraska,  and  from  1884  until  1890  en- 
gaged in  practice  in  Los  Angeles,  California, 
whence  he  came  to  Idaho  in  the  latter  year,  ar- 
riving just  the  day  before  the  state  was  admitted 
to  the  Union.  He  opened  an  office  in  Payette, 
and  at  once  began  practice,  meeting  with  excel- 
lent success  from  the  beginning.  As  he  has  dem- 
onstrated his  power  to  cope  with  disease  and 
shown  marked  skill  in  the  application  of  the 
principles  of  medical  science  to  the  needs  of  suf- 
fering humanity,  he  has  gained  a  liberal  patron- 
age and  has  won  rank  among  the  leading  physi- 
cians in  this  part  of  the  state.  In  1895  he  opened 
the  Payette  Valley  Pharmacy,  which  he  con- 
ducted until  the  spring  of  1899,  when  he  sold  the 
business. 

In  1884  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Dr. 
Scott  and  Miss  F.  M.  Elwood,  a  native  of  New 
York.  Socially  he  is  connected  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  having  been  made  a  Master  Mason  in 
York  Lodge,  No.  56,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  York, 
Nebraska,  in  1884.  In  the  line  of  his  profession 
he  is  associated  with  the  American  Academy  of 
Railway  Surgeons  and  with  the  Idaho  State  Med- 
ical Society.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republican,  is  an 
active  worker  in  the  local  ranks  of  his  party  and 
has  served  as  city  trustee.  His  time,  however,  is 
principally  given  to  his  business  affairs.  De- 
voted to  the  noble  and  humane  work  which  his 
profession  implies.  Dr.  Scott  has  proved  faithful, 
and  has  not  only  earned  the  due  reward  of  his 
efforts  in  a  temporal  way,  but  has  proved  himself 
worthy  to  exercise  the  important  functions  of  his 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


241J 


calling,  through  his  ability,  his  abiding  sym- 
pathy and  his  earnest  zeal  in  behalf  of  his  fellow 
men.  In  manner  he  is  most  genial,  courteous 
and  friendly,  and  he  is  popular  with  all  classes. 

FRANCIS    E.    ENSIGN. 

Holding  marked  prestige  among  the  promi- 
nent members  of  the  Idaho  bar  is  Francis  Ed- 
ward Ensign,  who  is  now  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  the  legal  profession  in  Hailey.  There  are  few 
men  whose  lives  are  crowned  with  the  honor  and 
respect  which  is  uniformly  accorded  him;  but 
through  forty-five  years'  connection  with  the 
west  his  has  been  an  unblemished  career.  With 
him  success  in  life  has  been  reached  by  sterling 
qualities  of  mind  and  a  heart  true  to  every  manly 
principle.  In  his  varied  business  interests  his 
reputation  has  been  unassailable  and  in  offices 
of  public  trust  he  has  displayed  a  loyalty  that 
classed  him  among  the  valued  citizens  of  the 
commonwealth.  He  has  nearly  reached  the  sev- 
entieth milestone  that  marks  earth's  pilgrimage, 
but  is  still  concerned  with  the  active  affairs  of  life, 
and  in  the  courts  of  his  district  displays  a  strong 
mentality  undimmed  by  time  and  a  power  of  ar- 
gument that  wins  him  many  notable  forensic  vic- 
tories. 

A  native  of  Ohio,  Mr.  Ensign  was  born  in 
Painesville,  March  4,  1829,  and  is  descended  from 
English  ancestors  who  came  from  the  "merrie 
isle"  to  the  New  World,  locating  in  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  in  1630,  only  two  years  after  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  Rock.  A 
little  later  the  Ensigns  became  pioneer  settlers  of 
Hartford,  Connecticut.  The  paternal  grandfather 
of  our  subject  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Pitts- 
field  and  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  town. 
When  Benedict  Arnold,  then  in  command  of 
American  forces  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  at- 
tempted the  capture  of  Fort  Ticonderoga,  he  vol- 
unteered and  aided  in  taking  that  British  strong- 
hold, bringing  away  with  him  a  number  of  mus- 
kets which  were  greatly  needed  by  the  colonial 
troops.  He  also  participated  in  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill.  He  spent  the  latter  part  of  his 
life  in  Ohio  and  reached  an  advanced  age.  In 
religious  belief  he  was  a  Congregationalist. 

Orrin  Ensign,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  in  Dalton,  Massachusetts,  and  when  a 
young  man  removed  to  the  Buckeye  state,  locat- 


ing on  a  farm  on  the  Grand  river,  near  Paines- 
ville. There  he  married  Miss  Xancy  Peppoon, 
who  was  descended  from  French  Huguenot  an- 
cestry. Her  grandfather,  having  been  expelled 
from  France  on  account  of  his  religious  views, 
joined  the  English  army  and  was  commissioned 
captain.  Later  he  came  to  America  and  took  up 
his  abode  in  Connecticut.  The  father  of  our  sub- 
ject was  an  industrious  farmer  and  he  and  his 
wife  spent  their  married  life  on  the  old  Ohio 
homestead,  where  they  died  when  about  seventy 
years  of  age.  They,  too,  belonged  to  the  Congre- 
gational church,  and  in  politics  Mr.  Ensign  was 
a  stanch  Whig.  He  always  declined  to  fill  po- 
litical offices,  but  was  president  of  the  temperance 
society  of  the  county.  In  the  family  were  six 
children,  but  only  two  are  now  living.  The  eld- 
est son,  William  O.  Ensign,  was  the  war  com- 
missioner for  northwestern  Ohio  during  the  civil 
war. 

Francis  E.  Ensign,  whose  name  introduces 
this  review,  was  only  six  years  of  age  when  he 
accompanied  his  parents  on  their  removal  to  Will- 
iams county,  Ohio,  which  was  then  an  almost 
unbroken  wilderness,  the  little  log  cabins  of  the 
white  settlers  being  widely  scattered,  while  In- 
dians were  still  there  in  considerable  numbers. 
He  received  his  elementary  education  in  a  log 
school-house,  which  stood  in  the  midst  of  the 
timber,  and  afterward  studied  in  the  Western  Re- 
serve Collegiate  Institute,  at  Austinburg,  Ashta- 
bula  county,  Ohio,  also  spent  one  year  in  Ober- 
lin  College.  Failing  health  forced  him  to  aban- 
don his  hopes  of  completing  a  collegiate  course, 
and  he  went  to  sea,  spending  a  year  before  the 
mast.  This  proved  very  beneficial  and  with  re- 
stored health  he  landed  at  San  Francisco,  Febru- 
ary i,  1854.  He  worked  for  two  months  on  a 
dairy  farm,  milking  cows  and  digging  ditches. 
The  farm  was  then  situated  several  miles  from 
the  city,  but  the  corporation  limits  now  extend 
far  beyond  it.  In  the  ensuing  month  of  May  Mr. 
Ensign  went  to  the  French  Gulch  placer  mines 
in  Shasta  county  and  thence  to  Siskiyou  county, 
engaging  in  mining  on  McAdams  and  Indian 
creeks,  also  in  Scott  valley,  for  about  four  years. 
During  the  first  three  years  thus  passed  he  was 
satisfactorily  successful,  but  lost  all  through  high 
floods  in  the  winter  of  1857-8. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Ensign  had  studied  law 


250 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


and  in  1858  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  beginning 
practice  at  Yreka,  where  he  followed  his  pro- 
fession for  eight  years.  During  six  years  of  the 
time  he  was  district  attorney  of  Siskiyou  county 
and  was  a  most  efficient  and  acceptable  officer. 
He  also  acquired  a  wide  reputation  as  a  moun- 
tain climber,  having  several  times  made  his  way 
to  the  top  of  Mount  Shasta.  He  was  the  first 
to  discover  its  volcanic  nature,  of  which  he  was 
assured  by  little  jets  of  smoke  issuing  from 
crevasses,  and  later  this  was  confirmed  by  a 
prominent  scientist,  who  also  saw  the  smoke. 

In  1866  Mr.  Ensign  left  California  and  came 
to  Idaho,  practicing  law  for  twelve  years  in  Sil- 
ver City.  In  1868  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  territorial  council  and  was  chairman  of  the 
judiciary  committee  at  the  fifth  session  of  the  leg- 
islature. In  1872  he  failed  by  one  vote  of  being 
nominated  for  delegate  to  congress  bv  the  Demo- 
cratic territorial  convention.  He  was  three  times 
elected  district  attorney  of  the  third  judicial  dis- 
trict of  Idaho,  including  all  the  southern  por- 
tion of  the  state  south  and  east  of  Boise  and 
Alturas  counties,  holding  the  office  for  six  years, 
from  1872  until  1878.  In  the  latter  year  he  re- 
moved to  Boise,  where  he  practiced  law  for  three 
years,  and  in  1881  he  came  to  Hailey,  then  in 
Alturas  county,  to  accept  the  position  of  attorney 
for  the  then  new  town,  also  hoping  that  the 
change  of  climate  would  prove  beneficial  to  his 
family.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  law  in  Hailey  and  has 
been  connected  with  all  of  the  most  important 
litigated  interests  tried  in  the  courts  of  his  dis- 
trict. He  has  also  figured  prominently  in  con- 
nection with  political  affairs.  In  1889-90  he  was 
chairman  of  the  Democratic  territorial  commit- 
tee, and  after  the  adoption  of  the  new  state  con- 
stitution in  1890  he  was  nominated  by  the  Democ- 
racy as  one  of  its  candidates  for  justice  of  the 
supreme  court,  receiving  the  largest  vote  of  all 
the  candidates  of  his  party  for  that  office.  In 
1892  he  was  again  nominated  for  that  position, 
but  shared  the  fate  of  the  rest  of  the  ticket.  In 
addition  to  his  law  practice  he  also  has  extensive 
mining  interests,  which  contribute  not  a  little  to 
his  income. 

When  in  Silver  City,  in  1876,  Mr.  Ensign  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Margaret  Reid,  and 
they  now  have  three  children.  Henry  F.,  the  eld- 


est, is  a  bright  young  man,  now  studying  law  in 
his  father's  office.  The  two  younger  Children, 
Edith  and  Arthur,  are  at  home.  The  mother  is  a 
valued  member  of  the  Methodist  church  and  a 
most  estimable  lady.  Mr.  Ensign  was  made  a 
Mason  in  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  many  years  ago, 
belongs  to  the  lodge,  chapter  and  commandery 
and  at  one  time  was  grand  master  of  the  grand 
lodge  of  Idaho.  He  has  erected  a  commodious 
and  very  pleasant  residence  in  Hailey,  and  he  and 
his  family  enjoy  the  highest  respect  of  all  who 
know  them.  He  is  a  man  whose  life  experiences 
have  been  broad  and  varied,  and  as  the  years 
passed  he  has  learned  the  lessons  of  life  and  be- 
come imbued  with  humanitarian  principles.  His 
strong  intellectuality,  his  generous  sympathy  and 
marked  individuality  have  rendered  him  one  of 
the  honored  pioneers  and  valued  citizens  of  his 
adopted  state,  and  his  record  now  forms,  an  im- 
portant chapter  in  its  history. 

RICHARD    H.    BRITT. 

This  gentleman  is  the  present  capable  manager 
of  the  Poorman  mines,  near  Silver  City,  and  for 
a  number  of  years  has  been  connected  with  the 
development  of  the  rich  mineral  resources  of  the 
northwest.  He  was  born  in  the  state  of  Mis- 
souri in  1 86 1,  and  is  of  English  descent.  His 
father,  J.  W.  Britt,  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and 
in  1855  removed  to  Missouri,  locating  on  a  farm 
in  that  state.  There  he  married  Miss  Margaret 
Horn,  also  a  native  of  Kentucky.  At  the  time 
of  the  civil  war  he  entered  the  Confederate  ser- 
vice under  General  Price,  and  since  the  close 
of  hostilities  has  successfully  engaged  in  agricul- 
tural pursuits.  In  religious  belief  he  is  a  Bap- 
tist, while  his  wife  is  of  the  Methodist  faith.  They 
have  five  sons  and  a  daughter,  and  the  family 
circle  yet  remains  unbroken  by  the  hand  of  death. 

Richard  H.  Britt,  of  this  review,  their  third 
child,  was  reared  to  manhood  in  the  state  of  his 
nativity  and  studied  civil  engineering  in  the 
Missouri  State  University,  in  which  institution  he 
was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1888.  Thus  well 
qualified  for  an  active  business  life,  he  entered 
the  employ  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad 
Company,  as  an  examiner  of  land,  and  later  was 
engaged  in  inspecting  the  lands  of  the  Willa- 
mette Valley  and  Cascade  Mountain  Wagon 
Road  Company,  inspecting  the  lands  from  Al- 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


251 


bany,  Oregon,  to  the  Snake  river.  In  the  winter 
of  1890-1  he  was  engaged  in  railroad  work  on 
the  lower  Columbia  river,  and  in  1892  came  to 
Boise,  where  for  a  number  of  years  he  was  em- 
ployed as  a  civil  and  mining  engineer.  On 
abandoning  that  work  he  became  identified  with 
the  mining  interests  of  Silver  City,  and  for  several 
years  has  served  as  manager  for  the  Poorman 
Gold  Mines,  limited.  He  is  particularly  well 
qualified  by  collegiate  training  and  practical  ex- 
perience for  this  position  and  has  given  the  great- 
est satisfaction  by  the  prompt  and  able  manner 
in  which  he  has  discharged  his  duties. 

In  politics  Mr.  Britt  is  a  Democrat  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Idaho  state  board  of  arbitration, 
to  which  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Stcunen- 
berg.  He  keeps  well  informed  on  the  issues  of 
the  day,  yet  has  never  been  a  politician  in  the 
sense  of  office-seeking,  preferring  to  devote  his 
energies  to  his  business  interests.  His  life  has 
been  one  of  activity  and  usefulness  and  he  is 
highly  respected  and  accounted  one  of  the  valued 
citizens  of  the  community. 

JONAS   W.    BROWN. 

Jonas  W.  Brown,  of  Boise,  is  an  honored  pio- 
neer both  of  California  and  of  Idaho.  He  crossed 
the  plains  with  ox  teams  to  Shasta  county,  Cali- 
fornia, in  1853,  and  since  that  time  his  life  record 
has  been  inseparably  interwoven  with  the  history 
of  this  section  of  the  country.  At  all  times  he  has 
been  the  advocate  of  those  measures  tending  to- 
ward the  advancement  and  development  of  the 
region,  and  his  influence  is  that  of  an  honorable, 
upright  man,  whose  force  of  character  stamps 
itself  indelibly  for  good  upon  the  public  life. 

This  work  would  be  incomplete  without  men- 
tion of  Jonas  W.  Brown,  and  it  is  therefore  with 
pleasure  that  we  present  his  sketch  to  our  read- 
ers. A  native  of  Ohio,  he  was  born  in  Roscoe, 
Coshocton  county,  on  the  27th  of  June,  1825,  and 
is  descended  from  New  England  ancestry.  His 
father,  Samuel  Brown,  was  a  resident  of  North 
Danvers,  Massachusetts.  His  mother,  Mrs.  Lyclia 
(Warren)  Brown,  was  a  relative  of  General  War- 
ren, who  won  fame  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
They  were  members  of  the  Methodist  church  and 
were  people  of  much  worth.  The  father  was  a 
farmer  and  also  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
brick.  He  departed  this  life  in  1871,  at  the  age 


of  eighty-four  years,  and  his  wife  was  called  to 
her  final  rest  in  her  fifty-sixth  year.  They  had 
a  family  of  ten  children,  of  whom  two  are  now 
living. 

Upon  the  homestead  farm,  in  Ohio,  Jonas  W. 
Brown  spent  his  boyhood  days  and  early  became 
familiar  with  the  various  duties  and  labors  which 
fall  to  the  lot  of  the  agriculturist.  He  obtained  his 
education  in  the  common  schools  of  Ohio,  and 
when  seventeen  years  of  age  started  westward. 
He  first  located  in  Iowa,  where  he  found  employ- 
ment in  a  flouring  mill,  there  remaining  until 
1853,  when  he  joined  a  party  en  route  for  the 
gold  fields  of  California.  He  drove  an  ox  team 
in  order  to  pay  his  passage,  and  also  gave  the 
leader  of  the  party  fifty  dollars  in  money.  The 
journey  across  the  wild,  unpeopled  plains  was  a 
long,  tedious  and  often  perilous  one.  On  arriv- 
ing at  Honey  Lake  valley,  one  of  the  oxen  was 
stolen  by  the  Indians,  and  when  James  Macklay, 
the  owner,  started  in  pursuit  ne  was  hit  by  an 
arrow,  the  wound  causing  his  death.  The  com- 
pany carried  his  remains  for  ten  days  and  buried 
him  at  their  destination  in  what  is  now  the  old 
town  of  Shasta. 

After  arriving  in  California  Mr.  Brown  worked 
at  the  carpenter's  trade  and  also  engaged  in  min- 
ing at  Deadwood,  that  state.     In   1855  he  was 
elected  county  clerk  of  Siskiyou  county,  Califor- 
nia, served  in  that  position  for  two  years,  and 
afterward  was  deputy  clerk  for  two  years.     He 
was  then  deputy  sheriff  under  Dr.  F.  C.  Horsley, 
and  in  1862  he  removed  to  Florence,  Washing- 
ton, where  he  held  the  positions  of  clerk  of  the 
district  court,  clerk  of  the  probate  court,  deputy 
county  auditor,  recorder,  deputy  sheriff  and  dep- 
uty treasurer  of  Idaho,  all  at  the  same  time.     In 
August,  1863,  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Idaho 
City,  Idaho,  where  he  successfully  practiced  law 
for  nineteen  years.    He  is  still  engaged  in  active 
practice  in  partnership  with  Hon.  Thomas  Caha- 
lan,  also  one  of  the  pioneers  and  a  very  able  law- 
yer.   They  have  a  large  clientage  and  their  busi- 
ness is  of  an  important  character.     During  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  since  coming  to  Idaho, 
Mr.  Brown  has  been  a  notary  public  and  United 
States   commissioner  for  the   district   of  Idaho. 
In  1882  he  came  to  Boise,  and  has  since  been 
numbered  as  one  of  its  leading  and  influential 
citizens. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


For  half  a  century  Mr.  Brown  has  been  an 
exemplary  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
is  a  leading  representative  of  the  society  in  Idaho. 
He  was  made  a  Master  Mason  in  Eagle  Lodge, 
No.  12,  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Keokuk,  Iowa,  in  1849, 
under  dispensation,  receiving  all  three  of  the 
blue-lodge  degrees  on  the  same  day  and  night. 
He  has  also  taken  the  Royal  Arch  and  Knight 
Templar  degrees,  is  past  worshipful  master,  past 
high  priest  and  past  grand  master  of  the  grand 
lodge  of  this  state,  having  served  in  the  last 
named  exalted  position  in  1869  and  again  in 
1871.  He  has  served  the  grand  lodge  as  grand 
secretary,  and  in  his  home  lodge  at  Boise  has 
been  secretary  for  twelve  years.  He  is  true  and 
faithful  to  the  benevolent  and  fraternal  teach- 
ings of  the  order  and  is  held  in  the  highest 
esteem  by  his  Masonic  brethren  throughout  the 
state. 

He  has  likewise  been  prominent  in  church 
work  through  a  long  period.  When  only  thir- 
teen years  of  age  he  was  converted  and  joined  the 
Methodist  church,  and  at  eighteen  years  of  age 
was  made  an  officer  in  the  church.  Since  that 
time  he  has  been  most  active  and  zealous  in  re- 
ligious work  and  by  his  faithfulness  and  labor 
has  done  much  to  advance  the  cause  of  Christ- 
ianity. He  has  twice  served  the  church  as  a  lay 
delegate  to  the  general  conference.  In  politics 
he  has  been  a  lifelong  Republican,  but  now 
strongly  favors  bimetallism.  He  has  studied  the 
question  closely  and  thoroughly  and  is  now  firm- 
ly fixed  in  his  opinion.  He  belongs  to  the 
Pioneer  Society  of  the  state,  has  served  as  its 
president  and  is  one  of  Idaho's  best  known  and 
highly  esteemed  citizens. 

Thus  many  honors  have  come  to  him  in  life 
and  prosperity  has  attended  his  efforts  in  a  con- 
siderable degree,  yet  his  career  has  also  been 
checkered  by  adversity  and  sorrow.  He  has 
been  twice  married  and  has  lost  by  death  both 
wives,  and  now  has  only  one  surviving  son, 
James  Edgar,  who  is  a  farmer  residing  near 
Prather,  Indiana.  Mr.  Brown  has  now  passed 
the  seventy-third  milestone  on  the  journey  of 
life,  and  for  forty-five  years  has  been  identified 
with  the  interests  of  the  far  west.  At  all  times  he 
has  endeavored  to  promote  the  best  interests  of 
this  section  of  the  country,  has  seen  the  greater 
part  of  its  growth  and  develonment,  and  high  on 


the  roll  of  the  honored  men  of  Idaho  is  found  the 
name  of  this  worthy  pioneer. 

JOSEPH    F.    WHITE. 

Among  the  public  officials  of  Lincoln  county 
is  Joseph  F.  White,  who  is  now  serving  as 
sheriff.  A  native  of  Iowa,  he  was  born  in  Alla- 
makee  county,  July  4,  1854,  and  traces  his  an- 
cestry back  to  the  Emerald  Isle,  whence  his 
grandfather,  Andrew  Wrhite,  emigrated  with  his 
family  to  New  Orleans.  For  many  years  he  was 
engaged  in  merchandising  in  the  Crescent  City, 
and  at  an  early  day  in  the  history  of  Ohio  re- 
moved to  that  state,  where  Joseph  P.  White,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  and  reared.  He 
married  Sarah  Heffron,  a  native  of  Ireland,  and 
later  they  removed  to  Allamakee  county,  Iowa, 
where  the  father  engaged  in  farming  and  mer- 
chandising. He  died  in  1879,  at  the  age  of  seven- 
ty-two years,  and  his  wife  departed  this  life  in  the 
forty-second  year  of  her  age.  Ihey  were  the 
parents  of  three  children,  all  yet  living. 

Joseph  F.  White,  whose  name  introduces  this 
review,  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  county  and  reared  to  manhood  on  the 
home  farm,  in  the  development  and  cultivation  of 
which  he  assisted  from  the  time  he  was  old 
enough  to  handle  the  plow.  In  1875  he  went  to 
Colorado,  where  he  engaged  in  mining  and  pros- 
pecting. In  1880  he  became  a  resident  of  Mon- 
tana and  engaged  in  the  meat  business  in  Dillon. 
He  also  spent  some  time  in  Deer  Lodge  and 
Silver  Bow,  and  in  1883  came  to  Shoshone, 
where  he  again  established  a  meat  market  and 
soon  secured  a  liberal  patronage  in  that  line. 
He  has  also  been  identified  with  many  other  lead- 
ing business  interests  of  the  town  and  county. 
He  has  erected  several  residences  in  Shoshone 
and  is  the  owner  of  an  excellent  ranch  of  four 
hundred  acres  near  the  town,  upon  which  he 
raises  hay  for  his  extensive  herd  of  cattle.  These 
varied  business  interests  are  bringing  him  ex- 
cellent financial  returns  as  the  result  of  dili- 
gence, a  careful  management  and  honorable 
methods. 

On  the  3d  of  December,  1883,  Mr.  White  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Keefer, 
daughter  of  Joseph  Keefer,  of  Nebraska,  and 
they  now  have  two  sons, — Gilbert  and  Walter, — 
the  former  now  attending  college  in  Salt  Lake 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


City,  while  the  other  is  a  student  in  the  high 
school  in  Shoshone.  The  family  are  held  in  high 
regard  in  the  community  and  the  members  of 
the  household  occupy  enviable  positions  in  social 
circles. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  White  has  always 
been  a  stalwart  Republican,  and  when  Lincoln 
county  was  created  he  was  appointed  sheriff, 
since  which  time  he  has  twice  been  elected 
sheriff,  serving  six  years  in  all.  He  has  been  a 
brave  and  efficient  officer,  discharging  his  duties 
in  a  most  fearless  manner  and  thus  proving  a 
bulwark  to  the  community,  his  efforts  resulting 
in  the  replacement  of  lawlessness  by  peace  and 
tranquillity.  He  was  instrumental  in  breaking 
up  one  of  the  worst  gangs  of  horse  and  cattle 
thieves  that  ever  infested  the  state.  They  had 
their  headquarters  at  Shoshone  and  he  arrested 
them  and  later  took  a  number  of  their  leaders 
to  the  state  penitentiary.  Socially  Mr.  White  is 
connected  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  has  filled  all  the  offices  in  the  lodge  and 
has  been  representative  to  the  grand  lodge.  He 
has  also  passed  all  the  chairs  in  the  Ancient  Or- 
der of  United  Workmen.  He  is  an  upright  and 
reliable  citizen,  true  to  all  the  duties  of  business, 
official  and  private  life,  and  his  sterling  worth  has 
gained  him  high  regard. 

WILLIAM    CLARENCE    HOWIE. 

Out  of  the  depths  of  his  mature  wisdom  Car- 
lyle  wrote,  "History  is  the  essence  of  innumerable 
biographies,"  and  Macaulay  has  said,  "The  his- 
tory of  a  nation  is  best  told  in  the  lives  of  its 
people."  It  is  therefore  fitting  that  the  sketches 
of  Idaho's  eminent  and  distinguished  men  should 
find  a  place  in  this  volume,  and  to  the  number 
belongs  William  Clarence  Howie,  a  prominent 
lawyer  of  Mountain  Home.  A  native  of  Iowa, 
he  was  born  in  Davis  county,  near  the  Missouri 
state  line,  November  27,  1860.  The  Howie  fam- 
ily originated  in  France.  Two  brothers,  who 
were  French  Huguenots,  were  driven  out  of  that 
country  on  account  of  their  religious  views  and 
fled  to  Scotland,  one  locating  in  the  highlands, 
the  other  in  the  lowlands.  From  the  latter  our 
subject  is  descended.  He  founded  a  family  in 
Scotland  that  became  renowned  in  the  history  of 
that  country,  many  representatives  of  the  name 
occupying  prominent  positions  in  public  life. 


John  Howie,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  on  Prince  Edwards  island.  His  parents  had 
started  for  America,  and  in  a  storm  the  vessel  on 
which  they  sailed  sought  refuge  in  the  harbor 
of  the  island,  whereon  occurred  the  birth  of  the 
son.  On  reaching  the  New  World  the  grand- 
parents located  in  Bradford  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  later  the  grandfather  removed  to  Illi- 
nois, where  he  died  in  the  eighty-ninth  year  of 
his  age.  John  Howie  was  reared  and  educated  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  there  married  Miss  Hannah 
Evans,  who  was  of  English  and  Holland  ances- 
try. Mr.  Howie  was  a  farmer,  and  with  his  fami- 
ly removed  to  Michigan.  Later  he  returned  to 
Pennsylvania  and  thence  went  to  Iowa,  where  he 
died  in  1898,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years.  His 
good  wife  still  survives  him  and  is  now  sixty-two 
years  of  age.  They  were  Presbyterian  in  religious 
faith  and  their  upright  lives  exemplified  their 
Christian  belief.  Of  their  four  children  three  are 
living. 

William  Clarence  Howie,  the  second  in  order  of 
birth,  accompanied  his  parents  on  their  removal 
to  the  west  and  was  educated  in  Bloomfield, 
Iowa.  He  took  up  the  study  of  law  in  the  office 
of  Good  &  Good,  in  Wahoo,  NebrasKa,  as  a  prep- 
aration for  a  life  work,  and  later  continued  his 
reading  in  the  office  and  under  the  direction  of 
Reese  &  Gilkeson,  of  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  very 
prominent  attorneys  of  that  city.  The  senior 
partner  is  an  ex-supreme  judge  and  is  now  dean 
of  the  Nebraska  State  Law  School.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  and  then  practiced  for  some 
time  under  the  guidance  of  his  last  preceptors, 
gaining  a  practical  knowledge  of  their  methods. 
On  the  8th  of  October,  1890,  Mr.  Howie  ar- 
rived in  Idaho  and  opened  a  law  office  in  Moun- 
tain Home,  where  he  has  since  enjoyed  a  large 
business.  He  has  won  for  himself  very  favorable 
criticism  for  the  careful  and  systematic  methods 
he  has  followed.  To  an  understanding  of  uncom- 
mon acuteness  and  vigor  he  has  added  a  thor- 
ough and  accurate  preparatory  training,  and  ex- 
emplifies in  his  practice  all  the  higher  elements 
of  the  truly  great  lawyer.  He  invariably  seeks 
to  present  his  argument  in  the  strong,  clear  light 
of  common  reason  and  sound  logical  principles, 
and  his  fidelity  to  his  clients'  interests  is  a  matter 
of  uniform  acceptance.  Everything  pertaining  to 
the  welfare  and  upbuilding  of  the  town  also  re- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ceives  his  approval,  and  co-operation  and  his  la- 
bors for  the  public  good  have  been  most  effective. 
Since  coming  to  Mountain  Home,  he  has  served 
as  a  member  of  the  school  board  for  a  number  of 
years,  was  a  prominent  factor  in  the  building  of 
the  splendid  public-school  building,  which  is  an 
ornament  to  the  town,  and  he  is  an  active  and 
helpful  friend  of  education. 

In  political  circles  Mr.  Howie  is  also  promi- 
nent. He  has  always  been  a  stalwart  Republican, 
and  is  now  the  state  Republican  central  com- 
mitteeman  for  his  county,  and  the  candidate  of 
his  party  for  the  office  of  district  attorney. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  1891,  Mr.  Howie  married 
Miss  Ada  Eunice  Harris,  a  native  of  New  York. 
Her  father  died  when  she  was  a  child  and  she  was 
reared  by  her  uncle,  Hon.  L.  C.  Blanchard,  a 
district  judge  and  state  senator.  They  have  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  residences  in  Mountain 
Home.  It  was  erected  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  Howie  and  stands  in  the  midst  of  an  acre  of 
ground,  which  is  planted  with  fruit  and  ornamen- 
tal trees.  Socially  Mr.  Howie  is  connected  with 
Elmore  Lodge,  No.  30,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  which 
he  is  past  master,  also  belongs  to  the  Modern 
Woodmen  Camp,  the  Home  Forum,  and  the 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen.  His  pleas- 
ant, genial  manner  renders  him  a  favorite  with 
all  classes,  while  his  sterling  worth  commands 
uniform  esteem. 

FRANK    HARRIS. 

Hon.  Frank  Harris,  the  leading  lawyer  of  the 
bar  of  Weiser,  and  a  member  of  the  state  senate 
of  Idaho,  is  a  native  of  California,  his  birth  hav- 
ing occurred  at  Placerville,  on  the  2Oth  of  June, 
1854.  He  is  the  second  in  order  of  birth  in  a 
family  of  seven  children,  whose  parents  were 
William  and  T.  E.  (Saltzman)  Harris.  The  Har- 
ris family  is  of  English  descent  and  was  founded 
in  Virginia  in  colonial  days.  William  Harris,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  the  Old 
Dominion,  and  when  the  Revolutionary  war  was 
inaugurated  aided  in  the  struggle  for  independ- 
ence. His  son,  William  Harris,  was  born  in  Vir- 
ginia, in  November,  1809,  and  after  attaining  the 
age  of  forty  years  he  married  Miss  T.  E.  Saltz- 
man, a  lady  of  German  lineage.  In  1849  William 
Harris  removed  to  California,  where  he  engaged 
in  mining  for  a  number  of  years,  but  later  devoted 


his  energies  to  farming  in  Humboldt  county, 
where  his  death  occurred  in  1886,  in  the  seventy- 
seventh  year  of  his  age.  His  estimable  wife 
still  survives  him,  and  is  now  seventy  years  of 
age.  All  of  their  seven  children  are  also  living. 

Frank  Harris  acquired  his  literary  education  in 
the  public  schools  of  California,  and  on  determin- 
ing to  make  the  practice  of  law  his  life  work 
entered  the  office  of  Buck  &  Stafford,  well  known 
attorneys  of  Eureka.  He  completed  his  studies 
under  the  preceptorage  of  the  firm  of  Chamber- 
lain &  De  Haven  of  that  place,  and  in  1880  he 
came  to  Weiser  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
Here  he  has  since  made  his  home,  and  in  the  prac 
tice  of  his  profession  has  met  with  gratifying 
success,  to-day  holding  rank  as  the  leading  mem- 
ber of  the  legal  fraternity  in  his  county. 

In  1884  Mr.  Harris  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Nettie  Oakes,  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  and 
they  now  have  three  children,  William,  James 
and  Emma.  They  have  a  delightful  home  in 
Weiser,  erected  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Har- 
ris, and  they  enjoy  the  high  esteem  of  a  large 
circle  of  friends.  Socially  our  subject  is  con- 
nected with  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  and 
is  now  the  efficient  chancellor  commander  of  the 
lodge.  His  political  views  are  in  accord  with  the 
principles  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  to  that 
organization  he  has  rendered  valuable  service 
during  the  campaigns,  being  a  most  effective, 
entertaining  and  instructive  campaign  speaker. 
His  utterances  are  logical  and  convincing,  and 
at  the  same  time  are  never  tiresome  or  pedantic. 
In  1889  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  conven- 
tion which  framed  the  present  constitution  of 
Idaho,  and  his  knowledge  of  constitutional  law 
made  him  a  valuable  factor  in  framing  the  most 
important  document  in  the  state  government.  In 
1896  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  state  senate, 
where  he  served  most  acceptably  to  his  con- 
stituents and  with  credit  to  himself.  Thus  in 
various  departments  of  the  public  life  he  has 
rendered  important  service  to  his  state,  yet  his 
greatest  work  is  in  the  line  of  his  profession.  His 
preparation  of  cases  is  most  thorough  and  ex- 
haustive; he  seems  almost  intuitively  to  grasp 
the  strong  points  of  law  and  fact,  while  in  his 
briefs  and  arguments  the  authorities  are  cited  so 
extensively  and  the  facts  and  reasoning  thereon 
are  presented  so  cogently  and  unanswerably  as  to 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


255 


leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  his  views 
or  of  his  conclusions.  Xo  detail  seems  to  escape 
him;  every  point  is  given  its  due  prominence 
and  the  case  is  argued  with  such  skill,  ability  and 
power  that  he  rarely  fails  to  gain  the  verdict 
desired.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Idaho  State  Bar 
Association,  of  which  he  is  vice-president  for 
Washington  county. 

Mr.  Harris  is  also  personally  interested  in  min- 
ing in  the  Seven  Devils  district,  and  has  a  large 
clientage  among  the  mine  owners  and  miners 
of  the  now  famous  mining  country  just  men- 
tioned. In  March,  1899,  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  R.  A.  Stuart,  late  of  the  Washington  bar, 
and  formerly  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Thomp- 
son &  Stuart,  of  Iowa. 

FRANK    CROSSON. 

Frank  Crosson  is  now  engaged  in  general  mer- 
chandising in  De  Lamar  and  is  one  of  the  most 
successful  and  enterprising  business  men  here. 
His  life  stands  in  evidence  of  the  fact  that  am- 
bition, enterprise  and  diligence  can  cope  with  an 
adverse  fate  and  ultimately  reach  the  goal  of 
prosperity.  He  came  to  Owyhee  county  on  foot, 
reaching  Silver  City  in  June,  1889,  and  secured 
employment  in  driving  a  freight  team.  Since 
that  time  he  has  advanced  steadily  toward  suc- 
cess and  competence  and  is  to-day  accounted  one 
of  the  most  progressive,  respected  and  well-to-do 
merchants  of  the  county. 

Mr.  Crosson  was  born  at  Red  Bluff,  California,  < 
on  the  24th  of  April,  1862,  and  is  of  Scotch- 
Irish  lineage.  His  father,  Samuel  Crosson,  was 
born  in  the  state  of  New  York,  and  in  1852  took 
up  his  abode  in  California.  He  was  married  in 
Sacramento  to  Miss  Mary  Burk,  a  native  of  Ire- 
land. For  six  years  he  lived  the  life  of  a  sailor, 
making  trips  on  the  Sacramento  river  between 
San  Francisco  and  Red  Bluff.  He  died  in  1893, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-four  years,  but  his  wife  is  still 
living  and  makes  her  home  in  San  Francisco. 

Frank  Crosson  of  this  review  started  out  in 
life  on  his  own  account  when  but  ten  years  of  age 
and  is  truly  a  self  made  man, — a  title  of  which 
he  has  every  reason  to  be  proud.  He  has  trav- 
eled in  Oregon,  Nevada  and  in  Mexico,  and 
came  to  Idaho  on  foot,  without  money,  having 
resolved  to  settle  down  and  win  success  if  it  could 
be  secured  through  energy  and  industry.  He 


was  first  employed  as  driver  of  a  freight  team  be- 
tween Nampa  and  Silver  City,  after  which  he 
went  to  Wood  river  and  engaged  in  mining  for 
six  months.  Then,  in  connection  with  five  others, 
he  leased  the  Potosi  mine,  which  he  continued  to 
operate  until  March,  1890,  when  he  came  to  De 
Lamar  and  was  employed  for  a  time  in  the  De 
Larnar  mine.  Subsequently  he  purchased  a  half 
interest  in  the  De  Lamar  and  Silver  City  stage 
line,  which  he  conducted  until  April  i,  1892,  after 
which  he  spent  a  month  in  California.  Upon 
returning  to  De  Lamar  he  succeeded  George  Wr. 
Bruce  in  the  meat-market  business  in  Silver 
City,  as  a  partner  of  J.  C.  Conners,  and  later  be- 
came a  partner  in  the  De  Lamar  &  Silver  City- 
Meat  Company,  with  which  he  was  connected  un- 
til April,  1893,  when  he  sold  his  interest  in  the 
business.  Through  the  succeeding  thirty  clays 
he  engaged  in  mining  and  then  established  a 
confectionery  store  in  De  Lamar,  but  on  the  8th 
of  September,  1897,  entered  a  new  field  of  opera- 
tions by  purchasing  the  general  mercantile  store 
of  Shea  &  McLain  in  De  Lamar.  Here  he  is  now 
carrying  on  business,  having  a  large  and  well 
selected  stock  and  enjoying  an  extensive  and  con- 
stantly increasing  patronage.  He  is  also  a  part- 
ner of  John  Crete,  Sr.,  in  several  mines  in  the 
Florida  mountains. 

On  the  1 5th  of  October,  1892,  Mr.  Crosson  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Mrs.  Sarah  Bennett,  nee 
Lane.  She  is  a  native  of  Iowa  and  a  lady  of 
culture  and  intelligence,  who  enjoys  the  esteem 
of  a  large  circle  of  friends.  She  was  appointed 
postmistress  of  De  Lamar  by  President  Cleve- 
land in  1893,  entering  upon  the  duties  of  the  of- 
fice on  the  1 3th  of  November  of  that  year.  She 
appointed  Mr.  Crosson  her  deputy,  and  for  four 
years  and  three  months  she  discharged  her  duties 
in  a  most  promising  and  creditable  manner,  and 
succeeded  in  raising  the  office  to  one  of  the 
third  class.  She  now  assists  her  husband  in  the 
store  and  he  attributes  not  a  little  of  his  success 
to  her  efficient  aid  and  business  ability. 

Mr.  Crosson  is  a  member  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  his  wife  belongs  to 
the  order  of  Daughters  of  Rebekah.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  has  served 
as  master  of  his  lodge.  From  the  early  age  of  ten 
years  his  life  has  been  one  of  ceaseless  activity, 
and  all  that  he  has  acquired  is  the  reward  of  his 


256 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


own  labors.  He  is  a  man  of  strong  purpose  and 
resolution,  who  brooks  no  obstacles  that  can  be 
overcome  by  determined  and  honorable  efforts, 
and  it  is  this  laudable  quality  that  has  led  to  his 
success.  He  justly  merits  the  high  regard  in 
which  he  is  held,  and  his  example  should  serve  as 
a  source  of  inspiration  and  encouragement  to 

others. 

J.    J.    PLUMER,    M.  D. 

Dr.  J.  J.  Plumer,  the  physician  and  surgeon  of 
the  De  Lamar  Mining  Company,  also  engaged 
in  general  practice  in  De  Lamar,  is  a  native  of 
Missouri,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  Edina, 
April  8,  1860.  He  traces  his  ancestry  back  to 
England,  whence  in  the  year  1832  members  of 
the  family  who  belonged  to  the  sect  of  Puritans 
crossed  the  Atlantic  to  America.  They  braved 
the  dangers  so  common  to  ocean  voyages  in 
those  clays  in  order  to  have  liberty  of  conscience 
in  the  New  World,  and  they  and  their  descend- 
ants were  connected  with  the  early  history  of  the 
colonies.  They  were  mainly  farming  people, 
whose  upright  lives  commended  them  to  the  con- 
fidence and  respect  of  all.  The  Doctor's  father, 
William  F.  Plumer,  was  born  in  Marietta,  Ohio, 
and  married  Miss  Sarah  F.  Beswick,  also  a  na- 
tive of  that  place.  In  religious  faith  they  are 
Presbyterians  and  by  profession  Mr.  Plumer  is  a 
civil  engineer.  He  now  resides  in  Hillsboro, 
Iowa,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven  years,  and  all  of 
the  family,  including  three  sons  and  three 
daughters,  are  also  yet  living. 

The  Doctor,  the  second  in  order  of  birth,  spent 
his  boyhood  at  his  parental  home,  acquiring  his 
literary  education  in  Birmingham  Academy;  in 
Iowa.  Determining  to  make  the  practice  of  med- 
icine his  life  work  he  prepared  for  his  chosen 
calling  in  the  Starling  Medical  College,  in  Co- 
lumbus, Ohio,  where  he  was  graduated  with  the 
class  of  1882.  He  then  opened  an  office  in  Bona- 
parte, Iowa,  where  he  remained  for  two  years, 
after  which  he  practiced  for  six  years  in  Kansas 
and  one  year  in  Baker  City,  Oregon.  In  1890 
he  came  to  De  Lamar  to  accept  the  position  of 
physician  and  surgeon  for  the  De  Lamar  Min- 
ing Company,  and  in  addition  to  his  labors  in 
that  capacity  he  carries  on  a  general  practice, 
having  many  patrons  in  this  vicinity.  He  is  a 
skilled  and  efficient  representative  of  his  chosen 
calling,  and  faithfully  performs  each  duty  as  it 


comes  to  him.  He  is  also  proprietor  of  the  only 
drug  store  in  the  town,  a  well  appointed  estab- 
lishment. 

On  the  2Qth  of  June,  1897,  the  Doctor  was 
married,  the  lady  of  his  choice  being  Miss  Mar- 
garet C.  DeQuette,  whose  father  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  the  Boise  basin.  She  is  a  valued 
member  of  the  Episcopal  church  and  a  most  esti- 
mable lady.  The  Doctor  belongs  to  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  has  taken  the  degrees  of  the  blue 
lodge,  chapter  and  commanclery,  being  now  a 
worthy  Knight  Templar  and  follower  of  the 
beauseant.  He  is  a  man  of  scholarly  tastes  and 
studious  habits,  and  by  his  perusal  of  the  leading 
medical  journals  and  text-books  he  keeps  thor- 
oughly abreast  with  the  latest  discoveries  and 
theories  advanced  in  connection  with  the  science 
of  medicine,  and  is  very  successful  in  applying 
these  to  the  needs  of  his  professional  work  in 
Owyhee  county. 

FRANKLIN    P.    AKE. 

The  historian  Bancroft  has  said,  "Taken  alto- 
gether Idaho  is  the  most  grand,  wonderful,  ro- 
mantic and  mysterious  part  of  the  domain  en- 
closed within  the  federal  Union ;"  and  no  one  who 
has  ever  looked  upon  its  beautiful  and  oittimes 
sublime  scenery  will  doubt  that  it  rightly  de- 
serves to  be  called  "The  Gem  of  the  Mountains." 
Its  natural  resources  are  probably  more  diversi- 
fied than  any  other  state  can  show,  for  in  the 
midst  of  its  high  hills,  rich  in  their  mineral  de- 
posits, are  fertile  valleys  affording  ample  oppor- 
tunity to  the  agriculturist,  horticulturist  and 
stock  farmer.  The  owner  of  one  of  the  finest 
ranches  and  most  beautiful  homes  in  Elrnore 
county  is  Franklin  P.  Ake,  a  man  of  excellent 
business  ability,  who  has  been  prominently  con- 
nected with  many  interests  of  this  region,  and 
now  in  addition  to  the  capable  management  of 
his  own  affairs  is  acceptably  serving  as  the  cus- 
todian of  the  county  exchequer  in  the  capacity  of 
county  treasurer. 

Mr.  Ake,  whose  residence  is  pleasantly  situ- 
ated about  four  miles  from  Mountain  Home,  was 
born  in  Muscatine,  Iowa,  July  6,  1857.  During 
the  colonial  epoch  in  our  country's  history  his 
ancestors  left  their  homes  in  Holland  and  be- 
came residents  of  Pennsylvania,  taking  part  in 
many  of  the  events  which  form  the  annals  of  that 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


257 


state,  and  also  participating  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution.  John  H.  Ake,  the  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  born  in  the  Keystone  state  and  mar- 
ried Margaret  Tediker,  a  native  of  Ohio.  He 
removed  with  his  bride  to  Iowa  and  became  an 
extensive  land-owner  and  dealer  in  real  estate. 
His  wife  died  soon  after  the  birth  of  her  son 
Franklin,  when  only  twenty  years  of  age,  but 
Mr.  Ake  reached  the  age  of  seventy-five  years. 

The  subject  of  this  review,  an  only  child,  was 
reared  and  educated  in  Iowa  and  Nebraska,  and 
in  1877  went  to  Colorado,  where  he  was  engaged 
in  freighting.    He  made  money  rapidly,  invested 
in  real  estate  in  Leadville,  Colorado,  and  when 
prices  declined  lost  nearly  all  that  he  had  saved. 
In  1882  he  came  to  Idaho,  and  making  his  head- 
quarters   at    American   Falls  again  engaged  in 
freighting  and  contracting  from  Kelton  to  Boise, 
Rocky  Bar  and  Hailey.     He  also  took  contracts 
for  supplying  and  delivering  wood  and  charcoal 
to  the  mines  at  Rocky  Bar  and  later  contracted 
to  haul  mining  timbers.     He  also  built  the  tele- 
graph   line   from    Mountain     Home    to     Rocky 
Bar,  and  subsequently  became  the  promoter  and 
builder  of  the  reservoir  and  canal  of  the  Moun- 
tain Home  Reservoir  &  Land  Company.     They 
have  thus  supplied  water  to  three  thousand  acres 
of  land,  and  have  a  reservoir  with  an  irrigating 
capacity    for    five    thousand    acres,    and    fifteen 
miles  of  ditches.     Mr.  Ake,  in  connection  with 
others,  now  owns  the  system,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  valuable  enterprises  ever  inaugurated  in  this 
section  of  the  state.     It  is  not  only  a  profitable 
investment  for  the  stockholders,  but  has  proven 
of  incalculable  benefit  to  the   farmers,   making 
cultivable  many  thousand  acres  of  rich  land.  Mr. 
Ake  is  now  the  owner  of  a  splendid  ranch  of  six 
hundred  and  forty  acres.     He   has  greatly   im- 
proved this  property,  making  it  one  of  the  most 
attractive  and  desirable  country  seats  in  Elmore 
county.    There  is  now  a  fine  orchard,  containing 
two  thousand  bearing  fruit  trees,  mostly  prunes. 
The  home  is  a  most  tasteful  and  commodious 
dwelling,  creditable  alike  to  the  owner  and  the 
county.      In  addition  to   the   cultivation    of  his 
orchard,  Mr.  Ake  is  extensively  engaged  in  rais- 
ing stock  and  is  proprietor  of  an  excellent  meat 
market  in  Mountain  Home,  where  he  supplies  the 
citizens  with  choice  beef  and  other  meats. 

In   1886  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 


Ake  and  Miss  Laura  Ford,  of  Salem,  Oregon,  a 
daughter  of  Colonel  Ford  of  that  city.  They 
now  have  two  daughters, — Mary  Frances  and 
Clara  Lail. 

Mr.  Ake  has  been  a  lifelong  Democrat.  In 
1896  he  was  appointed  treasurer  of  Elmore  coun- 
ty, and  in  1898  was  the  nominee  of  his  party  for 
the  same  position.  He  belongs  to  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  having  been  raised  in  Elmore  Lodge, 
Xo.  30,  of  Mountain  Home,  in  which  he  served 
as  master  in  1898.  He  has  also  taken  the  Royal 
Arch  and  commandery  degrees  and  is  a  Xoble 
of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  A  man  of  marked  busi- 
ness and  executive  ability,  he  forms  his  plans 
readily,  is  determined  in  his  execution  and  carries 
forward  to  successful  completion  whatever  he 
undertakes.  His  methods  command  uniform  con- 
fidence and  respect  and  the  most  envious  could 
not  grudge  him  his  prosperity,  so  worthily  has  it 
been  won. 

BARRETT   WILLIAMS. 

This  venerable  citizen  of  Boise  City  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  oldest  man  in  the  state  of  Idaho, 
as  on  the  7th  of  March,  1899,  he  celebrated  the 
ninety-sixth  anniversary  of  his  birth.  He  was 
sixty  years  of  age  when  he  came  to  this  place 
for  the  first  time,  in  1862,  and  during  the  years 
which  have  intervened  he  has  maintained  his 
earnest  interest  in  the  development  of  the  town 
and  the  resources  of  the  surrounding  country. 
He  has  always  been  strictly  temperate  in  his 
habits,  has  led  an  active,  industrious  life,  and  is 
reaping  his  reward  in  the  evening  of  his  career,, 
for  he  enjoys  very  good  health,  being  sound  in 
mind  and  body,  possesses  his  senses  of  sight  and 
hearing  almost  unimpaired,  and  still  takes  long 
walks  about  the  town  with  perfect  ease. 

The  birth  of  this  worthy  old  pioneer  occurred 
in  Wales,  March  7,  1803,  and  in  his  native  land 
he  learned  the  saddler's  trade,  in  his  youth.  He 
never  attended  school  a  day.  with  the  exception 
of  Sunday-school,  where  he  learned  to  read,  and 
when  he  grew  to  manhood  he  wished  to  be  able 
to  sign  legal  documents  and  so  learned  to  write 
his  name.  In  1840  he  came  to  the  United  States 
and  for  about  a  year  worked  at  his  trade  as  a 
harness-maker  in  Utica,  Xew  York.  He  then 
removed  to  Ohio  and  purchased  a  farm  in  Lick- 
ing county,  not  far  from  Granville.  After  four 
years  of  farming  operations  there  he  removed  to 


258 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Iowa  county,  Wisconsin,   and   during  the  next 
twelve  years  successfully  carried  on  a  farm. 

The  praises  of  the  great  and  growing  west  had 
been  so  long  heard  that  at  last  Mr.  Williams  con- 
cluded that  he  would  see  something  of  it  for 
himself.  In  1861,  in  company  with  two  of  his 
sons,  Thomas  and  Richard,  he  crossed  the  plains 
to  Oregon.  They  spent  the  winter  in  the  town 
of  Auburn,  and  in  the  spring  returned  to  Idaho, 
arriving  in  Boise  City  May  22.  He  was  one  of 
the  first  white  men  here,  though  the  Bannack 
Indians  were  numerous.  However,  the  red  men 
treated  him  well  and  he  has  often  camped  with 
them  and  shared  their  hospitality.  With  his  sons 
he  went  to  the  Boise  basin  and  discovered  gold 
on  Willow  creek.  He  mined  there  for  several 
years  and  later  was  located  on  Dry  creek,  where 
he  and  his  companions  each  took  out  about  an 
ounce  of  gold  a  day.  The  rheumatism  finally 
made  him  seek  other  employment  and  for  eight 
years  he  engaged  in  farming  on  Dry  creek. 
Later,  he  purchased  a  block  and  a  quarter  on  Jef- 
ferson street,  Boise  City,  and  built  ten  houses  on 
the  property.  For  eight  years  he  was  in  the 
lumber  business  in  the  mountains,  and  built  two 
sawmills,  which  he  afterward  gave  to  his  sons. 
In  1886  he  deeded  his  real  estate  in  Boise  to  his 
children,  retaining  a  life  lease  on  it.  He  has 
always  affiliated  with  the  Democratic  party  since 
he  became  a  voter  but  has  never  been  an  aspirant 
to  public  office.  Without  exception,  all  who  have 
known  him  or  been  associated  with  him  in  busi- 
ness relations  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of  his 
honor  and  integrity,  his  kindliness  and  helpful- 
ness toward  those  less  fortunate  than  himself. 

In  his  early  manhood  Mr.  Williams  married 
.  Miss  Elizabeth  Griffith,  a  native  of  Wales,  and 
before  they  left  that  country  their  son  John  was 
born.  Two  children  were  born  in  Ohio  to  this 
worthy  couple  and  five  were  born  in  Wisconsin. 
All  but  one  of  the  number  are  living.  Mrs. 
Williams,  who  was  a  devoted  wife  and  mother, 
an  earnest  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church 
and  loved  by  all  who  knew  her  well,  departed 
this  life  in  1885.  At  present  only  two  of  the 
children  are  residents  of  Boise  City,  namely: 
Rachel  Williams  and  Elizabeth  Ann,  the  latter 
being  the  wife  of  Charles  May,  whose  history  is 
printed  upon  another  page  of  this  volume.  Mr. 
Williams  is  being  tenderly  cared  for  in  his  declin- 


ing years  by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  May,  with  whom 
he  is  making  his  home. 

WILLIAM    H.    MANION. 

Elmore  county  figures  as  one  of  the  most  at- 
tractive, progressive  and  prosperous  divisions  of 
the  state  of  Idaho,  justly  claiming  a  high  order  of 
citizenship  and  a  spirit  of  enterprise  which  is  cer- 
tain to  conserve  consecutive  development  and 
marked  advancement  in  the  material  upbuilding 
of  the  section.  The  county  has  been  and  is  sig- 
nally favored  in  the  class  of  men  who  have  con- 
trolled its  affairs  in  official  capacity,  and  in  this 
connection  the  subject  of  this  review  demands 
representation  as  one  who  has  served  the  county 
faithfully  and  well  in  positions  of  distinct  trust 
and  responsibility.  He  was  the  incumbent  of  the 
office  of  clerk  of  the  district  court,  and  was  ex- 
officio  auditor  and  recorder  of  Elmore  county  for 
the  years  1897  ancl  1898. 

A  native  of  the  state  of  Missouri,  Mr.  Manion 
was  born  on  the  28th  of  January,  1844,  the  son  of 
James  and  Mary  Ann  (Wood)  Manion,  both  of 
whom  were  born  in  Virginia,  the  famous  Old" 
Dominion  of  our  national  annals.  The  ancestry 
on  either  side  traces  to  stanch  old  Irish  stock. 
The  parents  removed  from  their  native  state  to 
Missouri,  where  the  father  engaged  in  agricul- 
tural pursuits,  and  where  both  resided  until 
death.  They  were  people  of  sterling  integrity, 
industrious  and  God-fearing,  and  were  held  in 
the  highest  respect  in  the  community.  Both  were 
members  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  church,  in 
whose  cause  they  were  zealous  workers.  They 
became  the  parents  of  two  children,  both  of 
whom  are  living, — William  H.,  the  immediate 
subject  of  this  review;  and  Charles  G.,  of  Kan- 
sas City,  Missouri.  Death  claimed  the  devoted 
wife  and  mother,  and  the  father  subsequently 
consummated  a  second  marriage,  of  the  fruits  of 
which  union  three  of  the  children  still  survive. 
The  father  died  in  1854,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four 
years. 

William  H.  Manion  received  an  excellent  edu- 
cational training  in  his  native  state  of  Missouri, 
and  that  he  made  good  use  of  the  opportunities 
thus  afforded  him  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he 
put  his  acquirements  to  the  practical  test  in  mak- 
ing his  initial  personal  effort.  He  engaged  in 
teaching  school  for  a  .year  in  Missouri,  after 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


259 


which  he  went  to  Nevada,  where  he  became  con- 
cerned in  quartz  mining,  meeting  with  a  fair 
measure  of  success  in  this  line  of  endeavor.  Re- 
moving later  to  Utah,  he  there  continued  mining 
operations  for  a  number  of  years,  having  been  the 
original  locator  of  the  Rebel  mine,  in  the  Star 
district  of  that  recently  admitted  state.  From  this 
mine  he  secured  quite  an  appreciable  product  of 
gold.  He  eventually  sold  the  mine  and  in  1889 
came  to  Camas  Prairie,  Idaho,  where  he  entered 
claim  to  a  homestead  of  government  land,  prov- 
ing up  on  the  same  in  due  course  of  time.  This 
place  he  still  owns,  having  erected  buildings 
thereon  and  made  other  substantial  improve- 
ments. 

In  1897  Mr.  Manion  was  appointed  clerk  of  the 
district  court  by  the  board  of  county  commis- 
sioners, and  he  discharged  the  manifold  duties 
of  this  office,  with  its  adjuncts  noted,  with  such 
care,  fidelity  and  discrimination  that  in  the  fall 
of  1898  he  was  again  nominated  by  his  party  for 
the  same  office,  but  was  defeated  by  six  votes. 
His  official  position  practically  demanded  that 
Mr.  Manion  should  take  up  his  residence  at  the 
county-seat,  and  thus  he  has  maintained  his 
home  in  Mountain  Home  since  1896,  when  he 
assumed  his  official  duties. 

In  his  political  proclivities  Mr.  Manion  is  a 
stanch  and  enthusiastic  adherent  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  while  fraternally  he  is  identified  with 
the  Masonic  order  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
of  the  lodge  of  which  latter  he  has  rendered  ef- 
ficient service  as  vice  chancellor. 

As  a  public  officer  our  subject  has  been  cour- 
teous, obliging  and  thoroughly  capable,  and  these 
facts  have  not  lacked  for  recognition  on  the  part 
of  the  people,  who  have  accorded  due  commen- 
dation. His  popularity  in  the  community  is  un- 
mistakable, and  he  is  clearly  entitled  to  consider- 
ation in  this  work  as  one  of  the  representative 
citizens  of  his  county. 

LUCIUS    COZZENS   RICE. 

Lucius  Cozzens  Rice,  state  treasurer  of  Idaho 
and  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  the  com- 
monwealth, is  a  native  of  Riceville,  Fulton  coun- 
ty. Xew  York,  where  he  was  born  June  20,  1867, 
being  the  only  son  now  living  that  was  born  to 
the  marriage  of  Harvev  P.  and  Sarah  C.  Rice. 

The  Rice  family  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  Cen- 


tral New  York;  and  in  the  old  dwelling,  which  is 
still  standing,  and  in  which  Mr.  Rice  was  born, 
five  generations  have  lived.  This  residence  was 
built  prior  to  the  war  for  American  independ- 
ence, by  Colonel  Oliver  Rice,  who  was  a  soldier 
under  Washington. 

Mr.  Rice  prepared  for  college  at  the  Clinton 
Seminary,  at  Clinton,  New  York,  and  subse- 
quently entered  Union  College  at  Schenectady, 
same  state,  where  he  took  the  classical  course, 
was  president  of  his  class  and  a  member  of  the 
college  society,  Alpha  Delta  Phi.  Completing  his 
college  course,  Mr.  Rice  came  west  and  first  lo- 
cated at  Gunnison,  Colorado,  and  later  was  en- 
gaged in  merchandising  at  Sapinero,  Colorado, 
for  nine  months,  and  then  for  some  time  at  Delta, 
the  same  state;  and  in  1891  he  came  to  Idaho, 
on  horseback,  looking  for  a  location,  and  settled 
at  St.  Anthony,  where,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Rice  &  Findley,  he  opened  a  general  merchan- 
dise store.  This  business  venture  has  been  a  suc- 
cess from  its  inception  and  has  been  continually 
extended,  so  that  to-day  it  is  the  most  extensive 
general  merchandise  establishment  in  southeast- 
ern Idaho.  In  1898  the  firm  of  Rice,  Findley  & 
Company  was  incorporated,  and  to-day  the  name 
of  this  reliable  firm  has  become  a  household  word 
in  the  southeastern  portion  of  "The  Gem  of  the 
Mountains." 

Mr.  Rice,  during  his  career  in  Idaho,  has  dem- 
onstrated that  he  is  both  an  enterprising  and  a 
'public-spirited  man,  and  St.  Anthony  and  Fre- 
mont county  have  particularly  been  benefited 
by  his  business  ability  and  public  spirit.  He 
organized  the  First  Bank  of  Fremont  County  and 
has  been  its  president  since  its  organization  in 
1893.  Through  his  influence  the  Snake  River 
Valley  Telephone  Company  was  organized  and 
the  line  built.  Of  this  company  he  is  one  of  the 
directors  and  officers.  He  was  the  leader  of  the 
great  reform  movement  and  investigation  in  Fre- 
mont county  which  was  the  means  of  turning 
back  many  thousands  of  dollars  to  the  countv 
treasury.  This  was  a  long  fight,  some  of  the 
cases  being  carried  through  the  district  and  su- 
preme courts  of  the  state. 

In  August,  1898,  he  was  nominated  by  the 
Democratic  party  for  state  treasurer  of  Idaho, 
and  later  was  indorsed  for  the  same  office  by  the 
silver  Republicans  and  the  Populists,  and  at 


260 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  November  election  of  1898  he  was  elected  by 
the  largest  vote  ever  cast  for  any  candidate  for 
public  office  in  the  state.  He  has  always  been  an 
ardent  suporter  of  the  principles  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  and  in  1896  was  a  delegate  to  the 
Democratic  national  convention  that  nominated 
Hon.  W.  J.  Bryan  for  president.  As  state  treas- 
urer Mr.  Rice  is  prudent,  careful  and  painstaking, 
and  it  is  already  conceded  that  he  is  the  best  state 
treasurer  the  state  has  ever  had  and  that  in  his 
hands  the  public  funds  have  been  safe. 

In  1896  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Alice  L.  Tarr,  of  Gloversville,  New  York,  and 
he  and  his  wife  are  prominent  in  the  select  circles 

of  Idaho. 

FREDERIC   IRWIN. 

Frederic  Irwin  is  the  superintendent  of  the 
Idaho  &  Pittsburg  Mining  &  Milling  Company's 
Black  Jack  mines  on  Florida  mountain,  near  Sil- 
ver City,  Owyhee  county.  A  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, he  was  born  in  Sewickley,  Allegheny 
county,  November  15,  1859.  On  the  paternal 
side  he  is  of  Scotch  lineage  and  on  the  maternal 
is  of  Scotch  descent.  His  ancestors  were  among 
the  early  settlers  on  the  Atlantic  coast  and  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Irwin  family  aided  the  colonies 
in  their  struggle  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  British 
tyranny.  The  paternal  great-grandfather  of  our 
subject  served  as  adjutant  general  on  the  staff 
of  General  Wayne,  and  gallantly  bore  his  part 
in  the  war  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of 
the  American  republic.  His  son,  John  Irwin, 
was  born  in  Allegheny  county,  Pennsylvania, 
and  became  a  large  real-estate  owner  there. 

John  Irwin,  Jr.,  father  of  our  subject,  was  born 
in  Sewickley,  that  county,  and  married  Martha 
M.  Nevin.  He  became  largely  interested  in  the 
oil  business  and  was  one  of  the  early  operators  on 
Oil  creek,  Pennsylvania.  He  later  became  con- 
nected with  the  firm  of  T.  H.  Nevin  &  Com- 
pany in  the  manufacture  of  white  lead  in  Pitts- 
burg.  He  was  also  president  of  the  Alleghany 
Insurance  Company,  treasurer  of  the  Pittsburg 
Steel  Casting  Company  and  president  of  the  Ida- 
ho &  Pittsburg  Mining  &  Milling  Company. 
He  has  now  reached  the  age  of  seventy-six  years 
and  has  largely  retired  from  the  active  cares  of 
life,  but  for  many  years  was  a  most  important 
factor  in  the  business  circles  of  Pittsburg.  on 
account  of  his  extensive  and  varied  interests.  His 


wife  departed  this  life  at  the  age  of  sixty-three 
years.  They  were  the  parents  of  six  children, 
three  of  whom  are  yet  living.  In  religious  faith 
the  family  has  long  been  identified  with  the 
Presbyterian  church. 

Frederic  Irwin  is  a  graduate  of  the  Western 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  on  completing 
the  scientific  course  in  that  institution  the  de- 
gree of  Ph.  B.  was  conferred  upon  him.  He 
then  entered  upon  his  business  career  and  was 
engaged  in  mercantile  and  journalistic  pursuits 
until  1891,  when  he  was  appointed  to  his  present 
position  as  superintendent  of  the  Idaho  &  Pitts- 
burg Mining  &  Milling  Company,  taking 
charge  of  the  Black  Jack  mine  in  April,  1891. 
With  characteristic  energy  and  enterprise  he  en- 
tered his  new  field  of  labor,  and  that  the  fame  of 
the  mine  is  so  widespread  is  due  to  his  efforts. 
He  is  also  consulting  engineer  of  the  Poorman 
gold  mines,  owned  by  a  London  (England)  syn- 
dicate, and  is  very  popular  in  mining  circles.  He 
possesses  marked  business  and  executive  ability, 
keen  discrimination  and  correct  foresight,  and 
is  exceptionally  well  qualified  for  the  superin- 
tendency  of  the  extensive  mining  interests  now 
in  his  charge. 

In  his  political  affiliation  Mr.  Irwin  is  a  "silver" 
Republican,  and  socially  is  connected  with  Capi- 
tal City  Lodge,  No.  310,  B.  P.  O.  E.,  of  Boise. 
He  is  a  gentleman  of  marked  courtesy,  genial 
disposition  and  agreeable  manner,  and  in  conse- 
quence makes  friends  wherever  he  goes. 

OSCAR    F.    BRUNZELL. 

Since  seven  years  of  age  Oscar  F.  Brunzell 
has  been  a  resident  of  Owyhee  county  and  is  now 
residing  in  Silver  City,  where  he  is  faithfully  dis- 
charging the  duties  of  assessor  and  tax  collector. 
A  native  of  Sweden,  he  was  born  January  5, 
1864,  and  is  a  son  of  J.  M.  Brunzell,  who  is  now 
serving  as  postmaster  of  Reynolds,  Owyhee 
county.  In  1868  the  father  came  to  Idaho,  and  in 
1871  sent  for  his  family,  who  joined  him,  since 
which  time  they  have  resided  continuously  in 
Owyhee  county.  He  is  a  stock-raiser  and  pro- 
prietor of  a  hotel  and  successfully  conducts  a 
good  business.  The  family  circle  yet  remains 
unbroken  by  the  hand  of  death,  and  the  thre 
sons, — Carl,  Oscar  F.  and  John  A., — are  all  resi- 
dents of  Idaho. 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


261 


The  subject  of  this  sketch  attended  the  public 
schools  of  this  locality  and  later  continued  his 
education  in  the  Lincoln  school  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. He  has  since  been  engaged  in  general 
stock-raising  and  mining  until  called  to  public 
office.  In  politics  he  is  a  "silver"  Republican, 
and  at  the  election  of  1892  was  chosen  by  popu- 
lar ballot  for  the  office  of  assessor  and  tax  col- 
lector of  Owyhee  county,  serving  in  that  capacity 
until  1896,  when  he  was  again  elected  to  that 
office.  In  1898  he  received  the  nomination  of  his 
party  for  county  sheriff,  and  was  elected  by  a 
majority  of  fifty-four. 

Mr.  Brunzell  was  married  October  30,  1895, 
to  Miss  Laura  E.  Winchester,  of  Owyhee  county, 
and  they  have  two  children, — Bryan  William  and 
Albert.  Mr.  Brunzell  is  a  member  of  both 
branches  of  the  Odd  Fellows  society,  and  is  past 
noble  grand  and  past  chief  patriarch,  while  he  and 
his  wife  are  members  of  the  Rebekah  lodge  of  the 
fraternity.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Woodmen 
of  the  World.  Both  our  subject  and  his  wife 
were  reared  in  the  Lutheran  church  and  are  peo- 
ple of  the  highest  respectability. 

JULIUS   ISAY. 

Julius  Isay  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  busi- 
ness men  of  Owyhee  county,  being  the  senior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Isay  &  Gombrig,  dealers 
in  general  merchandise,  both  at  De  Lamar  and 
Silver  City.  A  country  has  but  one  chief  ruler, 
be  he  king,  emperor  or  president.  Comparative- 
ly few  men  can  attain  to  the  highest  offices  in" 
civil  or  military  life,  but  commerce  offers  a  broad 
and  almost  limitless  field  in  which  one  may  exer- 
cise his  powers  unrestrained  and  gain  a  leader- 
ship as  the  head  of  a  chosen  calling.  Drawing 
the  lessons  which  we  do  from  the  life  of  Mr. 
Isay,  we  learn  that  the  qualifications  necessary  for 
success  are  a  high  ambition  and  a  resolute,  hon- 
orable purpose  to  reach  the  exalted  standard  that 
has  been  set  up.  From  an  early  age  he  has  de- 
pended upon  his  own  resources  and  has  won  the 
proud  American  title  of  self-made  man. 

Mr.  Isay  was  born  near  Treves,  Germany,  Sep- 
tember 22,  1862,  his  father,  Mark  Isay,  being  a 
prominent  cattle  dealer  in  that  country.  He  ob- 
tained a  good  education  in  the  excellent  schools 
of  his  native  land,  and  when  eighteen  years  of  age 
determined  to  cross  the  ocean  and  see  what  fate 


had  in  store  for  him  in  the  land  of  freedom  of 
which  he  had  heard  such  favorable  reports.  He 
was  well  acquainted  with  the  German  and  French 
languages,  but  knew  no  English;  and  although 
he  had  energy  and  ambition  he  had  no  capital. 
On  the  completion  of  the  ocean  voyage  he  made 
his  way  to  Indiana,  where  he  had  an  uncle  living, 
to  whom  he  stated  his  desire  to  become  inde- 
pendent in  life.  This  relative  very  kindly  fitted 
him  out  with  a  peddler's  pack  of  notions,  and 
with  these  on  his  back  he  started  out  of  the  town, 
his  uncle  accompanying  him  as  far  as  the  cross 
roads  and  bidding  him  good-bye  with  the  part- 
ing remark,  "Take  which  road  you  like  and  don't 
come  back  until  the  end  of  the  week."  Thus  be- 
gan the  mercantile  career  of  a  most  successful 
and  enterprising  business  man.  A  stranger  to 
the  language  and  the  customs  of  the  country,  his 
natural  intelligence  was  brought  into  play  and  he 
soon  learned  enough  to  enable  him  to  carry  on 
a  brisk  trade.  After  three  months  spent  in  going 
from  house  to  house  selling  his  goods,  he  turned 
his  attention  to  the  butcher's  trade,  which  he 
learned  in  Churubusco,  Indiana;  and  in  Sep- 
tember, 1882,  he  went  to  Chicago,  where  he 
worked  in  meat-packing  houses  until  the  latter 
part  of  March,  1884. 

That  date  marked  Mr.  Isay's  arrival  in  Silver 
City,  where  he  conducted  a  meat  market  until 
the  fall  of  1890.  In  January,  1891,  he  purchased 
a  small  stock  of  general  merchandise  and  opened 
a  store  in  De  Lamar,  carrying  on  operations  on 
a  small  scale.  Gradually,  however,  his  trade  in- 
creased in  volume  and  importance,  and  in  1895 
the  firm  of  Isay  &  Gombrig  was  formed,  the  lat- 
ter being  a  brother-in-law  of  the  former.  They 
bought  out  a  large  business  at  De  Lamar,  and 
since  that  time,  owing  to  their  liberal  and  hon- 
orable business  methods,  their  success  has  been 
almost  phenomenal,  and  they  now  command  at 
their  two  large  stores  in  De  Lamar  and  Silver 
City  the  most  extensive  retail  trade  in  the  county 
of  Owyhee. 

Mr.  Isay  was  married,  in  1891,  to  Miss  Sophia 
Gombrig,  who  was  born  in  the  same  town  in 
Germany  in  which  her  husband's  birth  occurred. 
They  have  one  child,  a  daughter,  Hattie.  Theirs 
is  a  most  pleasant  home  and  their  hospitality  is 
enjoyed  by  many  friends.  Mr.  Isay  is  a  Royal 
Arch  Mason  and  is  now  serving  as  senior  warden 


263 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


of  the  lodge  and  high  priest  of  the  chapter.  He 
also  belongs  to  the  order  of  the  Knights  of  Py- 
thias. In  politics  he  is  a  stanch  Democrat,  un- 
swerving in  his  allegiance  to  the  principles  of 
that  party,  and  in  1898  he  received  its  nomina- 
tion for  the  office  of  county  commissioner.  His 
dreams  of  securing  a  home  and  fortune  in  Ameri- 
ca have  been  realized,  and  his  life  demonstrates 
the  opportunities  that  are  here  afforded  young 
men  of  energy  and  perseverance. 

WILLIAM  H.  WATT. 

William  H.  Watt,  the  president  of  the  Delia 
Mountain  Mining  Company,  has  been  largely  in- 
strumental in  developing  the  natural  resources 
of  Idaho  thus  far,  and  his  labors  have  not  alone 
contributed  to  his  individual  prosperity  but  have 
also  largely  promoted  the  material  interests  of 
the  state.  By  nativity  a  Canadian,  he  was  born 
near  Ottawa  City,  in  the  Dominion,  December 
23,  1851,  and  is  of  English  descent.  His  grand- 
father, James  Watt,  was  a  native  of  England,  and 
as  an  officer  in  the  British  army  fought  through 
the  Crimean  war.  When  his  term  of  military  ser- 
vice expired  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  Canada, 
where  he  lived  to  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-two 
years.  His  son,  John  Watt,  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  born  in  Canada  and  married  Miss  Ann 
Malcomson,  also  a  native  of  Ottawa.  They  were 
industrious  and  well-to-do  farming  people,  and 
were  Episcopalians  in  religious  belief.  Mr.  Watt 
departed  this  life  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age, 
but  his  wife  is  now  living,  at  the  age  of  three- 
score years  and  ten,  on  the  old  Canadian  home- 
stead. They  had  eleven  children,  ten  of  whom 
are  yet  living,  the  greater  part  of  the  number 
being  residents  of  the  old  home  neighborhood 
in  Canada,  though  one  is  now  living  in  West 
Bay  City,  Michigan,  and  one  in  Butte,  Montana. 

William  H.  Watt,  the  fourth  in  order  of  birth, 
was  reared  under  the  parental  roof  and  acquired 
his  preliminary  education  in  the  public  schools 
of  Canada,  after  which  he  pursued  a  course  in  a 
business  college  of  Minneapolis,  Minnesota.  He 
entered  upon  his  business  career  as  a  farmer  and 
also  engaged  in  lumbering.  In  1876  he  went 
to  the  Black  Hills  and  since  that  time  has  de- 
voted his  energies  to  mining  in  the  northwest. 
On  leaving  the  Black  Hills  he  went  on  a  North- 
ern Pacific  surveying  expedition  from  Fort  Rice 


on  the  Missouri  river  to  Powder  river,  the  coun- 
try being  then  a  comparatively  unexplored  re- 
gion. In  1881  he  came  to  Hailey  on  a  prospect- 
ing and  mining  tour,  at  which  time  the  place  was 
just  being  opened  up  for  mining  interests.  Its 
fame  was  great  because  of  the  richness  of  the  dis- 
coveries made,  and  Mr.  Watt,  with  characteristic 
energy,  turned  his  attention  to  the  development 
of  the  mineral  resources  of  the  region. 

He  has  since  continuously  engaged  in  mining 
and  in  promoting  mining  interests,  and  in  con- 
nection with  Thomas  Brenan  he  organized  the 
Delia  Mountain  Mining  Company,  of  which  they 
are  the  principal  stockholders.  This  is  one  of  the 
best  paying  properties  in  the  district.  It  con- 
sists of  a  group  of  mines  located  six  miles  north- 
west of  the  town  of  Hailey,  which  are  called 
Idaho  Democrat,  Idaho  Republican,  Marquis, 
Vermont  and  Belmont.  They  yield  silver  and 
lead  ore  (the  latter  called  galena),  and  the  output 
is  very  rich  and  valuable.  Mr.  Watt  is  president 
and  manager  of  the  company,  which  is  incorpor- 
ated under  the  laws  of  the  state  of  Idaho,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors  in  connec- 
tion with  Thomas  Brenan,  E.  Daft,  Leo  Cramer 
and  Samuel  Allen.  The  capital  stock  of  the  com- 
pany is  one  hundred  thousand  shares,  the  par 
value  of  which  is  ten  dollars  per  share.  These 
mines  were  discovered  in  1880  by  W.  S.  Van 
Dusen  and  worked  by  him,  in  connection  with 
other  parties  until  November  18,  1895,  at  which 
time  the  Delia  Mountain  Mining  Company  was 
organized  and  purchased  the  property.  The  or- 
iginal owners  took  out  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  and  the  present  owners  have  taken  out 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  Their  work  thus 
far  has  been  largely  development  work,  and  the 
.  property  is  being  well  opened  by  tunnels.  There 
is  considerable  ore  now  in  sight,  which  yields 
from  seventy  to  seventy-six  percent  lead  and  from 
one  hundred  and  five  to  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
six  ounces  of  silver  per  ton.  They  have  an  ex-' 
cellent  plant,  consisting  of  well  constructed  build- 
ings, comfortably  furnished  with  iron  bedsteads 
and  spring  mattresses,  and  the  houses  lined  with 
compo-board,  which  render  them  very  habitable. 
Sixteen  men  are  now  employed  in  working  the 
mines.  Mr.  Watt  is  interested  in  various  other 
mines,  and  is  also  engaged  in  the  banking  busi- 
ness. He  is  also  interested  in  sampling  all  the 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


263 


ore  taken  out  of  the  mines  and  buys  and  ships 
large  quantities  of  ore  to  Denver,  Pueblo  and 
Salt  Lake  for  reduction. 

He  is  a  heavy  stockholder  and  a  member  of 
the  directorate  of  the  Parker  Mining  Company, 
which  owns  eight  claims,  patented  as  follows: 
Parker,  St.  Louis,  Montgomery,  Western  Re- 
serve, Calibre,  Transit,  Denver  and  the  Three 
K's.  They  also  have  nine  claims  not  yet  pat- 
ented. This  group  of  mines  is  located  three  miles 
east  of  Ketchum  in  the  Warm  Springs  creek 
mining  district.  The  company  under  whose  di- 
rection they  are  operated  was  organized  in  Octo- 
ber, 1887,  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
shares,  the  par  value  of  which  is  ten  dollars  per 
share.  Ore  to  the  value  of  three  hundred  and 
forty  thousand  dollars  has  been  taken  from  these 
mines,  and  a  dividend  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
.thousand  dollars  has  been  paid.  The  ores  from 
these  mines  are  the  richest  ever  found  in  the 
Wood  river  country,  carrying  at  times  as  high 
as  forty-five  per  cent  lead  and  six  hundred  and 
sixty  ounces  of  silver  to  the  ton.  In  1890  Mr. 
Watt  erected  a  fine  brick  building  in  Hailey,  in 
which  he  has  one  of  the  finest  and  best  equipped 
offices  in  the  state. 

Mr.  Watt  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat,  was 
elected  and  served  as  treasurer  of  Alturas  county, 
and  was  chosen  to  represent  his  district  in  the 
state  senate  in  1894.  He  was  the  only  Democrat 
in  either  house  of  the  legislature,  and,  knowing 
that  it  was  useless  to  attempt  to  elect  a  man  of 
his  own  party,  he  espoused  the  cause  of  Gov- 
ernor Shoup  and  was  an  active  and  prominent 
factor  in  securing  his  election  to  the  United 
States  senate.  Mr.  Watt  was  also  largely  instru- 
mental in  abolishing  the  counties  of  Alturas  'and 
Logan,  and  creating  the  county  of  Elaine.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  active  and  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  senate,  studying  carefully  the  issues 
which  concerned  the  public  welfare  and  giving 
his  support  loyally  to  all  measures  which  he  be- 
lieved would  promote  the  general  good.  Prom- 
inent in  the  ranks  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  he 
belongs  to  the  blue  lodge,  chapter  and  command- 
ery,  and  has  attained  the  thirty-second  degree  of 
the  Scottish  rite.  He  is  also  a  noble  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine,  is  past  master  of  the  lodge  and 
has  taken  a  deep  interest  and  justifiable  pride  in 
the  working  of  this  ancient  and  benevolent  fra- 


ternity. In  business  circles  he  sustains  a  high 
reputation.  He  is  a  mining  expert,  is  a  man  of 
keen  discrimination  and  sound  judgment,  of  un- 
faltering perseverance  and  unflagging  enterprise, 
and  through  the  possession  of  these  qualities  has 
gained  rank  among  the  foremost  business  men  of 
his  state. 

ISHAM    L.    TINER. 

This  well  known  citizen  and  successful  fruit- 
grower of  Boise  was  born  in  Williamson  county, 
Illinois,  July  14,  1827,  and  is  of  Welsh  descent, 
his  forefathers  being  among  the  early  settlers  of 
Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  His  ancestry,  both 
paternal  and  maternal,  was  represented  in  the 
Revolutionary  war.  Richard  Tiner,  his  great- 
grandfather, was  a  loyal  soldier  in  the  war  for 
independence,  and  while  he  was  absent  in  the 
army  his  family  suffered  an  attack  by  Indians. 
His  wife  was  shot  through  the  right  breast,  their 
youngest  child  was  ruthlessly  beaten  against  a 
tree  until  its  little  life  was  ended,  and  a  boy  of 
five  years  and  a  girl  of  seven  were  carried  away 
as  captives.  Another  son,  Isham  Tiner,  our  sub- 
ject's grandfather,  then  a  youth  of  sixteen,  es- 
caped the  massacre,  joined  his  father  in  the  army 
and  remained  in  the  ranks  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  The  wife  and  mother  eventually  recovered 
from  her  wound  and  some  time  afterward  the 
captive  children  were  returned  to  their  parents. 
Isham  Tiner,  the  grandfather,  removed  from 
Georgia  to  Illinois,  becoming  a  frontier  settler  of 
'the  latter  state.  At  the  time  of  his  removal  to 
the  prairie  state  his  son  Isham,  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  a  small  boy.  When  grown  to  manhood 
he  married  Miss  Nancy  Piett,  who  died  at  an 
early  age  and  left  three  children,  the  youngest, 
Isham  L.,  being  an  infant,  and  he  alone  survives. 
The  eldest  son,  William,  lost  his  life  at  the  battle 
of  Vicksburg,  fighting  in  behalf  of  the  Union. 
The  father  was  a  farmer  by  occupation  and  a  man 
active  in  local  affairs,  for  some  years  filling  the 
office  of  county  commissioner.  He  lived  to  attain 
the  ripe  age  of  seventy-five  years. 

Isham  L.  Tiner  was  reared  to  manhood  on  his 
father's  farm  in  Illinois,  working  hard  in  sum- 
mer and  in  winter  attending  the  common  school. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  enlisted  in  Company 
B,  Second  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  for  the 
Mexican  war,  and  went  at  once  to  the  front.  He 
participated  in  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista  and 


264: 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


other  engagements,  through  which  he  passed  un- 
wounded.  He  remained  in  the  army  until  the 
war  was  over.  In  1851  he  went  to  California, 
stopping  at  the  mines  on  Pitt  river.  Later  he 
engaged  in  the  management  of  a  ranch  and  in 
teaming  from  Red  Bluff  to  Shasta  and  Yreka. 
In  1862  he  sold  his  interests  and  with  a  capital 
of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  came  to  Idaho.  At 
Placerville,  where  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  lo- 
cate, he  secured  a  mining  claim,  from  which,  in 
company  with  five  others,  he  took  out  about  two 
hundred  dollars  of  gold  a  clay.  He  paid  his  men 
eight  dollars  a  day  and  after  he  had  taken  out 
most  of  the  gold,  as  he  supposed,  he  sold  his 
claim  for  five  hundred  dollars ;  but  for  some  time 
thereafter  it  continued  to  yield  the  precious 
metal.  Following  his  mining  experience,  Mr. 
Tiner  was  for  a  time  successfully  engaged  in  the 
bakery  business  at  Placerville. 

In  1880  he  purchased  six  acres  of  land  at 
Boise,  now  within  the  corporate  limits  of  the  city, 
and  here  he  raises  many  varieties  of  peaches, 
pears,  apples  and  plums,  and  in  large  quantities. 

In  1865  Mr.  Tiner  married  Miss  Jane  Baker, 
who  was  spared  to  him  only  eight  brief  years. 
Their  only  child  died  in  infancy  and  thus  he  has 
been  left  alone,  for  he  has  never  married  again. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  and 
politically  he  has  always  given  his  support  to  the 
Democratic  party.  He  has  been  honored  with 
official  positions,  in  each  instance  acquitting  him- 
self most  creditably.  In  1865  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  territorial  legislature  of  Idaho, 
and  thus  becoming  connected  with  Boise  he  has 
since  resided  in  the  capital  city.  He  has  also 
filled  the  offices  of  county  sheriff  and  warden  of 
the  penitentiary.  In  all  the  varied  relations  of  life 
he  has  striven  to  do  his  whole  duty  toward  his 
own  community,  state  and  country,  and  to  put 
into  daily  practice  the  noble,  helpful  teachings  of 
Masonry  and  brotherhood. 

GEORGE  W.  BRUCE. 

George  W.  Bruce  is  one  of  the  successful 
business  men  of  De  Lamar,  where  he  is  conduct- 
ing an  extensive  and  well  appointed  meat  mar- 
ket. He  is  also  the  owner  of  a  well  cultivated 
fruit  and  stock  farm  on  Castle  creek,  Owyhee 
county,  and  is  one  of  the  citizens  of  foreign  birth 
of  whom  the  community  has  every  reason  to  be 


proud,  for  he  has  taken  an  active  part  in  develop- 
ing the  resources  and  augmenting  the  wealth  and 
prosperity  of  this  section  of  the  state. 

A  native  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  Mr.  Bruce  was 
born  in  county  Wicklow,  Ireland,  in  the  town  of 
Bray,  September  28,  1851,  and  is  of  Scotch 
ancestry.  His  parents,  John  and  Margaret 
(Thompson)  Bruce,  were  farming  people  and 
worthy  members  of  the  Methodist  church.  Mr. 
Bruce  was  educated  in  his  native  country  and 
emigrated  to  the  United  States  when  twenty- 
years  of  age.  The  following  year  he  took  up  his 
residence  in  Silver  City,  Idaho,  and  has  spent 
twenty-six  years  in  this  part  of  the  state,  so  that 
he  is  numbered  among  the  pioneer  settlers.  He 
first  engaged  in  quartz-mining,  but  after  three 
months  devoted  to  that  pursuit  he  became  pro- 
prietor of  a  dairy  farm  at  Flint,  and,  in  addition 
to  supplying  the  citizens  of  Silver  City  and  vicin- 
ity with  milk  and  butter,  he  engaged  quite  ex- 
tensively in  raising  stock,  continuing  in  that  en- 
terprise until  1890  and  having  as  many  as  twenty- 
five  hundred  head  of  cattle  on  his  ranch  at  one 
time.  His  efforts  in  that  direction  were  crowned 
with  success,  prosperity  attending  his  labors  as 
the  years  passed.  In  1890,  in  partnership  with 
J.  C.  Connors,  now  treasurer  of  the  county,  he 
opened  a  meat  market  in  Silver  City,  and  after 
establishing  that  enterprise  on  a  paying  basis 
they  opened  a  branch  house  in  De  Lamar.  This 
partnership  continued  until  1898,  at  which  time 
the  Owyhee  Meat  Company  was  organized,  the 
members  of  the  firm  being  W.  P.  Beers,  M.  Col- 
born  and  George  W.  Bruce.  They  have  built  a 
large  cold-storage  warehouse  and  a  good  shop, 
and  are  doing  an  extensive  and  lucrative  business. 
They  supply  meat  to  the  De  Lamar  Mining  & 
Milling  Company  and  to  almost  all  the  citizens 
of  the  town  and  surrounding  country.  They  put 
up  a  great  deal  of  their  own  beef,  pride  them- 
selves on  carrying  the  best  grades  of  mutton  and 
pork,  and  as  the  result  of  the  excellence  of  their 
products,  combined  with  their  trustworthy  busi- 
ness methods,  they  have  secured  a  large  and 
desirable  patronage. 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Bruce  is  a  Re- 
publican, and  socially  is  connected  with  the  Odd 
Fellows  fraternity.  He  is  a  man  of  strict  in- 
tegrity, well  and  favorably  known  in  Owyhee 
countv,  and  his  life  illustrates  what  can  be  ac- 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


26.5 


complished  through  determined  efforts,  perse- 
verance and  capable  management.  Such  men 
form  the  bulwark  of  our  nation. 

ALEXANDER    K.    STODDARD. 

The  subject  of  this  review  is  a  self-made  man 
who,  without  any  extraordinary  family  or  pecu- 
niary advantages  at  the  commencement  of  life, 
has  battled  earnestly  and  energetically,  and  by 
indomitable  courage  and  integrity  has  achieved 
both  character  and  fortune.  By  sheer  force  of 
will  and  untiring  effort  he  has  worked  his  way 
upward  and  is  numbered  among  the  leading  busi- 
ness men  of  Xampa,  Idaho. 

A  native  of  Utah,  he  was  born  in  Wellsville, 
November  3,  1860,  and  is  of  Scotch  ancestry. 
His  father,  John  Stoddard,  was  born  in  Scotland 
and  during  his  boyhood  emigrated  to  the  United 
States,  in  company  with  his  father  and  the  other 
members  of  the  family,  a  location  being  made  in 
Utah.  During  his  business  career  he  followed 
farming  and  engaged  in  the  sawmill  business. 
He  married  Miss  Emily  Kershaw,  a  native  of 
England,  who  departed  this  life  in  the  twenty- 
eighth  year  of  her  age,  leaving  four  children,  all 
yet  living.  The  father  passed  away  when  fifty- 
five  years  of  age. 

Alexander  Stoddard,  their  second  son,  was 
educated  in  Utah,  and  when  eleven  years  of  age 
began  to  learn  the  trade  of  manufacturing  lum- 
ber in  his  father's  sawmill,  since  which  time  he 
has  continued  in  that  line  of  business.  He  is 
now  a  part  owner  of  a  sawmill  at  Baker  City,' 
Oregon,  and  in  1886  he  located  at  Nampa,  where 
he  opened  a  yard  for  the  sale  of  his  lumber.  Not 
long  afterward  he  purchased  a  hardware  store, 
and  in  1898  erected  a  large  brick  store  in  the 


center  of  the  business  district,  in  which  he  con- 
ducts his  hardware  trade.  He  has  won  a  good 
patronage,  enjoying  the  public  confidence,  be- 
cause of  his  honorable  business  methods  and  his 
courteous  treatment  of  his  patrons.  Other  en- 
terprises have  also  claimed  his  time  and  atten- 
cion.  He  was  instrumental  in  organizing  the 
Nampa  Fruit  Evaporating  Company,  which  has 
a  large  and  well  arranged  building  and  uses  the 
Monteith  patent,  with  a  capacity  of  fifteen  thou- 
sand pounds  of  green  fruit  per  day.  The  country 
surrounding  Nampa  is  a  fine  fruit  district  and 
the  evaporator  will  therefore  furnish  an  excellent 
market  for  the  products  of  the  orchard.  In  con- 
nection with  a  partner  Mr.  Stoddard  owns  six 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land, 
in  Uinta  county,  Wyoming,  on  which  they  are 
extensively  engaged  in  stock-raising. 

On  the  igth  of  January,  1892,  was  celebrated 
the  marriage  of  our  subject  and  Miss  Mary  Ann 
Parkinson,  a  native  of  Grantsville,  Utah.  They 
have  six  children:  Laura,  Edna,  Cora,  Charles, 
Hortense  and  Veda.  Socially  Mr.  Stoddard  is 
connected  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  in  politics  is  a  "silver"  Republican, 
but  has  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  seek  pub- 
lic office,  preferring  to  devote  his  energies  to  his 
business  interests,  which  are  varied  and  exten- 
sive. He  is  a  man  of  resourceful  business  ability 
and  along  many  lines  has  successfully  conducted 
his  operations,  steadily  advancing  to  a  place 
among  the  substantial  citizens  of  the  state  of 
Idaho.  He  has  met  obstacles  and  difficulties, 
but  has  overcome  them  by  determined  purpose, 
and  by  energy  and  careful  management  has  won 
prosperity. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


WASHINGTON   COUNTY— ITS   TOWNS,  RESOURCES,  ETC. 


WASHINGTON  COUNTY  lies  on  the 
western  border  of  the  state  of  Idaho,  and 
about  five  hundred  miles  from  the  Pacific 
coast.  It  contains  a  large  area  of  land  suited  to 
various  purposes.  It  has  a  population  of  over 
five  thousand  people.  Its  inhabitants  are,  gener- 
ally speaking,  enterprising  and  thrifty  people, 
many  of  them  having  settled  here  in  the  early 
6o's  and  have  remained  ever  since.  The  early 
settler  devoted  himself  to  stock-raising  and 
placer-mining,  and  he  thought  that  was  all  the 
county  was  fit  for.  But  as  the  county  began 
settling  up  it  was  soon  found  that  anything  which 
grew  in  a  temperate  climate  would  grow  here. 

Washington  county  is  now  considered  to  be  a 
kingdom  within  itself,  as  it  produces  everything 
necessary  for  comfort  and  happiness.  Its  re- 
sources are  so  varied  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  mention  all  of  them  in  this  connection. 

Agriculture  and  kindred  industries  are  pursued 
more  at  present  than  anything  else.  This  in  the 
past  has  been  confined  largely  to  the  raising  of 
wheat,  and  hay.  But  of  late  years  our  farmers 
have  been  planting  large  orchards  and  diversify- 
ing their  products  generally. 

Anywhere  in  the  valleys  all  kind  of  grain,  fruits 
and  cereals  can  be  successfully  grown.  Wherever 
Washington  county  fruit  is  exhibited  it  always 
carries  away  a  premium.  At  a  recent  state  fair 
held  in  Boise,  Washington  county  carried  off 
more  premiums  than  any  other  county  in  the 
state. 

But  agriculture  is  not  the  only  industry  of  the 
county,  by  any  means.  The  northern  portion  of 
the  county, which  is  mostly  mountainous,  is  thick- 
ly studded  with  pine  timber,  the  supply  of  which 
is  practically  inexhaustible.  In  the  past  it  has 
been  used  largely  for  fuel  and  in  mining,  but  it 
is  a  shame  to  burn  up  such  fine  saw  timber  when 
there  is  an  abundance  of  other  fuel  right  at  the 
doors.  With  the  advent  of  better  transportation 
facilities  lumber  will  form  an  important  factor  in 
our  commerce. 


There  are  good  coal  indications  all  over  the 
county,  only  awaiting  the  advent  of  capital  to 
develop  them.  In  Crane  creek  canyon,  a  large 
bed  of  good  coal  has  been  unearthed  and  some 
development  work  done.  The  coal  is  of  a  good 
quality,  making  excellent  furnace  coal,  and  can 
be  used  in  the  forge  with  fairly  good  results.  This 
coal  will  coke.  It  has  been  estimated  by  some 
that  there  is  coal  enough  here  to  supply  all  of 
the  state  of  Idaho.  Up  on  Middle  fork  is  an- 
other coal  deposit  which  has  been  used  for  black- 
smithing  for  several  years.  One  blacksmith  has 
used  this  coal  ever  since  its  discovery,  and  says 
he  has  used  coal  all  the  way  from  Pittsburg  to 
the  coast  and  has  never  seen  any  superior  to  this. 
On  the  hill  just  above  the  vein  where  he  gets  his 
coal  was  found  a  chunk  weighing  over  a  ton, 
which  gives  evidence  that  there  is  an  immense 
deposit  further  back  that  has  not  yet  been  un- 
covered. 

Down  in  Middle  valley,  which  adjoins  the 
Salubria  valley  on  the  south,  are  strong  indica- 
tions of  petroleum.  In  fact  it  is  almost  impossi- 
ble to  get  good  water  in  some  locations  on  ac- 
count of  the  strong  coal-oil  taste. 

The  raising  of  range  stock  is  still  carried  on  to 
a  large  extent.  The  abundance  of  fine  range  on 
the  hills  which  surround  the  numerous  valleys 
make  this  the  stock-raisers'  paradise  and  make 
it  possible  to  conduct  the  business  on  a  large 
scale  at  a  very  small  cost.  Animals  keep  fat  on 
the  range  nine  or  ten  months  in  a  year.  As  a 
general  thing  they  are  gathered  into  the  feed 
yard  in  December  and  turned  out  again  in  March. 
Sheep  are  summered  back  in  the  mountains  and 
driven  down  to  the  lower  land  in  the  fall,  where 
they  are  kept  until  after  lambing  and  shearing 
are  over.  The  tendency  of  late  years  has  been 
to  get  rid  of  the  scrub  stock  and  breed  up  to  a 
higher  standard,  and  as  a  result  Washington 
county  cattle,  hogs  and  mutton  sheep  are  sought 
for  by  buyers  from  all  over  the  country. 

At  present  Washington  county  only  has  a  few 


266 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


267 


miles  of  railroad.  The  Oregon  Short  Line  taps 
the  county  at  the  extreme  southern  end,  running 
through  Weiser  and  crossing  the  Snake  river 
into  Oregon  a  short  distance  from  that  place. 
There  will,  however,  soon  be  a  railroad  running 
the  entire  length  of  the  county  from  north  to 
south.  Starting  from  some  point  on  the  Oregon 
Short  Line  (the  exact  location  of  which  has  not 
been  decided  upon),  a  survey  has  been  run  up 
the  Weiser  river  through  Middle  valley,  Salubria, 
Alpine,  Council,  and  following  up  Hornet  creek 
terminates  at  the  famous  Seven  Devils.  It  is  also 
proposed  to  run  a  branch  road  from  Salubria  in 
a  northwesterly  direction  to  Ruthburg. 

SALUBRIA   VALLEY. 

This  is  in  the  geographical  center  of  Washing- 
ton county,  Idaho.  It  is  about  sixty-five  miles 
southeast  of  the  famous  Seven  Devils  mining  dis- 
trict and  seventy-five  miles  east  of  north  of  Boise, 
the  state  capital.  It  has  a  population  (including 
families  on  the  small  streams  which  run  into  the 
valley,  and  which  are  practically  a  part  of  this 
valley)  of  about  twelve  hundred  people,  and  con- 
tains about  forty-five  square  miles  of  rich  agri- 
cultural land,  very  level,  with  a  gradual  slope  to- 
ward the  rivers  which  course  through  it.  The 
Big  Weiser  river  flows  the  entire  length  of  the 
valley,  while  the  Little  Weiser  flows  only  a  short 
distance  and  forms  a  partnership  with  its  bigger 
brother  just  below  the  town  of  Salubria.  The 
two  streams  furnish  an  ample  supply  of  water 
for  all  the  needs  of  the  valley.  Mills,  factories, 
smelters,  etc.,  have  no  use  for  steam  engines,  as 
there  is  sufficient  water  power  in  the  Big  Weiser 
to  run  all  the  machinery  that  will  ever  be  needed 
here. 

Salubria  valley  contains  about  twelve  thousand 
six  hundred  acres  of  land  under  cultivation.  This 
land  produces  almost  anything  that  is  put  in  the 
ground.  Many  farmers  here  own  from  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  to  one  thousand  acres  of  land,  and 
having  more  than  they  can  handle  profitably  are 
willing  to  dispose  of  it  to  settlers.  The  average 
price  of  lands  is  thirty  dollars  to  thirty-five  dol- 
lars per  acre.  If  these  farms  were  cut  up  into 
forty  or  eighty  acre  tracts,  the  present  amount 
of  cultivated  land  is  capable  of  sustaining  at  least 
three  times  the  population  it  now  has.  There  are 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 


uncultivated  deeded  land,  most  of  which  could  be 
converted  into  good  farms,  and  about  half  that 
amount  of  government;  land.  This  includes  the 
valley  lands  only.  All  of  the  best  land  in  the 
valley  has  been  taken  up,  but  there  remains  ten 
thousand  acres  of  hill  land  which  can  be  taken 
up  as  homesteads  and  which  produces  better  fall 
grain  than  the  low  land  of  the  valley.  It  being 
rolling,  the  ground  does  not  flood  when  the  snow 
melts  in  the  spring,  and  fall-sown  grain  gets  a 
sufficiently  good  start  by  the  spring  rains  so  that 
it  is  past  the  danger  point  before  the  dry  season 
sets  in.  Much  of  the  hill  land  can  be  irrigated 
from  springs. 

Prices  of  uncultivated  deeded  land  range  from 
four  dollars  per  acre  up.  So  it  will  be  seen  that 
there  is  an  abundance  of  good  farm  land  here. 
The  only  drawback  in  the  past  has  been  trans- 
portation facilities,  but  this  problem  is  about  to 
be  solved  by  the  building  of  railroads. 

THE  TOWN   OF   SALUBRIA. 

As  Salubria  valley  is  in  the  geographical  cen- 
ter of  Washington  county,  so  also  is  Salubria 
in  the  Salubria  valley.  It  is  advantageously  situ- 
ated in  the  very  heart  of  one  of  the  greatest  min- 
ing, agricultural  and  stock-raising  sections  of 
Idaho.  Its  inhabitants  are  enterprising  and  in- 
dustrious people,  who  are  always  awake  to  the 
best  interests  of  their  town  and  themselves. 

Situated,  as  it  is,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Big 
and  Little  Weiser  rivers,  it  possesses  irrigating 
and  manufacturing  advantages  not  excelled  by 
any  other  town  in  the  west. 

East,  west,  north  and  south  of  Salubria,  as 
far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  may  be  seen  immense 
fields  of  luxuriant  grain  and  beautiful  meadows, 
dotted  with  farm  houses  and  fine  orchards;  while 
thousands  of  cattle,  horses  and  sheep  roam  the 
adjacent  hills  and  plateaux,  and  grow  fat  upon 
their  nutritious  wild  grass. 

Salubria  is  a  business  center  for  all  this  vast 
agricultural,  mining  and  stock-raising  country 
which  surrounds  it.  In  fact  it  only  needs  a  glance 
at  the  map  to  convince  one  that  it  is  the  "hub" 
of  the  county. 

The  warm  springs,  about  two  miles  north  of 
Salubria,  are  destined  to  become  a  famous  sum- 
mer resort.  They  contain  medicinal  properties 
common  to  mineral  springs,  the  exact  analysis 


268 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


of  which  we  have  never  learned.  If  the  water 
from  here  were  piped  down  to  Salubria,  and  a 
bathing  place  built  and  water  used  for  heating 
purposes  in  business  houses  and  residences,  the 
promoters  would  realize  handsomely  on  the  in- 
vestment. 

MIDDLE   VALLEY. 

Middle  valley  is  about  five  miles  west  of  south 
from  Salubria.  It  is  very  similar  to  Salubria  val- 
ley in  climate,  products,  etc.  All  that  has  been 
said  of  Salubria  valley  can  truthfully  be  said  of 
Middle  valley.  It  contains  an  area  of  about  forty 
square  miles,  and  is  well  supplied  with  water  for 
irrigating  purposes,  having  a  canal  from  the 
Weiser  river  on  the  east  side  and  Keithley  creek 
on  the  west. 

This  valley  has  about  fifteen  thousand  acres 
under  cultivation,  and  about  seven  thousand 
acres  of  uncultivated  land;  eighty  per  cent  of 
the  uncultivated  land  is  government  land  and 
open  to  settlement.  It  is  estimated  that  between 
fifty  and  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  government 
land  would  make  good  farm  land  if  taken  up 
and  cultivated.  This  would  leave  over  four  thou- 
sand acres  of  good  tillable  land  that  may  be  had 
for  taking.  By  building  reservoirs  for  storing 
water  for  irrigating  purposes,  a  much  larger  area 
could  be  brought  under  cultivation  with  very 
small  expense.  The  principal  products  of  this 
valley  are  wheat,  oats,  barley,  rye,  apples,  prunes, 
pears,  peaches  and  small  fruits.  Lumber  and 
stock-raising  are  also  important  factors  in  tribu- 
tary resources. 

COUNCIL  VALLEY. 

The  town  of  Council  is  the  metropolis  of  this 
valley.  The  town  has  a  population  of  about 
one  hundred  people,  and  supports  three  general 
merchandise  stores,  and  a  hotel,  saloon,  black- 
smithshop,  etc.,  in  proportion.  The  town  has  an 
enterprising  and  progressive  class  of  citizens,  and 
is  pushing  ahead  with  a  future  that  its  people 
would  not  exchange  with  any  town  in  the  county. 
The  principal  industries  of  the  valley  are  farming, 
stock-raising,  mining  and  lumbering.  Its  prod- 
ucts are  wheat,  oats,  cane,  barley  and  hay,  as 
well  as  all  kinds  of  hardy  fruits.  The  valley  con- 
tains about  sixteen  thousand  acres  of  cultivated 
land  and  one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  unculti- 


vated land.  About  fifty  per  cent  of  the  latter  is 
government  land.  It  is  estimated  that  about 
twenty  per  cent  of  the  government  land  could  be 
cultivated.  The  town  of  Council  is  twenty-two 
miles  from  Salubria. 

INDIAN   VALLEY. 

Alpine  is  the  chief  town  of  Indian  Valley.  It 
is  ten  miles  from  Salubria.  It  is  a  small  town, 
but  is  growing  and  has  bright  future  prospects. 
The  valley  contains  sixteen  thousand  acres  of 
deeded  land;  four  thousand  under  cultivation, 
and  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  of  gov- 
ernment land.  Its  principal  industries  are  farm- 
ing and  stock-raising.  The  principal  products 
are  wheat,  oats,  barley,  hay,  fruit,  vegetables, 
pork  and  wool.  It  is  very  similar  in  every  re- 
spect to  the  valleys  above  mentioned. 

The  town  of  Indian  Valley  is  about  five  miles 
beyond  Alpine  and  is  the  terminus  of  the  Weiser- 
Indian  Valley  stage  line.  It  is  in  the  center  of  a 
rich  agricultural  and  stock-raising  country. 

RUTHBURG. 

Ruthburg  precinct  has  a  population  of  about 
one  hundred  people.  The  post-office  is  located 
twenty-three  miles  northwest  from  Salubria.  The 
altitude  is  lower  than  that  of  Salubria  valley,  it 
being  almost  on  a. level  with.  Snake  river.  Its 
products  are  all  and  more  than  can  be  raised  in 
the  higher  valleys.  Owing  to  its  mild  climate, 
some  of  the  more  tropical  fruits  which  cannot 
be  raised  here  do  well  in  that  valley.  The  Ruth- 
burg  country  prides  itself  on  the  excellent  quality 
of  its  fruits.  Mining  is  an  important  industry 
and  quite  an  item  at  Ruthburg.  There  are  many 
good  mines  here,  producing  gold,  silver,  copper 
and  iron.  The  mountains  around  Ruthburg  are 
a  continuation  of  the  Seven  Devils  range,  and  it 
is  considered  by  experts  that  just  as  good  copper 
mines  as  the  Peacock  in  the  Seven  Devils  will  be 
found  here. 

BROWNLEE. 

Brownlee  is  at  the  ferry  across  the  Snake  river. 
Continuing  on  from  Brownlee  the  wagon  road 
passes  through  Pine  valley  and  reaches  Cornu- 
copia. Pine  valley  is  a  large  agricultural  and 
grazing  country  and  Cornucopia  is  a  mining 
camp  of  about  one  thousand  people. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


269 


MEADOWS. 

Continuing  on  up  the  road  from  Council  we 
come  to  the  Meadows.  This  neighborhood  has 
a  population  of  about  three  hundred.  The  town 
contains  two  stores,  a  blacksmith  shop,  hotel, 
etc.  It  is  the  place  where  prospectors  purchase 
the  last  of  their  supplies  before  going  back  into 
the  mountains.  The  principal  industries  are 
farming,  stock-raising,  mining  and  lumbering. 
There  are  endless  forests  containing  fine  lumber 
material. 

HORNET   CREEK. 

Continuing  on  up  Hornet  creek  to  Dale  and 
Bear,  one  passes  through  a  rich  agricultural, 
stock  and  fruit-raising  country.  The  conditions 
here  are  about  the  same  as  in  the  lower  valleys, 
except  that  nearer  the  mountains  the  valleys 
gradually  narrow,  and  the  altitude  being  higher, 
the  growing  season  is  necessarily  a  little  shorter. 

LONG  VALLEY. 

Situated  a  little  south  of  east  from  Salubria 
and  just  outside  of  the  county  line  is  Long  val- 
ley. The  valley  has  a  population  of  fourteen 
hundred  people.  As  its  name  indicates  it  is  a 
very  long  valley,  containing  seven  townships  of 
surveyed  land ;  twenty  thousand  acres  under  cul- 
tivation and  one  hundred  thousand  uncultivated. 
About  sixty  per  cent  of  the  uncultivated  could 
be  made  good  producing  land.  About  three 
thousand  head  of  cattle  and  six  hundred  head  of 
horses  roam  its  hills.  The  principal  industries 
are  stock-raising  and  dairying.  Hay,  grain  and 
vegetables  do  well  in  this  valley  and  the  people 
are  just  learning  that  the  hardier  fruits  can  be 
raised  as  well  there  as  anywhere  else. 

CRANE  CREEK. 

The  Crane  creek  and  Paddock  valley  country 
comprises  the  bigger  part  of  the  southwestern 
portion  of  the  county,  and  it  is  a  vast  agricultural 
and  stock  country.  It  contains  three  post-offices, 
namely,  Brannan,  Crane  and  Wilburs. 

WEISER. 

Weiser,  the  county-seat  of  Washington  county, 
is  located  in  the  extreme  southern  portion  of  the 
county  on  Snake  river  and  on  the  west  bank 
of  Weiser  river,  which  joins  the  Snake  at  this 
point,  and  is  the  central  point  for  an  immense 


tract  of  the  most  fertile  and  productive  land  in 
Idaho.  Weiser  is  the  base  for  supplies  for  all  the 
country  north  as  far  as  Salmon  river,  the  new 
iron  bridge  for  that  river  having  been  freighted 
from  here,  this  being  the  only  possible  route 
practicable  for  wagon  traffic.  County  and  state 
roads  lead  to  all  important  points  in  central  and 
northern  Idaho  and  a  portion  of  eastern  Oregon 
embracing  a  territory  at  least  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  square  and  giving  Weiser  exceptional 
idvantages  in  the  matter  of  location.  Weiser 
is  also  the  distributing  point  for  twenty-three 
post-offices. 

A  direct  natural  roadway  up  the  Weiser  river 
connects  Weiser  with  Middle,  Salubria,  Indian 
and  Council  valleys;  and  a  telephone  line  thirty- 
five  miles  in  length  now  connects  Weiser  with 
those  valleys.  This  is  the  only  route  to  the  great 
Seven  Devils  copper  camps. 

The  exports  consist  of  cattle,  horses,  hogs, 
sheep,  wool,  hides,  fruit  and  other  farm  products! 
and  silver,  gold  and  copper  ores.  All  branches 
of  business  are  well  represented. 

The  court-house  is  a  new  brick,  and  is  in  every 
way  creditable,  of  pleasing  style,  and  the  ap- 
pointments for  all  the  officials  being  ample  and 
convenient.  The  edifice  for  the  new  graded 
school  is  of  brick,  two  stories,  divided  into  four 
rooms,  with  ample  halls  and  cloak  rooms,  and 
fully  furnished  and  equipped  with  all  required 
appliances,  and  is  ably  and  carefully  conducted. 
,  The  business  blocks  are  of  brick  and  erected  in 
pleasing  style.  The  hotels  are  adapted  to  all 
classes,  and  the  little  city  can  point  with  pride 
to  the  best  one  in  the  state,— a  handsome  brick, 
with  all  modern  conveniences,  and  conducted  in 
a  manner  that  leaves  no  occasion  for  reasonable 
complaint. 

Religious  denominations  are  well  represented. 
The  Baptists  have  a  very  neat  church  building 
and  a  large  and  growing  membership.  The  Epis- 
copalians have  completed  an  elegant  church,  in 
which  divine  service  is  regularly  held  and  largely 
attended.  The  Congregational  society  have  dedi- 
cated a  convenient  and  commodious  church 
building,  and  have  a  strong  and  steadily  increas- 
ing congregation.  The  Catholics  (Roman)  have 
a  desirable  church  property,  and  it  is  with  satis- 
faction that  we  can  note  a  social  advancement 
in  proportion  to  our  material  progress,  and  those 


270 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


who  come  from  the  adult  communities  of  the 
older  states  will  here  find  ample  educational  facil- 
ities and  religious  homes  in  place  of  those  left 
behind,  and  day  by  day  the  clouds  roll  back,  lift- 
ing in  the  full  sunshine  of  new  prosperity  and 
enlightenment. 

Another  and  a  very  attractive  feature   is  the 
climate,  which  for  salubrity  is  unequaled,  the  per- 
centage of  deaths  by  disease  being  less  than  any 
of  the  United  States.    Starting  from  New  York, 
traveling  by  way  of  any  of  the  great  routes  across 
the  continent,  as  soon  as  the  Boise  river  is  crossed 
the  temperature  moderates,  and  from  there  to  the 
crossing  of   Snake  river,   twenty  miles   west   of 
Weiser,  the  difference  is  very  marked.    This  is 
due,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  the  north  line  of 
the  valley  is  environed  by  high  hills  that  protect 
us  from  the  northern  storms.    Again,  by  reason 
of  its  nearness  to  the  Pacific  (the  actual  distance 
being  only  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles)  and  the 
elevation  of  Weiser  being  only  two  thousand  one 
hundred  feet  above  sea  level,  the  climate  is  re- 
markably mild,  the  summers  are  long  and  during 
the  day  very  warm,  but  evening  never  fails  to 
bring  cool  breezes,  and  a  sultry  night  is  a  rare 
exception  even  in  Snake  river  valley,  and  when 
these- hot  clays  come,  as  come  they  must  to  ripen 
grain  and  fruit,  then  only  a  short  day's  drive  and 
we  have  the  snow-fed  streams  and  pine-covered 
mountains.     At  any  month  of  the  year  from  the 
heat  of  the  valley  one  can  look  away  and  see 
some   giant   peak   snow-capped  and   suggesting 
cooling  shades  and  healthful  retreats.    The  win- 
ters are  short  as  compared  with  those  of  the  east- 
ern states.     During  one  season  there  was  none 
at  all,  and  the  average  time  that  sheep  are  fed 
will  not  exceed  sixty  days,  often  less.     Cyclones 
have  never  presumed  to  put  in  an  appearance. 
But  many  of  the  residents  from  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska are  becoming  reconciled  to  their  absence, 
showing  that  cyclones  are  not,  after  all,  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  perfect  happiness!     Thunder 
storms  occur,  but  are  not  frequent,  and  are  not 
by  any   means  of  that  demonstrative  kind  that 
happen  in  by  way  of  the  stovepipe  and  take  the 
whole  house  with  them  when  they  leave, — none 
of  that  sort.     In  brief,  the  climate  here  is  one 
that  for  all  seasons  cannot  be  excelled  by  any 
country,   and,  truly  said,   equaled  by  very  few. 
Malarial  diseases  are  very  uncommon  and  can  be 


traced  to  local  causes  in  every  instance,  and  the 
general    health   of  the   community  is   a   serious 
drawback  to  gentlemen  of  the  medical  profession. 
As  the  days  of  gold  digging  began  to  lose  their 
attraction  by  reason  of  smaller  production  some 
of  the  old  pioneers  remembered  that  away  back 
in  the  land  of  the  rising  sun  there  used  to  be  a 
fashion  among  men  of  tilling  the  soil,  and  as  a 
result  crops   of   different  kinds   were  produced, 
good  for  man  and  beast  to  eat.    The  valleys  were 
pleasant  to  look  at  and  the  experiment  was  tried. 
Ground  was  broken  and  the  seed  put  in.    Water 
was  brought  from  the  abundant  streams,  and  the 
results  were  astounding.    As  by  magic  the  desert 
blossomed  and  the  memories  of  old  home  farms 
were  eclipsed  by  results  in  the  new  land.     These 
experiments,  and  they  cannot  be  classed  much 
higher,  demonstrated  that  here  was  a  soil  and 
all  the  climatic  conditions  necessary  to  successful 
and  highly  varied  agriculture,  and  moreover  its 
proximity   to  the   mining  and   lumber   districts 
would  in  the  near  future  furnish  a  home  demand 
that  would  insure  remunerative  prices.    The  soil 
of  all  the  valleys  is  eminently  productive  and  con- 
tains all  the  elements — vegetable  and  mineral — 
required  to  impart  the  highest  degree  of  fertility 
and  producing  phenomenal  yields  of  grain,  fruit, 
vegetables  and  hops.     Weiser  is  situated  in  the 
center  of  a  vast  garden.     From  one  of  the  hill 
tops  north  o'f  town  one  sweep  of  the  vision  can 
take  in  a  territory  of  more  than  fifty  thousand 
acres,  and  every  ten  acres  under  cultivation  could 
afford  a  home  and  support  to  ten  people.     It  is 
a  land  for  small  holdings  to  be  well  cared  for 
and  for  the  production  of  a  class  of  commodities 
that  pay  to  raise  and  are  always  in  demand,  but 
their  production  requires  patience,  industry  and 
attention,  and  any  ten  acres  of  sage-brush  land, 
with  proper  water  in  two  years  from  the  start 
will  be  subjugated  and  become  the  owner's  taith- 
ful  supporter  if  the  above  requirements  are  com- 
plied with.    There  is  no  such  word  as  "fail,"  and 
there  is   no   fear  of  over-production,  for  at  all 
times  fruit,  vegetables  and  other  products  can  be 
profitably  shipped  in  car  and  train  load  lots  to 
various  market  points.       Land  is  cheaper  here 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  continent,  produc- 
tiveness and  favorable  climatic  conditions  con- 
sidered.    Nearly  every  product  required  for  can- 
ning purposes,  grows  luxuriantly  here,  such  as 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


271 


berries,  grapes,  apples,  pears,  apricots,  nectar- 
ines, peaches,  plums,  prunes,  etc.,  and  such  veg- 
etables as  sweet  corn,  beans,  cucumbers,  peas, 
tomatoes,  cabbage,  cauliflower,  melons  and  can- 
taloupes are  on  par  with  other  products,  and 
every  year  carloads  are  shipped  to  adjacent  and 
less  productive  localities.  Any  ordinary  garden 
in  Weiser  or  vicinity  will  demonstrate  all  these 
claims.  The  culture  of  hops  promises  to  be  a 
great  resource  of  this  county,  but  fruit  culture  is 
fast  becoming  the  leading  industry  here,  and  the 
record  of  Idaho  at  the  Columbian  Exposition  is 
of  world-wide  notoriety;  the  fruits  receiving  the 
highest  awards  all  came  from  this  (Washington) 
county  and  were  grown  within  ten  miles  of 
Weiser.  And  Mann  creek  valley  is  fast  assum- 
ing the  appearance  of  a  vast  orchard,  and  coming 
years  will  see  this  beautiful  section  wholly  de- 
voted to  fruit-raising.  Any  number  of  other 
localities  afford  equal  facilities. 

The  prune  industry  promises  to  become  a 
leading  feature,  and  to  this  we  will  devote  a 
special  mention.  The  cultivation  of  this  staple 
product  is  an  industry  that  has  been  fully  dem- 
onstrated a  success.  Nowhere  in  the  known 
world  are  found  all  the  conditions  as  here  for  the 
production  of  this  almost  indispensable  fruit,  and 
no  other  locality  has  yet  produced  it  to  such  a 
degree  of  perfection,  and  it  is  confidently  regard- 
ed as  a  source  of  future  wealth  for  this  county. 
The  prune-producing  countries  are  not  numer- 
ous, but  are  confined  to  a  very  limited  number 
of  localities,  and  over-production  is  a  practical 
impossibility.  Encouraged  by  the  success  of  the 
past  few  years  the  industry  has  steadily  assumed 
.  greater  proportion,  and  fruit-growers  are  now 
satisfied  beyond  question  of  the  ultimate  results, 
and  reduced  to  figures  the  profits  seem  fabulous. 
As  a  natural  sequence  hundreds  of  acres  are  now 
set  out  with  prunes;  and  why  not,  since  a  careful 
examination  of  the  facts  as  to  the  profits  derived 
from  a  small  prune  orchard  are  sufficient  to  con- 
vince the  most  conservative?  We  regret  that  our 
space  is  too  limited  to  give  this  all  important 
subject  the  explanation  it  so  justly  deserves.  We* 
have,  however,  prepared  the  following  statement, 
based,  on  correct  figures  and  actual  results,  which 
we  trust  will  convey  to  the  mind  of  the  interested 
reader  something  of  an  idea  of  the  profits  accru- 
ing from  the  prune  industry:  Placing  the  value 


of  unimproved  land  under  irrigation  at  twenty 
dollars,  and  expense  of  fencing  and  breaking 
ground  eight  dollars  per  acre,  makes  actual  cost 
of  land,  ready  for  planting  the  trees,  twenty-eight 
dollars  per  acre.  Ordinarily,  one  hundred  and 
thirty  trees  are  planted  to  the  acre.  Two  year  old 
trees  are  worth  ten  cents  each,  or  one  hundred 
and  thirty  trees  thirteen  dollars.  Expense  of 
planting  is  three  dollars  and  fifty  cents  per  acre. 
Taxes  and  interest  on  investment  and  culture  of 
the  orchard  until  the  trees  are  in  bearing  condi- 
tion, fifteen  dollars — making  the  total  cost  of  one 
acre  of  orchard  in  bearing  condition,  fifty-nine 
dollars  and  fifty  cents.  The  wholesale  price  of 
evaporated  prunes  averages  nine  and  one-half 
cents  per  pound.  The  loss  in  weight  by  evapor- 
ation is  fifty  per  cent.  Hence,  allowing  one-half 
cent  per  pourid  for  expense  of  picking,  evapor- 
ation and  boxing,  the  value  of  the  product  in  the 
boxes  would  be  four  and  one-half  cents  per 
pound.  Counting  two  hundred  pounds  per  tree, 
makes  a  grand  total  of  one  thousand  and  one 
hundred  dollars  per  acre! 

Touching  the  other  resources,  so  vast  a  field 
opens  as  to  make  it  impossible  to  fully  cover  it 
in  the  space  we  have  here.  So  far,  most  of  the 
resources  are  only  sufficiently  developed  to  dem- 
onstrate what  future  well  directed  efforts  can 
accomplish. 

It  is  of  course  generally  known  that  Idaho  has 
always  been  classed  as  a  mineral  state  and  all 
other  industries  have  been  considered  secondary 
in  importance,  and  very  justly;  for  only  a  few 
years  back  are  the  old  days  when  Boise  basin 
was  adding  its  millions  in  gold  to  the  national 
wealth;  and  still  further  in  the  north  old  Flor- 
ence was  producing  fabulous  amounts,  and  in 
fact  all  over  the  territory  placer  diggings  were  in 
operation  and  thousands  of  hardy  miners  were 
taking  the  yellow  metal  from  the  sands  and  scat- 
tering it  with  careless  hands  broadcast.  In  those 
days  of  old,  less  than  ten  dollars  a  day  to  the 
man  was  not  worth  making,  and  so  on  and  on 
this  gold-hunting  army  would  travel,  making 
only  a  superficial  survey  of  the  land.  Lead  claims 
that  to-day  are  worth  millions  were  passed  by  as 
not  worth  taking.  Silver  was  then,  as  now,  of  no 
account.  Copper,  lead,  iron,  gypsum,  and  such 
base  substances,  were  only  impediments  to  be 
cursed  for  their  frequency.  But  those  days  are 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


past — the  record  made  up.  But  yet  in  the  ever- 
lasting mountains  this  hidden  wealth  remains — 
a  treasure  left  for  this  and  future  generations, 
and  of  this  Washington  county  has  her  full  pro- 
portion, and  within  its  limits  are  found  all  of  the 
valuable  materials  just  named  and  coal  in  addi- 
tion. Among  the  mining  camps  of  the  county, 
the  most  prominent  was  Mineral.  Several  mines 
were  in  active  operation,  producing  silver,  and 
giving  employment  to  hundreds  of  men.  The 
recent  action  of  our  glorious  government  did 
not  hurt  Mineral — it  simply  killed  it.  It  is  still 
there  with  myriads  of  others  waiting  for  a  resur- 
rection. Its  two  idle  smelters  are  monuments 
of  former  greatness. 

The  county  abounds  in  streams  that  are 
capable  of  furnishing  unlimited  power  for  min- 
ing and  milling  and  are  now  running  to  wanton 
waste,  that  only  require  to  be  harnessed  to  wheels 
to  furnish  motive  power  and  light. 

THE    SEVEN   DEVILS. 

Eighty  miles  north  from  Weiser,  as  the  road 
runs,  the  district  with  the  above  suggestive  name 
is  situated.     Whence  the  name  no  man  knows. 
By   reason    of   a   clerical   error   in   denning   the 
boundary  line   between   this   and   Idaho  county 
part  of  the  district  was  placed  in  the  latter.    The 
immense  deposits  of  copper  in  this  district  are 
matters   of   astonishment   to   all   investigators — 
either  experts  or  ordinary  visitors — exceeding  as 
it  does,  beyond  question,  anything  of  the  kind 
elsewhere  on  the  continent.     It  is  not  intended 
in  this  to  give  the  names  of  properties.    Sufficient 
it  is  to  say  that  thousands  of  tons  of  ore  are  in 
sight  from  the  surface  that  will  pay  well  now  to 
mine  and  transport  to  Weiser  for  shipment  by 
rail   to   Salt   Lake  for   reduction.     In  and  very 
near    this    district    are   the   Hilderbrancl    mines. 
Bear  Creek,  Plaza  Basin,  Rapid  River  and  other 
promising  points,  all  of  which  are  sure  to  develop 
into  prominent  producing  camps. 

The  greatest  elevation  of  this  county  is  less 
than  eight  thousand  feet,  and  the  mountains 
are  thickly  covered  with  magnificent  forests  of 
pine, fir  and  tamarack, and  the  general  appearance 
of  the  country  very  beautiful  and  abundantly 
watered  by  swift  mountain  streams  and  abound- 
ing in  springs.  On  the  Snake  river  slope  the 
scenery  is  of  the  wildest  description.  The  river 


here,  for  several  miles,  runs  through  a  box  can- 
yon, and  quite  narrow,  and  may  be  said  to  liter- 
ally turn  up  on  its  edge.     The  country  breaks 
very    abruptly    and   the   difference    in    elevation 
between  the  river  and  the  mines  is  nearly  five 
thousand   feet   in   a   distance   of  less   than   four 
miles.     All  the  intersecting  canyons  are  heavily 
timbered  with  pine  and  spruce  and  some  day  will 
be   of  immense  value   for   wood-pulp   manufac- 
tories.    The  east  side  is  a  far  different  country, 
not  nearly  so  rough,  and  the  giant  timber  and 
grass-covered  slopes,  entirely  devoid  of  under- 
brush, give  it  a  park-like  appearance  that  is  pleas- 
ing beyond  description.     Altogether,  it  is  a  fair 
land  to  look  upon  and  will  soon  be  a  profitable 
one  to  be  in.    Nearly  equidistant  from  the  North- 
ern   Pacific   and    the   Union    Pacific,   there   will 
some  day  be  a  strife  for  possession,  and  the  only 
possible   route  into   this  country   is   by   way   of 
Weiser  and  up   the   Weiser   river,  the   distance 
being  about  ninety  miles,  and  most  of  the  way 
on  grades  of  less  than  one  per  cent  to  within  five 
miles  of  the  principal  mines. 

The  timber  resource  is  most  valuable,  and  the 
demand  now  exists  and  is  increasing  for  home 
consumption,  and  for  no  other  reason  but  lack  of 
local  enterprise  and  capital  the  present  supply  of 
lumber  comes  largely  from  Oregon  or  some 
other  point  by  rail,  and  besides  is  not  of  the  best 
quality.  There  is  also  a  large  local  demand  for 
fuel,  that  would  all  be  supplied  from  these  forests. 
All  of  this  will  directly  benefit  Weiser. 

Besides  the  precious  metals  and  immense  de- 
posits of  copper,  iron  and  lead  abound,  and  other 
minerals,  such  as  coal,  asbestos,  gypsum  and  mi- 
ca, are  abundant;  and  the  immense  quantities  of  • 
garnets  found  in  the  copper  mines  would  suggest 
that  they  be  utilized  as  an  abrasive  material,  and 
no  doubt  superior  to  many  now  extensively 
used.  This  should  eventually  become  a  prom- 
inent industry,  as  the  use  for  such  material  is 
constantly  increasing,  and  the  value  of  a  perma- 
nent supply  will  be  appreciated  by  practical  men. 

WARREN. 

This  great  gold-producing  camp  is  directly 
tributary  to  Weiser  and  the  developments  of  the 
past  indicate  that,  if  situated  in  any  other  county, 
it  would  attract  the  attention  of  the  world.  As 
the  most  wonderful  placer  camp  of  the  old  days, 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


273 


the  stories  of  its  richness  are  fabulous;  but  as 
time  passed  the  diggings  available  to  the  primi- 
tive methods  became  too  tame  for  wild  ideas,  and 
gradually  the  population  removed.  But  the  few 
who  remained  turned  their  attention  to  quartz, 
and  now  have  developed  properties  that  are  un- 
surpassed for  richness.  This  camp  is  destined  to 
become  a  permanent  and  wealthy  locality. 

IRRIGATION. 

This  is  an  arid  country.  That  means  that  for 
the  growing  of  all  products  of  the  soil  irrigation 
is  required,  and  in  this  respect  we  are  fully  and 
perfectly  prepared  to  meet  all  requirements.  Our 
never  failing  supply  is  the  Weiser,  a  beautiful, 
swift-flowing  stream  that  heads  one  hundred 
miles  north,  and  is  fed  on  its  way  to  the  Snake 
river  by  numerous  mountain  streams,  and  at  the 
mouth  of  the  canyon  where  it  enters  the  valley  it 
shows,  at  the  lowest  stage  ever  known,  a  depth 
of  three  feet  and  a  width  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet,  and  a  flow  of  eight  miles  per  hour. 
This  record  was  made  in  August,  after  the  maxi- 
mum drain  for  irrigation  was  over.  During  the 


earlier  months  the  amount  of  water  is  far  beyond 
any  possible  requirement.  The  present  irrigation 
facilities  are:  The  Weiser  Water  Company's 
canal,  seventeen  miles  in  length,  which  supplies 
twelve  thousand  acres,  this  being  ample  for  the 
present,  and  can  be  easily  increased  to  double  its 
size;  and  the  Weiser  Irrigation  Company's  canal, 
six  miles  in  length,  which  supplies  over  three 
thousand  acres  and  also  furnishes  power  for  mill- 
ing, the  fall  being  twenty-seven  feet,  offering  un- 
surpassed facilities  for  factories  of  any  kind,  and 
the  capacity  and  usefulness  of  this  property  can 
be  doubled  at  small  outlay.  Mann  creek,  Mon- 
roe and  Jenkins'  creek  valleys  are  all  supplied  by- 
local  streams.  Snake  river  at  this  point  is  a  mag- 
nificent river  one  thousand  feet  wide  and  only 
divides  the  .fertile  valleys  of  Idaho  from  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  equally  productive  lands  in  Ore- 
gon. The  water  is  clear  and  pure,  and  when  the 
demand  comes  for  city  water  works  no  place  in 
the  world  could  excel  Weiser  for  permanence  and 
purity  of  its  water  supply.  Water  is  also  taken 
out  for  irrigation  by  means  of  wheels. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


HON.  JAMES  G.  WATTS. 

TT  MONG  the  practitioners  of  the  bar  of 
j\  Silver  City,  Idaho,  is  James  G.  Watts, 
-*•  *•  who  is  also  a  distinguished  member  of 
the  state  senate.  Pennsylvania  is  the  state 
of  his  nativity,  his  birth  having  occurred 
in  the  town  of  Wellsboro,  July  23,  1858. 
His  father,  Daniel  Watts,  was  a  native  of  Eng- 
land, and  on  crossing  the  Atlantic, to  America 
took  up  his  residence  in  New  York,  whence  he 
afterward  removed  to  the  Keystone  state.  There 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet  Goodrich,  a  na- 
tive of  Tioga  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  a  repre- 
sentative of  an  old  Puritan  family.  During  the 
civil  war  the  father  entered  the  service  of  his 
country  as  a  member  of  the  Union  army,  and 
participated  in  the  celebrated  march  to  the  sea. 
He  died  in  a  New  York  hospital  of  disease  con- 
tracted in  the  service,  leaving  a  widow  and  five 
children.  The  mother  of  these  children  died  in 
1890,  when  she  had  attained  the  age  of  sixty 
years. 

James  G.  Watts  acquired  his  literary  education 
in  the  Mansfield  (Ohio)  Normal  School,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1880.  For  a 
number  of  years  he  successfully  engaged  in  teach- 
ing school,  and  then  began  preparation  for  the 
legal  profession  as  a  student  in  the  law  office  of 
Hon.  T.  W.  McNealy,  of  Pittsburg,  Illinois. 
Later  he  attended  the  Union  College  of  Law,  of 
Chicago,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  April  i, 
1886,  in  North  Platte,  Nebraska.  He  com- 
menced practice  at  Ogallala,  Nebraska,  and  con- 
tinued there  two  years;  then  was  in  Omaha  two 
years.  In  1890  he  removed  to  Idaho  City,  con- 
tinuing a  member  of  the  bar  of  that  place  for 
three  years,  since  which  time  he  has  made  his 
home  in  Silver  City.  Here  he  has  enjoyed  a 
satisfactory  clientage,  and  has  been  connected 
with  most  of  the  important  litigation  tried  in  the 
courts  of  his  district.  He  has  a  keenly  analytical 
mind  and  determines  with  accuracy  the  strong 


points  in  a  suit  without  losing  sight  of  the  de- 
tails. He  is  exacting  in  the  research  and  care 
with  which  he  prepares  his  cases,  and  in  argu- 
ment he  is  strong.  His  ability  has  drawn  to  him 
a  large  practice,  and  his  success  indicates  his 
mastery  of  the  principles  of  jurisprudence.  . 

In  1889  Mr.  Watts  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Pearl  Stoner,  a  daughter  of  S.  A.  Stoner, 
who  was  engaged  in  merchandising  in  Ogallala, 
Nebraska.  They  have  two  children — James  G. 
and  Nancy  E.  Mr.  Watts  is  a  member  of  the 
Episcopal  church  and  of  the  Masonic  lodge  of 
Silver  City,  in  which  he  is  now  serving  as  junior 
warden.  His  political  support  is  given  the  men 
and  measures  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  while 
in  Idaho  City  he  was  elected  to  the  second  ses- 
sion of  the  state  senate.  In  1898  he  was  again 
elected  to  that  position  from  Owyhee  county, 
and  is  now  serving  most  creditably  in  the  upper 
house  of  the  state  legislature,  his  close  study  of 
the  issues  of  the  day  and  the  needs  of  the  com- 
monwealth enabling  him  effectively  to  advocate 
those  measures  which  he  believes  are  best  calcu- 
lated to  promote  the  general  welfare.  At  the 
close  of  the  fifth  session  of  the  legislature  he  was 
appointed  by  Governor  Stuenenberg  chairman  of 
the  code  commission — a  commission  created  by 
the  legislature  to  codify  and  annotate  the  laws 
of  the  state.  He  is  accounted  one  of  the  leading 
lawyers  of  the  state,  one  of  its  most  competent 
officials,  and  is  highly  esteemed  for  those  social 
gifts  and  manly  qualities  which  render  him  popu- 
lar with  all  classes  of  society. 

GEORGE   PETTENGILL. 

The  subject  of  this  review  is  one  whose  his- 
tory touches  the  pioneer  epoch  in  the  annals  of 
the  state  of  Idaho,  and  whose  days  form  an  inte- 
gral part  of  that  indissoluble  chain  which  linked 
the  early  formative  period  with  that  of  latter  day 
progress  and  prosperity.  Not  alone  is  there  par- 
ticular interest  attaching  to  his  career  as  one  of 


274 


- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


275 


the  pioneers  of  Idaho,  but  in  reviewing  his 
genealogical  record  we  find  his  lineage  tracing 
back  to  the  colonial  history  of  the  nation  and  to 
that  period  which  marked  the  inception  of  the 
grandest  republic  the  world  has  ever  known. 
Through  such  sources  have  we  attained  the  true 
American  type,  and  along  this  line  must  our  in- 
vestigations proceed  if  we  would  learn  of  the 
steadfast  and  unyielding  elements  which  consti- 
tute the  basis  upon  which  has  been  reared  the 
lofty  and  magnificent  superstructure  of  an  en- 
lightened and  favored  commonwealth. 

In  1620  Richard  Pettengill  was  born  in  Staf- 
fordshire, England,  and  in  1641  he  landed  on  the 
shores  of  New  England,  there  to  found  a  family 
that  has  sent  its  branches  out  into  various  sec- 
tions of  the  country.  He  married  Johanna 
Ingersol,  and  their  son,  Samuel,  was  married 
February  3,  1674,  to  Sarah  Poor.  On  the  i8th  of 
December,  1692,  was  born  to  them  a  son,  to 
whom  they  gave  the  name  of  Benjamin.  He  was 
the  father  of  Andrew  P.  Pettengill,  the  grand- 
father of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  was 
born  in  1742  and  removed  to  Salisbury,  New 
Hampshire,  where  he  married  Miss  Sarah  Abi- 
gail Greely,  who  was  born  in  1749.  Their  son, 
David  Pettengill,  father  of  our  subject,  was  born 
December  4,  1791,  and  married  Hannah  Quinby. 
She  died,  and  lie  later  married  her  sister,  Sarah 
Abigail  Quinby,  who  became  the  mother  of  our 
subject.  In  1838  they  removed  to  Alton,  Illinois, 
and  the  father  established  one  of  the  first  saw- 
mill industries  in  that  section  of  the  state,  but  he 
was  not  long  permitted  to  enjoy  his  new  home, 
his  death  occurring  soon  after  his  arrival  in  the 
Mississippi  valley.  His  wife  did  not  long  sur- 
vive him,  and  thus  three  little  children  were  left 
orphans  in  that  then  new  country. 

George  Pettengill  was  born  in  Salisbury,  New 
'Hampshire,  on  the  i8th  of  May,  1832,  and  was 
only  ten  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  mother's 
death.  Thus  early  he  was  thrown  upon  his  own 
resources,  and  whatever  success  he  has  since 
achieved  is  due  entirely  to  his  own  efforts.  He 
worked  on  a  farm  and  obtained  his  education  in 
the  hard  school  of  experience.  At  the  age  of 
seventeen  he  secured  a  clerkship  in  a  country 
store,  and  was  thus  employed  until  the  building 
of  the  railroad  from  Alton,  Illinois,  to  Terre 
Haute,  Indiana,  when  he  was  made  superintend- 


ent of  a  number  of  men  engaged  on  the  con- 
struction of  that  road.  In  1852,  with  a  party  of 
fifteen,  he  crossed  the  plains  with  oxen,  taking 
three  hundred  head  of  cattle.  At  Fort  Laramie, 
in  company  with  five  companions,  he  left  the  re- 
mainder of  the  party  and  continued  the  journey 
to  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  where  he  remained  for 
a  month.  On  the  expiration  of  that  period  Mr. 
Pettengill  resumed  his  trip,  by  way  of  the  Honey 
Lake  Valley  route,  to  California,  and,  after  a 
short  time  passed  at  Shasta,  went  to  Weaverville. 
He  engaged  in  mining  along  the  Trinity  river 
until  1858,  when,  attracted  by  the  excitement  at 
the  Eraser  river,  he  made  his  way  thither  in 
search  of  gold. 

The  following  year,  however,  Mr.  Pettengill 
returned  to  California  and  for  some  years  was  en- 
gaged in  hauling  freight  from  Red  Bluff,  then  the 
head  of  steamboat  navigation  on  the  Sacramento 
river,  to  various  points  in  the  northern  section  of 
the  state.  In  1862  he  came  with  a  pack  train 
across  the  mountains  to  Lewiston,  Idaho,  and 
engaged  in  the  raising  of  cattle  and  horses  on 
Squaw  creek,  in  which  undertaking  he  met  with 
excellent  success,  having  on  hand  as  many  as 
three  hundred  and  fifty  head  of  cattle  at  one  time 
and  half  that  number  of  horses.  In  1883  he  came 
to  Boise  and  for  some  time  conducted  the  Central 
Hotel,  but  for  some  years  past  has  been  engaged 
in  the  public  service. 

In  politics  Mr.  Pettengill  has  been  a  lifelong 
Republican,  and  in  1876  was  a  member  of  the 
territorial  council  for  Boise  county.  He  repre- 
sented Ada  county  in  the  state  legislature  in  1884, 
and  from  1887  until  1890  he  was  the  assessor  of 
Ada  county,  a  position  which  he  has  since  filled 
for  six  years.  His  long  service  plainly  indicates 
his  fidelity  to  duty  and  his  ability  in  the  discharge 
of  the  tasks  that  fall  to  his  lot.  He  is  thoroughly 
posted  on  the  value  of  every  piece  of  property  in 
the  county,  and  neither  fear  nor  favor  can  swerve 
him  from  the  path  of  duty  and  rectitude. 

In  1876  Mr.  Pettengill  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Mrs.  Anna  Harris,  and  they  have  three  sons. 
The  eldest,  George  T.,  is  now  in  the  naval  service 
of  his  country,  as  a  member  of  the  crew  of  the 
Puritan.  He  was  at  Matanzas  and  had  the  honor  . 
of  firing  the  first  shot  in  the  Spanish-American 
war.  The  other  sons,  Benjamin  and  Hugh,  are 
twins,  and  are  graduates  of  the  high  school  of 


27G 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Boise.  The  family  is  one  of  prominence  in  the 
community  and  the  members  of  the  household 
occupy  a  prominent  position  in  social  circles. 
His  political  career  has  been  marked  by  fidelity, 
and  in  social  circles  his  genuine  worth  commands 
the  respect  of  all.  He  is  numbered  among  Ida- 
ho's honored  pioneers,  and  his  name  should  be 
placed  high  on  the  roll  of  her  leading  citizens. 

ED   E   MAXEY,   M.   D. 

Illinois  has  furnished  to  Idaho  a  number  of 
her  leading  citizens,  including  Dr.  E.  E.  Maxey, 
of  Caldwell.  He  was  born  in  Irvington,  Wash- 
ington county,  Illinois,  on  the  2ist  of  August, 
1867.  His  ancestors  resided  in  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia and  Tennessee.  His  father,  Dr.  W.  C. 
Maxey,  was  a  practicing  physician  of  Illinois  for 
many  years.  He  was  graduated  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Tennessee,  and,  determining  to  devote  his 
energies  to  the  medical  profession,  has  gained 
marked  prestige  therein.  During  the  civil  war 
he  joined  the  First  Illinois  Cavalry  and  afterward 
re-enlisted  in  the  Eightieth  Illinois  Infantry, 
being  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant  before 
the  close  of  hostilities,  in  recognition  of  his  meri- 
torious service  on  the  field  of  battle.  For  the 
past  twelve  years  he  has  resided  in  Caldwell, 
where  he  has  secured  a  large  and  lucrative  prac- 
tice. In  politics  he  is  a  Republican  and  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  convention  which  framed 
the  present  state  constitution  of  Idaho.  He  was 
also  at  one  time  commandant  of  the  Soldiers' 
Home  in  Boise  and  is  now  United  States  exam- 
ining surgeon. 

Dr.  Ed  E.  Maxey  is  one  of  a  family  of  seven 
children.  He  prepared  for  his  professional  career 
in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  of 
Chicago,  graduating  in  the  spring  of  1891,  imme- 
diately after  which  he  began  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine in  Caldwell,  where  he  has  succeeded  in 
building  up  a  good  business.  He  is  now  the  resi- 
dent surgeon  of  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad, 
which  passes  through  the  town.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  State  Medical  Association  of  Idaho,  and 
his  prominence  therein  is  indicated  by  the  fact 
that  he  is  now  serving  his  second  term  as  secre- 
tary of  the  organization.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  the  American  Medical  Association.  In  the  af- 
fairs of  Caldwell  he  has  taken  an  active  part,  and 
is  a  public-spirited,  progressive  citizen.  He  has 


filled  the  office  of  coroner,  has  been  a  member  of 
the  city  council,  and  was  the  first  coroner  of 
Canyon  county,  having  been  appointed  to  that 
position  by  Governor  Willey  when  the  county 
was  formed,  and  on  the  expiration  of  his  first 
term  was  re-elected.  Socially  he  is  connected 
with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  is  past  master  of 
Essene  Lodge,  No.  22,  of  Caldwell.  Devoted  to 
the  noble  and  humane  work  which  his  profession 
implies,  Dr.  Maxey  has  proved  faithful,  and  has 
not  only  earned  the  due  reward  of  his  efforts  in 
a  temporal  way  but  has  also  proved  himself 
worthy  to  exercise  the  important  functions  of  his 
calling. 

ANTONE  HINKEY. 

The  popular  proprietor  of  the  Commercial 
Hotel  at  Nampa  is  a  native  of  Ottawa,  Illinois, 
where  he  was  born  April  2,  1857,  his  ancestors 
having  come  from  Germany.  His  early  educa- 
tion was  obtained  in  the  public  schools  of  Ottawa, 
where  he  remained  until  reaching  his  eighteenth 
year,  when  he  went  to  Nevada  and  engaged  in 
farming  and  stock-raising  until  1888,  and  then  he 
came  to  Nampa  and  built  the  Commercial  House, 
which  has  done  the  greater  part  of  the  hotel  busi- 
ness of  the  town.  The  building  is  fifty  by  sixty 
feet,  two  stories  in  height,  and  contains  thirty 
nicely  furnished  rooms.  Mr.  Hinkey  is  a  most 
accommodating  host,  sparing  no  pains  to  make 
the  traveling  public  feel  at  home  and  comfortable 
in  his  house.  The  hotel  is  centrally  located,  con- 
venient to  the  trains  and  the  town  and  has  the 
majority  of  the  transient  trade. 

Politically  Mr.  Hinkey  is  a  stanch  member  of 
the  Democratic  party  and  has  served  his  home 
city  as  trustee,  and  is  numbered  among  her  en- 
terprising and  liberal  citizens. 

GEORGE   O.   SAMPSON. 

George  O.  Sampson,  of  Silver  City,  was  born 
in  Siskiyou,  California,  on  the  nth  of  Decem- 
ber, 1853,  and  is  of  English  lineage,  the  original 
American  ancestors  of  the  family  having  settled 
in  Maine  on  their  emigration  from  the  Old 
World.  Jonathan  Sampson,  the  father  of  our 
subject,  was  born  in  the  Pine  Tree  state  and  en- 
gaged in  the  lumber  business  there.  In  1850, 
however,  he  came  to  the  Pacific  coast  and  en- 
gaged in  mining  in  California,  also  in  lumbering 
in  Siskiyou  county.  In  1855  he  removed  to  Ash- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


277 


land,  Oregon,  and  later  took  up  his  abode  in 
Portland.  He  lived  to  a  good  old  age  and  spent 
his  last  days  at  Garden  City.  His  life  was  up- 
right and  honorable,  in  harmony  with  his  profes- 
sions as  a  member  of  the  Methodist  church.  His 
wife  lived  to  be  sixty-three  years  of  age.  They 
were  the  parents  of  six  children,  five  of  whom 
reached  years  of  maturity,  while  four  are  still  liv- 
ing. 

George  O.  Sampson  acquired  the  greater  part 
of  his  education  in  Portland,  Oregon,  and  on 
putting  aside  his  text-books  became  a  mechan- 
ical engineer.  His  residence  in  Idaho  dates  from 
1864.  He  worked  on  newspapers  for  some  years 
and  in  1871  came  to  Silver  City,  where  he  was 
employed  as  an  engineer  for  about  fifteen  years, 
running  some  of  the  largest  hoists  in  the  camp. 
In  1893  ne  purchased  the  Silver  City  and  De 
Lamar  stage  line,  and  in  January,  1894,  in  part- 
nership with  J.  C.  Brown,  bought  out  the  De 
Lamar  Livery  Company.  In  1895  they  also  pur- 
chased the  Owyhee  livery  stable  at  Silver  City, 
and  in  October,  1896,  they  sold  the  other  stable 
and  the  stage  line  to  Messrs.  Scott,  McCain  and 
Forney,  retaining  the  Silver  City  business.  In 
1896  they  purchased  the  big  Palmer  ranch  in 
Pleasant  valley,  where  they  have  eight  hundred 
acres  of  land  under  fence,  and  cut  about  three 
hundred  tons  of  hay  annually,  while  extensive 
pastures  supply  the  needs  for  their  surplus  live 
stock.  This  is  one  of  the  best  conducted  ranches 
in  southern  Idaho,  and  the  proprietors  also  have 
the  leading  livery  business  in  Silver  City.  Their 
barns  are  well  supplied  with  good  horses  and 
vehicles  of  various  kinds,  and  their  honorable 
business  methods  and  earnest  desire  to  please 
their  patrons  have  brought  them  a  large  and  con- 
stantly increasing  business. 

In  public  affairs  Mr.  Sampson  has  borne  an 
important  part,  and  in  1888  was  called  to  repre- 
sent Owyhee  county  in  the  territorial  legislature, 
where,  giving  careful  consideration  to  every  sub- 
ject or  question  to  be  acted  upon,  he  supported 
such  measures  as  he  believed  for  the  public  good 
and  was  a  valued  member  of  the  house.  He  is 
now  chairman  of  the  "silver"  Republican  county 
central  committee,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the 
"silver"  Republican  state  convention  held  in 
Boise  in  1898.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  state 
central  committee,  and  his  opinions  carry  consid- 


erable weight  in  the  councils  of  his  party. 
Socially  he  is  connected  with  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  and  has  been  master  of  the  exchequer 
in  the  home  lodge.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  lodge  and  has  served  therein  as  master. 
He  is  a  broad-minded  man,  who,  in  his  support 
of  measures  affecting  the  general  welfare,  looks 
beyond  the  exigencies  of  the  moment  to  the  fu- 
ture needs,  and  his  devotion  to  the  public  good, 
his  irreproachable  business  record  and  his  social 
qualities  have  won  him  the  high  esteem  of  all 
whom  he  has  met. 

E.  M.  BARTON. 

There  is  probably  no  better  criterion  of  the 
growing  and  prosperous  condition  of  a  town  or 
city  than  its  hotel  interests.  The  town  which  is 
self-centered,  having  no  connection  with  the  out- 
side world,  is  unprogressive,  its  business  stag- 
nates, and  its  residents  become  lacking  in  enter- 
prise, but  if  connected  with  outside  affairs,  travel 
and  commerce  add  new  life  and  energy,  and  there 
is  a  demand  for  entertainment  on  the  part  of  the 
visitors,  which  makes  good  hotels  a  necessity. 
One  of  the  most  popular  hostelries  in  this  section 
of  the  state  is  known  as  the  Weiser  Hotel,  owned 
by  the  Barton  Brothers,  and  under  the  personal 
management  of  the  gentleman  whose  name  in- 
troduces this  review.  He  has  gained  for  his 
house  a  reputation  that  is  far-reaching,  and  its 
excellence  in  every  particular  has  secured  it  a  very 
liberal  patronage.  The  hotel  building  was  com- 
pleted' in  February,  1897,  and  is  built  of  brick, 
the  main  building  being  one  hundred  and  ten  by 
thirty-two  feet,  two  stories  in  height  with  base- 
ment, while  the  wing  is  thirty  by  seventy  feet  and 
of  the  same  height.  The  hotel  contains  thirty- 
nine  rooms  furnished  and  fitted  up  in  modern 
style  and  supplied  with  the  latest  improvements 
and  conveniences.  E.  M.  Barton,  its  manager,  is 
a  very  genial,  courteous  gentleman,  and  as  he 
does  all  in  his  power  to  make  his  guests  com- 
fortable he  has  become  a  very  popular  landlord 
and  has  many  friends  among  those  whose  lives 
are  largely  devoted  to  travel. 

He  was  born  in  Miller  county,  Missouri,  De- 
cember 1 6,  1856,  and  is  descended  from  Welsh 
ancestors,  who  located  in  the  south  at  an  early 
period  in  the  history  of  this  country  and  were  for 
many  years  residents  of  Tennessee  and  Ken- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


tucky.  John  H.  Barton,  father  of  our  subject, 
was  a  native  of  Bowling  Green,  Tennessee,  and 
in  Kentucky  married  Miss  Olive  Johnson.  In 
1854  he  removed  with  his  family  to  Missouri, 
where  he  owned  lands  and  engaged  in  farming 
until  1873.  He  then  resumed  his  westward 
journey,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  five  chil- 
dren. He  remained  for  a  year  in  Kansas  and  two 
years  in  Colorado,  then  came  to  Idaho,  locating 
in  Weiser  in  September,  1877.  He  departed  this 
life  in  June,  1897,  and  his  estimable  wife  survived 
him  only  six  weeks.  They  were  seventy-nine 
and  eighty  years  of  age,  respectively,  at  the  time 
of  death.  Of  their  children  three  are  still  living. 

E.  M.  Barton,  the  youngest  child,  acquired  the 
greater  part  of  his  education  in  the  schools  of 
Missouri.  He  accompanied  his  parents  on  their 
various  removals,  and  since  coming  to  Weiser 
has  been  engaged  in  business  with  his  brother 
James.  They  have  given  their  attention  to  min- 
ing and  stock-raising  and  are  still  extensively 
engaged  in  those  enterprises.  They  have  ten 
thousand  sheep  and  own  two  sections  of  land,  on 
which  they  raise  one  thousand  tons  of  hay  per 
annum.  They  own  several  valuable  quartz  mines 
in  the  Seven  Devils  mining  district,  and^have 
sold  a  mine  at  Mineral  City  for  nine  thousand 
dollars,  another  for  twenty  thousand  dollars  and 
a  third  for  thirty-two  thousand  dollars.  They 
also  have  valuable  property  interests  in  Weiser, 
in  addition  to  the  hotel,  and  in  connection  with 
managing  the  last  named  enterprise  E.  M.  Bar- 
ton is  also  serving  as  a  director  of  the  Weiser 
Bank.  He  and  his  brother  are  accounted  two 
of  the  most  enterprising,  successful  and  reliable 
business  men  of  Washington  county,  and  enjoy 
the  regard  of  all  with  whom  they  have  been  asso- 
ciated. 

In  1888  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Barton  and  Miss  Carrie  Grab,  a  native  of  Mis- 
souri, and  a  daughter  of  Conrad  Grab,  a  farmer 
of  the  Salubria  valley.  They  have  three  children: 
Edward  Conrad,  a  student  in  Baker  City,  Ore- 
gon; Katie  E.,  and  Inez.  Mr.  Barton  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
fraternity.  He  has  given  his  support  in  many 
generous  ways  to  the  perpetuation  of  those  forces 
which  conserve  the  best  interests  of  any  com- 
munity, and  it  has  been  no  insignificant  part  he 


has  taken  in  the  substantial  upbuilding  of  his 
adopted  city  and  state.  He  is  a  man  of  unim- 
peachable integrity  and  sound  judgment.  His 
mental  acumen  gives  him  a  thorough  compre- 
hension of  large  issues  and  at  the  same  time  an 
appreciation  o'f  all  essential  details.  Such  quali- 
ties have  brought  him  marked  success  and  made 
him  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  his  sec- 
tion of  the  state. 

TROWBRIDGE   C.    EGLESTON. 

Occupying  a  prominent  position  among  the 
leading  business  men  of  Caldwell,  Idaho,  we  find 
the  subject  of  this  biography,  Trowbridge  C. 
Egleston,  wholesale  and  retail  dealer  in  hard- 
ware, stoves,  tinware,  groceries,  provisions, 
wagons  and  farm  machinery.  The  business  of 
which  Mr.  Egleston  is  the  head  was  established 
in  1884  by  Frank  R.  Coffin  &  Brother.  In  1892 
Mr.  Egleston  purchased  the  store  and  has  since 
been  at  the  head  of  its  management,  doing  a 
prosperous  business.  He  occupies  a  brick  build- 
ing, forty  by  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet 
in  dimensions,  with  basement,  and  also  has  two 
large  storehouses,  in  which  his  supply  stock  is 
kept. 

Mr.  Egleston  is  a  native  of  Ohio.  He  was 
born  in  Madison,  that  state,  June  19,  1857,  and 
traces  his  ancestry  to  England.  The  progenitor 
of  the  Egleston  family  in  this  country  was  Eben 
Egleston,  who  settled  in  Massachusetts  at  an 
early  date.  He  was  by  trade  a  tanner,  and  was 
a  most  influential  and  worthy  citizen.  His  family 
comprised  three  sons.  Russell  S.  Egleston,  the 
father  of  Trowbridge  C.,  was  born  in  Westfield, 
Massachusetts,  and  in  early  life  had  excellent 
educational  advantages.  He  graduated  at  both 
Auburn  Theological  Seminary  and  Williams 
College,  and  was  for  many  years  in  the  active 
work  of  the  ministry  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 
He  preached  in  Madison,  Ohio,  Westfield,  Con- 
necticut, and  Gaines,  New  York,  his  pastoral 
work  covering  half  a  century.  He  is  now  eighty- 
three  years  of  age,  vigorous  in  both  mind  and 
body,  and  is  still  a  resident  of  Gaines,  New  York. 
His  good  wife,  who  is  now  seventy-two  years  of 
age,  was  formerly  Miss  Elizabeth  Trowbridge, 
she  being  a  native  of  Dutchess  county,  New 
York.  To  them  were  born  two  sons  and  a 
daughter. 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


279 


Trowbridge  C.  Egleston  was  educated  at  Cor- 
nell University,  Ithaca,  New  York,  and  learned 
the  hardware  business  in  Albion,  that  state,  and 
in  the  hardware  establishment  of  Pratt  &  Com- 
pany, of  Buffalo,  was  employed  for  some  time. 
He  then  became  traveling  salesman  for  the  Cam- 
bia  Iron  Company,  of  Johnstown,  Pennsylvania, 
with  which  he  was  connected  four  years,  and  the 
following  four  years  he  traveled  for  the  Simmons 
Hardware  Company,  of  St.  Louis.  While  thus 
occupied  he  learned  the  manufacturers'  prices 
and  gained  a  wide  range  of  information,  which 
has  been  of  great  value  to  him  since  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  a  business  of  his  own.  On  pur- 
chasing the  store  above  referred  to  at  Caldwell, 
he  centered  his  interests  here  and  from  the  first 
has  met  with  merited  success,  and  he  now  con- 
trols a  trade  that  extends  into  the  surrounding 
country  for  miles. 

Mr.  Egleston  was  married  in  1878  to  Miss 
Sarah  B.  Mann,  of  Pittsfield,  Ohio,  daughter  of 
Philo  H.  Mann,  an  Ohio  stockman.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Egleston  have  two  daughters,  Florence  I. 
and  Ethel  E.  Mrs.  Egleston  is  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  church. 

Fraternally,  Mr.  Egleston  is  a  Mason,  having 
received  the  degrees  of  the  blue  lodge  and  chap- 
ter. He  has  served  Caldwell  as  mayor,  and  is  a 
Republican,  taking  a  commendable  interest  al- 
ways in  public  affairs  and  looking  ever  to  the 
welfare  of  his  city  and  country. 

TIM  SHEA. 

Perhaps  no  one  business  enterprise  or  indus- 
try indicates  more  clearly  the  commercial  and 
social  status  of  a  town  than  its  hotels.  The  wide- 
awake, enterprising  villages  and  cities  must  have 
pleasant  accommodations  for  visitors  and  travel- 
ing men,  and  the  foreign  public  judges  of  a  com- 
munity by  the  entertainment  afforded  to  the 
strangers.  In  this  regard  the  Idaho  Hotel,  of 
which  Mr.  Shea  is  proprietor,  is  an  index  of  the 
character  and  advantages  of  Silver  City,  for  the 
hostelry  will  rank  favorably  with  those  of  many  a 
larger  place,  and  its  genial  proprietor  neglects 
nothing  that  can  add  to  the  comfort  of  his  guests. 

He  is  a  native  of  Canada,  born  January  7,  1852, 
and  is  of  Irish  lineage.  His  parents,  Jeremiah 
and  Teresa  (Regan)  Shea,  were  both  born  on  the 
Emerald  Isle,  and  in  early  life  crossed  the  Atlan- 


tic to  Canada,  where  the  father  died  when  quite  a 
young  man.  His  wife  reached  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-one  years,,  and  departed  this  life  in 
Boise,  Idaho.  Our  subject  was  only  seventeen 
years  of  age  when  he  first  came  to  Idaho.  In 
company  with  his  brother,  Con  Shea,  he  brought 
a  drove  of  cattle  from  Texas  to  this  state,  and 
here  sold  them.  For  three  successive  years 
they  made  similar  trips  and,  although  the  long 
journey  was  often  a  trying  one,  they  were  unmo- 
lested .by  Indians  and  met  with  no  loss.  For  a 
number  of  years  they  continued  in  the  stock  busi- 
ness, making  Silver  City  their  headquarters.  Con 
Shea  now  makes  his  home  in  Santa  Rosa,  Cali- 
fornia, being  one  of  the  wealthy  residents  of  that 
beautiful  city.  He  of  whom  we  write,  however, 
has  continued  his  residence  in  Silver  City  and  has 
become  an  important  factor  in  the  business  life  of 
Owyhee  county.  In  addition  to  his  proprietor- 
ship of  the  Idaho  Hotel,  he  is  also  the  senior 
partner  in  the  mercantile  firm  of  Shea,  McLain 
&  Crete,  proprietors  of  an  extensive  store,  and 
has  an  interest  in  the  Monmouth  mine,  which  is 
located  twelve  miles  from  Silver  City. 

In  1881  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Shea  and  Miss  Lizzy  Conners.  They  reside  in 
the  hotel  and  in  this  community  they  are  widely 
and  favorably  known.  Mr.  Shea  has  a  wide  ac- 
quaintance throughout  the  state,  and  is  very 
popular  with  the  traveling  public.  In  politics  he 
is  a  "silver"  Republican,  but  has  neither  time  nor 
inclination  to  seek  office.  His  energies  are 
largely  devoted  to  his  business  interests,  and  he 
is  a  man  of  excellent  business  and  executive  abil- 
ity, who  carries  forward  to  successful  completion 
whatever  he  undertakes.  He  forms  his  plans 
readily,  is  determined  in  his  execution,  and  his 
regard  for  the  ethics  of  commercial  life,  combined 
with  his  enterprise,  has  won  him  success  and  the 
unqualified  confidence  of  the  community. 

EDWARD  C.  HELFRICH. 

The  superior  business  ability  of  Mr.  Helfrich 
has  been  an  integral  factor  in  the  commercial  ac- 
tivity whereon  has  rested  much  of  the  prosperity 
of  southern  Idaho.  The  world  judges  the  char- 
acter of  a  community  by  those  of  its  representa- 
tive citizens,  and  yields  its  tributes  of  admiration 
and  respect  for  the  ability  and  accomplishments 
of  those  whose  works  and  actions  constitute  the 


280 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


record  of  the  state's  prosperity  and  pride.  There- 
fore it  is  proper  that  a  just  celebrity  should  be 
given  to  those  men  who  are  prominent  in  their 
day  and  generation,  that  the  living  may  enjoy 
the  approbation  of  their  contemporaries  as  well 
as  that  of  a  grateful  posterity. 

Edward  G.  Helfrich  is  one  of  the  leading  and 
pioneer  merchants  of  southern  Idaho,  and  is 
now  successfully  and  extensively  carrying  on 
operations  at  Mountain  Home.  He  has,  how- 
ever, been  the  originator  of  many  other_  enter- 
prises which  have  contributed  not  alone  to  his 
individual  prosperity  but  have  also  promoted  the 
general  welfare.  He  was  born  in  North  San 
Juan,  Nevada  county,  California,  March  n,  1858. 
His  father,  Conrad  D.  Helfrich,  was  a  native  of 
Germany,  and  when  a  young  man  emigrated  to 
the  United  States,  becoming  a  resident  of  Cali- 
fornia in  1850.  Two  years  later  he  returned  to 
Maryland  and  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Gaynor,  bringing  his  bride  with  him  to  his  Cali- 
fornia home.  For  many  years  he  was  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  and  sale  of  soda  water.  He  died 
in  1876,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four  years,  and  his 
wife,  who  still  survives  him,  is  now  sixty-two 
years  of  age.  Both  were  members  of  the  Cath- 
olic church  and  by  their  marriage  they  became 
the  parents  of  nine  children,  of  whom  seven  are 
yet  living. 

Mr.  Helfrich  of  this  review,  the  second  in  order 
of  birth,  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
California,  and  when  fifteen  years  of  age  went  to 
Utah,  where  he  engaged  in  clerking  in  the  store 
of  his  uncle,  J.  W.  Guthrie,  a  prominent  mer- 
chant of  that  territory.  He  continued  in  that 
service  for  seven  years,  acquiring  a  thorough  and 
comprehensive  understanding  of  the  business, 
both  in  principle  and  detail.  Later  he  began 
merchandising  on  his  own  account,  conducting 
stores  in  both  Corinne  and  Ogden.  In  the  fall 
of  1882  he  came  to  Shoshone,  Idaho.  The  rail- 
road was  then  being  constructed  through  this 
section  of  the  state,  but  the  now  promising  and 
progressive  towns  found  along  its  line  had  not 
then  been  founded.  Mr.  Helfrich  formed  a  part- 
nership with  Sam  Holt  and  Howard  Sebree  in 
the  ownership  of  stores  at  Shoshone,  Mountain 
Home.  Caldwell,  Weiser  and  at  Ogden  and  Salt 
Lake,  Utah.  This  connection  was  continued 
until  the  spring  of  1886,  when  the  property  was 


divided,  Mr.  Helfrich  becoming  owner  of  the 
stores  in  Weiser  and  Mountain  Home.  In  1887 
he  consolidated  the  two  stores  and  has  since  re- 
mained at  Mountain  Home,  where  he  has  a  large 
and  well  appointed  store  and  is  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  reliable  and  successful  merchants  of 
the  town.  He  has  built  a  double  store,  fifty  by 
sixty  feet,  in  which  he  carries  a  large  line  of  gen- 
eral merchandise,  and  in  addition  he  has  a  large 
warehouse  adjacent  to  the  railroad  track,  in 
which  he  stores  his  surplus  stock,  also  utilizing 
it  for  the  storage  of  wool,  Mountain  Home  being 
an  extensive  wool  market. 

Mr.  Helfrich  was  happily  married,  in  February, 
1888,  to  Miss  Nellie  G.  Mallison,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania  and  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Mal- 
lison, now  of  Kansas.  She  is  a  lady  of  refine- 
ment, possessing  many  estimable  characteristics. 
Theirs  is  one  of  the  delightful  homes  in  their  lo- 
cality and  they  are  justly  entitled  to  the  high 
esteem  in  which  they  are  held  by  the  citizens  of 
the  town.  In  his  political  views  Mr.  Helfrich  has 
always  been  a  Democrat,  and  has  taken  a  prom- 
inent part  in  promoting  the  interests  of  that  or- 
ganization. He  represented  Alturas  county  in 
the  territorial  legislature  in  1886-7,  but  is  not  an 
office-seeker,  preferring  to  give  his  entire  time 
and  attention  to  his  business,  whereby  he  has  ac- 
quired a  good  property.  His  mercantile  career 
is  above  reproach.  He  has  met  every  obligation 
most  fully  and  honorably,  is  courteous  and  fair 
with  his  patrons,  and  his  reliability  commends 
him  to  their  confidence  and  good  will. 

THE  VENDOME  HOTEL. 

Among  the  enterprises  of  Weiser  which  are 
alike  creditable  to  the  city  and  to  their  proprie- 
tors is  the  Vendome  Hotel,  which  was  built  by- 
its  present  owners  and  managers,  Messrs.  Mc- 
Gregor and  Coakley,  and  by  them  opened  for 
business  in  February,  1891.  Since  that  time  the 
hotel  has  gained  a  very  favorable  reputation  with 
the  traveling  public  and  enjoys  a  large  patron- 
age. It  is  a  brick  structure,  two  stories  high,  and 
contains  twenty-eight  rooms,  well  finished,  well 
furnished,  well  ventilated  and  nicely  kept.  Great 
care  is  given  to  the  perfection  of  all  arrange- 
ments which  will  contribute  to  the  comfort  of 
the  guests,  and  from  the  daintily  spread  tables, 
supplied  with  all  the  delicacies  of  the  season,  to 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


281 


the  tastefully  appointed  parlors,  all  is  harmonious 
and  attractive. 

Malcolm  McGregor,  the  senior  member  of  the 
firm  of  McGregor  &  Coakley,  was  born  in  Pic- 
ton,  Nova  Scotia,  on  the  I4th  of  January,  1845, 
and  in  his  youth  learned  the  machinist's  trade. 
He  afterward  operated  a  stationary  engine  and 
worked  at  his  trade  both  in  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia, and  Virginia  City,  Nevada.  In  1871  he 
removed  to  Silver  City,  Idaho,  where  he  accepted 
the  position  of  chief  engineer  of  the  Ida  Elmore 
mine  and  mill.  He  also  conducted  the  Idaho 
Hotel  there  for  some  time,  but  came  to  Weiser 
in  1885.  Here  he  engaged  in  raising  sheep,  also 
conducted  a  hotel,  but  abandoned  both  of  those 
interests  on  joining  Mr.  Coakley  in  the  erection 
of  and  conduct  of  the  Vendome  Hotel.  He  is  an 
obliging  and  courteous  landlord,  well  fitted  by 
nature  for  the  duties  which  rest  upon  him,  hav- 
ing a  social,  genial  disposition.  He  is  also  num- 
bered among  the  enterprising  and  public-spirited 
citizens  of  the  county  and  withholds  his  support 
from  no  movement  intended  to  advance  the  gen- 
eral welfare.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Tele- 
phone Company  and  the  Creamery  Company, 
and  his  sound  business  judgment  has  contributed 
in  no  small  degree  to  his  success.  As  a  hotel 
man  he  is  widely  known  and  has  many  friends  all 
over  the  country. 

James  B.  Coakley,  the  junior  member  of  the 
firm,  is  a  western  man  by  birth  and  possesses 
the  true  western  spirit  of  progress.  He  is  a 
native  of  San  Francisco,  California,  his  birth  hav- 
ing occurred  on  the  loth  of  October,  1856.  His 
parents,  John  J.  and  Maria  (Hanley)  Coakley, 
were  both  natives  of  Ireland,  and  in  early  man- 
hood the  father  came  to  the  United  States.  He 
was  married  in  San  Francisco,  where  he  now  re- 
sides, at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-two  years. 
He  was  custom-house  inspector  at  New  Orleans 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  for  a  considerable 
period  engaged  in  merchandising  in  California. 
His  wife  died  in  her  fifty-ninth  year.  They  were 
the  parents  of  five  children,  two  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing. 

James  B.  Coakley  acquired  his  preliminary 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  New  Orleans, 
and  afterward  attended  the  Soule  Commercial 
College.  He  dates  his  residence  in  Idaho  from 
1875,  at  which  time  he  took  up  his  abode  in  Sil- 


ver City  and  entered  upon  the  ditties  of  book- 
keeper for  William  Hardiman,  in  whose  employ 
he  remained  for  six  years.  Later  he  engaged  in 
merchandising  on  his  own  account  in  connection 
with  William  Sommercamp,  of  Silver  City,  and 
while  there  was  twice  elected  probate  judge  and 
ex-orficio  county  auditor  and  recorder,  accept- 
ably filling  the  position  for  six  years,  when  he  re- 
signed to  come  to  Weiser,  in  1890.  Here  joining 
Mr.  McGregor  they  inaugurated  their  new  enter- 
prise, and  the  Vendome  Hotel  now  stands  as  a 
monument  of  their  progressive  spirit  and  busi- 
ness ability. 

In  1882  Mr.  Coakley  was  happily  married  to 
Miss 'Myrtle  Stacey,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  they 
have  three  children:  Raynor  J.,  Verna  S.  and 
Donna  D.  Mr.  Coakley  is  connected  socially 
with  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity,  in  which 
he  has  filled  all  the  chairs  of  the  local  lodge,  and 
also  belongs  to  both  lodge  and  encampment  of 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  In  both 
branches  he  has  taken  a  prominent  part  and  has 
been  representative  in  the  grand  lodge.  His  ex- 
tended circle  of  acquaintances  includes  many 
warm  friends,  and,  like  Mr.  McGregor,  he  is 
popular  with  the  traveling  public.  Both  are  men 
whose  success  is  attributable  to  their  own  efforts, 
capable  management,  perseverance  and  consecu- 
tive effort,  and  it  is  to  such  citizens  that  the 
northwest  owes  her  rapid  and  substantial  devel- 
opment. 

»  CHARLES  H.  CRETE. 

A  member  of  the  firm  of  Shea.  McLain  & 
Crete,  prominent  dealers  in  general  merchandise 
at  Silver  City,  our  subject  is  a  native  of  that 
place,  born  April  7,  1866,  and  is  the  son  of  Fred- 
erick and  Wilhelmina  (Kornmann)  Crete,  a 
sketch  of  whom  will  be  found  on  another  page  of 
this  work. 

Charles  Crete  attended  the  public  schools  of 
Silver  City  during  his  boyhood  and  began  his 
business  life  in  a  store  of  William  Hardman.  with 
whom  he  remained  five  years,  during  this  time 
becoming  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  details 
of  the  business  and  acquiring  an  enviable  reputa- 
tion as  a  faithful  clerk  and  good  salesman.  He 
afterward  spent  five  years  with  the  firm  of  Baxter 
&  Company,  in  Jordan  Valley,  after  which  he  re- 
turned to*  Silver  City  and  was  for  nine  years  in 
the  employ  of  Dave  Adams  in  the  store  of  which 


IS2 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


he  is  now  one  of  the  proprietors.  His  ability  and 
diligence  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  his  wide 
experience  and  his  unfailing  courtesy  have  se- 
cured him  the  esteem  not  only  of  the  citizens  of 
Silver  City  but  also  of  the  surrounding  country. 
.  Mr.  Crete  was  married  September  6,  1893,  to 
Miss  Helen  Thompson,  who  was  born  in  Lin- 
wood,  Nebraska,  May  19,  1875,  and  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  R,  C.  and  Elizabeth  Thompson.  They 
have  three  children — Bessie,  Gladys  and  Mirriam 
Rebecca.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crete  are  active  and 
valued  members  of  the  Odd  Fellows  fraternity., 
in  which  he  has  passed  all  the  chairs,  and  Mrs. 
Crete  has  the  honor  of  being  past  noble  grand  of 
the  Daughters  of  Rebekah.  They  have  a  pleas- 
ant home,  in  which  they  delightfully  entertain 
their  many  friends. 

W.  F.  BURNS. 

W.  F.  Burns,  who  has  engaged  in  general  mer- 
chandising in  Nampa  since  1893,  and  is  one  of 
the  successful  merchants  of  the  town,  was  born 
in  McDonald  county,  Missouri,  on  the  25th  of 
February,  1859,  ar>d  is  of  Scotch  and  Irish  line- 
age. His  parents,  E.  F.  and  M.  E.  (Kennedy) 
Burns,  were  natives  of  Georgia  and  Tennessee, 
respectively,  and  several  generations  of  the  fam- 
ily lived  in  the  south.  The  paternal  great-grand- 
father of  our  subject  was  one  of  the  heroes  who 
fought  for  the  independence  of  the  nation.  E.  F. 
Burns  was  a  prominent  farmer,  and  successfully 
carried  on  agricultural  pursuits  for  many  years. 
He  belonged  to  the  Methodist  church  and  took 
an  active  part  in  public  affairs,  being  called  to 
many  positions  of  honor  and  trust!  He  served  as 
United  States  marshal  for  a  number  of  years  and 
discharged  his  duties  with  marked  promptness 
and  fidelity.  At  the  commencement  of  hostilities 
in  the  civil  war  he  espoused  the  Cause  of  the 
south,  joining  the  Confederate  army,  but  early 
in  the  struggle  he  was  made  a  prisoner  of  war 
and  incarcerated  in  Indiana  until  the  war  was  al- 
most ended.  He  departed  this  life  in  the  sev- 
enty-fourth year  of  his  age;  and  his  wife,  who 
had  died  some  years  previously,  was  sixty-six 
years  old  at  the  time  of  her  demise.  They  were 
the  parents  of  eight  children. 

W.  F.  Burns,  a  member  of  their  family  and  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was  reared  on  his  father's 
farm  in  Missouri  and  received  such  educational 


privileges  as  were  afforded  by  the  public  schools 
of  the  neighborhood.  In  1881  he  determined  to 
try  his  fortune  in  Idaho,  and  after  his  arrival 
drove  a  mule  team  and  performed  other  labor 
that  would  yield  him  an  honest  living.  Oppor- 
tunity for  advancement,  however,  is  not  wanting 
to  one  of  ambition  and  determination.  He  was 
industrious,  saved  his  money,  and  in  1889  went 
to  Boise,  where  he  engaged  in  business  on  his 
own  account  as  proprietor  of  a  hotel,  which  he 
conducted  for  four  years,  meeting  with  satisfac- 
tory success.  In  1893  he  came  to  Nampa  and 
opened  a  general  mercantile  establishment.  He 
carries  a  large  and  carefully  selected  stock  of 
goods,  and  by  close  attention  to  business  and 
honorable  methods  he  has  acquired  a  good  busi- 
ness and  won  the  good  will  and  confidence  of  the 
citizens  of  Nampa  and  the  surrounding  country. 
He  erected  a  good  store  and  residence,  the  for- 
mer twenty  by  ninety  feet,  and  is  now  enjoying  a 
large  patronage. 

In  1892  Mr.  Burns  married  Miss  Fannie  W. 
Morrison,  a  native  of  McDonald  county,  Mis- 
souri, and  they  have  three  sons  and  a  daughter — 
Lloyd,  Clarence,  Thomas  T.  and  Laura  D.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Burns  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
church.  In  politics  he  is  independent,  voting  for 
the  men  whom  he  regards  as  best  qualified  for  of- 
fice. He  is  now  serving  as  one  of  the  trustees  of 
Nampa  and  is  an  enterprising,  progressive  citi- 
zen. A  self-made  man,  he  deserves  great  credit 
for  his  advancement  in  life,  for  fate  did  not  favor 
him  in  his  youth.  He  has  been  the  architect  of 
his  own  fortunes  and  has  builded  wisely  and  well, 
placing  his  confidence  in  those  reliable  qualities 
of  energy,  industry  and  honesty  which  in  the  end 
never  fail  to  bring  the  merited  reward. 

JOSEPH  PINKHAM. 

Canada  has  furnished  to  the  United  States 
many  bright,  enterprising  young  men  who  have 
left  the  Dominion  to  enter  the  business  circles  of 
this  country  with  its  more  progressive  methods, 
livelier  competition  and  advancement  more 
quickly  secured.  Among  this  number  is  Mr. 
Pinkham.  He  has  somewhat  of  the  strong, 
rugged  and  persevering  characteristics  developed 
by  his  earlier  environments,  which,  coupled  with 
the  livelier  impulses  of  the  New  England  blood 
of  his  ancestors,  made  him  at  an  early  day  seek 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


283 


wider  fields  in  which  to  give  full  scope  to  his 
ambition  and  industry — his  dominant  qualities. 
He  found  the  opportunity  he  sought  in  the  free- 
dom and  appreciation  of  the  growing  western 
portion  of  the  country.  Though  born  across  the 
border,  he  is  thoroughly  American  in  thought 
-  and  feeling,  and  is  patriotic  and  sincere  in  his 
love  for  the  stars  and  stripes.  His  career  is  iden- 
tified with  the  history  of  Idaho,  where  he  has  ac- 
quired a  competence  and  where  he  is  an  honored 
and  respected  citizen.  Thrice  has  he  served  as 
United  States  marshal  of  Idaho,  and  is  accounted 
one  of  her  bravest  pioneers. 

Mr.  Pinkham  was  born  in  Canada,  on  the  15th 
of  December,  1833,  and  is  a  representative  of  an 
old  New  England  family  who  were  early  settlers 
of  Maine.  The  first  of  the  name  to  come  to 
America  was  Thomas  Pinkham,  a  native  of 
Wales,  who  established  his  home  in  the  Pine 
Tree  state.  Henson  Pinkham,  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  born,  reared  and  married  in  Maine,  and 
a  short  time  prior  to  the  birth  of  his  son,  Joseph, 
removed  to  Canada.  The  latter  was  reared  upon 
a  farm  near  New  London,  and  acquired  his  edu- 
cation in  the  public  schools  of  the  neighborhood. 
In  1850,  when  seventeen  years  of  age,  he  sailed 
from  New  York  around  Cape  Horn  for  San 
Francisco,  and  was  eight  months  making  the 
trip,  and  after  a  short  period  spent  in  the  latter 
city  went  to  Shasta  City,  California,  where  he 
secured  a  situation  as  clerk  in  a  store.  Soon 
afterward,  however,  he  went  to  Pitt  river,  where 
he  engaged  in  placer  mining,  and  next  went  on 
horseback  to  Jacksonville,  Oregon,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  mining  and  farming,  meeting  with  fair 
success. 

On  the  3d  of  August,  1854,  he  went  to  the 
Rogue  river  valley.  The  same  day  the  Rogue 
river  Indian  war  broke  out,  being  precipitated  by 
the  killing  of  a  white  man  near  Table  Rock.  The 
war  continued  for  a  year  and  peace  was  procured 
by  General  Joseph  Lane.  In  the  fall  of  1855, 
however,  trouble  broke  out  anew,  and  Mr.  Pink- 
ham  aided  in  its  suppression.  He  was  in  the 
quartermaster's  department  and  participated  in 
the  battle  of  Hungry  Hill.  He  remained  in  Ore- 
gon until  1862,  devoting  his  energies  to  mining 
and  farming,  and  then  removed  to  Umatilla,  on 
the  Columbia  river,  where  he  engaged  in  clerk- 
ing in  the  store  of  Z.  F.  Moody,  who  was  after- 


ward governor  of  Oregon.  In  1864,  in  connec- 
tion with  Ish  and  Hailey,  he  conducted  a  saddle 
train  between  the  Columbia  river  and  Boise.  He 
was  engaged  in  purchasing  supplies  and  forward- 
ing the  trains  until  1866,  when  he  assisted  in  the 
purchase  of  stage  stock  for  the  Mecham  route  to 
the  Boise  country,  and  also  had  charge  of  the 
road  from  Umatilla  across  the  Blue  mountains 
until  1868.  In  that  year  he  removed  to  Idaho 
City,  Idaho,  and  purchased  the  stage  route  across 
Boise  Basin  to  Placerville,  Pioneer  and  Quartz- 
burg;  and  in  1870  he  bought  the  stage  line  from 
Idaho  City  to  Boise,  conducting  the  two  lines 
until  1872,  when  he  sold  to  the  Greathouse 
brothers. 

In  1870  Mr.  Pinkham  was  appointed  United 
States  marshal  for  the  territory  of  Idaho  by  Pres- 
ident Grant,  and  on  the  completion  of  his  first 
term  was  again  appointed  by  the  same  execu- 
tive. He  filled  the  office  in  a  manner  indeed  cred- 
itable to  himself  and  satisfactory  to  the  govern- 
ment. He  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  position 
at  a  time  when  the  region  was  largely  infested 
with  a  lawless  element  and  when  crime  held  sway 
in  many  districts.  He  was  ever  fearless  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duty,  and  to  his  efforts  is  largely 
due  the  rapid  transformation  of  the  state  to  its 
present  condition  of  advanced  civilization.  A 
brave  officer,  carrying  out  the  laws  of  the  land, 
is  a  bulwark  of  defense  to  the  better  class  of  citi- 
zens and  a  continual  menace  to  the  worst  ele- 
ment. In  1890  President  Harrison  appointed 
Mr.  Pinkham  for  a  third  term  in  the  office  of 
United  States  marshal,  and  he  therefore  carried 
forward  the  work  which  he  had  so  splendidly  be- 
gun, the  work  of  ridding  the  state  of  all  criminal 
characters,  so  that  it  might  become  the  abiding 
place  of  a  prosperous  and  happy  people.  He  had 
several  narrow  escapes  while  discharging  his 
duties,  but  his  bravery  was  ever  above  question, 
and  his  reputation  for  fearlessness  and  loyalty  to 
duty  soon  spread  among  those  who  were  amen- 
able to  law. 

On  one  occasion  he  started  in  pursuit  of  a  crim- 
inal. He  was  riding  on  the  front  seat  of  the  stage 
with  the  driver,  when,  as  they  were  passing 
through  a  narow  defile  in  the  mountains,  they 
were  waylaid  by  two  men.  From  the  brush  at 
his  side  a  rifle  was  pointed  at  Mr.  Pinkham,  so 
near  that  he  could  almost  reach  it  as  he  sat  lean- 


284 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ing  back  with  his  arm  across  the  seat.  The  ball 
from  the  gun  passed  just  in  front  of  him  and 
lodged  in  the  driver.  At  the  same  instant  a  man 
fired  from  the  other  side,  using  a  gun  loaded  with 
nine  buckshot.  Every  shot  struck  the  beam  of 
the  coach  just  behind  the  driver,  passed  through 
the  coach  over  the  heads  of  the  passengers  and 
lodged  on  the  beam  in  the  opposite  side.  The 
driver,  Charles  Phelps,  exclaimed:  "I  am  shot." 
Mr.  Pinkham  then  attempted  to  take  the  lines 
and  whip,  but  could  not  wrench  them  from  the 
grasp  of  the  dying  man;  so,  sitting  in  his  lap, 
he  swung  the  whip  and  urged  the  horses  into  a 
run  toward  Pocatello,  a  distance  of  two  or  three 
miles.  There  the  driver  was  taken  down  and  a 
doctor  who  was  in  the  coach  examined  him,  but 
said  that  the  wound  would  prove  fatal.  So  they 
put  him  in  the  coach,  while  Mr.  Pinkham  sup- 
ported his  head  and  another  man  drove  to  the 
Black  Rock  stage  station,  where,  soon  after  their 
arrival,  the  driver  died.  At  this  place  the  Mon- 
tana stage  came  down,  loaded  with  bullion  and 
accompanied  by  four  well  armed  Wells-Fargo 
messengers.  Mr.  Pinkham  proceeded  on  his  way 
and  arrested  the  man  he  was  after  and  returned 
safely  with  him  to  the  seat  of  justice. 

On  another  occasion,  in  1878,  a  man  was  killed 
at  Ross'  Fork  by  an  Indian,  whom  the  military 
followed  up  Snake  river  and  arrested.  Mr.  Pink- 
ham  then  went  after  the  offender  and  took  him 
to  Malad  City,  where  he  was  tried,  the  sentence 
being  that  he  should  be  hung  at  Boise.  Mr. 
Pinkham  then  started  with  him  in  an  open  rig, 
putting  him  beside  the  driver,  while  he  and  his 
deputy  sat  behind.  They  learned  that  a  large 
number  of  Indians  were  going  to  attempt  his 
rescue,  and  accordingly  they  took  another  route. 
Mr.  Pinkham  instructed  the  deputy  that  if  they 
were  attacked  to  kill  their  prisoner,  and  then  fight 
for  their  own  lives;  but  the  new  route  selected 
prevented  them  from  having  an  encounter  with 
the  red  men.  At  length  they  arrived  safely  in 
Boise,  where  the  Indian  was  hung. 

In  1892,  the  time  of  the  miners'  strike  and  riots 
at  Coeur  d'Alene,  the  members  of  the  Miners' 
Union  were  enjoined  from  interrupting  the 
peaceable  working  of  other  miners.  It  was  Mr. 
Pinkham's  duty  to  serve  the  papers  in  these 
cases,  which  he  served  on  about  five  hundred 
men  in  Shoshone  county,  where  he  and  his  depu- 


ties arrested  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  of  them 
for  violating  the  injunction,  holding  them  in 
Wallace  under  military  guard.  It  was  a  time  of 
great  excitement  and  the  miners  were  very  des- 
perate. Those  arrested  had  a  hearing  before  the 
United  States  commissioner,  and  all  were  dis- 
charged except  about  thirty  of  the  leaders,  one  of. 
whom  was  the  notorious  Ed  Boice.  At  a  special 
term  of  court  held  by  Judge  Beatty  they  were 
sentenced  to  six  months'  imprisonment  in  the 
Boise  jail.  During  the  strike  there  were  fifteen 
non-union  men  working  in  a  mine  near  Burke. 
They  were  surrounded  by  union  men,  who  threat- 
ened to  capture  the  mine  and  kill  the  miners. 
Mr.  Pinkham  was  ordered  to  take  the  men  away 
from  the  mine.  He  ,knew  it  to  be  a  very  difficult 
and  dangerous  duty,  owing  to  the  desperate  char- 
acter of  the  union  men,  and  for  a  time  he  hardly 
knew  how  to  accomplish  the  task,  for  the  head- 
quarters of  the  union  men  were  at  that  place  and 
serious  trouble  was  expected.  Studying  over  the 
matter  during  the  night,  in  the  morning  he  had 
reached  the  determination  to  go  unarmed,  and, 
instructing  his  deputy  to  go  likewise,  they  took 
a  coach  and  engine  to  bring  the  men  away.  At 
Wallace,  about  three  miles  from  Burke,  they  tel- 
ephoned for  the  guards  to  bring  the  men  from 
the  mine  to  the  foot  of  the  hill,  about  one  hun- 
dred feet  from  where  the  cars  would  stop.  From 
his  station  on  the  train  he  could  see  the  men 
come  down  the  hill.  The  yard  was  packed  with 
union  men.  Mr.  Pinkham  and  his  deputy  got 
out  and  walked  through  the  crowd  of  desperate 
and  angry  men,  all  armed,  reached  the  miners, 
and  then  our  subject,  starting  toward  the  train, 
ordered  the  men  to  follow,  the  deputy  bringing 
up  in  the  rear.  In  this  way  they  marched  to  the 
car,  boarded  it  and  pulled  ovit  in  the  midst  of  • 
the  most  horrible  abuse  ever  heaped  upon  any  in- 
dividuals, but  the  daring  feat  was  safely  accom- 
plished and  the  lives. of  the  miners  were  saved 
through  the  skill  and  courage  of  Mr.  Pinkham. 

It  was  also  during  his  service  as  United  States 
marshal  that  the  American  Railway  Union  strike 
occurred,  and  he  also  handled  the  Coxey  move- 
ment successfully  without  the  loss  of  life  or  the 
destruction  of  property. 

It  was  said  of  him  by  the  United  States  at- 
torney general  that  he  had  been  more  successful 
than  anv  other  marshal  in  the  entire  service  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


285 


United  States.  With  a  keen  appreciation  of  the 
great  responsibility  that  rested  upon  him,  with  a 
full  understanding  of  his  duty,  and  without  fear, 
he  met  every  call  without  shrinking  and  made  for 
himself  a  most  creditable  record.  His  name  has 
thus  become  inseparably  associated  with  the 
early  history  of  the  state,  and  Idaho  owes  not  a 
little  to  him  for  the  advancement  which  she  has 
been  enabled  to  make. 

In  politics  Mr.  Pinkham  has  always  been  a 
stalwart  Republican,  has  taken  an  active  interest 
in  the  work  of  the  party,  and  has  been  chairman 
of  the  Republican  state  central  committee.  He 
served  in  that  capacity  for  three  years,  and  by  his 
capable  organization  and  wise  management 
brought  success  to  the  party.-  His  business  inter- 
ests connect  him  with  a  number  of  good  mines  in 
the  state.  He  buys  and  sells  mining  property  on 
an  extensive  scale  and  is  a  mining  expert,  being 
rarely  if  e,ver  mistaken  as  to  the  value  of  ores. 

In  1857  Mr.  Pinkham  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Mary  E.  Gray,  a  native  of  Missouri.  She 
is  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gray,  a  Meth- 
odist minister,  and  in  that  church  she  is  a  valued 
member.  Socially  Mr.  Pinkham  is  a  Mason,  hav- 
ing taken  the  three  preliminary  degrees  in  Uma- 
tilla  lodge,  of  Oregon,  in  1864.  He  is  now  a 
Royal  Arch  Mason  and  a  Knight  Templar,  is 
past  master  of  the  blue  lodge,  past  grand  secre- 
tary and  treasurer  and  past  deputy  grand  master 
of  the  grand  lodge  of  Idaho.  He  is  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Order  of  Elks. 

Such  in  brief  is  the  life  history  of  Joseph  Pink- 
ham.  In  whatever  relation  of  life  we  find  him — 
in  the  government  service,  in  political  circles,  in 
business  or  in  social  relations — he  is  always  the 
same  honorable  and  honored  gentleman,  whose 
worth  well  merits  the  high  regard  which  is  uni- 
formly given  him. 

CHARLES  R.  -KELSEY. 

Among  the  more  recent  accessions  to  the  town 
of  Mountain  Home  is  Charles  R.  Kelsey,  a  gen- 
tleman of  large  business  experience,  who,  as  a 
wholesale  dealer  in  groceries  and  hardware  and 
general  merchandise,  has  already  proved  himself 
a  potent  factor  in  the  business  circles  of  his 
adopted  county.  Mr.  Kelsey  is  a  native  of  New- 
York  state,  born  in  Delaware  county,  at  Can- 
nonsville,  November  2,  1857,  and  in  his  veins 


flows  the  blood  of  French  and  German  ancestors, 
who  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania.  His  father,  Michael  B.  Kel- 
sey, was  born  in  that  city  and  counted  among  his 
relatives  the  distinguished  family  of  Buchanans 
which  furnished  to  the  nation  one  of  its  presi- 
dents. Michael  B.  Kelsey  was  a  prominent  and 
successful  farmer  and  stock  dealer.  He  married 
Miss  Phebe  Galusha,  who  was  also  a  representa- 
tive of  a  distinguished  eastern  family.  Both  he 
and  his  wife  were  members  of  the  Methodist 
church,  and  in  county  affairs  he  was  active  and 
influential,  holding  a  number  of  official  positions, 
including  those  of  county  commissioner  and 
county  sheriff.  His  wife  died  at  the  age  of  forty- 
five  years  and  his  death  occurred  when  he  had 
reached  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-four.  Their 
three  children  are  all  living  at  this  writing. 

Charles  R.  Kelsey  acquired  his  education  in 
Poughkeepsie,  New  York.  At  an  early  age  he 
was  taught  to  depend  upon  his  own  resources 
and  when  only  a  small  lad  entered  upon  his  busi- 
ness career,  as  a  newsboy,  employing  other  boys 
to  work  for  him  and  furnishing  their  outfits. 
Thus  early  he  became  self-reliant  and  also  mani- 
fested a  strong  commercial  instinct,  which  in 
later  years  has  made  him  a  leader  in  mercantile 
circles.  After  discontinuing  the  sale  of  papers, 
he  was  for  some  time  a  member  of  the  Engineers' 
Corps  on  the  New  York  &  Oswego  Midland 
Railway.  In  1875  he  started  for  the  Black  Hills, 
but  on  teaching  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  he  was  in- 
duced to  accept  a  position  in  the  large  business 
house  of  Max  Meyer  &  Company  in  that  city. 
For  two  years  he  was  in  Cheyenne,  after  which 
he  was  transferred  to  Omaha,  Nebraska,  where 
he  served  in  the  capacity  of  bookkeeper  and  cash- 
ier for  a  number  of  years,  or  until  1881,  when  he 
returned  to  New  York  city  on  a  vacation.  How- 
ever, while  there  he  became  interested  in  a  brok- 
erage business,  which  he  conducted  with  suc- 
cess for  some  time;  but  not  desiring  to  remain  in 
the  east  he  again  went  to  Omaha,  where  he  once 
more  entered  the  employ  of  the  old 'firm,  being  at 
that  time  made  manager  of  the  extensive  busi- 
ness. 

Subsequently  Mr.  Kelsey  opened  a  store  of  his 
own  on  the  corner  of  Sixteenth  and  Cass  streets, 
Omaha,  and  did  a  good  business,  but  as  compe- 
tition was  very  strong  and  he  had  an  excellent 


286 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


opportunity  to  sell  out  at  a  good  profit,  he  dis- 
posed of  his  stock.     In  1883  he  went  to  Camp 
Clark,  Nebraska,  where  he  opened  up  a  stock  of 
general  merchandise  and  from  the  start  met  with 
good  success,  his  partner  in  the  enterprise  being 
Dennis  Sheedy,  vice-president  of  the  Colorado 
National  Bank  and  head  of  the  Globe  Smelting 
Company  and  the  Denver  Dry  Goods  Company. 
After  two  years  spent  there  Mr.  Kelsey  removed 
to    Miles    City,    Montana,    and   engaged   in   the 
manufacture  of  harness  and  saddlery,  securing  a 
large    patronage    and    conducting    a    profitable 
business  until  1887,  when  a  severe  winter  caused 
the  death  of  ninety  per  cent  of  the  cattle  of  that 
state  and  changed  the  fortunes  of  many  a  man. 
This  consequently  brought  on  hard  times,  and 
Mr.  Kelsey  accordingly  closed  out  his  business, 
returned  to  Omaha,  and  again  entered  the  em- 
ploy  of  Max  Meyer  &  Company   as   manager. 
Later  he  became  a  resident  of  Wyoming,  where 
he    engaged    in    the    coal    business    at    Rock 
Springs  until  his  removal  to  Mountain  Home  in 
1896.     Here,  in  September,  1897,  he  established 
his  present  business,  and  as  a  wholesale  dealer  in 
hardware,  groceries  and  general  merchandise,  he 
has  built  up  an  excellent  business  which  enables 
him  to  furnish  employment  to  ten  men.     He  also 
has  a  branch  store  at  Rocky  Bar  and  at  that 
place  is  engaged  in  gold-mining,  being  superin- 
tendent of  the  Commonwealth  Gold  Mining  and 
Milling  Company,  which  has  a  large  and  valuable 
plant.     They  employ  fifty  men  and  secure  a  high- 
grade  gold  ore  from  their  mines. 

In  Omaha,  Nebraska,  January  i,  1881,  Mr. 
Kelsey  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Althea 
Houck,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  a  relative 
of  the  Harrison  family,  to  which  two  of  our 
presidents  have  belonged.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kelsey 
have  two  children, — a  son  and  daughter, — Her- 
bert and  Mary,  the  former,  although  still  in  his 
minority,  having  charge  of  the  store  at  Rocky 
Bar  and  displaying  excellent  business  ability  in 
its  management.  Mr.  Kelsey  and  his  family  are 
identified  with  the  Episcopal  church.  They 
have  a  delightful  home,  celebrated  for  its  hospi- 
tality and  good  cheer,  and  with  their  many 
friends  it  is  a  favorite  and  popular  resort. 

In  his  fraternal  relations  Mr.  Kelsey  is  a  Ma- 
son and  has  taken  all  the  degrees  of  the  York 
rite  and  the  thirty-second  degree  of  the  Scottish 


rite.  He  is  deeply  interested  in  the  political 
questions  of  the  clay,  closely  studies  the  issues 
which  concern  the  state  and  nation,  and  gives  a 
loyal  support  to  the  Republican  party.  He  was 
the  chairman  of  the  first  Republican  state  con- 
vention of  Wyoming,  held  at  Laramie,  and  was 
for  seven  years  county  commissioner  of  Sweet- 
water  county,  Wyoming.  He  is  also  distin- 
guished as  a  parliamentarian,  and  has  written 
and  published  a  volume  on  parliamentary  usage. 
He  is  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term  a  self-made 
man.  Starting  out  to  earn  his  own  living  when 
a  mere  boy  he  has  steadily  worked  his  way  up- 
ward, overcoming  all  difficulties  and  obstacles 
and  taking  advantage  of  all  favorable  opportuni- 
ties for  acquiring  an  honorable  fortune.  Tire- 
less purpose,  keen  perception,  honesty  of  pur- 
pose, genius  for  devising  and  executing  the 
right  thing  at  the  right  time,  joined  to  every- 
day common  sense,  guided  by  great  will  power, 
— these  are  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  man. 

GEORGE  SPIEGEL. 

Among  the  enterprising  young  business  men 
of  Boise  is  the  subject  of  this  review,  who  is  now 
at  the  head  of  an  extensive  wholesale  and  retail 
grocery  house.  His  marked  ability  has  done 
much  to  promote  the  commercial  activity  upon 
which  the  welfare  of  every  community  depends, 
and  in  trade  circles  he  enjoys  an  unassailable 
reputation. 

Almost  his  entire  life  has  been  passed  in  Idaho, 
and  he  is  numbered  among  the  native  sons  of 
California,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  San 
Francisco,  on  the  6th  of  April,  1861.  His  father, 
David  Spiegel,  is  numbered  among  the  pioneers 
of  California,  Oregon  and  the  Gem  of  the  Moun- 
tains. He  was  born  in  Poland,  Russia,  in  1831, 
and  when  a  young  man  came  to  the  United 
States,  locating  in  San  Francisco  when  it  was 
only  a  small  town,  where  he  began  merchandis- 
ing. In  1863  he  came  on  foot  to  the  Boise 
Basin,  and  in  the  manner  of  the  old-time  peddlers 
sold  his  goods  throughout  the  new  territory, 
traveling  through  the  wild  region  when  it  was 
infested  with  savage  Indians  and  white  men 
ready  to  commit  any  crime  for  the  sake  of  booty. 
Many  times  Mr.  Spiegel  walked  from  Umatilla 
to  Boise  Basin  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  sleeping 
in  his  blankets  on  the  ground  and  enduring 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


287 


many  discomforts;  but  he  persevered  in  his 
labors,  and  when  civilization  had  founded  enter- 
prising towns  he  was  ready  to  take  his  place 
among  the  progressive  merchants  in  these  new 
centers  of  commerce. 

In  1867  he  came  to  Boise  and  opened  a  fruit 
and  cigar  store.  Prices  were  very  high  in  those 
days:  he  often  paid  ten  dollars  a  box  for  apples. 
By  close  attention  to  business  he  secured  an  ex- 
cellent patronage,  constantly  extending  the  field 
of  his  labors  until,  he  became  one  of  the  enterpris- 
ing general  merchants  of  Boise.  After  some 
years  he  was  joined  by  his  son  .George,  and  to- 
gether they  carried  on  the  general  store  until 
there  seemed  to  be  a  demand  for  a  wholesale  and 
retail  grocery,  and  the  present  enterprise  was 
accordingly  inaugurated.  For  many  years  Da- 
vid Spiegel  was  prominently  associated  with  the 
commercial  interests  of  the  capital  city  and  did 
much  to  promote  the  business  activity.  The 
well  deserved  success  which  ultimately  crowned 
his  labors  enabled  him  to  put  aside  business  cares 
in  1898,  and  since  that  time  he  has  traveled  ex- 
tensively along  the  Pacific  coast,  visiting  the 
scenes  of  his  early  ventures. 

He  was  married  in  San  Francisco,  during  the 
days  of  his  early  residence  there,  to  Miss  Rosa 
Dux,  a  native  of  Bohemia,  Austria,  and  of  their 
children  we  may  state  that  Leo  is  also  engaged 
in  the  grocery  business  in  this  city.  The  sons 
are  active  business  men,  and  Joseph  is  now  in 
the  employ  of  Franklin  MacVeagh  &  Company, 
of  Chicago.  The  daughters  are  Fannie,  now  the 
wife  of  Charles  Stoltz;  Julia,  wife  of  Lee  Hirch- 
land;  and  Rebecca,  wife  of  Leo  P.  Greenbaum. 
The  mother  departed  this  life  in  1895,  at  the  age 
of  fifty-seven  years. 

George  Spiegel  was  reared  and  educated  in 
Boise,  and  in  1890  became  associated  with  his 
father  in  the  ownership  of  a  general  mercantile 
establishment.  It  was  at  his  suggestion  that  the 
business  was  merged  into  the  wholesale  and  re- 
tail grocery,  of  which  he  is  now  sole  proprietor. 
He  is  a  business  man  of  great  energy  and  execu- 
tive ability,  following  the  most  systematic  meth- 
ods, and  conducting  his  store  along  the  line  of 
the  strictest  commercial  ethics.  His  trade  ex- 
tends throughout  Idaho  and  into  Oregon  and 
Nevada.  His  earnest  desire  to  please  his  pat- 
rons, as  well  as  his  known  reliability,  has  been 


an   important  feature  in   his  success  and  made 
him  one  of  the  leading  merchants  of  Boise. 

Socially  Mr.  Spiegel  is  a  Mason,  having  taken 
the  three  preliminary  degrees  in  Boise  Lodge, 
No.  2,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  in  1882,  since  which  time 
he  has  been  exalted  to  the  degree  of  a  Royal 
Arch  Mason.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Beth  Is- 
rael congregation,  and  in  politics  is  a  Republi- 
can. During  the  years  of  his  residence  in  Boise 
he  has  steadily  worked  his  way  upward  to  a 
position  among  her  most  prominent  merchants. 

S.  D.  McLAIN. 

The  prosperity  of  any  community,  town  or 
city  depends  upon  its  commercial  activity,  its  in- 
dustrial interests  and  its  trade  relations,  and 
therefore  the  real  upbuilders  of  a  town  are  those 
who  stand  at  the  head  of  the  leading  enterprises. 
Among  the  prominent  representatives  of  com- 
mercial life  in  Silver  City  is  S.  D.  McLain,  who 
as  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Shea,  McLain  & 
Crete  is  at  the  head  of  the  most  extensive  mer- 
cantile establishment  of  the  town.  This  well  ap- 
pointed store,  with  its  large  and  carefully  se- 
lected stock,  is  a  credit  to  the  proprietors  as  well 
as  to  the  city,  and  in  its  management  Mr.  Mc- 
Lain displays  that  executive  force  and  able  man- 
agement that  rank  him  among  the  leading  busi- 
ness men  of  the  community. 

Mr.  McLain  was  born  at  Chariton,  Iowa,  Jan- 
uary 3,  1869,  and  is  of  Scotch  descent.  His 
father,  Clinton  J.  McLain.  is  a  native  of  Ohio, 
and  now  resides  in  La  Grande,  Oregon,  where  he 
is  engaged  in  the  sale  of  farm  implements.  He 
married  Miss  Eva  Hollingsworth,  a  daughter  of 
M.  Hollingsworth,  a  farmer  living  in  Iowa.  Six 
children  were  born  to  them,  of  whom  five  are 
living,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  being  the  eldest. 

In  the  public  schools  our  subject  acquired  his 
education,  and  as  soon  as  old  enough  to  engage 
in  business  on  his  own  account  went  to  Kamela, 
Oregon,  where  he  was  engaged  in  general  mer- 
chandising for  two  years.  He  then  removed  to 
La  Grande  and  organized  the  firm  of  Coy  &  Mc- 
Lain, remaining  there  for  two  and  a  half  years. 
In  1896  he  removed  from  that  place  to  De  La- 
mar,  Idaho,  where  he  was  in  business  with  T. 
Shea  until  May  i,  1898,  when  he  came  to  Silver 
City,  and  the  present  firm  of  Shea,  McLain  & 
Crete  was  established.  They  purchased  the 


288 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


large  general  mercantile  business  of  Dave  Ad- 
ams, and  now  carry  an  extensive  stock  of  salable 
goods  to  meet  all  the  tastes  and  requirements  of 
the  public.  Their  able  management  and  honest 
dealing,  combined  with  their  courteous  and  ac- 
commodating manner  to  all,  have  secured  to 
them  a  liberal  patronage,  which  is  constantly 
increasing. 

Mr.  McLain  was  married  August  30,  1895,  to 
Miss  Lizzie  Ormand,  who  was  born  in  Braid- 
wood,  Illinois.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republican, 
and  favors  the  free  coinage  of  silver,  but  has 
never  been  active  in  political  work,  his  time  be- 
ing occupied  entirely  with  his  business  and  social 

duties. 

COLUMBUS  M.   HIXON. 

Many  articles  have  appeared  in  the  press  of 
our  land  on  the  "corruption  in  politics,"  but, 
while  this  may  be  found  to  some  extent  in  the 
largest  cities,  the  majority  of  our  American  citi- 
zens are  too  practical  and  public-spirited  to  wish 
to  entrust  their  affairs  in  unscrupulous  hands, 
and  especially  in  the  selection  of  one  to  manage 
the  financial  interests  do  they  show  great  dis- 
crimination in  choosing  a  man  of  known  integ- 
rity and  unimpeachable  honor.  It  was  these 
qualities  which  secured  to  Mr.  Hixon  election  to 
the  responsible  position  of  county  treasurer  of 
Washington  county.  His  record  in  the  walks  of 
public  and  private  life  had  been  as  an  open  book, 
and  his  honesty,  combined  with  excellent  busi- 
ness ability,  led  to  his  selection  for  the  office 
which  he  is  now  so  acceptably  filling. 

Mr.  Hixon  was  born  in  Ashland  county,  Ohio, 
June  3,  1854,  and  is  the  third  in  order  of  birth 
of  the  five  children  of  Jacob  and  Casandre 
(Stonebreaker)  Hixon,  who  were  natives  of 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  respectively.  Subse- 
quently they  became  residents  of.  Indiana,  and 
thence  went  to  Holton,  Kansas.  The  father  is 
accounted  one  of  the  leading  and  influential  citi- 
zens of  the  community  and  has  been  honored 
with  a  number  of  county  offices.  He  is  a  man 
of  the  highest  integrity,  fully  meriting  the  confi- 
dence reposed  in  him.  Holton  is  still  his  home. 
He  has  been  a  successful  farmer,  following  pro- 
gressive methods  in  the  management  of  his  agri- 
cultural interests.  In  the  Presbyterian  church 
he  holds  membership  and  takes  a  very  active  part 
in  its  work,  having  served  as  elder  for  many 


years.  His  estimable  wife  lived  to  the  age  of 
sixty-eight  years,  and  three  of  their  children  yet 
survive,  the  brother  and  sister  of  our  subject  be- 
ing still  residents  of  Kansas. 

Columbus  M.  Hixon  of  this  review  acquired 
his  education  in  the  Holton  graded  schools,  and 
for  a  number  of  years  engaged  in  teaching  both 
in  Kansas  and  Idaho.  His  marked  ability  in 
that  direction  made  his  services  very  acceptable, 
and  his  labors  were  very  effective  in  advancing 
the  intellectual  standard  of  the  state.  He  ar- 
rived in  Idaho  in  1877  and  conducted  schools  for 
about  ten  years,  since  which  time  he  has  been 
extensively  engaged  in  stock-raising.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  important  industries  in  the  state, 
the  rich  and  fertile  valleys  offering  abundant  pas- 
turage, and  enabling  Idaho  to  furnish  large 
quantities  of  cattle  to  the  markets  of  the  coun- 
try. Mr.  Hixon  is  also  a  stockholder  and  di- 
rector in  the  Weiser  Bank,  of  which  he  is  now 
assistant  cashier,  and  in  business  affairs  he  mani- 
fests a  persistence  in  the  pursuit  of  his  purpose, 
and  an  energy  and  sound  judgment  which  read- 
ily account  for  the  fair  measure  of  prosperity 
which  is  attending  his  efforts. 

Mr.  Hixon  came  to  Weiser  to  reside  in  1878, 
and  on  the  I3th  of  June,  1879,  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Adrietta  Applegate,  a  native  of 
Oregon  and  a  daughter  of  John  Applegate,  an 
honored  pioneer  of  that  state.  The  marriage  of 
our  subject  and  his  wife  was  the  first  celebrated 
in  Washington  county  after  its  organization,  and 
was  solemnized  at  Mann  Creek.  Their  union 
has  been  blessed  with  two  children,  Clyde  and 
Clarence  B.  The  parents  are  valued  members 
of  the  Congregational  church,  of  Weiser,  in 
which  Mr.  Hixon  is  serving  as  deacon  and  trus- 
tee. Socially  he  is  a  Mason,  having  received  the 
degrees  of  the  blue  lodge  in  Holton,  Kansas,  in 
1877.  He  there  served  as  senior  deacon,  but  his 
membership  is  now  in  the  lodge  in  Weiser.  In 
politics  he  is  a  Republican,  and  served  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  first  state  legislature  of  Idaho  after  its 
admission  to  the  Union.  That  was  a  very  im- 
portant session,  and  he  took  an  active  part  in  its 
proceedings,  manifesting  marked  patriotism  in 
his  efforts  to  advance  the  best  interests  of  the 
commonwealth.  He  was  postmaster  of  Weiser 
during  President  Harrison's  administration  and 
was  elected  treasurer  of  Washington  county  in 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


289 


1894  and  re-elected  in  1896,  a  fact  which  indi- 
cates his  personal  popularity  and  the  confidence 
and  trust  reposed  in  him.  He  is  a  man  of  broad 
general  information,  well  informed  on  the  issues 
of  the  day  and  a  reliable,  public-spirited  and  loyal 
citizen  who  withholds  his  support  from  no  move- 
ment calculated  to  advance  the  moral,  material, 
educational  or  social  welfare  of  his  city,  state  or 
nation. 

GEORGE  H.  HANDY. 

George  H.  Handy,  probate  judge  and  ex- 
officio  superintendent  of  schools  for  Owyhee 
county,  Idaho,  resides  at  Silver  City.  He  was  born 
at  Grand  Island,  Hall  county,  Nebraska,  on  the 
2Oth  of  February,  1871,  and  is  of  Scotch  and 
English  ancestry.  His  paternal  grandfather, 
Parker  Handy,  was  a  native  of  New  York  city, 
and  for  many  years  was  prominently  connected 
with  the  banking  business,  his  death  occurring  at 
the  advanced  age  of  ninety  years.  H.  P.  Handy, 
father  of  the  Judge,  was  also  born  in  New  York 
city,  and  throughout  his  active  business  career 
has  followed  civil  engineering.  He  came  to 
Idaho  in  1894  and  now  resides  in  Nampa,  where 
he  is  living  retired.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Cassidy,  who  was  born  on  the  Emerald  Isle  but 
was  of  Scotch  and  English  lineage.  In  their 
family  were  eleven  children,  six  of  whom  are  yet 
living. 

Judge  Handy,  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth,  ac- 
quired his  education  under  the  direction  of  his 
parents,  both  of  whom  are  people  of  high  mental 
culture.  He  also  attended  the  public  schools  of 
Fort  Collins,  Colorado,  and  was  graduated  with 
the  class  of  1888.  He  then  matriculated  in  the 
Colorado  Agricultural  College,  but  left  that  in- 
stitution when  in  his  senior  year  in  order  to  ac- 
cept an  insurance  agency.  He  continued  in 
that  position  for  three  years,  and  later  occupied 
a  number  of  clerical  positions  in  the  service  of 
Larimer  county  officials.  In  1892  he  took  up  his 
residence  in  Nampa,  Idaho,  and  in  October  of 
1892  he  removed  to  De  Lamar,  where  he  ac- 
cepted the  situation  of  cashier  for  the  De  Lamar 
Mercantile  &  Banking  Company,  of  De  Lamar, 
serving  in  that  capacity  until  the  following  June, 
when  he  resigned  in  order  to  accept  the  appoint- 
ment as  deputy  district  clerk  of  Owyhee  county. 
He  filled  that  place  most  acceptably  for  two 


years,  under  R.  H.  Leonard,  Jr.,  and  two  years 
under  E.  L.  Ballard,  but  resigned  to  qualify  for 
the  office  of  probate  judge  and  ex-officio  county 
school  superintendent,  to  which  he  was  elected 
in  November,  1896.  In  1898  he  was  made  the 
nominee  of  all  the  parties  in  the  county  for  re- 
election, so  faithfully  and  ably  had  be  discharged 
his  duties,  giving  satisfaction  to  all  concerned. 

The  Judge  was  happily  married  on  the  24th 
of  February,  1897,  to  Miss  Sarah  Brooks,  a  na- 
tive of  Silver  City  and  a  daughter  of  Anthony 
Brooks,  now  of  Butte,  Montana.  Judge  and 
Mrs.  Handy  are  valued  members  of  the  Episco- 
pal church  at  Silver  City,  and  contributed  liber- 
ally to  the  erection  of  the  new  church  edifice, 
which  is  a  credit  to  the  town.  The  subject  of 
our  sketch  is  also  a  member  of  the  Order  of 
Maccabees  and  Modern  Woodmen  of  America, 
and  is  the  venerable  counsel  of  the  local  camp  of 
the  latter.  In  politics  he  is  a  "silver"  Repub- 
lican, well  informed  on  the  issues  and  questions 
of  the  day.  In  manner  pleasant  and  agreeable, 
in  business  reliable  and  in  office  trustworthy,  he 
has  won  many  warm  friends  in  this  locality,  and 
undoubtedly  still  higher  political  honors  await 
him  in  the  future. 

CHARLES  MAY. 

When  the  roll  of  the  pioneers  of  Boise,  Idaho,, 
is  called  the  name  which  heads  this  sketch  wilF 
be  found  well  to  the  top. 

Charles  May  was  born  in  Berkshire,  England, 
May  17,  1833,  and  was  reared  in  his  native  coun- 
ty, learning  in  his  boyhood  the  business  of  brick 
manufacturing  and  brick-laying,  his  father, 
Charles  May,  having  been  engaged  in  that  busi- 
ness. Indeed,  the  family  for  centuries,  or  as  far 
back  as  their  history  can  be  traced,  were  brick- 
makers  in  England.  The  younger  Charles  May 
remained  in  England  until  1856,  when  he  came  to 
America,  locating  first  in  Xew  York,  and  he  put 
in  the  first  gas  retorts  in  the  Harlem  Gas  Works. 
He  remained  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn  until 
the  spring  of  1857,  when  he  went  to  Chicago, 
where  he  was  for  a  time  engaged  in  contracting, 
and  then  he  went  to  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans. 
He  was  in  Missouri  at  the  time  the  civil  war 
broke  out,  and  about  that  time  he  went  to  Kan- 
sas, where  he  was  a  resident  during  the  exciting 
times  which  marked  the  historv  of  that  state. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


He  built  the  first  brick  house  in  Junction  City, 
Kansas. 

In  May,  1862,  he  started  across  the  plains  for 
the  far  west,  traveling  with  the  regulation  wag- 
ons, which  were  drawn  by  horses  or  mules. 
When  his  party  arrived  at  Fort  Laramie  they 
learned  that  the  Indians  had  attacked  the  pony 
stage  and  had  massacred  the  passengers.  Some 
of  the  trains  which  reached  the  fort  about  that 
time  were  poorly  equipped  with  armed  men,  so 
they  tarried  for  three  days  until  a  train  from 
Denver  came  up,  and  thus  re-enforced  they  all 
started  on  together.  The  company  now  con- 
tained eighty  young  men  well  armed,  beside  wo- 
men and  children.  At  Green  river  their  horses 
were  stampeded  by  the  Indians.  Mr.  May  and 
another  man  ran  after  the  horses  and  succeeded 
in  recovering  them,  escaping  the  shots  which 
were  fired  at  them  by  the  red  men.  They  came 
by  the  way  of  Lander's  cut-off,  and  at  Blackfoot 
creek  stopped  on  account  of  the  sickness  of  a 
woman  in  their  party.  The  following  day  they 
saw  a  cloud  of  dust  at  a  distance  and  supposed 
they  were  to  be  attacked  by  the  Indians.  Soon, 
however,  as  the  dust  cloud  approached,  they  dis- 
covered a  white  flag,  and  it  proved  to  be  a  signal 
from  twelve  California  miners  who  were  making 
their  way  back  to  the  states  to  join  the  Union 
army.  Continuing  on,  the  next  day  Mr.  May 
and  his  party  saw  behind  them  what  this  time 
proved  to  be  Indians.  They  halted  and  got 
ready  for  a  fight.  The  Indians  stopped  on  a  hill 
back  of  where  the  white  men  were,  and  a  moun- 
taineer, who  knew  the  country,  said,  "Boys,  let 
us  go  to  one  of  these  hills  quickly."  No  sooner 
had  they  reached  the  hill  than  the  Indians  gave 
the  war-whoop  and  attacked  them.  The  com- 
pany fell  back,  fighting  bravely  and  working  to- 
ward the  camp.  When  they  reached  the  camp 
they  found  the  packs  and  pack  animals  were  all 
gone.  The  women  were  badly  frightened  and 
objected  strongly  to  the  men  going  out  to  re- 
cover the  property.  Notwithstanding  their  ob- 
jections, however,  the  men  went  in  search  of  the 
animals  and  when  they  got  within  a  mile  of 
where  the  fight  had  been  they  saw  large  quan- 
tities of  feathers  scattered  over  the  ground  and 
discovered  that  another  depreciation  had  been 
committed.  Two  wagons  had  been  attacked  and 
five  men  were  killed  and  scalped  and  left  on  the 


spot.  The  sight  was  indeed  a  ghastly  one!  They 
buried  four  men  that  day  and  the  next  day  bur- 
ied the  fifth.  They  followed  the  Indians  thirty 
miles  and  found  them  in  camp  early  the  next 
morning,  where  they  gave  them  a  hard  whipping. 
At  Burned  river  they  fell  in  with  the  Grimes 
party,  with  whom  they  found  a  Mr.  Johnson  and 
the  wife  of  one  of  the  dead  men  above  referred 
to.  These  two  were  all  that  were  left  of  the 
party  in  the  two  wagons  attacked  by  the  Indians. 

Mr.  May  went  to  Walla  Walla  and  there  built 
the  first  two  brick  stores  of  the  town,  these  being 
his  first  contracts  in  the  west.  Afterward  he 
traveled  about  considerably,  and  was  variously 
employed  at  different  places.  In  the  Boise  Basin 
he  made  adobe  brick  and  built  ovens.  He  also 
burned  brick  at  the  Buena  Vista  Bar.  From 
there  he  came  to  Boise  and  took  charge  of  the 
building  of  the  fort,  where  he  remained  a  month, 
after  which  he  took  a  claim  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  government  land  near  by,  and  on 
it  cut  and  cured  hay,  which  he  sold  for  one  hun- 
dred dollars  per  ton.  Selling  his  claim  shortly 
afterward,  he  returned  to  Boise  and  began  the 
manufacture  of  brick  where  Mr.  Redway's  house 
now  stands.  Here  he  built  a  small  dwelling, 
which  is  still  standing,  and  soon  afterward  he 
erected  a  store  building,  twenty  by  fifty  feet,  of 
adobe  brick,  for  Mr.  Jacobs,  its  location  being 
on  the  ground  now  occupied  by  the  McCarty 
block  at  the  corner  of  Seventh  and  Maine  streets. 
Since  then  he  has  done  a  large  amount  of  build- 
ing, both  for  himself  and  for  other  parties,  and 
many  of  the  handsome  buildings  of  Boise,  in- 
cluding his  own  brick  residence,  are  monuments 
to  his  skill  as  a  builder.  Also  he  laid  the  stone 
of  the  custom-house  at  Portland,  worked  on  the 
Market  street  front  of  the  Palace  hotel  in  San 
Francisco,  and  aided  in  the  erection  of  the  capitol 
building  in  Salem,  Oregon. 

In  1871  Mr.  May  was  married  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Williams,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Barret  Will- 
iams, a  pioneer  of  Idaho  who  is  now  ninety-six 
years  of  age  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  his  facul- 
ties. Mr.  and  Mrs.  May  have  two  daughters, — 
Rosa  and  Edith  Virginia.  The  former  is  the 
widow  of  Professor  Wrebber  and  since  his  death 
she  has  resided  with  her  parents.  The  whole 
family  are  identified  with  the  Episcopal  church 
and  he  has  served  as  vestryman  of  the  same. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


291 


Mr.  May  was  made  a  Mason  in  Boise  Lodge,  F. 
&  A.  M.,  No.  2. 

In  1875  Mr.  May  went  to  Australia  to  visit  his 
parents,  and  on  this  trip  visited  Honolulu,  New 
Zealand.  Melbourne  and  Sydney,  his  people  liv- 
ing in  the  last  named  city.  While  there  he  su- 
perintended the  building  of  the  first  dry  pressed- 
brick  works  in  Sydney,  and  had  charge  of  the 
building  of  the  aqueduct  that  carries  the  water  to 
that  city.  He  remained  in  Sydney  until  after 
the  death  of  his  parents,  when  he  returned  to 
Boise,  Idaho,  which  has  since  been  his  home. 

WILLIAM   A.   COUGHANOUR. 

For  almost  fourteen  years  Payette  has  num- 
bered William  A.  Coughanour  among  its  most 
prominent  and  progressive  citizens.  He  may 
well  be  termed  one  of  the  founders  of  the  city, 
for  he  has  been  the  promoter  of  many  of  its  lead- 
ing business  enterprises,  and  the  growth  and  de- 
velopment of  a  city  depend  upon  its  commercial 
and  industrial  activity.  His  connection  with  any 
undertaking  insures  a  prosperous  outcome  of  the 
same,  for  it  is  in  his  nature  to  carry  forward  to 
successful  completion  whatever  he  is  associated 
with.  He  has  earned  for  himself  an  enviable 
reputation  as  a  careful  man  of  business,  and  in 
his  dealings  is  known  for  his  prompt  and  honor- 
able methods,  which  have  won  him  the  deserved 
and  unbounded  confidence  of  his  fellow  men. 

Mr.  Coughanour  was  born  in  Fayette  county, 
Pennsylvania,  on  the  I2th  of  March,  1850,  and  is 
of  Pennsylvania  Dutch  lineage.  His  father,  H. 
S.  Coughanour,  is  still  residing  in  that  county, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-four  years.  He  followed 
ship-building  as  an  occupation  through  the 
period  of  his  active  business  career.  His  wife,  who 
bore  the  maiden  name  of  Caroline  Conkle,  was 
likewise  a  native  of  his  neighborhood,  and  be- 
longed to  one  of  the  old  Dutch  families.  They 
became  the  parents  of  four  daughters  and  a  son, 
and  all  are  yet  living. 

The  subject  of  this  review  was  reared  in  the 
place  of  his  nativity  and  acquired  his  education 
in  the  public  schools.  The  year  1870  witnessed 
his  arrival  in  Idaho,  where  he  has  since  made  his 
home,  becoming  prominently  identified  with  the 
development  and  advancement  of  the  state.  The 
last  two  hundred  and  eighty-five  miles  of  his 
journey  hither  were  made  by  stage,  and  upon 


his  arrival  he  assumed  the  management  of  the 
Gold  Hill  mine,  at  Quartzburg,  acting  as  secre- 
tary and  treasurer  of  the  mining  company  for 
fifteen  years,  and  being  also  superintendent  of  the 
same  for  an  equal  period  of  time.  This  is  one 
of  the  richest  and  most  celebrated  mines  in  Ida- 
ho. Under  Mr.  Coughanour's  management  ore 
to  the  value  of  three  million  dollars  was  taken 
out,  yet  the  mine  is  only  partially  developed.  He 
is  still  one  of  the  stockholders,  and  his  income 
is  materially  increased  thereby.  In  1885  he 
came  to  Payette  and  has  been  associated  with 
many  business  enterprises,  which  have  not  only 
proved  profitable  to  himself  but  have  also  ad- 
vanced the  general  welfare.  He  has  large  landed 
interests  in  Oregon  and  Idaho  and  is  conduct- 
ing an  extensive  lumber  business  in  Payette, 
where  he  has  large  yards  that  supply  anything  in 
his  line  that  the  public  may  demand.  He  is  a 
director  in  the  Payette  Valley  Bank  and  a  stock- 
holder and  the  secretary  of  the  Lower  Payette 
Ditch  Company,  which  has  been  an  important 
factor  in  irrigating  the  lands  in  this  section  of 
the  state.  His  realty  holdings,  aggregating 
twenty-seven  hundred  acres,  are  about  equally 
divided  between  Oregon  and  Idaho.  He  has  a 
fine  orchard  of  thirty-three  acres  near  this  city 
and  is  also  interested  in  stock-raising,  having  as 
high  as  five  hundred  head  of  cattle  at  one  time. 
It  demands  superior  executive  ability,  keen  dis- 
crimination and  sound  judgment  to  manage  such 
extensive -and  varied  business  interests,  but  Mr. 
Coughanour  controls  all  with  a  steady  hand,  and 
gains  therefrom  very  gratifying  financial  returns. 
In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat,  and  before  com- 
ing to  Payette  was  elected  and  served  as  county 
commissioner  of  Boise  county.  In  1896  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  state  senate,  from  Can- 
yon county,  and  introduced  the  horticultural  in- 
spection bill,  securing  its  passage,  together  with 
an  appropriation  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  in  order 
that  the  horticultural  board,  established  through 
the  measures  of  this  bill,  might  be  able  to  earn- 
on  its  work  of  protecting  the  fruit  interests  of  the 
state  from  destructive  fruit  pests.  Our  subject 
is  now  president  of  the  state  board  of  horticul- 
ture, and  is  interesting  himself  in  effective  meas- 
ures for  the  protection  of  Idaho's  fruit  industry. 
He  is  now  serving  his  third  term  as  mayor  of 
Payette,  and  his  administration  of  the  affairs  of 


292 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  city  is  most  progressive,  as  he  exercises  his 
official  powers  to  promote  all  interests  and 
measures  which  will  prove  of  public  benefit.  He 
was  also  postmaster  under  President  Cleveland, 
and  at  all  times  has  been  most  true  and  faithful 
to  the  trust  reposed  in  him,  discharging  his  du- 
ties with  marked  promptness  and  fidelity. 

Mr.  Coughanour  was  married  in  1874  to  Miss 
Galena  Bunting,  a  native  of  Fayette  county, 
Pennsylvania,  and  they  now  have  a  daughter  and 
son,  Emma  L.  and  William  M.  The  former  was 
the  efficient  enrolling  clerk  in  the  state  senate 
at  the  session  of  1896-7.  The  family  occupy  an 
enviable  position  in  social  circles  and  enjoy  the 
hospitality  of  the  best  homes  of  Payette.  Mr. 
Coughanour  has  one  of  the  finest  museums  in 
the  state,  including  many  specimens  of  quartz 
and  gold  nuggets,  one  of  which  is  valued  at  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five  dollars.  Socially  he  is 
connected  with  the  Order  of  Elks  and  he  is 
also'  a  very  prominent  representative  of  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  in  which  he 
has  the  honor  of  being  grand  marshal  of  the 
grand  lodge  of  Idaho.  He  is  widely  and  favor- 
ably known  throughout  the  entire  state,  his  po- 
litical, fraternal  and  business  prominence  gain- 
ing him  a  wide  acquaintance.  He  is  a  man  of 
integrity  and  splendid  business  ability,  through 
the  medium  of  which  he  has  acquired  consider- 
able wealth.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  exceedingly 
fine  address,  possessing  that  natural  geniality  of 
temperament  and  affability  of  deportment  that, 
united  to  a  heart  full  of  sympathy,  make  him  an 
easy  winner  of  friends,  and  he  is  ever  welcome  in 
the  best  social  circles. 

RICHARD  H.  BENNETT. 

The  proprietor  of  one  of  the  fine  sheep  ranches 
of  southern  Idaho,  Richard  H.  Bennett  main- 
tains his  residence  in  Mountain  Home  and  from 
that  point  superintends  his  extensive  business  in- 
terests, in  which  he  is  meeting  with  good  suc- 
cess. He  is  truly  a  self-made  man,  for  he  came 
to  America  empty-handed  and  through  his  own 
labors  has  worked  his  way  steadily  upward.  He 
was  born  in  England,  March  19,  1850,  a  son  of 
James  and  Jane  (Sanders)  Bennett,  also  natives 
of  that  country.  In  1868,  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  he  severed  the  ties  which  bound  him  to  his 
native  country,  and  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  begin 


life  in  the  New  World  as  an  employe  in  the  coal 
mines  of  Pennsylvania.  He  received  for  his 
services  two  dollars  and  a  half  per  day,  and  thus 
he  gained  a  start  in  life.  He  continued  his  resi- 
dence in  the  east  until  1871,  when  he  came  to 
Idaho,  and  has  since  been  identified  with  the  in- 
terests of  this  state. 

In  1878  Mr.  Bennett  married  Miss  Flora  Anna 
Benney,  a  native  of  England,  who  had  come  to 
the  United  States  in  1859.  Her  father  is  John 
Benney,  now  a  resident  of  Missouri.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Bennett  took  up  their  abode  in  Silver  City, 
Idaho,  where  our  subject  engaged  in  mining  for 
several  years.  He  located  the  Stormy  Hill  mine, 
afterward  sold  it,  and  his  last  connection  with  the 
mining  interests  of  that  locality  was  in  the  Gold- 
en Chariot  mine.  On  leaving  Silver  City  he 
went  to  Castle  Creek,  Owyhee  county,  where  he 
secured  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres, 
and  for  a  short  time  was  engaged  in  the  cattle 
business,  after  which  he  sold  his  stock.  He  is 
now  the  owner  of  an  excellent  ranch  of  two  hun- 
dred acres  near  Mountain  Home,  on  which  he 
raises  hay  for  his  sheep,  feeding  as  high  as  one 
hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  hay  annually.  For  his 
first  flock  of  sheep  he  paid  three  thousand  dol- 
lars. For  eighteen  years  he  has  been  engaged 
in  the  business,  and  at  times  has  owned  as  high 
as  six  thousand  head.  His  income  from  the 
sheep  industry  in  one  single  season  was  nine 
thousand  dollars,  receiving  nineteen  and  a  half 
cents  per  pound  for  the  wool.  He  raises  prin- 
cipally Merino  sheep,  which  he  finds  are  well 
adapted  for  the  climatic  and  forage  conditions  of 
southern  Idaho.  He  is  accounted  one  of  the 
leading  and  most  successful  sheep-raisers  of  this 
part  of  the  state,  and  his  opinions  on  such  mat- 
ters are  received  as  authority. 

Mr.  Bennett  is  also  the  owner  of  a  ten-acre 
block  of  ground  in  Mountain  Home,  and  has 
thereon  erected  a  very  pleasant  dwelling,  in 
which  he  and  his  family  reside.  They  have  sev- 
en children,  namely:  Joseph  S.,  Richard  H.,  Lil- 
lie  E.,  Frederick  W.,  Flora  E.,  Elmer  J.  and 
James  Gordon.  The  parents  were  reared  in  the 
Methodist  faith,  but  now  attend  the  Episcopal 
church.  In  politics  Mr.  Bennett  is  a  Republican, 
and  in  the  Odd  Fellows  lodge  he  has  passed  all 
the  chairs.  He  is  a  worthy,  reliable  citizen,  a 
progressive  and  enterprising  business  man,  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


293 


having  been  the  architect  of  his  own  fortunes  is 
deserving  of  great  credit  for  his  success. 

ROBERT  E.   LOCKWOOD. 

The  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Weiser  Sig- 
nal was  born  in  Kirbyville,  Josephine  county, 
Oregon,  February  15,  1858,  and  is  of  English  de- 
scent. His  grandparents  were  William  and 
Lucy  (Lord)  Lockwood,  and  his  father  was  Rob- 
ert Lockwood,  Sr.,  a  native  of  Australia,  in  which 
country  he  married  Miss  Clara  Sophia  Belknap. 
They  became  residents  of  Oregon  in  1853,  and 
the  father  engaged  in  mining  on  Rogue  river. 
In  1871  he  removed  to  Albany  and  later  located 
in  Canyon  City,  in  the  John  Day  valley  of  Ore- 
gon, where  he  continued  his  mining  operations 
and  also  acted  as  deputy  sheriff  of  the  county, 
.which  position  he  ably  filled  for  twelve  years, 
under  both  Republican  and  Democratic  admin- 
istrations. In  1887  he  declined  to  longer  fill  that 
office,  but  consented  to  remain  three  days  under 
the  newly-elected  sheriff.  On  the  night  of  the 
third  day  there  was  a  fire  in  the  town.  After  it 
was  extinguished  Mr.  Lockwood  remarked  that 
he  would  lock  the  prisoners  in  the  cells  and  de- 
liver the  keys  to  the  sheriff  in  the  morning,  but 
while  performing  that  duty  he  was  murdered  by 
one  of  the  prisoners.  He  was  then  in  the  forty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age, — a  brave  man  and  a  highly 
esteemed  citizen  who  never  faltered  in  the  per- 
formance of  any  duty,  no  matter  how  hazardous. 
He  left  a  widow  and  ten  children,  and  Mrs.  Lock- 
wood  is  still  living,  while  six  of  the  children  also 
survive. 

Robert  E.  Lockwood,  whose  name  introduces 
this  review,  acquired  his  education  in  Canyon 
City,  Oregon,  and  at  an  early  age  began  to  learn 
the  printer's  trade  and  to  make  his  own  way  in 
the  world.  On  learning  of  his  father's  death  he 
returned  to  the  funeral  and  remained  at  home 
until  after  the  execution  of  the  murderer.  In 
1878  he  came  to  Idaho,  where  he  was  employed 
at  tamping  ties  on  the  railroad,  and  afterward 
worked  in  the  office  of  the  Weiser  Leader.  He 
was  for  three  months  at  Caldvvell,  in  the  employ 
of  Steunenberg  Brothers,  and  then  began  the 
publication  of  the  Weiser  Signal,  with  which  he 
has  since  been  connected.  On  the  3ist  of  Au- 
gust, 1882,  a  neutral  paper,  called  the  Weiser 
Leader,  had  been  established,  with  Messrs.  Stine 


&  Mitchell  in  charge.  The  county  had  been 
created  only  three  years  previously.  There  had 
been  only  six  issues  of  the  paper  when  J.  W. 
Haworth  purchased  Mr.  Mitchell's  interest,  and 
the  firm  of  Haworth  &  Company  was  formed, 
while  S.  M.  C.  Reynolds  was  made  editor.  For 
a  time  the  paper  was  published  as  an  independent 
political  journal,  but  later  was  changed  to  a  Re- 
publican sheet.  On  the  25th  of  August,  1883, 
Judge  Henry  C.  Street  became  its  manager; 
March  22,  1884,  William  P.  Glenn  became  pro- 
prietor and  editor,  and  in  1890  H.  S.  King,  C.  D. 
King  and  Frank  Harris  became  its  owners.  Mr. 
Harris  and  H.  S.  King  had  editorial  charge, 
while  C.  D.  King  was  business  manager.  On 
the  ist  of  September,  1890,  Mr.  Harris  discon- 
tinued his  connection  with  the  paper,  but  the 
King  Brothers  continued  its  publication  until 
September  i,  1891,  when  Robert  E.  Lockwood 
became  its  owner,  editor  and  publisher.  He  had 
worked  on  the  paper  for  some  months  prior  to 
the  fall  of  1890,  at  which  time  he  had  severed  his 
relations  therewith,  and  on  the  i8th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1890,  issued  the  first  number  of  the  Weiser 
Signal.  Both  papers  were  then  published  until 
September  I,  1891,  when  Mr.  Lockwood  pur- 
chased the  Leader  and  merged  it  into  the  Signal, 
since  which  time  he  has  made  his  paper  a  large 
and  valuable  weekly,  independent  paper,  devoted 
to  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  Weiser 
and  Washington  county.  Its  editorials  are  apt, 
concise,  -readable  and  instructive,  and  the  Signal 
is  now  enjoying  a  large  circulation  and  an  ex- 
tended advertising  patronage.  Mr.  Lockwood  is 
a  man  of  strong  mentality  and  broad  general  in- 
formation, and  has  made  his  journal  one  of  the 
best  in  southwestern  Idaho. 

In  politics  he  has  taken  a  deep  and  active  in- 
terest and  was  a  member  of  the  state  convention 
which  nominated  Frank  Steunenberg  for  gov- 
ernor. 

In  the  fall  of  1898  Mr.  Lockwood  was  the 
nominee  of  the  Democratic,  Populist  and  Silver- 
Republican  parties  for  the  office  of  state  senator, 
a  fact  which  indicated  his  personal  popularity  and 
the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  people  of  dif- 
ferent political  faith  throughout  the  district. 

Mr.  Lockwood  was  married  March  17,  1891, 
to  Leah  Norah  Wilson,  a  native  of  Illinois.  She 
is  a  cultured  ladv  and  a  valued  member  of  the 


294 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


Congregational  church.  By  their  marriage 
there  is  one  son,  George  Edwin.  Socially  Mr. 
Lockwood  is  a  representative  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  and  he  is  recognized  as  a  most  promi- 
nent and  influential  citizen. 

SELDEN  B.  KINGSBURY. 

The  profession  of  the  law,  when  clothed  with 
its  true  dignity  and  purity  and  strength,  must 
rank  first  among  the  callings  of  men,  for  law 
rules  the  universe.  The  work  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession is  to  formulate,  to  harmonize,  to  regu- 
late, to  adjust,  to  administer  those  rules  and 
principles  that  underlie  and  permeate  all  gov- 
ernment and  society  and  control  the  varied  rela- 
tions of  men.  As  thus  viewed  there  attaches  to 
the  legal  profession  a  nobleness  that  cannot  but 
be  reflected  in  the  life  of  the  true  lawyer,  who, 
rising  to  the  responsibilities  of  his  profession, 
and  honest  in  the  pursuit  of  his  purpose,  em- 
braces the  richness  of  learning,  the  profound- 
ness of  wisdom,  the  firmness  of  integrity  and  the 
purity  of  morals,  together  with  the  graces  of 
modesty,  courtesy  and  the  general  amenities  of 
life.  Of  such  a  type  Selden  Bingham  Kings- 
bury  is  a  representative.  For  eighteen  years  he 
has  practiced  law  in  Idaho,  and  for  five  years  has 
been  a  resident  of  Boise. 

Mr.  Kingsbury  was  born  in  Camclen,  Lorain 
county,  Ohio,  on  the  29th  of  October,  1842,  and 
is  descended  from  New  England  ancestry.  Mem- 
bers of  the  family  became  early  settlers  of  Brock- 
port,  New  York,  and  also  of  Lorain  county, 
Ohio.  Lemuel  Kingsbury,  the  grandfather  of 
our  subject,  valiantly  aided  the  colonies  in  their 
struggle  for  independence,  and  lost  a  limb  in 
battle.  He  attained  the  age  of  ninety-six  years, 
and  thus  long  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  the  re- 
public for  which  he  made  so  great  a  sacrifice. 
Charles  B.  Kingsbury,  the  father  of  Boise's  well 
known  lawyer,  was  born  May  5,  1812,  and  be- 
tween the  ages  of  eleven  and  thirty-five  years 
sailed  on  whaling  vessels.  Later  'in  life  he  be- 
came a  prosperous  farmer.  In  his  early  political 
affiliations  he  was  a  Democrat,  but  being  a  great 
lover  of  liberty  he  aided  in  organizing  the  Re- 
publican party,  formed  to  prevent  the  further  ex- 
tension of  slavery,  and  voted  for  Fremont  in 
1856.  He  held  various  county  offices  and  was 
an  influential  citizen  in  the  community  in  which 


he  lived.  He  married  Betsey  Tenant,  who  be- 
longed to  a  family  of  western  New  York,  and 
to  them  were  born  seven  children,  of  whom  six 
are  still  living. 

Selden  B.  Kingsbury  acquired  his  early  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools,  later  attended  the 
academy  in  Oberlin,  Ohio,  and  in  1859  entered 
Oberlin  College,  where  he  continued  until  the 
great  civil  war  fell  upon  the  country.  At  the 
first  call  of  President  Lincoln  for  volunteers,  he, 
in  company  with  many  of  the  students  and  one 
member  of  the  faculty  of  the  college,  entered 
the  country's  service,  in  April,  1861.  He  was 
assigned  to  Company  C,  Seventh  Ohio  Volun- 
teer Infantry,  which  had  an  enrollment  of  one 
hundred  and  twelve — all  students  of  said  college 
and  officered  by  members  of  its  faculty,  and  on 
the  2Oth  of  April  was  mustered  in  at  Camp  Tay- 
lor, Cleveland,  Ohio.  Three  days  later  they 
were  ordered  to  Camp  Chase,  thence  to  Camp 
Dennison.  Mr.  Kingsbury  aided  in  surveying 
that  camp,  which  afterward  became  one  of  the 
finest  and  largest  camps  in  the  United  States. 
In  July,  1861,  under  the  call  for  three  years' 
troops,  he  re-enlisted  and  almost  immediately 
was  sent  to  West  Virginia,  his  regiment  being 
on  the  advance  under  General  Cox,  in  charge  of 
the  brigade,  and  General  McClellan,  in  command 
of  the  corps.  After  a  forced  march  of  fifty-two 
miles  and  a  light  skirmish,  his  regiment  captured 
the  city  of  Weston,  took  a  number  of  prisoners, 
deposed  the  rebel  forces  and  captured  state  funds 
of  Virginia  amounting  to  fifty-seven  thousand 
dollars  in  specie.  This  was  afterward  turned 
over  to  Governor  Pierpont  and  was  the  money 
with  which  he  was  first  supplied  to  carry  on  the 
business  of  the  new  state  of  West  Virginia,  which 
at  that  time  was  organized  as  a  state  of  the 
Union.  Mr.  Kingsbury  later  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Summerville  and  Cross  Lanes,  where 
his  regiment  fell  into  an  ambuscade  of  the  Con- 
federate forces  under  Generals  Floyd  and  Wise. 
The  Union  forces  were  driven  from  the  field  and 
his  company,  covering  the  retreat,  was  badly  cut 
to  pieces,  most  of  the  men  being  either  killed, 
wounded  or  taken  prisoners.  Mr.  Kingsbury 
was  captured  and  so  was  every  officer  of  his  com- 
pany who  was  not  killed,  and  after  being  incar- 
cerated in  Libby  prison  for  a  month  was  sent  to 
Parish  prison,  New  Orleans,  where  he  remained 


*^s-i^A^3       '/t-v-cx^*-/ 


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HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


295 


until  that  city  was  captured  by  General  Butler,  in 
the  spring  of  1862,  when  with  .some  five  hundred 
other  prisoners,  he  was  then  taken  to  Salisbury, 
North  Carolina,  in  which  prison  he  was  held  un- 
til the  following  July,  when  he  was  paroled.  Re- 
turning north,  he  was  sent  to  Camp  Chase,  near 
Columbus,  Ohio,  and  there  discharged  on  ac- 
count of  disability,  a  year  and  a  half  before  his 
complete  exchange  was  effected. 

On  leaving  the  army  Mr.  Kingsbury  returned 
to  college  and  on  the  completion  of  the  classical 
course,  in  1864,  was  graduated  with  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Later  the  degree  of  Master 
of  Arts  was  conferred  upon  him  by  his  alma 
mater.  Previous  to  his  graduation  he  had  charge 
of  the  Union  school  of  Mentor,  Ohio,  and  after 
graduation  was  for  two  years  principal  of  the 
city  school  of  Flint,  Michigan.  He  was  then 
elected  principal  of  the  Union  school  of  Con- 
stantine,  that  state,  a  position  which  he  filled 
with  general  satisfaction  for  eight  years.  Dur- 
ing that  time  he  read  law,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Constan- 
tine,  Michigan,  where  he  remained  until  1881. 
In  that  year  he  came  to  Idaho,  locating  in  Hailey. 
whence  he  .removed  to  Boise,  where  he  now  re- 
sides. 

Mr.  Kingsbury  has  always  been  a  tireless  stu- 
dent, and  after  choosing  the  law  as  his  profes- 
sion he  read  almost  nothing  else  for  three  years, 
giving  his  entire  attention  to  the  mastery  of  the 
principles  of  jurisprudence.  While  engaged  in 
teaching  he  attained  considerable  distinction  as 
a  lecturer  on  scientific  subjects,  and  had  the  hon- 
or of  securing  and  sending  to  the  University  of 
Michigan  the  skeleton  of  a  large  mastodon  now 
on  exhibition  in  the  museum  of  that  institution. 
It  is  considered  the  finest  specimen  of  its  kind  in 
the  United  States,  and  hence  was  a  very  valuable 
acquisition  to  the  museum.  Mr.  Kingsbury  has 
one  of  the  finest  law  offices  and  largest  law  libra- 
ries in  the  west.  He  has  attained  prestige 
among  the  legal  practitioners  of  Idaho,  his  abili- 
ties securing  him  high  rank.  As  a  lawyer  he  is 
sound,  clear-minded  and  well  trained.  The  lim- 
itations which  are  imposed  by  the  constitution 
on  federal  powers  are  well  understood  by  him. 
With  the  long  line  of  decisions  from  Marshall 
down,  by  which  the  constitution  has  been  ex- 
pounded, he  is  familiar,  as  are  all  thoroughly 


skilled  lawyers.  He  is  at  home  in  all  depart- 
ments of  law  from  the  minutiae  in  practice  to  the 
greater  topics  wherein  is  involved  the  considera- 
tion of  the  ethics  and  philosophy  of  jurispru- 
dence and  the  higher  concerns  of  public  policy. 
His  fidelity  to  his  clients'  interests  is  proverbial, 
and  therefore  his  clientage  is  very  extensive. 

While  in  charge  of  the  schools  in  Mentor, 
Ohio,  Mr.  Kingsbury  became  acquainted  with 
Miss  Hulda  C.  Corning,  a  native  of  that  town, 
and  in  1865  they  were  happily  married  and  began 
residing  at  Flint,  Michigan,  where  Mr.  Kings- 
bury  was  engaged  in  teaching.  They  have  had 
five  children, — three  sons  and  two  daughters: 
Xathan  C.,  who  is  engaged  in  business  in  Co- 
lumbus, Ohio;  Lizzie  Alice,  who  died  at  Con- 
stantine,  Michigan;  Fred  and  Helen,  who  are 
attending  Oberlin  College;  and  Ross  Selden,  a 
pupil  at  the  public  school  of  Boise.  Culture,  re- 
finement and  intellectual  activity  characterize 
this  family,  and  in  social  circles  they  occupy  a 
very  prominent  position.  They  have  a  com- 
modious and  elegant  home,  which  was  erected 
by  Mr.  Kingsbury.  Socially  he  is  a  Knight 
Templar  Mason,  a  member  of  the  Benevolent 
Protective  Order  of  Elks,  and  also  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  As  a  citizen  and  lawyer 
he  stands  among  the  first  of  the  residents  of 
Boise,  and  his  name  should  occupy  a  prominent 
place  on  the  pages  of  the  history  of  his  adopted 

state. 

L.  A.  YORK. 

The  present  popular  editor  and  proprietor  of 
the  Owyhee  Avalanche,  at  Silver  City,  Mr.  L.  A. 
York,  is  a  native  of  Lewiston,  Maine,  born 
March  13,  1866.  His  parents  were  Jerome  W. 
and  Martha  (Read)  York,  both  natives  of  that 
city,  and  his  father  of  Scotch  ancestry.  The 
first  representatives  of  the  family  in  America 
settled  in  Maine  very  early  in  its  history.  On 
the  maternal  side  this  ancestry  is  English,  trace- 
able back  to  Sir  John  Read,  an  English  noble- 
man born  in  th'e  year  1600.  Mr.  York's  father 
died  in  North  Dakota,  in  1894,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-five  years;  and  his  mother  is  living,  being 
now  in  her  fifty-eighth  year.  In  religious  faith 
they  were  Universalists. 

Mr.  York,  the  subject  proper  of  this  brief  bio- 
graphical outline,  was  the  second  of  a  family  of 
three  children.  He  was  educated  in  the  public 


296 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


schools,  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  their  change  of  residence  to  that  state 
in  1871,  and  to  Evart,  Michigan,  in  1879.  In 
1881  Mr.  York  entered  the  Weekly  Review  office, 
at  Evart,  to  work  in  the  capacity  of  printer's 
"devil,"  and  in  the  spring  of  1883  left  for  Tel- 
luride,  Colorado,  where  he  was  employed  at  the 
printer's  trade.  From  the  fall  of  1884  to  the 
spring  of  1889  he  was  in  North  Dakota.  Next 
he  returned  to  Colorado  and  then  proceeded  to 
Salt  Lake  City,  arriving  there  in  the  fall,  and 
there  he  engaged  in  work  on  the  Salt  Lake  Trib- 
une, as  "Slug  14,"  until  March,  1890,  at  which 
time  he  severed  his  connection  with  that  estab- 
lishment to  accept  the  foremanship  of  the  Ava- 
lanche office,  of  which  he  became  the  proprietor 
in  1894. 

As  a  newspaper  man  and  editor  Mr.  York  has 
considerable  ability  and  enterprise.  In  January, 
1894,  he  published,  in  book  form,  a  Historical 
Descriptive  and  Commercial  Directory  of  Owy- 
hee  County,  finely  illustrated,  which  reflects 
great  credit  on  his  ability  and  enterprising  spirit. 
The  work  has  been  favorably  received. 

Mr.  York  was  happily  married,  at  Weiser,  Ida- 
ho, September,  1893,  to  Miss  Catharine  Brady, 
and  they  have  three  children.  Mr.  York  is  an 
active  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  in  his  political  principles  he  is  a 
"silver"  Republican. 

R.  W.  BERRY. 

A  leading  representative  of  the  commercial  in- 
terests of  Hailey  is  R.  W.  Berry,  the  well  known 
proprietor  of  a  hardware  store.  He  is  an  enter- 
prising and  progressive  business  man,  whose 
well  directed  efforts,  sound  judgment  and  capa- 
ble management  insure  him  success,  and  to-day 
he  is  numbered  among  the  substantial  and  valued 
citizens  of  Elaine  county.  A  native 'of  Maine,  he 
was  born  in  Augusta,  on  the  25th  of  March, 
1842,  and  is  of  Scotch  lineage.  His  father, 
Arthur  W.  Berry,  was  born  in  Maine  and  married 
Miss  Lucretia  Jane  Marble,  also  a  native  of  the 
Pine  Tree  state.  The  father  was  for  many  years 
engaged  in  journalistic  work  as  the  publisher  of 
the  Gospel  Banner.  He  died  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
two  years,  leaving  a  widow  and  one  son,  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review.  The  mother  lived  to  be  fifty- 
seven  years  of  age,  and  died  in  Boise.  After  the 


death  of  Mr.  Berry  she  married  again  and  with 
her  second  husband  removed  to  California,  locat- 
ing in  Yuba  county  in  1857. 

In  the  public  schools  of  his  native  state,  R.  W. 
Berry  acquired  his  education,  and  when  fifteen 
years  of  age  began  to  earn  his  own  living.  He 
accompanied  his  mother  to  California.  At- 
tracted by  the  discovery  of  gold,  he  went  to 
Washoe,  Nevada,  where  he  engaged  in  prospect- 
ing and  mining.  He  also  entered  land  from  the 
government  and  followed  farming  for  a  time, 
but  subsequently  abandoned  that  occupation  and 
returned  to  San  Francisco,  where  he  accepted  a 
clerkship  in  the  Washington  market,  where  he 
was  employed  for  four  years.  In  the  fall  of  1864 
he  went  to  Portland,  Oregon,  and  the  following 
spring  made  his  way  to  the  Oro  Fino  mines,  fol- 
lowing placer  mining  there  and  meeting  with 
satisfactory  success  in  his  undertakings.  In  the 
fall  of  1865  he  sold  his  claim  for  one  thousand 
dollars  and  with  a  party  crossed  on  the  Lolo 
trail  to  Helena,  Montana,  and  thence  to  Fort 
Benton,  where  he  took  a  Mackinaw  and  pro- 
ceeded down  the  Missouri  river  to  St.  Joseph. 
From  that  point  he  retraced  his  steps  to  his 
old  Maine  home,  and  spent  four  years  in  his 
native  state.  In  1869  Mr.  Berry  became  a  resi- 
dent of  Boise,  Idaho,  where  for  several  years  he 
acceptably  filled  the  office  of  assistant  assessor  of 
internal  revenue.  He  was  also  engaged  in  cattle 
raising  and  owned  as  high  as  one  thousand  head 
at  a  time.  In  the  spring  of  1881  he  received  the 
appointment  of  collector  of  internal  revenue 
from  President  Garfield,  and  was  also  engaged  in 
the  drug  business  at  Boise  for  six  years,  as  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  W.  H.  Nye  &  Company. 

In  1886  Mr.  Berry  came  to  Hailey.  The  town 
was  then  at  the  height  of  its  prosperity,  silver 
bringing  a  high  price,  and  the  mines  producing 
largely.  He  purchased  an  interest  in  the  hard- 
ware firm  of  Coffin  &  Company,  and  the  follow- 
ing year  the  business  was  incorporated,  the  prin- 
cipal incorporators  being  E.  C.  Coffin  and  R.  W. 
Berry.  Two  years  later  a  destructive  fire  swept 
over  the  town  and  with  many  others  the  com- 
pany lost  heavily.  They  carried  insurance  to  the 
amount  of  thirty  thousand  and  five  hundred  dol- 
lars, but  their  losses  above  that  were  estimated 
at  sixty  thousand  dollars.  Four  blocks  of  the 
enterprising  little  city  were  swept  away  by  the 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


297 


•  fiery  element,  and  many  merchants  were  thus 
badly  crippled  financially.  Almost  immediately, 
however,  a  new  business  center  rose  phoenix-like 
from  the  ashes.  Hardly  had  the  smoke  cleared 
away  when  Coffin  &  Company,  on  the  site  of 
their  old  store,  began  the  erection  of  a  good 
building,  thirty-five  by  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet,  refitted  it  with  a  well  selected  stock  of  hard- 
ware, and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Berry 
bought  out  the  other  members  of  the  corpora- 
tion and  became  the  sole  owner  of  the  business, 
which  he  has  since  successfully  conducted.  He 
keeps  a  large  general  stock  of  hardware  and  min- 
ing supplies,  and  now  enjoys  a  liberal  patronage 
which  comes  to  him  not  only  from  Hailey,  but 
also  throughout  the  surrounding  country.  His 
pleasant  manner,  his  courteous  treatment  of  his 
patrons,  and  his  honorable  dealing  have  secured 


to  him  a  large  trade,  and  he  justly  merits  his 
prosperity. 

In  1875  Mr.  Berry  was  married  and  has  two 
daughters.  The  elder,  Mary,  is  a  stenographer 
for  the  civil-service  commission  at  Washington, 
JJ.  C. ;  and  Louise,  a  graduate  of  the  State  Nor- 
mal School  at  New  Paltz,  New  York,  is  now  a 
successful  teacher  in  Ulster  county,  that  state. 
In  1863  Mr.  Berry  was  made  a  Mason  in  San 
Francisco  Lodge,  No.  i,  F.  &  A.  M.,  in  Califor- 
nia; has  held  various  offices  in  the  order,  and 
is  now  affiliated  with  Boise  Lodge,  No.  2.  In 
politics  he  has  always  been  a  Republican,  but 
since  1896  has  supported  the  silver  wing  of  the 
party.  He  ranks  very  high  as  an  honorable  and 
successful  business  man,  and  well  deserves  men- 
tion among  the  representative  citizens  of  his 
adopted  state. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


THE   PAYETTE   VALLEY— ITS   TOWNS,  WATER,  WEATHER,  SOIL,  PRODUCTS,  RESOURCES  AND 

VARIED   ATTRACTIONS. 


POR  the  following  graphic  and  ably  written 
article  in  regard  to  the  attractions  of  the 
Payette  valley  we  are  indebted  to  a  sou- 
venir edition  of  the  Payette  Independent  issued 
in  March,  1898: 

The  Payette  valley  lies  in  the  southwestern 
part  of  Idaho,  with  its  upper  and  narrow 
end  extending  far  back  into  pine-clad  moun- 
tains and  its  lower  flaring  into  broad,  fer- 
tile fields,  terminating  at  the  banks  of  the  Snake 
river,  just  across  whose  waters  rise  the  mountain 
peaks' of  Oregon.  Its  length  is  upward  of  forty 
miles,  its  width  varying  from  two  miles  at  the 
upper  point  to  eight  where  it  merges  into  the 
larger  delta  of  the  Snake.  On  its  northern  side 
rise  foothills  which  succeed  each  other  with  in- 
creasing height  until  they  are  lost  in  the  great 
chain  of  the  Seven  Devils  mountains;  on  the 
south  a  long,  low  line  of  hills  divides  it  from  its 
sister  valley,  the  Boise;  and  through  it  from  end 
to  end  the  Payette  river,  broad,  deep,  perennial, 
threads  its  way  around  innumerable  islands.  At 
its  mouth,  its  gateway  and  outlet,  within  half  a 
mile  of  the  confluence  of  the  Snake  and  Payette 
rivers,  is  the  flourishing  town  of  Payette;  midway 
in  its  length,  on  its  mesa  or  bench  lands,  is  New 
Plymouth,  a  new  community  established  on  the 
co-operative  principle ;  still  farther  up  the  valley- 
is  Falk's  Store,  which  in  an  early  day  was  one 
of  the  most  widely  known  stage  stations  in  the 
state  and  an  outfitting  point  for  cattlemen  of  a 
large  adjacent  territory;  and  at  its  upper  end, 
where  the  waters  of  the  Payette,  cold  and  clear, 
come  tumbling  out  of  a  deep  canyon,  Emmett,  a 
thrifty  village,  stands  sentinel. 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  district  to  which 
we  have  come  to  pay  tribute.  Its  area  is  not 
large,  but  the  stuff  it  is  made  of  is  "pay  dirt." 
Up  to  the  time  of  the  building  of  the  Oregon 
Short  Line  Railway,  a  link  in  the  Union  Pacific 
system,  the  Payette  valley  lay,  as  did  the  greater 
part  of  the  arid  northwest,  a  desert  which  was 
covered  with  sage  brush,  and  over  which  the 
coyote  chased  the  jack  rabbit  for  his  daily  meat. 
A  few  men,  more  hardy  and  more  enterprising 
than  their  fellows,  had  located  homes  along  the 
water  courses,  but  they  had  done  so  with  no  other 
expectation  than  spending  their  lives  in  the  picket 


line  of  pioneers.  Irrigation  was  then  in  its  swad- 
dling clothes  in  the  northwest.  The  general 
opinion  of  it  then,  as  it  is  now  to  a  less  extent, 
was  that  it  was  a  fad,  a  game  to  play  at,  but  as  a 
utilitarian  proposition — nil.  But  the  railroad 
drew  people  in  its  wake,  who  found  a  climate  so 
genial  that  they  cast  about  them  for  some  occu- 
pation that  would  yield  a  livelihood,  so  that  they 
might  stay.  Many  embarked  in  the  live-stock 
industry,  some  sought  the  great  forests  of  pine, 
fir  and  tamarack  toward  the  headwaters  of  the 
Payette,  rafting  logs  to  its  mouth,  and  some,  set- 
tling on  the  lower  lands,  easy  to  water,  com- 
menced tilling  the  soil.  To  these  latter  and  to 
the  few  who  preceded  them  in  the  same  work  is 
due  the  growth  of  the  tree  of  knowledge. 
Through  them  the  possibilities  of  production  of 
the  valley's  seventy-five  thousand  acres  has  been 
made  known,  and  from  that  time  the  certainty  of 
future  prosperity  was  made  as  sure  as  the  coming 
of  the  seasons  is  sure.  It  was  these  men  who 
first  planted  fruit  trees.  They  were  set  out  for 
home  orchards  and  home  consumption,  with  little 
thought  or  expectation  of  their  being  utilized  for 
anything  else.  But  when  they  reached  maturity 
their  enormous  yields  and  the  excellence  of  the 
quality  of  the  fruit  opened  a  new  field  for  en- 
deavor. Commercial  orchards  were  planted. 
They  came  to  fruitfulness  and  the  future  great 
industry  of  the  valley  was  established.  From 
this  small  beginning,  although  it  was  less  than  a 
decade  ago,  there  are  now  in  the  valley  upward 
of  twenty-five  hundred  acres  in  tree  fruits,  five 
hundred  acres  in  berries,  and  an  annual  acreage 
in  melons  in  excess  of  two  hundred  and  fifty. 

The  climatic,  soil  and  moisture  conditions 
which  make  it  possible  for  the  Payette  valley  to 
outrival  even  some  of  the  famed  lotus  lands  of 
California  and  to  raise  fruit  that  is  second  to 
none  in  any  market,  are  unusually  felicitous.  The 
summer  season  is  long  and  warm,  with  an  aver- 
age of  twenty-nine  days  of  sunshine  each  month. 
Practically  no  rain  falls  from  May  to  October, 
making  the  harvesting  of  all  crops  a  matter  of 
comparative  ease.  The  winters  are  short  and 
mild,  yet  with  that  indispensable  touch  of  frost 
which  gives  the  crispness  and  flavor  to  fruits  of 
the  temperate  zone  which  those  of  California 
lack.  The  soil  is  of  the  same  nature  as  abounds 
throughout  the  inter-mountain  region, — a  deep 

298 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


alluvial,  rich  in  all  mineral  constituents  and  of  a 
durability  widely  known.  In  an  irrigation  dis- 
trict "water  is  king."  On  it  depends  the  success 
of  all  crops;  without  it  land  is  not  worth  annual 
taxes.  The  Payette  valley  claims,  and  is  pre- 
pared to  make  good  this  statement  to  all  comers, 
that  it  has  the  best  water  supply  in  the  irrigated 
northwest.  To-day  four-fifths  of  all  the  land  in 
it  that  is  susceptible  of  irrigation  is  under  ditch, 
yet  at  the  time  when  the  Payette  river  is  at 
its  lowest  stage  there  runs  to  waste  fifty  thou- 
sand miner's  inches.  That  is  an  amount  suffi- 
cient to  irrigate  twice  the  number  of  acres  in 
the  entire  valley.  Should  this  present  natural 
flow  ever  diminish  there  are  on  the  north  fork  of 
the  Payette  two  lakes  whose  storage  capacity  can 
hardly  be  estimated  in  figures.  They  lie  in  deep 
canyons,  walled  on  all  sides  with  mountains  that 
reach  the  line  of  perpetual  snow,  and  their  out- 
lets are  through  deep  cuts  where  they  may  be 
dammed  at  comparatively  small  cost.  The  canals 
now  constructed  and  in  operation  are  of  a  sub- 
stantial and  permanent  character  and  supplying 
water  with  every  facility  for  the  best  and  most 
economical  use  of  it.  Second  only  to  getting 
water  on  land  is  getting  it  off.  At  no  place  in 
the  valley  is  there  a  lack  of  ample  drainage  chan- 
nels which  carry  all  waste  to  one  of  the  two  riv- 
ers. The  slope  on  the  bench  lands  is  an  even 
one  to  the  north, — the  ideal  exposure  for  fruit, — 
and  on  the  lower  lands  to  the  north  and  west. 
These  lands  are  universally  level,  but  susceptible 
of  easy  irrigation. 

While  horticulture  will  be  a  leading  industry 
it  will  not  be  the  only  one.  The  first  settlers  to 
accumulate  means,  and  some  of  them  wealth, 
were  the  stock  men,  and  they  form  to-day  a  large 
proportion  of  the  population.  The  foot  hills  ad- 
jacent to  the  valley  form  good  ranges,  on  which 
large  bands  of  cattle  and  sheep  roam.  The  ma- 
jority of  these  are  rounded  up  and  fed  during 
the  three  winter  months,  but  many  get  no  other 
forage  than  they  can  "rustle  for  themselves" 
throughout  the  year.  The  quantity  of  hay 
that  can  be  raised  to  the  acre  makes  the  question 
of  winter  feeding  an  easy  one  to  meet.  The 
average  is  five  tons.  Here  as  elsewhere  the  cat- 
tle business  is  being  divided  into  small  holdings, 
and  with  the  exceptional  advantages  for  feeding 
it  has  already  become  a  most  important  factor 
in  the  support  of  many  homes.  The  many  large 
valleys  lying  to  the  north  of  the  Payette  afford 
summer  ranges  for  sheep  that  are  wintered  in 
the  Payette.  It  is  estimated  that  eighty-five 
thousand  sheep  were  fed  between  Emmett  and 
Payette  last  winter,  making  a  market  the  value 
of  which  the  growers  of  hay  acknowledge.  Dairy- 
ing is,  up  to  the  present,  almost  neglected,  and 
it  affords  a  field  for  enterprise  second  to  none. 


Where  by  actual  test  one-eighth  of  an  acre  of 
alfalfa  pasturage  has  kept  one  cow  from  May  to 
September,  where  five  tons  of  hay  can  be  grown 
to  the  acre,  where  other  forage  is  plenty  and 
cheap,  and  where  in  the  neighboring  cities  cream- 
ery butter  is  quoted  at  from  eighteen  to  twenty- 
two  cents  a  pound,  there  must  be  some  ground 
for  the  belief  that  dairying  will  at  least  keep  the 
wolf  from  the  door. 

To  those  who  are  looking  for  a  location  for 
general  farming  the  Payette  valley  offers  induce- 
ments. Thirty  bushels  of  wheat,  fifty  of  corn, 
forty  of  oats,  twelve  thousand  pounds  of  pota- 
toes, eighteen  thousand  of  onions  are  some  of 
the  yields  that  are  certified  to  by  the  state's 
engineer.  A  guaranty  of  plenty  of  water  leaves 
nothing  lacking  to  good  crops  but  muscular  en- 
ergy and  that  intelligence  that  makes  the  Ameri- 
can people  the  foremost  in  the  world. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  tim- 
ber belts  that  surround  the  Payette  valley.  Their 
acreage  runs  into  the  millions, — pine,  tamarack, 
fir,  spruce  and  mountain  poplar.  There  is  but 
one  natural  outlet  for  this  vast  amount  of  lum- 
ber. It  is  the  Payette  river.  Already  a  company 
has  prospected  the  ground  and  made  estimates  on 
what  is  needful  to  be  done  to  effect  rafting  of 
logs  down  the  river  to  Payette,  where  it  con- 
templates the  establishment  of  a  mill  that  will 
employ  two  hundred  men.  Taking  into  consid- 
eration that  each  year  sees  the  visible  supply  of 
lumber  in  the  world  decrease,  the  practically  un- 
touched forests  of  Idaho  will  be  a  source  of 
boundless  wealth. 

In  and  contiguous  to  the  Payette  valley  are  a 
number  of  mining  propositions  that  are  on  a 
well  paying  basis,  and  many  others  that  promise 
much  for  the  future.  At  Pearl  a  half  dozen 
prospects  have  developed  paying  quartz;  in  the 
Seven  Devils,  copper  that  assays  forty-five  per 
cent  pure  is  being  mined  on  the  surface;  in  Lit- 
tle Willow  creek,  a  vein  of  coal  has  been  un- 
covered that  is  getting  better  and  better  in  qual- 
ity as  the  shaft  is  sunk ;  and  in  the  sands  of  the 
two  rivers  any  one  may  pan  out  gold  practically 
the  year  round  in  quantities  that  will  yield  a 
revenue  of  two  dollars  per  day.  In  these  same 
sands  lie  untold  riches,  when  some  inventive 
genius  perfects  a  way  to  separate  the  precious 
metal  from  them.  Many  have  tried  and  failed, 
others  have  tried  with  a  fair  measure  of  success, 
and  at  the  present  time  a  large  capital  has  been 
invested  in  a  still  newer  process  which  promises 
greater  results  than  have  yet  been  attained. 
Although  the  money  invested  in  the  mining  in- 
dustry in  Idaho  is  small  compared  with  such 
states  as  Colorado  or  California,  her  yield  of 
precious  metals  ranks  with  the  first.  Yet  there 
is  two-thirds  of  her  territory  that  has  never  been 


300 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


prospected,  except  in  the  most  desultory  manner, 
and  much  of  this  virgin  ground  properly  belongs 
in  a  section  to  which  the  Payette  valley  bears 
the  relation  of  a  base  of  supplies. 

The  average  prospective  settler,  when  he  be- 
gins to  think  of  moving  to  the  far  west,  hesitates 
because  he  dreads  that  he  will  be  compelled  to 
undergo  himself  or  subject  his  family  to  hard- 
ships and  privations  incident  to  pioneering.  In 
his  mind's  eye  he  sees  his  home  surrounded  by 
a  wilderness, — neighbors,  schools,  churches  and 
the  doctor  far  distant;  no  conditions  whereby  his 
children  may  be  brought  up  with  proper  social 
training1  or  where  he  and  his  wife  can  secure  re- 
laxation from  the  labor  of  overcoming  the  virgin 
soil,  and  possibly  himself  engaged  in  some  hand- 
to-hand  encounter  with  wild  beasts,  or  wilder 
men.  Generally  he  who  hesitates  is  lost;  and  by 
reason  of  failure  to  investigate  he  goes  to  some 
perhaps  less  genial  clime.  The  Payette  valley 
offers  nearly  all  the  advantages  and  many  of  the 
luxuries  of  any  well  regulated  rural  community, 
whether  it  be  in  effete  New  England  or  the  mid- 
dle-aged central  west.  Payette  has  a  graded 
school,  housed  in  a  handsome  brick  building;  in 
all  the  country  districts  schools  are  opened  and 
taught  for  six  to  nine  months;  and  in  New  Ply- 
mouth, Falk's  Store  and  Emmett  there  are  good 
schools  with  ample  facilities  for  all  scholars. 
The  state  has  a  compulsory-education  law,  buys 
and  furnishes  all  books.  There  are  two  denom- 
inational colleges, — a  Congregational  and  a 
Presbyterian — within  a  day's  drive  of  any  part 
of  the  valley.  Each  community  has  its  churches, 
which  represent  nearly  every  denomination  with 
the  exception  of  the  Mormon.  They  have  their 
regular  pastors  and  services,  their  church  so- 
cieties and  entertainments  and  their  work  for 
the  relief  of  the  sick.  Social  organizations,  such 
as  literary  and  debating  societies;  fraternal  or- 
ganizations, such  as  the  Masons,  Odd  Fellows, 
G.  A.  R.  and  others;  business  organizations,  vil- 
lage-improvement societies;  outing  clubs,  gun 
clubs  and  riding  clubs  form  nuclei  around  which 
revolves  a  social  life  that  older  communities 
would  not  blush  to  father.  The  business  and 
banking  facilities  are  on  a  par  with  what  are 
called  modern  methods.  The  services  of  physi- 
cians in  good  standing  can  always  be  secured, 
and  medicines  are  easy  of  access. 

As  for  the  struggle  with  the  virgin  soil,  there 
are  but  few  places  in  this  wide  land  where  the 
settler  may  first  stick  plow  in  the  ground  in  the 
spring,  with  no  previous  preparation,  and  raise 
that  same  year  a  good  crop  of  almost  anything 
he  is  minded  to  plant;  and  the  Payette  valley  is 
one  of  those  places.  And  wild  animals!  The 
fiercest  animal  that  roams  the  sage  brush  is  the 
timorous  coyote,  and  next  is  the  reserved  and 


distant  jack  rabbit.  So  that  here  is  no  pioneer- 
ing. It  is  of  course  not  the  excellence  of  living 
in  some  large  center  of  population,  but  hardship 
there  is  none ;  and  here  is  refuted  the  maxim  that 
''the  poor  ye  have  with  ye  alvvay."  There  are  no 
poor  as  it  is  understood  to  be  poor  in  any  older 
settled  country.  There  is  no  man  in  the  Payette 
valley  so  poor  but  that  he  has  a  roof  to  cover 
his  head,  a  fire  at  which  to  keep  warm,  and  food 
for  himself  and  family  when  meal-time  comes. 
Nor  is  there  any  man  who,  if  he  is  willing  and 
able  to  work,  but  can  lay  up  that  little  store  that 
is  so  needful  on  the  "rainy  day." 

The  lands  of  the  Payette  valley  are  cheap. 
Practically  all  that  can  be  entered  under  the 
desert  or  homestead  acts  are  taken  up,  but  the 
best  lands  under  ditch  can  be  had  for  from  fifteen 
to  fifty  dollars  per  acre.  Those  prices  are  a  con- 
trast to  what  is  asked  for  fruit  lands  in  California, 
Colorado  or  any  other  recognized  fruit  locality; 
and  those  or  any  other  states  are  challenged  to 
show  a  greater  yield  or  a  better  quality  of  fruit 
than  that  from  the  fertile  fields  of  the  Payette. 
The  people  of  this  section  make  no  claim  to  a 
super-excellence  or  to  an  absence  of  disadvan- 
tages. It  is  not  set  forth  that  this  is  a  Garden  of 
Eden,  a  bower  of  the  Fountain  of  Youth,  or  a 
land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  where  the  peo- 
ple, like  the  lilies  of  the  field,  toil  not  nor  spin. 
There  are  those  drawbacks  always  incident  to  the 
infant  days  of  making  a  commonwealth.  There 
are  bad,  muddy  roads  in  winter  and  bad  dusty 
ones  in  summer,  transportation  charges  are  high, 
and  neither  DeWolfe  Hopper  or  Miss  S.  Bern- 
hardt  play  at  Payette's  opera  house,  but  there  is 
no  disadvantage  that  will  not  yield  to  time,  and 
a  short  time  at  that.  This  is  a  place  where  ener- 
getic and  intelligent  men  and  women  can  secure, 
at  a  nominal  cost,  homes  that  will  support  them 
in  their  old  age  in  ease  if  not  in  luxury;  it  is 
where  a  young  man,  if  he  will  exercise  the  same 
industry  as  he  does  to  keep  his  head  above  water 
in  crowded  avenues  of  trade,  can  acquire  a  com- 
petence if  not  wealth;  and  where  no  man,  if  he 
will  work,  will  become  a  patron  of  a  public  soup 
house. 

Each  year  sees  a  large  number  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  seek  to  escape  the  heated  term  by 
flight  to  the  mountains  or  sea  side.  Near  to  the 
Payette  valley  lies  a  country  of  mountains  and 
forests  and  lakes,  of  perpetual  snows,  of  magnifi- 
cent panoramas,  of  little  sequestered  valleys  of 
indescribable  charm,  and  of  grand,  deep  canyons 
and  precipitous  mountains  of  granite,  that  offer 
such  delights  for  the  lover  of  nature  and  such 
possibilities  to  the  adventurous  traveler  as  no 
land  excels.  There,  too,  the  hunter  may  find  some 
of  the  remaining  few  of  those  vanishing  species 
— the  moose,  the  elk,  the  mountain  sheep,  the 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


301 


caribou  and  the  fierce  grizzly.  The  seeker  of 
health  may  there  locate  himself  at  any  altitude 
in  an  atmosphere  redolent  of  the  pines  and  fairly 
crackling  with  vigor,  and  on  every  side  he  win 
find  living  examples  of  the  beneficence  of  nature 
to  man. 

Of  the  family  of  states  that  forms  'the  empire 
of  the  northwest,  Idaho  is  the  Cinderella, — the 
least  known  and  the  most  fair, — and  her  fore- 
most foot  is  slippered  by  the  Payette  valley  and 
its  surroundings.  Even  now  the  tread  of  the 
fairy  prince  who  is  to  lead  her  to  wealth  and 
prosperity  is  heard.  Now  is  the  time  to  enroll 
in  her  train  of  courtiers. 

PAYETTE. 

Since  the  time,  in  1836,  when  Marcus  Whit- 
man demonstrated  that  it  was  possible  to  travel 
from  the  Missouri  river  to  Puget  sound  on 
wheels,  the  Payette  valley  has  lain  in  the  direct 
route  of  travel  to  the  northwest.  But  it  was 
not  until  the  building  of  the  railroad,  in  1884, 
that  it  was  looked  upon  as  a  place  for  permanent 
settlement.  In  the  previous  year  the  engineers 
of  the  Union  Pacific  surveying  the  line  through, 
located  a  bridge  over  the  Snake  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Payette  valley,  and  at  that  time  A.  B.  and 
F.  C.  Moss  and  others,  under  contract  to  de- 
liver a  quarter  million  of  ties,  camped  near  the 
junction  of  the  Payette  and  Snake  on  the  site  of 
the  present  town  of  Payette.  That  marked  its 
birth.  In  July  of  that  year  the  Moss  brothers 
erected  the  first  store  building,  and  settlers  be- 
gan coming  in.  The  year  1884  saw  the  com- 
pletion of  the  railroad  as  far  as  Huntington ;  the 
building  of  the  first  school-house  in  the  infant 
town  on  the  site  of  the  present  Baptist  church; 
the  construction  of  the  lower  Payette  ditch  by  the 
farmers  along  its  route,  an  irrigating  canal,  with 
extensions,  twenty  miles  in  length  and  carrying 
a  volume  of  water  of  seven  thousand  miner's 
inches;  and  the  establishment  of  a  sawmill  by 
W.  A.  Coughanour.  In  this  year  and  those  im- 
mediately following  there  located  in  Payette  the 
greater  number  of  those  men  who  now  form  the 
"old  guard."  This  ancient  and  honorable  pha- 
lanx has  on  its  rolls  such  names  as  Peter  Pence, 
Henry  Irvin,  William  Ireton,  S.  W.  King,  J.  T. 
Clement,  Alex.  Rossi,  John  Ashbaugh,  James 
Welch,  W.  C.  Johnson,  Samuel  and  John  Apple  • 
gate,  John,  Ben  and  William  Bivens,  August  and 
Adolph  Jacobsen,  John  Henshaw,  Jacob  Stroup, 
D.  S.  Lamme,  A.  B.  and  F.  C.  Moss  and  others. 
The  growth  of  the  town  was  not  particularly 
rapid  from  that  time  on  to  1890,  but  the  popula- 
tion steadily  increased  and  from  a  supply  station 
for  railway-construction  gangs  it  had  become  a 
center  of  trade  and  base  of  supplies  for  a  coun- 
trv  an  hundred  miles  in  extent. 


The  "brick  age"  was  inaugurated  in  1890.  It 
received  its  main  impetus  from  the  decision  of 
a  German  syndicate,  which  had  sent  representa- 
tives to  investigate  the  resources  of  the  valley, 
to  make  extensive  purchases  in  real  estate  and 
place  money  in  various  enterprises.  The  syndi- 
cate invested  about  two  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. Its  faith  in  the  future  was  pinned  to  the 
valley's  horticultural,  timber  and  live-stock  re- 
sources. A  two-story  brick  school-house  had 
already  been  erected  and  following  on  the  upward 
trend  of  affairs  given  by  the  location  of  the  syndi- 
cate named  there  went  up  a  two-story  hotel, 
three-story  bank  building,  two-story  Odd  Fellow 
building,  the  large  establishments  of  the  Moss, 
Payette  Valley  and  Lamme  mercantile  companies 
and  several  large  residences,  all  of  brick,  as  well 
as  a  number  of  large  frame  buildings. 

Payette  was  incorporated  as  a  village  in  1891. 
In  1891  the  first  car  load  of  fruit  was  shipped. 
To-day  Payette  has  a  population  of  one  thousand. 
In  speaking  of  its  future,  A.  B.  Moss,  one  of 
the  original  pioneers,  says:  "I  traveled  in  Col- 
orado in  1866,  when  it  was  less  advanced  than 
Idaho  is  to-day.  Colorado  is  now  a  rich  and 
populous  state,  yet  it  has  never  had  any  more  ad- 
vantages to  offer  than  has  Idaho  and  particularly 
the  Payette  valley.  Therefore  I  look  to  see  this 
valley  support  a  population  of  fifty  thousand 
people ;  I  look  to  see  a  town  within  its  borders  of 
ten  thousand  people  inside  of  fifteen  years;  I 
look  to  see  a  railroad  running  the  length  of  it 
inside  of  ten  years;  and  I  look  to  see  its  people 
prosperous  and  happy.  This  may  happen  much 
sooner  than  the  time  I  state,  but  I  do  not  think 
my  time  will  be  overrun." 

NEW   PLYMOUTH. 

New  Plymouth  is  the  youngest  of  the  com- 
munities in  the  Payette  valley,  and  is  the  result 
of  the  first  organized  effort  to  secure  immigra- 
tion. In  the  year  1893  the  Payette  Valley  Irri- 
gation &  Water  Power  Company  completed  the 
construction  of  an  irrigation  canal  forty  miles 
in  length  on  the  bench  lands  of  the  valley,  and 
at  once  set  about  to  induce  settlement  under  it. 
B.  P.  Shawhan,  in  charge  of  this  plant,  in  1894 
associated  himself  with  William  E.  Smythe.  then 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Na- 
tional Irrigation  Congress,  for  the  establishment 
in  the  Payette  valley  of  a  community  -under  the 
general  plan  of  colonization,  but  also  to  include 
a  number  of  novel  and  advantageous  features. 
The  plan  formulated  was  based  on  the  principle 
of  co-operative  business  interests,  government 
by  the  people,  the  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  in- 
toxicating liquors  in  any  manner,  and  social  and 
civic  equality. 


302 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


The  city  of  Chicago  was  selected  as  the  most 
available  point  at  which  to  introduce  the  project, 
and  during  the  summer  of  1895  a  committee  of 
seven  was  sent  to  Payette  to  investigate  the 
country.  Its  report  was  so  favorable  that  in  the 
fall  of  that  year  some  thirty-five  families  sub- 
scribed to  the  plan  offered  and  settled  where 
New  Plymouth  now  stands.  During  that  winter 
—1895-6 — a  town  site  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty-five  acres  was  laid  out,  upward  of  ten 
miles  of  streets  graded,  thirty-six  hundred  shade 
trees  planted,  and  a  village  hall  and  two  houses 
for  general  occupancy  erected.  From  that  time 
to  the  present  the  growth  of  New  Plymouth  has 
gone  steadily  forward.  People  from  all  sections 
of  the  United  States  have  become  its  citizens. 
To-day,  although  it  is  less  than  three  years  ago 
when  its  being  was  certainly  decided  upon,  it 
has  handsome  residences  on  its  streets,  commodi- 
ous public  buildings,  business  buildings,  a  con- 
siderable population  of  intelligent  and  industri- 
ous people  and  has  passed  the  stage  where  its 
successful  future  was  in  doubt. 

When  the  irrigation  ditch  was  completed,  the 
year  before  the  establishment  of  New  Plymouth, 
the  lands  which  it  now  waters  and  of  which  New 
Plymouth  is  the  logical  and  geographical  center, 
were  as  innocent  of  the  taming  hand  of  man  as 
in  the  days  when  fierce  mountain  torrents  swept 
it  from  divide  to  divide.  Now  there  are  upward 
of  three  thousand  acres  of  land  under  fence  and 
annually  yielding  crops;  there  are  one  thousand 
acres  of  orchard,  some  of  which  will  this  year 
bear  fruit;  and  from  a  desert  it  has  become  a 
garden. 

FALK'S  STORE. 

Falk's  Store  is  the  oldest  settlement  in  south- 
ern Idaho  between  the  Boise  basin  and  the  Snake 
river.  A  station  on  the  Utah,  Idaho  &  Oregon 
stage  line  was  first  located  there,  and  around  it 
sprang  up  an  outfitting  and  trading  post  which 
had  all  those  lively  characteristics  incident  to 
the  frontier.  The  first  store  was  established  about 
1867,  by  James  Toombs,  on  what  is  now  called 
the  Scott  Stuart  place,  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
below  Falk's  Store  proper.  A  few  years  later 
he  was  bought  out  by  A.  J.  McFarland,  who 
successfully  conducted  a  large  business  for  about 
ten  years.  Nathan  Falk,  now  a  prominent  mer- 
chant in  Boise  city,  then  established  a  store  at  the 
station,  and  from  it  the  name  was  taken.  In 
those  days  the  place  boasted  a  hotel,  store,  sa- 
loon, blacksmith  shop  and  numerous  smaller  en- 
terprises, and  in  proof  of  the  assertion  that  times 
were  good  in  the  seventies  it  is  said  that  Falk's 
store  alone  did  a  business  of  sixty  thousand  dol- 
lars in  one  year.  The  building  of  the  railroad, 
however,  put  an  end  to  staging  and  Falk's  Store 
has  since  declined. 


EMMETT. 

James  Wardwell  built  a  sawmill  on  the  Payette 
river  close  at  the  head  of  the  valley  in  the  early 
seventies,  to  which  logs  were  rafted  from  the 
great  timber  belts  lying  to  the  north.  Around 
this  mill  lumbermen  and  merchants  congregated, 
with  the  result  that  the  town  of  Emmett  was  es- 
tablished. Emmett  now  has  a  population  of  five 
hundred,  large  mercantile  establishments,  fine 
residences  and  is  surrounded  by  bearing  orchards 
of  many  acres  in  extent.  The  sawing  of  lumber 
has  been  moved  further  back  into  the  mountains, 
but  Emmett  is  the  distributing  point  for  the  in- 
dustry. 

WATER. 

The  Payette  valley  has  that  most  necessary  ad  • 
junct  to  an  irrigated  section, — water.  It  has  the 
best  water  supply  in  the  irrigated  northwest.  Not 
only  has  it  a  supply  greatly  in  excess  of  all  de- 
mands that  are  being  made  on  it  at  present,  but 
'it  has  a  supply  that  is  more  than  twice  sufficient 
to  irrigate  every  acre  of  land  that  the  valley  con- 
tains, and  should  its  present  annual  flow  ever  be 
diminished  by  some  unforeseen  disturbance  of 
nature  there  are  at  its  source  two  natural  reser- 
voirs of  an  extended  surface  area  and  of  a  depth 
that  has  heretofore  baffled  measurement,  and  a 
mountain  chain  on  which  there  are  snows  and 
ice  an  hundred  centuries  old.  This  fact  in  itself 
makes  the  Payette  valley  pre-eminent  among  the 
many  of  this  section  of  the  country.  There  may 
be  others  where  the  soil  is  as  fertile,  the  climate 
as  salubrious  and  the  people  as  intelligent  and 
industrious,  but  there  are  few  whose  familv  skele  • 
ton  is  not  labeled,  "Fear  for  future  water  supply." 
Therefore  the  Payette  valley  says  to  any  and  all 
home-seekers  that  to  leave  it  out  of  consideration 
in  the  making  of  permanent  homes  is  to  be  blind 
to  self-interest. 

During  the  year  1896  the  state  engineer  of 
Idaho,  F.  J.  Mills,  made  measurements  of  the 
flow  of  water  in  all  the  rivers  in  the  state  from 
which  water  was  diverted  for  irrigating  purposes. 
The  tables  of  figures  he  has  compiled  are  too 
cumbersome  for  reproduction  here,  although  they 
may  be  obtained  from  him  on  request;  but  his 
general  statement  as  to  the  Payette's  water  sup- 
ply is  the  best  of  evidence.  He  says: 

"The  gauging  station  on  this  stream  is  at  the 
wagon  bridge  near  the  town  of  Payette  not  far 
from  the  mouth  of  the  stream  and  below  all  di- 
verting canals.  As  the  flow  of  this  river  is  so 
much  greater  at  all  times  than  any  possible  de- 
mands upon  it  by  any  existing  or  projected  ca- 
nals, this  station  answers  all  purposes  as  well 
as  one  located  above  the  canals.  The  quantity 
of  water  carried  at  all  seasons  of  the  year  by  the  . 
Payette  is  more  than  sufficient  for  the  irrigation 
of  all  the  agricultural  land  in  the  valley,  and 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


303 


therefore  there  need  be  little  fear  of  any  scarcity 
of  water.  The  Payette  lakes  offer  natural  reser- 
voir sites,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  it  will  be  necessary 
to  make  use  of  them,  certainly  not  for  many 
years,  and  never  unless  a  larger  part  of  the  flow 
of  the  Payette  be  taken  out  of  its  own  drainage 
area  for  use  elsewhere." 

The  Payette  lakes,  to  which  the  engineer  re- 
fers, lie  on  the  north  fork  of  the  Payette,  distant 
about  one  hundred  and  forty  miles.  Their  com- 
bined surface  area  is  about  fifty  square  miles. 
The  deepest  sounding  ever  made  in  the  lower 
lake  was  two  thousand  and  five  hundred  feet, 
which  failed  to  reach  bottom,  so  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  compute  the  number  of  gallons  of 
water  it  contains. ,  They  lie  in  deep,  steep-sided 
ravines  and  their  outlets  dash  over  rocky  bot- 
toms through  walled  canyons.  The  cost  of  dam- 
ming them  so  as  to  raise  their  surfaces  many 
feet  will  be,  if  it  should  ever  become  necessary, 
light  compared  with  the  enormous  expenditures 
of  time  and  money  to  conserve  almost  an  in- 
finitesimal amount  of  these  waters  in  the  states 
of  California,  Colorada  and  New  Mexico.  The 
middle  fork  of  the  Payette  rises  in  eternal  glaciers 
in  the  Sawtooth  mountains.  Here  is  another 
fruitful  source  of  water  supply.  Just  at  the  time 
when  other  accumulations  of  water  begin  to  ebb 
the  snow  and  ice  here  are  melting  most  rapidly. 
The  south  fork  of  the  river  drains  a  large  area 
and  contributes  no  little  to  the  general  fund  of 
moisture.  If  you  want  to  irrigate,  the  Payette 
valley  can  furnish  you  with  water. 

Water  for  drinking  is  found  at  depths  varying 
from  twenty  to  sixty  feet  and  is  universally  free 
from  impurities  and  any  trace  of  alkali. 

WEATHER. 

The  state  of  Idaho,  has  as  many  varieties  of 
climate  as  there  are  styles  in  feminine  headgear. 
On  the  exposed  mountain  peaks  and  in  high  alti- 
tudes old  Boreas  holds  frozen  court  the  greater 
part  of  the  year,  while  on  the  lower  levels  and 
in  the  sheltered  valleys  winter  is  little  more  than 
a  name.  One  of  these  latter  is  the  Payette. 
Its  altitude  is  two  thousand  and  two  hundred 
feet,  and  it  stands  open-mouthed  to  the  warm 
winds  from  the  Japan  current  that  come  sweeping 
up  the  deltas  of  the  Columbia  and  Snake.  Its 
latitude  is  the  same  as  that  of  southern  France 
and  Italy,  and  it  is  protected  from  the  fierce  colds 
that  originate  in  the  region  of  Montana  by  the 
continental  divide.  The  winter  season  usually 
lasts  about  three  months,  with  varying  degrees 
of  cold.  Taking  one  winter  with  another  the 
mean  average  temperature  is  but  little  below  the 
freezing  point.  The  thermometer  generally  sinks 
to  zero  for  not  to  exceed  three  or  four  nights 
during  the  season.  The  lowest  point  it  has  ever 


reached  since  the  establishment  of  a  voluntary 
observer's  station  in  Payette,  seven  years  ago, 
is  twelve  degrees  below  zero.  The  ground  sel- 
dom freezes  to  a  depth  greater  than  six  inches. 

The  summer  season  approaches  the  tropical  as 
far  as  the  thermometer's  record  is  concerned.  It 
is  no  unusual  thing  for  the  one  hundred  degree 
mark  to  be  hovered  around  for  weeks  at 
a  time,  but  there  the  resemblance  to  the  tropics 
ends.  There  is  no  depressing  humidity,  nor 
hot,  sultry  nights.  The  average  difference 
of  thermometer  readings  between  day  and 
night  is,  for  the  summer  months,  thirty- 
five  degrees,  and  the  rarity  and  dryness 
of  the  air  so  tempers  the  rays  of  the 
sun  that  no  bad  effects  are  ever  experienced. 
At  the  same  time,  when  in  Chicago  and  other 
eastern  cities,  with  the  thermometer  standing  at 
about  ninety  degrees,  people  and  horses  have 
been  dying  of  sun-stroke  by  the  dozens,  the  ther- 
mometers in  the  Payette  valley  have  registered 
as  high  as  one  hundred  and  fifteen,  with  men  and 
animals  working  under  its  mid-day  rays  practical- 
ly oblivious  of  their  heat.  A  case  of  hydrophobia 
has  never  been  known  in  the  state  of  Idaho. 

The  dry  season  lasts  from  about  the  first  of 
May  until  the  first  of  October.  During  this  time 
the  atmosphere  is  practically  devoid  of  humidity 
and  days  of  uninterrupted  sunshine  succeed  each 
other,  furnishing,  in  connection  with  the  abun- 
dant water  supply  of  the  valley,  the  most  favor- 
able conditions  for  plant  life  and  growth.  The 
periods  of  rain  are  in  the  fall  and  spring,  when  a 
considerable  volume  falls.  Snow  sometimes  suc- 
ceeds during  the  winter  months,  but  sleighing  of 
more  than  two  weeks'  duration  seldom  occurs. 
What  makes  the  coldest  of  weather  the  easier  to 
endure  is  the  fact  that  the  colder  it  gets,  the  less 
the  wind  blows,  and  if  the  thermometer  hovers 
at  the  zero  point  the  faintest  breath  of  a  breeze 
cannot  be  detected.  Such  conditions  produce  a 
climate  that  is  beneficial,  and  in  many  cases  cura- 
tive to  pulmonary  complaints,  catarrhal  trouble?, 
malarial  diseases  and  many  other  ills  that  flesh 
is  heir  to.  In  other  words  the  climate  is  health- 
ful and  stimulating,  and  there  are  many  persons 
living  in  the  Payette  valley  to-day,  vigorous  and 
robust,  who  left  former  homes  with  a  doctor's 
prophecy  hanging  over  them  that  life  for  them 
was  short. 

SOIL. 

The  soil  of  the  Payette  valley  is  an  alluvial  de- 
posit of  a  volcanic  nature,  varying  in  weight  and 
depth  in  different  places.  Surrounding  the  town 
of  Payette.  including  those  lands  adjacent  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Payette  river,  the  bottom  lands  of 
the  Snake,  and  an  area  containing  about  one 
thousand  and  five  hundred  acres,  which  is  known 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


as  the  Washoe  flat,  the  soil  borders  on  a  sandy 
loam.  It  assimilates  irrigation  waters  with  great 
ease,  and  is  deep  and  friable. 

On  the  bench  lands  about  New  Plymouth  there 
is  more  of  a  clay  consistency.  It  makes  a  soil 
less  friable  when  first  cultivated  than  the  more 
sandy,  but  competent  judges  are  of  the  belief 
that  it  will  be  longer  lived.  In  the  upper  end 
of  the  valley  there  is  a  mixture  of  sand,  clay  and 
bottom  lands. 

The  statement  is  made  here  without  fear  of 
successful  contradiction  that  there  is  no  hard 
pan  or  gumbo  land  in  the  Payette  valley;  and 
no  alkali  except  along  the  river  bottoms,  which 
form  a  most  insignificant  part  of  the  total  acre- 
age. The  soils  are  all  rich  in  the  ingredients 
needful  for  plant  life,  and  their  longevity  is  in- 
creased in  that  the  running  of  irrigating  water  on 
their  surface  continually  refertilizes  them. 

FRUIT    CULTURE. 

An  advancement  in  fruit-growing  has  already 
been  made  in  the  Payette  valley  that  places  it 
among  the  foremost  in  the  state  and  surrounding 
country.  It  is  past  the  experimental  stage.  N.  A. 
Jacobsen  shipped  the  first  solid  car  of  fruit — 
prunes — from  Payette  in  1891,  since  which  time 
shipments  have  increased,  until  last  season  they 
amounted  to  twenty-five  car  loads  of  green  fruit, 
twenty-three  car  loads  of  melons;  and  by  express, 
3,537'  crates  of  berries  and  1,689  crates  of 
cantaloupes.  In  addition  there  have  been 
from  time  to  time  shipped  dried  fruits. 
There  are  about  six  hundred  acres  of  tree 
fruits  now  in  bearing,  an  acreage  that  will 
be  doubled  within  the  next  two  years,  and 
should  not  even  another  tree  be  planted  there 
will  within  the  next  five  years  two  thousand  and 
five  hundred  acres  come  to  bearing.  There  is 
little  danger,  however,  of  planting  ceasing.  An 
average  yield  of  such  fruits  as  prunes  and  apples 
is  a  car  load  to  an  acre,  and  the  average  number 
of  hands  ordinarily  required  to  care  for  it  during 
the  harvesting  season  is  five  per  acre. 

The  above  figures  give  an  idea  as  to  the  point 
whither  the  industry  is  tending.  The  acreage  of 
berries  is  large  and  in  many  instances  the  grow- 
ing of  them  has  been  more  profitable  than  of 
tree  fruits.  The  production  of  melons  is  assum- 
ing some  magnitude,  and  the  acreage  of  them  the 
coming  season  will  reach  two  hundred  and  fifty. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  fruits  that  are 
grown  in  the  valley  with  profit:  Apples,  prunes, 
pears,  peaches,  plums,  apricots,  nectarines, 
quinces,  cherries,  grapes,  strawberries,  raspber- 
ries, dewberries,  blackberries,  currants,  goose- 
berries and  ground-cherries.  Plantings  of  wal- 
nuts, chestnuts,  pecans,  almonds  and  English 


walnuts  are  also  being  made,  and  the  few  nut 
trees  in  bearing  have  shown  big  and  profitable 
yields. 

The  right  of  the  apple  to  the  title  of  the  "king 
of  fruits"  was  established  early  in  the  history  of 
man.  It  has  successfully  defended  that  title 
against  all  challengers  ever  since;  and  while 
the  apple  is  the  "king  of  fruits"  the  "king  of  ap- 
ples" grows  in  the  Payette  valley.  It  is  of  large 
size,  fancy,  flavor,  colored  so  highly  that  gen- 
erally the  same  apple  grown  by  irrigation  and 
perpetual  sunshine  here  is  unrecognizable  beside 
the  one  grown  in  the  east,  and  is  of  a  weight  and 
keeping-quality  not  excelled.  Its  early  produc- 
tiveness is  a  feature  of  its  value.  One-year-old 
nursery  stock  will  bear  fruit  the  fourth  year  from 
planting,  will  yield  a  partial  crop  the  fifth,  a 
large  crop  the  sixth  and  seventh,  and  from  the 
eighth  to  tenth  come  to  maturity.  The  number 
of  apples  that  a  tree  will  put  forth  is  an  increasing 
marvel  as  one  year  succeeds  another.  From  two 
to  three  boxes — forty  pounds  to  the  box — of 
marketable  fruit  off  a  five-year-old  tree  to  twenty 
boxes  off  one  from  seven  to  ten  years  old  are 
ordinary  figures,  although  the  standard  estimate 
of  first-class  fruit  from  trees  aged  seven  and  up- 
ward is  ten  boxes.  Taking  the  latter  as  a  basis, 
there  being  generally  planted  fifty  trees  to  the 
acre,  the  average  yield  year  in  and  year  out  may- 
be safely  placed  at  five  hundred  boxes  per  acre — 
an  even  car  load.  Last  season  these  apples  sold 
in  the  Chicago  and  New  York  markets  for  from 
two  to  four  dollars  per  box,  if  they  were  Jona- 
thans, and  from  one  to  three  dollars  n  less  fancy 
varieties. 

''Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  Idaho  has  the  best 
show  of  prunes  in  the  general  exhibit"  (at  the 
World's  Fair) — San  Francisco  Examiner,  May 
10,  1893. 

Coming  as  this  does  from  the  heart  of  Califor- 
nia it  is  generous  praise  from  a  worsted  com- 
petitor. The  prunes  in  this  exhibit  were  from 
southwestern  Idaho,  some  of  them  from  the  Pay- 
ette valley.  If  the  apple  is  the  "king  of  fruits/' 
the  prune  is  the  "royal  consort."  The  state  en- 
gineer of  the  state  of  Idaho  places  the  average 
yield  of  prunes  in  Canyon  county,  of  which  the 
Payette  valley  forms  a  considerable  part,  at  twen- 
ty-five thousand  pounds  to  the  acre.  Although 
there  are  a  number  of  prune-growers  in  the  Pay- 
ette who  annually  exceed  these  figures,  and  there 
are  some  whose  trees  are  yet  in  the  first  years 
of  bearing,  who  equal  them,  they  are  sufficient 
for  the  purpose  of  illustration  and  are  an  official 
statement  capable  of  proof.  The  average  num- 
ber of  trees  to  an  acre  is  about  one  hundred, 
making  the  yield  of  each  tree  two  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds.  Many  of  the  Payette  valley  grow- 
ers sold  their  product  in  the  green  state,  some 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


305 


for  three-quarters  of  a  cent  per  pound  on  the 
trees,  and  others  for  one  cent  delivered  at  the 
station  in  Payette.  Gross  proceeds  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  per  acre  leave  a  wide  mar- 
gin for  the  expense  of  care  and  picKing.  Others 
have  shipped  to  eastern  markets  with  large 
profits,  and  some  have  made  long  shipments  at 
a  loss.  As  yet  the  only  practical  way  of  handling 
this  crop,  by  evaporation,  has  not  been  adopted 
to  any  extent.  The  need  of  it  is  felt,  however, 
and  there  are  at  least  two  projects  on  foot  look- 
ing to  the  establishment  of  evaporating  plants. 
The  particular  excellence  of  the  Idaho  prune  is 
in  its  size,  flavor  and  large  percentage  of  sugar. 
In  the  Payette  valley  there  is  no  fear  of  wet 
weather  to  give  it  an  excess  of  water,  making  it 
dry,  light  or  poor,  or  to  develop  the  fungus  dis- 
eases that  sometimes  cause  disaster  in  Oregon. 
The  prune  has  become  a  staple  in  the  market  and 
where  the  properly  cured  and  packed  Idaho 
product  has  been  offered  it  has  commanded  a 
price  often  above  that  of  California.  Prune  trees 
begin  bearing  the  third  year  from  planting  and 
yield  largely  the  fourth  and  fifth. 

There  are  many  residents  of  the  Payette  valley 
who  contend  that  the  pear  is  the  fruit  to  grow 
for  profit.  Certain  it  is  that  it  reaches  a  size, 
lusciousness  and  carrying  quality  which  make  it 
as  marketable  as  it  is  in  any  country.  An  aver- 
age acre's  yield  according  to  the  state  engineer's 
estimate,  is  eighteen  thousand  pounds.  On  mar- 
ket pears  are  generally  quoted  at  from  two  to 
four  cents,  with  even  higher  figures  for  the  fancy 
article  attractively  packed.  So  far  none  of  the 
pear  orchards  in  the  valley  have  suffered  serious- 
ly from  blight, — that  universal  enemy  of  the  pear 
tree,  the  cause  of  which  is  yet  a  matter  of  specu- 
lation among  pomologists  and  bacteriologists. 
Like  other  fruits  the  pear  bears  early,  the  third 
year  generally  furnishing  a  crop. 

The  quality  and  productiveness  of  these  fruits 
is  such  that  many  orchardists  are  planting  them 
extensively.  Some  question  their  ability  to  stand 
the  climate,  but  the  Payette  valley  furnishes 
peaches  when  they  are  a  failure  in  every  section 
about  here,  and  none  of  the  bearing  apricot  or- 
chards have  gone  a  season  uncroppea.  Peaches 
yield  from  eighteen  to  twenty  thousand  pounds 
to  the  acre  and  always  command  a  good  price. 
The  yield  of  apricots  is  about  the  same.  Both 
begin  bearing  the  second  year.  They,  too,  await 
the  advent  of  the  evaporator  that  their  entire 
value  may  be  utilized. 

Cherries,  plums,  quinces,  nectarines  and  other 
tree  fruits  all  bear  in  like  proportion  to  those 
stated  above  and  at  the  same  early  date,  but  have 
not  been  so  extensively  planted.  Their  acreage 
will,  doubtless,  be  much  less  than  of  the  staple 
fruits,  but  they  will  be  grown  at  a  profit  and 


form  a  considerable  part  of  the  total  volume  of 
business. 

The  staple  small  fruits  grown  commercially 
are  the  strawberry  and  black  raspberry.  Both 
yield  profusely  and  have  that  same  carrying  qual- 
ity that  makes  Idaho's  tree  fruits  famous.  Al- 
ready large  shipments  of  strawberries  are  being 
made,  some  of  them  goine  to  points  east  of  Chi- 
cago, and  the  profits  secured  in  some  instances 
seem  almost  fabulous.  A  prominent  nurseryman 
of  Payette  sells  his  berries  on  the  vine  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  acre,  the  buyer 
picking  and  packing.  The  black-cap  is  grown 
chiefly  for  drying,  yielding  at  a  conservative  esti- 
mate from  one  thousand  to  one  thousand  and  five 
hundred  pounds  of  the  dried  fruit  to  the  acre. 
In  the  season  of  1897  the  market  prices  were 
from  ten  to  fifteen  cents.  While  every  fruit-grow- 
er and  rancher  has  nearly  all  the 'other  small 
fruits  and  grapes  on  his  place  in  quantities  suffi- 
cient for  home  consumption,  no  extensive  effort 
to  utilize  them  commercially  has  yet  been  made, 
although  there  is  no  reason  why  there  should 
not  be. 

The  most  popular  of  fruits  in  its  season  is  the 
melon,  particularly  the  cantaloupe.  It  is  the  ne 
plus  ultra  of  the  breakfast  table  and  the  facile 
princeps  of  all  desserts.  It  is  said  of  the  canta- 
loupe that  it  is  the  one  fruit  of  which  enough 
cannot  be  had;  and  the  smiling  watermelon  is 
synonymous  with  a  tickled  palate.  Both  these 
melons  grow  to  a  state  of  high  perfection  here. 
The  sandy  soil  on  the  lower  lands  is  just  what 
they  require  for  an  early  and  rapid  growth.  Last 
year  twenty-three  car  loads  and  thousands  of 
crates  were  shipped.  The  standard  for  melons  in 
recent  years  has  been,  by  common  consent,  the 
melon  grown  at  Kockv  Ford,  Colorado.  Pay- 
ette valley-  melons  shipped  to  Denver  have  elic- 
ited the  following  comment  from  the  G.  G.  Lieb- 
hardt  Commission  Company,  under  date  of 
January  5,  1898:  "We  know  of  no  other  place, 
outside  of  Rocky  Ford,  where  as  good  melons  are 
raised  as  we  have  seen  from  your  point.  The 
trouble  with  all  cantaloupes  raised  in  the  east 
is  that  they  are  just  like  a  turnip:  there  is  no 
taste  to  them.  The  only  way  they  can  eat  them 
is  to  put  sugar  on  them ;  but  the  beauty  of  the 
Rocky  Ford  melons,  and  also  the  melons  at  vour 
place,  is  that  they  are  sweet.  They  do  not  re- 
quire any  artificial  sweetening." 

One  incalculable  advantage  that  the  Payette 
valley  melons  have  is  that  they  are  from  two  to 
three  weeks  ahead  of  the  Rocky  Ford.  The  first 
shipments  here  in  1897  were  on  July  26. 

Some  idea  of  yields  and  profits  may  be  gained 
from  the  experience  of  R.  L.  Jimerson,  who  cer- 
tifies to  the  fact  that  in  1897  from  two  acres  of 
ground,  he  delivered  at  the  Payette  station  eight 


306 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


hundred  and  twenty-seven  crates  of  cantaloupes 
that  netted  him  $627.32.  It  does  not  neces- 
sarily follow  that  all  can  come  and  do  likewise, 
but  what  man  has  done  man  may  do.  For  the 
purpose  of  advancing  this  industry  there  has  re- 
cently been  incorporated  a  company  styled  the 
Payette  Valley  Melon  Growers'  Association, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  three  thousand  dollars. 

GENERAL  FARMING. 

General  farming  is  most  successfully  carried 
on  throughout  this  entire  section,  but  as  the 
growing  of  fruit  and  handling  of  cattle  and  sheep 
hold  out  inducements  for  larger  profit,  only  a 
comparatively  small  acreage  is  devoted  to  it. 
All  cereals  and  grains  and  all  vegetables  yield 
well,  and  farmers  have  in  instances  made  unusual 
profits  from  potatoes,  onions  and  other  special 
crops.  A  strict  adherence  to  the  truth,  however, 
makes  necessary  the  observation  that  the  Pay- 
ette valley  is  not  as  well  adapted  to  the  growth 
of  general  farm  crops  as  it  is  to  fruits,  and  that 
there  are  better  grain  sections  in  the  state. 

In  the  state  engineer's  report  before  alluded 
to  the  following  yields  for  this  county  are  given: 
Wheat,  30  bushels  per  acre;  oats,  42;  corn,  35; 
rye,  18;  barley,  34;  potatoes,  10,480  pounds;  car- 
rots, 19,960;  beets,  19,900;  and  onions,  18,666. 

Many  orchardists  successfully  plant  and  grow 
root  crops  and  corn  between  tree  rows,  assisting 
materially  in  meeting  the  expenses  of  caring  for 
the  trees  until  they  come  to  bearing.  The  growth 
of  early  vegetables  has,  up  to  the  present  time, 
been  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  Chinese,  who 
have  made  it  extremely  profitable  to  themselves 
and  demonstrated  that  it  may  be  made  profitable 
to  others.  So  much  so  has  it  been  to  them  that 
one  of  them,  a  man  of  means  and  education,  has 
made  the  offer  that  if  a  cannery  could  be  estab- 
lished in  the  valley  he  would  agree  to  take  five 
hundred  acres  of  land  at  an  annual  rental  of 
twenty-five  dollars  per  acre,  pay  water  rental  and 
taxes  on  it,  and  put  it  out  to  vegetables. 

One  thing  the  farmer  in  this  valley  may  be  ab- 
solutely certain  of,  and  that  is  that  he  will  get  a 
crop  every  year.  There  are  no  "off  years,"  no 
droughts,  no  floods,  no  tornadoes,  A  story  is 
told  of  a  tourist  through  Kansas  who  met  a 
native  and  asked  him  what  sort  of  a  country 
Kansas  was  to  settle  in.  The  native  replied  by- 
asking  this  question:  "If  you  had  known  a  man 
for  twenty-two  years  and  he  had  been  a  horse 
thief,  a  blackleg,  and  a  regular  out  and  out 
child  of  sin  and  the  devil  for  twenty  years, 
and  then  had  reformed  and  been  just  a 
tolerably  decent  sort  of  fellow  for  two  years, 
would  you  tie  to  him?"  The  tourist  said  that  he 
didn't  think  that  he  would.  The  native  dug  spurs 
into  his  tired  broncho,  leaving  the  tourist  to 


cipher  out  the  moral.  Xo  such  allegory  can  be 
drawn  of  the  Payette  valley.  It  is  the  same  one 
year  with  another.  If  it  is  bad,  there  is  no  hope 
of  reform;  if  it  is  good,  there  is  no  fear  of  its 
fall.  It  courts  investigation. 

DAIRYING. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Payette  the  farmer  cuts 
from  two  to  four  crops  of  hay  each  season.  The 
average  tonnage  per  acre  each  season  is  five. 
There  have  been  as  high  as  eight  and  nine  tons 
of  alfalfa  taken  off  a  single  acre  from  four  cut- 
tings a  season.  With  all  the  grasses — alfaVfa, 
clover,  timothy,  orchard-grass,  blue-grass  and 
others — yielding  such  weights  of  forage,  the 
question  of  feeding  stock  is  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum, taking  into  consideration  also  that  all 
other  forage  produces  in  like  measure.  It  is  no 
unusual  thing  for  four  to  eight  head  of  stock  to 
be  pastured  to  the  acre.  Compare  this  feeding 
capacity  with  that  of  eastern  acres.  There  is 
but  one  creamery  in  the  state  of  Idaho,  and  even 
dairies  are  few.  There  is  but  one  in  the  Payette 
valley.  The  price  of  butter  in  the  Payette  val- 
ley has  never  been  less  than  twenty  cents  per 
pound.  The  price  of  creamery  butter  is  from 
that  figure  to  twenty-five  cents  anywhere  in  the 
state.  Idaho  annually  ships  in  thousands  of 
pounds  of  butter  from  California,  Utah,  Oregon 
and  other  states. 

POULTRY. 

Nobody  in  this  section  of  the  country  has  as 
yet  taken  special  interest  in  the  development  of 
the  poultry  industry.  During  the  winter  months 
it  is  oftentimes  impossible  to  buy  an  egg  in  the 
Payette  valley,  and  if  any  are  offered  for  sale 
the  price  asked  for  them  is  from  twenty-five  to 
thirty  cents  a  dozen.  There  is  no  reason  why 
the  hen  should  not  be  worked  to  her  full  ca- 
pacity here.  The  weather  is  never  severe  enough 
to  necessitate  the  erection  of  expensive  buildings, 
and  feed  is  plenty.  The  rearing  of  chickens  will, 
in  fact,  become  a  part  and  parcel  of  fruit-growing. 
A  few  dozen  industrious  birds  in  an  orchard  will 
do  more  than  almost  any  other  agency,  unless  it 
be  hogs,  to  destroy  the  various  insect  enemies 
of  fruit.-  The  chicken  has  come  to  stay  and  it 
will  produce  a  considerable  part  of  the  valley's 
wealth.  There  are  several  residents  both  at  Pay- 
ette and  New  Plymouth  who  have  introduced 
thoroughbred  birds,  such  as  Cochins,  Wyan- 
dottes,  Langshans,  Plymouth  Rocks  and  Leg- 
horns. Eggs  and  individual  fowls  from  these 
fanciers  are  being  distributed  over  the  country, 
to  the  effect  that  nearly  all  flocks  are  being  im- 
proved. 

TIMBER. 

Scrutiny  of  and  reflection  on  the  following  fig- 
ures are  invited.  They  do  not  misrepresent  in 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


307 


any  essential.  There  are  one  million  acres  of 
timber  land  of  which  the  Payette  river  is  the 
natural  and  only  outlet.  It  is  certain  that  this 
timber  will  cut  twenty  thousand  feet  to  the  acre, 
and  in  all  probability  it  will  cut  more.  That 
means  that  there  are  twenty  billion  feet  of  it.  It 
is  worth  fifteen  dollars  a  thousand  at  Payette. 
Therefore  it  represents  a  value  of  three  hundred 
dollars  per  acre,  or  three  hundred  million  dollars. 
Of  this  timber  five  per  cent  is  tamarack,  ten  per 
cent  is  fir  and  eighty-five  per  cent  is  pine.  The 
percentage  of  rot  in  this  timber  will  not  exceed 
one-half  of  one  per  cent;  that  of  Michigan  ex- 
ceeds twenty-five  per  cent.  These  are  surpris- 
ing figures  and  such  as  may  sound  exaggerated 
to  those  who  live  in  less  extensive  areas  than 
the  people  of  Idaho;  but,  taking  into  considera- 
tion that  there  are  fifty-five  million  acres  in  the 
state,  of  which  twenty  millions  are  estimated  as 
timber  lands,  there  is  nothing  unreasonable  in 
them. 

This  timber,  often  rising  to  a  height  of  over 
one  hundred  feet,  stands   in  most  instances  so 
thick  as  to  exclude  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  is 
straight  and  flawless,  generally  speaking.     It  is 
not  claimed  for  it  that  its  quality  is  superior  to 
other  timber  belts  of  this  section,  but  it  is  as- 
serted for  it  that  it  is  of  more  value  than  the 
same  kinds  either  in  Oregon  or  Washington  be- 
cause there  is  a  greater  percentage  of  "uppers" 
or  clear  lumber.     As  previously  stated  the  Pay- 
ette river  is  the  natural  and  only  outlet  for  these 
billions  of  feet.     Not  only  does  it  furnish  a  high- 
way on  which  logs  may  be  driven  to  mill  every 
month  in  the  year  but  two,  but  it  will  also  furnish 
the  power  to  drive  the  mills.    It  is  possible,  also, 
to  get  the  logs  out  of  the  timber  to  the  river  at 
all  seasons  of  the  year,  the  snow  never  getting  so 
deep  as  to  prevent  work.     Another  feature  that 
adds  to  the  value  of  the  lumber  is  that  all  refuse 
can  be  sold  for  wood,  and  even  the  sawdust  com- 
mands ready  sale.     It  is  a  well  known  fact  that 
the  demand  for  lumber  exceeds  the  supply.  There 
is  now  going  eastward  over  the  Oregon  Short 
Line  Railway  daily  often  as  much  as  a  train  load 
of  lumber  from   Oregon.     The   forests  of  that 
state  have  been  subjected  to  a  steady  drain  for 
many  years,  and  those  in  the  western  part,  in  the 
Blue    mountain    region,     are     becoming     badly 
thinned.    As  a  matter  of  fact  the  only  untouched 
pineries  of  the  United  States  are  in  this  state, 
and  the  Payette  taps  one  of  them  that  is  not  the 
least.    The  market  for  the  lumber  stretches  east 
for  a  distance  of  fifteen  hundred  miles,  a  countrv 
a  large  part  of  which  is  timberless      There  are 
now  two  mills  sawing  lumber  in  this  belt,  one 
at  Payette  and  one  in  what  is  called  the  Dry  Buck 
country.  Emmett  is  the  distributing  point  for  the 
latter  and  it  is  a  Payette  valley  enterprise. 


These  mills  have  never  been  able  to  supply  the 
local  demand,  quantities  of  lumber  being  shipped 
here  from  Oregon. 

CATTLE. 

Time  was,  ten  years  ago,  when  the  cattle  of 
the  Payetfe  valley  were  counted  by  the  tens  of 
thousands;  and  the  "hi,  hi!"  of  the  cowboy  made 
the  land  merry  during  the  spring  and  fall  round- 
ups. There  has  been  a  change  since  then,  and 
although  there  are  many  still  in  the  country,  the 
days  of  individual  ownership  of  large  bands  is 
past,  If  you  ask  a  cattle  man  to  tell  you  why 
it  will  pay  you  well  to  embark  in  his  business, 
he  will  say  to  you,  "Because  there  are  spring, 
summer  and  fall  ranges  off  which  you  can  send 
your  stock  to  market  in  first-class  condition,  and 
you  can  winter  them  at  a  cost  of  one  dollar  and 
fifty  cents  a  head."  The  cheapness  of  winter 
feeding  is  the  main  article  of  faith.  More  cattle 
are  fed  only  two  months  of  the  year  than  are  fed 
three,  and  the  cost  of  hay  is  seldom  over  three 
dollars  a  ton. 

The  quality  of  the  cattle  of  this  section  of 
Idaho  ranks  among  the  best  of  grass-fed  stock  of 
the  northwest,  taking  precedence  of  that  of  Mon- 
tana, Wyoming  and  Oregon.  This  is  due  not  so 
much  to  any  superiority  of  feed  as  to  the  fact 
that  there  have  been  imported  a  number  of  bulls 
of  high  grade.  One  owner  in  the  Payette  se- 
cured two  Herefords  from  Adams  Earl,  of  Earl 
Park,  Indiana,  at  a  cost  of  one  thousand  dollars 
at  five  months  old,  and  there  is  some  shorthorn 
and  Durham  stock  of  the  best. 

It  is  estimated  that  there  were  about  ten  thou- 
sand head  of  cattle  wintered  in  the  Payette  val- 
ley this  year.  Of  these  the  largest  single  owner- 
ship was  fifteen  hundred,  at  Emmett,  and  the' 
next  about  one  thousand,  at  Payette.  The  rest 
were  divided  up  into  holdings  of  from  fifty  to 
three  hundred  head. 

Tributary  to  the  Payette,  in  the  Weiser,  In- 
dian, Crane  creek,  Squaw  creek,  Paddock  and 
Long  valleys,  there  are  many  thousands  of  stock 
which  are  driven  in  for  shipment  at  this  and  ad- 
jacent points.  Present  prices  range  at  fifteen 
and  sixteen  dollars  for  yearlings  and  twenty  to 
twenty-four  dollars  for  two-year-olds.  The  future 
of  the  cattle  industry  will  see  a  continually  in- 
creasing number  in  the  country,  but  they  will  be 
in  bands  of  tens  and  twenties  owned  by  each 
rancher  whose  few  acres  of  hay  land  will  furnish 
them  abundant  feed. 

SHEEP. 

Wool  is  not  the  least  of  the  items  that  swell 
the  commerce  of  the  Payette  vallev.  The  wool 
clip  from  it  and  the  surrounding  sections 
amounts  to  about  a  half  million  pounds  annually. 
With  the  advance  in  price  guaranteed  by  a  pro- 


308 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


tective  tariff  the  business  nas  oroved  most  profit- 
able under  the  conditions  existing  here. 

This  valley  offers  a  winter  range  which  is  un- 
excelled. Hay  can  be  bought  on  an  average  for 
three  dollars  per  ton,  and  the  weather  is  never 
so  severe  as  to  necessitate  artificial  shelter.  The 
time  of  feeding  the  past  winter  did  not  exceed 
two  months.  Several  bands  fed  in  the  Payette 
broke  winter  camp  in  the  middle  of  February 
and  headed  for  the  upper  ranges.  Others  com- 
menced as  early  as  the  first  of  that  month  to  turn 
out  in  the  sage  brush.  The  summer  ranges  for 
the  sheep  fed  in  the  Payette  valley  lie  irt  the 
numerous  smaller  valleys  contiguous,  and  even1' 
high  up  on  the  mountain  ranges.  Feed  is  plenty 
and  the  ranges  are  not  overrun. 

The  number  of  sheep  in  the  country  is  increas- 
ing each  year.  From  an  insignificant  number  a 
half  dozen  years  ago  the  industry  has  grown  until 
the  present.  The  supply  of  hay  is  increasing  each 
year,  making  it  a  certainty  that  those  engaging 
in  the  business  will  find  an  abundance  of  feed  in 
a  sheltered  country. 

IRRIGATING  CANALS. 

One  of  the  largest  irrigation  enterprises  in  the 
state  is  that  of  the  Payette  Valley  Irrigation  & 
Water  Power  Company.  Diverting  water  fro'm 
the  Payette  about  two  miles  above  Emmett,  its 
canal,  running  close  under  the  foot-hills  that  di- 
vide the  Payette  and  Boise  valleys,  carries  water 
for  a  distance  of  about  forty  miles  to  all  the  bench 
lands  of  the  valley,  an  acreage  in  excess  of  thirty 
thousand.  The  cost  of  construction  was  about 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  an  expenditure 
resulting  in  the  most  substantial  work,  both  at  the 
headgates  and  along  the  route,  and  giving  every 
facility  for  quick  and  economic  deliverance  of 
water.  Its  capacity  will  at  all  times  be  greater 
than  any  probable  demand  that  will  be  made  on 
it,  the,  intake  at  the  headgates  being  556.5 
cubic  feet  per  second,  or  27.825  miners' 
inches.  There  always  being  plenty  of  water 
in  the  river,  those  locating  under  this  ca- 
nal will  never  lack  moisture.  This  com- 
pany has  sold  perpetual  water-rights  to  the  lands 
under  it,  and  charges  an  annual  maintenance  fee 
of  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  an  acre. 

The  canal  was  constructed  by  New  York  cap- 
ital, and  was  completed  in  the  fall  of  1893.  Water 
was  first  turned  out  to  users  in  the  spring  of  1894. 
Settlement  under  it  from  that  time  on  has  been 
rapid,  seeing  established  the  town  of  New  Ply- 
mouth, the  planting  of  many  hundreds  of  acres 
of  orchard  and  the  cultivation  of  thousands  of 
acres  of  land.  At  the  present  rate  of  progress  it 
will  be  but  a  few  years  at  the  most  until  all  lands 
under  it  will  be  occupied  by  permanent  settlers. 

B.   P.    Shawhan,   at   that   time   treasurer  and 


member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Equit- 
able Securities  Company  of  New  York  city,  was 
sent  to  the  Payette  valley  in  charge  of  the  con- 
struction of  this  canal,  and  has  since  remained 
as  president  of  the  company  and  manager  of  it. 
The  company  has  been  most  active  in  advancing 
the  interests  of  the  country,  advertising  widely 
and  promoting  permanent  improvements. 

The  lower  Payette  ditch,  which  waters  those 
lands  of  the  valley  that  lie  on  the  north  side  of 
the  river  from  a  point  opposite  New  Plymouth  to 
one  about  seven  miles  below  Payette,  is  a  ''farm- 
ers' ditch,"  having  been  built  and  still  being 
operated  by  the  users  of  water  from  it.  Agitation 
for  its  construction  was  begun  in  1881  and  the 
next  year  a  company  was  incorporated  bv  David 
and  Norval  Gorrie,  C.  T.  Williams  and  S.  L. 
Sparks,  with  a  capital  stock  of  eight  thousand 
dollars,  divided  into  eighty  shares.  Work  was 
commenced  at  once  and  the  canal  was  completed 
in  1883.  Since  that  time  both  the  size  of  ditch 
and  the  capital  stock  of  the  company  have  been 
increased  until  the  latter  has  reached  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars 
each,  and  the  former  a  carrying  capacity  that 
makes  it  an  irrigation  enterprise  of  first  magni- 
tude. Its  affairs  are  managed  by  a  board  of 
directors,  and  consumers  are  charged  for  water 
at  the  rate  of  actual  operating  expenses  assessed 
pro  rata  to  each  share.  It  is  estimated  that  the 
average  annual  cost  of  water  under  it  for  the  past 
five  years  has  been  thirty-seven  cents  an  acre. 
This  ditch  is  of  ample  size  to  carry  all  the  water 
needed  under  it  for  many  years  to  come.  It  also 
supplies  much  land  above  it.  the  water  being 
raised  by  means  of  under-shot  wheels.  The  oper- 
ation of  these  wheels  is  one  of  the  novel  and 
interesting  sights  of  irrigation. 

A  number  of  smaller  community  ditches  water 
the  upper  end  of  the  valley,  and  some  of  its  lower 
stretches  mid-way  between  Emmett  and  Payette. 
While  no  one  of  them  irrigates  any  considerable 
amount  of  land,  their  aggregate  makes  a  good 
showing  in  the  total  acreage  of  lands  cultivated. 
Water  under  them  is  charged  for  on  the  basis  of 
operating  expenses. 

WASHOE  BOTTOM. 

West  and  south  of  Payette,  just  across  the 
beautiful  river  from  which  that  village  derives  its 
name,  lies  Washoe  bottom.  It  is  a  fine  body  of 
land,  alluvium  and  loam,  almost  entirelv  bounded 
by  the  left  bank  of  the  Payette  and  the  right 
bank  of  the  Snake  rivers.  It  contains  about  two 
thousand  six  hundred  acres,  four-fifths  of  which 
was  converted  into  an  island  when  A.  Rossi  built 
a  head-gate  at  the  Payette  river  and  constructed 
a  ditch  out  of  a  certain  "sloo"  for  the  purpose  of 
running  logs  down  to  his  saw-mill  on  the  Oregon 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


309 


Short  Line  Railroad  at  Washoe.  Through  this 
ditch  a  large  part  of  the  bottom  receives  its  water 
for  irrigation.  The  Washoe  Irrigation  and 
Water  Power  Company  also  owns  a  fine  ditch 
from  the  Payette,  which  waters  the  remaining 
and  larger  portion  of  the  land.  These  ditches 
will  sufficiently  irrigate  all  the  land  on  the  bottom 
at  an  expense  not  to  exceed  twenty  cents  per 
acre. 

All  of  the  cereals,  vegetables,  forage  plants  and 
fruits  of  the  temperate  zone  can  be  produced  here 
in  abundance  and  of  special  fine  quality.  Five 
tons  of  alfalfa  to  the  acre  have  been  harvested  at 
two  cuttings.  Thus  far,  since  the  settlement  of 
these  lands,  hay  has  been  the  principal  crop, 
much  of  which  is  still  produced  from  the  native 
grasses.  Orchards,  what  few  we  have  here,  are 
young  and  bear  in  from  two  to  three  years  from 
setting.  Apples  and  pears  give  fair  yields  at  four 
years  from  setting  of  one  and  two  year  old  trees. 

Be  it  known  that  the  crop  of  vegetables,  grain 
and  hay  was  less  in  the  season  of  1897  (with  one 
exception)  than  any  during  the  past  13  years,  yet 
it  amounted  to  the  following:  Hay,  526  tons; 
wheat,  2,900  bushels;  oats,  4,458  bushels;  alfalfa 
seed,  5,000  pounds;  potatoes,  36,000;  winter 
squashes,  252,000;  tomatoes,  4,500;  grapes,  5,- 
ooo;  apples,  15,500;  peaches,  4,750;  prunes,  5,- 
ooo;  pears,  1,380;  apricots,  800;  cherries,  400; 
and  other  crops  in  like  proportion.  There  are 
also  a  large  number  of  cattle  owned  on  the  bot- 
tom. In  the  gravel  and  sand  underlying  its  fields 
there  is  untold  wealth.  Experts  in  mining  state 
that  gold  abounds  all  through  them  to  a  depth 
of  thirty  feet  to  bed-rock.  There  is  an  under- 
flow of  water  beneath  every  acre  which  will  facil- 
itate mining  by  means  of  the  use  of  centrifugal 
pumps,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  Snake  river 
valley  will  in  the  near  future  rival  the  famous 
Yukon. 

WHITLEY   BOTTOM. 

What  is  known  as  Whitley  bottom  is  an  area 
of  about  three  thousand  acres  lying  along  the 
east  bank  of  the  Snake  river  and  between  it  and 
the  bench  lands  of  Payette  valley.  Its  entire 
extent  is  almost  as  level  as  a  floor  and  its  surface 
is  but  little  above  that  of  the  river.  When  the 
river  is  running  high  in  the  spring,  water  sets 
back  into  a  number  of  channels,  forming  minia- 
ture lakes  and  ponds  which  afford  facilities  for 
irrigation  later  on.  For  this  reason  it  was  se- 
lected by  the  earlier  settlers  for  the  location  of 
cattle  and  hay  ranches.  Many  thousand  head  of 
stock  have  been  wintered  there  in  times  gone 
by,  and  some  are  yet.  but  the  falling  off  of  the 
cattle  business  and  the  improvement  of  the  high- 
er lands  have  enlarged  the  feeding  area  once  con- 
fined to  the  river  lands.  Whitley  bottom  is  now 
under  the  ditch  of  the  Payette  Valley  Irrigation 


and  Water  Power  Company  and  is  a  fine  tract 
for  general  farming. 

RECREATION  AND  SPORT. 

Sportsmen  who  have  been  used  to  long  jour- 
neys in  search  of  feathered,  furred  or  scaled 
game,  with  indifferent  luck  at  their  end,  will  find 
hunting  and  fishing  in  and  about  the  Payette 
valley  an  easy  and  successful  matter.  In  the 
ponds  and  bayous  formed  by  the  irrigation 
ditches,  and  in  the  many  stretches  of  still  water 
along  the  rivers  countless  thousands  of  ducks, 
geese,  brant,  crane  and  other  game  fowls  find 
feeding  grounds,  winter  quarters  and  breeding 
places.  During  the  fall  of  the  year  the  air  may 
be  said  to  be  literally  filled  with  them,  and  they 
do  not  entirely  disappear  until  late  in  the 'spring. 
Quail,  sage-hen  and  a  species  of  snipe  are  also 
abundant  in  their  season.  In  the  neighboring 
foothills  and  in  the  smaller  valleys  there  are 
grouse^  curlew  and  various  kinds  of  chicken  in 
numbers  at  times  confusing  to  the  gunner  and 
heating  to  his  gun-barrels. 

The  divide  between  the  Payette  and  Boise  val- 
leys is  a  runway  for  deer  passing  to  and  from 
winter  feeding  grounds  in  the  southern  valleys  of 
Oregon  and  summer  ones  in  the  high  mountains 
north  of  the  Payette.  Many  of  them  are  shot 
during  these  pilgrimages  by  men  who  are  less 
than  a  half  day's  ride  on  horseback  from  home, 
and  occasionally  a  band  of  timid  doe,  led  by  an 
adventurous  buck,  stray  down  among  the 
ranches  of  the  lower  valley  to  fall  prey  to  some 
marksman. 

But  it  is  in  the  timbered  and  mountainous 
country  northward  for  an  hundred  miles  and 
more  that  the  royal  sport  lies.  There  may'  be 
found  deer,  elk,  antelope,  mountain  sheep,  nu- 
merous bears  of  the  smaller  species,  and  occasion- 
ally a  fierce  grizzly  and  a  timid  moose.  Big  game 
is  becoming  more  and  more  scarce,  and  in  the 
mountains  and  forests  of  Idaho  are  found  many 
of  those  animals  that  are  extinct  in  almost  every 
other  portion  of  the  continent.  The  hunting  of 
them  in  summer  and  fall  gives  an  invigorating 
outing  that  is  an  experience  in  itself. 

No  more  charming  resort  than  the  Payette 
lakes,  lying  as  they  do  sunk  deep  into  snow-cov- 
ered mountains,  their  waters  as  clear  and  cold 
as  the  mountain  springs  from  which  they  have  • 
their  source,  and  their  shores  and  clean,  sandy 
beaches,  lined  with  gigantic  pines  that  stretch  far 
up  onto  the  mountain's  sides,  can  be  found  any- 
where ;  and  many  spots  that  are  storied  in  poetry 
and  song  are  as  much  less  beautiful  than  they  as 
a  cheap  print  is  less  beautiful  than  nature.  The 
arduous  toil  of  the  chase  can  be  intermitted  there 
by  repose  and  recreation,  and  in  a  thousand  other 
places  the  tourist  may  set  himself  down  to  an 
enjoyment  of  fine  vistas,  seductive  odors,  stimu  • 


310 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


lating  waters  and  an  appetite  that  fears  no  dish 
and  knows  no  limit. 

All  the  mountain  lakes  and  streams  are  more 
or  less  filled  with  that  finny  delicacy. — the 
speckled  mountain  trout — and  at  certain  seasons 
of  the  year  they  are  caught  in  large  numbers.  In 
the  lakes  and  rivers,  salmon,  salmon  trout,  bull 
trout  and  red  fish  are  plenty,  to  say  nothing  of 
less  toothsome  species  that  may  be  caught  by  the 
thousands.  In  the  lower  rivers  salmon  are 
caught,  and  in  the  Snake  huge  sturgeon — some 
weighing  as  high  as  three  hundred  pounds — are 
victims  of  the  angler. 

A  summer  spent  in  the  mountains  and  forests 
and  on  the  lakes  of  the  country  adjacent  to  the 
Payette  valley  will  give  to  the  hunter  months 
of  such  sport  as  Cooper  writes  of;  will  furnish 
the  tourist  a  series  of  novelties  that  will  delight 
the  most  blase;  will  afford  the  searcher  for  rest 
and  recreation  rest  that  will  have  permanent 
value  and  recreation  that  will  recreate  with  all 
the  variations  of  the  word's  meaning;  and  will 
be  of  more  benefit  to  an  invalid  than  all  the  nos- 
trums known. 

THE  SWINERY. 

To  review  the  resources  and  industries  of  this 
valley  without  making  a  few  remarks  about  the 
author  of  the  ham  would  be  to  leave  the  review 
incomplete.  It  is  believed  and  frequently  as- 
serted that  more  hogs  can  be  grown  and  fattened 
to  a  given  area  of  land  in  the  irrigated  valleys 
of  this  section  than  at  any  other  place  in  the 
world.  The  magic  lies  in  that  greatest  of  forage 
plants — alfalfa.  It  is  a  fact  too  common  to  excite 
comment  that  from  fifteen  to  twenty  head  of 
hogs  can  be  summered  on  an  acre  of  it,  taken  up 
in  the  fall  and  fed  corn  from  twenty  to  thirty 
days,  and  be  sent  to  market  in  as  prime  condition 
for  slaughter  as  any  buyer  demands.  The  rais- 
ing of  hogs  is  also  a  powerful  auxiliary  to  the 
growing  of  fruit.  Turned  in  an  orchard  they 
eat  all  decaying,  stunted  or  infested  fruit  as  it 
falls,  and  by  continual  agitation  of  the  surface 
of  the  soil  and  rubbing  against  the  trunks  of  the 
trees  destroy  innumerable  hiding  places  for  pests 
of  all  sorts. 

APIARIES. 

The  busy  bee  is  another  important  and  profit- 
able prop  to  the  fruit  business.  Many  berries  and 
tree  fruits  have  need  to  be  fertilized  from  some 
other  of  the  same  family,  and  the  bee  is  a  most 
potent  agent  in  this  work.  Every  orchard  should 
have  its  apiary.  The  country  affords  every  pos- 
sible inducement  for  the  bee  to  make  honey. 
Three  and  four  times  a  season  the  alfalfa  and  clo- 
ver blossom  give  a  harvest  that  yields  a  superior 
product.  Alfalfa  honey  is  a  special  brand  in  the 


west.  The  countless  fruit  blossoms  are  enough 
to  almost  set  the  drones  at  work,  and  even  the 
sage-brush  puts  forth  blossoms  in  the  spring 
that  the  bee  seeks.  The  country,  since  the  intro- 
duction of  bees,  has  become  filled  with  wild 
swarms  that  have  escaped  from  the  home  hives 
through  the  carelessness  of  keepers.  They  seek 
lodgment  in  buildings,  groves  and  out  of  the  way 
places,  and  as  much  as  fifty  to  one  hundred 
pounds  of  honey  has  frequently  been  taken  from 
these  nomads  at  the  end  of  the  season. 

SUGAR   BEETS. 

No  systematic  effort  has  been  made  to  cultivate 
the  sugar  beet.  Last  year  and  the  one  before 
the  experiment  station  at  the  state  university,  at 
Moscow,  sent  out  a  large  amount  of  seed  to 
farmers  in  various  sections  of  the  state  for  the 
purpose  of  testing  the  adaptability  of  the  soil  and 
climate  to  it.  A  number  of  reports  were  re- 
ceived and  they  were  for  the  most  part  flattering. 
The  beets  grew  well,  and  upon  being  analyzed 
showed  a  percentage  of  sugar  above  the  profit- 
able mark.  Those  grown  in  the  Payette  valley 
averaged  with  the  best,  and  growing  them  in 
large  quantities  would  not  be  an  experiment,  but 
certain  to  prove  as  profitable  as  the  beet  is  at 
any  place. 

The  sugar  beet  propaganda  is  spreading  so 
rapidly  that  it  is  not  unlikely  that  a  plant  will  be 
established  in  this  section  in  the  near  future. 

PAYETTE   VALLEY   MERCANTILE   CO. 

The  Payette  Valley  Mercantile  Company,  lim- 
ited, doing  business  '  at  Payette,  Idaho,  was 
organized  with  twenty  thousand  dollars  cash  capi- 
tal on  the  loth  of  April,  1891,  comprising  the 
following  named  gentlemen:  A.  A.  Miller,  Alex- 
ander B.  Allen,  A.  E.  Gipson,  W.  G.  Whitney,  D. 
C.  Chase,  H.  B.  Platt,  A.  Rossi  and  S.  S.  Morris. 
For  their  place  of  business  they  erected  a  brick 
store,  thirty  by  one  hundred  feet  in  dimensions 
and  two  stories  high,  all  devoted  to  both  the 
wholesale  and  retail  branches  of  general  mer- 
chandise. At  the  organization  of  the  company 
the  officers  were:  W.  G.  Whitney,  president;  A. 
Rossi,  vice-president;  D.  C.  Chase,  secretary  and 
treasurer;  and  A.  A.  Miller,  manager.  The  pres- 
ent officers  are:  W.  L.  Rider,  president  and  gen- 
eral manager,  and  D.  C.  Chase,  secretary  and 
treasurer. 

The  officers  are  men  of  the  highest  integrity 
and  responsibility,  are  business  men  of  experi- 
ence, and  their  establishment  is  patronized  by  a 
large  portion  of  the  community.  The  citizens 
feel  proud  of  having  such  an  enterprising  com- 
pany at  the  head  of  the  principal  mercantile  inter- 
est of  the  town. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


JAMES   H.   RICHARDS. 

IT  MONG  the  prominent  lawyers  of  Boise  is 
j\  Judge  James  Heber  Richards,  who  has 
-*  *-  practiced  at  the  bar  of  this  state  for  nine 
years,  winning  an  enviable  reputation  by  his  eru- 
dition, his  ability  to  give  to  each  point  of  a  case 
its  due  prominence,  liis  force  in  argument  and  his 
master^'  of  the  intricate  problems  of  jurisprud- 
ence. In  a  witty  after-dinner  speech  Chauncey 
M.  Depew  once  said,  "Some  men  achieve  great- 
ness, some  men  are  born  great,  and  some  men 
are  born  in  Ohio."  The  first  and  last  clauses  are 
both  applicable  to  Judge  Richards,  who  is  a  na- 
tive of  the  Buckeye  state,  his  birth  having 
occurred  in  the  town  of  Mount  Vernon,  on  the 
5th  of  May,  1852.  He  is  of  English  and  Scotch 
descent,  his  ancestors  being  among  the  early  set- 
tlers of  New  York  and  Ohio.  They  wefe  enter- 
prising, progressive  business  men,  and  thrifty 
farmers.  The  father  of  the  Judge,  Daniel  Rich- 
ards, was  born  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  and  mar- 
ried Miss  Clarissa  Allen,  a  representative  of  one 
of  the  distinguished  families  of  America.  Among 
its  members  was  Colonel  Ethan  Allen,  who  in 
connection  with  his  "Green  Mountain  Boys" 
won  fame  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  Her  uncle, 
I.  J.  Allen,  was  an  intimate  friend  of  John  Sher- 
man, a  journalist  of  considerable  prominence, 
later  was  consul  to  China,  and  is  now  writing  on 
the  legal  department  of  the  new  Standard  diction- 
ary. Another  uncle,  William  Allen,  "stumped" 
the  state  of  Illinois  in  company  with  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  was  one  of  the  warmest  friends  and 
supporters  of  the  martyred  president.  Daniel 
Richards  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  linseed 
oil  in  Ohio,  and  was  also  the  agent  of  the  Ohio 
state  penitentiary  for  the  sale  of  its  manufactures. 
He  died  in  1884,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight 
years,  after  which  his  widow  came  to  Idaho  with 
her  son,  the  Judge,  and  died  in  Boise,  in  180,6, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-eight  years.  They  were 
members  of  the  Congregational  church  and  their 


upright  lives  won  them  the  confidence  and  es- 
teem of  all  with  whom  they  came  in  contact. 

Judge  Richards  was  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth 
in  their  family  of  eight  children.  He  attended 
the  schools  of  his  native  town,  and  after  the  re- 
moval of  the  family  to  a  farm  continued  his 
studies  in  the  country  schools  until  fourteen  years 
of  age,  when  he  started  out  to  make  his  own  way 
in  the  world,  working  on  a  dairy  farm  for  seven 
dollars  per  month.  He  was  employed  in  that 
way  for  two  years,  during  which  time  he  saved 
the  most  of  his  small  earnings,  whereby  he  was 
enabled  to  continue  his  education  in  Belleville, 
Ohio,  where  he  studied  for  two  years.  On  the 
expiration  of  that  period  he  rented  a  farm  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  acres  in  Huron  county,  Ohio, 
for  two  years,  and  dealt  quite  extensively  in 
stock.  Later  he  was  elected  a  teacher  of  the 
First  grammar  school  of  Mount  Vernon,  Ohio, 
and  subsequently  served  as  its  principal  for  four 
years.  Desiring  to  further  perfect  himself  along 
educational  lines  he  next  entered  the  Ohio  Wes- 
leyan  University,  at  Delaware,  Ohio.  On  the 
completion  of  his  collegiate  work  there  he  re- 
turned to  Mount  Vernon  and  took  up  the  study 
of  law  under  the  direction  of  the  firm  of  Mc- 
Intyre  &  Kirk.  In  1879  he  removed  to  Denver 
and  continued  his  preparation  for  the  bar  in  the 
office  of  Markhan  &  Patterson,  prominent  attor- 
neys of  that  city,  who  aided  him  in  his  reading 
for  two  years,  when  in  1881  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar. 

Judge  Richards  entered  upon  his  professional 
career  in  Breckenridge,  Colorado,  where  he  con- 
tinued in  practice  for  six  years,  and  in  1889  he 
removed  to  Boise,  for  the  benefit  of  his  wife's 
health.  Here  he  has  since  continued  actively  in 
the  work  of  his  profession.  He  throws  himself 
easily  and  naturally  into  the  argument  with 
marked  self-possession  and  deliberation.  There 
is  no  straining  after  effect,  but  a  precision  and 
clearness  in  his  statement,  and  acuteness  and 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


strength  in  his  argument,  which  exhibit  a  mind 
trained  in  the  severest  school  of  investigation 
and  to  which  the  closest  reasoning  has  become 
habitual.  In  addition  to  his  law  practice  he  has 
also  been  an  active  factor  in  promoting  some  of 
the  most  permanent  and  valuable  public  im- 
provements in  southern  Idaho.  He  undertook 
the  construction  of  the  Payette  ditch,  which  en- 
terprise he  pushed  to  a  successful  termination. 
He  organized  the  Payette  Valley  Bank,  and  the 
Payette  Land  and  Improvement  Company,  and 
of  the  latter  was  made  president  and  still  holds 
that  position.  He  has  been  instrumental  in 
bringing  half  a  million  dollars  of  .capital  into  this 
part  of  Idaho  since  his  arrival, — a  sum  that  has 
gone  a  long  way  toward  the  substantial  develop- 
ment and  improvement  of  the  state. 

The  Judge  has  also  held  a  number  of  import- 
ant offices  and  through  his  faithful  service  in  se- 
curing an  able  administration  of  public  affairs 
has  also  promoted  the  welfare  of  the  communi- 
ties with  which  he  has  been  connected.  He  was 
attorney  at  Breckenridge,  Colorado,  and  county 
commissioner  of  Canyon  county,  Idaho,  which 
county  he  aided  in  organizing  and  in  placing  it 
on  a  good  working  foundation.  He  early  became 
identified  with  the  Republican  party,  and  was 
chosen  chairman  of  the  Republican  state  conven- 
tion, which  met  in  Boise  in  1804.  He  attended 
the  judicial  convention  of  the  same  year,  was 
nominated  for  judge  of  the  third  district  and  was 
elected  by  a  large  popular  majority.  He  was  the 
choice  of  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  bar,  and 
his  service  on  the  bench  reflected  credit  upon 
himself  and  the  profession  which  he  represents. 
He  found  the  calendar  far  behind,  but  by  his 
splendid  executive  and  administrative  ability  he 
brought  the  court  business  up  and  cleared  the 
calendar  in  all  of  the  counties  of  his  district.  Dur- 
ing his  two  years  upon  the  bench  he  tried  four 
hundred  and  forty  cases,  among  which  were 
nine  murder  cases,  and  in  one  of  these  the  pris- 
oner was  sentenced  to-  be  hanged.  After  two 
years'  service  on  the  bench  Judge  Richards  re- 
signed and  resumed  the  private  practice  of  law. 
He  has  a  distinctively  representative  clientage, 
and  is  retained  as  counsel  or  advocate  on  nearly 
every  important  case  tried  in  the  courts  of  south- 
ern Idaho. 

On  the  i8th  of  November,  1881.  Judge  Rich- 


ards was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Fannie 
Howe,  a  native  of  Fredericktown,  Ohio.  They 
have  a  pleasant  home  in  Boise,  and  enjoy  the 
warm  regard  of  many  friends. 

The  life  of  the  Judge  has  been  one  of  unusual 
activity  and  has  not  been  without  its  desirable 
results.  Blessed  with  good  health,  from  the  age 
of  fourteen  years  he  has  not  only  provided  for  his 
own  support  but  also  for  others  dependent  upon 
him.  By  capable  business  management,  inde- 
fatigable energy  and  perseverance  he  has  won  a 
handsome  competence,  and  now  enjoys  a  most 
enviable  reputation  in  industrial  circles,  at  the 
bar  and  in  the  field  of  politics. 

JOHN   P.   VOLLMER. 

One  of  the  ablest  and  best  known  business  men 
of  Idaho  is  John  P.  Vollmer,  of  Lewiston.  In 
past  ages  the  history  of  a  country  was  the  record 
of  wars  and  conquests;  to-day  it  is  the  record  of 
commercial  activity,  and  those  whose  names  are 
foremost  in  its  annals  are  the  leaders  in  business 
circles.  The  conquests  now  made  are  those  of 
mind  over  matter,  not  of  man  over  man,  and  the 
victor  is  he  who  can  successfully  establish,  con- 
trol and  operate  extensive  commercial  interests. 
John  P.  Vollmer  is  one  of  the  strong  and  influ- 
ential men  whose  lives  have  become  an  essential 
part  in  the  history  of  Lewiston  and  the  state. 
Tireless  energy,  keen  perception,  honesty  of  pur- 
pose, genius  for  devising  and  executing  the 
right  thing  at  the  right  time,  joined  to  every-day 
common  sense,  and  guided  by  great  will  power, 
are  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  man.  Con- 
nected with  various  trade  interests,  the  place  that 
fie  occupies  in  business  circles  is  in  the  front 
rank. 

Mr.  Vollmer  was  born  in  Germany,  January 
25,  1847,  his  parents  being  Otto  P.  and  Elizabeth 
(Fix)  Vollmer,  also  natives  of  the  same  country. 
The  father  was  a  chemist,  and  he  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1840.  He  became  a  naturalized 
citizen  of  this  country,  and  in  January,  1845.  re- 
turned to  Germany  and  was  married.  In  1851  he 
brought  his  family  to  the  New  World,  locating  in 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
distilling  business,  meeting  with  excellent  suc- 
cess. He  did  a  large  business,  having  two  dis- 
tilleries in  that  state  and  two  in  Indiana.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Vollmer  spent  their  last  years  in  the 


HISTORY  OF.  IDAHO. 


313 


Hoosier  state,  becoming  residents  of  Indianapolis 
in  1855.  There  the  father  died  in  the  fifty-eighth 
year  of  his  age,  and  the  mother  passed  away  in 
1863.  They  were  Lutherans  in  their  religions 
faith,  and  they  reared  a  family  of  five  children, 
three  of  whom  are  yet  living. 

John  P.  Vollmer,  the  eldest  of  the  family,  was 
educated  in  the  Northwestern  Christian  Univer- 
sity, after  which  he  acquired  a  practical  knowl- 
edge of  business  as  chief  clerk  in  Merrill  &  Com- 
pany's large  book  concern,  with  which  lie  was 
connected  for  several  years.  In  1868  he  came 
vvest  under  engagement,  and,  locating  at  Walla 
Walla,  had  charge  of  a  refinery.  His  enterprise, 
perseverance  and  untiring  labor  brought  him  suc- 
cess as  the  years  passed.  In  1870  he  came  to 
Lewiston  and  embarked  in  the  wholesale  liquor 
and  grocery  business,  which  he  conducted  with 
marked  success  for  three  years,  but  becoming 
convinced  that  temperance  principles  were  cor- 
rect, he  abandoned  the  liquor  business,  and 
opened  a  general  mercantile  establishment  in 
connection  with  W.  Scott.  He  has  since  pros- 
pered greatly  in  his  undertakings,  and  his  honor- 
able business  methods  and  enterprise  have  made 
the  firm  of  J.  P.  Vollmer  &  Company  one  of  the 
most  prominent  in  the  northwest.  They  now 
have  five  large  stores,  located  at  Lewiston,  Gen- 
esee,  Grangeville,  Uniontown,  and  Asotin.  The 
annual  business  transacted  in  these  stores  is  now 
figured  by  the  millions. 

In  1883  Mr.  Vollmer  became  the  organizer  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Lewiston, — the  first 
national  bank  established  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  state.  He  was  elected  its  president  and  still 
retains  that  connection  with  the  institution, 
which  is  now  enjoying  an  almost  phenomenal 
success  and  is  regarded  as  the  most  reliable 
financial  concern  in  the  state.  Business  was  be- 
gun on  a  capital  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and 
now  there  is  a  surplus  of  that  amount,  with  nine- 
ty-two thousand  dollars  undivided  profits  and  a 
reserve  fund  of  forty-five  thousand  dollars.  In 
its  dividends  it  has  returned  the  capital  to  the 
stockholders  and  thirty  per  cent  additional,  and 
it  stands  thirty-fourth  on  the  roll  of  honor  of 
the  thirty-three  hundred  national  banks  of  the 
United  States, — a  splendid  showing,  and  one 
which  reflects  credit  upon  the  managers  of  the 
bank!  Mr.  Vollmer  was  also  one  of  the  organ- 


izers and  is  half-owner  of  the  bank  at  Grangeville, 
which  has  a  rating  of  one  million  dollars.  He  has 
also  been  largely  interested  in  farming,  and  has 
one  hundred  and  ninety  farms,  with  two  hundred 
and  forty-eight  miles  of  fencing.  He  was  also 
prominent  in  the  organization  of  the  Sweetwater 
Irrigating  &  Power  Company,  which  was  organ- 
ized in  1890,  and  now  has  seven  miles  of  ditching 
and  will  add  ten  miles  of  steel  pipe  line.  This 
ditch  has  a  large  amount  of  power  besides  afford- 
ing irrigation  for  several  thousand  acres  of  rich 
land,  and  is  of  immense  value  to  the  section 
which  it  traverses.  From  1877  to  1885  he  was 
agent  for  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Com- 
pany and  its  successor,  the  Oregon  Railway  & 
Navigation  Company,  while  later  he  was  made 
state  agent  for  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway 
Company  and  its  allied  lines,  for  the  state- of 
Idaho,  which  position  he  still  holds.  Mr.  Voll- 
mer also  takes  a  just  pride  in  the  thought  that 
he  was  the  first  to  introduce  the  use  of  the  tele- 
phone on  the  Pacific  coast,  also  the  first  tele- 
graph line  in  northern  Idaho. 

Such  in  brief  is  the  history  of  a  remarkably 
prosperous  business  career.  The  multiplicity  of 
Mr.  Vollmer's  business  ventures  and  their  uni- 
form success  well  indicate  his  superior  business 
and  executive  ability,  which  has  enabled  him  to 
rise  to  an  eminent  position  in  commercial  circles. 

In  his  early  life  Mr.  Vollmer  affiliated  with  the 
Democracy,  but,  Deing  a  believer  in  a  protective 
tariff,  he  is  now  a  Republican.  He  has  never  con- 
sented to  accept  office,  his  time  being  fully  oc- 
cupied with  his  business  interests,  which  have 
also  prevented  him  from  being  an  active  worker 
in  the  Masonic  order,  although  he  belongs  to 
this  ancient  and  benevolent  fraternity  and  has 
attained  the  fourteenth  degree  in  the  Scottish 
Rite. 

On  the  27th  of  September,  1870,  was  cele- 
brated the  marriage  of  Mr.  Vollmer  and  Miss 
Sallie  E.  Barber,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  a 
daughter  of  M.  A.  Barber  and  granddaughter  of 
Judge  Duval,  of  that  state.  Their  union  has 
been  blessed  with  seven  children,  five  of  whom 
are  living,  namely:  Ralston,  who  has  charge 
of  the  bank  and  store  at  Genesee:  Bessie,  who 
had  the  honor  of  being  selected  "Queen  of 
Idaho"  at  the  state  fair  held  in  1897,  at  Boise: 
Genevieve,  who  is  attending  school ;  and  Norman 


314 


HISTORY.  OF  IDAHO. 


and  Xorma,  twins,  at  home.  They  are  a  family 
of  much  refinement,  and  their  delightful  home 
in  Lewiston  is  the  center  of  a  cultured  society  cir- 
cle, while  the  members  of  the  household  are  held 
in  the  highest  esteem  by  tneir  many  friends. 

JOSEPH   K.   VINCENT. 

More  than  thirty-seven  years  have  passed  since 
Judge  Vincent  arrived  in  Idaho,  and  he  is  justly 
numbered  among  her  honored  pioneers  and  lead- 
ing citizens.  He  has  been  prominentlv  identified 
with  her  business  life,  being  connected  with  min- 
ing, agricultural  and  commercial  interests,  and 
although  he  has  rounded  the  psalmist's  span  of 
three-score  years  and  ten,  and  although  the  snows 
of  many  winters  have  whitened  his  hair,  he  has 
the  vigor  of  a  much  younger  man,  and  in  spirit 
and  interest  seems  yet  in  his  prime.  Old  age  is 
not  necessarily  a  synonym  of  weakness  or  inac- 
tivity. It  needs  not  suggest,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  want  of  occupation  or  helplessness.  There 
is  an  old  age  that  is  a  benediction  to  all  that 
comes  in  contact  with  it,  that  gives  out  of  its 
rich  stores  of  learning  and  experience,  and  which, 
in  its  active  connection  with  the  affairs  of  life, 
puts  to  shame  many  a  younger  man,  who  grows 
weary  of  the  cares  and  struggles  and  would  fain 
shift  to  other  shoulders  the  burdens  which  he 
should  carry. 

Of  such  an  honored  type  Tudge  "V  incent,  now 
in  the  evening  of  life,  is  a  representative.  A  na- 
tive of  New  England,  he  was  born  in  Salem, 
Essex  county,  Massachusetts,  June  26,  1822,  and 
is  of  Welsh  and  English  ancestors,  who  were 
early  settlers  of  Salem.  His  grandmother,  his 
father  and  he  himself  were  all  born  in  the  same 
house, — one  of  the  oldest  residences  of  Salem, 
and  long  occupied  by  his  ancestors.  His  paternal 
grandfather  was  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. Joseph  Vincent,  the  father  of  the  Judge, 
married  Letitia  Pease,  a  native  of  Salem.  He 
was  a  sea  captain  and  was  murdered  in  the  West 
Indies  by  some  of  the  negroes  of  the  islands,  his 
death  occurring  just  before  the  birth  of  our  sub- 
ject. The  bereaved  mother,  however,  tenderly 
cared  for  her  two  little  children,  and  lived  to  the 
advanced  age  of  ninety-two  years,  her  death  oc- 
curring in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  1879. 

The  Judge  is  now  the  only  survivor  of  the 
family.  He  may  justly  claim  the  proud  Ameri- 


can title  of  a  self-made  man,  for  since  his  ninth 
year  he  has  earned  his  own  living,  and  whatever 
success  he  has  achieved  is  due  entirely  to  his 
own  well  directed  efforts.  In  his  youth  he  learned 
both  the  printer's  and  the  carpenter's  trade,  fol- 
lowing the  former  for  some  time  before  going  to 
California.  In  1849,  attracted  by  the  discovery 
of  gold  on  the  Pacific  slope,  he  made  his  way 
to  the  west,  going  around  Cape  Horn,  being  then 
twenty-seven  years  of  age.  He  landed  at  San 
Francisco  and  engaged  in  mining  at  Coloma, 
where  Marshall  first  discovered  the  precious 
metal;  but  he  did  not  meet  with  the  success  he 
anticipated  in  his  mining  ventures  there,  and 
accordingly  made  his  way  to  Oregon,  in  1855. 
He  then  mined  at  Gold  Beach  with  fair  success 
for  a  time,  but  the  Rogue  river  war  broke  out 
and  resulted  in  his  losing  what  he  had  made. 
He  volunteered  in  the  war  and  was  at  the  Rogue 
river  massacre,  in  1856.  From  there  he  went 
to  Althouse  creek,  became  a  resident  of  Washing- 
ton in  1859,  and  in  1862  enlisted  in  the  First 
Volunteer  Cavalry  of  Oregon,  as  a  member  of 
Company  F,  expecting  to  be  sent  south.  The 
regiment,  however,  was  sent  to  Fort  Lapwai, 
Idaho,  and  he  remained  in  the  service  of  his 
country  for  three  years  and  three  months,  being 
honorably  discharged  at  Vancouver,  in  1865.  He 
had  served  as  post  commissary  sergeant  for  three 
years. 

After  the  war  Judge  Vincent  took  up  his  abode 
at  Lewiston  and  has  since  resided  there  and  at 
Camas  prairie.  He  is  interested  in  a  number  of 
quartz-mining  claims,  on  the  Clearwater,  includ- 
ing the  Admiral  Dewey,  St.  Patrick,  Ida  May 
and  the  Pride  of  Clearwater,  and  has  assays  of 
the  ore — gold  and  copper — yielding  from  sixteen 
to  three  hundred  dollars  per  ton.  He  has  also 
engaged  in  stock-raising  for  a  number  of  years 
and  has  been  general  auctioneer,  conducting 
many  of  the  leading  sales  in  this  part  of  the 
state.  His  business  interests  have  been  well 
managed,  and  as  the  result  of  his  honorable  deal- 
ing and  enterprise  he  has  acquired  a  comfortable 
competence. 

For  many  years  Judge  Vincent  has  been  a 
very  prominent  factor  in  political  circles  and  is  a 
stanch  advocate  of  Republican  principles.  He 
has  been  deputy  license  collector,  was  justice 
of  the  peace  for  thirty  years  and  filled  out  an 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


315 


unexpired  term  as  deputy  sheriff  of  Nez  Perces 
county.  He  was  provost  marshal  during  the  In- 
dian war  in  1877-8  and  was  police  judge  of  Lewis- 
ton  for  a  number  of  years.  In  1898  he  was 
elected  probate  judge  of  Idaho  county,  and  is 
now  acceptably  filling  that  position.  His  duties 
in  all  these  offices  have  ever  been  performed 
most  faithfully,  and  no  trust  reposed  in  him  has 
ever  been  betrayed. 

In  1864  Mr.  Vincent  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
M.  Leland,  daughter  of  Judge  Alonzo  Leland,  of 
Lewiston,  now  deceased.  Of  their  union  nine 
children  have  been  born,  namely:  Joseph,  the 
publisher  of  the  Kendrick  Gazette;  Alonzo  P., 
who  resides  at  Cottonwood;  Lettie  R.,  wife  of 
Frank  Scott,  a  resident  of  California:  Edward  S., 
who  makes  his  home  with  his  parents,  in  Mount 
Idaho:  Charles,  who  is  engaged  in  business  at 
Kendrick:  Harry  G. ;  Alida;  Tamanay  and  Wil- 
liam,— the  last  four  named  being  at  home.  The 
family  is  one  of  prominence  in  the  community, 
and  their  pleasant  home  in  Mount  Idaho  is  the 
center  of  a  cultured  society  circle.  The  Judge 
is  a  valued  member  and  past  commander  of 
Arthur  Guernsey  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  of  Lewiston. 
He  has  not  only  traveled  much  in  this  country, 
but  has  also  visited  the  Sandwich  and  the  Philip- 
pine islands, — our  two  recent  acquisitions, — and 
has  that  culture  and  experience  which  only  travel 
can  bring.  He  is  highly  esteemed  for  that  genu- 
ine worth  which,  in  every  land  and  every  clime, 
commands  respect  and  confidence. 

ROBERT   E.   McFARLAND. 

Robert  E.  McFarland,  late  incumbent  of  the 
responsible  position  of  attorney  general  of  Idaho, 
by  his  faithful  and  capable  discharge  of  duty 
won  the  highest  commendation.  Thoroughly 
versed  in  the  principles  of  jurisprudence,  he  was 
well  fitted  to  handle  the  intricate  problems  which 
presented  themselves  for  solution,  and  his  suc- 
cess affords  the  best  evidence  of  his  capabilities. 
He  is  a  native  of  Missouri,  born  in  Independence, 
November  21,  1857.  The  family  is  of  Scotch 
lineage,  the  first  American  ancestors  having 
crossed  the  Atlantic  in  colonial  days  and  actively 
participated  in  the  events  which  form  the  history 
of  that  epoch.  They  also  battled  for  the  freedom 
of  the  nation  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  The 
father  of  our  subject,  Rev.  W.  B.  McFarland, 


was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  whence  he  removed 
to  Virginia,  and  later  to  Missouri.  He  married 
Miss  Elvira  Early,  a  sister  of  General  Jubal 
Early,  and  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  she  departed 
this  life.  Rev.  W.  B.  McFarland  now  resides  in 
Iowa  and  has  attained  the  advanced  age  of  seven- 
ty-nine. He  has  led  a  long  and  useful  life  in  the 
Methodist  ministry,  and  is  now  practically  re- 
tired, although  he  still  preaches  occasionally. 

One  of  a  family  of  nine  children,  Robert  Early 
McFarland  was  reared  in  a  cultured  home  and 
acquired  his  education  in  Central  College,  at  Fay- 
ette,  Howard  county,  Missouri.  He  began  read- 
ing law  in  Pettis  county,  that  state,  under  the 
instruction  of  Hon.  George  G.  Vest,  now  United 
States  senator,  and  later  continued  his  study  in 
the  office  and  under  the  direction  of  George  L. 
Hayes,  of  Sweet  Springs,  and  Judge  John  L. 
Strother,  of  Marshall,  Missouri.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1880,  and  to  practice  in  the 
supreme  court  of  the  state  in  1891.  He  entered 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Socorro,  New 
Mexico,  and  his  career  at  the  bar  has  been  uni- 
formly successful,  his  patronage  steadily  increas- 
ing as  the  years  have  gone  by.  In  the  fall  of 
1883  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  New  Mexi- 
co legislature,  and  at  the  close  of  the  pession  in 
March,  1894,  he  left  the  south  for  the  far  north- 
west. 

Locating  in  Shoshone  county,  Idaho,  he  has 
since  been  numbered  among  the  prominent  mem- 
be.rs  of  the  legal  fraternity  in  this  state.  In  the 
fall  of  1884  he  was  elected  probate  judge,  which 
position  he  filled  until  May,  1885,  when  President 
Cleveland  appointed  him  register  of  the  land 
office  at  Coeur  d'Alene,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  for  five  years.  He  then  resumed  the 
private  practice  of  law,  and  on  the  9th  of  April, 
1 894,  was  admitted  to  practice  before  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States.  In  1896  he  was 
nominated  for  the  position  of  attorney  general  of 
Idaho  on  the  People's  Democratic  ticket,  and 
was  elected  to  the  office,  which  he  acceptably 
filled  until  the  expiration  of  his  term,  in  January, 
1899.  He  came  to  Boise  in  December,  1896,  and 
made  his  home  in  the  capital  city  until  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term  of  office,  when  he  removed  to 
Lewiston,  where  he  entered  into  a  professional 
partnership  with  his  brother,  S.  L.  McFarlnnd, 
and  is  now  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of 


316 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


law  in  that  city.  While  practicing  in  Kootenai 
county  he  made  a  specialty  of  criminal  law  and 
for  eleven  years  was  retained  on  the  defense  in 
every  important  criminal  case  tried  in  that  coun- 
ty. He  lost  only  three  out  of  all  the  number,  and 
his  reputation  extended  far  throughout  the  state. 
As  a  lawyer  he  is  sound,  clear-minded  and  well 
trained.  The  limitations  which  are  imposed  by 
the  constitution  on  federal  powers  are  well  un- 
derstood by  him.  With  the  long  line  of  decisions 
from  Marshall  down  he  is  familiar,  as  are  all 
thoroughly  skilled  lawyers.  He  is  at  home  in 
all  departments  of  law,  from  the  minutse  in 
practice  to  the  greater  topics  wherein  is  involved 
the  consideration  of  the  ethics  and  philosophy  of 
jurisprudence  and  the  higher  concerns  of  public 
policy.  He  has  always  been  a  Democrat  in  his 
political  affiliations  and  on  account  of  his  bril- 
liant oratory  and  readiness  in  debate  has  done 
much  effective  campaign  work. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  1885,  Mr.  McFar- 
land  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Marie 
Pendy,  a  native  of  Virginia  City,  Nevada.  They 
now  have  three  children,  two  sons  and  a  daugh- 
ter: W.  B,  Cathleen  R.  and  Robert  Early,  Jr. 
The  General  is  a  genial,  agreeable  companion 
and  friend,  possessed  of  talent  of  a  superior  order, 
back  of  which  is  a  will  that  commands  success. 

MATH.  JACOBS. 

Math.  Jacobs,  the  well  known  and  popular 
president  of  the  Kendrick  State  Bank,  is  a  native 
of  •  Minnesota,  and  for  several  years  has  been 
prominently  connected  with  the  business  interests 
of  this  section  of  Idaho.  He  was  born  in  St. 
Cloud,  May  i,  1865,  and  is  of  German  descent, 
his  parents,  Theodore  and  Elizabeth  Jacobs,  hav- 
ing both  been  natives  of  the  Fatherland.  When 
young  people  they  crossed  the  Atlantic  to 
America,  locating  in  Minnesota,  where  they  were 
married  in  1856.  Theodore  Jacobs  became  a  suc- 
cessful farmer  and  carried  on  agricultural  pur- 
suits until  1898,  when  his  death  occurred,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-two  years.  He  left  a  widow  and 
nine  children.  Mrs.  Jacobs  now  resides  in  Gene- 
see,  Idaho,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one  years. 

Math.  Jacobs  was  reared  and  educated  in  the 
state  of  his  nativity,  and  in  1884  came  to  Idaho, 
where  he  entered  the  employ  of  J.  P.  Vollmer, 
one  of  the  most  extensive  merchants  of  the  north- 


ern section  of  the  state.  He  remained  in  Mr. 
Vollmer's  store  in  Uniontown  for  five  years  and 
was  then  made  manager  of  his  store  in  Kendrick, 
conducting  the  large  mercantile  business  here  for 
two  years.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  actively 
connected  with  the  banking  business,  and  is  now 
at  the  head  of  the  State  Bank,  one  of  the  most 
reliable  financial  institutions  in  this  locality.  Its 
business  policy  is  most  trustworthy  and  its  offi- 
cers are  men  of  reliability,  so  that  its  success 
is  assured.  Mr.  Jacobs  possesses  excellent  execu- 
tive ability,  keen  discrimination  and  sagacity, — 
qualities  which  are  very  successful  in  the  conduct 
of  a  prosperous  banking  business. 

In  1891  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Jacobs  and  Miss  Cora  Addison,  a  native  of  Illi- 
nois and  a  daughter  of  John  G.  Addison,  now 
of  Kendrick.  They  have  a  nice  residence  in  the 
town  and  many  friends  enjoy  its  hospitality.  They 
are  valued  members  of  the  Catholic  church,  and 
Mr.  Jacobs  is  prominently  connected  with  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  lodge  here.  He  is  past  chan- 
cellor of  the  order  and  a  representative  to  the 
grand  lodge,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  the  World.  In  politics  he  is  a 
stalwart  Democrat,  and  attends  the  conventions 
of  his  party,  but  never  seeks  or  desires  office  for 
himself,  preferring  to  devote  his  energies  to  his 
business  interests. 

WILLIAM  A.  HALL. 

Honored  and  respected  by  all,  there  is  no  man 
in  northern  Idaho  who  occupies  a  more  enviable 
position  in  professional  circles  than  William  A. 
Hall,  who  for  many  years  has  devoted  his  ener- 
gies to  the  practice  of  law  and  to  the  spread  of 
the  gospel  among  his  fellow  men.  Born  in 
England,  February  15,  1847,  ne  was  fiye  years  of 
age  when  brought  to  America  by  his  parents, 
William  and  Lucy  (Atkinson)  Hall,  who  crossed 
the  Atlantic  with  their  six  children  and  became 
residents  of  Walworth  county,  Wisconsin.  There 
the  father  engaged  in  farming  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  which  occurred  in  the  fortieth  year  of 
his  age.  His  widow  afterward  married  William 
Ambler,  and  by  that  union  had  four  children. 
Mr.  Ambler  enlisted  in  the  Union  army  in  1862, 
as  a  member  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Wisconsin 
Infantry,  and  after  a  year's  active  service  was 
taken  ill  and  died,  at  Helena,  Arkansas,  in  1863. 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


31', 


The  mother  reared  her  family  of  children,  and 
died  at  Traverse  City,  Michigan,  in  the  seventy- 
seventh  year  of  her  age.  Four  of  the  children 
of  her  first  marriage  and  four  of  the  last  survive 
her. 

William  A.  Hall  is  indebted  to  the  public- 
school  system  of  the  Badger  state  for  the  educa- 
tional privileges  accorded  him.  He  was  reared 
upon  the  home  farm,  and  when  his  stepfather 
entered  the  army,  the  management  and  care,  of 
the  place  devolved  upon  him.  In  1866  he  crossed 
the  plains  and  located  in  Helena,  Montana,  where 
he  engaged  in  teaching.  While  there  he  was 
also  licensed  as  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church,  after  which  he  devoted  much  of 
his  time  to  preaching  the  gospel,  meeting  with 
excellent  success  in  his  labors  to  build  up  the 
churches  of  his  denomination  in  the  then  territory 
of  Montana.  In  1879  the  presiding  elder  of  the 
Walla  Walla  district  of  the  Columbia  river  con- 
ference sent  for  him  to  come  to  Grangeville  and 
take  charge  of  the  Columbia  River  Conference 
Academy.  Mr.  Hall  entered  upon  that  work  with 
zeal,  and  ably  conducted  the  school  for  eight 
years,  preaching  at  times,  as  occasion  required. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  given  some  attention 
to  the  study  of  law,  which  he  later  pursued  under 
the  direction  of  Judge  Norman  Buck,  and  in 
1887  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  then 
opened  his  law  office  in  Grangeville,  where  he 
has  since  remained,  and  has  enjoyed  a  good  prac- 
tice. He  is  a  man  of  strong  mentality,  keen  dis- 
cernment and  possessed  of  an  analytical  mind, — 
elements  that  insure  success  in  the  legal  profes- 
sion. Thus  as  preacher  and  lawyer  he  has  been 
prominently  connected  with  the  interests  of  the 
town  and  has  come  into  close  touch  with  its 
people,  many  of  whom  have  acquired  their  edu- 
cation under  his  instructions,  while  for  others  he 
has  performed  marriage  ceremonies,  and,  as 
necessity  has  demanded,  has  preached  funeral 
sermons,  or  delivered  public  addresses.  In  con- 
nection with  his  other  labors  he  serves  as  notary 
public,  makes  conveyances  and  does  all  kinds  of 
work  in  connection  with  his  real  estate  business. 
Believing  in  a  prosperous  future  for  Grangeville, 
he  purchased  two  hundred  acres  of  land  adjacent 
to  the  town  and  has  since  made  three  additions 
to  Grangeville,  known  as  Hall's  addition, 
Moxey's  addition  and  the  Prairie  View  addition. 


Many  of  his  lots  have  been  sold  and  improved, 
and  now  form  one  of  the  best  sections  of  the 
town.  Mr.  Hall  has  also  erected  a  number  of 
good  buildings,  which  have  largely  advanced 
material  interests  here.  He  has  likewise  ac- 
quired mining  property  at  Florence,  Buffalo 
Hump,  Salmon  river  and  the  Clearwater  country. 
In  public  office  he  has  rendered  effective  and 
faithful  service  to  his  fellow  citizens  and  at  all 
times  has  been  a  competent  officer.  He  has  been 
justice  of  the  peace,  has  been  probate  judge  and 
ex-officio  county  superintendent  of  schools  for 
Idaho  county,  and  while  in  Montana  held  similar 
offices.  He  is  now  referee  of  bankruptcy  for 
Idaho  county,  and  was  for  several  years  com- 
missioner of  the  circuit  court  of  the  district  of 
Idaho.  In  politics  he  has  always  been  a  stalwart 
Republican,  unswerving  in  support  of  the  party 
principles. 

On  the  i8th  of  July,  1876,  Mr.  Kail  was  united 
m  marriage  to  Miss  Susan  M.  Haynes,  a  native  of 
Maine.  Having  no  children  of  their  own,  they 
have  adopted  a  daughter,  Winifred  G.  Hall.  AJ1 
three  are  members  of  the  Methodist  church,  in 
which  Mr.  Hall  is  serving  as  trustee  and  steward. 
He  belongs  to  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  is 
an  earnest  advocate  of  the  cause  of  temperance. 
He  is  a  man  of  even  temperament,  calm  and  self- 
poised,  of  refined  character,— one  in  whom  na- 
ture and  culture  have  vied  in  making  an  honored 
and  interesting  gentleman. 

JAMES    F.   AILSHIE. 

James  F.  Ailshie  is  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished criminal  lawyers  of  Idaho,  his  marked 
success  in  that  department  of  jurisprudence  win- 
ning him  enviable  prestige.  He  is  also  public- 
spirited  and  thoroughly  interested  in  whatever 
tends  to  promote  the  moral,  intellectual  and  ma- 
terial welfare  of  his  town,  ranking  among  her 
progressive  and  popular  citizens.  A  native  of 
Greene  county,  Tennessee,  he  was  born  June  19, 
1868,  and  is  of  Scotch  ancestry,  the  family  having 
been  established  in  the  south  at  an  early  period 
in  its  settlement.  His  great-grandfather. 
Stephen  Ailshie,  fought  for  independence  in  the 
war  of  the  Revolution,  and  after  American  lib- 
erty was  secured  he  took  up  his  residence  in 
Kentucky,  where  George  Washington  Ailshie, 


318 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


his  grandson  and  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born.  George  W.  Ailshie  removed  to  Tennessee 
while  yet  young  and  afterward  married  Miss 
Martha  A.  Knight  of  that  state,  where  they 
still  reside, — respected  members  of  the  commun- 
ity. They  belong  to  the  Baptist  church  and  their 
well  spent  lives  are  in  harmony  with  their  relig- 
ious professions.  To  them  were  born  ten  chil- 
dren, nine  of  whom  are  yet  living. 

James  F.  Ailshie,  the  eldest  of  the  family,  was 
educated  in  the  state  of  his  nativity  and  in  the 
Willamette  University,  at  Salem.  Oregon,  win- 
ning the  degrees  of  Bachelor  of  Philosophy  and 
Bachelor  of  Law,  both  in  1891.  The  same  year 
he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  supreme  court 
of  Oregon,  and  after  seeking  for  a  favorable  loca- 
tion in  which  to  begin  business  decided  to 
establish  a  home  in  Grangeville,  where  he  opened 
an  office  in  August,  1891.  He  has  never  had 
occasion  to  regret  his  choice,  for  success  has 
here  attended  his  efforts  and  he  has  gained  a 
reputation  as  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  north- 
ern Idaho.  He  has  built  up  an  excellent  practice 
and  now  has  a  distinctively  representative  clien- 
tage. His  high  order  of  talent,  his  comprehen- 
sive and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  principles  of 
jurisprudence  and  his  keen  power  of  argument 
enable  him  to  handle  criminal  cases  in  a  way 
that  has  won  him  some  remarkable  victories.  He 
never  loses  sight  of  any  point  bearing  on  his 
case,  and  gives  to  each  fact  and  point  of  law 
its  due  prominence,  at  the  same  time  always  keep- 
ing before  court  and  jury  the  important  element 
upon  which  the  decision  of  the  case  finally  turns. 
His  reasoning  is  sound  and  convincing,  his  argu- 
ments logical  and  his  eloquence  seldom,  if  ever, 
fails  to  produce  the  desired  effect. 

While  Mr.  Ailshie  devotes  his  time  and  atten- 
tion principally  to  his  profession,  he  has  other 
business  interests.  Believing  firmly  in  the  future 
growth  and  prosperity  of  the  town  of  Grangeville, 
he  has  invested  quite  extensively  in  real  estate 
in  this  locality  and  is  now  the  owner  of  several 
hundred  acres  adjacent  to  the  city.  He  also  owns 
some  of  the  best  business  sites  and  business 
blocks  in  Grangeville. 

On  the  igth  of  June,  1894,  Mr.  Ailshie  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Bundren,  a  daughter 
of  Rev.  J.  B.  Bundren,  a  Baptist  minister  of 
Tennessee.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  with 


a  beautiful  little  daughter,  whom  they  have 
named  Lucile.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ailshie  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Baptist  church,  and  are  very  widely 
and  favorably  known  throughout  the  state.  Mrs. 
Ailshie,  a  true  southerner,  entertains  a  great 
deal,  and  their  beautiful  home  on  College  street 
is  the  scene  of  many  pleasant  social  events. 

In  politics  Mr.  Ailshie  is  a  stalwart  Republican, 
and  did  most  effective  service  for  his  party  by 
his  campaign  addresses  in  support  of  the  can- 
didacy of  McKinley  in  1896.  At  the  Republican 
state  convention  of  1898  he  had  the  honor  of 
being  chosen  its  president,  and  conducted  its 
meetings  and  business  with  marked  fairness  and 
ability,  showing  him  to  be  a  thorough  parlia- 
mentarian. He  has  for  two  terms  served  as 
regent  of  the  State  University  of  Idaho,  being  ap- 
pointed to  that  office  by  Governor  McConnell. 
He  was  also  a  delegate  from  Idaho  to  the  bi- 
metallic congress  held  in  Chicago  during  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition.  Socially  he  is 
connected  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  has  filled  all  the  chairs  in  both  branches 
of  the  order  and  has  been  a  member  of  the  grand 
lodge.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Maccabees 
and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  His  fitness  for 
leadership  and  his  devotion  to  the  public  good 
have  gained  him  prominence  in  public  life,  and 
his  ability  in  the  law  has  won  him  a  distinguished 
position  at  the  Idaho  bar.  He  is  a  man  of  reso- 
lute purpose,  of  strong  mentalitv  and  of  genuine 
worth,  and  his  high  standing  in  the  community 
is  a  merited  tribute  to  his  superiority.  In  man- 
ner, however,  he  is  most  unpretentious,  genial 
and  cordial,  and  in  the  community  he  has  many 
warm  personal  friends. 

JAY   M.    DORMAN. 

No  man  has  been  a  more  prominent  factor  in 
the  growth  and  improvement  of  Mount  Idaho 
than  this  gentleman,  who  for  many  years  has  been 
identified  with  its  building  interests,  nor  have 
his  efforts  contributed  alone  to  his  individual 
prosperity,  for  he  belongs  to  that  class  of  repre- 
sentative Americans  who  promote  the  public 
good  while  securing  their  own  success. 

A  native  of  Delaware  county,  New  York,  he 
was  born  August  27,  1837,  and  is  descended  from 
an  old  American  family,  early  settlers  of  the  Em- 
pire state.  His  father,  Anthony  Dorman,  was 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


319 


likewise  born  in  Delaware  county  and  married 
Miss  Charlotte  Bursack,  a  lady  of  German  de- 
scent. Their  only  child,  Jay  M.  Dorman,  was 
left  an  orphan  at  a  tender  age  and  was  reared 
by  his  aunt  until  fourteen  years  of  age.  With 
her  he  removed  to  Louisiana,  where  he  learned 
the  carpenter  and  joiner  trade,  in  1861  he  went 
to  California  by  way  of  the  isthmus  route,  sailing 
on  the  steamer  North  Star,  which  arrived  in  San 
Francisco  in  July.  He  worked  in  a  sawmill  on 
the  coast  range  for  a  time,  and  by  the  water 
route  went  to  The  Dalles  and  then  by  mule  train 
to  the  place  of  the  gold  discoveries  in  Idaho.  He 
traveled  with  a  company  of  eight,  who  ultimately 
reached  Lewiston,  which  was  then  a  town  of 
tents,  with  only  two  log  houses.  Mr.  Dorman 
proceeded  to  Elk  City,  and  engaged  in  mining 
at  different  claims  for  nine  years,  but  met  with 
only  a  moderate  degree  of  success.  He  had  at 
times  as  high  as  three  thousand  dollars,  but  like 
many  other  miners  sunk  his  capital  in  a  bed- 
rock tunnel,  He,  however,  never  lost  anything 
through  gambling  or  in  the  saloon,  as  so  many 
men  did  in  those  early  days. 

In  1871  he  came  to  Mount  Idaho,  at  which 
time  there  was  but  one  log  house  in  the  town. 
Here  he  began  work  at  the  carpenter's  trade, 
and  since  that  time  has  been  actively  interested 
in  the  erection  of  most  of  the  buildings  of  the  ' 
place,  so  that  Mount  Idaho  now  largely  stands 
as  a  monument  to  his  skill,  thrift  and  enterprise. 
In  1877  ne  built  his  own  commodious  residence, 
one  of  the  most  attractive  homes  of  the  place.  In 
connection  with  contracting  and  building,  Mr. 
Dorman  has  also  superintended  the  operation  of 
his  ranch,  comprising  three  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  of  good  land,  on  which  he  raises  hay  and 
grain.  The  county-seat  of  Idaho  county  was  es- 
tablished at  Mount  Idaho  in  1875,  and  our  sub- 
ject erected  the  court-house  and  jail  there.  He 
served  the  county  for  two  years  in  the  position 
of  treasurer  and  for  one  term  as  county  commis- 
sioner, discharging  his  duties  in  a  most  prompt 
and  commendable  manner.  In  politics  he  has 
been  a  lifelong  Republican,  and  in  addition  to 
the  other  offices  mentioned  he  has  served  as 
school  trustee,  the  cause  of  education  finding  in 
him  a  warm  friend  and  one  zealous  in  advancing 
its  interests.  Thus  in  many  ways  he  has  been 
prominently  identified  with  the  advancement  of 


his  county  along  material,  political  and  educa- 
tional lines,  and  at  all  times  is  a  progressive, 
public-spirited  citizen.  He  was  a  volunteer  in  the 
Nez  Perces  Indian  war,  in  1877,  and  assisted  in 
building  a  rock  fort  in  Mount  Idaho,  which 
formed  such  a  protection  that  the  Indians  made 
no  attempt  to  attack  the  inhabitants  of  the  town, 
and  many  settlers  from  the  surrounding  country 
also  found  shelter  there. 

In  1880  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Dorman  and  Mrs.  Arabella  J.  Randall,  widow  of 
Captain  D.  B.  Randall,  who  served  his  country 
as  a  lieutenant  in  the  great  civil  war  and  as  a 
captain  of  volunteers  in  the  Indian  war.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Captain  A.  P.  Ankeny,  of 
Virginia,  and  crossed  the  plains  to  California  in 
1849,  going  to  Oregon  in  1850.  Mrs.  Dorman 
was  only  four  years  of  age  when  she  went  with 
her  father's  family  to  the  Sunset  state.  By  her 
first  marriage  she  had  five  children,  namely: 
Oronoka  L.,  wife  of  S.  D.  Ingram,  of  Lewiston; 
Henry  A.;  Bell  J.;  Maude  E.;  and  Ada  L.,  .wife 
of  Lewis  D.  Stevens.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dorman  have 
one  daughter,  to  whom  was  given  the  full  name 
of  her  father, — Jay  M.  Mrs.  Dorman  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Episcopal  church  and  is  one  of  the 
honored  pioneer  women  of  Oregon  and  Idaho. 

Our  subject  holds  membership  in  Mount  Idaho 
Lodge,  No.  89,"  F.  &  A.  M.,  has  held  various 
offices  in  the  lodge  and  served  as  its  treasurer 
for  ten  years. '  He  is  one  of  Idaho's  worthy  and 
reliable  citizens,  and  since  early  pioneer  days  he 
has  labored  for  the  welfare  of  the  state,  proving 
especially  active  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  northern 
section.  He  is  highly  esteemed  for  his  integrity 
in  all  the  walks  of  life,  and  well  deserves  repre- 
sentation in  this  volume. 

ROBERT   F.    FULTON. 

A  worthy  representative  of  the  legal  fraternity, 
and  the  first  city  attorney  of  Grangeville.  Robert 
F.  Fulton  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  his  birth 
having  occurred  in  Westmoreland  county,  De- 
cember 8,  1864.  He  is  of  Scotch-Irish  lineage, 
his  great-grandfather,  John  Fulton,  having  been 
a.  resident  of  the  north  of  Ireland,  whence  he 
emigrated  to  Pennsylvania  at  an  early  epoch  in 
the  history  of  this  country.  The  grandfather, 
George  Fulton,  was  born  in  the  Keystone  state 
and  the  father,  James  P.  Fulton,  is  a  native  of 


320 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


Washington  county,  Pennsylvania.  He  married 
Miss  Frances  Shouse,  also  a  native  of  the  same 
county,  and  descended  from  good  old  Revolu- 
tionary stock,  her  great-grandfather  having 
served  as  a  colonel  in  the  Continental  army.  In 
religious  faith  the  family  has  always  been  con- 
nected with  the  Presbyterian  church.  Rev. 
Cooper,  the  great-grandfather  of  our  subject,  was 
the  first  minister  of  that  denomination  west  of  the 
Alleghany  mountains.  James  P.  Fulton  also  be- 
came a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  in  1875  went 
to  Harper  county,  Kansas,  becoming  a  most  ef- 
ficient laborer  in  that  field,  where  many  Presby- 
terian churches  stand  in  evidence  of  his  untiring 
zeal  and  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  Chris- 
tianity. He  organized  the  first  church  in  the 
county,  and  since  that  time  has  been  actively 
identified  with  Christian  work  there.  He  and 
his  estimable  wife  are  still  residing  in  Harper, 
and  if  their  lives  are  spared  until  May,  1900, 
they  will  celebrate  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  their 
marriage.  Rev.  James  P.  Fulton  is  now  seventy- 
five  years  of  age.  Eight  sons  and  two  daughters 
have  been  born  to  them,  and  the  family  is  one 
of  the  highest  respectability,  the  circle  yet  re- 
maining unbroken  by  the  hand  of  death.  Most 
of  the  sons  are  now  in  professional  life,  as  law- 
yers, doctors  or  educators. 

Robert  F.  Fulton,  whose  name  introduces  this 
review,  acquired  his  early  education  in  the  schools 
of  his  native  state,  and  read  law  in  the  office  of 
the  firm  of  Finch  &  Finch,  of  Kansas,  being 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1888.  He  then  removed 
to  Bent  county,  Colorado,  where  he  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  law  for  a  year  and  a  half  and  then 
came  to  Grangeville.  Here  he  opened  his  law 
office,  being  one  of  the  oldest  practitioners  in 
years  of  continuous  connection  with  the  bar  of 
Idaho  county.  He  has  met  with  very  gratifying 
success  in  his  efforts,  and  his  ability  in  present- 
ing a  case  to  judge  or  jury  is  widely  recognized. 
His  close  study  has  given  him  a  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  jurisprudence  and 
he  has  secured  a  large  and  constantly  increasing 
clientage.  For  five  years  he  was  also  associated 
with  Aaron  F.  Parkes  in  the  publication  of  the 
Idaho  County  Free  Press,  and  has  made  some 
judicious  investments  in  real  estate,  owning  con- 
siderable valuable  property  in  Grangeville. 

On  the  1 8th  of  July,  1895,  was  celebrated  the 


marriage  of  Mr.  Fulton  and  Miss  Lillian  Robin- 
son, a  daughter  of  J.  H.  Robinson,  of  Grange- 
ville. They  now  have  an  interesting  little  son, 
Edwin  Dale.  Mrs.  Fulton  is  a  valued  member  of 
the  Methodist  church,  while  he  adheres  to  the 
faith  of  his  fathers  and  is  an  earnest  Presbyterian. 
Socially  he  is  connected  with  the  Independent 
Order  of  Red  Men,  and  in  politics  he  was  an 
active  Republican  until  1896,  since  which  time  he 
has  been  identified  with  the  silver  branch  of  the 
party  and  is  now  chairman' of  the  Silver  Republi- 
can county  central  committee.  He  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  fourth  session  of  the  state  legis- 
lature and  served  as  the  first  city  attorney  of 
Grangeville.  He  keeps  well  informed  on  the 
issues  of  the  day,  and  was  an  active  and  valued 
member  of  the  body  which  formed  the  laws  for 
the  commonwealth.  His  public  and  private  life 
are  alike  above  reproach,  and  he  is  accounted  one 
of  Grangeville's  representative  citizens. 

JAMES   EDWARDS. 

After  a  long  period  of  active  connection  with 
the  industrial  interests  of  northern  Idauo,  James 
Edwards  is  now  living  a  retired  life  in  Grange- 
ville. He  was  born  in  Richmond,  Chittenden 
county,  Vermont,  on  the  2Oth  of  June,  1838, 
his  parents  being  George  and  Martha  Sophia 
(Burr)  Edwards,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of 
Massachusetts.  Tae  father  was  a  farmer  and  a 
dealer  in  cattle  and  grain.  He  attained  the  age 
of  only  fifty  years,  but  his  wife  lived  to  the  ripe 
old  age  of  eighty-four  years.  Tney  were  Univer- 
salists  in  religious  faith,  and  Mr.  Edwards  was 
a  man  of  ability,  taking  a  leading  part  in  public 
affairs  and  serving  his  district  in  the  state  legis- 
lature. In  the  family  were  twelve  children,  but 
one  died  at  the  age  of  five  years,  another  at  the 
age  of  fifteen,  a  daughter  recently  massed  away, 
and  later  a  brother  died,  leaving  eight  of  the 
family  yet  living. 

In  the  common  schools  James  Edwards  ac- 
quired a  fair  English  education,  which  has  been 
supplemented  by  knowledge  gained  through  ob- 
servation and  business  experience.  He  entered 
upon  his  business  career  as  clerk  in  a  store  in 
Acton,  Massachusetts,  spent  some  time  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  on  the  1st  of  March,  1856,  sailed 
from  New  York  city  for  California,  on  the  steam- 
er Illinois.  Reaching  the  western  shore  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


321 


isthmus,  he  took  passage  on  the  John  L.  Stevens, 
and  arrived  in  San  Francisco,  in  April,  1856. 
He  remained  for  a  month  in  Sacramento  and  then 
removed  to  Nevada  county,  where  he  purchased 
cows  and  engaged  in  the  dairy  business.  He 
was  paid  one  dollar  per  gallon  for  milk,  which 
he  sold  to  the  miners,  and  in  the  winter  time  he 
received  two  dollars  per  gallon.  He  had  forty 
cows  and  conducted  a  profitable  business  for 
four  years,  on  the  expiration  of  which  period  he 
carried  on  the  butchering  business.  When  gold 
was  discovered  in  the  Boise  basin,  stock  had 
greatly  depreciated  in  value,  and  he  resolved  to 
go  to  the  new  mining  district,  so  as  one 
of  a  company  of  four,  he  started  with  a 
spring  wagon,  traveling  north  through  the 
old  town  of  Shasta,  then  on  through  Ore- 
gon to  Walla  Walla  and  to  Boise,  which 
was  then  a  small  place,  containing  a  few 
adobe  houses  and  a  few  log  cabins,  built  of  cot- 
tonvvood  trees.  The  party,  however,  continued 
on  their  way  to  the  Cortney  diggings,  in  British 
Columbia,  but  failed  to  find  the  gold  for  which 
they  had  traveled  so  far  and  for  which  they  had 
braved  many  dangers  and  hardships. 

Mr.  Edwards  then  returned  to  Lewiston, 
Idaho,  where  he  engaged  in  packing  miners'  sup- 
plies from  that  point  to  Warrens,  Elk  City,  Oro 
Fino  and  Montana.  On  his  first  trip  to  Warrens 
he  carried  twenty  packs,  receiving  twenty-five 
cents  per  pound,  and  thus  making  eighty-seven 
dollars  for  each  animal  pack  on  the  trip.  There 
was  a  great  demand  for  services  along  that  line, 
and  the  packers  received  good  pay,  but  the  busi- 
ness was  often  accompanied  by  danger  and  diffi- 
culty, so  that  the  men  who  engaged  therein  were 
necessarily  possessed  of  the  highest  courage.  He 
continued  in  the  business  until  1871  and  made 
considerable  money,  but  contracted  rheumatism, 
from  which  he  suffered  for  eighteen  months,  and 
was  forced  to  pay  out  twenty-five  hundred  dol- 
lars of  his  hard-earned  savings  for  medical  treat- 
ment and  to  meet  other  expenses  occasioned  by 
his  illness.  Later  he  again  entered  tne  business, 
but,  finding  that  he  was  not  physically  equal  to 
the  task,  he  went  to  Warrens,  where  he  was  en- 
gaged in  both  placer  and  quartz  mining.  A  part 
of  the  time  he  also  conducted  a  hotel  at  Warrens, 
where  he  made  forty-five  hundred  dollars,  and  in 
1889  he  came  to  Grangeville,  where  he  purchased 


the  Jersey  House,  of  William  Hawley.  It  was 
the  first  hotel  built  in  the  town  and  Mr.  Edwards 
was  its  popular  and  successful  proprietor  until 
1893,  when  he  arranged  to  sell  the  property  for 
eight  thousand  dollars.  A  payment  of  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  was  made,  but  the  purchasers 
allowed  it  to  lapse,  and  later  he  sold  it  to  the 
present  owners  for  seven  thousand  dollars.  It 
has  always  been  recognized  as  the  best  hotel  of 
the  town  and  has  enjoyed  a  liberal  patronage. 
It  stands  on  a  large  and  pretty  plot  of  ground 
and  is  very  desirably  located.  Mr.  Edwards, 
since  selling  the  hotel,  has  occupied  a  good  resi- 
dence in  Grangeville,  and  is  now  living  a  re- 
tired life.  He  is  also  the  owner  of  a  number  of 
good  farms  on  which  he  raises  hay  and  grain. 
For  many  years  he  has  witnessed  the  develop- 
ment and  growth  of  Idaho  and  has  been  an  active 
participant  in  many  of  the  events  which  go  to 
form  the  earlier  history  of  the  state  as  well  as 
the  annals  of  its  later  progress.  He  participated 
in  the  Sheep-eater  Indian  war,  which  occurred  in 
1879,  when,  on  the  south  fork  of  the  Sal- 
mon river  savages  murdered  two  men,  whose 
horses  they  took,  after  which  they  went  on 
the  war-path,  and  the  white  settlers  were 
obliged  to  leave  that  part  of  the  country  and 
take  refuge  in  Warrens.  Among  the  number  was 
Mr.  Rains,  who  was  obliged  to  leave  his  hay  in 
the  fields.  He  was  dependent  upon  this  crop  for 
a  livelihood  and  accordingly  wanted  help  to  go 
with  him  to  his  farm  and  finish  taking  care  of  tbe 
hay.-  Mr.  Edwards  and  a  Mr.  Serren  volunteered 
to  go,  and  for  some  days  as  they  worked  in  the 
fields  they  carried  their  guns  with  them.  When 
nearly  through  the  work,  however,  thinking  all 
danger  past,  they  one  day  went  to  the  field  with- 
out their  arms.  It  was  a  hot  day  and  they  worked 
very  hard  until  almost  dark,  when  they  were 
attacked  by  the  Indians,  who  fired  first  at  the 
house  and  then  at  the  men,  but  missed  them. 
There  was  a  little  creek  close  by  and  the  men 
dropped  into  the  ravine  made  by  it  and  tried  to 
run  to  the  house.  They  got  only  half  way  when 
Mr.  Rains  was  shot  dead.  Mr.  Edwards  and 
Mr.  Serren  then  turned  back  to  seek  again  the 
shelter  of  the  creek.  The  Indians  then  fired  the 
house,  and  Mr.  Edwards  and  his  companion 
made  their  way  up  the  stream  to  its  source.  On 
reaching  that  point  they  saw  signal  fires  at  dif- 


322 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


ferent  places,  but  succeeded  in  making  their  way 
back  to  Warrens.  The  man  who  had  been  in 
the  house  also  escaped  up  a  gulch  in  the  dark- 
ness, but  it  was  almost  miraculous  that  they  all 
got  away. 

In  1880  Mr.  Edwards  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Mrs.  Mary  Rains,  widow  of  the  man  who  had 
been  killed  by  the  Indians.  She  had  two  sons 
by  her  former  husband,  Jesse  and  Henry.  The 
latter  died  in  his  eleventh  year,  but  Jesse  grew  to 
manhood  and  is  now  serving  his  country  as  a 
soldier  in  the  Philippine  islands,  filling  the  posi- 
tion of  clerk  for  General  Lipencott.  In  his  polit- 
ical views  Mr.  Edwards  is  a  Republican,  and 
while  at  Warrens  acceptably  served  as  justice  of 
the  peace  for  the  long  term  of  twelve  years.  He 
is  a  valued  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  and  is  a  citizen  of  the  highest  re- 
spectability, his  identification  with  the  interests 
of  his  adopted  state  having  been  of  material  bene- 
fit thereto. 

GEORGE  B.   HILL. 

George  B.  Hill,  of  the  extensive  mercantile 
firm  of  Hill  &  Ballentine,  of  Bellevue,  Idaho,  is 
one  of  Idaho's  prominent  business  men  and  states- 
men. He  came,  through  New  England  ancestry, 
of  honorable  English  and  German  descent,  and 
was  born  at  Cherry  Valley,  New  York,  August 
28,  1843.  He  is  of  fighting  stock,  too,  his  great- 
grandfather Hill  having  fought  for  independence 
in  the  Revolution,  his  grandfather  Hill  having 
risked  his  life  for  his  country  in  the  war  of 
1812-14,  and  his  father  and  himself  having  done 
battle  for  the  Union  in  the  civil  war  of  1861-65, 
the  latter  yielding  up  his  life  on  the  field  in  de- 
fense of  the  starry  flag,  while  his  maternal  grand- 
father Busch  fought  in  the  war  of  1812-14. 
Charles  Hill,  father  of  George  B.  Hill,  was  a 
native  of  Barrington,  Massachusetts.  He  became 
a  lawyer  of  ability  and  while  yet  a  young  man  re- 
moved to  Cherry  Valley,  New  York,  where  he 
married  Margaret  Busch,  of  German  descent  and 
a  daughter  of  an  old  and  honored  resident  of 
that  town.  He  was  a  member  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Twenty-first  New  York  Volunteer  In- 
fantry and  was  killed  while  upon  a  reconnois- 
sance  in  1864.  His  good  wife,  a  devout  member 
of  the  Christian  church,  survived  until  1884,  and 
died  in  her  seventy-ninth  year. 

George  B.  Hill  was  the  youngest  but  one  of 


the  eight  children  of  Charles  and  Margaret 
(Busch)  Hill.  He  was  being  educated  in  the 
Cherry  Valley  Academy  for  boys,  when,  in  1861, 
at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  enlisted  in  the  Seventy- 
sixth  New  York  Volunteer  Infantrv,  with  which 
he  served  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  partici- 
pating in  twenty-two  hard-fought  battles.  In  the 
battle  in  "the  Wilderness,"  the  boy  soldier  re- 
ceived a  wound  in  the  right  thigh,  and  at  Gettys- 
burg he  got  a  gunshot  wound  in  his  foot.  After 
the  Wilderness  fight  he  was  promoted  as  second 
lieutenant.  Three  months  later  he  was  made 
first  lieutenant,  and  he  was  in  command  of  his 
company  at  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  present 
at  the  surrender  of  General  Lee  and  had  the 
honor  of  commanding  the  color  company  of  his 
regiment  at  the  historic  grand  review  of  the  vic- 
torious army  at  Washington,  D.  C.  He  was 
honorably  discharged  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  July  4, 
1865. 

He  returned  to  his  home  at  Cherry  Valley,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1866  went  by  steamer  by  way  of 
Graytown  to  California.  After  spending  a  few 
months  in  that  state,  he  went  to  Virginia  City, 
Nevada,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk  and 
became  deputy  recorder  of  the  city.  Later  he 
built  the  Reno  water  works,  and  in  1875  organ- 
ized what  was  known  as  the  Carson  City  Savings 
Bank,  of  which  for  seven  years  he  was  cashier 
and  general  manager.  He  subsequently  returned 
to  California,  where  he  remained  until  the  spring 
of  1887,  when  he  came  to  Bellevue,  Idaho,  and, 
in  partnership  with  Colonel  Ballentine,  opened 
the  extensive  general  store  of  which  he  has  since 
been  at  the  head.  Originally  a  stalwart  Repub- 
lican, he  came  at  last  to  embrace  the  principles  of 
the  Populist  party  as  being  most  favorable  to  his 
ideas  of  Abraham  Lincoln  Republicanism;  and 
since  1892  he  has  been  one  of  the  ablest  advocates 
of  them  in  Idaho.  He  has  six  times  been  elected 
mayor  of  Bellevue,  and  was,  in  1898,  chosen  by 
his  party  as  its  candidate  for  governor  of  Idaho; 
but  for  business  reasons  he  declined  the  nomina- 
tion. He  has  done  much  effective  campaign 
work,  and  when  he  addresses  his  fellow  citizens 
on  political  subjects  he  speaks  from  deep  con- 
viction and  with  great  energy  and  power.  He  has 
frequently  been  invited  by  his  comrades  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  to  the  honored  post 
of  orator  of  the  day  on  Decoration  day.  He  is  a 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


323 


Son  of  the  Revolution  and  fought  through  the 
long  civil  war  and  shed  his  blood  in  defense  of 
the  Union;  and  his  father  gave  up  his  life  for  the 
same  cause,  and,  on  such  occasions,  he  is  moved 
by  the  presence  of  survivors  of  the  great  struggle 
in  which  he  participated  and  by  memories  of 
comrades  who  sleep  in  soldiers'  graves,  and  his 
oratorical  spirit  is  aroused  and  he  speaks  with  a 
dramatic  intensity  that  swells  into  a  flood  of 
eloquence  carrying  all  before  it.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  in  all  the  country  any  one  can  surpass 
him  as  a  Decoration  day  orator,  for  it  has  been 
said  of  him  that  "his  efforts  reach  the  heights  of 
inspired  sublimity." 

Mr.  Hill  was  married  December  17,  1874,  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  Wheeler,  a  daughter  of  M.  W. 
Wheeler,  a  Mexican  war  veteran  and  a  California 
miner  of  '49,  and  she  is  a  native  of  San  Jose, 
California.  Their  only  child,  Miss  Grace  Hill, 
was  educated  at  the  Michigan  State  Normal 
School  at  Ypsilanti  and  is  an  enthusiastic  young 
teacher  who  is  destined  to  make  her  mark  in  her 
profession.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hill  have  a  beautiful 
home  at  Bellevue,  where  they  dispense  a  gener- 
ous and  far-reaching  hospitality. 

JAMES  KING. 

A  leading  representative  of  the  building  inter- 
ests, of  Boise,  and  the  present  register  of  the 
land  office  of  this  city,  James  King  is  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  Pitts- 
burg,  on  the  isth  of  August,  1832.  He  is  of  both 
German  and  English  descent,  his  ancestors  of 
those  nationalities  having  settled  in  New  York 
in  1664.  They  came  with  General  Braddock  and 
always  remained  in  this  land.  In  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  the  family  was  represented  by  loyal 
Americans,  who  fought  for  liberty,  and  through- 
out many  years  they  were  prominently  identified 
with  the  Presbyterian  church.  The  grandfather 
of  our  subject  was  the  first  of  the  name  to  locate 
in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  an  industrious  farmer 
and  reached  the  commonly  allotted  age  of  three- 
score years  and  ten.  His  son,  Jacob  King,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania, 
July  25,  1799,  and  married  Miss  Mary  Covert, 
who  represented  an  English  family  equally  an- 
cient and  honorable.  Among  her  ancestors  were 
likewise  found  those  who  aided  in  throwing  off 
the  yoke  of  British  tyranny.  Jacob  King  de- 


parted this  life  in  1883,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four 
years,  and  his  wife,  who  was  born  in  1804,  died 
in  1878,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  years. 

James  King  is  the  second  in  their  family  of 
six  children.  He  was  educated  in  his  native  city 
of  Pittsburg  and  is  indebted  to  its  public  school 
system  for  the  educational  privileges  he  received. 
After  putting  aside  his  text-books  he  studied 
architecture  and  then  went  to  Missouri,  where  he 
was  located  when  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon 
and  the  civil  war  thus  inaugurated.  He  had 
anxiously  watched  the  progress  of  events  in  the 
south,  and  resolved  that  if  an  attempt  was  made 
at  secession  he  would  strike  a  blow  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Union.  Therefore  at  Presi- 
dent Lincoln's  first  call  for  volunteers,  he  en- 
listed, in  April,  1861,  as  a  member  of  Company 
A,  First  Ohio  Infantry,  and  when  his  three- 
months  term  had  expired  re-enlisted,  remaining 
at  the  front  until  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  He 
served  in  the  quartermaster's  department  in  West 
Virginia,  and  was  commissioned  second  lieuten- 
ant by  Governor  Dennison,  of  Ohio. 

When  the  war  was  over  and  the  country  no 
longer  needed  his  services.  Mr.  King  returned  to 
the  north  and  his  family.  He  was  married  in 
1862  to  Miss  Sarah  B.  Gorham,  a  native  of  Ohio, 
descended  from  early  New  England  ancestry  who 
located  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  Three 
children  were  born  to  them,  but  at  the  age  of  ten, 
eleven  and  twenty  years  respectively  they  de- 
parted, this  life. 

On  resuming  civil  pursuits  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  Mr.  King  continued  in  business  as  an  archi- 
tect, following  that  vocation  in  West  Virginia 
until  1888,  when  he  came  to  Boise.  Most  of  the 
best  buildings  of  the  city  have  been  erected  after 
designs  which  originated  in  the  brain  of  Mr. 
King,  and  to-day  they  stand  as  monuments  to  his 
skill  in  his  chosen  profession.  Since  the  civil  war 
he  has  given  his  political  support  to  the  Republi- 
can party,  and  in  1898  was  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent McKinley  to  the  position  of  register  of  the 
United  States  land  office,  at  Boise.  He  is  now 
serving  in  that  capacity,  and  is  most  conscien- 
tious, faithful  and  efficient  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties.  Since  1860  he  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Odd  Fellows  society,  and  also  belongs  to  the 
Veterans'  League.  He  is  as  true  to  his  duties 
of  citizenship  to-day  as  when  he  followed  the 


324 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


old  starry  banner  on  southern  battle-fields,  and 
his  record  in  business,  social  and  political  life 
has  left  his  fair  name  untarnished. 

MANSFIELD   C.   McGREW. 

One  of  the  prominent  merchants  of  Kendrick, 
and  the  senior  member  of  the  large  general  mer- 
cantile firm  of  McGrew  &  Carmean,  is  the  gen- 
tleman whose  name  heads  this  sketch, — an  enter- 
prising, energetic  man  whose  keen  discrimina- 
tion in  business  efforts  and  indefatigable  industry 
have  brought  him  a  success  which  he  well  mer- 
its. A  native  of  Illinois,  he  was  born  in  Clay 
county,  July  n,  1862,  and  is  of  Scotch-Irish  lin- 
eage. His  great-grandfather,  James  McGrew, 
having  emigrated  from  the  Emerald  Isle  to  the 
New  World,  settled  in  Pennsylvania  and  became 
the  progenitor  of  the  family  in  the  United  States. 
He  later  became  a  pioneer  of  Ohio,  where  the 
grandfather,  Joseph  McGrew,  was  born  in  1804. 
The  latter  became  a  successful  farmer  and  was 
also  a  devout  Methodist.  In  1854  he  removed 
with  his  family  to  Clay  county,  Illinois,  where  his 
death  occurred,  in  1898,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
ninety-four  years. 

James  McGrew,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
a  native  of  Clay  county,  and  there  married  Miss 
Sarah  Adeline  Moore,  a  native  of  Indiana.  Her 
father  died  -when  she  was  a  small  child,  and  she 
was  reared  in  Illinois.  Both  of  Mr.  McGrew's 
grandmothers  died  in  1898, — the  one  on  the  pa- 
ternal side  at  the  age  of  ninety  years,  the  one  on 
the  maternal  at  the  age  of  eighty.  On  both  sides 
the  families  were  people  of  the  highest  respecta- 
bility. The  McGrews  were  active,  energetic  and 
successful  in  accumulating  money,  but  the 
Moores  were  less  ambkious,  satisfied  with  enjoy- 
ing the  good  things  of  life  as  time  passed.  In 
the  McGrew  family  of  which  our  subject  is  a 
member,  are  eight  children,  the-  eldest  being  a 
son,  then  six  daughters,  and  the  youngest  a  son. 
All  are  yet  living  and  are  in  the  enjoyment  of 
good  health. 

Mansfield  C.  McGrew,  the  eldest  of  the  family, 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
state,  and  in  the  Heyward  College,  after  which 
he  successfully  engaged  in  teaching  for  four 
years.  In  1889  he  came  to  Idaho,  locating  first 
in  Moscow,  where  he  engaged  in  teaching  until 
he  took  charge  of  the  public  schools  in  Genesee. 


Subsequently  he  was  employed  as  a  salesman  by 
J.  P.  Vollmer,  for  two  years,  and  his  experience 
in  that  line  determined  him  to  engage  in  mer- 
chandising on  his  own  account.  Accordingly  he 
organized  the  Genesee  Mercantile  Company, 
with  which  he  was  connected  for  five  years,  after 
which  he  came  to  Kendrick  and  opened  his  pres- 
ent store,  which  he  has  successfully  conducted 
continuously  since.  In  1899  Mr.  Carmean  was 
admitted  to  a  partnership..  They  do  an  extensive 
general  mercantile  business,  occupying  a  large 
double  store  and  two  warerooms.  Their  cour- 
teous treatment  of  patrons,  reasonable  prices  and 
correct  business  policy  insure  them  a  large  busi- 
ness, and  they  are  also  extensive  buyers  and  ship- 
pers of  grain. 

Mr.  McGrew  was  married  March  12,  1885,  to 
Miss  Aldorah  S.  Yockey,  a  native  of  Iowa,  and 
of  German  ancestry.  They  have  six  children: 
Elba,  Joy,  Beulah,  Veva,  Portia  and  Merton  C. 
The  parents  are  leading  members  of  the  Metho- 
dist church,  and  Mr.  McGrew  is  serving  as  a 
member  of  the  board  of  trustees.  He  also  be- 
longs to  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  and  the 
Modern  Woodmen  of  the  World,  and  in  his  po- 
litical views  is  a  Democrat.  The  cause  of  educa- 
tion finds  him  a  wise  supporter,  and  he  lends  his 
aid  and  co-operation  to  all  movements  intended 
to  advance  the  material,  social,  intellectual  and 
moral  welfare  of  the  community. 

JAMES  W.   REID. 

Idaho  has  won  distinction  for  the  high  rank 
of  her  bench  and  bar.  Perhaps  none  of  the  new- 
er states  can  justly  boast  of  abler  jurists  or  attor- 
neys. Some  of  them  have  been  men  of  national 
fame,  and  among  those  whose  lives  have  been 
passed  on  a  quieter  plane  there  is  scarcely  a  town 
or  city  in  the  state  but  can  boast  of  one  or  more 
lawyers  capable  of  crossing  swords  in  forensic 
combat  with  any  of  the  distinguished  legal  lights 
of  the  United  States.  Idaho  certainly  has  reason 
to  be  proud  of.  her  legal  fraternity.  In  James  W. 
Reid  we  find  united  many  of  the  rare  qualities 
which  go  to  make  up  the  successful  lawyer,  and 
he  is  to-day  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent representatives  of  the  bar  of  the  state.  He 
possesses  perhaps  few  of  those  dazzling,  meteoric 
qualities  which  have  sometimes  flashed  along  the 
legal  horizon,  riveting  the  gaze  and  blinding  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


325 


vision  for  the  moment,  then  disappearing,  leav- 
ing- little  or  no  trace  behind;  but  he  has,  rather, 
those  solid  and  more  substantial  qualities  which 
shine  with  a  constant  luster,  shedding  light  in  the 
dark  places  with  steadiness  and  continuity.  He 
has  in  an  eminent  degree  that  rare  ability  of  say- 
ing in  a  convincing  way  the  right  thing  at  the 
right  time.  His  mind  is  analytical,  logical  and 
inductive,  and  with  a  thorough  and  comprehen- 
sive knowledge  of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
law,  he  combines  a  familiarity  with  statutory  law 
and  a  sober,  clear  judgment,  which  makes  him  a 
formidable  adversary  in  legal  combat. 

Mr.  Reid  is  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  his 
birth  having  occurred  in  Wentworth,  Rocking- 
ham  county,  June  n,  1849.  He  is  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent,  but  his  ancestors  have  for  many 
generations  resided  in  the  south  and  were  par- 
ticipants in  the  early  history  of  the  country  and 
in  the  Revolutionary  war.  Blueford  Reid,  the 
great-grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  but  became  the  owner  of  a  farm  in 
Guilford  county,  North  Carolina.  He  was  one 
of  the  early  followers  of  the  Methodist  church  in 
this  country,  and  was  a  man  of  sterling  worth. 
He  lived  to  be  nearly  one  hundred  years  of  age. 
His  son,  James  Reid,  the  grandfather  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  born  in  North  Carolina  and  spent  his 
entire  life  in  that  state.  He  was  a  faithful  and 
devoted  minister  of  the  Methodist  church,  and 
lived  to  be  seventy-six  years  of  age.  His  son, 
Numa  F.  Reid,  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  was 
educated  in  the  Emory  and  Henry  College  of 
Virginia,  and  became  an  eminent  Methodist  di- 
vine. He  was  a  man  of  superior  literary  and  ora- 
torical ability,  and  was  a  power  for  good  in  his 
holy  calling.  A  large  collection  of  his  sermons 
has  been  published,  and  these  indicate  his  su- 
perior ability.  He  died  in  1873,  at  the  age  of 
forty-nine  years,  and  his  death  proved  a  great 
loss  to  his  family,  the  church  and  the  world.  His 
wife  bore  the  maiden  name  of  Ann  E.  Wright. 
She,  too,  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina  and  of 
Scotch  lineage,  but  belonged  to  an  equally  old 
American  family.  Eight  children,  four  sons  and 
four  daughters,  were  born  of  their  union,  six  of 
whom  are  yet  living.  The  mother  passed  away 
in  1869,  at  the  age  of  forty-five  years.  She  was 
a  woman  of  great  amiability  and  worth  of  char- 
acter, and  proved  to  her  husband  an  able  assist- 


ant in  his  Christian  work,  while  by  all  who  knew 
her  she  was  greatly  beloved.  For  many  genera- 
tions her  family  have  been  active  and  devout 
Presbyterians,  and  in  professional  life  many  of 
the  name  have  achieved  distinction. 

James  W.  Reid  was  the  second  in  order  of 
birth  in  the  family  of  eight  children.  He  com- 
pleted his  literary  education  by  his  graduation  in 
Emory  and  Henry  College,  Virginia,  in  the  class 
of  1869,  and  afterward  pursued  the  study  of  law 
under  private  instruction,  being  licensed  to  prac- 
tice in  1873,  by  the  supreme  court  of  North 
Carolina.  He  has  since  been  an  active  member 
of  the  profession  and  has  attained  considerable 
prominence  in  his  chosen  field  of  labor.  He 
was  not  only  an  able  lawyer  of  North  Carolina, 
but  was  called  to  positions  of  public  trust,  being 
elected  treasurer  of  Rockingham  county,  in  1874, 
and  continuing  in  that  position  by  re-election  for 
ten  years,  proving  a  most  capable,  efficient  and 
trustworthy  officer.  He  resigned  the  position  in 
1884,  on  his  election  to  congress,  being  chosen 
to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term  of  General  A.  M. 
Scales,  who  resigned  his  seat  in  the  forty-eighth 
congress.  At  the  general  election  in  November, 
1884,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  forty-ninth 
congress,  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  his  opponent 
being  Colonel  L.  C.  Edwards  of  Granville  county. 
On  both  occasions  he  won  his  victories  in  a  Re- 
publican district,  but  in  1886  he  was  defeated  by 
J.  M.  Bower,  who  succeeded  in  winning  the  col- 
ored vote. 

In  1887  Mr.  Reid  came  to  Idaho,  locating  in 
Lewiston,  where  he  has  since  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  law,  having  an  extensive  clientage 
from  all  sections  of  Idaho  and  even  from  adjoin- 
ing states.  In  his  practice  he  has  been  eminently 
successful  and  has  won  a  foremost  place  at  the 
Idaho  bar.  He  is  well  versed  in  all  departments 
of  the  law  and  has  been  connected  with  much  of 
the  important  litigation  heard  in  the  courts  of 
this  section  of  the  state  since  his  arrival.  He  is 
also  a  recognized  leader  in  political  circles.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  state  constitutional  conven- 
tion in  1889,  served  as  its  vice-president  and  as 
chairman  of  the  Democratic  caucus  of  that  body. 
He  was  president  of  the  first  Democratic  state 
convention  held  after  the  admission  of  Idaho  to 
the  Union,  and,  at  the  request  of  the  central  ex- 
ecutive committee,  canvassed  the  entire  state 


326 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


with  the  candidate  for  governor,  Hon.  Ben.  Wil- 
son. On  the  establishment  of  the  state  univer- 
sity he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Stevenson  as 
one  of  its  regents  and  subsequently  reappointed 
by  Governor  Willey,  serving  four  years  in  that 
capacity.  Through  his  efforts  in  the  constitu- 
tional convention  a  term  of  the  state  supreme 
court  was  located  at  Lewiston.  In  January, 
1893,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  securing  the  loca- 
tion of  one  of  the  state  normal  schools  at  Lewis- 
ton  and  drafted  the  bill  instituting  the  same  and 
secured  its  passage  in  the  legislature.  He  has 
since  been  president  of  its  board  of  trustees,  and 
has  been  active  in  promoting  its  interests  and  up- 
building. It  stands  as  a  monument  to  his  ef- 
forts and  to  his  zeal  in  behalf  of  education  and  of 
the  city  of  his  abode.  His  address  delivered  be- 
fore the  literary  societies  of  the  normal  school 
on  the  "Glory  of  Manhood"  was  one  of  the  finest 
ever  heard  in  the  state, — a  most  scholarly  effort, 
indicating  superior  literary  talent,  deep  research 
and  a  just  conception  of  the  possibilities  of  our 
race.  In  1894  Mr.  Reid  was  elected  a  delegate 
to  the  Democratic  national  convention  in  Chi- 
cago, and  in  1896  presided  over  both  the  Demo- 
cratic state  convention  and  the  People's  Demo- 
cratic convention  that  nominated  the  state  of- 
ficers who  were  elected  that  year. 

In  1872  Mr.  Reid  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  F.  Ellington,  a  native  of  Rocking- 
ham  county,  North  Carolina,  and  a  daughter  of 
William  Ellington,  clerk  of  the  superior  court  of 
Rockingham  county,  and  a  leading  merchant 
there,  also  a  representative  of  an  old  American 
family.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Reid  have  two  daughters: 
Annie  D.,  a  graduate  of  the  old  Moravian  Col- 
lege, at  Salem,  North  Carolina;  and  Lucile,  wife 
of  Reuben  D.  Reid,  a  son  of  ex-Governor  Reid 
of  North  Carolina.  The  ladies  of  the  family  are 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church  and  are 
most  highly  esteemed  in  social  circles.  Mr. 
Reid  is  a  valued  and  active  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic order,  has  taken  the  Scottish  rite  degrees 
up  to  and  including  the  thirty-second  degree,  S. 
P.  R.  S.  He  is  now  at  the  head  of  the  Rose 
Croix  and  Lodge  of  Perfection  in  Lewiston,  and 
is  also  past  deputy  grand  master  of  the  grand 
lodge  of  North  Carolina.  He  also  belongs  to  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity.  He  is  a  man  of 


high  scholarly  attainments,  and  his  prominence 
at  the  bar  is  the  merited  tribute  to  his  ability. 
Socially  he  is  deservedly  popular,  as  he  is  affa- 
ble and  courteous  in  manner  and  possesses  that 
essential  qualification  to  success  in  public  life, — 
that  of  making  friends  readily  and  of  strengthen- 
ing the  ties  of  friendship  as  time  advances. 

CHARLES  SNYDER. 

Charles  Snyder  is  the  proprietor  of  the  Julia- 
etta  Hotel,  and  is  practically  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  town,  having  secured  the  establishment  of 
the  post-office,  and  also  promoted  many  of  the 
leading  enterprises  of  the  place.  His  labors  have 
been  most  effective  in  its  upbuilding,  and  his 
name  is  therefore  inseparably  connected  with  its 
history. 

Mr.  Snyder  is  of  German  birth.  He  first 
opened  his  eyes  to  the  light  of  day  on  the  8th 
of  November,  1827,  and  is  of  honorable  German 
ancestry.  He  was  educated  in  his  native  land, 
learned  the  cabinet-maker's  trade,  and  in  1850 
bade  adieu  to  friends  and  fatherland,  preparatory 
to  trying  his  fortune  in  the  United  States.  When 
he  came  to  this  country  he  was  entirely  ignorant 
of  the  language  of  the  people,  but  possessed  na- 
tive intelligence,  a  good  knowledge  of  his  trade 
and  was  energetic  and  ambitious,  and  through 
the  combination  of  these  qualities  he  has  secured 
a  handsome  and  creditable  competence.  Land- 
ing at  New  York  he  thence  made  his  way  to 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  worked  two  years. 
He  then  went  to  Detroit,  Michigan,  and  accepted 
a  position  in  the  car  shops,  where  he  remained 
three  years,  and  in  1855  he  went  to  Kansas.  That 
state  was  just  opening  up  to  civilization.  He 
located  at  Wyandotte,  just  across  the  river  from 
the  present  site  of  Kansas  City,  helped  plat  the 
town  and  had  a  tenth  interest  in  it.  After  two 
years  spent  there  he  believed  that  the  town 
would  not  amount  to  anything,  and  consequently 
abandoned  interests  which,  had  he  retained  them, 
would  make  him  to-day  an  independently 
wealthy  man.  In  1857  he  opened  a  carpenter 
shop  in  Kansas  City,  then  a  small  town. 

In  1859  Mr.  Snyder  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Augusta  Keck,  a  native  of  Poland.  She 
came  with  her  parents  to  America  when  ten  years 
of  age  and  was  married  at  the  age  of  twenty,  her 
husband  being  then  thirty-four  years  of  age. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


327 


They  have  reared  a  family  of  ten  children,  six 
sons  and  four  daughters.  It  is  now  forty  years 
since  the  wedding  took  place,  and  the  parents 
and  children  are  all  yet  living,  and  constitute  a 
well  informed  and  highly  respected  family,  of 
which  fact  Mr.  Snyder  has  every  reason  to  be 
proud.  In  1861  he  went  to  New  York,  where  he 
took  passage  for  San  Francisco,  California,  going 
by  way  of  the  isthmus  route,  and  arriving  safely 
at  his  destination  some  weeks  later.  He  located 
with  his  family  in  Sacramento,  where  he  estab- 
lished a  cabinet  shop,  working  at  his  trade  for 
two  years.  With  the  hope  of  making  money 
more  rapidly,  he  decided  to  join  in  the  search  for 
gold  and  went  to  the  mines  at  Aurora,  Nevada 
county,  where  he  followed  mining  for  seven 
years.  He  was  the  owner  of  the  Garibaldi  quartz 
mine,  which  was  a  good  producer,  but  he  had  no 
mill,  and  the  expense  of  hiring  the  ore  crushed 
was  so  great  that  he  only  managed  to  make  good 
wages  and  not  to  secure  wealth  at  a  rapid  rate. 
From  that  point  he  went  to  Reno,  being  one  of 
the  first  settlers.  He  aided  in  platting  the  town, 
established  a  store  and  conducted  it  for  a  year, 
after  which  he  removed  to  Wadsworth  and  built 
a  hotel.  After  continuing  in  that  business  for  a 
year  he  sold  out  and  removed  to  Folsom,  Sacra- 
mento county,  California,  where  he  engaged  in 
placer  mining  for  six  years,  meeting  with  good 
success.  He  took  out  nuggets  that  were  worth 
three  dollars  and  a  half,  but  thinking  he  had 
mostly  exhausted  the  claim  he  sold  to  a  China- 
man, who  afterward  took  out  quite  a  large 
amount  of  gold. 

In  1877  Mr.  Snyder  came  to  Idaho  and  secured 
a  claim  of  government  land  in  Latah  county,  on 
the  American  ridge.  This  he  improved  and  oper- 
ated for  five  years  and  then  sold  it  for  four  thou- 
sand dollars,  after  which  he  removed  to  what  is 
now  the  town  site  of  Juliaetta.  He  established 
the  postoffice  here  and  named  it  in  honor  of  his 
two  bright  daughters,  Julia  and  Etta.  He  was 
instrumental  in  forming  a  school  district  and 
opening  the  first  school,  and  also  opened  a  gen- 
eral mercantile  store,  selling  goods  to  the  In- 
dians. When  Mr.  Schupfer  platted  his  home- 
stead for  a  town,  Mr.  Snyder  moved  his  store  and 
post-office  upon  the  site,  and  the  town  began  to 
grow.  He  continued  actively  in  merchandising 
until  1893,  when  he  traded  his  stock  of  goods  for 


the  hotel  building  which  he  now  occupies.  He 
has  enlarged  and  improved  the  place,  and  now 
has  a  very  excellent  hotel  for  a  town  the  size  of 
Juliaetta.  A  pleasant,  genial  host,  he  is  assisted 
by  his  family  in  keeping  a  creditable  hotel  at  rea- 
sonable rates,  and  all  who  enjoy  his  hospitality 
hold  him  in  high  regard.  In  1894  Mr.  Snyder 
went  to  Santa  Barbara,  California,  and  bought  a 
fine  twenty-acre  fruit  orchard,  for  which  he  paid 
ei^ht  thousand  dollars.  It  is  his  intention  to 
spend  the  evening  of  a  useful  and  honorable  life 
in  that  beautiful  district,  to  which  he  will  remove 
in  October  of  the  present  year — probablv  before 
this  work  is  issued  from  the  press. 

The  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Snyder  are 
Julia,  wife  of  Albert  Patten,  Robert,  Nettie, 
Frank,  Charles,  William,  Daisy,  George,  Gus  and 
Clara.  In  his  political  views  Mr.  Snyder  is  a 
Democrat,  and  he  has  held  the  office  of  notary 
public  for  fourteen  years.  He  has  made  a  val- 
uable citizen  in  the  land  of  his  adoption  and  is 
held  in  the  highest  regard. 

HENRY  DORSEY. 

Henry  Dorsey,  deceased,  formerly  the  propri- 
etor of  the  Dorsey  Cottage  Hotel,  at  Mountain 
Home,  was  born  in  Hancock  county,  Ohio,  in 
February,  1853,  and  traced  his  ancestors  back  to 
German  and  Scotch  people  who  located  in  Penn- 
sylvania at  an  early  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
Keystone  state.  His  father,  David  Dorsey,  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  married  Miss  Rosana 
Wyant,  also  a  native  of  that  locality.  In  1821, 
soon  after  their  marriage,  they  started  westward 
and  located  in  the  midst  of  the  unbroken  forests 
of  Ohio.  Mr.  Dorsey  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, and  in  order  to  prepare  land  for  cultivation 
at  his  new  home  he  felled  the  first  tree  that  had 
ever  been  cut  upon  what  is  now  the  site 
of  the  city  of  Findlay,  Hancock  county,  Ohio. 
He  was  one  of  the  honored  pioneers  of 
that  locality,  bearing  a  very  important 
part  in  the  work  of  development  and  im- 
provement, and  at  an  early  day  he  served 
as  justice  of  the  peace  and  county  commissioner. 
He  was  a  man  of  ability  and  worth,  and  exerted 
marked  influence  in  his  township  and  county. 
His  death  occurred  when  he  had  reached  the  ripe 
old  age  of  eighty  years,  and  his  wife  departed  this 
life  at  the  age  of  fifty-three  years.  In  the  family 


328 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


were  eight  children,  Henry,  who  was  the  young- 
est, being  but  three  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  the 
mother's  death. 

Reared  on  the  home  farm,  he  began  work  in 
the  fields  as  soon  as  old  enough  to  manage  the 
plow,  and  was  thus  employed  through  the  sum- 
mer months,  while  in  the  winter  season  he  at- 
tended the  public  schools.  In  1872,  when  nine- 
teen years  of  age,  he  came  to  the  territory  of 
Idaho,  locating  in  Silver  City,  where  he  worked 
for  his  brother,  David  Dorsey,  who  at  that  time 
owned  a  meat  market  in  the  town.  Later  our 
subject  engaged  in  packing,  mining  and  con- 
tracting, and  for  several  years  owned  and  oper- 
ated the  ferry  across  Snake  river,  at  the  place 
then  called  Dorsey's  Ferry,  but  now  known  as 
Grand  View.  After  continuing  in  that  line  of 
business  for  six  years  he  sold  out  to  the  Owyhee 
Land  &  Irrigating  Company,  and  in  1888  came 
to  Mountain  Home,  after  which  time  he  was 
numbered  among  its  leading  and  influential  citi- 
zens. For  a  few  years  he  engaged  in  freighting, 
carrying  supplies  to  the  mining  camps  at  Rocky 
Bar. 

In  1889  Mr.  Dorsey  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Mrs.  S.  J.  Pattee.  By  her  former  marriage  she 
had  a  daughter  named  Ethel,  who  is  now  at- 
tending school  in  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  Mr.  Dor- 
sey purchased  six  lots  and  erected  thereon  the 
building  now  known  as  the  Cottage  Hotel,  plant- 
ing shade  and  fruit  trees  and  making  this  a  very 
valuable  and  attractive  place.  In  1895  Mr.  Dor- 
sey and  his  wife,  realizing  the  need  of  a  well  kept 
and  comfortable  hotel,  determined  to  engage  in 
that  line  of  business,  arranged  their  house  for  the 
purpose,  and  thenceforward  there  was  no  more 
popular  host  and  hostess  than  this  worthy  couple, 
who  spared  no  pains  to  enhance  the  convenience 
and  pleasure  of  their  guests.  They  had  well  kept 
rooms,  a  good  table  and  received  a  liberal  share 
of  the  public  patronage.  The  Traveling  Men's 
Union  selected  the  Cottage  Hotel  as  headquar- 
ters when  in  Mountain  Home.  They  were 
obliged  to  rent  rooms  in  the  locality  in  order  to 
entertain  some  of  their  guests,  and,  as  indicated, 
enjoyed  a  large  and  profitable  business. 

Mr.  Dorsey  became  a  member  of  the  Home 
Forum  and  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, and  he,  with  his  wife,  belonged  to  the  Re- 
bekah  lodge.  He  was  a  most  highly  esteemed 


citizen,  having  the  warm  regard  of  many  friends. 
He  advocated  the  principles  of  the  silver  Repub- 
lican party,  and  had  long  taken  an  active  interest 
in  educational  matters.  He  served  as  school 
trustee  for  a  number  of  years,  at  length  becoming 
chairman  of  the  board.  Mountain  Home  now 
has  an  excellent  eight-department  school,  which 
has  a  good  reference  library,  and  most  competent 
teachers  are  employed,  so  that  the  school  system 
reflects  credit  upon  the  progressive  town  and  es- 
pecially upon  the  board  of  trustees.  Mr.  Dorsey 
at  all  times  gave  his  support  to  the  measures  and 
movements  calculated  to  advance  the  general 
welfare,  and  was  accounted  one  of  the  most  val- 
ued citizens  of  Mountain  Home.  He  died  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1899,  lamented  by  a  very  large  com- 
munity of  enthusiastic  friends.  Mrs.  Dorsey 
continued  the  hotel  business  until  May  i,  1899. 

SAMUEL  E.  BIBBY,  M.  D. 

In  the  subject  of  this  review  we  have  one  who 
has  attained  distinction  in  the  line  of  his  profes- 
sion, who  has  been  an  earnest  and  discriminating 
student  and  who  holds  a  position  of  due  relative 
precedence  among  the  medical  practitioners  of 
northern  Idaho.  He  is  the  leading  physician  and 
surgeon  of  Grangeville  and  has  a  very  large  and 
lucrative  practice.  A  native  of  New  York  city, 
he  was  born  May  24,  1847,  is  of  Scotch  descent 
and  is  a  representative  of  a  family  of  physicians. 
His  grandfather,  Samuel  Bibby,  and  his  father, 
George  Bibby,  were  both  eminent  medical  prac- 
titioners of  the  American  metropolis.  The  latter 
married  Miss  Ann  Lavery,  a  lady  of  Scotch-Irish 
ancestry,  and  they  became  the  parents  of  eight 
children.  They  are  faithful  members  of  the  Pres- 
byterian church,  and  Dr.  George  Bibby  has  been 
a  lifelong  Republican  in  his  political  affiliations. 
He  is  now  seventy-eight  years  of  age,  and  his 
wife  has  reached  the  Psalmist's  span  of  three 
score  years  and  ten.  . 

Samuel  Edward  Bibby,  their  third  child,  ac- 
quired his  literary  education  in  the  schools  of  his 
native  city.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
New  York  and  of  the  Columbia  University  of 
Washington,  and  his  education  was  further  per- 
fected by  a  course  in  the  Edinburg  University  of 
Scotland.  Thus  afforded  the  highest  educational 
advantages  to  be  secured  by  the  practitioners  of 
medicine,  he  entered  upon  the  work  of  his  profes- 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


329 


sion  peculiarly  well  qualified  for  its  arduous 
duties.  He  began  practicing  in  New  York  city, 
and  was  afterward  retained  in  a  professional  ca- 
pacity in  the  service  of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment, after  the  civil  war.  He  went  to  Fort  Lap- 
wai,  Idaho,  in  1884,  and  after  three  years  passed 
there  came  to  Grangeville,  where  he  has  since  re- 
mained, enjoying  an  extensive  practice  that 
comes  from  miles  in  every  direction.  He  had  had 
the  honor  of  being  surgeon  on  the  staff  of  Gov- 
ernor Willey,  and  in  1896  he  received  the  ap- 
pointment to  represent  Idaho  in  the  Pan-Amer- 
ican Medical  Congress,  held  in  Washington,  D. 
C.  The  success  which  attends  his  efforts  is  but 
in  natural  sequence,  for  his  position  soon-became 
assured  as  an  able  physician,  a  man  of  sterling 
integrity  and  one  devoted  to  his  profession  and 
to  the  interests  and  welfare  of  those  to  whom  he 
ministered.  He  possesses  marked  judgment 
and  discernment  in  the  diagnosing  of  disease, 
and  is  peculiarly  successful  in  anticipating  the 
issue  of  complications,  seldom  making  mistakes 
and  never  exaggerating  or  minifying  the  disease 
in  rendering  his  decisions  in  regard  thereto.  He 
is  a  physician  of  great  fraternal  delicacy,  and  no 
man  ever  observed  more  closely  the  ethics  of  the 
unwritten  professional  code  or  showed  more 
careful  courtesy  to  his  fellow  practitioners  than 
does  Dr.  Bibby. 

During  his  residence  in  Grangeville  the  Doc- 
tor has  become  fully  identified  with  the  town  and 
its  interests,  and  has  invested  a  considerable  sum 
in  business  property  in  the  heart  of  the  town.  He 
has  erected  a  number  of  good  buildings  and  is 
also  largely  interested  in  mining  and  has  a  large 
stock  ranch  at  White  Bird,  on  Salmon  river, 
where  he  breeds  Hereford  and  Durham  cattle 
and  Hambletonian  horses;  these  business  inter- 
ests, however,  are  not  allowed  to  interfere  in  the 
slightest  degree  with  his  ministrations  to  the  sick 
and  suffering. 

On  the  25th  of  December,  1889,  Dr.  Bibby 
was  married  to  Miss  Addie  Pearson,  a  native  of 
Grangeville,  and  a  daughter  of  William  Pearson, 
a  prominent  pioneer  of  Idaho.  The  Doctor  is  past 
chancellor  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity, 
a  valued  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  of  the 
Eastern  Star  and  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 
In  politics  he  is  a  stalwart  Republican,  and  has 
served  Idaho  county  as  county  coroner  for  six 


years.  He  was  assistant  World's  Fair  commis- 
sioner for  Idaho,  and  undoubtedly  had  he  aspira- 
tions in  that  direction  could,  win  high  official  hon- 
ors, "for  he  is  a  man  of  strong  mentality  and 
recognized  ability,  commanding  the  respect,  con- 
fidence and  esteem  of  his  fellow  men. 

SAMUEL  G.   BENEDICT. 

Samuel  Benedict,  a  brave  Idaho  pioneer,  who 
was  killed  by  the  Nez  Perces  Indians  June  14, 
1877,  was  born  in  Kingston,  Canada,  and  was  of 
English  lineage.  In  his  early  manhood  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Sarah  Kelley,  a  native  of  New  Brigh- 
ton, New  York,  and  in  1862  they  came  to  Idaho. 
They  were  among  the  earliest  settlers  in  the 
northern  section  of  the  etate  and  Mr.  Benedict 
established  a  general  mercantile  store  at  the 
mouth  of  White  Bird  river,  where  he  was  carry- 
ing on  business  at  the  time  of  his  death.  When 
the  Nez  Perces  Indians  went  upon  the  warpath 
they  visited  that  locality,  and  he  lost  his  life  at  the 
hands  of  the  treacherous  savages.  In  the  early 
morning  he  was  shot  through  both  of  his  legs, 
but  managed  to  escape  to  the  house.  At  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day  eighteen 
Indians  called  him  out  of  the  house  and  shot  him 
eighteen  times.  The  hired  man  then  shot  one  of 
the  Indians,  but  was  himself  shot,  the  ball  enter- 
ing his  right  eye  and  causing  his  death.  Mrs. 
Benedict  and  her -little  daughter,  then  eight  years 
old,  were  taken  prisoners  by  the  savages,  who 
burned  their  house,  but  the  squaws  took  pity  on 
the  white  woman  and  secured  the  release  of  her- 
self and  daughter,  so  that  she  was  only  held  as  a 
prisoner  one  night.  She  escaped  on  foot  to 
Mount  Idaho,  where  she  was  cared  for  by  Cap- 
tain E.  W.  Robie,  whom  she  afterward  married. 
She  still  survives,  and  her  daughter  is  now  the 
wife  of  G.  W.  Brown.  By  her  marriage  to  the 
Captain  she  had  two  children,  Emily  and  Edward 
Victor,  who  are  still  at  home.  Captain  Robie 
had  served  throughout  the  civil  war  and  was  a 
captain  of  volunteers  in  the  Nez  Perces  Indian 
war. 

Samuel  G.  Benedict,  the  elder  child  of  Samuel 
and  Sarah  (Kelley)  Benedict,  to  whom  we  are  in- 
debted for  this  account  of  the  family,  was  born 
at  Freedom,  Idaho,  October  9,  1864,  and  now  re- 
sides at  Grangeville.  He  owns  a  valuable  farm 
of  one  hundred  and  sixtv  acres  near  the  town  and 


330 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


is  the  proprietor  of  the  Idaho  Steam  Laundry. 
An  enterprising  and  energetic  business  man,  he 
is  meeting  with  a  well  deserved  success  in  his  un- 
dertakings and  occupies  a  foremost  place  in  b'usi- 
ness  circles  in  Grangeville. 

Mr.  Benedict  married  Miss  Cora  Perkins,  and 
they  had  one  son,  Lloyd,  who  died  in  his  second 
year.  They  have  a  pleasant  home  in  Grange- 
ville and  a  large  circle  of  friends.  The  name  of 
our  subject  is  on  the  membership  rolls  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  and  the  Order  of 
Red  Men,  and  in  social  and  business  circles  he 
ranks  deservedly  high. 

GEORGE  H.  STOKER. 

The  roster  of  state  officials  of  Idaho  for  1898 
embraced  the  name  of  George  H.  Storer  as  filling 
the  responsible  position  of  treasurer.  He  is  a 
practical,  progressive  business  man,  of  sound 
judgment  and  keen  executive  ability,  and  upon 
the  basis  of  a  practical  business  experience  he 
conducted  the  financial  affairs  of  the  state.  His 
history  is  in  many  respects  remarkable.  From  an 
humble  position  he  has  risen  to  one  of  promi- 
nence, and  the  success  which  has  attended  his  ef- 
forts is  the  outcome  of  his  own  unaided  labors. 

A  native  of  England,  he  was  born  on  the  I7th 
of  February.  1860,  his  parents  being  Dennis  and 
Sarah  (Carlisle)  Storer.  His  father  died  during 
the  early  boyhood  of  the  son,  who,  with  his 
mother  and  three  younger  brothers,  came  to 
America  in  1871.  He  was  then  only  eleven  years 
of  age.  The  family  made  a  location  in  Echo 
canyon,  on  the  Weber  river,  in  Utah,  where  they 
resided  for  eight  years,  during  which  time 
George  Storer  did  what  he  could  to  support  his 
mother  and  the  younger  children.  This  period 
was  not  without  many  hardships  and  trials,  but 
he  did  his  best  to  overcome  these,  and  thus  early 
the  elemental  strength  of  his  character  was  shad- 
owed forth  by  actions  and  words. 

In  1879  the  future  state  treasurer  arrived  in 
Idaho.  He  arrived  at  Black  Foot  with  just  fifty- 
cents  in  his  pocket,  and  then  entered  seriously 
upon  the  task  of  securing  a  livelihood,  willing 
and  anxious  to  follow  any  pursuit  that  was  hon- 
orable. He  had  great  energy  and  industry  and 
such  qualities  never  fail.  As  the  years  passed  his 
labors  brought  him  a  small  capital,  which,  as 
judiciously  invested,  has  brought  him  excellent 


financial  returns.  He  established  for  himself  a 
home,  by  his  marriage  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Payne, 
on  the  6th  of  March,  1881,  when  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  of  age.  Her  father  was  George  Payne, 
for  many  years  roadmaster  of  the  Utah  North- 
ern Railroad.  In  1884  Mr.  Storer  removed  with 
his  wife  to  Idaho  Falls,  where  he,  through  a 
period  of  fifteen  years,  has  sustained  a  reputation 
of  being  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  success- 
ful business  men  of  the  place.  In  December, 
1898,  he  removed  to  Lewiston,  Idaho.  In  a  com- 
paratively short  time  he  has  accumulated  a  com- 
fortable fortune,  and  his  name  is  everywhere  the 
synonym  of  honorable  business  dealing  and  suc- 
cess. He  carries  forward  to  a  prosperous  con- 
clusion whatever  he  undertakes  and  manifests 
rare  good  judgment  in  his  investments.  He  has 
one  of  the  best  stock  ranches  in  the  state,  com- 
prising one  thousand  acres  of  land,  near  Idaho 
Falls.  He  also  has  a  number  of  other  valuable 
ranches  in  Bingham  county  and  large  realty  hold- 
ings in  Idaho  Falls  and  Ogden. 

He  is  a  recognized  leader  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Democratic  party,  is  especially  skillful  in  the 
planning  of  campaigns,  and  in  1891  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Democratic  state  central  committee. 
He  worked  faithfully  and  with  much  ability  in  the 
campaign  of  that  and  succeeding  years,  and  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  anti-Mormon  fight, 
standing  firm  against  the  fierce  attacks  of 
the  Republicans,  and  ever  contending  for 
what  he  believed  to  be  right  and  just. 
Though  he  met  defeat  he  never  became  dis- 
couraged, and  with  fresh  vigor  re-entered 
the  conflict  in  each  campaign.  He  has  often 
been  honored  with  positions  of  public  trust,  and 
to  every  duty  has  been  most  loyal.  When  a  young 
man  he  served  for  two  terms  as  justice  of  the 
peace,  has  been  mayor  of  Idaho  Falls,  and  at  the 
same  time  served  as  its  assessor  and  treasurer. 
Such  was  his  fidelity  to  all  trusts  and  such  his 
service  to  his  party  that  in  1896  he  was  nom- 
inated and  elected  on  the  People's  Democratic 
ticket  to  the  office  of  state  treasurer.  A  better 
choice  could  not  have  been  made,  and  his  elec- 
tion was  hailed  as  a  blessing  by  many  people  of 
the  state.  He  administered  the  affairs  of  the  of- 
fice in  a  manner  that  won  him  commendation  and 
reflected  credit  upon  the  party  that  installed  him 
in  office. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


331 


Mr.  Storer  is  one  of  the  most  prominent 
Masons  in  the  state.  He  was  initiated  in  Corner 
Lodge,  No.  6,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Utah,  was  a 
charter  member  of  Eagle  Rock  Lodge,  No.  19, 
and  has  three  times  served  as  worshipful  master. 
H'e  belongs  to  Pocatello  Chapter,  R.  A.  M.,  and 
to  the  grand  lodge  of  the  state,  in  which  he  has 
filled  the  office  of  junior  and  senior  deacon,  and 
in  1898  he  was  grand  master  of  the  state.  He  is 
a  worthy  exponent  of  the  beneficent  principles  of 
the -fraternity  and  in  his  life  exemplifies  the  hu- 
manitarian truths  upon  which  the  order  rests. 
His  friends  in  social  life  are  many,  and  both  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Storer  are  held  in  the  highest  esteem. 
They  have  an  interesting  family  of  three  children, 
James  Arthur,  Ada  Elizabeth  and  Earl  Maurice, 
who  reside  with  their  parents  in  a  most  delight- 
ful home  in  Lewiston.  Emerson  has  said  that 
"the  way  to  win  a  friend  is  to  be  one,"  and  in  this 
way  Mr.  Storer  has  surrounded  himself  with  a 
circle  of  true  friends,  who  were  drawn  to  him  by 
his  genuine  worth,  his  unselfish  interest  in  his 
fellow  men,  and  his  marked  social  qualities. 

MRS.   LUCINDA  J.   BREARLEY. 

In  a  history  of  the  settlement  of  a  state  there 
is  usually  but  slight  reference  made  to  the  part 
which  the  women  have  taken  in  its  development. 
This  is,  of  course,  due  to  the  more  active  connec- 
tion of  the  pioneer  men  with  public  life,  while  the 
wives,  mothers  and  daughters  are  concerned  in 
the  duties  of  home-making.  Great  credit,  how- 
ever, is  due  the  brave  pioneer  women,  who  stand 
courageously  by  the  side  of  husbands  and  fathers, 
sharing  with  them  in  the  hardships  and  dangers 
which  accompany  the  development  of  a  new  sec- 
tion; nor  is  their  influence  a  minor  factor  in  the 
social,  educational  and  moral  life  of  the  commun- 
ity, and  therefore  the  names  of  such  esteemed 
pioneer  ladies  as  Mrs.  Brearley  well  deserve  a 
place  by  the  side  of  those  of  the  men  who  have 
laid  the  foundations  for  the  growth  and  prosper- 
ity of  a  newly  developed  region. 

Her  husband,  John  Brearley,  was  the  pioneer 
banker  of  Lewiston,  and  for  many  years  was  con- 
nected with  its  business  interests.  He  was  born 
in  Hudson,  Michigan,  in  1839,  his  parents  being 
early  settlers  of  that  state.  In  1855  he  crossed  the 
plains  with  an  ox  team  and  spent  several  years 
in  Sacramento.  In  1862  he  removed  to  Elk  City, 


where  he  engaged  in  mining,  making  consider- 
able money,  after  which  he  purchased  the  express 
business  between  that  place  and  Lewiston,  carry- 
ing the  express  on  horseback  through  the  sum- 
mer months,  while  in  the  winter  he  made  the 
journey  on  snowshoes.  He  also  learned  assaying 
at  Lewiston,  and  bought  out  the  assay  business 
of  John  Proctor.  In  this  way  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  miners,  from  them  purchased 
gold,  and  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  his  good 
wife  he  opened  the  first  bank  in  the  town,  known 
as  John  Brearley 's  Bank.  This  he  successfully 
conducted  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was 
very  liberal  in  his  methods,  thoroughly  reliable  in 
his  dealings  and  progressive  in  his  management 
of  the  affairs  of  the  bank,  and  thus  he  prospered, 
at  the  same  time  giving  to  the  people  of  the  com- 
munity a  safe  place  of  deposit  for  their  surplus 
earnings.  He  also  successfully  engaged  in  stock- 
raising  and  in  the  meat  business,  and  in  fact  car- 
ried forward  to  successful  consummation  what- 
ever he  undertook,  his  industry  and  capable  man- 
"agement  being  most  marked.  He  died  in  1883, 
at  the  age  of  forty-four  years,  and  after  his  death 
his  brother,  N.  W.  Brearley,  and  W.  F.  Ketten- 
bach,  who  had  been  employed  in  the  bank,  or- 
ganized as  its  successor  the  Lewiston  National 
Bank,  which  has  been  a  paying  investment  and 
is  now  doing  a  good  business. 

Mrs.  Brearley  was  in  her  maidenhood  Miss 
Lucinda  Jane  Hatton,  and  she  was  born  in  In- 
diana, August  14,  1835.  Her  father,  John  Hat- 
ton,  was  of  English  descent,  and  with  his  family 
he  started  across  the  plains  in  1852,  but  unfortu- 
nately died  on  the  way,  at  Burned  river.  Mrs. 
Brearley  was  thus  in  a  measure  thrown  upon  her 
own  resources.  She  went  to  the  home  of  a  rela- 
tive in  Vancouver,  and  in  1865  went  with  a  lady 
friend  to  Florence  and  thence  to  Lewiston.  Here 
she  worked  for  Mrs.  Grostein  and  later  gave  her 
hand  in  marriage  to  Mr.  Brearley,  proving  to  him 
a  most  faithful  companion  and  helpmeet.  They 
became  the  parents  of  three  children,  but  their 
only  son,  John,  died  at  the  age  of  ten  years. 
Frankie  became  the  wife  of  Isaac  B.  Gray,  who 
for  some  years  was  mate  on  the  steamer  Lewis- 
ton.  Phoebe  is  the  wife  of  Captain  John  Akin, 
a  pilot  on  the  Clearwater  river.  After  the  death 
of  her  husband  Mrs.  Brearley  had  to  obtain  pos- 
session of  and  manage  her  share  of  the  estate, 


332 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


which  she  has  done  with  considerable  ability,  but 
not  without  meeting  with  serious  difficulties. 
Most  of  these,  however,  she  has  overcome  and  is 
now  the  owner  of  some  valuable  property.  She 
is  greatly  esteemed  for  her  sterling  worth,  and 
has  many  friends  in  the  community  where  she 
has  so  long  resided. 

JAMES  H.  ANDERSON. 

James  H.  Anderson,  whose  term  as  state 
auditor  of  Idaho  expired  at  the  beginning  of  the 
present  year  (1899),  was  born  in  Platte  county, 
Missouri,  on  the  4th  of  October,  1845.  His  an- 
cestors were  early  settlers  of  Virginia  and  were 
participants  in  that  struggle  which  ended  in  the 
overthrow  of  British  rule  in  the  colonies'  and  the 
establishment  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
In  the  year  1818  his  grandfather  emigrated  to 
Kentucky,  at  which  time  George  W.  Anderson, 
father  of  our  subject,  was  only  about  six  years  of 
age.  His  birth  had  occurred  in  the  Old  Domin- 
ion in  1812,  and  he  remained  in  Kentucky  until 
1837,  when  he  removed  to  Platte  county,  Mis- 
souri, where  he  industriously  and  successfully 
carried  on  agricultural  pursuits.  In  Kentucky 
he  married  Miss  Mary  Roberts,  and  to  them  were 
born  six  children,  five  of  whom  are  yet  living. 
The  father  attained  the  age  of  eighty-six  years, 
and  the  mother  passed  away  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-three. Both  were  consistent  members  of 
the  Methodist  church,  and  had  the  high  regard 
of  many  friends. 

James  Harvey  Anderson,  their  second  child, 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and  at  Pleas- 
ant Ridge  College  and  in  Spaulding's  Commer- 
cial College,  at  Kansas  City,  pursued  a  business 
course  and  a  course  in  commercial  law,  holding 
diplomas  as  a  graduate  of  both  departments.  On 
laying  aside  his  text-books  he  returned  to  the  old 
homestead,  where  he  was  engaged  in  farming 
and  stock-raising,  buying,  selling  and  breeding 
shorthorn  cattle  and  French  draft  horses.  He 
also  bought  and  shipped  fat  cattle  to  the  eastern 
markets  and  continued  in  that  line  of  business 
until  1884,  meeting  with  excellent  success  in  his 
efforts. 

In  that  year  he  came  to  Idaho,  locating  in 
Washington  county,  where  he  has  since  contin- 
ued stock-farming.  A  good  income  has  rewarded 
his  labors,  although  at  one  time  he  narrowly 


escaped  financial  disaster,  owing  to  his  indorse- 
ment of  notes  for  friends.  Notwithstanding  this 
he  has  not  lost  confidence  in  the  honesty  of  his 
fellow  men,  and  is  ever  ready  to  lend  a  helping 
hand  to  those  who  need  and  deserve  aid.  He  has 
managed  his  business  interests  carefully  and  sys- 
tematically, and  his  integrity  in  trade  transactions 
is  above  question.  His  prosperity  is  well  merited, 
being  the  just  reward  of  his  own  efforts. 

In  politics  Mr.  Anderson  has  always  taken  a 
deep  interest,  and  gave  to  the  Democratic  party 
a  loyal  support  until  President  Cleveland's  sec- 
ond campaign,  when,  believing  that  the  Populist 
platform  contained  the  best  ideas  of  American 
government  and  was  calculated  to  advance  the 
best  interests  of  the  people,  he  joined  its  ranks 
and  has  since  followed  its  banner.  He  became 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  party  in  Idaho  and 
was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  first  Populist  na- 
tional convention,  which  met  in  Omaha,  Ne- 
braska, July  4,  1892.  He  was  also  a  delegate  to 
the  St.  Louis  convention  which  nominated  Wil- 
liam J.  Bryan  for  the  presidency  in  1896,  and  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Populist  national  commit- 
tee for  Idaho  since  its  organization.  He  also  rep- 
resented Idaho  on  the  conference  committee  at 
the  St.  Louis  convention  of  1896,  a  committee 
composed  of  representative  Populists  and  "silver 
men."  He  was  chosen  secretary  of  the  tri-state 
convention  of  the  Populist  party  and  also  of  the 
joint  convention  of  the  Populists  and  Democrats 
in  1896,  after  which  he  was  nominated  for  the 
position  of  state  auditor  and  elected  in  the  fall  of 
that  year.  He  filled  that  responsible  position  in 
a  most  creditable  manner.  Although  thus 
exalted  to  a  high  place,  he  is  a  man  of  the  people, 
plain  and  unassuming,  but  possessing  that  genu- 
ine worth  of  character  which  in  every  land  and 
every  clirrie  commands  respect.  In  the  discharge 
of  his  official  duties  he  was  prompt,  careful  and 
methodical,  and  no  more  capable  official  could 
have  been  chosen  for  the  position  of  auditor. 

On  the  8th  of  December,  1884,  Mr.  Anderson 
was  happily  married  to  Miss  Mary  Jeffreys,  a 
native  of  Oregon  and  a  daughter  of  Woodson 
Jeffreys,  a  pioneer  of  that  state,  now  deceased. 
They  have  two  children — Georgie  and  James 
Woodson.  Their  comfortable  and  pleasant  home 
in  Weiser  is  the  abode  of  hospitality,  and  as  their 
circle  of  acquaintances  is  extended,  their  circle  of 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


333 


friends  is  correspondingly  enlarged.  Socially 
Mr.  Anderson  is  connected  with  the  Knights  of 
Pythias  fraternity.  He  is  a  man  possessed  of  that 
too  often  rare  quality  of  common  sense,  which 
enables  him  to  view  matters  in  their  true  and 
practical  light.  He  is  loyal  and  patriotic,  placing 
country  before  party  and  the  public  good  before 
self-aggrandizement,  and  though  he  has  been 
honored  with  high  office  he  is  exceptionally 
quick  to  recognize  real  worth  in  others,  no  matter 
how  humble  their  station  in  life. 

WILLIS  ARNOLD. 

Willis  Arnold,  proprietor  of  a  saw  mill  at  Ken- 
drick,  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  his  birth  having  oc- 
curred in  Kenton,  that  state,  April  29,  1862.  His 
father,  Samuel  Arnold,  was  born  in  Trumbull 
county,  Ohio,  and  after  the  inauguration  of  the 
civil  war  entered  the  service  of  the  Union.  He 
was  wounded  and  held  as  a  prisoner  in  Anderson- 
ville,  and  after  great  suffering  he  died  from  the 
effects  of  his  wounds  in  1866. 

Our  subject  was  born  when  his  father  was  at 
the  front  and  was  thus  deprived  of  his  care  at  a 
very  early  age.  He  was  educated  at  Big  Rapids, 
Michigan,  and  began  to  earn  his  own  living  when 
fifteen  years  of  age.  From  that  time  he  has  been 
dependent  upon  his  own  exertions,  and  is  there- 
fore deserving  of  great  credit  for  the  success 
which  he  has  achieved  in  life.  He  learned  the 
carpenter's  trade,  which  he  followed  in  northern 
Michigan  for  some  time,  and  in  1880  he  removed 
to  Dakota.  His  sojourn  in  the  -latter  state  was 
followed  by  a  period  of  residence  in  Montana, 
where  he  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
lumber  and  in  contract  work.  About  the  time  of 
the  establishment  of  Kendrick  he  came  here,  and 
in  1897  erected  the  saw  mill  which  he  has  since 
operated.  The  yellow  pine  logs  for  the  mill  are 
procured  six  miles  above  the  town  and  floated 
down  the  river  to  the  mill,  where  they  are  con- 
verted into  lumber,  cut  in  sizes  to  meet  the  wishes 
of  his  patrons.  The  home  demand  consumes  the 
entire  output  of  the  mill,  and  the  business  is  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  leading  industrial  concerns 
of  this  section  of  the  county. 

In  1896  Mr.  Arnold  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Mrs.  Mary  Potter,  widow  of  G.  E.  Potter  and  a 
daughter  of  Judge  John  Fulkerson,  of  Minne- 
sota. They  have  three  children:  Ralph,  John 


and  Ruth.  Mr.  Arnold  has  erected  a  good  resi- 
dence in  Kendrick,  and  he  and  his  family  enjoy 
the  esteem  of  all  who  know  them.  In  politics  he 
is  a  Republican,  and  he  has  made  a  good  record 
as  a  business  man  and  citizen,  being  at  all  times 
reliable  and  upright. 

EVAN  EVANS. 

Evan  Evans,  a  successful  business  man  of 
Grangeville,  came  to  this  town  in  1880  and  for 
almost  twenty  years  has  been  one  of  her  enter- 
prising and  highly  valued  citizens,  taking  a  deep 
interest  in  and  giving  aid  to  every  measure  and 
movement  intended  to  promote  the  general  wel- 
fare. He  was  born  in  Norway,  February  5,  1855, 
and  is  of  Norwegian  ancestry.  His  parents  were 
Andrew  and  Mary  (Olson)  Evans,  successful 
farming  people  and  respected  members  of  the 
Lutheran  church.  The  subject  of  this  review  ac- 
quired his  education  in  his  native  country,  and  at 
the  age  of  seventeen  went  to  England,  where  he 
took  passage  on  an  English  steamer  and  sailed  to 
the  Mediterranean  sea.  While  he  was  in  Italy, 
May  6,  1872,  he  entered  the  United  States  naval 
service  on  board  the  Shenandoah,  a  man  of  war, 
and  sailed  under  the  American  flag  for  two  years 
or  until  the  Shenandoah  went  out  of  commission, 
April  23,  1874.  She  was  commanded  by  Captain 
Wells,  Lieutenant  Higginson  and  Robley  D. 
Evans.  They  were  at  Key  West,  Florida,  for 
some  months,  engaged  in  drill  work,  and  Mr. 
Evans  speaks  of  his  service  in  the  navy  as  one  of 
the  most  valuable  in  his  life.  He  was  paid  off  at 
New  York  city  and  then,  leaving  the  sea,  he  went 
to  New  Hampshire,  where  he  visited  his  sister, 
after  which  he  made  his  way  to  California. 

Locating  at  Truckee,  in  the  Golden  state,  he 
there  engaged  in  furnishing  wood  to  a  railroad 
company,  under  contract,  and  made  considerable 
money  in  that  venture.  He  remained  in  Cali- 
fornia until  1880,  when  he  came  to  Grangeville, 
where  he  has  since  made  his  home.  Here  he  was 
first  employed  in  carrying  the  mail,  under  con- 
tract, between  Mount  Idaho  and  Pierce  City, 
making  the  journey  on  horseback.  He  received 
a  fair  remuneration  for  his  services,  and  contin- 
ued that  labor  until  the  route  was  discontinued. 
He  next  accepted  a  position  in  the  butchering 
business  at  Warrens,  with  the  firm  of  Chamber- 
lin  &  Bentz,  and  subsequently  returned  to 


334 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Grangeville,  where  he  engaged  in  stock-raising, 
beginning  in  that  enterprise  with  twenty  head  of 
cattle.  He  carried  on  that  industry  until  1890, 
raising,  buying  and  selling  cattle,  having  at  times 
as  many  as  three  hundred  head.  He  met  with 
fair  success,  and  retired  from  the  business  when 
stock  was  bringing  high  prices.  In  1891  he 
opened  a  butcher  shop  at  Grangeville,  in  partner- 
ship with  his  former  employer,  Mr.  Bentz,  the 
connection  being  continued  with  mutual  pleasure 
and  profit  until  1896,  when  Mr.  Evans  sold  out. 
In  the  winter  of  1897  he  purchased  the  hardware 
business  of  Davy  &  Bonnell,  built  up  a  good 
trade  and  enjoyed  a  large  and  remunerative 
patronage  until  1899,  when  he  was  forced  to  re- 
tire, the  close  confinement  of  the  store  undermin- 
ing his  health.  He  is  now  living  partially  retired, 
although  he  personally  superintends  his  invest- 
ments. During  his  residence  in  the  thriving  town 
of  Grangeville  he  has  made  several  judicious  pur- 
chases of  realty,  which  have  increased  in  value 
with  the  growth  of  the  town.  In  1893  he  became 
the  owner  of  a  beautiful  plat  of  six  acres  within 
the  corporation  limits  and  has  erected  thereon  a 
delightful  residence.  Another  purchase  which  he 
made,  consisting  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres, 
he  sold  to  a  Lewiston  stock  company,  and  half  of 
it  has  been  platted  and  is  called  the  Lewiston  ad- 
dition to  Grangeville.  He  has  also  made  a  forty- 
acre  addition  to  the  town,  called  the  Grand  View 
addition,  and  well  is  it  named,  for  it  is  high  and 
splendidly  situated  and  commands  a  fine  view  of 
the  great  Camas  prairie  and  the  surrounding 
mountains.  He  also  has  forty  acres  in  reserve, 


and  his  realty  holdings  class  him  among  the  sub- 
stantial citizens  of  Idaho  county.  He  also  has 
various  valuable  quartz-mining  interests,  and  is  a 
successful,  energetic  and  enterprising  business 
man,  his  reputation  in  business  circles  being 
above  reproach. 

In  1885  Mr.  Evans  married  Miss  Ella  Jones,  a 
native  of  Oregon,  and  a  daughter  of  Seth  Jones, 
who  is  numbered  among  the  pioneers  of  Oregon 
and  Idaho.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  with 
two  bright  daughters,  Irena  and  Mary.  They 
have  a  pleasant  home,  which  is  a  favorite  resort 
with  their  many  friends.  Mrs.  Evans  is  an 
esteemed  member  of  the  Episcopal  church.  Mr. 
Evans  is  an  active  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, having  been  identified  with  Mount  Idaho 
Lodge,  No.  9,  for  fifteen  years.  He  has  accep- 
tably filled  many  of  its  offices  and  has  the  honor 
of  being  one  of  its  past  masters.  He  is  also  a 
Royal  Arch  Mason,  belonging  to  the  chapter  at 
Lewiston,  and  his  name  is  on  the  membership 
roll  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  In  politics  he 
is  a  Republican,  and  is  a  most  loyal  citizen  of  his 
adopted  land,  unswerving  in  support  of  its  insti- 
tutions. The  cause  of  education  finds  in  him  a 
warm  friend,  and  he  was  serving  as  one  of  the 
school  trustees  of  Grangeville  when  the  present 
fine  school  building  was  erected.  Leaving  the 
"land  of  the  midnight  sun,"  Mr.  Evans  came  to 
America  to  try  his  fortune,  and  here  his  well  di- 
rected labors  have  been  crowned  with  success. 
He  is  truly  a  self-made  man,  and  as  the  architect 
of  his  prosperity  he  has  builded  wisely  and  well. 


8 

4-* 

t/5 


b/ 
W 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


PROMINENT  CITIES   AND  TOWNS   OF   THE   STATE. 


T 


BOISE,  THE  CAPITAL  CITY. 

HE  following  descriptive  article  is  an  ex- 
cerpt from  the  souvenir  edition  of  the 
Boise  Sentinel,  issued  in  June,  1897: 


So  much  has  been  said  and  written  and  sung  of 
"Boise,  the  Beautiful,"  that  the  task  of  saying  any- 
thing new  seems  utterly  hopeless;  and  of  this  there 
is  little  need.  While  those  who  have  made  their  homes 
here  from  the  beginning,  and  those  who  from  year 
to  year  have  come  to  stay,  might  naturally  be  ex- 
pected to  be  most  fervent  in  their  praises,  they  have 
not  always  been  the  happiest  in  laying  appropriate 
tributes  before  the  shrine  of  the  object  of  their  love 
and  admiration.  Strangers  and  transient  visitors  have 
often  been  more  fortunate  in  their  offerings. 

Perhaps  the  first  question  that  arises  in  the  mind 
of  a  stranger  in  regard  to  this  locality  is  why  was  it 
so  named.  After  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  has 
passed  since  the  first  human  habitation  was  erected 
on  the  present  site  of  the  town,  and  after  the  story 
has  been  so  often  repeated  in  print,  the  inquiry  con- 
tinues to  be  daily  made,  Why  Boise?  Briefly,  this 
is  what  the  ancient  chroniclers  tell  of  the  origin  of 
the  name:  In  the  summer  of  1834  a  party  of  French 
Canadian  voyagers,  belonging  to  the  expedition  of 
Captain  Bonneville  (whose  explorations  and  adven- 
tures were  afterward  immortalized  by  the  pen  of  Wash- 
ington Irving),  in  traveling  across  the  treeless  and 
arid  Snake  river  plains,  reached  the  edge  of  a  pla- 
teau overlooking  a  beautiful  valley,  which,  extend- 
ing westward  beyond  the  limits  of  their  vision,  seemed 
to  present  a  continuous  forest  belt  of  trees  in  full  foli- 
age. Of  trees,  these  travelers  had  seen  but  very  little 
for  several  days  while  journeying  among  the  vast 
fields  of  sage-brush,  the  essential  elements  of  whose 
growth  is  the  entire  absence  of  water  and  shade;  when 
their  eyes  at  length  fell  upon  the  valley,  and  they 
caught  glimpses  of  the  crystal  stream  that  wended 
its  serpentine  way  westward  among  the  groves  of  cot- 
tonwood  trees  that  kept  it  company,  they  exclaimed, 
"Les  bois!  les  bois!  voyez  les  bois!"  (The  woods!  the 
woods!  see  the  woods!)  Here  for  them  were  woods, 
real  forests.  With  the  facility  with  which  a  French- 
man brings  his  language  into  practical  use,  these  Can- 
adian explorers  soon  affixed  a  name  to  their  latest 
discovery,  and  called  the  river,  whose  presence  was 
so  welcome  to  them,  La  riviere  Boise  (pronounced 
bwoizay),  that  is,  "the  wooded."  To  reach  this  spot 
they  had  followed  an  old  Indian  trail,  which  was  sub- 


sequently followed  by  explorers  down  to  the  advent 
of  the  first  immigrants  with  their  wagons,  the  immi- 
grants having  adopted  the  marks  which  their  prede- 
cessors had  made  as  their  guide  across  the  otherwise 
trackless  desert. 

During  the  month  of  August,  1843,  nearly  ten  years 
after  the  valley  had  been  named,  Fremont  reached  it 
at  the  same  point,  opposite  the  present  site  of  the  city 
of  Boise,  and  the  cool,  crystal  waters  of  the  stream 
and  the  grateful  shade  of  the  groves  that  adorned  its 
banks  drew  from  him  a  description  of  the  scene,  which 
has  often  been  quoted  and  admired  by  many  who  have 
not  yet  even  seen  Idaho.  Such  are  the  circumstances 
that  attended  the  naming  of  the  river,  the  valley  and 
of  the  spot  now  occupied  by  the  fair  city  of  Boise. 

Situated  in  the  upper  section  of  the  valley  of  the 
Boise  river,  on  the  right  and  northern  bank  of  the 
stream  and  within  ten  miles  of  the  point  where  the 
mountains  close  in  upon  the  stream,  Boise  presents  a 
picture  of  quiet  beauty  and  a  scene  inspiring  a  sense 
of  peaceful  repose  and  activity  that  has  never  failed 
to  charm  and  delight  every  one  who  has  seen  it. 
Idaho  is  adorned  with  many  lovely  valleys  and  charm- 
ing localities,  possessing  many  natural  advantages  and 
presenting  many  natural  attractions;  but  nowhere  else 
within  her  borders  is  there  a  spot  so  securely  shelt- 
ered from  the  rude  blasts  of  winter,  nowhere  else 
are  the  winters  so  mild,  the  clime  the  year  round  so 
health-giving,  and  the  fierce  cold  of  winter  so  sweetly 
tempered  and  adapted  to  the  health  and  comfort  of  its 
inhabitants;  nowhere  else  are  there  sources  of  cold  and 
hot  water  close  at  hand  and  easily  available  for  all 
the  purposes  to  which  hot  and  cold  water  can  be  ap- 
plied, even  to  the  heating  of  public  buildings  and 
private  dwellings;  nowhere  else  have  the  elements  of 
progress  and  growth  shown  themselves  so  healthful  and 
so  persistently  active. 

In  1863  the  outposts  of  civilization,  as  they  extended 
themselves  eastward  from  the  Pacific  coast  settlements, 
reached  the  valley  of  the  Boise.  The  discovery  of  gold 
in  the  section  of  the  mountain  known  as  the  Boise 
basin,  and  the  presence  of  discontented  savages  led  to 
the  establishment  of  the  present  Fort  Boise,  or  as  it 
is  now  called,  Boise  Barracks,  which  is  situated  on  a 
beautiful  and  elevated  site,  commanding  a  fine  view 
of  the  town  and  surrounding  country.  Among  other 
good  reasons,  doubtless  this  site  for  the  military  post 
was  selected  largely  because  of  the  marvelous  beauty 
of  the  landscape  here  presented  to  view.  Looking  south- 
ward from  the  narrow  plateau  upon  which  the  officers' 
quarters  at  the  barracks  are  situated,  the  eye  wanders 
335 


336 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


over  the  great  Snake  river  sage  plains  to  the  magnifi- 
cent range  known  as  the  Owyhee  mountains,  which 
close  the  view  in  that  direction.  To  the  right  from 
the  point  of  observation,  the  view  embraces  the  west- 
ern course  of  the  Boise  river  and  of  the  valley,  with  its 
bright  and  verdant  stretches  of  meadows,  farms,  or- 
chards and  forests  of  shade  trees,  while  to  the  left 
and  eastward  the  view  is  more  abruptly  closed  by 
the  neighboring  mountain  masses  of  the  Boise  river 
range.  The  military  post,  then  called  Fort  Boise,  was 
located  and  established  on  the  5th  day  of  July,  1863, 
by  Major  P.  Lugenbeel,  and  was  the  immediate  cause 
of  the  location  of  the  town,  which  event  took  place 
on  the  7th.  The  area  surveyed  and  staked  out  was 
covered  with  a  dense  growth  of  sage-brush.  Then 
commenced  the  era  of  town  building.  The  buildings 
first  erected  were  of  the  crudest  and  most  primitive 
construction,  being  in  some  cases  mere  brush  shanties. 
The  number  of  inhabitants  living  with  promise  of 
becoming  permanent  residents  was  very  small  indeed. 
The  greater  number  whose  presence  graced  the  scene 
were  transient  visitors  on  their  way  to  and  from  the 
gold  fields.  Many  are  the  claimants,  some  of  them  yet 
living  here,  to  the  honor  of  having  been  first  on 
the  spot. 

As  time  went  on  the  number  of  houses  and  inhabi- 
tants increased  and  the  incipient  city  soon  began  to 
feel  the  vivifying  influence  of  the  golden  stream  which 
began  to  trickle  down  from  the  rich  placer  fields  in 
the  "basin."  The  first  parcel  of  gold-dust  from  the 
new  mines  was  bought  by  Cyrus  Jacobs,  who  is  still 
here.  Mr.  Jacobs  had  brought  a  stock  of  goods  here, 
which  were  opened  and  offered  for  sale  by  H.  C.  Riggs 
and  James  Mullaney,  acting  for  C.  Jacobs  &  Company. 
About  a  week  afterwards  H.  C.  Riggs  and  James 
Agnew  commenced  building  on  the  northeast  corner 
of  Main  and  Seventh  streets,  the  location  then  and 
many  years  afterward  known  as  Riggs'  corner.  This 
pioneer  adobe  building  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1879 
and  was  replaced  by  the  brick  building  now  occupied 
by  the  clothing  store  of  M.  Alexander.  The  first  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  was  a  Dr.  Holton,  who  had  his  office 
in  a  log  cabin  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Over- 
land Hotel.  The  first  school  was  taught  by  F.  B. 
Smith,  in  the  winter  of  1863-4,  at  the  corner  of  Idaho 
and  Seventh  streets,  opposite  the  site  of  the  old  Cen- 
tral Hotel.  The  first  paper  published  was  the  Idaho 
Statesman,  first  issue  being  Tuesday,  morning,  July 
26,  1864;  office  in  a  log  cabin  one  door  west  of  the 
present  location.  The  Statesman  is  with  us  yet,  and 
has  never  missed  an  issue  since  that  first  bright  July 
morning.  The  first  hotel  was  kept  by  Burns  &  Nor- 
dicke,  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Main  and  Seventh 
streets,  the  building  now  occupied  by  Joe  Kinney. 
Two  or  three  weeks  after  the  opening  of  the  first 
store  by  C.  Jacobs,  a  second  stock  was  opened  by 
Da^elle  &  Moore.  The  first  contractors  were  May 
&  Brown.  Thompson  &  McClelland  established  a 
ferry  here  across  the  Boise  river,  a  short  distance 
below  the  present  Ninth  street  bridge,  in  the  spring  of 


1864.  The  removal  of  the  capital  of  the  young  terri- 
tory from  Lewiston  to  Boise,  December  10,  1864,  gave 
a  fresh  impetus  to  the  growth  of  the  town.  The 
columns  of  the  local  papers,  during  the  earlier  years 
of  the  town's  existence,  were  filled  with  thrilling  stories 
of  the  dangers  bravely  met  and  of  the  hardships 
patiently  endured  by  the  first  settlers,  who  had  deter- 
mined to  build  here  a  city,  which  has  been  justly  and 
aptly  called  the  "Damascus  of  the  Plains."  For  a  long 
series  of  years  prior  to  the  advent  of  railroads,  the 
principal  and  best  means  of  communication  across  the 
country  between  the  Missouri  river  and  the  shores 
of  the  Pacific,  as  well  as  that  connecting  important 
points  in  the  interior,  was  furnished  by  stage  coaches, 
the  main  line  of  this  means  of  travel  passing  through 
Boise,  from  which  point  as  a  center  radiated  the  shorter 
lines,  reaching  the  outlying  towns  and  mining  camps. 
Apart  from  the  loss  of  time  and  the  hardships  inci- 
dent to  this  mode  of  transit  and  travel,  there  was  the 
frequent  danger  to  life  from  the  lurking  and  blood- 
thirsty savages.  Even  as  late  as  1866  we  have  veri- 
fied accounts  of  all  communication  being  cut  off  from 
the  outside  world  by  interruptions  suffered  at  the  hands 
of  the  Indians,  while  all  around  and  near  their  homes 
the  pioneers  were  battling  with  the  treacherous  foe, 
who  threatened  them  with  destruction.  These  greater 
dangers  and  obstacles  to  business,  to  travel  and  to 
tranquil,  happy  home  life  being  at  length  overcome 
and  removed,  there  came  another  long  series  of  years 
of  "hope  deferred,"  during  which  one  promised  scheme 
after  another  failed  to  bring  what  was  so  much  desired 
and  needed,  a  better  means  of  communication,  until 
a  partial  fulfillment  and  realization  was  reached  by 
the  advent  of  railroads  into  what  was  yet  the  terri- 
tory of.  Idaho.  During  all  these  pioneer  years,  Boise 
was  the  center  of  trade,  of  travel,  and  of  every  impor- 
tant interest  in  the  territory.  Here  were  held,  as  now, 
the  sessions  of  the  legislature  and  of  the  supreme 
court,  and  here  was  gathered  the  great  library  of 
almost  universal  legal  scope,  accessible  at  all  times 
to  the  members  of  the  bar,  and  also  to  all  the  people 
having  occasion  to  visit  and  consult  it.  Here  the- 
medical  profession,  augmented  by  the  military  sur- 
geons, has  had  its  largest  representation  of  educated 
and  skilled  men.  Here  popular  education  has  had  its 
inspiration  and  impulse  in  the  public  schools,  which 
have  always  been  in  the  advance  line.  In  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  United  States  assay  office,  Boise  was 
made  largely  the  center  of  intelligent  mining,  as  its 
banks  were  and  are  still  the  center  of  financial 
exchanges.  The  fraternal,  patriotic  and  religious  bodies 
have  ever  made  their  headquarters  here,  because  the 
hospitality  and  generosity  of  Boise  have  been  equal  to 
every  opportunity  and  demand.  It  will  be  easily  under- 
stood why  for  so  many  years  of  her  existence  Boise 
was  comparatively  unknown.  She  was  only  the  capi- 
tal and  chief  city  of  an  isolated  northwestern  terri- 
tory; only  one  of  the  many  similar  objects  found  in 
this  vast  intermountain  territory.  True,  the  locality 
always  had  its  power  to  charm  the  minds  and  senses 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


337 


of  visitors  by  its  many  attractive  natural  features  and 
commended  itself  to  the  judgment  of  all  by  its  many 
superior  natural  advantages.  With  the  progress  of 
settlement,  irrigation  brought  the  "magic  touch  of 
water"  to  the  apparently  sterile  but  really  fertile  and 
productive  soil,  and  soon  transformed  what  was  always 
a  scene  of  natural  beauty  into  a  veritable  "garden  of 
the  gods." 

The  growth  of  the  city  has  been  a  steady,  healthy 
growth  from  the  beginning,  with  no  boom  spurts  to 
accelerate  it,  because  none  were  needed.  The  city 
grew  by  its  own  inherent  advantages  of  location,  cli- 
mate and  soil,  and  by  the  energy  and  enterprise  of 
its  inhabitants. 

After  a  long  period  of  isolation  and  obscurity,  Boise 
has  emerged  into  the  light  of  day  and  has  worked 
out  a  place  for  herself  where  her  many  attractions  and 
advantages  are  seen  and  recognized.  By  the  provis- 
ions of  the  state  constitution,  adopted  in  1890,  the 
capital  of  the  state  was  permanently  fixed  here  for 
the  period  of  twenty  years.  At  the  close  of  this  period 
we  shall  have  reached  the  end  of  the  first  decade  in 
the  twentieth  century.  Then  the  beautiful  capital  city 
of  Idaho  will  be  in  full  possession  and  enjoyment  of 
all  her  native  and  acquired  resources  and  advantages, 
ready  to  work  out  her  glorious  destiny  under  her 
own  sunny  skies  and  with  the  natural  means  with 
which  she  is  so  highly  favored. 

In  the  meantime,  Boise  will  be  busy  getting  ready 
for  the  dawn  of  the  more  glorious  era.  She  will  be 
developing  and  bringing  into  full  use  all  her  many 
natural  powers  of  progress  and  prosperity.  She  has 
an  intelligent  and  enterprising  people  who  will  make 
the  most  of  all  the  means  and  advantages  which  nature 
has  placed  in  their  hands.  Very  soon  every  dwelling 
may  be  lighted  and  heated  from  the  great  urns  and 
reservoirs  which  nature  has  provided.  As  the  city 
grows,  the  supply  of  natural  hot  water  can  be  indefi- 
nitely increased,  until  coal  and  wood  will  be  rarely 
used  for  fuel.  Those  who  wish  for  perfect  security 
and  exemption  from  fierce  winds  and  rude  winter 
storms  will  find  in  the  upper  Boise  valley  the  most 
completely  sheltered  locality  on  the  continent. 

But,  conceding  all  that  the  ardent  lovers  of  Boise 
claim  for  her,  and  all  that  she  is  so  justly  entitled 
to  claim  for  herself,  in  point  of  geographical  position, 
political  importance,  climate,  soil,  tree  and  flower 
growth  and  picturesque  beauty  of  surroundings,  still 
there  is  the  important  and  vital  question  ever  con- 
fronting us:  What  is  there  here  to  justify  a  population, 
already  numbering  eight  thousand  and  daily  increas- 
ing, in  hoping  to  find  the  means  of  a  happy  and  pros- 
perous existence?  The  past  is  secure  and  quite  cred- 
itable to  us.  The  present  is  what  we  see  it  to  be. 
What  of  the  future?  One  of  the  bright  day-dreams  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Boise  has  been  that  the  time  would 
soon  come  when  we  should  have  local  manufactures. 
He.re,  as  elsewhere,  by  far  the  larger  percentage  of 
the  population  are  wage-earners.  We  can  see  no 
reason  why  our  dreams  and  our  wishes  in  this  par- 


ticular should  not  be  soon  realized.  All  the  fruits 
grown  in  the  temperate  zone  grow  here  in  the  rich- 
est profusion.  The  valley  of  the  Boise  is  the  true 
home  of  all  the  fruits,  large  and  small,  and  especially 
so  of  the  prune,  one  of  the  most  popular  fruits  known, 
and  one  for  which  the  demand  is  constantly  increas- 
ing. We  cannot  believe  that  the  day  is  far  distant 
when  we  shall  have  canning  establishments  here,  where 
the  great  abundance  of  our  surplus  fruits  can  be  pre- 
pared for  a  market  that  can  never  be  over-supplied. 
The  area  of  mining  discovery  and  development  is  con- 
tinually broadening  and  extending  itself  northwardly 
toward  the  Arctic  zone,  and  as  the  area  becomes  larger, 
the  means  of  transportation  are  extended  to  meet  and 
supply  the.  wants  of  the  delvers  for  the  precious  metals. 
Very  soon  every  product  of  this  beautiful  and  fertile 
valley  that  can  be  prepared  for  market  here,  where 
every  facility  for  manufacturing  exists,  will  meet  with 
ready  transit  and  quick  and  profitable  sale.  An  era 
of  manufacturing  once  set  in,  there  are  no  limits  to 
the  possibilities  in  this  direction.  The  soil  and  cli- 
mate here  are  admirably  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  sugar  beet,  which  is  destined  soon  to  "beat"  the 
sugar  trust  to  death  with  its  saccharine  club.  Boise 
cannot  hope  to  have  a  monopoly  of  the  market  for 
home-made  sugar;  nor  will  she  need  it;  but  she  can 
supply  her  own  market,  and  the  surplus  will  always 
find  a  ready  demand. 

Other  points,  far  less  favored  every  way,  have  woolen 
manufactories,  which  have  succeeded  beyond  the  most 
sanguine  hopes  and  expectations  of  the  enterprising 
men  who  inaugurated  them  under  trying  and  unprom- 
ising beginnings.  It  requires  no  gift  of  prophecy  to 
see  that  we  must  soon  have  woolen  manufactories. 
We  have  long  had  the  very  stupid  habit  of  export- 
ing hides,  to  be  transported  to  distant  establishments 
to  be  there  manufactured  into  leather,  shoes  and  har- 
ness, to  be  then  returned  to  us,  we  paying  every  cost 
and  charge,  even  to  the  rent,  taxes,  cost  of  living  and 
the  profits  of  our  local  merchants,  who  kindly  give 
us  back  our  hides  transformed  into  the  various  articles 
which  we  might  have  made  ourselves.  It  is  time  that 
this  folly  should  cease.  The  local  tannery  and  local 
shoe  and  harness  factory  must  soon  be  made  to  add 
their  forces  to  the  many  possibilities  soon  to  be  rea- 
lized. 

In  spite  of  past  mistakes,  Boise  is  destined  to  be 
a  railroad  center,  just  as  it  was  the  center  of  travel 
and  transportation  by  stages  and  freight  wagons  in 
the  early  days.  It  is  the  natural  center  and  radi- 
ating point  for  Idaho,  and  natural  causes  must 
produce  their  natural  results  in  due  time.  Of  Boise 
as  a  mining  center  and  of  the  mining  districts  imme- 
diately tributary  to  her,  it  is  impossible  now  to  write 
so  as  to  do  them  justice.  The  theme  is  too  prolific. 
These  resources  are  known  and  appreciated,  and  the 
possibilities  to  grow  out  of  them  are  already  being 
enjoyed.  Boise  has  all  the  elements  and  all  the  natural 
resources  and  attractive  features  requisite  to  make  her 
the  queen  of  this  intermountain  region.  Her  people 


338 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


have  faith,  hope  and  courage  and  they  have  fully  proved 
that  they  know  how  to  labor  and  wait  for  the  good 
time  that  is  surely  coming. 

The  early  history  of  the  Boise  schools  is  difficult 
to  obtain,  as  no  records  can  be  found.  The  oldest 
settlers  say  that  about  the  first  free  school  was  taught 
in  the  small  brick  building  now  standing  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Eighth  and  Washington  streets.  It  was  here, 
in  1885,  that  John  W.  Daniels  was  called  from  the 
far  east  to  collect  the  educational  forces  of  the  com- 
munity, then  consisting  of  four  ungraded  schools,  into 
a  graded  system.  One  at  this  age  cannot  understand 
how  the  crude  material  and  possibly  the  cruder  public 
opinion  were  molded  into  a  unity  of  thought  and  action 
that  in  1881  erected  the  Central  school  building  and 
established  the  strong  system  of  schools  that  ever 
since  has  given  education  to  our  children  and  great 
satisfaction  to  our  citizens.  The  legislature  at  this 
time  gave  Boise  the  independent  school  district  under 
whose  control  the  people  still  work. 

The  ground,  consisting  of  a  whole  block,  upon 
which  the  Central  building  stands  was  donated  for 
public  buildings.  The  building  of  such  a  structure  was 
a  heroic  deed.  When  we  remember  that  the  nearest 
railroad  station  was  Kelton,  Utah,  and  that  nearly 
all  the  manufactured  goods  had  to  be  freighted  the 
two  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  at  a  cost  of  from  five 
to  ten  dollars  per  hundred,  the  enormity  of  the  enter- 
prise is  apparent.  When  completed,  the  building  and 
furniture  cost  fifty  thousand  dollars.  There  are,  in 
it,  sixteen  school  rooms  and  an  office,  and  the  whole 
number  of  pupils  accommodated  is  about  eight  hun- 
dred, ninety-three  of  them  being  in  the  high  school 
(1897).  The  heat  is  furnished  from  the  natural  hot 
water.  Many  thought  it  folly  to  erect  such  an  immense 
structure  when  only  a  small  portion  of  it  was  util- 
ized, but  the  increase  in  population  was  so  great 
that  the  Whittier  school,  corner  of  Fort  and  Twelfth 
streets,  was  built  in  1894.  This  consists  of  four  large 
rooms,  airy  and  well  furnished.  The  cost  of  the  build- 
ings and  grounds  was  eight  thousand  six  hundred  dol- 
lars. The  unprecedented  growth  of  the  city  soon 
filled  these  buildings  to  overflowing.  In  the  summer 
of  1896  the  Lincoln  school,  on  Idaho  and  Fourth 
streets,  was  erected,  at  a  cost  of  fourteen  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars.  The  large  halls,  the  six  ele- 
gant rooms  and  the  basement  are  models  of  archi- 
tectural skill.  No  pains  were  spared  to  make  this  the 
most  attractive  and  the  best  arranged  school-house 
in  the  city. 

The  Wesleyan  Hospital  and  Deaconess  Home, 
though  comparatively  new  in  Boise  and  Idaho, 
having  been  established  in  1896,  has  mounted 
rapidly  into  popularity  and  influence  by  dint  of 
merit  and  substantial  worth  until  it  is  recognized 
as  one  of  the  best  in  the  state.  It  is  located  on 
Ninth  and  Eastman  streets,  in  Hyde  Park  addi- 
tion to  Boise,  where  patients  can  have  a  quiet 


place,  fresh  air  and  plenty  of  sunlight.  The 
rooms  are  tastefully  furnished,  well  ventilated 
and  kept  scrupulously  clean  and  tidy.  The  med- 
ical staff  is  composed  of  only  competent  and  thor- 
oughly qualified  physicians  who  have  had  years 
of  experience  in  all  kinds  of  medical  and  surgical 
cases.  Surgical  operations  of  every  character  are 
performed  at  this  institution,  where  the  most  suc- 
cessful and  approved  means  are  employed  for  the 
correction  of  deformities  and  the  restoration  of 
health  to  all  those  who  are  afflicted.  Patients  are 
left  absolutely  free  to  select  any  physician  they 
may  desire. 

S.  M.  Coffin,  secretary  of  the  Boise  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  in  the  Idaho  Statesman  of  May  27, 
1899,  thus  describes  in  a  "nutshell"  the  present 
prosperous  and  stable  condition  of  the  capital 
city  of  the  Gem  of  the  Mountains  state: 

This  city  may  well  be  proud  of  its  citizens  and  com- 
mercial solidity  of  its  banks  and  business  houses. 

The  First  National  Bank  of  Idaho  was  the  second 
national  bank  organized  on  the  Pacific  coast  and  has 
since  1867  opened  its  doors  to  its  depositors  with 
unwavering  integrity.  There  are  three  thousand  six 
hundred  and  sixty-five  national  banks  in  the  United 
States;  the  number  of  this  bank  is  1668.  The  Boise 
City  National  bank  obtained  its  charter  in  1886  and 
is  a  United  States  depository.  The  deposits  of  both 
banks  aggregate  over  one  million  dollars.  There  are 
stockholders  in  both  banks  who  are  worth,  in  cold 
cash,  more  than  the  banks.  The  Capital  State  Bank 
was  born  in  1891  and  is  a  solid,  reliable  institution. 

The  bankers  of  Boise  are  high-class,  honorable  gen- 
tlemen and  bankers  in  the  truest  interpretation  of  the 
word,  which  is  of  vital  importance  to  the  public,  whose 
commercial  blood  flows  through  the  arteries  of  these 
institutions.  And  the  business  men  of  Boise  are  pros- 
perous, shrewd  and  solvent,  always  ready  to  protect 
their  customers  and  maintain  the  high  standard  of 
business  ethics  that  insures  commercial  stability. 

Boise  is  justified  in  a  feeling  of  security  in  its  educa- 
tional institutions,  which  are  second  to  none  on  the 
coast,  especially  in  the  public  schools,  which  are  a 
high  standard  of  perfection.  The  Episcopal  and  Catho- 
lic schools,  are  high-class  and  of  a  good  standard  of 
discipline  and  management. 

The  churches  of  all  denominations  are  ably  pastored 
and  have  large  and  intelligent  congregations,  and  all 
of  the  secret  orders  have  cozy  homes  and  good  mem- 
berships. 

Boise  has  the  finest  natatorium  in  the  United  States, 
being  supplied  with  natural  hot  water.  Boise  is  the 
only  city  in  the  United  States  whose  dwellings  and 
business  blocks  are  heated  by  nature  in  the  shape  of 
hot  water  from  artesian  wells. 

Boise  has  a  United  States  assay  office,  military  post. 


I 
1 


.s 

Bj 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


339 


signal  service,  electric  lights,  telephones,  electric  rail- 
roads and  paved   streets. 

The  sanitary  conditions  of  the  city  are  good.  The 
municipal  government  from  Mayor  Alexander  to  Chief 
of  Police  Francis  are  the  right  men  in  the  right  places. 

Boise  has  a  population  of  ten  thousand,  is  a  city  of 
commercial  solidity,  beautiful  home?,  and  refined,  cul- 
tured, Christian  people  who  believe  in  their  city,  their 
state,  and  their  flag. 

Boise  has  for  its  environments  a  vast  and  rapidly 
developing  mining  country  whose  minerals  consist  of 
gold,  silver,  copper,  iron  and  lead,  an  agricultural  and 
horticultural  country  of  such  magnitude  that  it  must 
be  seen  to  be  understood;  it  is  the  home  of  the  prune, 
pear  and  apple;  sweet  flowers  and  sturdy  people  grow 
on  these  broad  acres.  Irrigation  companies  are  reclaim- 
ing thousands  of  acres  from  their  native  aridity  and 
irrigation  is  king.  Boise  is  the  natural  and  actual  rail- 
road, mining,  agricultural  and  commercial  center  in 
southern  Idaho. 

LEWISTON. 

The  early  history  of  this  point  is  nearly  all 
given  in  the  general  history  of  Idaho  on  other 
pages  of  this  volume,  under  the  various  heads  of 
discovery,  early  mining,  the  history  of  the  In- 
dians, including  the  various  wars  with  them,  and 
the  political  government  of  the  territory,  as  this 
town  was  for  a  time  the  capital  of  the  common- 
wealth. 

Lewiston  is  situated  in  the  fork  made  by  the 
Snake  and  Clearwater  rivers,  at  an  average  ele- 
vation of  only  six  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet 
above  the  sea  level,  and  hence  has  the  best  cli- 
mate of  all  localities  in  this  part  of  the  United 
States.  During  the  severe  winters  in  the  moun- 
tains the  early  miners  came  out  to  this  place  and 
enjoyed  the  climate  as  well  as  they  would  that  of 
California  in  the  winter  time, — indeed  much  bet- 
ter than  they  would  that  of  the  Sacramento  valley 
and  many  other  highly  praised  localities  in  the 
Golden  state.  It  has  been  estimated  that  as 
many  as  twenty  thousand  persons  were  in  the 
mines  in  this  vicinity  during  the  early  '6os,  the 
winter  population  of  Lewiston  running  from  ten 
to  twelve  thousand  people.  These  men  would 
touch  nothing  for  less  than  ten  dollars  a  day, 
some  "earnings"  running  up  to  thousands  of  dol- 
lars a  day! 

The  cause  of  the  delightful  character  of  the 
climate  here  during  the  colder  portion  of  the  year 
is  seen  in  the  fact  that  a  river  of  warm  air  flows 
through  this  valley  from  the  heated  table-lands 
of  Arizona,  the  Colorado  valley  and  the  dry  val- 


leys of  northern  Mexico;  and  possibly  also  the 
warmth  of  the  earth  itself,  as  indicated  by  the 
numerous  hot  springs  of  this  and  adjoining 
states,  has  a  perceptible  effect  upon  the  super- 
incumbent atmosphere.  Another  fact  is,  the  air 
here  is  dry,  enabling  any  one  to  endure  a  far 
greater  degree  of  heat  or  cold  than  in  moist  air. 
The  average  rainfall  here  per  annum  is  about  one 
foot. 

It  was  during  the  early  mining  period,  namely 
1863,  that  the  territory  of  Idaho  was  organized, 
with  the  capital  at  Lewiston.  Accordingly  the 
first  legislature  met  here  on  the  loth  of  Decem- 
ber, that  year,  attended  by  representatives  from 
very  distant  points,  now  in  Montana,  Wyoming, 
etc.  About  this  time  the  gold  which  was  easily 
picked  up  began  rapidly  to  disappear  and  the 
miners  naturally  ran  to  other  points  from  which 
they  chanced  to  hear  extraordinary  reports,  the 
transient  population  drifting  southward  to  the 
Owyhee  country  and  the  Boise  Basin.  This 
stampede  proved  to  be  sufficiently  permanent  to 
force  the  capital  away  from  Lewiston  to  Boise 
City  the  very  next  year,  1864.  As  related  in  an- 
other place,  when  the  order  was  given  to  remove 
the  territorial  records  to  Boise  City,  the  county 
commissioners  of  Nez  Perces  county,  of  which 
Lewiston  is  the  county  seat,  enjoined  the  removal 
of  the  capital,  on  the  ground  that  the  legislature 
ordering  the  removal  did  not  assemble  at  the  re- 
quired time  and  the  members  had  not  all  taken 
the  oath  prescribed  by  law.  The  supreme-court 
justice,  A.  C.  Smith,  decided  in  favor  of  Lewis- 
ton,  and  for  ten  months  confusion  reigned,  the 
territory  being  without  an  acknowledged  capital, 
while  the  governor  returned  to  New  York  to 
escape  the  controversy ;  nor  was  there  even  a  ter- 
ritorial secretary  to  take  temporary  charge  of  the 
executive  business.  Finally  United  States  Mar- 
shal Alvord  received  instructions  to  convey  the 
records  to  Boise;  but  the  transfer  had  to  be  made 
stealthily  in  order  to  avoid  a  riot. 

The  boom  of  early  bonanza  mining  and  the 
capital  both  gone,  nothing  remained  for  the 
building  up  of  Lewiston  excepting  permanent 
features,  which,  however,  have  proved  to  be  far 
greater  than  had  been  before  imagined.  The 
location  is  at  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Snake 
river,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Clearwater,  which 
is  navigable  for  a  considerable  distance.  This 


340 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


fact,  besides  the  delightful  climate  already  men- 
tioned, together  with  the  development  of  good 
agricultural,  horticultural  and  grazing  lands  in 
the  vicinity,  has  constituted  a  permanent  founda- 
tion for  Lewiston's  prosperity.  The  bench  lands, 
of  varying  heights  as  one  approaches  the  moun- 
tains, have  proved  to  be  first-class  grain-produc- 
ing grounds,  the  farmers  often  reaping  thirty  to 
forty  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre,  grain  of  first- 
class  quality,  and  this,  too,  without  irrigation. 

At  first  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  were  turbu- 
lent and  were  a  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the 
settlement  of  the  country;  but  at  the  present  time 
they  are  peaceable  citizens,  following  agricultural 
pursuits,  and  give  to  Lewiston  a  considerable 
trade.  Thus  Lewiston  has  kept  ahead  of  all  the 
northern  towns  of  Idaho. 

Very  soon  after  the  pacifying  of  the  Indians, 
the  city  secured  the  passage  of  an  act  by  the  legis- 
lature creating  it  an  independent  school  district, 
and  a  handsome,  commodious  school  building  of 
three  stories  was  erected,  at  a  cost  of  eleven 
thousand  dollars.  The  graded  system  was  intro- 
duced and  has  been  continued  with  great  success 
ever  since.  .In  1881  the  Columbia  River  confer- 
ence of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  estab- 
lished the  Lewis  Collegiate  Institute  here;  and 
subsequently  the  Catholics  erected  a  large  and 
important  structure,  where  their  St.  Aloysius 
Academy  was  conducted.  Rev.  A.  D.  McCon- 
key's  school  and  other  private  educational  insti- 
tutions added  to  the  city's  growing  importance  as 
a  home  center.  At  that  early  date  it  was  con- 
ceded that  Lewiston  was  destined  to  be  known 
as  the  Athens  of  the  northwest. 

A  government  land  office  was  established  here 
in  1875,  which  had  jurisdiction  over  Nez  Perces, 
Idaho  and  Shoshone  counties,  which  included 
Latah  county,  segregated  from  Nez  Perces  in 
1887.  This  office  necessarily  had  a  great  amount 
of  business.  The  lands  to  the  east  are  chiefly  oc- 
cupied as  a  reservation  by  the  Nez  Perces.  In 
1896  these  lands  were  first  sown  for  crops,  pro- 
ducing half  a  million  bushels  of  wheat  and  pro- 
portionate quantities  of  other  grain,  hay  and 
vegetables;  and  the  next  year  the  acreage  was 
doubled,  and  so  on.  The  products  of  this  section 
are  now  mostly  marketed  at  Lewiston,  either  by 
wagon  or  by  navigation  of  the  Clearwater.  Also 
considerable  business  comes  to  Lewiston  from 


across  the  Snake  river,  as  far  out  as  the  Seven 
Devils  mining  region,  in  Oregon  and  Washing- 
ton. On  both  the  east  and  the  south  the  rich 
rolling  prairies  gradually  ascend  until,  sixty  to 
eighty  miles  distant,  they  fade  into  mountain 
ranges  that  hold  the  mineral  treasures  that  made 
Idaho  famous  in  the  early  '6os.  Nearly  all  these 
mining  camps  are  tributary  to  Lewiston  and  form 
a  large  part  of  its  trade. 

Not,  however,  until  within  a  few  years  has  a 
railroad  reached  this  distant  point  from  the  great 
centers  of  civilization,  the  Northern  Pacific  hav- 
ing recently  completed  a  branch  to  this  place, 
putting  it  in  communication  with  the  east  and 
west.  Other  line's  of  railway  are  in  contempla- 
tion. 

Lewiston  at  present  has  a  population  of  about 
five  thousand,  with  two  national  banks,  numerous 
large  mercantile  houses,  two  daily  newspapers 
and  one  semi-weekly,  the  State  Normal  School, 
five  church  edifices  and  flourishing  congrega- 
tions and  the  usual  beneyolent  and  fraternal  or- 
ganizations, which  are  largely  supported.  The 
Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows  orders  have  handsome 
structures  of -their  own. 

It  is  a  unique  and  noteworthy  feature  of  the 
commercial  stability  of  Lewiston  that  instead  of 
paying  interest  and  dividend  charges  to  outside 
financial  institutions,  the  town  receives  this 
tribute  from  its  neighbors ;  and  consequently  dur- 
ing the  severest  periods  of  stagnation  it  continues 
healthy  and  able  while  other  points  are  depleted. 
The  Nez  Perces  Indians  are  indeed  among  the 
wealthiest  people  of  the  country,  and  their  trade 
alone  brings  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year 
into  the  city.  The  general  government  expends 
annually  fifty  thousand  dollars  upon  the  Indian 
industrial  school  and  in  the  maintenance  of  the 
agency,  both  situated  but  a  few  miles  out  of  town, 
and  this  money  i?  largely  poured  into  the  coffers 
of  the  citizens  of  Lewiston. 

The  government  is  at  work  on  the  dalles  of 
the  Oregon  river  constructing  a  canal  around  the 
falls,  in  order  to  render  navigation  uninterrupted 
between  Lewiston  and  the  high  seas. 

THE    FIRST   NATIONAL    BANK. 

This  solid  and  ably  conducted  financial  institu- 
tion of  Lewiston  was  founded  in  1883  by  J.  P. 
Vollmer;  ex-Governor  M.  C.  Moore,  of  Wash- 


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HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


341 


ington:  William  O'Donnell,  of  Walla  Walla, 
Washington;  Wallace  Scott,  of  Grangeville;  and 
R.  Schlicher,  of  Lewiston,  and  was  capitalized 
for  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Vollmer  was 
elected  its  president  and  has  since  remained  in 
charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  bank  in  that  capacity, 
his  administration  proving  most  acceptable  and 
satisfactory.  The  history  of  the  bank  is  a  record 
of  remarkable  success,  there  being  now  a  surplus 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  ninety-two  thousand 
dollars  of  undivided  profits  and  a  reserve  fund  of 
forty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  the  bank  has  re- 
turned to  the  stockholders  the  original  stock  and 
thirty  per  cent  additional.  On  the  roll  of  honor 
of  the  thirty-three  hundred  national  banks  of  the 
United  States  the  First  National  of  Lewiston 
holds  the  thirty-fourth  place — surely  a  most  cred- 
itable record.  The  present  officers  are  J.  P.  Voll- 
mer, president;  Ralston  Vollmer,  vice-president; 
and  E.  W.  Eaves,  cashier.  The  directors  are  J. 
P.  Vollmer,  W.  Scott,  A.  W.  Krontinger,  C.  V. 
Shearer  and  Ralston  Vollmer.  A  general  com- 
mercial banking  business  is  carried  on,  and  the 
First  National  is  regarded  as  the  strongest  and 
safest  financial  institution  of  the  state. 

THE    LEWISTON    NATIONAL    BANK 

This  is  one  of  the  strongest  banking  institu- 
tions in  the  state.  It  was  founded  August  9, 
1883,  by  William  F.  Kettenbach,  John  Brearley 
and  others.  Mr.  Brearley  was  elected  its  presi- 
dent, but  lived  only  a  short  time  after  its  organi- 
zation, when  Mr.  Kettenbach  was  chosen  his  suc- 
cessor and  served  in  that  capacity,  with  remark- 
able ability  and  fidelity,  until  his  life's  labors  were 
ended  in  death,  September  9,  1891.  His  brother, 
F.  W.  Kettenbach,  was  then  elected  to  the  presi- 
dency, and  held  that  office  until  January  i,  1897, 
when  he  was  succeeded  by  Daniel  M.  White, 
whose  death  occurred  December  u,  1898.  The 
vacancy  thus  occasioned  was  supplied  by  the 
election  of  W.  F.  Kettenbach,  the  son  of  the 
founder  of  the  bank,  to  the  presidency.  Al- 
though only  twenty-four  years  of  age  at  the  time, 
he  had  previously  filled,  in  a  most  capable  man- 
ner, almost  all  the  lesser  positions  in  the  bank, 
and  he  now  has  the  honor  of  being  the  youngest 
bank  president  in  the  United  States. 

The  capital  stock  of  the  bank  at  its  organiza- 
tion was  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  there  is  now 


a  surplus  of  fifty  thousand  and  undivided  profits 
amounting  to  six  thousand  dollars.  The  bank 
has  had  a  most  prosperous  and  honorable 
career  and  has  been  enabled  to  pay  to 
its  stockholders  ever  since  its  organization 
a  semi-annual  dividend  of  five  per  cent.  It 
does  a  general  commercial  banking  busi- 
ness, sells  exchange  on  all  parts  of  the  world, 
and  owns  its  magnificent  bank  building,  which  is 
constructed  of  magnesia  stone,  being  three  stories 
in  height.  It  was  built  by  Mr.  W.  F.  Kettenbach 
during  his  presidency  of  the  bank,  at  a  cost  of 
forty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  and  is 
considered  the  finest  bank  block  in  Idaho.  The 
main  floor  is  splendidly  equipped  for  banking 
purposes,  and  the  other  floors  are  divided  into 
office  suites,  the  rental  of  which  is  four  hundred 

dollars  monthly. 

POCATELLO. 

This,  the  "Gate  City  of  Idaho,"  was  named  in 
memory  of  the  doughty  old  chief  of  the  Bannack 
Indians,  a  band  of  surly  savages  who  formerly 
roved  over  the  Snake  river  plains  and  kept  the 
pioneers  of  civilization  uneasy.  The  city  is  sit- 
uated at  the  intersection  of  the  Oregon  Short 
Line  and  the  Utah  &  Northern  Railroads,  and 
has  a  commanding  location  at  the  natural  gate- 
way to  the  great  northwest  of  the  region  west  of 
the  Rocky  mountains.  By  its  railroad  facilities 
— lines  from  the  east,  the  west,  the  north  and  the 
south  meeting  within  its  limits — it  controls  the 
freight  traffic  from  the  east  and  the  great  Missis- 
sippi valley  and  the  trans-Mississippi  centers  of 
commerce  to  the  northwest  coast  and  growing 
commonwealths  of  Idaho,  Montana,  Oregon  and 
Washington. 

Sixteen  years  ago  this  site  was  a  sage-brush 
covered  plain;  to-day  there  is  a  city  here  with  a 
population  of  five  thousand,  with  handsome  brick 
business  blocks,  fine  private  residences,  the  finest 
school  edifices  in  the  state  and  prosperous  busi- 
ness enterprises.  Its  growth  and  prosperity  have 
been  phenomenal.  Only  nine  years  ago  the  place 
was  without  a  substantial  building  of  any  descrip- 
tion ;  to-day  it  numbers  its  brick  and  stone  blocks 
and  residences  by  the  score. 

Topographically,  the  city  is  located  at  the  head 
of  the  Port  Neuf  valley  and  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  of  that  name,  a  tributary  to  the  magnificent 
old  Snake  river.  At  the  foot  of  the  city  lie  the 


342 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


broad  level  plains  of  the  Port  Neuf  valley,  com- 
prising as  rich  and  fertile  land  as  any  in  the  west. 
They  stretch  out  in  level  distances  as  far  as  the 
eye  can  carry  the  vision  and  until  they  meet  the 
still  broader  and  equally  fertile  plains  of  the 
Snake  river  valley.  Behind  the  city  the  broken 
spurs  of  the  Wasatch  range  rear  their  rugged 
sides  and  rocky  peaks,  rich  in  all  the  minerals 
that  have  made  the  golden  west  great. 

In  1882  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Railway  was 
completed,  connecting  the  Oregon  Railway  & 
Navigation  line  in  the  west  with  the  main  line  of 
the  Union  Pacific  in  the  east.  In  the  same  year 
the  Pacific  Hotel  was  built  and  the  division 
headquarters  of  the  railroad  established  here, 
which  have  remained  here  ever  since.  Pocatello 
then  consisted  of  the  hotel  and  store  of  the  Fort 
Hall  Indian  trader,  it  being  almost  in  the  geo- 
graphical center  of  the  Fort  Hall  Indian  reserva- 
tion. The  railroad  company  had  a  grant  of  some 
two  hundred  acres  of  land  here,  and  it  was  a  con- 
venient point  for  an  overland  eating-house.  This 
state  of  things  called  the  hotel  into  existence,  but 
at  the  same  time  the  wildest  flights  of  imagination 
saw  no  prospects  of  a  great  city  in  the  future. 

The  railroad  company,  however,  early  began 
to  see  the  advantages  of  the  situation.  With  the 
completion  of  the  Utah  &  Northern  line,  north 
and  south,  Pocatello  became  the  natural  location 
for  the  great  shops  of  the  united  lines,  and  ac- 
cordingly, in  1886,  the  shops,  which  had  been  lo- 
cated at  Eagle  Rock,  were  removed  to  Pocatello 
and  very  much  enlarged.  This  enterprise  at  once 
brought  four  or  five  hundred  men,  many  of  them 
with  families,  to  Pocatello,  and  for  their  accom- 
modation the  railroad  company  began  the  erec- 
tion of  the  neat  dwellings  which  constitute  what 
is  known  as  Company  Row,  and  these  were  the 
first  residences  built  in  Pocatello.  The  first  to 
occupy  any  of  these  were  J.  M.  Bennett  and  wife; 
he  was  superintendent  of  bridges  and  buildings 
on  this  division.  The  depot,  which  had  been 
completed  the  previous  year,  was  dedicated  with 
a  grand  ball  in  October. 

Pocatello  was  a  booming  town  in  those  days, 
a  typical  frontier  town,  and  almost  the  last  that 
the  United  States  has  seen.  Money  was  plenti- 
ful and  flowing  freely,  and  the  restraints  of  law 
and  the  effete  features  of  eastern  civilization  were 
scarcely  noticeable.  Immigrants  rushed  in,  with 


money  and  enterprise,  even  faster  than  room 
could  be  found  for  them,  for  the  railroad  com- 
pany owned  the  only  available  land,  the  rest  of 
the  land  belonging  to  the  Indians.  Squatters 
were  ordered  off  the  reservation  and  their 
"shacks"  pulled  down. 

Something  had  to  be  done.  In  1886  there  were 
six  hundred  people  in  Pocatello  and  more  crowd- 
ing in  every  day.  At  this  juncture  the  railroad 
company  began  to  permit  people  to  build  on  their 
right  of  way,  and,  as  if  by  magic,  a  city  of 
"shacks"  and  shanties,  devoted  to  all  kinds  of 
business,  sprang  up  on  what  has  since  been  called 
the  plaza — the  broad,  open  space  around  the 
hotel  and  office  buildings — and  where  the  parks 
are  located.  The  town  did  not  present  a  very 
commanding  appearance,  but  was  accomplishing 
an  immense  amount  of  business.  Directly  after 
the  town  site  was  thrown  open  to  market  the 
"shacks"  were  torn  down  and  better  structures 
were  under  way. 

One  of  the  first  buildings  erected  in  the  town 
was  a  school-house,  in  which  school  was  opened 
in  1887,  with  Miss  Brooks  as  teacher.  The  citi- 
zens, however,  were  often  in  sore  straits  for 
money  to  keep  the  schools  going;  but  private 
subscriptions  and  benefit  entertainments  were  al- 
ways found  in  time,  and  since  its  founding  the 
city  of  Pocatello  has  always  maintained  a  high 
reputation  for  its  schools.  To-day  it  has  two 
public-school  edifices  and  also  a  handsome  pri- 
vate academy,  unexcelled  in  the  state. 

The  crowding  of  a  pushing  and  enterprising 
population  into  the  narrow  limits  of  the  railroad 
right  of  way  at  once  resulted  in  agitation  for 
more  room.  Delegate  Dubois  was  appealed  to 
for  relief.  Barbecues  and  "big  talks"  were  held 
with  the  red  men  of  the  tribes  of  the  Bannacks 
and  Shoshones  at  Fort  Hall.  The  braves  were 
fed  and  petted  and  finally  agreed  to  a  treaty  sell- 
ing two  thousand  acres  of  land  to  the  United 
States  for  a  town  site,  and  Mr.  Dubois  promptly 
had  a  bill  passed  by  congress  ratifying  this 
treaty. 

In  June,  1889,  the  town  site  was  surveyed,  and 
the  next  summer  the  lots  were  sold  at  public  auc- 
tion. Pocatello  had  in  the  meantime  grown  to  a 
city  of  between  thirty  and  thirty-five  hundred 
population.  Long  previously  the  people  had 
overflowed  the  extreme  limits  of  the  railroad 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


343 


lands  and  were  squatted  all  over  the  town  site. 
Many  of  them,  indeed,  had  erected  buildings  of 
considerable  pretensions,  and  it  was  feared  that 
there  might  be  some  trouble  when  the  sale  took 
place:  but  fortunately  everything  passed  off 
quietly.  A  committee  of  citizens  was  organized, 
and  when  a  lot  with  improvements  on  it  was  of- 
fered for  sale  a  member  of  this  committee  an- 
nounced that  Mr.  -  -  had  improvements  on 
it  and  asked  outsiders  not  to  bid;  and  this  request 
was  honored  excepting  in  one  instance,  and  then 
the  bidder  was  soon  persuaded  to  withdraw  his 
bid.  Thus  most  of  the  people  who  had  gone 
ahead  and  built  houses  secured  their  property  by 
the  payment  of  ten  to  fifty  dollars  per  lot,  the 
appraised  value.  A  large  number  of  speculators 
were  present,  who  bought  many  outside  lots, 
which  were  held  for  a  time,  some  of  them  for  a 
number  of  years. 

With  the  sale  of  the  city  lots,  building  started 
with  a  rush.  Substantial  business  blocks  and 
handsome  residences  sprang  up  everywhere  as 
by  magic.  The  old  "shacks"  came  down  by  the 
hundreds  and  parks  were  laid  out  on  their  sites. 
The  city  now  has  many  fine  business  blocks  and 
residences,  and  every  modern  improvement  that 
might  be  expected  in  a  thriving  western  town 
occupied  by  the  most  intelligent  people  from  the 
east. 

The  municipal  history  of  Pocatello  is  compar- 
atively simple  and  brief.  The  community  was 
organized  as  a  village  in  the  spring  of  1889,  prev- 
ious to  which  time  there  was  no  definite  govern- 
ment, being  situated  on  an  Indian  reservation 
and  no  one  knowing  who  was  in  authority.  Dep- 
uty marshals  and  deputy  sheriffs  were  constantly 
present,  but  the  people  did  about  as  they  pleased. 
The  village  organization  in  1889  was  too  late  for 
the  spring  election  that  year,  and  the  board  of 
county  commissioners  of  old  Bingham  county 
appointed  the  first  board  of  trustees,  for  this  pur- 
pose naming  H.  L.  Becraft  as  chairman,  and  D. 
K.  Williams,  A.  F.  Caldwell,  L.  A.  West  and  Dr. 
Davis  as  trustees.  Sam  Gundaker  was  appointed 
the  first  town  marshal,  but  soon  resigned,  and  W. 
S.  Hopson  was  appointed  in  his  place.  At  the 
city  election  in  the  spring  of  1890,  C.  S.  Smith 
was  elected  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees  and 
•  J.  H.  Shuffleberger,  John  G.  Brown,  A.  F.  Cald- 
well and  D.  K.  Williams  trustees.  James  Scan- 


Ion  was  elected  town  marshal,  and  J.  F.  Myers 
treasurer. 

In  1891  D.  Swinehart  was  elected  chairman 
and  A.  F.  Caldwell,  D.  W.  Church,  John  S. 
Baker  and  George  Green  trustees ;  E.  G.  Gallett, 
clerk;  J.  I.  Frantz,  treasurer;  and  W.  S.  Hop- 
son,  marshal.  In  1892  J.  M.  Bennett  was  elected 
chairman  and  Al.  Davis,  W.  B.  Eldredge,  James 
Connors  and  Jack  Gorman  trustees;  E.  G.  Gal- 
lett, re-elected  clerk;  M.  C.  Senter,  treasurer; 
and  W.  S.  Hopson,  marshal. 

By  special  enactment  of  the  legislature  of  1892- 
1893  Pocatello  was  erected  into  a  city  of  the  first 
class.  It  was  divided  into  four  wards,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1893  elected  a  mayor,  eight  councilmen 
and  a  full  city  ticket.  Edward  Stein  was  chosen 
mayor  by  a  plurality  of  six.  Ed.  Sadler  was 
elected  city  clerk,  J.  J.  Curl  city  treasurer,  and 
J.  F.  Connor  police  magistrate.  The  council- 
men  were  George  Griffith,  A.  M.  Bagley,  M. 
Condon,  Al.  Miller,  F.  H.  Murphy,  J.  H.  Shuf- 
fleberger, W.  J.  Harvey  and  E.  P.  Blickensderfer. 
The  mayor,  clerk  and  treasurer  are  elected  for 
one  year,  and  the  police  magistrate  for  two  years. 
The  aldermanic  term  also  is  two  years,  but  at  the 
first  election  one-half  the  number  were  elected 
for  one-year  terms,  so  that,  according  to  custom, 
one-half  the  council  can  be  chosen  each  spring 
while  the  other  half  hold  over. 

In  the  election  of  1894  Ben  Bean  was  elected 
mayor,  Ed.  Sadler  clerk  and  J.  F.  Kane  treas- 
urer. The  councilmen  elected  were  J.  G.  Sand- 
ers, John  Fusz,  T.  B.  Smith  and  Tim  Farrell, — 
Griffith,  Condon,  Murphy  and  Harvey  holding 
over.  In  1895  W.  F.  Kasiska  was  elected  mayor, 
W.  D.  Johnston  clerk,  A.  W.  Criswell  treasurer, 
T.  A.  Johnston  police  magistrate,  and  M.  M. 
O'Malley,  J.  Bistline,  Felix  Van  Reuth  and  Eph. 
Miller  councilmen. 

Politically,  honors  have  been  about  even.  On 
the  state  ticket  the  Republicans  usually  carry 
Pocatello  by  fair  majorities,  but  in  municipal 
contests  the  honors  have  been  almost  evenly  di- 
vided between  the  Republicans  and  Democrats, 
the  Populists  scarcely  ever  electing  a  man. 

Financially,  Pocatello  keeps  itself  in  good  con- 
dition. It  spends  over  two  thousand  dollars  a 
year  for  electric  light,  and  about  the  same  amount 
for  water,  and  also  about  the  same  or  a  little 
more  for  the  fire  department.  For  salaries  of  of- 


344 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


ficers,  about  fifteen  hundred  dollars  represents 
the  disbursement,  while  the  annual  income  has 
been  about  eighteen  hundred  to  two  thousand 
dollars.  The  city  started  out  with  an  indebted- 
ness of  about  twenty  thousand  dollars,  which  has 
since  been  reduced. 

By  an  act  of  the  legislature  of  1892-3  the  lower 
end  of  Bingham  county  was  cut  off  and  the 
county  of  Bannock  created,  with  Pocatello  as 
the  county-seat,  thus  making  this  city  the  capital 
of  one  of  the  best  counties  of  Idaho.  The  coun- 
ty contains  scores  of  the  very  finest  agricultural 
valleys  in  the  state,  besides  high  lands  that  are 
unsurpassed  as  cattle  and  sheep  ranges.  Soon 
after  its  organization,  the  county  sold  its  six  per 
cent,  bonds  at  a  very  handsome  profit.  It  is 
therefore  on  a  cash  basis,  with  first-class  credit. 

Abundant  building  material  is  to  be  had  at 
the  very  doors  of  the  city.  Two  miles  west  of 
the  place  a  quarry  is  worked  which  is  practically 
inexhaustible,  from  which  the  stone  was  taken  to 
build  some  of  the  finest  structures  in  the  city,  and 
even  used  for  trimming  when  other  stone  is  used 
for  the  body.  Although  soft  when  first  taken 
from  the  quarry,  and  easily  worked,  it  hardens  on 
exposure  to  the  weather.  It  is  a  light  gray  in 
color  and  is  pronounced  by  experts  to  be  as  fine 
a  building  material  as  any  in  the  country.  An- 
other quarry,  of  much  harder  rock,  is  worked  at 
a  short  distance  south  of  the  city.  The  stone 
is  a  very  close-grained  and  hard  sandstone,  and 
has  been  used  for  the  construction  of  the  great 
storage  basin  of  the  Pocatello  water-works.  Its 
supply  also  is  without  limit. 

Some  buildings  here  have  been  constructed  of 
semi-lava  boulders,  which  are  abundant  on  the 
southern  section  of  the  town  site,  but  they  are 
hard  to  work  and  not  handsome  in  a  wall.  The 
clay  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city  is  good  for  brick, 
and  hence  all  the  brick  used  here  is  home-made, 
and  is  excellent  both  in  quality  and  appearance. 
At  times  the  brickmakers  here  have  been  rushed 
with  work. 

The  Pocatello  opera-house  is  one  of  the  pret- 
tiest in  the  west.  It  was  completed  in  1893,  at 
a  cost  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  is  a  three-story 
brick  structure,  trimmed  with  "reservation" 
stone.  The  seating  capacity  is  five  hundred  on 
the  main  floor  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  in 
the  gallery.  The  stage  is  fifty  by  twenty-seven 


feet    and    is    furnished    with    nine    full    sets    of 
scenery. 

The  Pavilion,  a  large  amusement  hall,  is  the 
scene  of  most  of  the  balls  that  are  so  popular 
here.  It  is  a  large  frame  building  with  an  ample 
and  excellent  dancing  floor,  well  lighted  and 
admirably  adapted  for  orchestral  and  exhibition 
purposes. 

The  Pacific  Hotel  was  practically  the  first 
house  built  in  Pocatello.  It  is  a  large,  barn-like 
two-story  frame,  with  Mansard  roof,  and  has 
over  fifty  rooms.  It  was  originally  built  for  the 
accommodation  of  overland  travel  and  the  rail- 
road employees  at  this  point.  The  fare  at  this 
hostelry  is  very  good.  The  Pocatello  House  is 
a  handsome  three-story  brick  building,  com- 
pleted in  1893,  at  a  cost  of  about  fifteen  thousand 
dollars.  It  has  forty  rooms,  but  is  strictly  a 
lodging  house  rather  than  a  hotel  for  the  tran- 
sient public.  It  is  well  kept.  The  Hanks  Hotel 
is  a  three-story  brick  structure,  furnished  with 
steam  heat  and  electric  light,  like  the  other 
houses  just  mentioned,  and  is  equipped  with  the 
modern  conveniences.  This  hostelry  is  con- 
ducted by  Mrs.  Hanks,  a  model  landlady. 

Pocatello  has  a  magnificent  water-works  sys- 
tem, ample  for  a  city  of  thirty  thousand  inhabi- 
tants. There  are  two  immense  reservoirs,  with 
a  combined  capacity  of  over  four  million  gallons. 
The  upper  reservoir  is  five  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  feet  above  the  highest  point  in  the  city,  and 
therefore  gives  force  enough  to  the  hydrants 
throughout  the  city  to  serve  any  emergency. 
The  water  supply,  indeed,  is  an  ideal  one. 

The  system  was  conceived  by  J.  J.  Cusic,  who 
in  1890  appropriated  the  water  for  its  supply 
from  Gibson  Jack  and  Mink  creeks,  two  tribu- 
taries of  the  Port  Neuf  that  flow  from  the  moun- 
tains south  of  the  city.  In  1891  he  and  Dr.  F.  D. 
Toms  began  the  work  of  constructing  the  reser- 
voirs and  flumes  and  also  a  large  dam  in  Gibson 
Jack  creek.  The  next  year  the  Pocatello  Water 
Company  was  incorporated,  with  J.  J.  Cusic,  F. 
D.  Toms,  A.  F.  Caldwell,  T.  F.  Terrell  and  E.  J. 
Adams  as  members,  and  the  capital  stock  was 
placed  at  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In  Oc- 
tober of  that  year  the  system  was  completed  and 
in  operation.  Early  in  1893  James  A.  Murdock, 
a  Butte  capitalist,  purchased  the  entire  plant  and 
proceeded  to  make  extensive  improvements. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


345 


The  water  is  as  pure  as  crystal,  coming  from 
a  natural  reservoir  of  granite,  shale 'and  slate 
high  up  in  the  mountains,  four  miles  above  the 
reservoirs,  and  through  a  covered  flume  which 
has  a  capacity  of  four  million  gallons  every 
twenty-four  hours.  The  lower  reservoir,  used  as 
the  service  basin,  has  a  capacity  of  four  hun- 
dred thousand  gallons,  is  three  hundred  feet 
lower  than  the  other,  but  is  two  hundred  and 
sixty-two  feet  above  the  highest  point  in  the  city, 
as  already  mentioned.  The  water  rate,  for  all 
purposes,  is  fixed  by  a  commission  appointed  by 
the  common  council. 

Pocatello  has  an  electric-light  plant  second  to 
none  in  cities  even  of  twice  its  size.  The  Port 
Neuf  river  has  been  harnessed  and  furnishes  the 
power  that  lights  the  streets,  business  houses  and 
homes  of  the  city.  In  round  figures,  the  plant 
cost  forty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  has  a  ca- 
pacity sufficient  to  furnish  light  for  a  city  twice 
the  size  of  Pocatello  and  a  water  power  ample 
for  a  plant  many  times  the  size  of  the  present 
one. 

For  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  this 
enterprise,  as  well  as  for  purposes  of  irrigation, 
The  Pocatello  Power  &  Irrigation  Company  was 
organized  in  1895.  But  long  before  that  date  a 
citizen  named  Dan  Swinehart,  who  came  here 
in  1888  as  a  butcher,  conceived  the  feasibility  of 
the  enterprise  here  described,  and  despite  much 
ridicule  and  discouragement  from  many  friends 
proceeded  to  inaugurate  the  improvements  neces- 
sary to  the  undertaking.  He  was  elected  the 
first  mayor  of  the  city,  and  such  was  his  faith  in 
its  future  growth  and  prosperity  that  he  erected 
the  first  brick  block  in  Pocatello,  the  "Pioneer" 
block,  a  handsome  structure. 

In  July,  1892,  on  the  very  next  day  after  the 
town  site  was  thrown  open  to  the  market,  Mr. 
Swinehart  took  up  the  water  right  that  is  to-day 
the  life  of  the  Pocatello  electric-light  plant,  and 
posted  his  notices  appropriating  six  thousand 
inches  of  water  from  the  Port  Neuf  river  for 
electric-light,  power  and  irrigating  purposes. 
He  had  his  surveys  made  and  plans  for  the  plant 
made  up,  which  plans  called  for  an  expenditure 
of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  He  found  most  of 
the  people  incredulous  and  many  of  them  even 
ridiculing  his  project,  and  even  claiming  that  he 
could  not  develop  as  much  as  a  six-horse  power 


and  that  Pocatello  was  not  going  to  be  much  of 
a  city  anyway!  But  he  persevered,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  1892  built  a  dam  across  the  Port  Neuf 
between  C  and  D  streets  northwest,  and  cut  the 
•  ditch  and  finished  the  canal  to  the  power-house 
site. 

The  power-house  was  erected  in  June,  1893, 
and  furnished  with  the  finest  machinery  that 
could  be  purchased  at  the  time,  comprising  two 
Thomson-Houston  one-thousand-candle-power 
incandescent-light  dynamos  and  one  Thomson- 
Houston  fifty-light  arc  dynamo.  February  22d 
the  machinery  started  and  the  light  began  to 
blaze  in  the  city.  Previously  a  small  concern 
known  as  the  Pocatello  Electric  Light  &  Tele- 
phone Company  supplied  a  number  of  electric 
lights,  with  power  from  the  railroad  shops.  Mr. 
Swinehart  bought  its  franchises  and  property 
and  incorporated  them  with  his  own.  But  soon 
after  he  commenced  operation  he  was  met  by  a 
new  difficulty  which  at  first  seemed  insurmount- 
able, namely,  his  dam  caused  the  Port  Neuf  to 
overflow  the  land  adjoining  the  pond  and  many 
damage  suits  were  brought  against  him ;  but  this 
was  overcome  by  his  purchase  of  the  land  in 
question,  in  part,  and  condemnation  of  the  rest. 
Afterward  he  raised  a  levee  along  the  bank  of 
the  river  on  the  east  side,  which  prevents  all  over- 
flow, and  now  he  enjoys  the  enhanced  value  of 
the  land. 

By  the  beginning  of  the  year  1894  all  difficul- 
ties were  cleared  away,  but  by  this  time  the  en- 
terprise had  cost  him  forty-five  thousand  dollars. 
In  1895  Mr.  Swinehart  sold  his  institution  to  a 
company  consisting  of  himself  and  C.  W.  Spauld- 
ing,  F.  W.  Smith  and  A.  D.  Averill,  of  Chicago, 
and  it  was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Illi- 
nois, under  the  name  of  the  Pocatello  Power  & 
Irrigation  Company.  The  capital  stock,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  is  all  paid  up. 
Mr.  Swinehart,  who  holds  one-third  of  the  stock, 
is  the  president  and  general  manager. 

The  prospects  for  valuable  minerals  in.  the 
mountains  adjacent  to  Pocatello  began  to  attract 
attention  in  the  early  '6os;  but  the  hostility  of 
the  Indians,  added  to  the  excitement  caused  by 
the  fabulously  rich  strikes  in  the  Boise  country, 
prevented  any  active  work  in  this  region,  and 
indeed  any  thorough  prospecting. 

In   1868  the   Fort   Hall   reservation   was   set 


346 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


apart  for  the  benefit  of  the  Shoshones  and  Ban- 
nacks ;  and  as  white  men  were  forbidden  to  tres- 
pass upon  the  reservation  and  the  Indians  were 
troublesome,  the  rich  minerals  hidden  in  the 
mountains  here  were  lost  sight  of  until  after  the 
town  of  Pocatello  had  sprung  into  existence. 
Then  people  began  to  speculate  on  what  might 
be  in  the  hills.  Occasionally  a  rich  piece  of  float 
was  picked  up  on  the  reservation,  and  at  length 
this  set  men  to  looking  for  what  they  could  find. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  years  men  by  the  hundred 
came  to  Pocatello,  many  of  whom  waited  for 
months,  and  even  years,  for  an  opportunity  to 
get  at  the  hills. 

The  mountains  south  of  Pocatello  are  known 
to  contain  vast  deposits  of  co'pper,  silver  and 
gold,  as  demonstrated  by  many  outcroppings 
that  give  promise  of  the  most  fabulous  richness. 
Many  assays  from  the  rock  have  been  made,  and 
they  run  up  into  the  thousands.  The  agent  in 
charge  of  the  reservation,  however,  has  been 
strict  in  enforcing  the  treaty  laws.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1893  a  company  of  Pocatello  men  dis- 
covered a  copper  ledge  of  marvelous  promise  on 
Belle  Marsh  creek  on  the  reservation,  and  made 
a  determined  effort  to  work  it.  They  put  a  force 
of  men  to  work  there  and  uncovered  a  ledge  for 
a  distance  of  a  hundred  feet  and  found  a  well 
defined  ledge  six  feet  wide  of  wonderfully  rich 
copper  ore.  They  worked  it  until  twice  warned 
off  by  the  Indian  agent,  and  quit  only  when  they 
were  finally  threatened  with  arrest.  Experts 
who  have  examined  this  property  pronounce  it 
as  promising  as  any  in  the  west. 

Also,  during  the  same  summer,  a  strong  com- 
pany of  capitalists  of  Pocatello,  Butte  and  Salt 
Lake  City,  organized  and  made  an  effort  to  se- 
cure a  lease  of  the  mineral  lands  on  the  reserva- 
tion; but  other  men  in  Pocatello,  who  had  been 
watching  prospects  and  opportunity  for  years, 
entered  a  protest  and  the  interior  department  at 
Washington  refused  to  grant  the  lease.  The 
same  year  still  another  attempt  was  made  to  ob- 
tain permission  to  develop  mines  on  this  reserva- 
tion, by  a  Pocatello  organization,  but  it  also 
failed.  In  1891  some  very  rich  galena  was  dis- 
covered about  two  miles  east  of  Pocatello, — so 
rich,  in  fact,  that  it  almost  created  a  stampede 
here  to  the  point,  and  miners  from  other  parts 
of  Idaho  and  from  Utah  and  from  Nevada 


rushed  to  the  scene  and  began  digging  vigorous- 
ly. The  signs  were  most  encouraging,  but  the  In- 
dian agent  again  came  down  upon  them  and  drove 
them  all  off  the  reservation.  During  the  sum- 
mer of  1895  there  was  found  ore  assaying  thirty- 
three  dollars  to  the  ton  in  a  quartz  cropping  in 
the  mountains  just  south  of  the  city.  Accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  of  all  the  old-timers  in  this  • 
region  there  are  many  rich  deposits  of  the  re- 
spective valuable  minerals  in  nearly  all  the  moun- 
tains in  Bannock  county,  but  the  particulars  can- 
not be  given  to  a  great  extent,  on  account  of  the 
severely  executed  prohibitory  laws  made  in 
treaty  with  the  Indians.  Even  coal,  apparently 
in  paying  quantities,  has  been  discovered  at  vari- 
ous points.  Also,  some  very  fine  specimens  of 
asbestos  have  been  exhibited,  obtained  in  the 
hills  near  Pocatello.  Apparently  there  is  enough 
of  this  material  here  to  make  a  whole  community 
rich.  Of  the  fine  building  stone  here  we  have 
spoken  in  our  sketch  of  the  city  of  Pocatello. 

KENDRICK   AND   THE    POTLATCH    EMPIRE. 

Perhaps  no  more  adequate  description  of  the 
"Metropolis  of  the  Potlatch  Empire"  can  be  giv- 
en than  that  which  is  afforded  by  the  following 
extracts  from  a  special  edition  of  the  Kendrick 
Gazette : 

Kendrick  is  located  at  the  junction  of  the  Bear  creek 
and  Potlatch  river,  on  the  southern  boundary  line  of 
Latah  county,  and  on  account  of  her  location  in  respect 
to  the  geographical  lay  of  the  Potlatch  country,  has 
been  appropriately  named  the  Metropolis  of  the  Pot- 
latch  Empire.  The  Palouse  branch  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  Company  furnishes  its  transportation 
facilities. 

Nestled  between  hills,  nature  has  made  her  the 
natural  and  logical  location  for  a  town,  by  breaking 
the  walls  that  protect  her  with  gulches  through  which 
lead  the  roads  to  the  various  ridges,  the  scenes  of  her 
resources.  These  ridges,  divided  by  gulches  through 
which  flow  beautiful  streams,  form  what  are  known  as 
the  Potlatch,  American,  Big  and  Little  Bear,  Texas, 
Fix  and  Cedar  Creek  Ridges,  which,  with  their  prolific 
soil,  are  among  Kendrick's  resources.  It  might  well 
be  said  that  Kendrick  was  born  of  necessity,  from  the 
fact  that  the  resources  of  the  Potlatch  naturally  sought 
an  outlet  at  her  doors,  through  easy  and  accessible 
routes,  generously  supplied  by  nature. 

With  her  strongest  competitors — Moscow,  about 
thirty  miles  north,  and  Lewiston,  thirty  miles  south- 
west,— Kendrick  must  remain  for  an  indefinite  period 
of  time  the  metropolis  of  some  of  the  finest  agricultural, 
timber  and  mineral  country  in  the  northwest. 


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HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


347 


Draw  a  circle  with  a  radius  of  seven  miles  from 
Kendrick  and  you  include  the  territory  known  as  the 
Potlatch  Empire,  being  about  evenly  divided  between 
the  counties  of  Latah  and  Nez  Perces.  Nowhere  are  a 
people  more  favored  than  those  of  the  Potlatch,  with 
their  rolling  fields  of  rich  black  soil  and  invigorating 
climate.  The  gentle  zephyrs  that  steal  across  the  hills 
to  kiss  the  waving  fields  of  grain,  are  purified  and 
scented  with  occasional  belts  of  tapering  pines,  that 
stand  as  barricades  to  moderate  the  hot  winds,  and 
allow  him  who  toils  to  reap. 

Scarcely  fifteen  years  ago,  the  hardy  pioneer  drove 
his  team  across  these  hills  in  search  of  better  land, 
rather  than  take  these  rolling  prairies,  that  annually 
blossom  with  the  luxuriant  crops  that  have  made  her 
famous.  The  Potlatch  knows  no  crop  failure,  and  her 
people  appreciate  the  fertility  ef  its  soil.  Scarcely  eight 
years  have  passed  away  since  the  whistle  of  the  iron- 
horse  broke  the  somber  stillness  of  these  hills  and 
prairies,  to  furnish  the  transportation  facilities  for  the 
shipment  of  her  produce  to  the  markets  of  the  world. 
The  thrift  and  energy  of  the  people  soon  asserted  itself, 
and  the  fields  that  once  fed  bands  of  cattle  were  trans- 
formed into  waving  fields  of  grain.  In  the  spring-time 
the  scene  on  the  various  ridges  is  one  of  unusual 
splendor,  with  the  fields  robed  in  green  stretching  out 
to  the  foot-hills  in  the  distance.  In  no  section  can  a 
more  enterprising  class  of  people  be  found  than  those 
of  the  Potlatch.  Between  the  citizens  of  the  town  and 
those  of  the  country  the  best  of  feelings  exists,  which 
harmonizes  all  the  phases  that  enter  into  the  progress 
and  welfare  of  the  Potlatch  Empire  in  general. 

Scarcely  had  the  outlines  of  the  town  that  was  des- 
tined to  become  the  keystone  of  the  Potlatch  assumed 
shape  ere  the  energy  and  enterprise  that  have  character- 
ized its  existence  were  asserted  by  the  building  of  roads 
to  the  various  ridges.  To-day  Kendrick's  location, 
with  roads  leading  in  from  all  sides,  might  well  be  com- 
pared with  the  hub  of  a  wheel,  that  holds  its  position 
through  the  spokes.  Each  serves  as  an  avenue  of  re- 
source, which  year  by  year  strengthens  with  the  devel- 
opment of  the  country  and  contributes  towards  the 
healthy  progress  of  the  town. 

With  such  a  scope  of  fine  agricultural  land,  superbly 
adapted  to  the  raising  of  fruits,  at  her  doors,  which  is 
the  basis  of  all  manufactures,  the  questions  of  power, 
space  and  shipping  facilities  naturally  come  up,  which 
find  answer  in  the  force  of  her  position.  Just  above  the 
town  empties  Bear  creek  into  the  Potlatch  river,  a 
beautiful  stream  of  clear,  running  water,  which  takes 
its  source  from  mountain  springs.  With  numerous  trib- 
utaries it  taps  valuable  forests  of  timber.  Fir,  cedar, 
yellow  and  white-pine  timber  tracts  line  the  banks  of 
both  streams. 

The  current  of  the  river  is  strong;  the  waters  have 
about  thirty  feet  fall  in  every  one  thousand  yards. 
Along  the  banks  of  the  stream  are  many  beautiful  sites 
for  mills.  In  the  corporate  limits  of  the  town  the  river 
has  a  fall  of  thirty-eight  feet  in  one  thousand  yards, 
which,  with  the  body  of  water  that  runs  continually  the 


year  around,  would  furnish  power  to  operate  a  number 
of  mills.  With  the  expenditure  of  but  little  money  the 
stream  could  be  cleared  sufficiently  to  drive  logs  down 
to  mills,  where  shipping  facilities  can  be  had  on  the 
Palouse  branch  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railway.  With 
such  a  water-power  and  mill  sites  in  abundance,  Ken- 
drick offers  advantages  to  manufacturers  superior  to 
any  town  in  the  country.  A  flouring  mill  and  a  tannery 
are  numbered  among  the  successful  industrial  enter- 
prises established  here. 

Another  important  and  attractive  feature  of  Ken- 
drick's location  is  in  respect  to  her  superior  advantages 
for  maintaining  a  system  of  water  works.  With  a 
gradual  slope  towards  the  west,  the  lay  of  the  ground 
furnishes  a  perfect  system  of  drainage  and  sewerage. 

The  climate  is  exceptional.  High  hills  protect  the 
town  from  winds,  making  a  difference  in  the  climate  of 
the  top  of  the  hills  and  Kendrick  of  from  ten  to  twenty 
degrees.  The  summers  are  delightful.  The  days  from 
twilight  to  sunset  lengthen  to  about  sixteen  hours. 
With  the  going  down  of  the  sun  a  refreshing  breeze 
blows  across  the  country  to  fan  the  brow  of  the  weary 
toiler.  The  winters  are  free  from  severe  blizzards,  so 
common  to  other  parts  of  the  country,  and  last  from 
eight  to  ten  weeks.  Mountain  ranges  protect  it  from 
the  chilling  blasts  from  the  north,  while  the  warm 
southwest  winds  sweep  across  the  country  melting  the 
snow,  which  soaks  into  the  soil  for  the  summer's  moist- 
ure. Here  is  where  the  man  who  toils  may  sleep  with 
comfort,  for  the  nights  are  cool  and  refreshing. 

Kendrick  has  reason  to  feel  proud  of  her  public 
schools  and  houses  of  worship.  The  public  schools  are 
chief  among  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  the  people, 
and  to-day  her  schools  stand  in  the  highest  ranks  of  the 
educational  institutions  of  the  public-school  system. 
The  high  standard  that  the  public  school  has  attained 
has  been  one  of  the  potent  factors  in  making  Kendrick 
a  town  of  homes.  Four  religious  denominations,  in- 
cluding the  Presbyterian,  Methodist,  Baptist  and  United 
Brethren,  look  after  the  religious  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity. 

On  October  15,  1890,  on  petition  of  H.  L.  Frost,  the 
pioneer  editor  of  Kendrick,  and  others,  the  town  of 
Kendrick  was  incorporated.  The  first  board  of  trustees 
were:  Thomas  Kirby,  the  founder  of  Kendrick,  Cap- 
tain J.  M.  Walker,  president  of  the  Lincoln  Hardware 
&  Implement  Company,  and  one  of  our  most  progres- 
sive citizens;  M.  C.  Normoyle,  the  genial  proprietor 
of  the  St.  Elmo  Hotel;  E.  V.  Nichols,  until  recently 
proprietor  of  the  Pioneer  City  dray,  and  now  of  Nez 
Perces;  E.  Kaufman,  of  the  well  known  firm  of  Dern- 
ham  &  Kaufman,  at  present  manager  of  their  large 
main  store  at  Moscow.  These  practical  business  men 
held  the  reins  of  the  city  government  and  wisely  guided 
its  infant  steps,  so  that  it  has  kept  free  from  debt  in 
assuming  premature  improvements. 

The  advantages  of  Kendrick's  location  for  a  town 
were  due  to  the  foresight  of  Thomas  Kirby,  who  saw 
at  a  glance  its  superior  advantages.  Mr.  Kirby  also 
showed  equally  good  judgment  in  selecting  men  to  asso- 


348 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ciate  with  him  in  the  building  of  the  "Hub  of  the  Pot- 
latch."  Aside  from  the  officials  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad  Company,  he  associated  with  him  such  prac- 
tical business  men  as  G.  E.  Potter,  deceased,  of  Colfax; 
G.  Holbrook,  Colfax;  Hon.  J.  C.  Lawrence,  Water- 
ville;  W.  White,  of  Colfax,  Washington;  J.  P.  Voll- 
mer,  of  Lewiston;  and  R.  D.  McConnell  and  James 
Grimes,  of  Moscow. 

The  streets  of  the  growing  burg  had  hardly  assumed 
their  definite  outlines  when  the  handful  of  business  men 
organized  themselves  into  a  board  of  trade  to  com- 
mence aggressive  work  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  new 
town.  All  was  activity.  New  businesses  were  opening 
up,  the  extension  of  the  Palouse  branch  of  the  North- 
ern Pacific  Railway  was  built  into  Kendrick  in  the 
winter  of  1890,  the  first  train  arriving  on  February  4, 
1891.  From  that  day  on  new  life  entered  the  people, 
and  progress  was  made  the  watchword.  On  July  4, 
1800,  the  day  on  which  Idaho's  star  was  placed  on  Old 
Glory,  as  one  of  the  states  of  the  Union,  with  no  cover- 
ing but  the  blue-arching  canopy  of  heaven,  the  first 
issue  of  the  Advocate,  the  forerunner  of  the  Gazette, 
was  issued. 

With  all  lines  of  business  represented,  the  march  of 
progress  began  under  favorable  circumstances,  build- 
ings were  looming  up  on  all  sides,  enterprises  were 
being  launched,  the  future  looked  hopeful  and  bright, 
until  the  l6th  day  of  August,  1892,  when  a  disastrous 
fire  swept  over  the  town,  completely  destroying  six 
blocks  of  business  and  entailing  a  loss  approximating 
about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  town  had 
hardly  been  in  existence  two  years,  yet,  with  the  same 
energy  and  enterprise  that  characterized  its  former 
progress,  the  citizens,  undaunted  and  undismayed,  im- 
mediately began  the  work  of  rebuilding,  and  in  three 
months  afterward  nine  substantial  brick  buildings  had 
risen  out  of  the  ruins. 

The  spirit  of  progress  did  not  cease,  and  in  January 
of  1893  electric  lights  illuminated  the  streets  and  build- 
ings. In  the  spring  of  1894  two  fires  occurred  within 
a  week  of  each  other,  destroying  one  and  one-half 
blocks  with  a  heavy  loss.  The  panic  of  1893,  with  its 
depressing  influence,  naturally  served  as  a  check  on 
enterprises  that  demanded  .capital  to  push  them,  and 
the  people,  ever  wide-awake  and  alert,  inaugurated 
the  immigration  movement,  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
the  advantages  and  resources  of  the  Potlatch  Empire. 
The  work  has  been  carried  on  through  the  efforts  of  the 
Potlatch  Immigration  Association,  which  is  distributing 
descriptive  literature  throughout  the  east.  The  fruit- 
growers, ever  alert  to  their  interests,  have  organized 
the  Potlatch  Horticultural  Association. 

With  such  unlimited  resources  of  agriculture,  timber 
and  mineral,  Kendrick's  future  must  be  one  of  progress. 
Her  citizens,  ever  mindful  of  the  needs  of  the  Potlatch, 
stand  ready  to  put  their  shoulders  to  the  wheel  of  prog- 
ress. No  discordant  element  or  factions  characterize 
their  movements;  a  perfect  unanimity  of  sentiment  pre- 
vails. No  legitimate  enterprise  has  ever  gone  begging 
for  support. 


The  financial  condition  of  the  city  commends  itself 
to  the  investor.  The  city  is  practically  out  of  debt,  as 
the  present  tax  money,  about  due,  will  have  wiped  out 
the  last  vestige  of  indebtedness,  there  being  no  bonded, 
only  a  warrant,  indebtedness.  The  assessed  valuation 
of  the  property  of  the  city  is  $98,960,  and  the  tax  levy 
is  eight  mills. 

Kendrick  is  one  of  the  nearest  railroad  points  to  the 
Nez  Perce  reservation,  which  was  thrown  open  to  set- 
tlement on  the  i8th  day  of  November,  1895.  This  ter- 
ritory embraces  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
acres  of  some  of  the  finest  timber  and  agricultural  land 
in  the  Northwest,  and  in  many  respects  shares  the 
advantages  of  the  Potlatch. 

If  there  is  any  one  attractive  feature  of  the  Potlatch, 
it  is  the  adaptability  of  her  soil  and  climate  for  the 
raising  of  fruits.  With  an  elevation  much  lower  than 
that  of  the  Palouse  country,  and  protected  from  the 
north  winds  by  mountain  ranges,  the  country  receives 
the  benefit  of  the  soft,  exhilarating  winds  that  sweep  up 
the  Columbia  and  Clearwater  valleys  from  the  Pacific 
ocean,  which  makes  it  warmer.  The  success  that  has 
been  attained  in  raising  fruit  might  be  considered  phe- 
nomenal. The  fruit  is  especially  free  from  defects  and 
blemishes  so  common  ,to  fruit,  and  to-day  the  fame  of 
the  Potlatch  fruit  has  spread  to  such  an  extent  that  a 
ready  market  has  been  found  in  the  east  at  remuner- 
ative prices  to  the  grower.  It  is  but  a  question  of  a 
few  years  until  these  slopes  and  benches  will  have 
become  dotted  with  blossoming  orchards,  and  a  new 
source  of  revenue  added  to  the  farmer's  income. 

During  the  season  of  1894  about  twenty-seven  thou- 
sand dollars  were  expended  by  the  farmers  for  fruit 
trees,  with  proportionate  amounts  since,  and  to-day 
within  a  radius  of  seven  miles  from  Kendrick  there  are 
three  thousand  acres  of  land  given  up  to  orchards.  The 
short  time  in  which  these  orchards  thrive  and  bear 
relieves  fruit-growing  of  much  of  the  monotony  that 
is  experienced  in  some  sections  of  the  country,  in  wait- 
ing from  eight  to  ten  years  for  the  trees  to  come  into 
bearing.  An  attractive  feature  of  growing  fruit  in  the 
Potlatch  is,  that  the  trouble  and  expense  of  irrigation 
is  unnecessary,  as  the  tree  draws  its  moisture  from  the 
soil,  which  gives  the  fruit  a  soundness  and  luscious 
flavor.  In  this,  nature  has  favored  the  Potlatch  with  a 
lavish  hand. 

A  peculiar  characteristic  of  the  climate  of  the  Pot- 
latch  is  that  the  occasional  frosts  seldom  affect  the  fruits. 
While  this  assertion  may  appear  as  preposterous  to 
the  fruit-grower  in  the  east,  who  frequently  sees  his 
crop  fail  because  of  frost,  yet  this  fact  will  be  substan- 
tiated by  any  of  the  fruit-growers  here.  The  reason 
of  this  is  attributed  to  the  fact  that  there  are  draughts 
of  air  continually  passing  through  the  canyon  which 
naturally  draws  the  frosty  air  down.  In  one  or  two 
particular  years,  where  the  springs  have  been  unusually 
late,  and  especially  of  the  spring  of  1896,  instances  are 
cited  where  the  blossoms  on  the  trees  have  frozen  solid, 
yet  causing  no  material  damage  to  the  fruit  crops. 

Aside  from  the  prizes  that  have  been  awarded  to  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO 


349 


Potlatch  fruit-growers  at  the  annual  fruit  fairs  at 
Spokane,  Washington,  one  of  a  national  character  that 
bears  testimony  to  the  superior  quality  of  the  fruit  was 
awarded  by  the  World's  Fair  commission,  in  the  shape 
of  a  medal  and  diploma  to  John  Hepler,  of  the  Pot- 
latch,  for  the  best  exhibit  of  pomaceous  fruit.  The 
exhibit  was  of  eight  varieties  of  apples  and  the  medal 
and  diploma  were  awarded  on  the  decision  of  the  com- 
mittee that  the  apples  were  free  from  blemishes  and 
defects,  and  recommended  the  fruit  as  an  excellent 
marketable  fruit. 

The  experience  of  the  last  few  years  has  demonstrated 
that  the  climate  and  soil  are  especially  adapted  to  the 
raising  of  apples,  prunes,  cherries  and  berries,  while 
other  fruits  do  remarkably  well.  In  view  of  the  increase 
in  the  orchard  acreage,  and  the  interest  that  is  being 
centered  around  this  infant  industry,  it  is  only  a  matter 
of  a  few  years  when  the  chief  occupation  of  the  people 
will  be  raising  fruit.  This  industry  is  yet  but  in  its  in- 
fancy, and  still  the  records  show  that  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  carloads  of  fruit  were  shipped  in  1898. 
Another  industry  that  is  connected  with  fruit-raising 
is  the  drying  of  fruit.  The  progress  and  success  of  dry- 
ing fruit  has  kept  pace  with  the  other  improvements, 
and  to-day  the  Potlatch  dried  prunes  are  finding  ready 
sales  in  outside  markets.  Numerous  individual  dryers 
are  in  operation,  and  the  product  is  of  an  excellent 
flavor.  Dried  prunes,  pears  and  apples  are  the 
product. 

While  a  good  climate  is  an  absolute  necessity  to  the 
raising  of  fruits,  cereals  and  vegetation,  a  rich  soil  is  a 
necessity  as  well.    The  soil  of  the  Potlatch  is  of  a  rich 
black  loam,  and  might  appropriately  be  called  "vegeta- 
tion  rot."   and   lies   at   various   depths,   from    eighteen 
inches  to  four  feet.    Underlying  the  soil,  a  strata  of  clay 
is  found  which  helps  retain  the  moisture  in  the  soil  by 
refusing  to  let  it  seep  away.     This  is  what  contributes 
so  much  toward  her  luxuriant  crops  of  fruit,  cereals 
and  vegetation.     The  country  is  remarkably  free  from 
pestilence,  very  few  squirrels  have  been  found,  and  only 
in  the  land  in  close  proximity  to  the  rimrock  do  the 
crops  suffer  from  heat.    The  experiments  of  the  last  few 
seasons  have  proven  beyond  doubt  that  corn,  which  it 
was  thought  could  not  be  grown  on  account  of  the  cool 
nights,  will  do  exceedingly  well  here.     The  corn  of  the 
past   seasons,   while   growing  to   a   remarkable  height, 
has   produced  well.     Sorghum   cane   grows   well.     All 
kinds  of  vegetables,   such  as  potatoes,  beans,  turnips, 
produce  enormously.     Wheat  yields  on  an  average  of 
thirty-five  and  forty  bushels  per  acre,  while  there  are 
instances  where   eighty-acre   tracts  have   yielded   sixty 
bushels    through    and    through, — such    are    common. 
Oats,  barley,  rye  and  flax  and  other  varieties  do  equally 
as  well.     The  production  of  cereals  has  grown  from 
fifty  thousand  bushels  in   1800  to  about  eight  hundred 
thousand  bushels  in   1808,   and  with  the  constant  en- 
croachment of  the  new  settlers  upon  the  timbered  foot- 
hills, and  the  farming  of  the  section  lying  idle,  this  will 
be  greatly  increased  in  the  next  few  years.     Two  hun- 


dred and  seventy-five  thousand  bushels  of  wheat  were 
shipped  in  1898. 

There  is  no  industry  that  asserts  a  more  potent  in- 
fluence in  the  progress  of  a  town  than  that  of  mining. 
As  capital  is  necessary  to  develop  mining  property, 
pay-rolls  are  made,  and  that  is  the  backbone  of  a  town. 
It  creates  a  substantial  form  of  improvement,  that  rep- 
resents capital  and  gives  confidence  and  activity.  Ken- 
drick  receives  much  of  her  trade  from  several  large 
quartz  and  placer  mines  which  are  tributary  to  her. 

Another  resource  which  already  gives  promise  of 
great  benefit  to -the  future  prosperity  of  Kendrick  is 
the  vast  body  of  timber  which  stretches  eastward  from 
Kendrick.  Fine  bodies  of  cedar,  yellow  and  white  pine 
are  to  be  found  in  the  region  of  country  at  the  source 
of  the  Potlatch  river.  The  state  has  selected  a  large 
portion  of  this  timber  and  will  soon  place  it  upon  the 
market  for  sale.  The  diminishing  of  the  white-pine 
forests  in  the  east  is  naturally  causing  them  to  turn 
their  attention  towards  the  west  for  their  future  supply. 
Several  syndicates  have  been  here  during  the  last  few 
years,  investigating  this  body  of  timber,  and  surveys 
made  by  lumbering  men  show  that  the  most  feasible 
and  available  route  for  putting  it  on  the  market  is 
down  the  Potlatch  river  to  Kendrick.  The  Potlatch, 
with  but  a  comparatively  small  expense,  can  be  driven 
with  logs,  which  will  not  necessitate  the  building  of  a 
railroad  to  the  timber,  which,  owing  to  the  roughness 
of  the  country  in  that  direction,  would  be  very  expen- 
.  sive.  It  is  reasonable  to  conclude  under  the  circum- 
stances, with  so  much  in  Kendrick's  favor,  that  she 
will  in  the  near  future  feel  the  magnetic  touch  from  this 
great  resource.  The  white-pine  tract  of  timber  begins 
about  twenty  miles  east  of  Kendrick  and  comprises 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  in  all.  The 
timber  is  of  an  excellent  quality. 

THE    BANK    OF    KENDRICK. 

This  institution  was  opened  for  business  in  the 
fall  of  1890  by  Captain  J.  M.  Walker  and  his  son, 
R.  M.  Walker,  and  was  managed  by  them  until 
July,  1892,  at  which  time  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Kendrick  was  organized  and  absorbed  the 
Bank  of  Kendrick.  The  capital  of  the  bank  was 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  F.  N.  Gilbert  was  elected 
president  and  Math  Jacobs,  cashier.  It  contin- 
ued to  do  business  under  the  national  banking 
system  until  May  I,  1899,  when  it  surrendered  its 
charter,  preferring  to  do  business  as  a  state  bank. 
Its  present  officers  are  Math  Jacobs,  president; 
F.  N.  Gilbert,  vice-president;  A.  W.  Gordon, 
cashier;  and  P.  R.  Jacobs,  assistant  cashier.  It 
does  a  general  banking  business,  and  as  its  meth- 
ods are  liberal  it  enjoys  a  prosperous  business, 
having  among  its  patrons  all  of  the  best  people 
of  Kendrick  and  the  surrounding  country. 


350 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


MOUNTAIN    HOME. 

This,  the  county-seat  of  Elmore  county,  is  a 
nice  town  on  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad, 
in  the  midst  of  a  rich  and  productive  valley  along 
the  Snake  river.  The  village  comprises  about  a 
thousand  industrious  and  intelligent  inhabitants, 
has  a  large  brick  school-house,  with  eight  depart- 
ments, and  a  fine  little  library.  The  school  fa- 
cilities are  indeed  fully  up  with  the  most  im- 
proved methods  of  the  age.  The  Episcopalians, 
Congregationalists  and  Baptists  all  have  church 
organizations,  while  the  first  two  mentioned  have 
also  commodious  houses  of  worship.  A  new 
brick  bank  building  and  a  fine  large  brick  hotel 
are  in  process  of  construction  at  the  time  of  this 
writing.  There  are  four  general  stores  in  the 
place,  three  blacksmith  shops,  two  livery  stables, 
two  millinery  stores,  two  weekly  newspapers, — 
the  Elmore  Bulletin  and  the  Elmore  Republi- 
can,— two  hotels,  two  physicians,  two  lawyers, 
one  dentist,  one  real-estate  office,  one  drug  store, 
one  restaurant,  two  meat  markets,  and  other 
facilities  in  proportion. 

The  town  is  one  of  the  best  situated  and  best 
platted  in  the  state,  second  to  none  of  its  size  in 
Idaho,  and  is  the  natural  shipping  point  for  a 
great  interior  country  which  is  rapidly  coming  to 
the  notice  of  the  general  public.  Over  a  million 
and  a  quarter  pounds  of  wool  are  shipped  an- 
nually from  the  railroad  station  here,  besides 
many  head  of  live  stock.  Indeed,  this  is  one  of 
the  largest  shipping  points  in  the  state.  It  is 
also  the  outlet  for  a  number  of  rich  mining 
camps.  The  state  legislature  has  already  appro- 
priated half  a  million  dollars'  worth  of  school 
lands  as  an  endowment  for  a  state  industrial 
school  at  Mountain  Home,  and  it  is  expected  that 
ere  long  the  state  will  erect  a  fine  school  edifice 
here.  An  abundance  of  cool  water  is  found  at  a 
depth  of  only  fifteen  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground.  Three  miles  distant  is  a  large  reservoir 
for  irrigation  purposes,  while  the  lands  in  the 
vicinity  of  Mountain  Home  are  unexcelled  in 
their  adaptation  to  fruit  culture.  Twenty  miles 
distant  in  the  mountains  is  a  large  canyon  where 
water,  at  a  comparatively  light  expense,  can  be 
collected  sufficient  for  the  irrigation  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  acres  of  land. 

The  history  of  the  town  dates  back  only  seven- 
teen years, — to  1881, — when  W.  J.  Turney,  now 


the  postmaster  here,  began  improvements  at  this 
point  by  the  erection  of  a  building.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  Mountain  Home  has  a  very  bright 
future  before  it,  because  of  its  location,  good 
climate,  vast  tract  of  rich  fruit  and  farming  land 
in  every  direction,  as  well  as  the  rich  mines  tribu- 
tary to  the  prosperity  of  this  locality,  while  irri- 
gation is  feasible  almost  anywhere.  Such  is  the 
permanent  foundation  for  a  lasting  prosperity  in 
store  for  Mountain  Home. 

GRANGEVILLE    AND    THE   BUFFALO    HUMP 
MINES. 

The  following  interesting  account  is  repro- 
duced from  the  San  Francisco  Wave  of  May  13, 
1899,  the  article  being  from  the  pen  of  Alan 
Owen.  Not  only  does  it  depict  a  glowing  future 
for  Grangeville,  but  tells  briefly  but  carefully  the 
history  of  the  famous  Buffalo  Hump  mining  dis- 
trict, opened  with  almost  the  enthusiastic  "rush" 
of  the  old-time  mining  days: 

The  first  white  man  to  test  the  temper  of  the  Nez 
Perce  Indians  by  living  among  them  was  a  pioneer 
missionary  named  Spaulding.  This  visitation  dated 
from  1836,  and  the  subsequent  rude  behavior  of  the 
•  dark-skinned  brethren  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  mat- 
ter now  in  hand.  A  son  of  the  pioneer,  H.  Spaulding, 
early  in  the  year  1874,  came  to  the  Camas  prairie  for  the 
purpose  of  organizing  a  grange.  The  population  of  that 
portion  of  central  Idaho  scarcely  numbered  three  hun- 
dred white  men,  and  the  settlers  were  widely  scattered; 
the  prairie  was  a  place  of  magnificent  distances.  In 
July  a  representative  gathering  was  obtained,  which 
met  one  day  in  a  school-house  near  Mount  Idaho.  Six- 
teen persons  signified  their  willingness  to  unite  with 
an  order  to  be  known  as  Charity  Grange.  Initiations 
followed;  William  C.  Pearson  was  chosen  worthy  mas- 
ter, and  J.  H.  Robinson,  secretary.  The  foundations  of 
the  city  of  Grangeville,  the  coming  commercial  center 
of  the  Clearwater  country,  were  thus  laid. 

At  that  time  the  land  upon  which  Grangeville  subse- 
quently grew  was  a  pasture  belonging  to  the  farm  of 
J.  M.  Crooks.  Two  stores  were  in  existence  in  Mount 
Idaho,  which  made  that  place  an  outfitting  place  for 
miners,  the  only  town  between  Florence  and  Lewiston, 
a  gap  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles.  Three  miles 
below  the  foothills  that  serve  as  a  site  for  the  hamlet 
Mount  Idaho,  the  members  of  Charity  Grange  com- 
menced building  a  hall  in  1876.  All  work  on  the  struc- 
ture was  done  by  hand,  planing  mills  being  a  dream  of 
the  future,  only  to  be  realized,  so  far  as  the  prairie  is 
concerned,  in  1899.  During  the  winter  of  1875-6,  a  joint 
stock  company  was  formed  in  the  grange  and  incor- 
porated to  build  a  flour  mill,  with  a  capital  stock  of 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  in  shares  of  twenty-five 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


351 


dollars  each.  The  company  built  the  mill  now  owned 
by  Vollmer  &  Scott,  the  machinery  being  hauled  on 
wagons  from  Walla  Walla.  The  mill  was  grinding 
wheat  in  the  fall  of  1876.  During  the  Nez  Perce  war 
of  1877-8,  the  grange  hall  was  made  a  safe  refuge  by  a 
heavy  stockade  of  logs,  sixteen  feet  long,  set  upright 
around  the  building,  and  the  upper  floor  banked  all 
around  to  the  height  of  the  windows  with  flour  in  sacks 
from  the  grange  mill.  This  floor  was  used  as  a  hospital 
for  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  during  the  Indian  war. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  prairie  pioneers  were  south- 
erners, forced  to  seek  a  new  country  by  loss  of  property 
consequent  upon  the  war  of  the  Rebellion.  They  made, 
therefore,  a  good  and  steady  nucleus  for  the  foundation 
of  a  community,  and  to  a  broad  western  spirit  many 
southern  graces  will  be  found  grafted  in  the  habits  and 
manners  of  the  early  settlers.  The  country  twenty  years 
ago  was  absolutely  without  transportation  facilities,  and 
walled  in  by  mountains  exceedingly  difficult  of  access. 
Even  to-day  it  is  not  the  easiest  locality  in  the  world 
to  reach  in  the  winter  time.  The  Camas  prairie  farmers 
paid  seven  cents  a  pound  for  seed  wheat,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  could  command  their  own  price  for  their 
produce.  Meanwhile  Grangeville  was  growing.  In 
1878  a  small  merchandise  store  was  opened  by  a  settler 
named  William  Hill,  and  next  came  a  miners'  outfit- 
ting store.  By  1886  substantial  progress  had  been 
made.  About  this  time  Hon.  A.  F.  Parker  founded  the 
Idaho  County  Free  Press.  The  publisher,  one  of  the 
best  authorities  on  the  mineralogy  of  the  northwest  that 
the  state  affords,  made  his  annual  trip  in  August  to  the 
great  gold  belt  of  central  Idaho,  leaving  his  paper  in 
the  hands  of  a  substitute.  That  worthy,  in  a  burst 
of  enthusiasm  over  the  town's  advancement,  wrote 
"Grangeville  already  possesses  the  attributes  of  a  place 
ten  times  as  populous,  viz.,  a  high  school,  a  resident 
minister  of  the  Methodist  persuasion,  a  brass  band  and 
other  indications  of  culture  and  refinement."  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  the  growth  of  the  town  at  this  time  was 
steady,  if  not  very  rapid.  In  1892  the  Bank  of  Grange- 
ville was  founded,  with  the  wealth  of  the  firm  of  Voll- 
mer &  Scott,  estimated  at  over  a  million  dollars,  behind 
it.  About  this  date  Grangeville  was  organized  into  an 
independent  school  district.  A  new  school-house  was 
built  in  1893,  to  accommodate  some  two  hundred  and 
fifty  pupils,  costing  seven  thousand  dollars.  In  1892 
the  Bank  of  Camas  Prairie  was  incorporated  by  a  num- 
ber of  the  citizens  of  Grangeville  and  capitalized  at 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  In  October  of  1898  the  town  of 
Grangeville  was  incorporated,  the  first  board  of  trustees 
consisting  of  Henry  Wax,  chairman;  W.  F.  Schmadeka, 
E.  C.  Sherwin,  W.  W.  Brown  and  A.  F.  Freidenrich. 
Subsequently  a  number  of  stores  and  residences  of  a 
substantial  character  were  erected,  and  Grangeville  was 
in  a  fair  way  of  advancement  when  the  discoveries  at 
Buffalo  Hump  attracted  the  eyes  of  the  mining  world 
to  central  Idaho. 

The  fame  of  the  discoveries,  in  three  short  months, 
was  instrumental  in  changing  the  face  of  the  town.     It 


brought  fresh  blood  and  capital,  and  gave  an  impetus 
to  enterprise  that  at  one  bound  has  succeeded  in  con- 
verting a  country  village  into  an  up-to-date  American 
city.  Now  Grangeville  boasts  the  best  water  supply  of 
any  city  in  the  state.  A  volunteer  fire  department  has 
been  organized  and  equipped.  Other  improvements 
and  enterprises  directly  attributable  to  the  new  order 
of  things  include  lime  kilns,  brick  yards,  building-stone 
quarries,  an  eighteen  thousand  dollar  hotel,  a  brewery 
and  distillery. 

The  conditions  under  which  the  great  discovery  at  Buf- 
falo Hunt  was  made  are  interesting  to  rehearse.  A  couple 
of  prospectors,  named  B.  R.  Rigley  and  C.  H.  Rob- 
bins,  camped  on  the  main  trail  between  Florence  and 
Elk  City  in  August,  1898.  The  trail  crossed  the  Buffalo 
Hump  mountain,  and  their  camp  lay  on  this  mountain, 
some  eight  feet  from  a  solid  wall  of  quartz,  three  thou- 
sand feet  in  length  and  six  hundred  feet  wide,  that  had 
been  ridden  and  climbed  over  for  years  by  veteran  pros- 
pectors on  their  way  to  the  Boise  basin.  In  an  idle 
moment  the  prospectors  clipped  off  a  chunk  from  the 
ledge,  burned  it,  crushed  it  on  the  flat  of  a  shovel,  and 
from  this  rough  method  of  assay  got  big  values  in  gold. 
They  at  once  took  samples  back  to  Florence  and,  hand- 
ing them  to  an  assayer,  got  the  following  results: 

Sample  No.  I,  an  average  of  24  feet  of  the  ledge, 
$38.81  in  gold  and  silver. 

Sample  No.  2,  an  average  of  nine  feet  of  the  ledge, 
$458.17  in  gold  and  silver. 

Sample  No.  3,  an  average  of  three  feet  of  the  ledge, 
$712.17  in  gold  and  silver. 

About  one-eighth  of  the  foregoing  values  were  in 
silver,  and  the  balance  gold. 

The  formation  of  the  rock  is  gneiss,  and  the  general 
character  of  the  ore  of  the  district  is  identical  with  that 
of  the  Mother  Lode  in  California.  A  California  or 
Colorado  gold  mill  will  save  from  fifty  to  sixty  per  cent 
on  the  plates,  and  the  remaining  values  can  be  saved  in 
the  form  of  concentrates  that  will  run  from  four  hun- 
dred to  five  hundred  dollars  per  ton.  Soon  after  the 
discovery  by  Robbins  and  Rigley,  three  tons  of  the  ore 
were  packed  on  horses  to  a  Huntington  mill,  a  distance 
of  fifty-five  miles.  The  ore  assayed  six  ounces  gold  and 
seven  silver,  and  the  yield  was  four  ounces  fine  gold 
and  three  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  of  concentrates. 
These  latter  were  shipped  to  Tacoma  and  gave  returns 
from  the  smelter  of  one  hundred  and  forty  ounces  of 
gold  and  sixty-three  ounces  of  silver, — a  gross  value 
of  two  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars  per  ton.  The 
saving  was  fully  ninety  per  cent  of  the  values. 

The  vein  is  cross-cut  in  two  places.  The  first  claim 
located  was  the  far-famed  Big  Buffalo.  The  vein  is 
exposed  for  over  a  hundred  feet  northerly  from  the  first 
cut  on  the  Big  Buffalo,  and  one  hundred  feet  southerly 
from  the  second  cut  on  the  Merrimac,  showing  a  con- 
tinuous ore  body  three  hundred  feet  in  length  by  an 
average  width  of  thirty-five  feet.  It  may  be  safely  pre- 
sumed that  in  this  ore  body,  should  the  vein  hold  to  a 
depth  of  one  hundred  feet  of  the  same  character  of  ore, 


352 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


there  will  be  in  sight  seventy-five  thousand  tons,  having 
a  gross  value  of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. Captain  De  Lamar  offered  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars  for  the  Big  Buffalo  group  after  having  the  prop- 
erty thoroughly  experted.  The  offer  was  refused. 
Spokane  capitalists  finally  purchased  the  group  for  five 
hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  making  a 
cash  payment  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  This  is 
the  largest  sum  ever  paid  for  an  undeveloped  prospect. 
In  pursuance  of  the  terms  of  the  bond,  the  syndicate 
controlling  these  claims  are  expending  fifteen  thousand 
dollars  per  month  in  actual  development  work. 

Over  three  hundred  mining  locations  have  already 
been  made  within  a  radius  of  ten  square  miles  of  the 
original  discovery  on  the  Hump  since  August,  1898.  In 
the  opinion  of  one  of  the  most  competent  experts  in 
the  state,  no  one,  however  skeptical,  can  doubt  the 
permanency  of  these  ledges.  There  are  thousands  of 
tons  of  pay  rock  lying  above  the  surface,  and,  according 
to  the  authority  quoted,  of  better  grade  gold  ore  than 
is  now  being  milled  in  any  of  the  gold  districts  of  South 
Africa,  Nova  Scotia,  California,  Utah,  Dakota  or  Colo- 
rado. 

I  cannot  do  better,  in  closing  this  brief  glance  at  the 
history  of  Grangeville  and  the  great  mineral  belt  tribu- 
tary to  the  city,  than  to  quote  a  portion  of  the  recent 
speech  made  by  the  Hon.  A.  F.  Parker  before  the 
Portland  Chamber  of  Commerce: 

"The  Clearwater  and  Salmon  river  country,"  said  that 
authority,  "may  very  properly  be  considered  as  the 
mother  of  gold  in  the  northwest.  On  tributaries  of  these 
rivers  were  discovered  in  1860  the  rich  placer  camps  of 
Pierce  City,  Elk  City,  Florence,  Warrens,  and  the  rich 
bars  bordering  on  these  streams,  from  which  probably 
five  hundred  million  dollars  of  gold  have  been  produced 
from  that  date  on  in  a  more  or  less  desultory  way, 
owing  to  our  isolation  and  distance  from  railroads,  for 
the  past  twenty  years  and  alwavs  with  profit.  There  is 
no  more  promising  field  for  prospecting  and  investment 
than  the  Clearwater  and  Salmon  river  country.  It  has 
gold  mines,  fine  farm  lands  and  unlimited  stock  ranges, 
and  will  eventually  develop  into  the  richest  and  most 
thickly  populated  part  of  the  northwest  interior." 

The  head  of  dry-land  navigation  to  the  Bitter  Root 
and  Salmon  river  mining  camps  is  Grangeville.  The 
city  almost  owes  its  origin  and  certainly  its  growth  to 
the  fact  that  in  the  past  it  has  been  the  most  convenient 
point  of  access  for  investors  and  mine  owners  to  meet 
on  the  common  basis  of  Central  Idaho's  mineral  wealth. 
Recent  revelations  concerning  the  richness  of  this  belt 
explain  the  happy  choice  of  site  for  founding  the 
metropolis  of  Camas  prairie. 

Within  ten  miles  gold-bearing  quartz  has  been  found 
on  the  Clearwater.  This  discovery,  made  less  than  a 
month  ago,  is  assuming  an  importance  that  will  de- 
mand notice  from  the  mining  world  in  the  near  future. 
Scarce  twenty  miles  from  the  city  of  Grangeville  winds 
the  Salmon  river,  from  the  banks  of  which  reports  of 
gold  discoveries  arrive  with  increasing  frequency,  as 


more  men  pour  into  that  temperate  region.  Many  of 
these  prospectors,  while  testing  the  river's  bed  and 
banks  as  a  method  of  putting  in  their  time  until  Buffalo 
Hump  has  shed  its  fifteen-foot  mantle  of  snow,  have 
at  time  of  writing  made  discoveries  that  bid  fair  to 
throw  the  Big  Buffalo  find  into  the  shade.  A  placer 
proposition  always  possesses  superior  popularity  to 
quartz,  however  rich  returns  the  latter  may  yield  under 
assay,  and  in  like  degree  free-milling  quartz  with  gold 
glistening  beneath  the  naked  eye  will  outrank  refrac- 
tory ore  of  possibly  better  final  values.  Free  gold  is 
the  Salmon  river  slogan. 

Forty-five .  miles  separate  the  Robbins  mining  dis- 
trict from  Grangeville.  They  are  not  easy  miles  to 
brave  in  winter.  Prospectors  with  experience  in 
Alaska  prefer  the  Chilkoot.  The  novel  theory  advanced 
by  trading  points  more  than  a  hundred  miles  dis- 
tant, that  the  trip  is  simplified  the  farther  away  from 
the  Hump  a  start  is  made,  is  more  amusing  than 
attractive. 

In  the  first  place,  Grangeville  is  a  mining  center. 
The  wealth  of  the  district  is  concentrated  here,  and 
the  people  are  possessed  of  extensive  knowledge  not 
only  of  the  country  but  the  needs  of  prospective  set- 
tlers. The  prospector  will  obtain  reliable  information, 
based  upon  actual  experience,  concerning  seasons,  dis- 
tances, and  the  time  required  to  make  the  trip.  A 
stranger  can  learn  more  of  trails,  roads,  and  the  topog- 
raphy of  the  country  by  talking  with  Grangeville  men, 
in  one  day,  than  he  could  learn  in  a  month  of  aim- 
less exploration. 

Grangeville,  so  long  lacking  railroad  and  transpor- 
tation facilities,  will  soon  be  the  terminus'  of  two 
systems.  The  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Com- 
pany has  already  made  its  survey,  obtained  right  of 
way  and  secured  deeds  for  depot  grounds.  Large  forces 
of  men  are  at  work  along  the  Snake  river  section 
of  the  line,  and  as  soon  as  spring  opens  they  will 
push  on  up  the  Clearwater  and  onto  the  great  Camas 
prairie,  which  is  an  agricultural  belt  about  twenty-five 
by  thirty-five  miles  in  extent.  A  country  as  fertile 
and  magnificent  as  the  broad  fields  of  the  Sacramento 
and  San  Joaquin  valleys. 

The  Northern  Pacific  has  made  surveys  and  is  grad- 
ing within  less  than  fifty  miles  of  Grangeville  and 
is  operating  within  twenty-six  miles  of  the  town.  It 
is  claimed  by  the  best  informed  on  the  subject  that 
this  system  will  have  trains  running  into  Grangeville 
by  November  of  the  present  year  (1899).  With  rail- 
roads to  transport  farm  products,  mining  machinery 
and  supplies,  lumber  and  live  stock  from  the  boundless 
ranges  of  this  territory,  Grangeville  ought  to  be,  within 
a  brief  space,  the  metropolis  of  Idaho. 

THE    BANK    OF    GRANGEVILLE. 

This  is  a  private  banking  institution  which 
opened  its  doors  for  business  in  1891.  It  is 
owned  by  the  well  known  banking  and  mercan- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


353 


tile  firm  composed  of  John  P.  Yollmer,  of  Lew- 
iston,  and  Wallace  Scott,  of  Grangeville.  It  is 
the  agency  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Lewis- 
ton,  and  for  its  capital  has  the  backing  of  the 
entire  wealth  of  the  firm,  easily  estimated  at  one 
million  dollars,  thus  making  it  one  of  the  strong- 
est institutions  in  the  northwest.  Wallace  Scott 
is  its  manager  and  Martin  Wagner  its  cashier, 
and  it  does  a  general  banking  business. 

THE    BANK    OF   CAMAS    PRAIRIE. 

This  institution,  which  is  located  at  Grange- 
ville, was  incorporated  in  August,  1892,  with  a 
capital  stock  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Since  its 
organization  it  has  paid  a  dividend  of  ten  per 
cent  per  annum  and  has  now  (1899)  a  surplus  of 
five  thousand  dollars.  The  bank  building  is  a 
brick  structure,  twenty-five  by  fifty  feet,  which 
was  erected  for  the  special  purpose  in  1898.  The 
interior  is  furnished  with  what  are  known  as  the 
Andrews  fixtures,  in  polished  oak,  and  has  fire- 
proof vaults  and  a  Diebold  patent  safe  of  solid 
steel,  weighing  sixty-five  hundred  pounds,  with 
triple  time-locks.  The  officers  of  the  bank, 
elected  on  its  organization,  were  F.  W.  Ketten- 
bach,  president;  A.  Friedenrich,  vice-president, 
and  W.  W.  Brown,  cashier.  They  have  since 
continued  to  occupy  their  respective  positions, 
and  in  1898  John  Norwood  was  elected  assistant 
cashier.  A  general  banking  business  is  carried 
on  and  the  institution  is  in  a  flourishing  condi- 
tion. 

NAM  PA. 

This  village  of  about  eight  hundred  inhabitants 
is  situated  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  state  on 
the  Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad,  at  the  junction 
of  the  railway  to  Boise  and  also  of  the  railway  to 
Silver  City.  The  first  residence  at  this  point  was 
built  in  1885,  by  Alexander  Duffes,  who  indeed 
was  the  founder  of  the  village,  platting  the  town 
upon  his  land,  ever  since  which  time  he  has  been 
one  of  the  most  prominent  factors  in  its  upbuild- 
ing. Among  the  most  prominent  early  business 
men  here  were  John  E.  Stearns,  Benjamin  Wall- 
ing and  B.  Grumbling,  and  since  their  advent,  in 
the  order  mentioned,  the  town  has  enjoyed  a 
steady  growth.  There  are  ten  or  twelve  good 
brick  business  blocks  here  at  the  present  time, 
two  hotels,  three  church  edifices, — Episcopalian, 
Presbyterian  and  Baptist, — a  large  brick  school- 
house  and  many  fine  residences.  All  branches 


of  trade  are  creditably  represented.  A  capacious 
steam  fruit-evaporator  has  been  constructed, 
which  goes  far  toward  enhancing  the  market 
value  of  fruits  raised  in  the  vicinity. 

Nampa  is  surrounded  by  an  extensive  tract  of 
rich  land,  on  which  fruit,  grass  and  grain  grow 
profusely.  It  is  particularly  well  adapted  to 
fruit  culture.  The  Boise  &  Nampa  Irrigation 
Company  have  constructed  a  large  canal  to  the 
city,  from  which  a  district  twenty-seven  miles 
long  and  six  miles  wide  is  amply  supplied  with 
water.  Besides  the  operation  of  the  railroads 
already  mentioned,  the  building  of  others  is  con- 
templated, and  it  is  believed  that  Nampa  is  des- 
tined to  become  a  large  railroad  center  and  a 
city  of  considerable  importance. 

GENESEE, 

The  following  interesting  account  of  the  city 
of  Genesee  and  its  attractions  is  an  extract  from 
a  most  attractive  souvenir  and  finely  illustrated 
edition  of  the  Genesee  News,  issued  in  February, 
1898: 

Genesee  is  situated  at  the  terminus  of  the  Spokane 
&  Palouse  branch  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway, 
and  its  history  dates  from  the  advent  of  the  iron  horse 
in  May,  1888.  It  is  therefore  but  little  more  than  a 
decade  since  the  "first  house"  was  erected,  by  J.  S. 
Larabee.  The  growth  of  the  town  has  been  truly 
remarkable  during  this  brief  period  of  time.  Its  rapid 
growth  was  due  to.the  richness  of  the  country  tributary. 
A  town  cannot  advance  in  substantial  growth  ahead  of 
the  life  sources  which  nourish  it.  It  is  the  design  of 
this  edition  to  substantiate  our  claim  that  Genesee  is 
not  a  mushroom  growth  but  a  substantial  town  re- 
flecting in  its  schools,  churches,  handsome  residences 
and  large  business  blocks,  the  wealth  of  the  country 
tributary  thereto.  The  same  appearance  of  thrift  and 
prosperity  which  characterizes  the  town  is  apparent  in 
a  marked  degree  in  the  country.  Nice  farm  houses 
and  good  outbuildings  are  the  rule  rather  than  the 
exception. 

With  eastern  people  contemplating  a  change  of  resi- 
dence, other  things  being  equal,  good  school  and  church 
privileges  are  prime  factors  in  deciding  their  choice  of 
a  location.  In  these  matters  Genesee  meets  the  require- 
ments. Our  public  schools  are  graded  and  thoroughly 
systematized  and  efficient  teachers  are  employed.  A 
private  school  is  also  conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  the 
Catholic  church.  Of  churches  there  are  five.  School, 
church  and  social  privileges,  both  in  city  and  country, 
are  good,  although,  of  course,  the  country  being  new 
the  rural  districts  have  their  Imitations.  For  the  pur- 
suit of  knowledge,  our  young  people  who  desire  a 
higher  education  are  highly  favored,  having  almost  at 


354 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


their  very  door  the  University  of  Idaho,  at  Moscow, 
and  State  Normal  School  at  Lewiston.  Thus  those 
who  bring  their  sons  and  daughters  among  us  are  not 
depriving  them  of  any  educational  privileges  and  may 
even  be  bringing  them  in  closer  touch  with  educational 
work.  Our  teachers  are  required  to  have  a  high  stand- 
ard of  attainments  and  show  their  qualifications  for  the 
work  by  rigid  examinations. 

Genesee  is  essentially  a  social  and  fraternal  town, 
having  lodges  of  the  Masonic  order,  Odd  Fellows,  with 
camp,  Knights  of  Pythias,  Woodmen  of  the  World, 
Young  Men's  Institute,  Ancient  Order  of  Pyramids, 
G.  A.  R.  and  W.  R.  C.,  Rathbone  Sisters,  Rebekah, 
besides  an  athletic  association  and  a  company  of  militia. 

In  population  the  city  numbers  about  1,200.  It  is 
beautifully  situated.  The  residence  portion  is  largely 
built  on  several  large  hills,  at  the  foot  of  which  lies 
the  main  street  and  business  part  of  the  town.  The 
location  is  not  only  sightly  but  hygienic,  having  a  good 
natural  drainage,  which,  while  it  does  not  remove, 
reduces  the  liability  of  sickness. 

The  city's  finances  are  in  excellent  shape,  its  only 
obligation  being  in  the  form  of  bonds  for  one  thousand 
dollars  for  the  purchase  and  improvement  of  a  public 
park.  This  indebtedness  could  be  obliterated  and  add 
but  little  to  the  rate  of  taxation.  No  town  in  the  west 
can 'make  a  better  showing  in  financial  affairs,  and  few 
are  as  free  from  debt.  Not  only  is  the  city  free  from 
debt  but  there  is  plenty  of  money  in  the  several  funds 
for  all  the  requirements  of  city  government.  The  gov- 
ernment of  the  city  is  in  the  hands  of  capable  men  of 
affairs. 

KETCHUM. 

The  town  of  Ketchum  is  located  upon  a  beau- 
tiful site  at  the  terminus  of  the  branch  of  the 
Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad,  twelve  miles  north 
of  Hailey.  The  nucleus  of  the  town  was  started 
in  1880,  and  for  several  years  it  was  a  nourishing 
mining  town;  but  the  great  decline  in  silver  has 
worked  adversely  and  the  place  now  comprises 
only  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants, 
who,  however,  are  as  intelligent  and  hospitable  as 
any  community  in  the  United  States. 

There  are  in  the  town  a  fine  large  brick  school- 
house,  several  good  brick  stores  'and  the  large 
plant  of  the  Philadelphia  Mining  &  Smelting 
Company,  which  cost  nearly  one  million  dollars. 
To  this  point  is  a  daily  train  service  from  the 
Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad;  Wood  river  flows 
majestically  by,  a  delightful  mountain  stream 
containing  an  abundance  of  trout;  and  there  are 
in  the  vicinity  many  rich  silver  and  lead  mines. 
Being  surrounded  by  high  mountains,  the  scen- 
ery in  every  direction  is  decidedly  picturesque. 
Deer  and  other  large  game  abound  in  the  wilds. 


At  Ketchum  is  a  good  hotel,  owned  and  con- 
ducted by  Paul  P.  Baxter,  and  after  him  is  called 
the  Baxter  Hotel.  This  host  and  his  good  wife 
spare  no  pains  in  their  efforts  to  give  a  cozy  and 
comfortable  home  to  all  their  guests. 

HAILEY. 

This  ambitious  and  prosperous  town  is  the 
county-seat  of  Elaine  county.  It  is  located  in 
the  Wood  river  valley,  sixty  miles  north  of  Sho- 
shone,  five  thousand,  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  on  a  branch  of  the 
Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad.  The  site  is  on  a 
plain  almost  level,  a  mile  and  a  half  wide  and 
thirty  miles  long,  beautifully  nestling  among  the 
mountains.  Only  a  mile  from  Hailey  are  the 
celebrated  Hailey  hot  springs,  the  resort  of  in- 
valids afflicted  with  mineral  poisons  or  rheumatic 
troubles. 

The  Hailey  land  district  of  the  United  States 
originally  comprised  about  nineteen  million 
acres,  of  which  less  than  half  had  been  surveyed 
in  1888,  seven  years  after  the  founding  of  the 
town.  Nearly  all  this  land  is  in  Elaine  and  Cas- 
sia counties,  and  is  specially  rich  in  qualities  re- 
quired by  horticulture,  agriculture  and  live  stock. 
Sixty  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre  have  been 
raised  without  irrigation,  and  other  cereals, 
fruits  and  vegetables  in  the  same  proportion.  The 
greater  part  of  the  land,  however,  requires  irri- 
gation; but  the  creeks  are  plentiful,  and  a  large 
river  present,  so  that  irrigation  and  the  watering 
of  the  live  stock  are  very  practicable.  When 
sufficiently  watered,  the  soil  produces  crops 
threefold  larger  than  those  of  the  eastern  states. 
To  farmers  seeking  homes  in  the  west,  no  por- 
tion of  Idaho  presents  more  natural  advantages 
or  promises  more  substantial  benefits  than  this 
part  of  the  state.  In  recent  years  the  sheep  in- 
dustry has  wonderfully  developed  in  this  vicin- 
ity. Hailey  is  therefore  a  great  wool-shipping 
point,  and  from  seven  hundred  and  fifty  to  one 
thousand  cars  of  lambs  and  sheep  are  shipped 
annually.- 

But  the  "backbone"  of  industrial  prosperity 
here  is  the  mining  interest,  which  seems  literally 
infinite,  the  operation  of  the  mines  varying,  how- 
ever, with  the  varying  prices  of  the  respective 
minerals.  Among  the  principal  mines  in  this  lo- 
cality we  may  mention  the  Tiptop,  Crcesus,  Min- 


u 

tj 
H 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


355 


nie  Moore,  Camas  No.  2,  Queen  of  the  Hills, 
Idahoan,  Mayflower,  Bullion,  Parker,  Triumph, 
Jay  Gould,  Eureka,  Red  Cloud,  Bay  State,  Pass, 
Red  Elephant,  Idaho  Democrat,  War  Dance, 
Elkhorn,  Carrie  Leonard,  Stormy  Galore,  North 
Star,  Silver  Star,  Ophjr,  Relief,  Climax,  Nay 
Aug,  Pride  of  Idaho,  Dollarhide,  Jumbo,  King 
of  the  West,  Montana,  Vienna,  Silver  King,  Ty- 
rannis,  etc.  These  and  other  productive  proper- 
ties of  the  valley  and  hills  around  are  capable  of 
sustaining  a  population  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands. 

The  forests  are  "alive"  with  game,  both  large 
and  small,  from  the  ferocious  grizzly  bear  and 
majestic  mountain  lion  down  to  the  ground  squir- 
rel and  innumerable  grouse,  quail  and  other 
birds,  while  the  streams  abound  in  the  delicious 
speckled  beauties  which  the  eastern  disciples  of 
Izaak  Walton  are  compelled  at  the  present  day  to 
travel  hundreds  of  miles  to  see  in  their  native 
element.  Trout  weighing  eleven  and  a  half 
pounds  have  been  caught  here. 

Wood  river  affords  about  two  millions  min- 
ers' inches  of  water,  yielding  an  immense  power 
for  factory  purposes,  a  large  portion  of  which  is 
utilized. 

The  climate  of  this  valley  is  notoriously  de- 
lightful. Jay  Gould,  the  great  capitalist  and 
traveler,  who  was  in  a  position  to  select  the  best 
climate  in  the  world  for  his  own  comfort,  spent 
his  last  summers  on  earth  at  this  point;  Horace 
K.  Thurber's  home  is  here;  and  other  wealthy 
men,  with  their  families,  from  the  east,  have  en- 
joyed their  sojourns  here.  It  is  really  a  favorite 
summer  resort. 

The  town  was  founded  by  Hon.  John  Hailey, 
J.  H.  Boomer,  now  of  Oakland,  California;  W. 
T.  Riley,  and  then  United  States  Marshal  Chase. 
These  gentlemen  began  improvements  in  1880, 
and  settlers  began  to  locate  here  during  the  en- 
suing spring,  first  occupying  tents;  even  the 
merchants  had  their  stores  in  tents;  and  the  place 
has  ever  since  had  a  steady  growth,  varying  but 
little  with  the  times.  The  population  has  grown 
to  fifteen  hundred.  The  city  has  a  complete  sys- 
tem of  water-works,  which  furnish  an  ample  sup- 
ply of  pure  mountain  water,  under  a  pressure  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  feet;  electric  light  for 
the  whole  city,  of  the  Brush-Swan  system;  a 
telephone  system,  radiating  from  Hailey  to  all 


the  mines,  smelters  and  mills  within  a  radius  of 
twenty  miles,  and  furnished  by  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain Bell  Telephone  Company;  several  fine  ho- 
tels, of  which  the  Alturas  is  the  principal  one, 
costing  sixty-five  thousand  dollars  and  supplied 
with  every  modern  improvement;  several  sub- 
stantial brick  stores;  beautiful  drives  and  bicycle 
roads,  mostly  natural,  leading  in  every  direction 
to  the  very  ridges  of  the  mountain  chains  and 
through  scenery  which  for  picturesqueness,  rug- 
gedness  and  grandeur  cannot  be  excelled;  sam- 
pling works,  having  a  daily  capacity  of  two  hun- 
dred tons,  where  cash  is  paid  for  the  ore;  two 
newspapers,  the  Wood  River  Times  and  the 
News-Miner,  both  daily  and  weekly,  live  papers 
which  are  effecting  much  good  for  the  commu- 
nity; a  court-house,  costing  sixty  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  is  a  three-story  fire-proof  brick  and 
stone  structure  and  very  commodious  in  all  re- 
spects; one  of  the  best  appointed  school-houses 
in  the  state,  where  the  teachers,  also,  are  the  best 
paid  of  all  in  the  west;  three  church  organiza- 
tions,— Catholic,  Methodist  and  Protestant  Epis- 
copal,— each  of  which  has  a  fine  house  of  wor- 
ship; and  the  most  popular  fraternal  organiza- 
tions are  represented  here  by  the  Freemasons, 
Odd  Fellows,  United  Workmen,  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America,  Good  Templars  and  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  The  Masons  have  a 
chapter  here,  the  Odd  Fellows  an  encampment 
and  a  lodge  of  the  Rebekah  degree,  and  the 
Workmen  a  lodge  of  the  Degree  of  Honor. 

The  intelligence  and  moral  character  of  the 
people  at  Hailey  and  in  the  vicinity  are  conspicu- 
ously above  the  average,  as  many  of  the  immi- 
grants here  are  wealthy  and  cultured  people  from 
the  east. 

In  conclusion  we  quote  a  paragraph  from  a 
local  historian:  "Who  has  not  felt  the  surprise 
akin  to  wonder  at  the  almost  marvelous  growth 
of  whole  regions  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Nebraska  and 
Colorado?  The  lesson  taught  by  the  past  will 
help  the  prudent  man  or  woman  to  build  for  the 
future,  and  a  moment's  thought  will  teach  that 
there  is  no  magic  at  work  in  the  growth  and  de- 
velopment referred  to,  only  the  relentless  march 
of  empire  into  the  west.  The  leviathans  of  old 
ocean  deposit  upon  our  eastern  shores  a  larger 
number  of  immigrants  each  year,  a  great  major- 
ity of  whom  seek  the  western  states,  and,  as  the 


356 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


advantages  offered  them  in  the  newer  sections 
are  known,  overflow  into  them.  Far  out,  al- 
most beyond  civilization,  in  1881,  the  present 
site  of  the  prosperous  city  of  Hailey  was  dotted 
here  and  there  with  a  few  tents,  and  the  writer 
was  hailed  on  his  arrival  as  from  'God's  coun- 
try,' that  is,  the  United  States.  To-day  it  enjoys 
the  reputation  of  being  itself  the  best  part  of 
God's  country!" 

FIRST  NATIONAL   BANK   OF   HAILEY. 

This  bank  was  founded  in  July,  1888,  with  a 
capital  stock  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
by  W.  B.  Farr,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  he 
was  made  its  first  president.  A  private  bank 
had  been  previously  established,  in  1883,  by  T. 
R.  Jones  &  Company,  who  the  next  year  sold 
to  McCormick  &  Company,  of  Salt  Lake  City, 
and  they  sold  to  Mr.  Farr,  who  organized  the 
National  Bank,  as  already  stated.  Mr.  Farr  con- 
tinued to  act  as  the  president  until  October  15, 
1890,  when  R.  F.  Buller  purchased  his  interest, 
and  M.  B.  Loy  was  elected  president.  He  served 
until  January,  1892,  at  which  time  Mr.  Buller 
was  elected  to  the  office,  he  being  the  largest 
stockholder.  Since  he  has  had  the  management 
of  the  concern  it  has  paid  good  dividends  and  it 
now  has  a  surplus  of  twelve  thousand  dollars. 
F.  H.  Parsons  is  its  present  cashier,  and  the  di- 
rectors are  J.  C.  Fox,  F.  H.  Parsons,  M.  Mc- 
Cormick and  R.  H.  Plughoff.  They  do  a  gen- 
eral commercial  banking  business. 
BLISS. 

Application  has  recently  been  made  by  the 
Mullins  Canal  &  Reservoir  Company  for  segre- 
gation, under  the  Carey  law,  of  several  thousand 
acres  of  choice  land  near  the  new  town  of  Bliss, 
on  the  main  line  of  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Rail- 
way. Under  the  wise  provisions  of  this  modern 
land  law  it  is  possible  for  everyone  to  secure  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  including  a  per- 
petual water  right  and  a  proportional  interest  in 
the  canal  system  by  which  it  is  watered,  at  the 
price  fixed  by  the  state  for  the  same.  This  law 
also  protects  the  settler  in  all  his  water  rights  and 
relieves  him  from  the  perpetual  payment  of 
water  rent  except  what  is  actually  necessary  for 
the  keeping  up  of  repairs  and  improvements  on 
the  canal  system. 

The  deeded  lands  belonging  to  this  company, 


and  such  lands  as  are  held  under  the  Carey  act, 
are  all  near  the  town  of  Bliss,  about  one  hundred 
miles  east  of  the  state  capital,  at  an  altitude  of 
three  thousand  feet,  and  having  the  great  ad- 
vantage of  being  the  most  eastern  lands  in  the 
state  within  the  fruit  belt,  having  an  abundance 
of  water  for  irrigation,  with  a  climate  less  op- 
pressive and  hot  in  summer  than  that  farther  west 
in  lower  altitudes,  and  of  more  even  temperature 
and  less  extreme  cold  in  winter  than  is  found 
farther  east  and  north. 

Land  and  perpetual  water  rights,  including 
proportional  interest  in  the  canal,  may  now  be 
obtained  under  contracts  with  the  Mullins  Canal 
&  Reservoir  Company  and  the  state  of  Idaho,  at 
not  to  exceed  twenty  dollars  per  acre,  the  price 
varying  according  to  distance  from  railroad  sta- 
tion, improvements,  etc.  The  terms  of  payment 
are  easy  and  on  long  time,  at  six  per  cent  inter- 
est. 

There  is  little  difference  in  the-  fertility  of  the 
soil,  which  is  very  rich  and  susceptible  of  a  high 
state  of  cultivation  during  the  first  season;  the 
sage-brush,  which  has  little  root,  being  easily  re- 
moved, after  which  the  land  is  as  easily  plowed 
as  old  land  under  cultivation. 

A  large  number  of  ten-acre  fruit  tracts  adjoin- 
ing the  town  plat  of  Bliss  are  being  planted, 
while  the  purchaser  takes  his  choice  of  several 
varieties  of  fruit  selected  by  the  company,  or 
chooses  his  own  land  and  varieties.  Unless  oth- 
erwise directed  they  plant  about  one-half  in  ap- 
ples and  balance  in  prunes,  peaches,  pears,  apri- 
cots and  cherries.  Five  acres  of  each  tract  are 
set  out  with  not  less  than  one  hundred  thrifty 
trees  to  the  acre.  The  company  levels  the 
ground,  sets  out,  cultivates  and  irrigates  the 
trees ,  sprays  and  replaces  all  that  die,  and 
pays  taxes,  charges  and  expenses  of  all  kinds 
from  the  time  of  planting  until  delivered  to  the 
purchaser.  .  The  company  requires  a  payment  of 
one  hundred  dollars  at  the  time  the  contract  is 
made,  and  fifteen  dollars  per  month  for  seventy- 
two  months,  with  interest  at  six  per  cent  per  an- 
num. 

Idaho  not  only  received  the  World's  Fair  gold- 
en medal  for  apples,  but  at  the  Trans-Mississippi 
Exposition  in  1898  was  awarded  more  gold,  sil- 
ver and  bronze  medals  than  any  other  state,  for 
fruit  display. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


357 


The  great  Snake  river,  which  is  only  one  and 
one-half  miles  from  the  new  town  of  Bliss, 
abounds  with  fish,  including  the  sturgeon,  which 
usually  weigh  from  one  to  five  hundred  pounds, 
and  the  salmon,  from  one  to  ten  pounds  each, 
while  the  smaller  streams  and  rivers  are  full  of 
all  kinds  of  mountain  trout.  It  is  considerably 
lower  than  the  table-land  on  either  side,  and 
wherever  it  has  been  possible  to  irrigate  the  nar- 
row fields  along  its  banks  there  are  now  thrifty 
orchards  and  farms  which  have  been  tilled  for 
many  years. 

The  land  which  lies  on  both  sides  of  the  Ore- 
gon Short  Line  Railway  at  Bliss  station,  gradu- 
ally rises  to  the  north  in  a  gentle,  undulating 
slope  for  a  distance  of  twenty  miles  to  the  low 
foothills  which  form  the  border  line  of  the  cele- 
brated Camas  prairies,  a  veritable  paradise  for 
the  stock-raiser.  These  prairies  vary  in  width 
from  five  to  twenty-five  miles,  and  extend  along 
the  foothills  of  the  Sawtooth  mountain  range 
for  a  distance  of  sixty  miles,  the  average  width 
being  about  fifteen  miles. 

A  luxuriant  growth  of  nutritious  native  grass 
is  found  upon  these  prairies,  the  blue-joint  and 
red-top  in  many  places  producing  an  excellent 
crop  of  wild  hay  without  irrigation,  while  the 
large  and  small  bunch  grass  which  grows  upon 
the  adjoining  foothills  cannot  be  excelled  for 
sheep  pasture. 

Responsible  parties  are  now  herding  the  small 
bunches  of  cattle  belonging  to  farmers  in  this 
vicinity  at  one  dollar  per  head  for  the  season, 
taking  them  in  April  and  returning  them  in  De- 
cember, the  feeding  months  in  this  locality  being 
January,  February  and  March.  This  is  an  ex- 
ceptional opportunity  for  the  man  who  wishes  to 
build  up  a  large  stock  business  with  little  trouble 
and  at  the  same  time  use  his  farm  for  winter  feed- 
ing. Lucern  from  ten  acres  will  produce  suf- 
ficient hay  for  the  wintering  of  forty  head  of  cat- 
tle; and  this  plan  will  not  interfere  with  the  rais- 
ing of  all  kinds  of  fruit  in  their  season. 

Because  corn  is  not  considered  a  profitable 
crop  in  this  state,  it  has  been  generally  sup- 
posed until  recently  that  hogs  could  not  be  raised 
here  at  a  profit;  but  this  is  now  conceded  to 
have  been  an  error;  and  those  who  are  experi- 
menting in  this  direction  find  that  alfalfa  or  lu- 
cern  pastures  for  summer,  and  field  peas  with 


steamed  potatoes  and  barley  for  winter  feed  and 
fattening,  will  give  most  excellent  results. 

For  the  purpose  of  irrigating  the  large  body  of 
choice  land  in  the  vicinity  of  Bliss,  the  Mullins 
Canal  &  Reservoir  Company  has  already  com- 
pleted a  canal  nearly  fifteen  miles  in  length  from 
the  Malad  river,  about  five  miles  from  where  it 
empties  into  the  Snake  river  above  the  town  of 
Bliss.  This  canal  is  connected  with  a  system  of 
reservoirs  of  sufficient  size  and  capacity  to  irri- 
gate fully  ten  thousand  acres  of  land.  With 
such  a  reservoir  system  the  main  canal  is  always 
readily  supplied  with  an  even  flow  of  clear  water 
•which  is  not  subject  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  a  tur- 
bulent stream,  and  by  keeping  the  reservoirs  well 
filled  the  farmers  will  always  be  sure  of  a  full 
supply. 

Within  a  distance  of  twenty  miles  from  Bliss 
station,  up  and  down  the  Snake  river,  the  banks 
on  either  side  are  rich  in  gold.  Scores  of  loca- 
tions having  recently  been  made,  many  of  which 
are  now  being  profitably  worked  where  water 
can  be  obtained  from  springs  and  streams  which 
empty  into  the  river,  and  other  rich  placer  ground 
.  is  still  open  for  entry.  A  few  miners  are  now 
using  pumping  plants  or  current  motors  to  raise 
water  from  the  river  to  wash  gold  out  of  the 
gravelly  banks,  many  feet  above  the  river's  chan- 
nel. 

All  the  water  from  the  Mullins  canal  and  reser- 
voir system  can  be  used  (when  not  needed  for 
irrigation)  for  mining  purposes  on  the  placer 
claims  down  the  river  below  Bliss  for  a  distance 
of  ten  or  more  miles,  by  an  extension  of  the 
main  canal. 

Sufficient  electricity  can  easily  be  manufactured 
from  the  immense  water  power  on  the  Snake 
river  near  Bliss  for  all  kinds  of  manufacturing 
industries. 

Within  six  miles  of  this  new  town  are  the  great 
Salmon  Falls,  where  the  entire  Snake  river  drops 
about  twenty-five  feet,  while  nearer  by  are 
springs  of  enormous  size,  with  at  least  four  thou- 
sand second-feet  flow,  which  by  being  piped  one 
thousand  feet  will  give  a  fall  of  over  fifty  feet,  and 
one  large  spring  within  two  miles  of  Bliss  will 
furnish  electricity  for  two  hundred  horse  power. 
Within  ten  miles  of  Bliss  on  the  north  are  the 
famous  Idaho  Hot  Springs,  similar  to  those  at 
Hailey  and  Boise.  These  springs  are  still  in 


358 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


their  natural  state,  without  improvement,  but  as 
they  are  nearer  the  main  line  of  the  Oregon 
Short  Line  Railway  than  any  other  similar 
springs  in  the  state,  and  can  easily  be  connected 
therewith  by  an  electric  line,  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  they  will  soon  be  improved.  The 
temperature  of  the  water  from  these  springs  as 
it  comes  to  the  surface  is  sufficiently  hot  to  boil 
an  egg,  and  its  curative  properties  are  manifold, 
being  especially  beneficial  for  rheumatism  and 
all  diseases  of  the  skin. 

To  those  familiar  with  the  local  conditions  sur- 
rounding Bliss,  it  is  apparent  that  it  has  all  the 
requisites  for  the  making  of  a  prosperous  town 
of  no  mean  proportions.  Situated  twenty-nine 
miles  west  of  Shoshone,  the  county  seat  of  Lin- 
coln county,  and  twenty-three  miles  east  of 
Glenn's  Ferry,  the  nearest  towns  of  any  import- 
ance on  either  side;  on  the  main  line  of  the  Ore- 
gon Short  Line  Railway;  surrounded  by  a  large 
and  extremely  fertile  agricultural  district,  with 
the  finest  stock  range  in  the  state;  silver  and 
copper  mines,  and  thermal  springs,  on  the  north, 
and  the  Snake  river,  with  its  placer  gold  mines, 
great  water  power  and  fish  industry,  on  the 
south;  the  nearest  railroad  station  to  the  great 
Shoshone  Falls;  the  center  of  supplies  for  a 
large  number  of  settlements  off  the  railway, — 
with  all  these  and  many  minor  advantages,  it 
offers  unmistakable  inducements  to  home-seek- 
ers. Already  the  railroad  station,  with  express 
and  telegraph  office,  has  been  opened,  and  stock- 
yards are  built;  a  postoffice,  one  general  mer- 
chandise store,  and  a  good  school,  add  much  to 
the  convenience  and  comfort  of  the  incoming  set- 
tlers. 

MOSCOW. 

The  following  history  of  Moscow  was  written 
by  W.  G.  Emery  in  the  year  1897,  and  was  orig- 
inally published  in  the  Moscow  Mirror.  It  is 
reproduced,  but  with  slight  change,  as  a  worthy 
supplement  to  the  history  of  the  state: 

Standing  on  the  steps  of  Idaho's  university  and 
looking  eastward  across  the  beautiful  town-site  of  Mos- 
cow, with  its  substantial  business  bricks  and  neat 
brown  and  white  cottages  and  elegant  residences 
thickly  clustered  along  the  western  slope  of  a  low, 
rolling  hill,  a  spectator  can  hardly  realize  how  it  ap- 
peared to  the  early  settlers  as  they  first  saw  it  over 
twenty-six  years  ago. 


It  was  as  attractive  probably  then  as  now  but  its 
beauty  was  wild  and  untrammeled  and  the  undulating 
hills  were  covered  with  luxuriant  grasses.  No  roads 
traversed  the  rolling  prairies,  save  an  occasional  Indian 
trail  and  lying  serene,  and  undisturbed  beneath  the 
shadow  of  Moscow  mountain,  no  wonder  it  secured  its 
first  name,  Paradise  Valley.  One  evening  early  in 
March,  1871,  one  of  our  oldest  settlers,  Asbury  Lieu- 
alien,  "struck  camp"  at  a  spot  not  far  from  where 
the  Imbler  house  now  stands.  He  found  here  an 
abandoned  shanty  which  had  been  put  up  by  a  couple 
of  immigrants  named  Haskins  and  Trimbell,  and  im- 
pressed alike  by  the  picturesqueness  of  the  scenery 
and  the  richness  of  the  soil,  as  evidenced  by  the  abun- 
dance of  forage,  he  determined  to  locate  here  a  claim 
and  build  for  himself  a  home  that  would  insure  him 
a  prosperous  old  age.  The  nearest  house  was  at  Lew- 
iston,  in  those  days  a  little  settlement,  about  thirty 
miles  southward.  Eastward  from  Moscow  mountain 
lay  a  wild  and  unbroken  timber  country  where  virgin 
forests  extended  to  and  beyond  the  grim  and  tower- 
ing crests  of  the  unexplored  Bitter  Root  range.  To 
the  north  was  an  almost  equally  unsettled  country, 
there  being  but  two  houses  between  Paradise  Valley 
and  Spokane  Falls.  To  the  west,  one  hundred  miles 
away,  was  Walla  Walla,  at  that  time  the  principal 
supply  post  of  this  sparsely  settled  inland  empire  and 
the  site  of  the  only  flouring  mill  between  Portland 
and  St.  Paul. 

The  homestead  located  by  Mr.  Lieuallen  is  situated 
about  three  miles  east  of  Moscow  and  here  he  farmed 
till  the  early  part  of  the  year  1875.  In  the  mean  time 
a  number  of  other  settlers  had  located  claims  in  his 
vicinity  whose  names  as  taken  from  the  records  of 
the  Pioneer  Association  of  Latah  County  were  William 
Ewing,  John  Russell,  James  Deakin,  George  W.  Tomer, 
Henry  McGregor,  Thomas  Tierney,  William  Taylor, 
William  Calbreath,  John  and  Bart  Niemyer,  John 
Neff,  James  and  Al  Howard,  Reuben  Cox,  O.  H.  P. 
Beagle,  James  Montgomery  and  probably  a  few  oth- 
ers, whose  names  have  been  lost  in  the  lapse  of  years. 

In  1872  the  first  mail  route  was  established  in  this 
section  and  the  post-office  was  situated  about  one 
mile  east  of  Moscow  and  called  Paradise  post-office. 
The  mail  was  then  carried  from  Lewiston  on  horse- 
back by  Major  Winpey.  In  May,  1875,  Mr.  Lieuallen, 
at  the  urgent  request  of  his  neighbors,  decided  to 
establish  a  little  store  at  some  convenient  point  and 
having  purchased  from  John  Neff  that  tract  of  land 
extending  westward  from  the  present  Main  street  for 
one-half  mile,  he  erected  a  little  one-story  building  on 
the  vacant  lot  just  north  of  Kelley's  jewelry  store, 
laid  in  a  small  stock  of  merchandise  and  christened 
the  embryo  village,  and  thus  Moscow  was  started 
on  the  road  to  future  prosperity.  He  hauled  his  goods 
from  Walla  Walla,  then  the  nearest  railroad  point,  and 
that  was  reached  only  by  Dr.  Baker's  "rawhide  road." 
Two  ordinary  wagon-boxes  would  have  held  his  entire 
stock  in  the  store,  but  the  prevailing  prices  made  up 


o 


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to 

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1 


O 

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i-l 


I 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


359 


In  size  for  the  smallness  of  the  stock.  Five  pounds  of 
flour  sold  for  one  dollar,  brown  sugar  was  fifty  cents 
per  pound,  common  butts  and  screws  were  fifty  cents 
per  pair  and  everything  else  in  proportion.  But  at 
Lewiston  prices  were  infinitely  worse.  Some  of  our 
older  settlers  will  remember  paying  C.  C.  Bunnell 
one  dollar  for  one-half  a  joint  of  stovepipe,  although 
a  whole  joint  could  be  bought  for  fifty  cents.  He 
charged  fifty  cents  for  cutting  it  and  had  half  left. 
In  1877  the  post-office  was  moved  to  Moscow  and 
located  in  a  little  shed  in  the  rear  of  Lieuallen's  store, 
he  becoming  Moscow's  first  postmaster.  The  office 
furniture  consisted  of  a  boot-box,  about  the  size  of  a 
.half-bushel,  which  Postmaster  Lieuallen  used  as  a 
receptacle  for  the  mail.  This  box  is  still  preserved 
as  one  of  the  relics  of  the  early  history  of  Moscow. 
About  this  time  John  Benjamin,  now  at  Kendrick, 
Idaho,  put  up  a  little  "shack"  and  opened  a  black- 
smith shop,  and  a  little  box  house  was  torn  down 
and  moved  over  from  the  former  Paradise  post-office 
and  put  up  on  a  little  knoll  which  was  just  back  of 
Zumhoff  &  Collins'  present  blacksmith  shop.  This 
was  afterward  remodeled  and  moved  on  to  William 
Hunter's  lot  adjoining  I.  C.  Hattabaugh's.  The  only 
other  building  the  village  contained  was  an  old  log 
barn,  which  may  yet  be  seen  standing,  just  south  of 
the  fair  grounds,  on  the  John  Niemeyer  place.  In 
June,  1877.  came  the  Joseph  Indian  war.  At  the  first 
alarm  the  settlers  with  their  families  sought  safety 
in  temporary  forts  and  stockades  that  were  hastily 
constructed  as  a  protection  against  the  raids  of  the 
treacherous  redskins.  Moscow's  first  stockade  was 
built  near  the  residence  formerly  occupied  by  J.  S. 
Howard,  who  died  in  the  early  '8os.  The  permanent 
stockade  was  built  where  part  of  Moscow  now  stands, 
back  of  the  residence  of  John  Russell  and  now  the 
residence  of  Mrs.  Julia  A.  Moore.  The  stockade  was 
built  out  of  logs  from  six  to  ten  inches  in  diameter, 
set  on  end  in  the  ground  close  together.  They  were 
hauled  from  the  mountains  six  miles  distant  and  at 
a  time  when  it  was  taking  a  man's  life  in  his  hands 
to  make  a  trip.  These  old  posts  may  yet  be  seen 
along  the  road  to  the  south  of  the  Moore  residence. 
Here  about  thirty  settlers  '  and  their  families  spent 
many  anxious  days  and  nights.  The  greatest  danger 
was  from  the  Coeur  d'Alene  Indians  of  'the  north 
joining  their  forces  with  those  of  the  wily  leader  of 
the  Nez  Perces  and  making  a  raid  on  the  settlers, 
who  were  very  poorly  supplied  with  arms  and  more 
poorly  supplied  with  ammunition.  But  through 
the  efforts  of  their  chief,  who  was  always  peace- 
ably disposed  toward  the  whites,  and  the  timely 
assistance  of  the  good  Father  Cataldo,  the  mission 
priest,  they  were  held  in  check.  In  the  meantime  the 
United  States  troops  and  volunteers  pressed  the  hos- 
tile Joseph  and  his  warriors  so  hard  that  they  re- 
treated across  the  old  Lo-Lo  trail  to  Montana,  where 
they  were  finally  captured.  The  very  scarcity  of  set- 
tlers in  this  section  caused  the  savages  to  turn  their 


attention  southward  toward  Grangeville  and  Mount 
Idaho,  where  there  were  more  scalps  and  plunder  to 
be  obtained.  By  way  of  digression  one  little  incident 
of  this  war  may  be  mentioned,  as  it  concerns  one  of 
the  most  estimable  ladies  of  Moscow  who  was  also 
one  of  our  earliest  pioneers.  Herself,  husband  and 
little  child,  a  boy  about  ten  years  of  age,  and  another 
settler  and  family  were  fleeing  from  near  the  south- 
ern portion  of  the  county  to  Mount  Idaho  for  a  place 
of  safety.  En  route  they  were  surrounded  by  a  band  of 
the  bloodthirsty  cut-throats  and  at  the  first  fire  her  hus- 
band fell,  mortally  wounded.  Calling  his  little  son  to 
his  side  he  told  him  to  slip  away  if  possible  and 
go  for  assistance.  The  little  fellow  succeeded  in  elud- 
ing the  savages  and  made  his  way  to  Mount  Idaho, 
thirty  miles  distant.  Early  next  morning  a  score  of 
avenging  settlers  arrived  at  the  scene  of  the  fight,  but 
too  late  except  to  succor  his  mother,  who  had  been 
shot  through  both  limbs  and  left  for  dead;  the  others 
had  all  been  killed.  Tenderly  she  was  conveyed  to 
the  settlement  and  in  time  recovered  from  her  wounds. 
She  has  since  married  and  Mrs.  Eph.  Bunker  is  known 
and  respected  by  all.  Her  little  boy  is  now  a  man, 
and  who  is  better  known  to  the  boys  who  call  him 
friend  than  Hill  Norton? 

The  first  sawmill  in  the  Paradise  valley  was  about 
six  miles  northeast  of  Moscow,  owned  by  Stewart  & 
Beach,  but  it  was  soon  moved  away.  Just  at  the 
close  of  the  Nez  Perce  war,  R.  H.  Barton,  our  pres- 
ent efficient  postmaster,  arrived  in  the  Palouse  coun- 
try, bringing  with  him  a  portable  sawmill,  which  he 
hauled  all  the  way  from  Corine,  Utah,  with  an  ox 
team.  He  settled  in  the  foot-hills  six  miles  east  of 
Moscow  and  here,  together  with  S.  J.  Langdon  and 
Jack  Kump,  succeeded,  after  many  difficulties,  in  man- 
ufacturing lumber  late  in  the  fall  of  1878. 

In  the  meantime  Hi.  Epperly  bought  out  the  inter- 
est of  Kump  who  returned  to  Utah,  and  these  three 
men  continued  in  the  business  over  two  years,  saw- 
ing all  the  lumber  used  in  Moscow  at  that  time, 
including  the  lumber  used  in  building  our  first  hotel, 
erected  by  Mr.  Barton.  'On  the  same  ground  where 
stood  the  Barton  House,  afterward  burned  down,  there 
now  stands  that  magnificent  structure  known  as  "The 
Moscow." 

By  this  time  several  had  pitched  their  tents  in  Mos- 
cow, among  them  Curtis  and  Maguire,  who  had  wan- 
dered ^here  distributing  eyeglasses  among  the  mem- 
bers of  our  little  community,  collecting  thereon  their 
usual  commission.  Attracted  by  the  many  natural 
advantages  of  the  locality,  they  built  a  little  box  house 
where  the  Moscow  National  Bank  building  now  stands, 
and  were  ready  for  business.  St.  George  Richards 
had  also  built  on  the  lot  just  south  of  Miss  Farris' 
millinery  store,  and  kept  a  stock  of  drugs  in  the 
front  room.  The  stock  consisted  principally  of  a 
barrel  of  old  Bourbon  and  a  few  bottles  of  Hostet- 
ter's  stomach  bitters. 

Early   in    the   spring   of  the   following   year   W.    J. 


360 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


McConnell,  our  ex-governor,  visited  Moscow  and,  im- 
pressed with  the  richness  of  the  country  and  its 
future  possibilities,  bought  out  Mr.  Curtis  and  went 
into  partnership  with  Mr.  Maguire,  under  the  firm 
name  of  McConnell,  Maguire  &  Company.  This  new 
firm  at  once  proceeded  to  erect  a  large  and  commo- 
dious store  on  the  corner  of  Second  and  Main  streets, 
where  now  stands  the  Moscow  National  Bank.  The 
store  was  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  deep,  with  a 
thirty-foot  frontage,  and  was  stocked  with  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars'  worth  of  goods.  The  people  in  the  sur- 
rounding country  were  greatly  encouraged  at  the  sight 
of  this,  at  that  time,  mammoth  store,  and  from  that 
time  on  the  town  began  to  grow  rapidly.  When  this 
store  was  complete,  Moscow  had  the  immense  popu- 
lation of  twenty-five.  The  news  of  the  great  store 
at  Moscow  spread  everywhere  and  people  from  all 
parts  of  the  Potlatch  and  Palouse  country  flocked  to 
Moscow  to  do  their  trading,  and  it  is  no  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  to  no  other  men  living  in  Moscow 
is  the  town  so  much  indebted  for  its  present  size  and 
flourishing  condition  as  to  ex-Governor  McConnell 
and  J.'  H.  Maguire.  Dr.  H.  B.  Blake,  Moscow's  first 
physician,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor  arrived  during 
the  year  1878,  and  James  Shields  and  John  Kanaley 
came  in  the  fall.  John  Henry  Warmouth  had  started 
a  hotel  on  the  present  site  of  the  U.  S.  Store,  and 
also  kept  whisky  for  "medical  purposes."  Shields 
and  Kanaley  boarded  with  him;  Splawn  and  How- 
ard had  built  a  saloon  where  the  Commercial  Bank 
building  now  stands,  and  A.  A.  J.  Frye  had  a  small 
house  on  the  present  site  of  the  Commercial  Hotel, 
and  "Hog"  Clark  kept  a  butcher  shop  on  the  lot 
now  occupied  by  the  drug  store  ot  Hodgins  &  Rees. 
They  often  amused  themselves  by  shooting  holes 
through  the  ceiling  of  Howard's  saloon  or  taking  a 
shot  at  the  whisky  bottles  on  the  rude  shelves,  and 
by  way  of  variation  Scott  Clark  would  proceed  to 
paint  the  town  red  until  someone  would  yell  "Indians" 
when  Clark  would  at  once  subside.  The  next  sum- 
mer, that  of  1879,  there  were  but  three  families  living 
in  Moscow.  R.  H.  Barton  had  moved  to  the  north 
Palouse  and  engaged  in  the  sawmill  business  with 
Jerry  Biddison.  leaving  Dr.  Reeder,  Asbury  Lieuallen 
and  A.  A.  J.  Frye  to  hold  the  fort.  While  Barton 
was  living  in  Moscow,  and  before  he  went  to  the 
Palouse,  he  had  been  keeping  boarders;  Johnson's 
family  had  in  the  meantime  come  out  from  the  east 
and  were  working  with  Biddison  on  the  Palouse,  and 
so  when  Barton  went  to  Palouse  to  go  into  the 
sawmill  he  sent  the  Johnsons  to  Moscow  to  attend 
to  the  boarding  house,  which  they  did  till  the  spring 
of  1880,  when  one  morning  Barton  got  up  and  found 
the  dam  had  washed  out  and  all  his  logs  floated  down 
the  river  to  Palouse  City.  Being  disgusted  with  the 
turn  affairs  had  taken,  he  came  back  to  Moscow  and 
built  the  old  Barton  House  and  also  a  livery  stable, 
where  the  handsome  Skatteboe  brick  now  stands. 
The  old  wooden  building  was  moved  back  and  became 


a  part  of  the  Red  Front  stables.  Moscow  did  not 
grow  much  during  the  summer  of  1879.  James  Shields 
had  gone  into  the  implement  business  in  a  building 
later  occupied  by  Kelly  &  Allen,  and  this  was  after- 
ward torn  down  to  make  room  for  the  handsome 
brick  in  which  the  James  Shields  Company  now  have 
their  quarters.  When  he  opened  business  he  had 
in  stock  two  wagons,  half  a  dozen  plows  and  a  sec- 
ond-hand standing  plow-coulter.  Barton  bought  the 
coulter  for  what  he  would  have  to  pay  for  a  first- 
class  breaking-plow  nowadays  and  traded  for  one 
wagon  which  he  in  turn  traded  to  Splawn  for  the 
house  and  lot  adjoining  his,,  being  a  portion  of  the 
ground  now  occupied  by  the  Hotel  Moscow.  About 
this  time  C.  &  M.  C.  Moore  built  the  Peerless,  after- 
ward the  Moscow,  roller  mill,  which  was  located  just 
west  of  the  ball  park  and  was  destroyed  by  fire  about 
four  years  ago.  This,  together  with  the  noted  McCon- 
nell &  Maguire's  store,  gave  the  town  a  start,  and  it 
has  been  growing  ever  since,  except  in  1884,  when 
Moscow  became  almost  bankrupt,  owing  to  the  col- 
lapse of  Villard  and  the  failure  to  complete  the  rail- 
road into  the  growing  city.  Before  this  the  residents 
of  Moscow  and  vicinity  had  to  go  to  Palouse  City 
for  flour,  and  of  course  that  diverted  from  this  place 
a  great  deal  of  trade  that  rightly  belonged  here. 

People  who  come  to  our  city  to-day  have  but  little 
conception  of  the  hardships  and  difficulties  which  fell 
to  the  lot  of  the  early  settlers.  All  the  grain  had  to 
be  hauled  to  Wawawai  and  shipped  by  boat  down  the 
Snake  river,  and  all  other  products  had  to  be  sent 
the  same  way.  Freight  rates  were  exorbitant  and 
prices  for  grain  were  low,  while  everything  brought  in 
was  almost  worth  its  weight  in  money.  Had  this  not 
been  one  of  the  richest  and  most  productive  coun- 
tries in  the  world,  every  one  would  have  been  bank- 
rupt. But  Moscow  continued  to  steadily  increase  in 
population  and  wealth  till  1890,  when  her  position 
as  one  of  the  leading  cities  of  the  state  was  assured. 
From  that  date  to  the  summer  of  1893  was  witnessed 
a  prosperous  and  growing  city  and  a  happy  and  con- 
tented people,  and  these  three  years  will  long  be 
remembered  as  the  time  during  which  Moscow  reached 
the  high-water  mark  of  prosperity.  Everybody  made 
money  and  everyone  had  money,  and  the  volume  of 
business  transacted  here  during  that  period  was  enor- 
mous. Among  the  great  business  enterprises  which 
were  rapidly  building  up  fortunes  for  their  owners 
at  that  time  may  be  mentioned  the  elegantly  furnished 
and  palatial  store  of  the  McConnell-Maguire  Company, 
who  had  built  up  a  business  which  any  Chicago  or 
New  York  house  might  justly  have  been  proud  of; 
the  magnificent  establishment  of  Dernham  &  Kauf- 
mann,  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Main  and  Third, 
they  carrying  at  that  time  a  one  hundred  thousand 
dollar  stock,  the  largest  amount  of  goods  in  any  store 
in  the  Palouse  or  Potlatch  country;  the  mammoth 
business  of  the  M.  J.  Shields  Company,  which  taxed 
to  its  utmost  capacity  their  three-story  brick,  with 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


361 


its  one  hundred  and  sixty  foot  frontage;  this  com- 
pany was  also  owner  of  the  electric-light  plant  which 
lighted  the  city,  the  Moscow  planing  mill,  which  gave 
employment  to  fifty  skilled  mechanics,  and  was,  besides, 
interested  in  five  large  giain  warehouses  outside  of 
Moscow;  and  the  Chicago  Bargain  House,  an  exclus- 
ive dry-goods  store  owned  by  Messrs.  Creighton  & 
Company  who  had  just  moved  into  their  new  and 
commodious  quarters  in  the  Skatteboe  block.  Many 
other  lesser  business  houses  and  corporations,  too 
numerous  to  mention  at  this  point,  were  flourishing 
and  all  combined  to  make  Moscow  one  of  the  wealthy 
cities  of  the  northwest,  and  the  wealthiest  in  Idaho. 
With  individuals  and  with  cities  prosperity  is  no  test 
of  stability,  and  it  was  destined  that  Moscow  should 
pass  through  the  refining  and  crucial  test  of  adver- 
sity, crop  failures,  and  business  depression  before  we 
could  prove  to  the  world  and  to  ourselves  that  the 
superstructure  we  had  reared  was  as  solid  and  per- 
manent as  the  foundations  laid  by  the  pioneers  of 
the  '/os.  In  the  fall  of  1893  a  long  continued  wet 
season  caused  almost  the  entire  loss  of  our  staple 
product,  the  wheat  crop,  and  to  make  matters  worse 
there  was  a  complete  demoralization  in  prices  on  all 
products.  Wheat  dropped  from  eighty-five  cents  per 
bushel  to  fifty  cents,  then  down  lower  and  lower  till 
it  seemed  that  it  would  be  a  drug  on  the  market. 
Debtors  were  absolutely  unable  to  meet  their  obliga- 
tions, the  farmer  had  no  money  to  pay  his  bills,  the 
smaller  concerns  could  not  settle  their  accounts  with 
the  wholesale  houses  and  money  could  not  be  bor- 
rowed, even  though  gilt-edge  security  was  offered. 
The  panic  spread  to  large  cities,  and  business  houses 
of  long  standing  and  established  credit  toppled  and 
fell  into  ruins,  carrying  with  them  many  smaller  firms. 
Banks  everywhere  were  compelled  to  close  their  doors. 
In  Portland  there  were  seven  bank  failures  recorded 
in  one  day.  A  number  of  our  business  houses  were 
driven  to  the  wall,  but  the  most  far  reaching  failure 
of  all  was  that  of  one  of  our  largest  and  most  import- 
ant establishments,  the  McConnell-Maguire  Company. 
In  1894  and  1895  wheat  was  quoted  in  Moscow  as 
low  as  twenty-three  cents  per  bushel,  and  it  seemed 
as  though  universal  bankruptcy  was  inevitable,  but 
the  pendulum  of  adversity  had  reached  the  lowest 
point  of  its  arc  and  slowly  but  steadily  it  swung 
onward  and  upward  to  better  prices  and  better  times, 
and  we  had  time  to  draw  a  long  breath  and  find  out 
"where  we  were  at."  One  fact  patent  to  all  was  that, 
though  some  of  our  strongest  props  had  crumbled 
and  fallen,  yet  Moscow  was  still  here,  and,  though 
tried  in  the  crucible  of  hard  times,  had  maintained 
her  title  as  the  Queen  City  of  northern  Idaho.  In 
1806  an  abundant  crop,  with  prices  of  our  staple  prod- 
uct touching  seventy  cents  per  bushel,  brushed  away 
the  last  traces  of  depression.  Along  all  lines  was  seen 
unusual  activity, — old  debts  were  cancelled,  old  scores 
straightened  up  and  new  business  houses  opened  and 
old  ones  enlarged  their  quarters.  Moscow  has  truly 


proven  that,  unspoiled  by  prosperity,  she  can,  un- 
scathed, withstand  the  "slings  and  arrows"  of  adver- 
sity. 

The  county-seat  of  Latah,  and  with  a  population 
of  five  thousand,  Moscow  stands  to-day  the  gem  city 
of  the  northwest  and  is  an  educational  center  of  unsur- 
passed facilities  with  her  public  schools  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Idaho  (described  elsewhere  in  this  volume). 
Nowhere  in  the  northwest  can  be  found  a  more  thriv- 
ing town.  Its  location  is  favorable  to  its  rapid  growth 
and  development,  its  site  being  both  healthful  and 
accessible  to  the  surrounding  country.  The  principal 
business  center  is  on  Main  street.  To  stand  at  the 
north  end  of  this  principal  street  and  look  south  with- 
out having  a  knowledge  of  the  population  of  the  city, 
one  would  think,  judging  from  the  palatial  business 
brick  buildings  to  be  seen,  that  it  might  be  a  city 
of  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  people. 

Socially  speaking,  Moscow  has  no  equal  in  the 
northwest,  for  it  is  a  city  of  cultured  ladies  and  beau- 
tiful, rosy-cheeked  maidens.  During  the  long  winter 
months  there  is  no  dearth  of  amusements. — musicals, 
social  dancing  parties,  theater  parties,  etc.,  follow  each 
other  in  rapid  succession,  and  the  stranger  within 
our  walls  is  always  sure  of  a  pleasant  time  and  a 
hearty  welcome.  There  are  to  be  seen  here  neither 
"finicky"  cliques  that  make  life  a  misery  in  many  of 
the  smaller  cities  nor  the  chilly  exclusiveness  to  be 
found  in  a  metropolis.  Thus  it  may  be  seen  that 
Moscow  is  a  very  desirable  place  to  live.  We  have 
two  railroads,  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Com- 
pany's line  and  the  Northern  Pacific.  (The  Moscow 
&  Eastern  Railroad  Company  has  been  organized 
(1809)  and  will  soon  build  its  line,  which  will  tap  the 
vast  white-pine  timber  belt  of  Idaho,  in  which  it  is  esti- 
mated there  is  1,293,000,000  feet  of  lumber.  This  road 
will  be  an  immense  accession  to  Moscow's  prosperity.) 
The  city  is  well  supplied  with  the  purest  water,  free  from 
all  organic  -and  deleterious  matter  and  derived  from 
artesian  wells  situated  within  the  city  limits.  The  cli- 
mate is  delightful  and  healthful,  and  within  a  short 
drive  of  mountain  or  forest  is  situated  our  beautiful 
city.  These  are  environments  especially  appreciated  by 
invalids  and  convalescents,  and  the  benefits  derived 
from  a  residence  amid  this  diversity  of  scenes  is  incal- 
culable. No  epidemic  has  ever  visited  us,  and  no  pre- 
vailing disease  makes  its  home  here.  It  is  a  matter 
of  fact  that  the  longevity  attained  by  many  of  our  citi- 
zens is  greater  in  proportion  to  our  population  than 
in  other  places.  We  are  fanned  by  airs  untainted 
by  malaria  and  we  have  sunshine  and  shadow  in  suffi- 
cient quantity  to  suit  the  most  fastidious.  Between 
the  months  of  March  and  October  the  rainfall  is 
much  less  than  during  the  remaining  months,  when 
we  have  an  abundance  of  rain  and  snow,  often  enjoy- 
ing the  finest  of  sleighing,  and  the  tinkle,  tinkle  of 
the  merry  bells  may  be  heard  night  and  day  for  sev- 
eral weeks  at  a  time.  Our  average  temperature  is 
about  fifty  degrees,  the  thermometer  seldom  register- 


362 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ing  ten  degrees  below  zero  in  the  winter  or  higher 
than  ninety  degrees  in  the  summer.  The  "Chinooks," 
or  warm  winds,  during  the  spring  rapidly  melt  the 
snow,  which  carries  in  its  bosom  a  fruitful  and  refresh- 
ing fullness  to  the  soil.  Finally,  Moscow  is  a  natural 
distributing  point  and  has  a  class  of  business  men 
who  always  work  in  harmony  and  concert  for  the 
upbuilding  of  all  her  interests,  and  she  is  destined  to 
become  a  great  manufacturing  center,  which  will  in- 
crease her  population,  her  wealth,  her  prestige  and 
make  her  a  power  and  producer  among  the  great  cities 
of  the  northwest. 

The  newspapers  of  Moscow  are  duly  considered  in 
the   chapter  devoted  to  the  press   of  the  state. 

Moscow's  first  school-house  was  built  in  1878,  just 
beyond  the  south  Palouse.  It  was  known  as  the  Ma- 
guire  school-house.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  R.  H. 
Barton  was  engaged  to  teach,  and  district  No.  5 
was  supplied  with  its  first  educational  facilities.  But 
this  location  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Moscow,  it  being  nearly  a  mile  from  the  one  store 
the  village  contained,  so  a  petition  was  circulated  to 
move  it  in  closer.  It  was  finally  decided  to  settle 
the  matter  by  a  vote  to  be  held  at  the  school-house, 
as  the  country  people  did  not  wish  to  change  its 
location,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  easier  to  move 
the  town  to  the  school-house.  It  seemed  as  though 
their  wishes  would  prevail,  as  there  were  many  more 
votes  from  the  country  than  from  the  town.  But 
Asbury  Lieuallen  threw  off  his  coat  and  rustled  around 
among  the  floating  population  and  by  running  a  free 
'bus  all  day  between  his  store  and  the  polls,  carried 
the  election.  John  Russell  donated  a  piece  of  ground, 
and  a  new  building  was  put  up  on  the  present  loca- 
tion of  the  Russell  school.  It  was  not  long  before 
the  young  and  growing  city  found  that  this  building 
was  entirely  too  small,  and  those  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  Moscow  early  gave  consideration  to  the 
erection  of  a  public-school  building  capable  of  afford- 
ing accommodation  to  the  school  children  then  resi- 
dents of  the  village,  making  some  allowance  for  any 
increase  that  might  take  place.  Silas  Imbler,  one  of 
Moscow's  beneficent  citizens,  donated  a  splendid  piece 
of  land  on  which  to  place  the  proposed  building.  The 
site  is  most  centrally  located  in  the  northeastern  por- 
tion of  the  city.  At  the  time  of  which  we  are  writ- 
ing it  was  admirably  suited  to  the  convenience  of 
the  residents,  being  equidistant  from  all.  The  new 
building,  finished  in  1883,  was  capable  of  accommo- 
dating one  hundred  and  twenty  pupils,  and  was  thought 
to  be  of  sufficient  size  to  meet  all  the  requirements 
for  the  next  decade.  In  the  meantime  reports  as  to 
the  richness  of  the  country  and  the  productiveness 
of  the  soil  began  to  go  abroad,  with  the  result  that 
the  country  began  rapidly  to  settle,  and  Moscow,  with 
the  neighboring  district,  began  to  take  the  leading 
place  in  northern  Idaho,  so  that  in  1889  the  trustees 
of  the  public-school  found  it  necessary  to  procure 
additional  school  accommodations.  They  immediately 


set  to  work,   had   plans  prepared,    and   soon  the  con- 
tract was  let  for  the  erection  of  the  present   Russell 
school.     The  cost  of  this  structure  was   sixteen  thou- 
sand dollars,  making. in  all  twenty-two  thousand  dol- 
lars  for  school   buildings.  -No   pains   were  spared   to 
make    this    school    second    to    none    in    the    state.     In 
this  endeavor  the  trustees  received  the  hearty  endorse- 
ment  of  the   citizens   of   Moscow.     The   school   furni- 
ture is  all  of  the  most  modern  and  improved  manu- 
facture.    The   interior  of  the   building  is   so   arranged 
that   each   department   can   be   reached   with  the  least 
passible  confusion.     The  different  rooms  are  so  located 
that   each   grade  can  depart   from   the   building  with- 
out intruding  on  the  province  of,  or  coming  in  con- 
tact with,  members  of  other  departments,  thus  avoid- 
ing   the    slightest    confusion.     This    is    borne    out   by 
the  fact  that  the  entire  school,   numbering  over  four 
hundred  pupils,  has  vacated  the  building  in  less  than 
thirty  seconds.     On  the  3d  day   o!  July,    1890,   Idaho 
was  admitted  into  the  Union,,  and  since  that  time  the 
state  has  experienced  a  steady  increase  in  population. 
Moscow  continued  to  keep  the  lead,  so  much  so  that 
during  the   seven  months  of  the   last  school  term  of 
1892,    in    spite   of   her   new   school   building,   she   was 
compelled  to  rent  a  place   of  worship   and   to   utilize 
it  for   a   school   in    which   to    place   over   fifty   of   her 
children.     Many   thought   this   state    of   affairs    would 
not    continue    longer    than    the    end   of   the    term    but 
on   the  reassembling  of  the   school   in   the  fall   it  was 
found  that  the  same  state  of  affairs  existed,  thus  mak- 
ing   it    necessary    for   the   trustees    to    secure    another 
temporary    building.     This    was    found    to    be    impos- 
sible,   so   a  new   room   was   fitted   up    on   the   present 
site   and    the     building,    on     south     Main    street    now 
occupied   by   Emery's  photograph  gallery,   was   rented 
and   as     many     children    placed   therein     as   could   be 
accommodated.     In  spite,  however,  of  the  most  stren- 
uous efforts  the  school  began  again  to  be  overcrowded. 
It   was   clearly   seen   that   one   of   two    things   had   to 
be   done — either  to   overcrowd  the  building  they   had, 
thus  making  it  impossible  for  the  teachers  to  do  jus- 
tice to  the  children,  or  to  purchase  property  and  erect 
another  building  to  serve  the  purpose  of  a  high  school, 
thus  taking  from  the  Russell  school  those  pupils  who  had 
passed  the  curriculum  prescribed  by  the  board  and  were 
prepared  to  enter  a  higher  grade  and  more  advanced 
course   of   study.     They   chose   the   latter   course,   and 
purchased    a    tract    on    Third    street    for    which    they 
paid   about   four   thousand    dollars.       The    plans    had 
already   been   prepared   and    the   contract   was   let   for 
over    twenty    thousand     dollars,    exclusive    of     school 
furniture   and   heating   apparatus.        This   building,   as 
finished,    is    of   hard    brick,    with   a    stone   foundation. 
It   is   fitted   up   with   the   most   modern   improvements 
and    is    constructed    according   to   the    most   approved 
principles,   both  for   sanitary   arrangements  and  venti- 
lation.    Although  the   capacity   of   this   school   is   four 
hundred  and  twenty-five  pupils,  the  same  old  trouble 
has  been  worrying  the  trustees  for  the  last  two  years. 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


363 


The  two  large  school  buildings  have  been  crowded 
to  their  utmost,  as  well  as  a  smaller  building  occu- 
pied exclusively  by  primary  pupils. 

The  schools  are  divided  into  eleven  grades,  each 
in  charge  of  an  experienced  and  competent  teacher. 
The  greatest  care  is  exercised  by  our  trustees  in  select- 
ing teachers,  and  none  but  those  who  show  a  mas- 
tery of  the  subjects  essential  to  a  sound  education, 
and  also  an  adaptation  to  teach,  find  a  place  in  our 
public  schools. 

The  University  of  Idaho  is  located  in  Moscow  and 
is  an  institution  which  is  a  credit  to  the  state.  It 
is  fully  described  on  other  pages  of  this  work. 

The  Presbyterian  church  of  Moscow  was  organized 
January  25,  1880,  by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Gamble,  who 
served  the  church  only  about  a  year.  The  society 
is  in  most  excellent  working  condition  and  has  taken 
a  place  as  one  of  the  leading  churches  of  Moscow. 

The  First  Baptist  church  of  Moscow  was  organized 
August  6,  1876,  at  Paradise  Valley  school-house  by 
Rev.  S.  E.  Stearns,  who  supplied  the  church  once  a 
month  as  the  pastor  for  about  two  years.  The  old 
church,  built  in  1878,  was  for  some  years  the  only 
house  of  worship  in  the  town.  In  1897,  feeling  the 
need  of  more  room,  the  old  building  was  torn  down 
and  a  handsome  edifice  erected  in  its  place. 

The  Christian  church  was  organized  in  the  old 
Maguire  school-house  by  Elder  D.  B.  Matheny  and 
in  this  vicinity  he  was  the  first  to  preach  the  gospel 
as  taught  by  the  people  known  as  the  Disciples  of 
Christ.  Fifteen  years  ago  Elder  C.  J.  Wright  reor- 
ganized the  work  in  Moscow  and  built  up  a  member- 
ship of  over  two  hundred.  After  his  departure  the 
work  ceased  and  the  church  pYactically  disbanded  till 
the  winter  of  1888,  when  Elder  William  McDonald 
again  reorganized,  and  continued  to  preach  till  the 
following  June.  In  the  spring  of  1890  Elder  William 
F.  Caroden  took  charge  and  perfected  the  organiza- 
tion. In  1891  a  church  edifice  was  erected  and  serv- 
ices were  first  held  in  it  on  February  14  of  that  year 
by  Elder  L.  Rogers  assisted  by  James  Sargent,  since 
which  time  there  has  been  a  constant  growth  in  mem- 
bership. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  church  of  Moscow  was 
organized  August  8,  1881,  by  Rev.  Calvin  M.  Bryan, 
with  a  membership  of  about  twenty.  After  a  two-years 
pastorship  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Theodore  Hoag- 
land,  by  whom  their  first  church  was  built,  in  1883-4, 
on  a  tract  of  land  donated  by  Henry  McGregor. 
The  society  has  an  excellent  edifice  and  also  a  par- 
sonage. 

The  Episcopal  church  was  established  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Gill  in  1888.  Previous  to  this  time,  however, 
Rev.  J.  D.  McConkey,  who  was  located  at  Lewiston, 
made  a  number  of  visits  to  Moscow  and  preached  here 
in  the  interest  of  this  church.  The  present  church 
was  built  about  the  year  1892. 

The  Swedish  Lutheran  church  was  organized  about 
1886  by  Rev.  P.  J.  Carlson,  who  had  charge  of  this 


work  till  1891.  During  this  time  the  present  church 
was  erected. 

The  Norwegian  Methodist  church  was  established  in 
1886  by  the  Rev.  Carl  Erickson,  and  the  present  place 
of  worship  was  built  about  1888. 

The  Catholic  church  of  Moscow  was  organized  in 
1882  by  Father  Teomitie.  Their  present  building  was 
erected  in  1886  by  Father  Hartleib. 

The  Dunkards  have  an  organization  here  and  a 
house  of  worship,  but  we  have  been  unable  to  secure 
the  data  in  regard  to  its  early  history. 

The  Seventh  Day  Adventist's  church  was  organized 
in  1890  and  a  building  erected  by  Rev.  Scales. 

RESOURCES  OF  LATAH  COUNTY. 

In  writing  a  history  of  the  thriving  city  of  Moscow, 
it  is  necessary  to  speak  of  the  varied  resources  of  the 
surrounding  country,  of  which  it  is  the  principal  re- 
ceiving and  distributing  center.  Latah  county  con- 
tains within  its  limits  the  most  favored  section  of  what 
is  known  as  the  famous  Palouse  country,  widely  known 
for  its  genial  climate,  picturesque  scenery  and  wonder- 
ful productiveness  of  soil.  The  western  and  southern 
portions  of  the  county  are  a  rolling  prairie  under  thor- 
ough cultivation.  The  products  are  wheat,  flax,  bar- 
ley, oats,  beans,  hay,  fruit  and  vegetables.  At  the 
present  time  the  cereals  are  the  principal  crops, 
although  the  other  products  are  encroaching  each 
year  upon  the  grain  acreage  and  gradually  reducing 
it.  The  fruit  industry  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  but  is 
growing  with  great  rapidity.  In  the  southern  portion 
of  the  county,  where  the  altitude  is  the  lowest,  the 
orchards  are  more  advanced,  having  been  planted 
earlier,  but  in  the  remote  northern  part  peaches  have 
been  raised  very  successfully  and  the  yield  of  apples, 
pears,  prunes,  peaches,  plums,  apricots,  cherries  and  the 
smaller  fruits  is  certain  and  simply  enormous.  The 
trees,  unless  securely  propped,  break  down  almost 
every  year  with  the  weight  of  their  yield.  All  this 
part  of  Latah  county,  contiguous  to  Moscow  is  an 
empire  within  itself  and  constitutes  one  of  the  rich- 
est agricultural  countries  in  the  world.  Wheat  aver- 
ages thirty-five  bushels  per  acre,  barley  and  oats  forty 
to  fifty,  and  flax  fifteen  to  twenty  bushels.  By  care- 
ful cultivation  there  are  many  who  produce  greater 
yields  than  the  average.  In  this  section  no  irrigation 
whatever  is  required,  the  natural  rainfall  being  always 
sufficient  to  insure  bounteous  crops  without  the  ex- 
pense of  establishing  an  artificial  water  system. 

Within  the  confines  of  Latah  county  is  the  greater 
part  of  the  largest  body  of  white  pine  now  standing 
in  the  United  States.  So  far  as  the  examinations 
have  gone  it  is  estimated  that  this  body  of  timber 
contains  the  enormous  amount  of  two  billion  feet  of 
white  pine  and  five  billion  feet  of  other  timber  con- 
sisting of  yellow  pine,  tamarack,  red  and  white  fir, 
and  cedar.  The  title  of  the  greater  portion  of  these 
timber  lands  is  vested  in  the  state  for  the  benefit  of 
educational  and  charitable  institutions.  On  some  of 


364 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


it  claims  have  been  located  and  the  rest  is  subject  to 
homestead  and  timber  entry.  If  this  body  of  timber 
stood  in  any  state  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  there 
would  not  be  a  quarter-section  left  vacant,  but  here 
all  is  different.  Well  worn  trails  traverse  this  dense 
forest  in  every  direction  but  their  only  travelers  are 
the  restless  prospectors  with  their  outfits  seeking  a 
phantom  Klondyke  and  passing  carelessly  by  the  sure 
fortune  that  capital  will  in  the  near  future  glean  from 
this  valuable  tract.  The  importance  and  necessity  of 
opening  up  this  vast  timber  region  to  the  manufac- 
turer, and  the  great  advantages  and  benefits  that 
would  necessarily  accrue  to  this  city  have  of  late  be- 
come so  apparent  to  the  business  men  of  Moscow  and 
vicinity  that  steps  have  been  taken  for  the  early  con- 
struction of  a  railroad  to  and  through  this  forest  of 
untold  value,  upon  no  tree  of  which  the  lumberman's 
ax  has  yet  fallen.  A  company  has  been  incorporated 
under  the  name  of  the  Moscow  &  Eastern  Railway 
Company  and  a  survey  made  from  our  city  to  the 
timber  belt.  This  proposed  road  when  completed  will 
traverse  the  forest  for  a  distance  of  thirty  miles,  thus 
affording  good  mill-sites  along  any  portion  of  this 
distance.  Ten  sawmills  can  be  located  along  this  line, 
with  an  annual  output  of  lumber  that  could  be  safely 
reckoned  at  fifty  million  feet.  In  addition  to  this  there 
would  be  a  large  amount  of  wood,  ties,  shingles,  etc., 
prepared  for  market. 

Long  before  this  county  was  considered  adapted  to 
the  pursuit  of  agriculture,  successful  mining  was  car- 
ried on  within  its  confines.  As  far  back  as  the  '6os 
we  have  record  of  placer  claims  having  been  worked 
along  our  different  water  courses.  Besides  rich  de- 
posits of  gold  and  silver,  there  are  also  valuable  mica 
and  opal  mines  within  its  limits.  It  may  not  be  known 
to  all  that  the  Idaho  exhibit  of  opals,  that  attracted 
such  widespread  attention  at  the  World's  Fair,  came 
from  Latah  county. 

In  1881  a  mine  of  mica  was  discovered  about  thirty 
miles  from  Moscow  by  J.  T.  Woody,  and  in  a  short 
time  a  number  of  other  locations  were  made  in  the 
same  vicinity.  The  principal  placer  mines  in  the  county 
are  situated  in  the  Hoodoo  district,  which  has  been 
worked  for  the  last  thirty-five  years.  Other  mines  be- 
ing worked  successfully  are  on  Jerome  creek,  Swamp 
creek,  Gold  creek  and  many  others  and  in  Howard 
gulch,  Garden  gulch,  Crumrine  gulch  and  others  on 
Moscow  mountain.  The  first  quartz  mill  in  the  county 
was  operated  on  a  ledge  on  Moscow  mountain  and 
owned  by  Dr.  Worthington  and  D.  C.  Mitchell.  In 
1896  a  mill  was  started  in  the  Daisy  mine  on  Jerome 
creek,  which  is  now  on  a  paying  basis.  On  Ruby  creek 
is  a  most  valuable  gold  and  silver  mine  called  the 
Silver  King.  For  years  gold  has  been  taken  from 
the  ledges  of  Moscow  mountain  by  the  arastra  pro- 
cess, and  if  this  mountain  of  wealth  was  situated  in 
some  remote  locality,  difficult  of  access  it  would  be 
considered  a  veritable  Klondyke.  The  Gold  Bug,  Gol- 
den Gate  and  the  Big  Ledge  are  the  principal  mines 
now  being  worked  there. 


MALAD   CITY. 

Oneida  county  was  organized  August  2,  1865, 
and  then  embraced  all  of  southeastern  Idaho 
from  Utah  to  Montana,  and  contained,  in  whole 
or  in  part,  the  counties  of  Cassia,  Bear  Lake, 
Bingham,  Bannock  and  Fremont.  In  1884  the 
present  county  of  Oneida  was  organized,  and  it 
contains  thirty-two  hundred  and  seventy-six 
square  miles,  two-fifths  of  it  being  adapted  to 
farming  purpose,  while  the  remainder  is  used  for 
grazing  or  is  mountainous  land.  Malad  City, 
now  the  county-seat,  was  incorporated  in  1896 
and  now  has  an  excellent  mayor  and  board  of 
trustees.  It  was  settled  in  1864  by  Henry  Peck, 
Louis  Gaulter,  William  H.  Thomas  and  Benja- 
min Thomas,  who  came  here  with  their  families, 
but  all  have  now  passed  away.  There  are  now 
about  eighteen  hundred  people  in  Malad,  two- 
thirds  of  the  population  being  representatives  of 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints. 
They  have  a  large  and  costly  tabernacle,  and  the 
Presbyterians  also  have  a  church  and  school. 
The  Josephites,  or  reorganized  church  of  Latter 
Day  Saints,  likewise  have  a  chapel.  An  inde- 
pendent school  district  has  been  formed  in  the 
city  and  a  large  and  commodious  school-hou(se 
is  now  in  course  of  erection.  There  are  six  gen- 
eral mercantile  stores,  two  drug  stores,  two  meat 
markets,  a  bank,  two  blacksmith  shops  and  a 
large  roller-process,  water-power  flouring  mill, 
with  a  daily  capacity  of  fifty  barrels.  There  is 
also  a  large  new  creamery  for  the  manufacture  of 
butter  and  cheese,  and  a  rag-carpet  weaving  fac- 
tory completes  the  list  of  the  business  industries. 
The  court-house  is  a  frame  building,  well  adapted 
to  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  intended,  and  the 
city  also  supports  a  good  weekly  newspaper,  the 
Enterprise.  Collingsworth,  the  nearest  railway 
station,  is  thirty-five  miles  distant,  and  Malad 
City  is  situated  in  a  beautiful  valley  which  is 
about  ten  by  fifteen  miles  in  extent,  containing 
one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  rich  farming  land, 
well  watered.  Grain  and  hay  are  raised  in 
abundance,  and  cattle  and  sheep  raising  are  lead- 
ing industries  among  the  inhabitants. 

JULIAETTA. 

The  attractive  village  of  Juliaetta  is  located  in 
Latah  county,  on  the  Potlatch  river,  and  its  rail- 
road facilities  are  those  afforded  by  the  Moscow- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


365 


Levviston  branch  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Rail- 
road. The  town  was  founded  and  platted  by 
Robert  Schupfer,  who  had  entered  from  the  gov- 
ernment, in  1878,  the  quarter-section  of  land 
upon  which  the  village  is  located.  He  had  im- 
proved his  farm,  having  built  thereon  a  house, 
located  within  one-fourth  of  a  mile  from  the  pres- 
ent business  section  of  the  town.  The  first  house 
in  Juliaetta  was  built  by  Perry  Thomas,  and  the 
place  now  has  a  population  of  five  hundred.  It 
has  a  fine  large  public-school  building,  while  the 
Roman  Catholic  and  Presbyterian  churches  have 
attractive  edifices.  The  German  Lutherans  also 
hold  services  in  the  village.  Industrially  the 
place  has  four  well  stocked  general  merchandise 
stores,  a  furniture  store,  a  bank,  a  brewery,  a 
bakery,  two  livery  stables  and  a  good  roller- 
process  flouring  mill.  This  mill  is  operated  by 
water  power,  which  is  supplied  by  the  Potlatch 
river,  which  here  flows  swiftly  in  a  narrow  chan- 
nel, affording  a  fine  power,  adequate  for  all  de- 
mands which  may  be  placed  upon  it  by  future 
industrial  enterprises.  The  town  has  a  well 
managed  hotel,  owned  and  conducted  by  Charles 
Snyder,  who  had  the  honor  of  naming  the  village. 
He  had  a  ranch  near  by,  and  there  he  succeeded 
in  having  a  post-office  established,  naming  the 
same  after  his  two  pretty  daughters,  Julia  and 
Etta, — hence  the  name  of  the  town,  Juliaetta, 
since  he  eventually  removed  the  post- 
office  to  the  town,  where  he  opened  a  store,  and 
the  little  village  naturally  assumed  the  cogno- 
men of  the  post-office.  The  place  is  beautifully 
situated  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  amid  the  hills, 
which  add  to  its  healthfulness  and  picturesque 
appearance.  It  receives  its  support  from  a  wide 
range  of  excellent  agricultural  lands,  on  which 
large  crops  of  wheat,  oats,  flax,  hay  and  fine 
fruits  are  raised  each  year.  The  town  was  in- 
corporated in  1892,  its  first  board  of  trustees  hav- 
ing the  following  personnel:  Robert  Shupfer,  J. 
E.  Halleck,  F.  P.  Seigler,  T.  H.  Carither  and 
Charles  Snyder.  The  present  board  is  com- 
posed of  Messrs.  J.  R.  Collins,  F.  Earnest,  J.  L. 
Whettid,  D.  H.  Sutherland  and  M.  P.  Stevens, 
the  last  mentioned  being  the  clerk  of  the  board 
as  well  as  editor  of  the  Juliaetta  Register,  to 
which  due  reference  is  made  in  the  chapter  on 
the  press  of  the  state.  Of  the  fraternal  organi- 
zations the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows 


is  represented  here  by  a  lodge  and  an  adjunct  of 
Daughters  of  Rebekah,  while  there  are  also 
lodges  of  Knights  of  Pythias  and  Star  of  Bethle- 
hem. 

SODA  SPRINGS. 

The  town  in  Idaho  known  by  this  name  is 
situated  on  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad,  in 
Bannock  county,  deriving  its  name  from  a  large 
number  of  mineral  springs  in  the  place  and  in 
the  vicinity,  in  most  of  which  soda  is  present  in  a 
large  proportion.  The  medicinal  properties  of 
these  springs  have  been  found  of  great  value  in 
the  treatment  of  many  of  the  diseases  from  which 
humanity  suffers. 

The  first  settlement  of  the  place,  in  1863,  was 
made  by  a  small  colony  of  dissenters  from  the 
Brigham  Young  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Lat- 
ter Day  Saints.  The  devout  people  who  were 
the  first  settlers  of  Soda  Springs  were  followers 
of  young  Joseph  Smith  and  differed  materially 
in  their  religious  ideas  from  the  main  body  of 
the  church,  and  because  of  their  alleged  disbelief 
were  driven  out  of  Utah.  They  appealed  to 
General  Conners,  at  Fort  Douplas,  for  assistance, 
and  he  with  a  military  guard  conveyed  them  to 
"Old  Town"  Soda  Springs,  supplied  them  with 
rations,  and  left  Captain  Black  with  a  small  de- 
tachment of  soldiers  to  protect  them.  A  treaty 
was  effected  with  the  Indians,  who  agreed  not 
to  molest  them.  They  were  very  destitute  and 
undoubtedly  would  have  perished  had  it  not  been 
for  the  rations  given  them  by  the  soldiers.  Gen- 
eral Conners  had  the  land  surveyed  and  allotted 
to  about  fifty  families  who  had  located  here  at 
this  time,  but  later  most  of  the  families  went 
away,  one  by  one,  and  became  scattered,  and  of 
that  band  of  pioneer  settlers  there  now  remain 
in  the  town  only  Nels  Anderson  and  his  wife, 
William  Bowman  and  Mrs.  C.  Eliason. 

The  town  has  now  about  six  hundred  and  fifty 
inhabitants.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  wide  extent 
of  farming  and  grazing  lands,  and  is  a  point 
where  extensive  shipping  of  sheep  and  cattle  is 
done.  It  has  a  mineral-water  bottling  works, 
the  water  shipped  from  this  place  being  consid- 
ered equal  in  medicinal  effectiveness  to  any  min- 
eral water  in  the  world.  There  are  two  church 
edifices  in  the  town,  one  owned  by  the  Latter 
Day  Saints  and  the  other  by  the  Presbyterians, — 
the  latter  a  very  cosy  stone  edifice,  surrounded 


366 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


by  shade  trees.  There  are  six  general  merchan- 
dise stores  in  the  town,  all  doing  a  good  busi- 
ness, and  those  that  have  been  there  the  longest 
have  met  with  excellent  success.  There  is  a 
water-power  saw  and  planing  mill  there,  as  one 
of  the  leading  industries.  The  town  has  four 
hotels, — one  of  which  is  large  and  pretentious, 
— two  drug  stores  and  two  physicians. 

Mrs.  C.  Eliason,  one  of  the  few  remaining  first 
settlers  of  Idaho  Springs,  gives  this  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  town  came  to  be  settled: 
A  number  of  Latter  Day  Saints  at  Salt  Lake  City 
refused  to  obey  the  mandates  of  President  Brig- 
ham  Young,  and  formed  what  is  called  the  Re- 
organized Church  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints. 
They  planned  and  founded  the  church  after  the 
teaching  of  the  junior  Joseph  Smith,  the  son  of 
the  founder  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter  Day  Saints.  The  leader  of  the  new  or- 
ganization was  Joseph  Morris,  and  its  councilor 
was  a  Mr.  Banks.  They,  with  about  three  hun- 
dred men,  women  and  children,  left  Salt  Lake 
City,  determined  to  worship  God  after  their  own 
hearts.  Going  into  camp  at  South  Weberg,  a 
short  distance  from  Ogden,  they  were  attacked 
by  seven  to  eight  hundred  men  from  Salt  Lake 
City.  They  defended  themselves  until  six  of 
their  number  were  killed  and  many  wounded, 
and  their  ammunition  expended.  They  sent  out 
a  flag  of  truce,  and  the  attacking  party  came  to 
the  camp,  led  by  Mr.  Burton,  who  asked  Mr. 
Morris  whether  he  would  give  up  his  opposition 
to  the  authority  of  Young.  Mr.  Morris  an- 
swered, "Never!"  "Then,"  Mr.  Burton  replied, 
'rwe  will  try  your  God."  Mr.  Morris  asked  to  be 
allowed  to  speak,  and,  the  permission  granted, 
he  said:  "I  have  taught  only  the  truth,  whether 
you  will  receive  it  or  not."  Without  further 
words  Burton  shot  him!  A  lady  who  stood  by 
Mr.  Morris  and  who  tried  to  take  his  part  was 
also  shot;  and  they  also  shot  Mr.  Banks,  the 
councilor.  Mrs.  Bowman  had  said,  "Why  did 
you  kill  that  man?  you  bloodthirsty  hound!" 
Burton  replied,  "No  woman  can  call  me  that  and 
live,"  and  he  shot  and  killed  her  also.  They  then 
took  the  rest  of  the  men  prisoners  to  Salt  Lake 
City,  kept  them  a  day  and  then  released  them, 
and  they  returned  to  their  camp.  "They  were 
ordered  off  from  there,"  continues  Mrs.  Eliason, 
"and  they  were  a  poor,  outcast  people." 


After  the  fight  everything  they  had  was  taken 
and  confiscated,  and  they  could  not  maintain 
their  organization  against  such  disadvantages; 
and  the  men  scattered  and  sought  work  wherever 
they  could  get  anything  to  do.  The  following 
spring  General  Conners  came  to  Fort  Douglas, 
and  to  him  they  went  for  help;  and  he  furnished 
teams  and  moved  them  to  what  is  now  called  Old 
Town  Soda  Springs.  There  he  had  a  survey 
made  and  gave  small  allotments  of  land,  and 
they  dug  holes  in  the  ground  and  covered  them 
with  brush,  and  lived  in  them,  in  great  destitu- 
tion. A  small  detachment  of  soldiers  under  Cap- 
tain Black  was  left  to  protect  them,  and  their 
captain  made  a  treaty  with  the  Bannack  Indians 
to  let  them  live  there  in  peace.  Had  it  not  been 
for  rations  supplied  by  the  soldiers  many  of  them 
must  have  starved. 

This  little  company  of.  soldiers  staid  with  the 
colony  for  about  two  years.  After  a  time  the 
colony  broke  up,  some  members  going  to  Car- 
son valley,  some  to  Washington  territory,  or 
Montana,  and  some  back  to  Salt  Lake  City. 
Those  who  remained  built  log  houses  and  began 
to  live  in  comparative  comfort.  Mrs.  Eliason's 
husband,  Arick  Eliason,  raised  a  few  cattle.  With 
a  scythe  he  cut  a  quantity  of  wild  hay  and  sold  it 
for  four  hundred  dollars,  and  that  gave  them 
their  first  little  start.  From  emigrants  who 
passed  that  way  to  Montana  or  to  Boise  basin, 
they  bought  a  pair  of  oxen,  for  one  hundred  and 
sixty  dollars,  and  a  wagon,  for  one  hundred  dol- 
lars. After  this  Mr.  Eliason  cut  tar-wood  in  the 
mountains  and  made  tar,  which  he  took  to  Cache 
valley  and  exchanged  for  provisions  and  other 
necessaries;  and  from  this  time  his  fortunes  im- 
proved, and  by  hard  work  and  indefatigable  in- 
dustry he  became  comparatively  well  off.  He 
died  in  1893,  aged  seventy-six  years. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eliason  were  natives  of  Sweden 
and  were  converted  there  to  the  faith  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints. 
They  arrived  at  Salt  Lake  on  the  5th  of  October, 
1860.  Mr.  Eliason  took  up  a  ground  ranch  near 
Soda  Springs  and  bought  land  in  Montana,  and 
in  1898  his  widow  built  a  nice  little  cottage  in 
Soda  Springs,  where  she  now  resides  in  peace 
and  comfort.  She  has  had  six  children,  namely: 
Caroline,  who  became  the  wife  of  Ed.  Culvert; 
Annie,  now  Mrs.  Henry  Smith;  Joseph,  John, 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


367 


Isaac  and  Jacob.     Most  of  these  sons  are  now 
well-to-do    farmers.        Mrs.    Eliason   is   seventy 

years  of  age. 

FRANKLIN. 

Franklin  is  the  oldest  town  in  Idaho.  It  is 
located  in  Oneida  county  in  the  beautiful  Cache 
valley,  about  one  mile  north  of  the  Utah  state 
line,  and  on  a  branch  of  the  Oregon  Short  Line 
Railroad  about  one  hundred  miles  north  of  Salt 
Lake  City.  When  this  great  state  was  unpeo- 
pled save  by  the  wild  sons  of  the  forest  a  com- 
pany of  brave  and  faithful  members  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints 
made  their  way  to  the  "Gem  of  the  Mountains," 
arriving  at  the  present  site  of  Franklin,  April  14, 
1860.  Around  them  spread  the  lovely  valley, 
and  nature  seemed  to  have  provided  all  that  man 
deems  necessary  to  livelihoo'd.  The  honored 
patriarchs,  Samuel  Rose  Parkinson  and  Thomas 
Smart,  both  still  residing  in  the  town,  together 
with  a  Mr.  Anderson,  were  appointed  to  survey 
the  town,  and  having  no  compasses  they  took 
God's  sure  guide,  the  north  star,  whereby  they 
laid  out  the  lines  of  the  village.  About  fifty 
families  took  up  their  residence  here  in  1860,  and 
the  distribution  of  land  was  by  lot,  five  acres  of 
meadow,  ten  acres  of  upland  and  an  acre  and  a 
quarter  in  the  village  were  given  to  each  man, 
whose  ground  was  assigned  to  him  by  lot,  and 
the  greatest  harmony  prevailed  throughout  the 
distribution.  The  band  of  pioneers  built  modest 
little  log  houses  in  the  form  of  a  hollow  square, 
the  backs  forming  part  of  the  walls  of  the  fort. 
For  some  time  a  guard  was  kept,  for  fear  of  In- 
dian attack.  The  days  brought  privations  and 
hardships,  but  the  little  colony  had  the  most  im- 
plicit faith  in  God,  and  with  great  energy  they 
began  the  task  of  earning  a  living  and  making 
homes  in  the  wild  region.  They  made  ditches 
to  convey  the  water  to  their  lands,  and  not  for- 
getful of  the  intellectual  needs,  in  the  fall  of  1860, 
they  built  a  little  log  school-house, — the  first  in- 
stitution of  learning  in  this  great  commonwealth. 
There  they  also  held  their  religious  services,  and 
prayers  and  songs  of  praise  arose  to  the  God 
they  worshiped.  Those  pioneer  days,  however, 
have  long  since  passed,  and  the  Latter  Day 
Saints  have  erected  a  large  and  well  furnished 
tabernacle,  which  is  surrounded  by  a  grove  of 
beautiful  trees,  and  the  Presbyterians  have  also 


built  a  nice  little  church.  The  school  district  is 
now  erecting  a  laree  brick  school-house ;  a  beau- 
tiful square  has  been  set  aside  to  serve  as  a  park, 
and  progress  and  beauty  are  seen  on  every  hand. 
Fine  shade  trees  abound,  and  almost  every  home 
is  surrounded  by  some  beautiful  specimens  of 
these  monarchs  of  the  forest. 

In  1874  the  railroad  was  built,  the  church  urg- 
ing the  settlers  along  the  line  to  aid  in  making 
the  grade,  so  that  they  contributed  materially  to 
the  success  of  the  enterprise  which  has  thus 
brought  Franklin  into  close  connection  with  the 
outside  world.  A  large  shipping  business  is 
now  carried  on,  sheep,  cattle  and  produce  being 
exported  in  large  quantities.  Most  of  the  citi- 
zens are  farmers,  having  their  homes  in  the  vil- 
lage, with  farms  near  the  corporation.  The  town 
has  a  fine  large  stone  roller-process  mill,  with  a 
capacity  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  barrels; 
an  excellent  butter  and  cheese  factory;  an  exten- 
sive union  store  and  several  smaller  ones,  and  is 
enjoying  a  prosperous  existence.  The  people 
have  remained  true  to  the  faith  of  their  fathers, 
almost  ninety  per  cent  of  the  six  or  seven  hun- 
dred inhabitants  being  members  of  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints. 

PRESTON. 

Preston  is  an  enterprising  business  center, 
with  a  population  of  fifteen  hundred,  and  is  lo- 
cated at  the  upper  end  of  the  beautiful  and  fer- 
tile Cache  valley,  one  hundred  and  ten  miles  north 
of  Salt  Lake  City.  Railroad  communication  is 
obtained  through  a  branch  of  the  Oregon  Short 
Line  Railroad.  The  town  was  platted  in  1885 
by  William  Parkinson,  John  Larson  and  Augus- 
tus Canfield,  and  the  post-office  was  established 
about  the  same  time.  The  growth  of  the  place 
has  been  continuous  and  healthy,  and  Preston  is 
now  the  best  business  center  of  Oneida  county, 
having  many  excellent  enterprises  and  commer- 
cial establishments.  There  is  a  large  wagon, 
carriage  and  farm  implement  store,  three  exten- 
sive and  prosperous  general  mercantile  stores,  a 
clothing  store,  a  harness  shop  and  store,  two 
hotels  and  other  places  of  business  usually  found 
in  a  progressive  town  of  the  west.  There  are 
also  two  good  newspapers.  The  town  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  broad  and  rich  farming  country, 
peopled  by  a  thrifty,  intelligent  and  successful 


368 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


class  of  agriculturists,  who  do  business  in  Pres- 
ton, both  as  purchasers  and  shippers.  The  at- 
tractive residences  of  the  town  are  surrounded  by 
lovely  shade  trees  and  Preston  is  justly  celebrated 
for  its  beauty. 

About  ninety  per  cent  of  the  inhabitants  are 
members  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter 
Day  Saints,  and  they  have  erected  a  large  church 
and  a  splendid  stake  academy,  the  latter  built  at 


a  cost  of  nearly  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Preston 
also  supports  a  well  equipped  and  uniformed 
company  of  the  Idaho  State  Militia,  known  as 
Company  B,  and  composed  of  forty-five  of  the 
representative  young  men  of  the  place.  There 
is  also  a  good  district  school  in  Preston,  and  the 
people  are  an  intelligent,  enterprising  and  pro- 
gressive class,  readily  supporting  all  measures 
and  movements  for  the  public  good. 


Tin  Lewi;  ?i:bli  shine- C 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


AMASA  B.   CAMPBELL. 

THE  rapid  development  of  all  material  re- 
sources during  the  closing  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century  has  brought  business 
enterprises  up  from  the  day  of  small  things  to 
gigantic  proportions,  where  millions  of  dollars 
take  the  place  of  hundreds  and  where  men  are 
required  to  handle  millions  as  coolly,  as  carefully 
and  as  successfully  as  their  grandfathers  handled 
hundreds.  All  the  history  of  the  world  shows 
that  to  grapple  with  all  new  conditions,  to  fill 
breaches  in  all  great  crises  men  have  been  de- 
veloped and  have  stood  ready  to  assume  new 
and  great  responsibilities  and  have  discharged 
them  well  and  profitably.  Many  youths  now  tak- 
ing their  first  lessons  in  practical  business  will 
work  up  gradually  from  one  responsibility  to  one 
higher,  and  then  to  still  higher  ones,  as  did 
Amasa  B.  Campbell,  Idaho's  great  mining  mag- 
nate, and  will  be,  as  he  was,  the  right  man  for 
the  place,  when,  in  the  march  of  advancement, 
the  place  is  ready  and  they  are  needed  in  it. 

Amasa  B.  Campbell  is  a  son  of  John  and  Re- 
becca (Snodgrass)  Campbell,  and  was  born  in 
Columbiana  county,  Ohio,  April  6,  1845.  His 
father,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  died  in  Illinois 
in  1845,  aged  forty-five  years,  and  his  mother, 
whose  life  began  and  ended  in  Ohio,  died  in  1892, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-six.  Mr.  Campbell's  boy- 
hood was  passed  in  his  native  county,  where  he 
attended  public  school  until  he  was  seventeen 
years  old.  Then  he  went  to  Alliance,  Ohio, 
where  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  firm  of  Pettit 
&  Nixon,  commission  merchants,  as  a  clerk. 
There  he  remained  five  years,  gaining  a  thorough 
and  practical  knowledge  of  business  and  the 
methods  best  calculated  to  insure  its  success. 
He  went  west  in  1867,  where  he  was  employed  by 
the  Union  Pacific  Railway  Company  until  1870. 
His  work  here  gave  him  broader  ideas  of  busi- 
ness and  fitted  him  to  consider  larger  and  more 
important  commercial  and  financial  propositions 


than  had  been  represented  to  him  hitherto.  He 
was  drawn  away  from  the  employment,  how- 
ever, by  the  mining  excitement  which  was  then 
beginning  to  make  Utah  the  Mecca  of  venture- 
some men  who  sought  to  achieve  fortune  by  a 
short  cut,  and  he  went  to  the  country  in  1871  and 
was  engaged  in  prospecting  in  Utah,  Colorado 
and  Idaho  until  1882.  At  that  time  he  returned 
to  Ohio  and  located  at  Youngstown,  but,  as 
events  have  proven,  not  with  the  intention  of 
giving  up  mining.  He  remained  there  five  years 
and,  meantime,  in  association  with  John  A.  Finch 
organized  at  Youngstown  a  syndicate  of  capital- 
ists to  purchase  and  operate  mining  property  in 
the  Coeur  d'Alene  country,  Idaho.  Those  who 
are  at  all  informed  concerning  the  mining  his- 
tory of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  district  know  that  Mr. 
Campbell's  enterprises  and  their  successes  have 
made  him  one  of  the  leading  mining  men  of  the 
great  west  and  that  through  his  influence  and 
exertions  some  of  the  greatest  mining  properties 
in  the  world  have  been  developed,  have  yielded 
their  treasures  for  the  enrichment  of  Idaho  and 
the  improvement  of  the  commerce  of  the  nation 
and  have  long  afforded  and  are  now  affording 
profitable  employment  to  thousands  of  men. 

A  self-made  man  in  all  that  the  term  implies, 
Mr.  Campbell  has  won  his  great  success  by  legiti- 
mate methods  and  by  the  exercise  of  sagacity, 
foresight  and  business  capacity  of  the  highest 
order,  and  another  factor  potent  in  his  successes 
has  been  labor,  early  and  late,  hard  and  unceas- 
ing. In  his  views  of  affairs  of  public  moment, 
Mr.  Campbell  is  a  Republican,  adhering  strictly 
to  the  principles  of  that  party  as  enunciated  by 
Abraham  Lincoln.  But  in  Lincoln's  time  the 
silver  question,  as  it  is  now  understood,  had  not 
arisen,  and  Mr.  Campbell  believes,  with  Senator 
Teller  and  other  distinguished  Republicans  of 
the  west,  that  he  made  no  departure  from  Repub- 
licanism when,  as  delegate  to  the  national  Re- 
publican convention,  at  St.  Louis,  in  1896,  he 


369 


370 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


with  Senator  Teller  and  others,  refused  to  sup- 
port the  gold  platform,  and  left  the  convention 
hall.  Mr.  Campbell  has  risen  to  a  high  place  in 
the  Masonic  fraternity.  Education  has  ever 
commanded  his  best  thought,  and  his  dearest 
wish  is  for  the  thorough  and  general  education 
of  the  American  people.  In  recognition  of  his 
interest  in  this  subject,  so  vital  to  our  national 
progress,  he  was  in  1899,  appointed  by  Governor 
Steunenberg  a  member  of  the  board  of  regents 
of  the  University  of  the  State  of  Idaho,  but  fear- 
ing that  his  important  private  interests  would 
prevent  his  giving  due  attention  to  the  duties  of 
this  office  he  declined  it  appreciatively  but  firmly. 
In  1890  Mr.  Campbell  married  Miss  Grace  M. 
Fox,  of  Youngstown,  Ohio,  and  they  have  a 
daughter,  named  Helen.  They  lived  at  Wallace 
from  1890  to  1898,  but  have  since  had  their  home 
at  Spokane,  Washington. 

FRANK   STEUNENBERG. 

Frank  Steunenberg  was  born  in  Keokuk, 
Iowa,  August  8,  1861,  and  in  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  state  acquired  his  literary  educa- 
tion. In  early  life  he  learned  the  printer's  trade, 
and  until  January,  1887,  was  engaged  in  the 
printing  and  publishing  business  in  his  native 
state.  He  then  came  to  Idaho,  locating  at  Cald- 
well,  where  he  began  business  along  the  same 
line.  In  1889  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
convention  that  framed  the  state  constitution, 
and  served  upon  several  of  its  important  com- 
mittees. In  1890  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  house  of  representatives,  on  the  Democratic 
ticket,  from  what  was  then  Ada  county.  He  also 
served  as  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees  of 
Caldwell  for  two  terms. 

In  politics  he  has  always  been  a  Democrat, 
unswerving  in  his  allegiance  to  the  party,  and 
laboring  earnestly  to  secure  the  adoption  of  its 
principles.  Since  his  arrival  in  the  state  he  has 
been  a  prominent  factor  in  its  circles.  He  was 
chosen  secretary  of  the  Democratic  state  central 
committee;  in  1896  he  became  the  nominee  of 
the  People's-Democratic  party  for  the  office  of 
governor,  being  elected  over  the  Republican 
candidate  by  a  good  majority.  In  his  first  mes- 
sage to  the  Idaho  legislature  Governor  Steunen- 
berg called  attention  to  some  abuses  that  needed 
correcting,  and  also  indicated  the  economic  lines 


upon  which  he  meant  to  conduct  the  administra- 
tion of  the  affairs  of  the  state.  This  policy  was 
closely  followed,  and  so  acceptable  were  his 
services  that  in  1898  he  was  renominated  by  the 
bimetallists  of  the  state,  the  Democrats  and  sil- 
ver Republicans,  and  was  elected. 

CHARLES   F.   BURR. 

The  trite  saying  that  "blood  will  tell"  does  not 
depend  for  its  illustration  on  the  achievements 
of  distinguished  members  of  the  family  so  much 
as  upon  the  sum  of  the  achievements  of  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  family  in  all  generations  and  amid 
varying  circumstances,  few  of  which  are  condu- 
cive to  what  the  world  is  pleased  to  call  greatness. 
There  has  been  one  great  man  in  America  named 
Burr  and  there  have  been  countless  representa- 
tives of  the  name  in  many  communities  who  have 
performed  well  their  part  and  added  to  the  sum 
total  of  greatness  by  quiet  work  where  work  has 
been  needed  and  has  counted.  Such  a  man  was 
the  late  Rev.  Samuel  Prentice  Burr  and  such  a 
citizen  is  his  son,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who 
is  more  truly  a  representative  American  than  the 
Burr  whose  name  is  prominent  on  the  printed 
pages  of  our  early  national  history.  And  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Prentice  Burr  and  his  son  Charles 
F.  count  for  only  two  of  thousands  of  the  family 
who  have  made  their  ranks  in  the  communities 
in  which  their  lot  has  been  cast,  and  in  doing  so 
have  advanced  the  interest  of  their  fellow  citizens. 

Judge  Charles  F.  Burr,  an  early  settler  and 
an  influential  resident  of  Genesee,  Idaho,  was 
born  in  Momence,  Illinois,  March  31,  1857,  a  son 
of  Samuel  Prentice  and  Almira  J.  (Evans)  Burr, 
and  lineal  descendant  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Burr, 
who  was  born  in  Redgrove,  Suffolk,  England,  in 
1604.  He  came  to  New  England  in  1639  and 
settled  in  Dorchester,  New  Hampshire.  He  died 
in  1640,  aged  thirty-seven  years.  He  was  the 
founder  of  the  American  family  of  Burrs.  One 
of  his  sons  was  the  progenitor  of  the  branch  of 
the  family  of  which  Aaron  Burr  was  a  member, 
and  another  was  the  ancestor  of  the  family  of 
Burrs  of  which  our  subject  is  a  representative. 

Laban  Burr,  the  grandfather  of  the  Judge,  was 
born  in  New  Hampshire,  and  in  1820  located  in 
Ohio.  In  1821  he  removed  to  Illinois.  The 
Rev.  Samuel  Prentice  Burr  was  born  in  Hing- 
ham,  New  Hampshire,  September  8,  1809,  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


371 


came  west  with  his  father's  family.  He  married 
Miss  Almira  J.  Evans,  a  native  of  Virginia  and 
a  daughter  of  Joshua  Evans,  who  came  of  one 
of  the  old  Virginia  families  and  was  one  of  the 
earliest  pioneers  in  Illinois.  He  was  a  Methodist 
and  a  circuit-rider  of  the  pioneer  days ;  he  spent 
forty-four  years  of  his  life  among  the  pioneers 
and  in  the  service  of  the  new  anu  struggling 
churches  of  Illinois,  and  his  work  was  crowned 
with  signal  and  permanent  results.  After  this 
long  experience  in  Illinois,  he  continued  the  work 
in  Nebraska,  always  busy,  always  achieving,  to 
the  very  day  of  his  death,  which  occurred  sud- 
denly, November  28,  1881,  in  the  seventy-fourth 
year  of  his  age.  He  had  preached  the  day  uefore, 
with  all  his  wonted  energy  and  forcefulness.  He 
is  remembered  as  a  friendly  man  with  a  hand- 
shake and  encouraging  word  for  those  in  trouble 
or  in  doubt,  a  preacher  of  sermons  sound,  vigor- 
ous and  brilliant,  and  a  tireless  worker  in  the 
cause  to  which  he  gave  his  life.  Living,  he  was 
long  and  widely  popular;  dead,  he  will  be  long 
and  widely  mourned.  His  wife  survives  him, 
aged  seventy-four  years.  They  had  eight  chil- 
dren, five  of  whom  are  living. 

Charles  F.  Burr,  their  only  son,  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  of  Illinois  and  followed 
agricultural  pursuits  most  of  the  time  until  1876, 
when  he  came  to  the  Pacific  coast  and  traveled 
extensively  through  California,  Oregon  and 
Washington,  looking  the  country  over  carefully, 
with  a  view  of  changing  his  location.  He  came 
west  to  stay  in  1880  and  for  a  time  was  in  the 
government  employ  at  the  Cascade  locks.  He 
then  went  east  and  settled  up  his  father's  estate, 
and  in  1888  came  to  the  site  of  the  present  thriv- 
ing town  of  Genesee.  He  arrived  April  10  and 
found  just  two  structures  to  foreshadow  the 
future  prosperity  of  the  locality.  One  of  these 
was  a  "shack"  occupied  by  Mr.  Larrabee,  the 
other  was  John  J.  Owens'  little  frame  hotel.  Mr. 
Herman  was  erecting  a  small  building  for  a 
store.  The  possibilities  of  the  locality  were  ap- 
parent to  Judge  Burr  and  he  engaged  in  the  real- 
estate,  loan  and  insurance  business  and  was 
largely  instrumental  in  advancing  the  interests  of 
the  town.  He  was  of  material  assistance  to  its 
business  enterprises,  and  naturally  succeeded  in 
his  own  undertakings.  Besides  handling  real 
estate  he  has  erected  a  number  of  the  good  build- 


ings in  Genesee,  and  in  addition  to  his  local 
interests  he  has  valuable  mining  property  in  the 
Pierce  City  district.  With  others  he  owns  a 
rich  group  of  mines  there,  and  all  are  in  various 
stages  of  promising  development.  Judge  Burr 
was  one  of  the  incorporators  both  of  the  town 
and  city  of  Genesee  and  was  the  first  city  clerk. 
He  has  served  as  its  police  judge  and  justice  of 
the  peace,  and  was  its  postmaster  for  four  years, 
through  the  appointment  of  President  Harrison. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  founders  and  the  cashier 
of  the  Bank  of  Genesee,  and  his  influence  has 
been  exerted  to  further  the  public  interests  in 
every  way.  He  has  always  represented  a  line  of 
the  largest  and  strongest  insurance  companies 
and  has  been  instrumental  in  settling  all  losses 
to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  patrons. 

Judge  Burr  was  married  November  30,  1876, 
to  Miss  Mary  E.  Wigg,  a  native  of  Elgin,  Illinois, 
and  their  children  are  as  follows:  Samuel  P., 
the  eldest  son,  is  now  serving  his  country  in  the 
Philippine  islands  as  a  member  of  Company  D, 
First  Regiment  of  Idaho  Volunteers;  Fannie  is 
now  the  wife  of  Gilbert  C.  Crawford;  William  is 
first  sergeant  of  Company  D,  First  Regiment  of 
Idaho  Volunteers,  now  in  active  service  in  the 
Philippines;  Daniel  C.,  LeRoy,  Dora  B.,  Alta  and 
Marie  are  all  at  home  with  their  parents. 

In  his  political  views  the  Judge  is  a  stalwart 
Republican.  He  has  passed  all  of  the  chairs  in 
all  of  the  branches  of  Odd  Fellowship  and  the 
grand  encampment  and  is  now  serving  his  second 
term  as  representative  to  the  sovereign  grand 
lodge.  He  was  made  a  Master  Mason  in  Unity 
Lodge,  No.  32,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  his  wife  is  an 
influential  member  of  the  Congregational  church. 
He  has  erected  and  occupies  one  of  the  finest  res- 
idences in  the  city,  and  he  and  his  family  are  held 
in  the  highest  esteem  by  a  wide  and  constantly 
enlarging  circle  of  acquaintances. 

JOSEPH  R.  SHEPHERD. 

This  is  an  age  when  the  young  man  is  prom- 
inent. He  is  at  the  head  of  many  important  enter- 
prises and  is  bringing  others  to  the  front  which 
are  bound  to  startle  very  many  who  have  per- 
mitted themselves  to  be  buried  under  superannu- 
ated ideas.  At  an  age  when  the  average  business 
man  of  two  generations  ago  was  considered  but 
a  child,  the  bovs  of  the  end  of  the  century  have 


372 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


acquired  the  foundation  of  a  practical  knowledge 
of  successful  business  methods,  and  with  broad 
ideas,  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  and  opportu- 
nities of  the  age,  are  planning  their  work  for  the 
future  with  a  view  to  achieving  success  and  retir- 
ing early  in  life.  The  west  is  full  of  young 
business  men,  and  Idaho  has  its  share  of  those 
who  have  made  their  marks  early  in  life.  One 
of  these,  the  narrative  of  whose  career  will  serve 
as  an  illustration  pertinent  to  these  remarks,  is 
Mayor  Shepherd  of  the  city  of  Paris. 

Joseph  R.  Shepherd  was  born  in  Hampshire, 
England,  March  18,  1865,  a  son  of  William  and 
Mary  Ann  (Tracy)  Shepherd.  His  parents  came 
of  old  English  stock,  and  his  father  was  a  shoe- 
maker by  trade.  They  became  converts  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter 
Day  Saints,  and  in  1877  they  emigrated  to  this 
country,  bringing  with  them  their  ten  children, 
and  located  at  Paris,  Bear  Lake  county,  Idaho, 
where  Mr.  Shepherd  worked  at  his  trade  until 
he  retired  from  active  life,  and  he  died  in  1898, 
aged  seventy-three.  His  wife  survives  him  and 
is  now  (1899)  sixty-nine  years  old.  He  was  a 
high  priest  in  his  church,  having  done  valuable 
missionary  work  for  it  before  coming  to  the 
United  States,  and  his  exertions  in  its  behalf  were 
continued  with  good  results  after  he  took  up  his 
residence  in  Paris.  His  children,  except  one,  all 
live  in  Paris.  Joseph  R.  Shepherd,  the  seventh 
in  order  of  birth,  attended  school  in  England 
from  his  fifth  to  his  twelfth  year,  when  he  was 
Drought  to  Paris.  Here  he  entered  upon  the 
work  of  earning  his  own  living  as  a  boy  clerk  in 
the  store  of  the  Paris  Co-operative  Institution, 
with  which  concern  he  was  employed  about  five 
years.  He  then  accepted  a  position  with  the 
Wooley  Brothers,  and  was  employed  in  their 
store  about  three  years.  He  was  then  engaged 
as  manager  of  the  co-operative  store  of  the 
town,  and  had  charge  of  all  its  interests 
about  five  years,  during  which  time  he 
bought  and  sold  large  quantities  of  goods. 
In  1891,  in  connection  with  others,  he  organ- 
ized the  Paris  Mercantile  Company,  in  which 
he  was  a  large  stockholder  and  of  which 
he  was  made  business  manager.  At  the 
expiration  of  two  years  he  bought  out  the 
other  stockholders  and  he  has  since  that  time 
owned  and  conducted  the  business  of  the  concern. 


He  deals  in  every  kind  of  merchandise  for  which 
there  is  any  demand  at  Paris,  and  is  a  large 
buyer  of  the  produce  of  the  country  round  about. 
He  is  the  owner  of  the  large  frame  building  in 
which  his  business  is  conducted  and  which  is 
now  too  small  for  its  adequate  accommoda- 
tion, and  is  now  erecting  a  large  double  brick 
block,  with  rock  basement  and  steel  roof,  which 
will  be  as  nearly  fire-proof  as  it  is  possible  to 
make  it. 

He  is  a  man  of  liberal  methods,  who  is  willing 
to  invest  money  to  make  money  and  who  treats 
his  employes  so  generously  that  they  work  for  his 
interests  faithfully  and  tirelessly.  His  public- 
spirited  helpfulness  is  recognized  by  all  his  fellow 
citizens.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republican.  He  was 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  city  of  Paris,  was 
one  of  the  first  councilmen  and  is  its  present  effi- 
cient and  popular  mayor.  All  the  members  of 
his  household  are  members  of  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints.  He  was 
married,  in  1885,  to  Miss  Rose  Budge,  daughter 
of  State  Senator  William  Budge  of  Paris,  and 
they  have  six  children:  J.  Russell,  Alfred  Will- 
iam, Clarence,  David,  Eva  and  Harold. 

WALTER  ALLEN  JONES. 

This  gentleman  is  the  senior  member  of  the 
law  firm  of  Jones  &  Morphy,  of  Wallace,  and 
holds  a  position  of  distinctive  precedence  at  the 
bar  of  northern  Idaho,  by  reason  of  his  eminent 
ability  as  counsel  and  advocate.  He  was  born 
in  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  May  5,  1855,  and  is 
a  son  of  Joseph  D.  and  Catherine  A.  (Kaercher) 
Jones,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  spent  their  entire  lives  in  that  state, 
as  had  their  ancestors  since  early  colonial  days. 
The  father  died  at  the  age  of  forty-five  years,  and 
the  mother  was  called  to  her  final  rest  when 
seventy-three  years  of  age. 

The  subject  of  this  review  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  the  common  schools  of  Pottsville  and 
further  continued  his  studies  in  the  Paschal  Insti- 
tute, at  that  place.  Determining  to  prepare  for 
the  bar,  he  began  familiarizing  himself  with  the 
principles  of  jurisprudence  in  1874,  as  a  student 
in  the  law  office  of  the  Hon.  W.  H.  M.  Oram,  of 
Shamokin,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  at  Sunsbury,  Pennsylvania,  Janu- 
ary 15,  1878,  and  immediately  afterward  began 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


373 


practice,  spending  one  year  in  Mount  Carmel, 
and  then  removing  to  Shamokin,  where  he 
practiced  from  1879  until  the  close  of  the 
year  1885.  In  January,  1886,  he  came  to 
the  Coeur  d'Alene  country  and  took  up  his 
abode  in  Murray,  Shoshone  county,  where 
through  the  summer  he  engaged  in  mining.  Since 
the  autumn  of  that  year  he  has  been  in  active 
practice  in  all  of  the  civil  and  federal  courts  of 
the  state,  and  in  November,  1897,  was  admitted 
to  practice  in  the  United  States  supreme  court, 
and  in  October,  1892,  had  been  admitted  to 
practice  in  the  United  States  circuit  court  of  ap- 
peals, at  San  Francisco,  California.  He  is  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  north- 
west, and  much  important  litigation  has  been  en- 
trusted to  his  care. 

In  politics  Mr.  Jones  was  a  Republican  until 
1892,  since  which  time  he  has  been  identified  with 
the  People's  party.  He  has  been  honored  with 
a  number  of  official  positions, — he  was  elected 
city  auditor  of  Shamokin,  Pennsylvania,  in  1875, 
serving  for  two  years;  in  1879  was  elected 
police  magistrate  of  the  same  city,  and  acceptably 
filled  that  position  for  five  years ;  and  he  received 
the  unanimous  nomination  of  the  Republican 
party  for  state  senator  from  the  fourteenth  dis- 
trict of  Pennsylvania,  but  declined  the  honor 
proffered  him.  In  1886  he  was  elected  district  at- 
torney of  Shoshone  county,  Idaho,  and  during  his 
term  of  service  prosecuted  some  of  the  noted 
criminal  cases  of  the  state.  He  conducted  the 
prosecution  at  the  trial  of  ex-Sheriff  Teddy 
Guthrie  and  of  Patrick  McGown,  county  com- 
missioner, both  of  whom  were  convicted.  In 
1889  Mr.  Jones  removed  to  Wallace  and  con- 
ducted the  litigation  which  arose  from  the  locat- 
ing of  the  town  site  by  Colonel  Wallace.  He  has 
been  elected  city  attorney  of  Wallace  for  four 
successive  terms,  and  in  addition  to  his  official 
duties  has  all  the  time  carried  on  a  large  and 
important  private  practice.  He  prepares  his 
cases  with  great  care  and  precision  and  in  the 
court-room  marshals  his  facts  and  evidence  with 
all  the  ability  of  a  general  on  the  field  of  battle. 
His  manner  is  always  courteous  to  judge,  jury 
and  witnesses,  yet  he  never  loses  sight  of  a  point 
that  will  advance  his  client's  interests,  and  has 
won  many  forensic  triumphs. 

On  the  ist  of  January,  1880,  Mr.  Jones  mar- 


ried Miss  Frances  M.  Thomas,  at  Wilkesbarre, 
in  the  famous  Wyoming  valley  of  Pennsylvania, 
which  was  the  home  of  her  parents  and  had  been 
the  ancestral  place  of  residence  of  the  family  for 
more  than  a  century.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Episcopal  church  and  is  a  cultured  lady  who 
shares  in  the  high  regard  in  which  her  husband 
is  uniformly  held. 

MARCUS  D.  WRIGHT. 

One  of  the  most  successful  and  progressive 
business  men  of  Idaho,  and  the  leading  land- 
owner of  Kootenai  county,  is  Marcus  D.  Wright, 
of  Rathdrum.  He  was  born  in  Kentucky,  April 
16,  1851,  and  is  a  son  of  John  W.  and  Mary 
(Gipson)  Wright,  both  of  whom  were  likewise 
natives  of  Kentucky.  The  father  died  in  Illinois, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-four  years,  but  the  mother  is 
still  living,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven,  and  is  a 
resident  of  Germantown,  Kentucky.  Of  their 
seven  children  six  yet  survive. 

Marcus  D.  Wright  was  reared  in  Kentucky 
and  acquired  his  education  in  the  public  schools 
there.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  left  his  native 
state  and  went  to  Missouri,  making  his  home  in 
'St.  Joseph  until  he  had  attained  his  majority.  In 
1871  he  went  to  Montana,  in  which  state  he 
lived  for  six  years,  and  in  1877  he  removed  to 
Spokane,  Washington.  In  1881  he  came  to  what 
is  now  Kootenai  county,  Idaho,  locating  on  the 
present  site  of  the  town  of  Rathdrum,  with  whose 
interests  he  has  since  been  prominently  identified. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  merchants  of  the  place, 
and  for  thirteen  years  he  has  been  engaged  in 
furnishing  railroad  ties,  under  contract,  to  the 
Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  which  he 
has  supplied  with  more  than  three  million  ties  in 
that  period.  The  period  of  his  mercantile  career 
here  covers  eleven  years.  He  has  a  well  selected 
stock  of  general  merchandise,  and  commands  an 
excellent  patronage  by  reason  of  his  courtesy,  his 
enterprise  and  his  reliable  business  methods.  He 
is  also  the  most  extensive  land-owner  in  Kootenai 
county,  having  four  thousand  acres,  of  which 
eight  hundred  acres  are  planted  to  wheat,  oats, 
hay  and  potatoes.  His  agricultural  interests  add 
materially  to  his  income,  and  the  various  depart- 
ments of  his  business  have  proved  profitable, 
owing  to  his  sound  judgment  and  capable  busi- 
ness management. 


374 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


In  1881  Mr.  Wright  married  Miss  Bertie  Piper, 
a  native  of  California,  and  they  have  eight  chil- 
dren, as  follows:  Florence  A.,  May  W.,  Elida  R., 
Zella  Z.,  John  J.,  Bertie  D.,  Stella  H.,  and  M. 
Gordon. 

In  his  political  adherency  Mr.  Wright  is  a 
Democrat,  and  he  keeps  well  informed  on  the 
issues  and  questions  which  affect  the  public  pol- 
icy and  the  national  welfare.  He  aided  in  organ- 
izing Kootenai  county,  and  served  as  its  first 
collector  and  assessor,  yet  has  never  been  an 
office-seeker,  preferring  to  devote  his  energies 
to  his  business  interests.  He  belongs  to  that 
class  of  representative  American  citizens  who 
promote  the  general  prosperity  while  laboring  for 
individual  success,  and  is  a  man  of  pleasant  de- 
meanor and  genuine  worth,  having  gained  the 
confidence  and  regard  of  all  whom  he  has  met. 

JOHN  COZZENS. 

The  man  whose  name  appears  above  is  one 
of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  Montpelier, 
Bear  Lake  county,  Idaho,  and  is  entitled  to  the 
distinction  of  having  been  a  pioneer  and  a  leader 
of  pioneers  on  the  site  of  the  present  town,  where 
he  first  arrived  a  third  of  a  century  ago  and 
where  he  has  lived  since,  active  in  all  good  works 
tending  to  development  and  prosperity. 

John  Cozzens  was  born  in  South  Wales,  at 
High  Cross,  Penbrookshire,  May  17,  1833,  of 
Welsh,  Scotch  and  Irish  ancestry.  James  Coz- 
zens, his  father,  was  a  farmer  and  a  member  of 
what  was  then  the  Independent  Presbyterian 
church.  His  wife  was  Diana  Thomas.  He  died 
in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  she  at  the 
age  of  forty-two.  They  left  nine  children,  of 
whom  only  three  are  living.  John  Cozzens,  the 
eldest  of  the  family,  was  educated  in  Wales, 
learned  the  butcher's  trade  there  and,  at  the  age 
of  nineteen,  married  Miss  Martha  Cozzens,  a 
distant  relative  and  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Mont- 
pelier. They  were  converted  to  the  faith  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and 
sailed,  the  year  after  their  marriage,  for  America, 
with  Utah  as  their  destination.  That  was  in 
1856.  Mr.  Cozzens  took  up  government  lands 
in  Weaver  valley  and  lived  there  until  the  church 
called  for  volunteers  to  settle  Bear  Lake  valley. 
Then  he  was  one  of  the  fifteen  men,  who  with 
their  families,  responded  to  the  call.  After  stop- 


ping for  a  while  at  Paris,  they  came  to  Mont- 
pelier in  1864.  There  was  not  at  that  time  a 
rod  of  iron  rail  within  the  limits  of  the  present 
county  of  Bear  Lake  and  the  settlers  had  to  go 
seventy-five  miles  for  their  supplies  and  bring 
them  in  with  ox  teams.  They  lived  simply  and 
cheaply  in  the  poorest  apologies  for  log  houses, 
and  had  to  rely  on  the  most  primitive  means  for 
everything.  Mr.  Cozzens  brought  along  a  big 
coffee  mill,  and  this  was  used  to  grind  the  grain 
for  the  colony.  It  was  hard  enough  for  the  pio- 
neers to  procure  the  necessaries  of  life  for  them- 
selves and  their  families,  but  they  fed  the  Indians 
also  when  opportunity  presented,  as  a  means  to 
gaining  and  retaining  their  good  will.  Mr.  Coz- 
zens early  took  up  a  quarter-section  of  govern- 
ment land,  and  most  of  his  companions  secured 
land  in  the  same  way.  He  was  the  president  of 
the  colony  during  the  first  ten  years  of  its  ex- 
istence. For  a  time  the  hardships  and  discour- 
agements were  numerous  and  diversified.  They 
took  the  form  of  early  frosts,  which  killed  every- 
thing that  had  been  planted  and  had  appeared 
above  the  ground,  and  of  crickets  and  grasshop- 
pers, which  destroyed  the  crops  when  the  harvest 
time  approached.  But  the  pioneers  were  patient 
and  were  upborne  by  their  faith.  The  winters 
were  colder  than  any  winters  have  been  in  the 
same  locality  since,  and  this  brought  many  dis- 
comforts. The  mail  was  brought  in  irregularly 
by  men  on  snow-shoes  and  it  was  necessary  to 
burrow  down  under  the  drifts  for  the  fuel  which 
was  indispensable.  But  better  things  came  by 
and  by.  The  wilderness  disappeared,  a  beautiful 
agricultural  country  was  developed  and  a  thriving 
town  grew  up  as  if  by  magic.  Mr.  Cozzens  is 
now  the  owner  of  two  hundred  acres  of  land 
which,  even  if  he  had  nothing  else  to  show  for 
his  years  of  toil  and  self-denial,  would  in  itself 
be  a  small  fortune.  Modern  improvements  and 
appliances  are  to  be  seen  everywhere.  The  pests 
of  the  early  days  are  for  the  most  part  gone.  The 
Indians  are  gone,  but  this  blessing  has  a  shadow. 
The  Indians  formerly  ate  ground-squirrels  in 
such  large  numbers  that  those  pests  were  killed 
and  frightened  off  so  thoroughly  as  to  be  no  ob- 
struction to  successful  farming.  The  squirrels 
have  now  multiplied  to  such  an  extent  that, 
though  many  are  killed  every  year  for  the  bounty, 
paid  by  the  county,  of  two  cents  on  each  tail 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


375 


brought  in,  they  are  numerous  enough  to  de- 
stroy much  grain. 

July  25,  1870,  Mr.  Cozzens  married  Miss  Emily 
Merrill  and  Miss  Sarah  J.  Perkins.  By  his  two 
marriages  he  has  eighteen  children.  Following 
are  the  names  of  his  children  by  his  first  wife: 
Almira,  who  married  D.  E.  Rich  and  lives  at 
Ogden,  Utah;  James  D.,  of  Preston;  William, 
who  is  on  a  mission  to  Kansas  for  his  church ; 
Orrin,  who  has  a  sheep  range  in  the  mountains; 
and  Mark,  Earl  and  Lucille,  who  are  members 
of  their  father's  household.  His  children  by  his 
second  marriage  are  named  as  follows:  John, 
who  is  married  and  lives  at  Meadowville;  Diana, 
Matthew,  David,  Luke,  Joseph,  Paul,  Milton, 
Martha  and  Golden.  Mr.  Cozzens  is  a  Democrat, 
a  man  of  good  business  reputation  and  a  citizen 
of  much  liberality  and  public  spirit. 

WILLIAM   E.   BORAH. 

In  the  "learned  professions"  merit  alone  can 
win  advancement.  When  success  must  depend 
upon  the  various  mental  attributes  of  the  indi- 
vidual, neither  wealth  nor  influential  friends  can 
aid  one  in  the  progress  toward  fame.  The  man 
who  has  attained  prominence  at  the  bar  is  there- 
fore entitled  to  great  credit,  for  as  he  lengthens 
the  distance  between  himself  and  mediocrity 
it  is  the  indication  of  great  zeal,  marked  abil- 
ity, close  application  and  thorough  knowledge. 
It  has  been  through  the  exercise  of  these 
qualities  that  William  E.  Borah  has  attained  a 
position  at  the  bar  that  might  well  be  envied 
by  many  an  older  practitioner. 

He  was  born  in  Fairfield,  Wayne  county,  Illi- 
nois, June  29,  1865,  and  is  of  German  and  Irish 
lineage.  Three  brothers  of  the  name  emigrated 
to  America  in  colonial  days  and  two  of  them 
fought  for  the  independence  of  the  nation,  while 
the  third  was  an  ardent  loyalist.  William  N. 
Borah,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  numbered  among  the  influential  farm- 
ers and  officials  in  his  county  for  many  years. 
He  married  Elizabeth  West,  a  native  of  Indiana, 
and  in  1820  they  removed  to  Illinois,  where  they 
still  reside,  their  home  being  in  Fairfield.  They 
are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  honored 
pioneers  of  the  community,  and  are  widely  and 
favorably  known.  They  had  a  family  of  ten  chil- 
dren, eight  of  whom  are  yet  living. 


Among  this  number  is  William  Edward  Borah, 
of  Boise,  who  was  reared  on  the  old  family  home- 
stead in  Illinois,  aiding  in  the  labors  of  field  and 
meadow  through  the  summer  months,  while  in 
the  winter  season  he  attended  the  district  schools 
of  the  neighborhood.  Later  he  entered  the 
Southern  Illinois  Academy,  at  Enfield,  that  state, 
where  he  studied  for  a  year,  after  which  he  was 
matriculated  in  the  university  at  Lawrence,  Kan- 
sas. He  had  almost  completed  his  course  there 
when  failing  health  forced  him  to  seek  a  change 
of  climate  by  going  south.  When  he  had  suffi- 
ciently recovered  he  came  to  Lyons,  Kansas,  and 
began  reading  law  under  the  instruction  of  A.  M. 
Lasley,  now  of  Chicago.  He  applied  himself 
with  great  earnestness  to  the  mastery  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  jurisprudence,  and  in 
1888  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  was  then 
ready  to  put  his  theoretical  knowledge  to  the 
practical  test, — a  test  which  afterward  fully  dem- 
onstrated his  ability  to  cope  with  the  intricate 
problems  of  the  courts.  He  came  to  Boise  in 
1891,  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession 
and  rose  rapidly  to  prominence,  acquiring  an  ex- 
tensive and  profitable  clientage.  He  now  has  the 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  successful 
lawyers  in  the  state,  having  won  many  notable 
victories  before  judge  and  jury. 

On  the  28th  of  April,  1895,  Mr.  Borah  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mamie  McConnell, 
a  daughter  of  ex-Governor  McConnell,  of  Idaho. 
They  have  a  nice  home  in  Boise  and  their  posi- 
tion in  social  circles  is  very  enviable.  In  politics 
Mr.  Borah  has  always  been  a  stalwart  Republi- 
can; but  in  1896,  not  agreeing  with  his  party  on 
the  position  which  it  took  on  the  money  question, 
he  refused  to  follow  its  leadership  and  joined  the 
ranks  of  the  "silver"  Republicans.  With  great 
power  he  defended  the  cause  of  bimetallism,  was 
nominated  for  congress  on  that  issue  and  con- 
ducted one  of  the  most  brilliant  campaigns  in  the 
history  of  the  state.  The  brilliance  and  force  of 
his  eloquence  soon  became  noised  abroad  and 
wherever  he  spoke  he  attracted  large  audiences 
from  every  class  and  station  in  life.  He  had  the 
power  of  holding  the  attention  of  his  hearers  to  a 
remarkable  degree,  and  though  he  was  defeated 
he  led  his  ticket,  won  hosts  of  friends  and  ac- 
quired the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  ablest 
campaign  orators  in  Idaho.  He  is  a  young  man 


376 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


of  great  promise.  His  close  study  of  the  momen- 
tous questions  of  the  day  and  his  loyalty  to 
America  and  her  institutions  well  fit  him  for 
leadership,  and  both  in  the  field  of  politics  and 
at  the  bar  he  will  undoubtedly  win  still  greater 
successes  in  the  future. 

HENRY  M.   THATCHER. 

Throughout  the  greater  part  of  his  life  Judge 
Henry  M.  Thatcher  has  resided  on  the  Pacific 
slope,  and  as  one  of  the  honored  pioneers  of  this 
section  of  the  country  has  been  prominently 
identified  with  its  development,  progress  and  up- 
building from  an  early  day.  He  was  born  in 
Susquehanna  county,  Pennsylvania,  October  \"J, 
1833,  and  is  of  German  lineage.  His  grandfather, 
Samuel  Thatcher,  was  born  in  Germany,  and 
when  a  young  man  emigrated  to  the  United 
States,  settling  in  Susquehanna  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  married  Miss  Hannah  Smith.  He 
was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812  and  lived  to  the 
advanced  age  of  ninety-three  years.  Enos 
Thatcher,  the  father  of  the  Judge,  was  one  of  a 
family  of  three  sons  and  five  daughters.  He 
married  Miss  Artemesia  Case,  also  a  native  of 
Susquehanna  county,  and  in  1837  they  removed 
to  Illinois,  locating  at  Ottawa,  LaSalle  county, 
where  the  father  entered  land  and,  in  connection 
with  agricultural  pursuits,  conducted  a  hotel. 
Both  he  and  his  wife  were  Congregationalists  in 
religious  belief,  and  for  many  years  Mr.  Thatcher 
served  as  chorister  of  his  church  and  took  an 
active  part  in  other  branches  of  the  work.  He 
lived  to  be  seventy-eight  years  of  age.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  died  in  the  fifty-first  year 
of  her  age,  leaving  two  children,  Henry  M.  and 
Elizabeth,  who  is  now  Mrs.  Deckerd,  of  Albany, 
Oregon.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife  the 
father  married  again,  and  by  that  union  had  two 
children. 

Judge  Thatcher  was  reared  on  the  old  home- 
stead in  Illinois,  and  in  1850  crossed  the  plains 
from  LaSalle  county  to  Placerville,  California. 
He  traveled  with  a  party,  and  they  experienced 
many  hardships  and  trials.  At  Independence 
Rock  they  were  obliged  to  abandon  their  wagons 
and  supplies,  after  which  they  suffered  for  the 
want  of  food  and  were  obliged  to  live  on  boiled 
corn,  of  which  they  partook  but  once  a  day. 
They  had  no  money  with  which  to  buy  food  at 


the  few  places  where  it  could  be  obtained,  and 
thus  it  was,  empty-handed,  that  Henry  M. 
Thatcher  began  life  in  the  west. .  For  a  time  he 
engaged  in  placer  mining  near  Hangtown  and 
then  went  to  Coloma,  just  below  where  Marshall 
made  the  first  discovery  of  gold.  He  also  engaged 
in  mining  at  American  Bar,  on  the  American 
river,  but  in  1852  returned  to  the  east,  making 
the  journey  by  way  of  the  isthmus  route.  After 
paying  all  expenses  he  was  enabled  to  take  back 
with  him  a  capital  of  two  thousand  dollars. 

In  the  spring  of  1853,  however,  Mr.  Thatcher 
again  crossed  the  plains  to  California,  and  was 
engaged  in  ranching  in  the  San  Jose  valley, 
where  he  purchased  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  land,  near  Hayward.  He  raised  barley  and 
wheat  and  received  good  prices  for  his  cereals. 
Later  he  was  in  San  Francisco  for  a  time  and 
served  as  a  member  of  the  vigilance  committee, 
being  present  when  Cora  and  Casey  were  hung. 
The  work  of  that  committee  was  very  important 
in  bringing  to  an  end  the  power  of  the  lawless 
element  which  infested  the  new  country  and  per- 
petrated many  atrocious  crimes.  In  1858  he  re- 
moved to  Albany,  Oregon,  and  thence  to  Salem, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  livery  and  transfer  busi- 
ness until  1878,  when  he  came  to  Boise,  Idaho, 
and  took  charge  of  the  overland  stage  from 
Boise  to  Kelton.  After  three  years  devoted  to 
that  business  he  purchased  a  ranch  on  Goose 
creek,  in  Cassia  county,  and  in  connection  with 
its  cultivation  and  improvement  he  conducted  a 
hotel,  his  energies  being  devoted  to  that  enter- 
prise for  nine  years,  during  which  time  he  met 
with  a  gratifying  success. 

In  1890  Judge  Thatcher  came  to  Shoshone, 
and  purchased  four  hundred  and  forty  acres  of 
land  five  miles  east  of  the  town  on  Little  Wood 
river.  Here  he  has  since  been  engaged  in  ranch- 
ing and  raising  cattle,  and  has  made  his  property 
one  of  the  best  in  the  country.  He  has  a  fine 
water  right,  and  also  has  various  placer-mining 
claims,  the  estimated  value  of  which  is  from  one 
to  two  dollars  per  yard.  He  is  now  engaged  in 
doing  hydraulic  work,  which  it  is  expected  will 
yield  large  returns.  Thus  steadily  has  he  added 
to  his  possessions,  and  although  he  came  to 
California  without  capital  he  is  to-day  the  pos- 
sessor of  considerable  property,  which  has  come 
to  him  as  the  reward  of  his  own  labors. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


377 


In  1878  Judge  Thatcher  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Lou  L.  Hart,  of  Portland,  Oregon, 
and  they  have  two  sons,  Leroy  and  Harry  S.  The 
former,  now  eighteen  years  of  age,  is  ably  con- 
ducting affairs  on  the  ranch  and  is  engaged  in 
the  stock  business.  The  younger  son  is  a  little 
lad  of  six  summers. 

Socially  Mr.  Thatcher  is  a  Mason,  having  been 
connected  with  the  order  since  1868.  He  is  past 
master  of  the  lodge  and  has  also  been  scribe  in 
the  chapter  and  is  a  member  of  the  Odd  Fellows 
society.  In  politics  he  has  always  been  a  stal- 
wart Republican,  but  does  not  agree  with 
the  party  on  the  money  question.  He  was 
elected  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  1894, 
and  is  now  serving  his  fifth  year  in  that 
office,  having  ever  discharged  his  duties  with 
marked  promptness  and  fidelity  and  without  fear 
or  favor.  He  has  a  wide  acquaintance  in  Califor- 
nia, Oregon  and  Idaho,  and  takes  a  deep  interest 
in  the  western  states,  where  so  many  years  of 
his  life  have  been  passed. 

JOHN  CUDDY. 

In  western  Idaho  is  located  Cuddy  mountain, 
which  will  ever  stand  as  a  monument  to  the  gen- 
tleman whose  name  heads  this  sketch, — one  of 
the  honored  pioneers  of  the  state.  More  than  a 
third  of  a  century  has  passed  since  he  came  to 
this  part  of  the  Union,  and  few  if  any  of  the 
early  settlers  are  more  widely  known  than  he, 
while  none  are  held  in  more  genuine  regard. 
In  almost  daily  fear  of  Indian  attack,  he  planted 
his  business  interests  near  the  mountain  named 
in  his  honor  and  there  maintained  his  home 
while  civilization  slowly  advanced  toward  him 
from  the  older  east,  gradually  lessening  the  realm 
of  the  red  men,  who  were  once  lords  over  this 
rich  and  beautiful  region.  The  history  of  his  life 
here  in  the  early  days,  if  written  in  detail,  would 
prove  more  marvelous  than  the  most  wonderful 
tale  of  the  novelist,  but  space  forbids  us  to  give 
more  than  a  limited  notice  of  his  career. 

Mr.  Cuddy  was  born  in  county  Tipperary,  Ire- 
land, November  15,  1834,  a  son  of  Michael  and 
Catharine  (Murphy)  Cuddy.  In  1840  his  parents 
crossed  the  Atlantic  to  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
bringing  with  them  their  ten  children,  while  one 
of  the  number,  having  married,  remained  on  the 
Emerald  Isle.  The  father  died  at  the  age  of 


seventy-eight  years,  and  the  motner  passed  away 
at  the  age  of  ninety-three.  John  Cuddy,  their 
youngest  child,  was  only  six  years  of  age  when 
they  sailed  for  the  New  World.  He  is  a  self-made 
man,  for  from  early  youth  he  has  been  dependent 
entirely  upon  his  own  efforts.  His  education  was 
acquired  at  night  schools  and  in  the  hard  school 
of  experience,  but  through  his  activity  in  the  af- 
fairs of  life  he  has  gained  a  good  practical  knowl- 
edge. In  his  youth  he  learned  the  machinist's 
trade  and  operated  a  stationary  engine.  In  1852 
he  made  his  way  to  the  Pacific  coast,  traveling 
by  way  of  the  isthmus  route  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, where  he  was  employed  in  a  ware- 
house for  a  time.  He  also  engaged  in 
mining  on  the  Tuolumne  river  and  operated  a 
sawmill.  In  1856  he  went  to  Puget  sound,  where 
he  manufactured  lumber,  and  then  accepted  a 
position  as  engineer  on  a  tow  boat. 

In  1865  Mr.  Cuddy  came  to  Idaho,  bringing 
with  him  a  stock  of  goods  from  San  Francisco. 
He  came  by  water  up  the  coast  and  through  the 
river  to  Umatilla,  and  thence  by  team  proceeded 
to  Boise,  where  he  opened  his  store,  having  a 
stock  of  liquors,  groceries,  paints  and  oils.  He 
was  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Cuddy  & 
Tyne,  'and  carried  on  business  in  Boise  until 
1869,  when  they  came  to  Salubria  and  erected  the 
first  mills  in  this  part  of  the  country.  These  were 
ready  for  operation  in  1870,  and  the  following 
year  Mr.  Cuddy  purchased  his  partner's  interest 
and  has  since  carried  on  the  business  alone.  He 
engages  in  the  manufacture  of  both  lumber  and 
flour,  and  nearly  every  house  in  this  part  of  the 
state  is  constructed  from  lumber  from  his  mill, 
while  there  is  scarcely  a  home  not  familiar  with 
the  John  Cuddy  brand  of  flour.  There  were 
many  difficulties  and  obstacles  to  be  overcome 
in  the  establishment  of  a  pood  business,  but  he 
is  now  enjoying  a  large  trade,  and  his  efforts  are 
crowned  with  a  merited  deeree  of  prosperity. 
In  addition  to  his  milling  interests  he  owns  a 
valuable  farm  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres, 
a  mile  and  a  half  from  Salubria,  and  is  justly  re- 
garded as  one- of  the  successful  agriculturists  and 
stock-raisers  of  this  section  of  the  state. 

When  he  brought  his  materials  and  supplies 
from  Boise  to  build  his  mills,  there  were  no 
bridges  in  this  part  of  the  state,  and  so  he  and 
Mr.  Tvne  built  a  boat,  which  they  carried  with 


378 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


them.  On  reaching  a  stream  that  was  not  ford- 
able  they  loaded  their  supplies  in  the  boat  and 
swam  their  stock  across,  thus  eventually  reaching 
their  destination.  Salubria  is  only  seventy- 
five  miles  distant  from  Boise,  but  at  that  time 
it  required  twenty-one  days  to  make  the  trip  to 
and  from  the  capital  city.  He  located  seven 
miles  from  any  habitation,  and  the  mountain  near 
which  he  built  his  mill  and  home  soon  became 
known  as  Cuddy  mountain,  a  name  which  it  still 
bears.  The  first  winter  after  his  arrival  in  the 
Salubria  valley  the  roads  became  so  blocked  with 
snow  that  for  three  months  Mrs.  Cuddy  saw 
no  one  but  her  husband  and  baby  On  one  oc- 
casion he  loaded  two  four-horse  teams  with 
dressed  hogs  and  bacon  and  started  for  the  city, 
but  the  snow  and  mud  under  it  were  so  deep 
that  it  required  four  days  to  go  nine  miles.  They 
left  the  loads  and  went  back  to  the  house  to  sleep 
at  nights.  At  another  time  Mr.  Cuddy  went  to 
Boise  for  a  ton  of  salt  and  was  commissioned  by 
a  neighbor  to  purchase  a  can  of  kerosene.  He 
paid  one  hundred  and  sixty  dollars  for  the  salt 
and  secured  the  oil,  but  when  he  reached  home 
he  found  that  it  had  leaked  on  the  salt,  render- 
ing it  unfit  for  use,  and  thus  he  was  obliged  to 
make  the  trip  again  for  more  salt.  The  first  load 
he  left  exposed  to  the  weather,  and  at  the  end  of 
a  year  the  oil  had  evaporated  so  that  the  salt 
could  be  fed  to  the  stock. 

In  1877,  when  the  Nez  Perces  war  broke  out, 
the  settlers  were  in  imminent  danger,  and  many 
of  them  packed  up  their  goods,  left  their  homes 
and  went  to  Weiser.  Mr.  Cuddy  sent  his  family 
to  Boise,  and  thus  they  lived  in  constant  danger 
of  the  red  men  who  again  and  again  went  on  the 
war-path.  The  men  always  wore  their  cartridge 
belts  to  the  fields  where  they  worked,  and  at  the 
slightest  noise  glanced  apprehensively  around, 
fearful  of  seeing  the  Indians.  In  1878  the  Ban- 
nacks  went  on  the  war-path,  and  when  the  news 
reached  Mr.  Cuddy  he  put  his  family  in  a  wagon 
and  took  them  down  the  valley  to  a  fort  which 
was  built  for  protection  for  the  settlers.  No  less 
than  ten  times  did  he  thus  take  his  wife  and 
children  from  home,  for  he  had  taken  part  in  an 
Indian  war  in  Oregon  in  1865,  and  knew  of  the 
cruelties  and  treachery  of  the  savages.  Grad- 
ually, however,  as  civilization  advanced  and  the 
country  became  more  thickly  populated,  the  In- 


dians were  subjugated  and  thus  departed  for 
other  regions,  leaving  this  fair  district  to  yield  its 
splendid  gifts  in  return  for  the  labors  of  the  white 
race. 

It  was  on  the  loth  of  January,  1871,  that  Mr. 
Cuddy  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Delia 
Tyne,  a  native  of  his  own  country  and  county, 
and  to  them  have  been  born  six  children,  five  of 
whom  are  living,  namely:  Kate,  Ellen,  John, 
Mary  and  Edward.  They  are  being  provided 
with  good  educational  privileges  and  thus  fitted 
to  become  useful  men  and  women  and  to  do 
credit  to  the  untarnished  family  name  which  they 
wear. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Cuddy  is  a  Republi- 
can, but  has  never  been  a  politician  in  the  sense 
of  office-seeking,  preferring  to  devote  his  time 
and  energies  to  his  business  interests,  in  which 
he  has  met  with  good  success.  He,  however, 
served  his  county  on  the  board  of  commissioners 
for  eight  years,  and  has  ever  sought  to  promote 
the  public  welfare  and  the  general  good.  He  be- 
longs to  that  class  of  brave  and  loyal  men  who 
have  made  possible  the  present  splendid  devel- 
opment of  the  northwest,  and  on  the  pages  of 
Idaho's  history  his  name  will  ever  be  engraved 
as  one  of  its  honored  pioneers. 

WARREN  P.  HUNT. 

Warren  Palmerton  Hunt,  who  has  been  a 
highly  respected  citizen  of  Lewiston  since  1862, 
and  is  numbered  among  the  California  pioneers 
of  1854,  was  born  in  Erie  county,  New  York, 
March  13,  1832,  a  son  of  Isaac  and  Diantha  (All- 
bee)  Hunt,  the  former  a  native  of  Vermont  and 
the  latter  of  the  Empire  state.  In  1852  the 
father  went  by  way  of  the  Cape  Horn  route  to 
California,  but  returned  to  his  farm  in  Erie  coun- 
ty, where  he  made  his  home  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  the  eighty-sixth  year  of  his 
age.  His  wife  passed  away  in  her  eighty-second 
year,  and  both  died  on  the  old  family  homestead 
in  New  York,  where  they  had  spent  the  greater 
part  of  their  lives.  They  were  honest,  industrious 
farming  people,  highly  respected  by  all.  They 
held  membership  in  the  Christian  church,  and 
Mr.  Hunt  gave  his  political  support  to  the  Re- 
publican party. 

Warren  P.  Hunt  was  the  eldest  in  their  family 
of  three  children,  and  was  reared  upon  the  old 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


379 


homestead,  attending  the  public  schools  through 
the  winter  months,  while  in  the  summer  he  assist- 
ed in  the  labors  of  field  and  meadow.  In  1854 
he  sailed  from  New  York  for  San  Francisco, 
.reaching  the  latter  place  after  a  month's  voyage. 
He  then  went  directly  to  the  mines  in  Sonora, 
Tuolumne  county,  California,  and  engaged  in 
mining  for  about  six  years,  meeting  with  only 
moderate  success.  While  on  the  Stanislaus  river 
with  three  partners,  an  incident  occurred  which 
terminated  fatally  to  two  of  his  partners,  and 
Mr.  Hunt  and  the  other  partner  narrowly  es- 
caped with  their  lives.  In  the  river  they  had  a 
wheel  that  lifted  the  water  to  the  sluice.  Three 
Frenchmen  below  them  were  engaged  in  putting 
in  a  wing-dam  in  the  river  some  distance  below, 
which  backed  the  water  on  the  wheel  and  pre- 
vented its  turning.  Mr.  Hunt  and  his  partners 
went  down  to  see  the  Frenchmen  and  in  a  peace- 
able way  endeavored  to  get  them  to  obviate  the 
difficulty.  They  even  offered  to  help  deepen  the 
race  without  charge,  but  the  Frenchmen  were 
obstinate  and  would  agree  to  nothing,  but  con- 
tinued to  wheel  dirt  onto  their  dam.  This  so 
excited  the  little  Englishman  of  Mr.  Hunt's  party 
that  he  pushed  the  plank  on  which  they  were 
wheeling  the  dirt  into  the  water.  At  this,  the 
big  Frenchman  clutched  him,  and  Mr.  Hunt, 
fearing  that  his  partner  would  be  drowned,  went 
to  the  rescue.  Finding  that  his  fists — for  he 
had  no  firearms  with  him — did  not  suffice  to 
make  the  Frenchman  desist,  he  took  a  stone  and 
hit  him  on  the  head  hard  enough  to  make  him 
loosen  his  hold.  While  they  were  in  the  fight  the 
other  Frenchmen  ran  to  the  cabin  and  brought 
out  two  guns  and  shot  and  killed  the  two  partners 
of  Mr.  Hunt.  By  this  time  the  Englishman  had 
partially  succeeded  in  disengaging  himself  from 
the  clutches  of  his  opponent,  but  he  was  also 
shot,  being  wounded  in  the  knee.  The  French- 
men then  rushed  back  to  the  cabin  to  reload  their 
guns,  while  Mr.  Hunt  and  the  Englishman  en- 
deavored to  make  their  escape.  They  hadn't 
gotten  away  from  the  range  ot  the  guns,  how- 
ever, before  they  were  fired  upon  again,  and  the 
partner,  who  was  leaning  on  Mr.  Hunt  for  sup- 
port, was  again  wounded.  They  however,  man- 
aged to  reach  their  own  cabin,  where  they  had 
arms,  but  the  Frenchmen  did  not  follow  them. 
Soon  the  news  of  the  murder  sped  among  the 


miners  in  that  vicinity,  who  turned  out  in  force, 
but  the  Frenchmen  escaped  in  the  under- 
brush, which  was  then  very  dense.  One  of  the 
hunting  parties,  however,  came  upon  them,  and 
was  fired  upon  by  them.  It  was  supposed  that 
they  were  helped  out  of  the  country  by  a  brother 
Frenchman,  who  conveyed  them  away  in  dry- 
goods  boxes.  However,  Mr.  Hunt  afterward 
learned  that  one  of  the  Frenchmen  was  later 
hung  in  Los  Angeles,  for  other  crimes. 

In  1859  the  subject  of  this  sketch  removed  to 
Monterey,  California,  where  he  engaged  in  farm- 
ing until  1861.  In  the  winter  of  that  year  he 
went  to  San  Francisco,  thence  by  steamer  to 
Portland,  and  up  the  Columbia  river  to  The 
Dalles.  At  that  point  he  joined  a  party  of  five,  who 
secured  pack  horses  and  came  overland  to  the 
Grande  Ronde  country  on  the  Powder  river  and 
thence,  in  the  same  year,  to  Lewiston.  There 
were  then  but  two  wooden  buildings  in  the  town, 
but  many  tents  marked  the  site  of  the  now  flour- 
ishing and  prosperous  city.  In  July  the  party 
went  to  Warren's,  where  Mr.  Hunt  took  a  miner's 
claim,  but  met  with  only  fair  success  in  his  ef- 
forts there.  He  next  made  his  way  to  Idaho  City, 
in  the  Boise  basin,  where  he  followed  mining  for 
a  year  and  a  half.  That  venture,  however,  did 
not  prove  very  profitable,  and  in  the  winter  he 
returned  to  Warren's  on  snow-shoes,  digging 
down  and  making  a  bed  in  the  snow  at  night. 
The  heavy  snows  greatly  delayed  the  party,  and 
their  supply  of  food  gave  out.  Some  of  the  men 
suffered  greatly  and  a  number  of  them  froze  their 
feet.  At  last  most  of  them  were  so  exhausted 
that  a  Scotchman  and  Mr.  Hunt  were  the  only 
two  strong  enough  to  go  ahead  and  break  the 
track,  and  a  part  of  the  time  they  were  able  to 
make  only  from  five  to  ten  miles  a  day. 

After  again  mining  at  Warren's  for  a  year  Mr. 
Hunt  abandoned  that  industry  altogether  and 
engaged  in  carrying  the  mail  and  express  be- 
tween Lewiston  and  Warren's,  traveling  on  horse- 
back in  the  summer  and  making  the  journey  on 
snow-shoes  in  the  winter.  He  carried  on  his 
back  from  eighty-five  to  ninety  pounds  from 
Warren's  to  Lewiston,  and  was  paid  one  dollar 
per  pound.  He  made  the  round  trip  of  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  miles  each  week  in  the  summer 
and  in  the  winter  once  in  two  weeks,  seventy 
miles  of  the  distance  on  snow-shoes.  There  were 


380 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


road  agents  in  the  country  then,  but  Mr.  Hunt 
succeeded  in  evading  them,  and  although  he  ran 
great  risk  he  never  received  a  scratch.  He  con- 
tinued this  arduous  task  for  six  years  and  then 
took  up  his  abode  in  Lewiston,  where  he  has 
since  made  his  home.  He  was  elected  to  public 
office  in  1867,  being  chosen  sheriff  of  Nez  Perces 
county, — the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party, 
of  which  he  has  always  been  a  stanch  supporter. 
He  was  afterward  elected  auditor,  recorder  and 
clerk  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners,  serv- 
ing for  two  years  in  such  a  capable  and  satisfac- 
tory manner  that  on  the  expiration  of  his  two- 
years'  term  he  was  re-elected.  Since  that  time  he 
has  been  engaged  in  stock-raising,  farming  and 
in  the  meat  business.  He  owns  a  valuable  farm 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  ten  miles  from 
Lewiston,  and  in  the  city  he  has  erected  a  de- 
lightful residence, — a  fitting  place  for  one  of 
Idaho's  bravest  and  best  pioneers  to  spend  the 
evening  of  his  days. 

In  1870  Mr.  Hunt  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Olive  C.  Martin,  a  native  of  New  York, 
and  a  daughter  of  Joel  D.  Martin,  who  took  up 
his  abode  in  California  in  1850,  and  is  numbered 
among  the  honored  Idaho  pioneers  of  1862.  He 
resides  near  Lewiston,  and  is  one  of  the  respected 
and  valued  citizens  of  this  commonwealth.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hunt  had  two  children.  The  little  son 
died  in  infancy,  and  their  daughter,  Clara  Irene, 
was  spared  to  them  only  until  her  tenth  year, 
when  the  dread  disease,  diphtheria,  carried  her 
away,  bringing  the  greatest  grief  to  the  house- 
hold. Mrs.  Hunt  is  a  leading  member  of  the 
Methodist  church.  Mr.  Hunt  is  not  connected' 
with  any  church  or  society,  but  is  widely  recog- 
nized as  a  man  of  sterling  worth,  and  in  his  up- 
right and  useful  life  has  gained  not  only  a  com- 
fortable competence,  but  has  also  won  that  good 
name  which  is  rather  to  be  chosen  than  great 
riches. 

EZRA  BAIRD. 

In  the  year  which  witnessed  the  arrival  of  so 
many  of  Idaho's  prominent  pioneeers — 1862 — 
this  gentleman  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  early  set- 
tlers, and  through  the  period  which  has  since 
elapsed  he  has  been  an  important  factor  in  the 
development  and  progress  of  the  state.  He  is  a 
native  of  Schoharie  county,  New  York,  born  May 
u,  1839,  and  is  of  Scotch  and  English  descent. 


His  ancestors  came  to  America  in  colonial  days, 
and  the  maternal  great-grandfather  of  our  sub- 
ject, Major  Norton,  fought  throughout  the  strug- 
gle for  independence.  Joseph  Baird,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  was  born  in  New  York,  and  married 
Miss  Sally  Ann  Gifforcl.  For  many  years  he 
engaged  in.  the  operation  of  a  flouring  mill,  but 
in  1849  took  up  his  residence  upon  a  farm  near 
Binghamton,  New  York,  where  he  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
public  affairs,  and  held  various  county  offices, 
discharging  his  duties  with  marked  promptness 
and  fidelity.  Both  he  and  his  wife  were  faithful 
members  of  the  Episcopal  church.  The  former 
departed  this  life  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his 
age,  the  latter  in  her  seventy-seventh  year.  They 
had  a  family  of  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  of 
whom  five  are  living. 

Ezra  Baird  was  reared  and  educated  in  Bing- 
hamton, New  York.  With  the  hope  of  more 
rapidly  acquiring  a  competence  in  the  west,  in ' 
1861,  when  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  went  by 
way  of  the  isthmus  of  Panama  to  San  Francisco, 
where  he  remained  for  a  year.  The  following 
year  he  arrived  in  Lewiston,  where  he  has  since 
made  his  home.  He  engaged  in  placer  mining 
on  Newsom  creek  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Elk 
City,  meeting  with  fair  success,  and  taking  out 
at  times  as  high  as  one  hundred  dollars  per  day. 
After  these  early  mining  experiences  he  engaged 
in  the  stage  and  express  business  between  Lew- 
iston, Warren's,  Elk  City  and  other  places,  and 
met  with  prosperity  in  that  undertaking,  which 
he  continued  for  ten  years.  He  was  then  called 
to  public  office,  being  elected  sheriff  of  Nez  Per- 
ces county  in  the  fall  of  1874.  So  fearlessly  and 
efficiently  did  he  discharge  his  duties  that  he  was 
elected  for  three  successive  terms  and  served  in 
all  for  eight  consecutive  years,  proving  a  most 
capable  officer  and  true  to  the  public  trust.  He 
was  also  United  States  marshal  for  the  territory 
of  Idaho,  appointed  by  President  Cleveland.  He 
is  now  largely  interested  in  quartz  mining  in 
Montana,  British  Columbia;  and,  in  Idaho,  at 
Buffalo  Hump,  Dixie,  Florence  and  on  the 
Snake  river,  where  he  has  rich  copper  mines.  He 
is  also  engaged  in  buying  and  selling  mines  on 
his  own  account.  At  Lewiston  he  was  also  en- 
gaged in  the  livery  business  for  several  years, 
and  has  uniformly  met  with  success  in  the  various 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


381 


undertakings  to  which  he  has  devoted  his  ener- 
gies. 

In  1873  Mr.  Baird  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  A.  Odle,  a  native  of  Oregon  and  a 
daughter  of  James  Odle,  a  pioneer  of  the  Sun- 
set state.  They  have  two  children,  Edna  May 
and  Lewis  Lawrence.  They  reside  in  a  very  at- 
tractive home,  which  stands  on  the  hill  near  the 
State  Normal  School,  and  the  household  is  noted 
for  its  genial  hospitality.  Socially  Mr.  Baird  is 
connected  with  the  Masonic  fraternity,  being 
connected  with  the  blue  lodge,  chapter  and  com- 
mandery,  and  has  also  attained  the  thirty-second 
degree  of  the  Scottish  rite.  In  addition  to  his 
service  as  county  sheriff,  he  has  filled  the  office 
of  alderman  of  Lewiston  and  has  also  been  its 
mayor.  He  has  exercised  his  official  prerogatives 
for  the  upbuilding  and  development  of  the  city, 
and  at  all  times  gives  a  hearty  support  to  all 
measures  intended  for  the  public  good.  For  thir- 
ty-seven years  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Idaho 
and  is  widely  and  favorably  known  throughout 

the  state. 

BENJAMIN   F.   HASTINGS. 

It  has  been  the  discovery  of  the  rich  mineral 
deposits  of  the  northwest  that  has  led  to  the  de- 
velopment of  this  section  of  the  country,  and 
among  those  who  have  been  prominent  in  pro- 
moting the  mining  interests  of  Idaho  is  Benjamin 
F.  Hastings,  late  mining  inspector  of  the  state. 
An  excellent  judge  of  the  value  of  ore,  and  a  man 
of  unimpeachable  integrity,  he  was  well  quali- 
fied for  the  position  which  he  so  acceptably  filled, 
and  all  concerned  commended  him  for  the 
straightforward,  prompt  and  reliable  manner  in 
which  he  discharged  his  duties. 

A  native  of  Mississippi,  Mr.  Hastings  was 
born  in  the  city  .of  Vicksburg,  on  the  jist  of 
August,  1848.  His  ancestors  were  English  peo- 
ple who  took  up  their  abode  in  Pennsylvania  at 
an  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  Keystone 
state.  They  took  an  active  part  in  the  affairs 
which  shaped  the  destiny  of  the  colony,  and  rep- 
resentatives of  the  name  aided  in  the  struggle 
for  American  independence.  Benjamin  Franklin 
Hastings,  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Lan- 
caster county,  Pennsylvania,  and  when  a  young 
man  removed  to  Vicksburg,  Mississippi,  where 
he  married  Miss  Ann  Caroline  Baker,  a  native 
of  Somersetshire,  England,  and  a  daughter  of 


Amos  Baker,  Esquire.  On  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  California,  in  1849,  Mr.  Hastings,  Sr.,  made 
a  voyage  around  Cape  Horn  to  the  Pacific  coast 
and  became  prominently  engaged  in  the  banking 
business  in  Sacramento,  Virginia  City,  Nevada, 
and  in  San  Francisco.  He  died  in  the  last  named 
place  in  1882,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years.  He 
was  a  man  of  excellent  business  ability  and  un- 
questioned integrity  and  left  to  his  family  the 
priceless  heritage  of  an  untarnished  name  as  well 
as  a  goodly  competence.  In  the  family  were  ten 
children,  but  only  two  are  now  living,  Benjamin 
F.  and  James,  the  latter  now  a  resident  of  Cal- 
ifornia. 

In  1852  Benjamin  F.  Hastings  of  this  review 
was  taken  to  California  by  his  parents.  He  was 
then  only  three  years  of  age,  and  since  that  time 
he  has  resided  in  this  section  of  the  country.  He 
attended  the  public  schools  of  the  Golden  state, 
continued  his  studies  in  Philadelphia,  and  com- 
pleted his  education  abroad,  studying  both  in 
England  and  in  Paris,  France.  In  1868  he  came 
to  Idaho  and  for  a  year  engaged  in  mining  near 
Silver  City,  but  at  the  expiration  of  that  period 
returned  to  San  Francisco  and  accepted  the  po- 
sition of  receiving  teller  in  the  banking  house 
of  John  Sime  &  Company.  At  the  time  of  the 
Pioche  excitement,  in  1870,  he  went  to  that 
region,  where  he  spent  four  years,  and  in  1875 
he  returned  to  Silver  City,  where  he  has  since 
made  his  home.  He  has  made  judicious  and 
extensive  investments  in  mines,  has  operated  a 
number  successfully,  has  sold  others  at  good 
profits,  and  still  has  valuable  mining  property  in 
the  vicinity  of  Silver  City.  He  also  has  some 
good  residence  property  here,  and  is  one  of  the 
substantial  citizens  of  this  section  of  the  state. 
He  was  elected  to  the  office  of  state  inspector  of 
mines  in  1896,  and  his  term  expired  in  January, 
1899. 

He  has  always  been  a  stanch  Democrat  in  his 
political  affiliations,  and  in  1886  was  elected  on 
that  ticket  to  the  position  of  sheriff  of  Owyhee 
county.  On  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service 
he  received  his  party's  nomination  for  re-election. 
Mr.  Hastings  was  united  in  marriage  to  Mrs. 
Anna  Kimberly,  of  Dallas,  Texas.  They  are 
both  members  of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  are 
very  highly  esteemed  in  the  community  in  which 
they  make  their  home.  Mr.  Hastings  has  a  wide 


382 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


acquaintance  throughout  the  state,  especially  in 
mining  circles,  and  his  election  to  an  important 
office  indicated  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  and 
the  high  regard  accorded  him. 

HON.   BURDICE  J.  BRIGGS. 

There  are  few  men  in  southern  Idaho  better 
or  more  favorably  known  than  Hon.  Burdice  J. 
Briggs,  a  lawyer  of  ability  and  success,  an  up- 
right and  patriotic  citizen,  and  the  constant 
promoter  of  the  best  interests  of  the  state  and  its 
people.  His  effective  work  in  the  legislature  in 
behalf  of  irrigation  entitles  him  to  a  prominent 
place  in  any  volume  which  purports  to  give  an 
account  of  Idaho  and  her  leading  useful  citizens. 

Hon.  Burdice  J.  Briggs  was  born  at  Bellevue, 
Nebraska,  November  21,  1859,  a  son  of  Alpheus 
N.  and  Harriet  (Green)  Briggs.  The  Briggs 
family  in  America  is  of  English  origin  and  Bur- 
dice  J.  Briggs'  ancestors  came  over  previously 
to  the  Revolution  and  located  in  New  England 
and  New  York.  Alpheus  N.  Briggs  was  born 
in  Vermont.  While  yet  a  young  man,  unmarried, 
he  settled  with  his  parents  in  Michigan,  where  he 
was  a  pioneer.  He  married  Miss  Harriet  Green, 
of  Allegan,  that  state.  Judge  Henry  C.  Briggs. 
of  Kalamazoo,  long  a  legal  light  in  Michigan, 
was  his  brother.  The  family  were  Baptists  for 
a  long  period  in  their  earlier  history.  Later  some 
of  them  became  Congregationalists.  During  his 
younger  and  more  active  years  Alpheus  N. 
Briggs  was  a  carpenter  and  a  farmer,  and  he  has 
always  proven  himself  a  man  of  good  knowledge 
and  understanding  and  influential  as  a  citizen. 
He  has  attained  the  age  of  sixty-four  years.  He 
lives  at  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  with  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  H.  C.  Compton,  whose  husband  is  battalion 
sergeant  of  the  Iowa  volunteers  in  the  United 
States  service  at  Manila.  His  wife  died  at 
Georgetown,  Montana,  in  January..  1891,  aged 
forty-nine. 

Alpheus  N.  Briggs  removed  with  his  family  to 
Nebraska  in  1853,  and  located  at  Bellevue,  where 
Burdice  J.  was  born.  The  future  lawyer  gained 
a  common-school  education  at  Columbus,  Neb- 
raska, and  began  his  legal  studies  in  Nebraska 
and  finished  them  in  Idaho.  He  came  to  this 
state  in  1881  and  was  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  as 
a  preceptor  F.  S.  Dietrich,  a  man  thoroughly 
grounded  in  the  law  and  now  a  prominent  legal 


practitioner  at  Pocatello.  Mr.  Briggs  was  admit- 
ted to  practice  in  1887  and  located  at  Idaho  Falls, 
and  he  has  built  up  a  large  and  lucrative  business 
in  Bingham  and  adjoining  counties.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  popular  law  firm  of  Briggs  & 
Reeves,  Judge  William  T.  Reeves  being  his  part- 
ner, and  they  have  offices  at  Pocatello  and  at 
Idaho  Falls. 

Politically  Mr.  Briggs  is  a  Populist,  and  he  is 
active  and  influential  in  the  inner  circles  of  his 
party.  Mr.  Briggs  was  a  Republican  until  1896, 
when  he  became  a  Populist  because  he  could 
no  longer  support  the  financial  theories  of  the 
Republican  party.  He  was  elected  to  the  first 
legislature  as  a  Republican  and  to  the  fourth 
legislature  as  a  Populist,  and  was  prominent  in 
connection  with  much  important  legislation.  He 
took  deep  interest  in  the  passage  of  a  bill  to  pro- 
mote the  irrigation  of  the  state,  on  which  the 
fortunes  of  southern  Idaho  greatly  depend.  He 
is  a  prominent  Mason  and  is  now  (1899)  filling 
an  important  office  in  Eagle  Rock  Lodge,  No. 
19,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Idaho  Falls.  He  has  a 
beautiful  residence  at  Idaho  Falls  and  a  hundred 
and  sixty  acre  farm,  seven  miles  north  of  that 
place. 

Mr.  Briggs  was  married  October  7,  1885,  to 
Miss  Isabelle  W.  Gordon,  a  native  of  Scotland 
and  daughter  of  James  Gordon,  of  Castle  Doug- 
las, Scotland.  They  have  four  children:  Ethel 
Gordon,  Milroy  Green,  DeForest  Graham  and 
Jane.  Mrs.  Briggs  is  a  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian church. 

PERRIN  BEZA  WHITMAN. 

The  name  of  Perrin  Beza  Whitman  is  indeli- 
bly inscribed  on  the  pages  of  the  history  of  the 
northwest,  for  throughout  the  period  of  its  de- 
velopment he  was  an  active  factor  in  promoting 
its  interests  and  is  numbered  among  the  honored 
pioneers  who  made  possible  its  later-day  prog- 
ress and  prosperity.  The  lot  of  the  pioneer  of 
the  northwest  has  been  a  peculiarly  hard  one. 
The  Indians,  driven  from  their  hunting  grounds 
farther  east,  have  cherished  the  resentment  char- 
acteristic of  the  race,  and  have  met  as  foes  the 
brave  band  of  white  men  who  came  to  the  west- 
ern wilderness  to  reclaim  the  lands  for  purposes 
of  civilization  and  to  garner  the  riches  of  nature 
for  themselves  and  families.  Not  only  were  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


383 


pioneers  met  by  the  hostility  of  the  Indians,  but 
vast  stretches  of  sandy  plains  and  almost  impass- 
able mountains  separated  them  from  the  com- 
forts and  conveniences  of  the  east,  and  their  lot 
was  one  of  danger,  difficulty,  hardship  and  toil. 
A  courageous  spirit,  an  unconquerable  deter- 
mination and  steadfast  purpose, — these  were  the 
qualities  demanded  of  the  pioneers,  and  such 
characteristics  enabled  Mr.  Whitman  to  meet 
conditions  before  which  many  another  man 
would  have  quailed. 

He  was  the  adopted  son  and  nephew  of  the 
renowned  Indian  missionary,  Dr.  Marcus  Whit- 
man, who  was  massacred  by  the  Indians  in  1847. 
His  birth  occurred  in  Danville,  Illinois,  March  4, 
1830.  In  1840  he  went  to  New  York,  and  in 
1843,  when  thirteen  years  of  age,  he  crossed  the 
plains  to  Oregon  with  his  uncle  and  the  first 
wagon  train  that  made  its  way  over  the  plains 
to  the  Columbia  river.  When  Dr.  Whitman  was 
killed  and  the  mission  burned,  the  papers  of  his 
adoption  were  destroyed.  His  life  was  spared 
only  through  chance,  he  being  at  The  Dalles 
when  the  massacre  occurred.  His  uncle  had  sent 
him  to  that  place  to  take  charge  of  some  property 
which  he  had  purchased  of  the  Methodist  mission, 
and  sixteen  days  intervened  before  our  subject 
heard  of  the  tragedy.  A  Mr.  Hinman  had  gone 
to  Vancouver,  where  he  learned  the  news,  which 
had  been  carried  to  that  point  by  a  Frenchman, 
and  on  learning  of  the  sad  event  Mr.  Hinman  at 
once  hurried  back  to  The  Dalles.  While  a  con- 
sultation was  being  held  to  decide  what  had  bet- 
ter be  done  about  the  matter,  five  Indians  rode 
up,  saying  that  they  were  hungry,  and  Perrin 
Whitman  went  to  the  barn  with  them  and  gave 
them  in  their  blankets  nearly  half  a  bushel  of 
wheat.  They  had  placed  their  guns  by  the  fence, 
and  all  at  once  they  gave  a  tremendous  yell,  scat- 
tered the  wheat  out  of  the  blankets  and  rode 
away,  for  they  had  discovered  that  the  white  men 
had  learned  of  the  killing  and  were  in  a  measure 
prepared  for  them.  At  three  o'clock  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  the  pioneers  at  The  Dalles 
started  for  Oregon  City,  knowing  they  were  no 
longer  safe  at  the  former  place,  but  after  pro- 
ceeding only  sixteen  miles  on  their  way,  a  severe 
wind  caused  them  to  have  to  push  ashore,  and 
they  were  forced  to  remain  at  that  point  for  six- 
teen days  longer, — days  fraught  with  danger  and 


suspense.  After  reaching  Oregon  City  Mr.  Whit- 
man joined  a  party  of  volunteers  that  started 
out  to  arrest  the  Indians  that  had  committed  the 
crime,  and  also  to  relieve  and  protect  the  white 
men  at  the  other  mission.  When  all  the  volun- 
teers had  assembled  there  were  several  hundred 
of  them,  and  Mr.  Whitman  piloted  the  boats  up 
the  Columbia  river  and  also  acted  as  interpreter 
to  the  Indians.  Many  of  the  savages  who  had 
been  connected  with  the  murder  were  killed,  and 
five  were  tried,  convicted  and  hung.  At  the  time 
the  volunteers  were  mustered  out,  it  was  re- 
quested that  fifty  should  continue  in  service,  and 
Mr.  Whitman  was  one  of  the  number  who  ac- 
ceded to  the  request.  He  was  in  the  upper  coun- 
try when  the  Indians  who  had  murdered  his  uncle 
were  hanged,  at  Oregon  City,  and  though  he 
made  all  haste  to  reach  the  scene  he  arrived  a 
day  too  late. 

Later  he  secured  a  clerkship  in  a  store,  where 
he  remained  for  two  years,  and  on  the  expiration 
of  that  period  he  began  buying  and  selling 
horses.  He  was  married  February  5,  1854,  to 
Miss  Priscilla  M.  Parker,  of  Salem,  Oregon,  a 
daughter  of  Samuel  Parker,  who  was  born  in 
Virginia  and  crossed  the  plains  in  1845.  He  was 
a  lawyer  of  ability,  a  man  of  much  prominence  in 
the  early  history  of  Oregon,  and  was  instrumental 
in  securing  the  establishment  of  the  capital  at 
Salem.  In  his  religious  connections  he  was  a 
Methodist,  and  in  his  political  views  he  was  a 
Democrat,  but  was  a  strong  advocate  of  the 
Union  cause  during  the  civil  war.  He  died  in 
1887,  and  the  community  in  which  he  resided 
mourned  the  loss  of  one  of  its  most  valued  citi- 
zens. 

In  1863  M>.  Whitman  came  with  his  familv  to 
Idaho,  locating  in  Lapwai,  where  he  was  em- 
ployed by  the  government  as  an  interpreter  in 
the  Indian  schools,  anl  also  had  charge  of  the 
Indian  agency  for  a  time.  In  1883  he  removed 
to  Lewiston,  where  he  was  employed  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  as  a  salesman.  He  was 
most  trustworthy  in  business  circles,  reliable  and 
honorable,  and  his  enterprise  made  him  a  valued 
factor  in  the  promotion  of  any  business  concern 
with  which  he  was  connected.  In  his  religious 
belief  he  was  a  Presbyterian,  and  was  a  man  of 
the  highest  integrity  of  character,  who  gained 
and  retained  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all 


384 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


with  whom  he  camein  contact.  He  was  atall  times 
a  loyal  citizen  of  his  adopted  state,  and  did  all  in 
his  power  to  promote  its  growth  and  advance  its 
interests  along  educational,  material,  social  and 
moral  lines.  He  departed  this  life  January  26, 
1899,  ar"d  his  many  friends  mourned  the  loss  of 
not  only  a  valued  citizen  but  of  a  gentleman 
whom  to  know  was  to  esteem  and  honor. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whitman  were  the  parents  of 
seven  children,  namely:  Marcus  S.,  who  died  in 
his  eleventh  year;  Katherine,  who  became  the 
wife  of  Mr.  Barber  and  departed  this  life  in  her 
twenty-second  year;  Frances,  wife  of  Charles 
E.  Monteith,  who  is  United  States  consul  to  Can- 
ada and  resides  in  Chatham;  Elizabeth  K.,  wife 
of  Henry  K.  Barnett,  of  Lewiston;  Sophia,  wife 
of  William  E.  Mallory,  a  resident  of  Lewiston; 
Ethel,  wife  of  Dr.  Ashford,  of  Canyon  City,  Ore- 
gon; and  Jennie,  wife  of  T.  D.  Barton,  of  Lew- 
iston, an  ex-sheriff  of  Nez  Perces  county.  There 
are  now  two  granddaughters  and  seven  grand- 
sons. Mrs.  Whitman  survives  her  husband  and 
makes  her  home  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mallory. 
She  is  one  of  the  noble  pioneer  ladies  of  the  state, 
and  her  splendid  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  have 
endeared  her  to  all  who  have  the  pleasure  of  her 
acquaintance.  The  family  is  one  of  prominence 
in  this  community  and  the  history  of  Lewiston 
would  be  incomplete  without  reference  thereto. 

MATTHEW    H.    TRUSCOTT. 

The  leading  merchant  and  efficient  postmaster 
of  Alount  Idaho,  Matthew  H.  Truscott,  has  been 
a  resident  of  this  state  since  1865,  and  has  there- 
fore been  a  witness  of  the  greater  part  of  its 
growth  and  development,  has  seen  its  wild  land 
reclaimed  for  purposes  of  cultivation,  its  rich 
mineral  storehouses  give  forth  their  treasures, 
and  the  forests  yield  their  trees  to  be  converted 
into  the  homes  of  white  men,  who  thus  replaced 
the  tents  of  the  Indians.  He  was  a  young  man 
of  only  twenty  years  when  he  arrived  in  the  terri- 
tory, his  birth  having  occurred  in  England, 
March  20,  1845.  He  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  his  native  land,  there  learned  engineering  and 
was  for  some  time  employed  in  that  line  of  in- 
dustry and  at  mining.  In  1861  he  went  to  Chili, 
and  two  years  later  proceeded  up  the  Pacific  coast 
to  California,  where  he  was  engaged  in  mining 
and  engineering  until  the  spring  of  1865,  when 


he  came  to  Idaho,  making  the  journey  on  horse- 
back through  the  Indian  country,  Nevada  and  the 
valley  of  the  Humboldt  river,  to  Idaho  City,  in 
the  Boise  basin.  He  remained  there  only  a  month 
or  two,  when,  attracted  by  the  gold  excitement 
at  Coeur  d'Alene,  he  went  to  Clearwater  station 
and  mined  in  the  different  camps  of  Elk  City  and 
Newsom.  He  met  with  a  fair  degree  of  success 
and  still  has  mining  interests  on  the  Clearwater. 

On  coming  to  Camas  prairie  he  was  employed 
as  engineer  in  a  saw  and  flouring  mill  until  1883, 
when  he  accepted  the  position  of  clerk  in  the 
Mount  Idaho  Hotel.  In  1886  he  was  appointed 
by  President  Cleveland  to  the  position  of  post- 
master, an  office  which  he  has  since  filled  most 
satisfactorily  to  the  people  of  the  town  and  most 
creditably  to  himself.  He  was  also  agent  for  the 
Wells-Fargo  Express  Company  for  two  years, 
and  in  1892  he  entered  into  a  contract  with  the 
firm  of  Vollmer  &  Scott  to  manage  their  general 
mercantile  store  in  Mount  Idaho.  The  following 
year  he  purchased  that  store,  and  has  since  car- 
ried on  the  business  on  his  own  account,  having 
the  principal  establishment  of  the  kind  in  the 
town.  He  is  now  enjoying  a  good  trade  and  is 
meeting  with  excellent  success  in  his  undertak- 
ings. 

In  addition  to  his  duties  in  the  post-office  Mr. 
Truscott  has  performed  other  public  service,  hav- 
ing been  deputy  sheriff,  deputy  county  assessor, 
deputy  county  treasurer  and  deputy  school  super- 
intendent, and  at  the  present  time  he  is  capably 
filling  the  position  of  county  superintendent  of 
schools.  In  his  political  affiliations  he  is  a  stal- 
wart Democrat,  and  keeps  well  informed  on  the 
issues  of  the  day,  doing  all  in  his  power  to  pro- 
mote the  growth  and  insure  the  success  of  the 
party.  He  belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
has  attained  the  twentieth  degree  of  the  Scottish 
rite.  In  his  life  he  exemplifies  the  benevolent  and 
inspiring  principles  of  the  order,  and  throughout 
northern  Idaho  he  is  widely  and  favorably 

known. 

HENDERSON   ORCHARD. 

Each  community  is  judged  by  the  character  of 
its  representative  citizens,  and  its  social,  intellec- 
tual and  business  standing  is  determined  thereby. 
The  sterling  worth,  commercial  ability  and  en- 
terprise of  the  leading  men  are  mirrored  forth  in 
the  public  life  of  the  town,  and  therefore  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


385 


history  of  the  people  of  prominence  is  the  his- 
tory of  the  community.  Xo  account  of  Grange- 
ville  would  be  complete  without  the  life  record  of 
Henderson  Orchard,  the  popular  president  of  the 
board  of  trade  and  a  man  whose  public  spirit  is 
manifested  in  his  many  efforts  to  improve  the 
conditions  and  promote  the  upbuilding  of  the 
town. 

A  native  of  Oregon,  he  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Monmouth,  November  22,  1857,  his  parents 
being  Jesse  C.  and  Minerva  (Medford)  Orchard, 
natives  of  Virginia  and  Illinois  respectively.  They 
crossed  the  plains  with  oxen  to  Oregon  in  1852, 
making  that  long  and  perilous  journey  with  their 
family  of  five  little  children.  While  residing  in 
Oregon  six  more  children  were  added  to  their 
family.  Mr.  Orchard  secured  their  donation 
claim  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  where  the 
town  of  Monmouth  now  stands, — a  beautiful  tract 
in  one  of  the  richest  and  loveliest  valleys  of  the 
northwest.  There  the  family  resided  until  1859, 
when  the  father  sold  that  property  and  purchased 
a  homestead  seven  miles  west  of  Portland,  where 
he  now  resides,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years. 
His  wife  passed  away  in  1886,  in  her  sixty-fifth 
year.  This  worthy  couple  were  the  parents  of 
eleven  children,  all  of  whom  are  yet  living. 

Henderson  Orchard,  the  sixth  in  order  of  birth, 
acquired  his  education  in  Portland,  learned  the 
plumber's  trade  in  early  manhood,  and  for  the 
past  twenty-five  years  has  devoted  nearly- his  en- 
tire time  and  attention,  through  business  hours, 
to  putting  in  water  systems  in  various  towns  in 
Oregon,  California,  Washington  and  Idaho, 
which  work  has  gained  for  him  the  title  of  "The 
Water  King."  He  put  in  and  owns  the  fine  water 
system  which  is  so  valuable  an  acquisition  to  the 
business  interests  of  Grangeville.  The  water  is 
obtained  from  springs  three  and  a  half  miles  up 
in  the  mountains,  and  is  piped  under  pressure 
to  the  town  and  through  Grangeville  in  all  direc- 
tions. Mr.  Orchard  is  also  engaged  in  the  hard- 
ware business  here  and  he  was  one  of  the  organ- 
izers of  the  board  of  trade  and  was  elected  its 
first  president.  One  of  the  principal  objects  of 
the  board  is  to  promote  the  building  of  good 
roads  in  all  directions,  and  other  improvements 
receive  its  encouragement  and  support. 

In  1878  Mr.  Orchard  was  united  in  marriage, 
at  Portland,  to  Miss  Emma  Jane  Mason,  a 


daughter  of  M.  B.  Mason,  one  of  Oregon's  brave 
pioneers.  They  now  have  four  sons, — Hollie, 
Thane,  Vance  and  Tesla  Edison.  In  his  social 
relations  Mr.  Orchard  is  connected  with  the  Odd 
Fellows  lodge,  and  with  the  Modern  Woodmen 
of  the  World.  In  politics  he  is  a  stalwart  Republi- 
can and  friend  of  the  administration.  His  life  has 
been  one  of  activity  in  the  industrial  world,  and 
the  success  which  he  has  achieved  is  the  fitting 
crown  of  well  directed  labors. 

ROBERT  L.  NOURSE,  M.  D. 

Dr.  Robert  L.  Nourse,  a  prominent  citizen  and 
leading  physician  of  Hailey,  was  born  at  Clo- 
verport,  Kentucky,  September  27,  1864.  He 
descended  from  English  ancestry,  and  his  Amer- 
ican progenitors  were  among  the  early  settlers 
at  Salem  and  Nashua,  Massachusetts.  History 
tells  how  Rebecca  Nourse,  a  member  of  his 
family,  was  burned  at  the  stake  at  Salem  on  a 
charge  of  witchcraft,  and  the  story  forms  one 
of  the  darkest  and  most  painful  chapters  of  our 
American  history.  One  of  the  sights  of  Salem  is 
the  monument  erected  to  her  memory  by  mem- 
bers of  her  family  of  a  later  generation,  and  there 
is  no  other  shrine  on  the  continent  at  which  so 
many  tears  have  been  shed. 

Dr.  Nourse's  father,  Charles  Augustus  Nourse, 
was  born  at  Salem.  He  came  west  to  Illinois 
with  his  brothers  and  was  married  at  Ouincy  to 
Miss  Frances  Bridges,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  re- 
lated to  the  Bullard  and  Murray  families  of 
that  state,  members  of  whom,  as  did  some  of 
the  Bridges,  participated  in  the  war  of  1812-14 
and  the  war  with  Mexico.  He  died  in  1880,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-one;  his  wife,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
one,  in  1867.  They  had  nine  children,  of  whom 
five  are  living,  and  so  far  as  possible  reared  their 
family  in  the  strict  Presbyterian  faith,  of  which 
they  were  lifelong  adherents. 

Dr.  Robert  L.  Nourse,  their  youngest  child, 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and  at  an 
academy,  and  received  his  degree  of  M.  D.  from 
Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago,  in  1889.  He 
practiced  his  profession  in  Chicago  and  at  Ash- 
land, Wisconsin,  until  he  came  to  Hailey.  Al- 
most from  the  day  on  which  he  opened  his  office 
in  the  flourishing  Idaho  town  he  may  be  said  to 
have  had  a  successful  practice.  It  has  grown 
constantly  and  extended  into  the  country  sur- 


386 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


rounding  Hailey  until  it  is  very  valuable.  While 
devoting  himself  to  general  practice,  Dr.  Nourse 
has  been  an  enthusiast  in  the  study  and  treat- 
ment of  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear  and  nose,  and 
in  surgery  he  has  won  a  wide  reputation  as  a 
safe  and  skillful  operator.  He  is  the  sort  of  phy- 
sician who  would  practice  his  profession  for  the 
love  of  it,  even  under  less  favorable  environ- 
ments than  those  of  Hailey;  and  he  recognizes 
the  fact  that  the  physician,  endowed  with  superior 
knowledge  and  skill,  is  under  grave  responsi- 
bility to  suffering  mankind  regardless  of  any 
mere  question  of  pecuniary  gain.  In  May,  1899, 
he  was  appointed  by  the  governor  a  member  of 
the  state  board  of  medical  examiners  for  six 
years,  and  was  elected  secretary  and  treasurer  by 
said  board  for  two  years. 

In  1889  Dr.  Nourse  was  married  to  Miss  Marie 
Crawford,  daughter  of  Dr.  S.  K.  Crawford,  an 
eminent  practitioner  of  Chicago.  They  have 
two  children,  Robert  L.,  Jr.,  and  Norman  Craw- 
ford. Dr.  and  Mrs.  Nourse  are  Presbyterians, 
but,  there  being  no  church  of  their  own  denom- 
ination in  Hailey,  attend  the  services  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church  and  contribute  lib- 
erally toward  its  support.  Dr.  Nourse  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Medical  Association  and  of 
the  Idaho  State  Medical  Society.  He  was  made 
a  Master  Mason  in  Ancient  Landmark  Lodge, 
No.  210,  of  Ashland,  Wisconsin.  He  is  an  Odd 
Fellow  and  a  Modern  Woodman.  He  is  one  of 
the  most  popular  men  in  Hailey  and  has  a  wide 
acquaintance  among  the  leading  men  of  the 

state. 

LOUIS   N.   B.   ANDERSON. 

Fortunate  is  the  man  who  has  back  of  him  an 
ancestry  honorable  and  distinguished,  and  happy 
is  he  whose  lines  of  life  are  cast  in  harmony  there- 
with. In  person,  in  character  and  talents,  Mr. 
Anderson  is  a  worthy  scion  of  his  race.  Though 
his  life  has  been  one  rather  of  modest  reserve 
than  of  ambitious  self-seeking,  he  has  shown  him- 
self a  peer  of  the  brightest  men  of  his  adopted 
state,  and  his  mental  talents  led  to  his  selection 
for  the  important  position  of  superintendent  of 
public  instruction  of  Idaho  for  the  years  1897 
and  1898,  in  which  capacity  he  served  with  dis- 
tinction. For  several  generations  his  ancestors 
have  devoted  their  energies  to  the  advancement 
of  intellectual  acquirements  among  their  fellow 


men.  His  great-grandfather,  a  native  of  Den- 
mark, followed  school-teaching  in  his  native  land 
prior  to  his  emigration  to  America.  The  latter 
event  occurred,  however,  in  the  colonial  period  of 
our  country,  and  he  aided  in  the  struggle  which 
brought  to  the  nation  her  independence.  He 
afterward  erected  a  school-house,  and  conducted 
a  private  school  throughout  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  He  was  born  December  22,  1747,  and  died 
in  1834,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven 
years.  His  son,  Allen  Anderson,  the  grandfather 
of  our  subject,  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  in 
1777,  and  he  likewise  devoted  his  life  to  educa- 
tional work.  He  married  a  Miss  Evans,  and  died 
in  1847,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years.  Of  his  three 
sons,  Watson  Gates  Anderson  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  in  1815,  and  when  seventeen  years  of 
age  removed  to  Indiana.  He  was  among  the 
pioneer  school-teachers  of  that  state,  being  of  the 
third  generation  of  the  family  to  devote  his  en- 
ergies to  that  profession.  He  married  Miss  Beu- 
lah  Jane  Jeffrey,  a  native  of  Indiana,  whose 
father  was  born  in  New  Jers.ey  and  was  of  Eng- 
lish descent.  He  also  loyally  served  the  colonies 
in  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  Unto  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Anderson  were  born  nine  children,  three 
sons  and  six  daughters,  four  of  whom  are  living. 
The  father  and  one  son  aided  in  the  defense  of 
the  Union  during  the  civil  war  and  the  latter  died 
of  disease  contracted  in  the  service.  Mr.  Ander- 
son and  his  family  were  all  devout  members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church. 

Professor  Anderson,  whose  name  intro- 
duces this  review,  was  born  on  the  i6th 
.of  August,  1850,  in  Spartansburg,  Randolph 
county,  Indiana,  and  was  given  the  name 
of  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  When  a 
child  of  seven  years  he  accompanied  his  par- 
ents on  their  removal  to  southern  Kansas,  a  set- 
tlement being  made  near  Neosho  Falls,  in  Wood- 
son  county,  where  they  lived  during  the  troublous 
times  which  preceded  the  war  and  during  the 
great  struggle  between  the  north  and  the  south. 
At  the  age  of  ten  years  Professor  Anderson  be- 
came a  member  of  the  church,  and  his  whole  life 
has  been  guided  by  the  lofty  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity. He  acquired  his  early  education  under 
the  direction  of  his  father,  who  instructed  him  by 
the  light  of  a  hickory  fire,  in  the  wilds  of  Kansas. 
From  1872  until  1881  he  engaged  in  teaching  in 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


387 


Woodson  county,  and  with  the  capital  he  had 
thus  acquired  he  pursued  a  classical  education 
in  Hanover  College,  in  Indiana.  In  1882  he  was 
ordained  an  elder  of  the  Methodist  church,  and 
has  since  been  a  very  acceptable  minister  in  that 
denomination,  preaching  in  Kansas,  Washing- 
ton, Oregon  and  Idaho.  In  1879  ne  began  a 
five  years'  course  in  history,  literature,  science 
and  theology,  and  was  graduated  in  1884.  The 
previous  year  he  had  located  in  Idaho,  where  he 
has  made  his  home  almost  continuously  since. 
He  resided  in  Boise  county  for  one  year,  and  has 
since  lived  in  Latah  county. 

In  1888  Professor  Anderson  began  the  study 
of  law,  which  he  pursued  at  intervals  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  acquiring  a  thorough  and  compre- 
hensive knowledge  of  the  principles  of  jurispru- 
dence. On  the  loth  of  February,  1897,  he  was 
admitted  to  practice  by  the  supreme  court  of  the 
state.  In  1894  he  was  elected  probate  judge  of 
Latah  county,  serving  two  years  in  that  capacity, 
during  which  time  he  passed  judgment  upon  as 
many  cases  as  most  of  the  district  judges,  and  his 
decisions  were  never  in  a  single  case,  civil,  crim- 
inal or  probate,  reversed  on  revision  by  a  higher 
court.  He  was  absolutely  fair  and  conscientious 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  and  his  judicial 
career  was  most  commendable.  In  1896  he  was 
nominated  by  the  People's  Democratic  party  for 
superintendent  of  public  instruction,  to  which 
office  he  was  elected,  serving  in  that  capacity  for 
the  years  1897  and  1898. 

For  several  years  he  has  been  an  active  factor 
in  the  politics  of  Idaho.  He  gives  a  stanch  sup- 
port to  the  Populist  party,  believing  that  its  prin- 
ciples are  more  in  accord  than  those  of  any  other 
party  with  the  sentiment  of  a  government  "of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people."  He 
also  holds  firmly  to  the  opinion  that  remoneti- 
zation  of  silver  would  be  of  immense  benefit  to 
the  country,  both  in  the  east  and  in  the  west. 
He  gives  to  all  political  questions  his  earnest  and 
careful  consideration  and  his  views  are  the  result 
of  logical  deductions.  He  is  now  engaged  in  the 
active  practice  of  the  law,  with  headquarters  at 
Moscow. 

In  1876  Professor  Anderson  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Ellen  Taylor,  a  native  of  Mis- 
souri, and  a  daughter  of  George  M.  Taylor,  a 
well  known  ranch-owner  and  a  representative  of 


Revolutionary  ancestors.  To  Professor  and  Mrs. 
Anderson  were  born  five  children,  three  of  whom 
died  in  childhood,  while  in  Kansas.  Those  now 
living  are  Ella  and  Paul.  The  family  have  a 
pleasant  home  in  Moscow  and  enjoy  the  friend- 
ship of  many  of  the  best  people  of  the  state.  At 
this  point  it  would  be  almost  tautological  to 
enter  into  any  series  of  statements  as  showing  the 
Professor  to  be  a  man  of  broad  intelligence  and 
genuine  public  spirit,  for  these  have  been  shad- 
owed forth  between  the  lines  of  this  review. 
Strong  in  his  individuality,  he  never  lacks  the 
courage  of  his  convictions,  but  there  are  as  dom- 
inating elements  in  this  individuality  a  lively 
human  sympathy  and  an  abiding  charity,  which, 
as  taken  in  connection  with  the  sterling  integrity 
and  honor  of  his  character,  have  naturally  gained 
to  him  the  respect  and  confidence  of  men. 

JAMES  M.  STEVENS. 

In  a  new  state  like  Idaho  the  really  prominent 
men  who  are  native  to  the  soil  are  comparatively 
few,  for  the  reason  that  few  men  are  able  to  at- 
tain prominence  young  enough  to  take  this  dis- 
tinguished position.  James  M.  Stevens,  junior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Detrich,  Chalmers  &  Ste- 
vens, of  Blackfoot,  one  of  Idaho's  law  firms,  has 
the  distinction  of  being  one  of  Idaho's  native 
sons.  He  was  born  January  30,  1873,  at  his 
father's  home  on  the  bank  of  the  Snake  river,  in 
what  was  then  Oneida  county,  near  where  the 
city  of  Blackfoot  has  since  come  into  being.  He 
is  of  Scotch-English  ancestry,  and  his  forefathers 
settled  early  in  New  England,  where  four  gen- 
erations of  the  family  were  born,  at  Lynn,  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  was  there  reared  and  educated. 
While  yet  a  young  man,  he  went  to  California. 
Not  long  after  his  arrival  there,  the  war  of  the 
states  being  in  progress,  he  enlisted  in  the  United 
States  army,  with  the  expectation  that  the  regi- 
ment would  be  sent  south  to  take  part  in  aggres- 
sive fighting.  To  the  bitter  disappointment  of 
Judge  Stevens  and  his  comrades-in-arms,  the 
regiment  was,  instead,  sent  into  Utah  to  keep  the 
Indians  in  subjection  and  defend  emigrants  and 
settlers  against  their  attacks.  At  the  expiration 
of  his  term  of  service  he  settled  on  a  government 
ranch,  which  he  improved  and  to  which  he  added 
until  he  had  one  of  the  large  and  fine  farms  of 
the  state,  comprising  five  hundred  acres,  fitted 


388 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


up  with  first-class  buildings  and  appointments. 
His  home  here  is  a  beautiful  one,  and  it  was  amid 
its  refined  surroundings  that  he  reared  his  fam- 
ily. As  a  farmer  he  has  given  much  attention  to 
stock-raising,  which  he  has  prosecuted  with 
much  success.  He  has  been  a  lifelong  Republi- 
can, stanch  and  active,  and,  in  recognition  of  his 
effective  work  for  the  success  of  the  party,  was 
appointed  by  President  Harrison  postmaster  at 
Blackfoot,  a  position  which  he  filled  four  years 
to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  every  one  concerned, 
and  in  any  locality  everyone  is  concerned  in  the 
local  post-office  and  will  criticise  its  management 
if  there  is  any  chance  for  criticism.  Later  he  was 
elected  judge  of  probate  for  his  county,  and 
filled  that  office  six  years,  with  credit  to  himself 
and  honor  to  his  fellow  citizens.  Judge  Stevens 
married  Miss  Finnetta  E.  Garrett.  a  native  of 
England.  They  had  four  children:  Emma,  James 
M.,  Abbie  and  Richard. 

James  M.  Stevens  was  reared  on  his  father's 
farm  and  attended  the  public  schools.  He  ob- 
tained his  education  in  the  law  in  the  law  depart- 
ment of  the  Leland  Stanford  University,  Califor- 
nia, and  was  admitted  to  practice  by  the  supreme 
court  of  the  state  of  Idaho,  at  Boise,  and  soon 
afterward  became  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of 
Detrich,  Chalmers  &  Stevens,  a  very  strong  pro- 
fessional combination  which  has  a  wide  reputa- 
tion for  honorable  methods  and  substantial  suc- 
cess. Mr.  Stevens  has  proven  that  he  possesses 
not  only  knowledge  of  the  law  but  real  talent  for 
its  practice.  He  is  an  honest  advocate,  respects 
himself  and  the  court,  and  does  credit  to  any 
cause  with  which  he  identifies  himself.  He  is  a 
Mason,  a  Modern  Woodman  of  the  World  and 
an  Odd  Fellow,  and  has  passed  every  chair  in  the 
lodge  of  the  order  last  mentioned. 

EDWARD    H.   MOFFITT. 

Edward  H.  Moffitt,  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
the  Coeur  d'Alene  Hardware  Company,  of  Wal- 
lace, Idaho,  is  numbered  among  the  native  sons 
of  the  Keystone  state,  his  birth  having  occurred 
in  Allegheny  City,  August  22,  1845.  His  parents 
were  Rev.  Thomas  and  Maria  L.  (Patterson) 
Moffitt.  The  father  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in 
1818,  and  for  many  years  devoted  his  energies  to 
the  work  of  the  ministry  in  connection  wirh  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church.  His  death  oc- 


curred in  1878,  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of 
sixty  years.  His  wife,  who  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1818,  is  now  a  resident  of  Canon 
City,  Colorado.  The  family  resided  in  Allegheny 
City,  Pennsylvania,  until  1857,  when  they  re- 
moved to  central  Illinois,  where  they  remained 
until  1870, — the  year  of  their  removal  to  Kansas. 
It  was  in  the  latter  state  that  the  father  died,  and 
since  1881  the  mother  has  made  her  home  in 
Colorado. 

Mr.  Moffitt,  whose  name  introduces  this  re- 
view, acquired  his  education  in  the  public  schools 
of  Pennsylvania  and  Illinois,  and  in  January, 
1864,  when  eighteen  years  of  age,  loyally  offered 
his  services  to  the  government  as  a  defender  of 
the  Union,  and  was  assigned  to  Company  F, 
Second  Illinois  Cavalry.  He  served  until  Jan- 
uary, 1866,  and  was  mustered  out  at  San  An- 
tonio, Texas,  for  the  war  had  ended  and  his  aid 
was  no  longer  needed. 

Returning  to  his  home  in  Illinois  Mr.  Moffitt 
was  for  two  years  engaged  in  the  grocery  busi- 
ness in  Monticello,  and  in  1868  he  went  to  Colo- 
rado, where  he  engaged  in  mining  and  prospect- 
ing until  1887.  He  first  visited  Idaho  in  1879 
and  was  for  some  time  in  the  Wood  river  coun- 
try. In  February,  1884,  he  came  to  Shoshone 
county  and  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  the 
Coeur  d'Alene  section.  In  1887  the  hardware 
business  with  which  he  is  now  connected  was 
established  in  Wallace,  under  the  firm  name  of 
J.  R.  Marks  &  Company  and  later  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  firm  of  Holley,  Mason,  Marks  & 
Company.  Upon  the  reorganization  of  the  firm, 
in  1882,  the  business  was  incorporated  under  the 
firm  name  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  Hardware  Com- 
pany, with  J.  A.  Fitch  as  president;  A.  B.  Camp- 
bell, vice-president,  and  Edward  H.  Moffitt,  sec- 
retary and  treasurer.  They  deal  in  mining  and 
mill  supplies  and  all  kinds  of  general  hardware 
and  have  one  of  the  most  extensive  hardware 
stores  in  the  west.  They  enjoy  a  very  liberal 
patronage,  and  not  a  little  of  the  success  of  the 
enterprise  is  due  to  the  energetic  and  capable 
secretary,  whose  executive  ability  and  keen  fore- 
sight are  most  marked. 

In  1888  occurred  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Moffitt 
and  Miss  Effie  J.  Colborn,  of  lola.  Kansas,  and 
to  them  have  been  born  two  sons.  They  have  a 
pleasant  home  in  Wallace,  and  the  household  is 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


389 


celebrated  for  its  hospitality.  In  his  political 
views  Mr.  Moffitt  is  a  Democrat  and  socially  is 
connected  with  die  Masonic  fraternity.  He  is  a 
public-spirited  and  progressive  citizen,  lending 
his  aid  and  co-operation  to  every  movement  for 
the  public  good,  and  is  a  reliable  business  man, 
who  fully  merits  the  confidence  reposed  in  him. 

WYLIE  A.  LADDER. 

Among  those  who  have  been  distinctly  con- 
spicuous in  connection  with  the  substantial  up- 
building and  legitimate  progress  of  the  attractive 
little  city  of  Moscow,  the  county-seat  of  Latah 
county,  very  definite  recognition  must  be  given 
to  him  whose  name  initiates  this  paragraph.  It 
was  his  fortune  to  be  on  the  ground  when  the 
town  practically  had  its  inception,  and  with  every 
advance  movement  he  has  been  prominently  iden- 
tified, being  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading 
and  most  enterprising  business  men  of  the  place 
and  as  one  who  has  contributed  liberally  and  with 
enthusiasm  to  every  cause  which  has  had  as  its 
object  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  Moscow. 

Mr.  Lauder  traces  his  ancestral  line  through 
many  generations  of  sturdy  Scottish  stock,  he 
himself  being  of  but  the  second  generation  on 
American  soil,  since  his  father,  William  Lauder, 
was  a  native  of  bonnie  Scotland,  the  fair  land  of 
"brown  heather  and  shaggy  wood."  Wylie  A. 
Lauder  is  a  native  of  Canisteo,  Steuben  county, 
New  York,  where  he  was  born  in  July,  1857, 
the  son  of  William  and  Mary  (Cameron)  Lauder, 
the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Scotland,  as  has 
already  been  noted,  while  the  latter  is  likewise  of 
Scottish  ancestry.  William  Lauder  came  to  the 
United  States  in  the  year  1845,  locating  at 
Duanesburg,  New  York,  where  was  eventually 
solemnized  his  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  Cameron. 
In  the  year  1869  they  removed  to  North  Caro- 
lina, where  the  father  of  our  subject  devoted  his 
attention  to  agricultural  pursuits  until  the  fall 
of  1885,  when  he  made  a  visit  to  Moscow,  Idaho, 
becoming  so  impressed  with  the  attractions  of 
the  place  that  when  he  returned  to  his  home  in 
the  south  he  determined  to  dispose  of  his  prop- 
erty there  and  to  make  his  home  in  the  little  city 
where  his  son  was  located.  Accordingly,  in 
1891,  he  closed  out  his  interests  in  North  Caro- 
lina and  came  to  Moscow,  where  he  passed  the 
residue  of  his  days,  his  death  occurring  on  the 


24th  of  November,  1897,  at  the  age  of  seventy 
years.  He  was  a  Republican  in  his  political  pro- 
clivities, was  a  man  of  strong  intellectuality  and 
so  ordered  his  life  as  to  gain  and  to  merit  the 
esteem  and  confidence  of  his  fellow  men.  His 
widow  is  still  living,  having  reached  the  venera- 
ble age  of  seventy-six  years,  and  makes  her  home 
in  Moscow,  where  she  is  accorded  the  utmost 
filial  devotion  by  her  children,  who  are  three  in 
number. 

Wylie  A.  Lauder,  the  immediate  subject  of 
this  review,  was  the  second  in  order  of  birth  of 
the  three  children,  and  his  educational  discipline 
was  secured  in  the  public  schools  of  North  Caro- 
lina, where  he  was  reared  under  the  invigorating 
influences  of  the  parental  farmstead.  He  contin- 
ued to  be  identified  with  agricultural  pursuits 
until  1883,  when  he  came  to  Colfax,  Washington, 
where  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  store  which 
furnished  supplies  to  those  engaged  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  line  of  the  Oregon  Railway  & 
Navigation  Company.  When  the  line  had  been 
completed  to  Moscow  Mr.  Lauder  determined  to 
make  this  his  permanent  abiding  place,  foresee- 
ing that  the  natural  advantages  of  the  location 
would  in  time  make  it  an  important  point.  His 
confidence  in  the  future  of  Moscow  has  been 
justified  by  results,  and  his  faith  in  its  still  greater 
precedence  is  unwavering.  His  first  distinctly 
local  business  venture  was  made  in  company  with 
Fred  S.  Clough,  with  whom  he  became  asso- 
ciated in  the  manufacture  of  brick,  in  which  im- 
portant line  of  enterprise  they  were  the  absolute 
pioneers  in  the  place.  They  made  the  first  brick 
ever  manufactured  in  Moscow,  and  supplied  the 
material  in  this  line  for  all  of  the  many  fine  brick 
structures  which  have  made  the  town  so  attract- 
ive and  substantial  in  its  upbuilding.  The  first 
building  erected  of  brick  was  the  Bank  of  Mos- 
cow, and  for  this  the  firm  supplied  the  material, 
as  well  as  for  all  other  structures  both  public  and 
private.  The  association  of  Messrs.  Lauder  arid 
Clough  continued  for  three  years,  after  which,  in 
1886,  our  subject  entered  into  partnership  with 
his  brother-in-law,  T.  J.  Taylor,  who  is  now  sher- 
iff of  Lemhi  county,  Idaho.  They  continued  the 
manufacture  of  brick  up  to  the  year  1895,  con- 
ducting an  extensive  business  in  this  line  and 
also  in  that  of  contracting  and  building.  The 
firm  erected  the  building  for  the  Washington 


390 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


State  Agricultural  College,  at  Pullman;  the 
splendid  building  of  the  Idaho  State  University, 
at  Moscow;  all  of  the  public-school  buildings  of 
this  city  and  all  but  three  of  Moscow's  fine  busi- 
ness blocks.  They  manufactured  more  than 
twelve  million  brick,  having  shipped  over  a  mill- 
ion to  Spokane,  and  the  firm  had  a  reputation 
for  the  highest  integrity  and  for  scrupulous  honor 
in  every  business  transaction. 

When  their  business  success  was  at  its  height, 
the  general  financial  depression  of  1893  began  to 
make  its  influence  felt  in  this  section  of  the 
Union,  and  the  firm  failed,  as  did  many  others 
within  that  memorable  period.  The  loss  entailed 
to  the  firm  was  such  that  they  were  compelled, 
though  with  great  reluctance,  to  discontinue  the 
business  which  they  had  labored  so  assiduously 
to  establish.  In  1892-3  they  had  brought  about 
the  organization  of  the  Builders'  Supply  Com- 
pany, of  which  Mr.  Lander  was  president.  Quite 
extensive  investments  had  been  made  in  real 
estate,  and  with  the  depreciation  in  values  and 
the  slight  demands  for  investments  in  realty,  re- 
sulting from  the  unsettled  financial  conditions  of 
the  country,  they  met  with  heavy  losses. 

Mr.  Lauder  is  net,  however,  a  man  to  be  easily 
disheartened  or  discouraged,  and  he  soon  turned 
his  attention  to  other  lines  of  enterprise,  confi- 
dent that  energy,  careful  methods  and  hard  work 
would  insure  success,  even  with  many  obstacles 
to  be  overcome.  He  accordingly  organized  the 
Idaho  Fruit  &  Produce  Company,  of  which  he 
is  manager.  The  company  deals  largely,  at 
wholesale,  in  hay,  grain  and  other  agricultural 
products,  and  also  handles  fruits  of  all  kinds  in 
large  amounts.  The  enterprise  supplies  a'  dis- 
tinct need  in  Moscow,  and  excellent  success  is 
attending  it.  The  producers  find  here  a  ready 
cash  market  for  their  products,  and  to  Moscow 
is  thus  attracted  the  business  of  a  large  tributary 
territory,  practically  comprising  the  entire  north- 
ern section  of  the  state.  The  value  of  such  an 
enterprise  can  not  be  overestimated,  and  in  this 
way  Mr.  Lauder  is  contributing  to  the  progress 
and  prosperity  of  the  city  while  promoting  indi- 
vidual success.  He  is  public-spirited  in  his  atti- 
tude, and  is  at  all  times  ready  to  lend  his  aid  and 
influence  to  whatever  conserves  the  well-being  of 
his  home  city. 

In  the  vear  1886  Mr.  Lauder  was  united  in 


marriage  to  Miss  Minnie  Taylor,  daughter  of 
William  Taylor,  the  pioneer  settler  of  Latah 
county,  to  whom  specific  reference  is  made  on 
other  pages  of  this  work.  To  the  article  men- 
tioned the  reader  is  referred  for  a  detailed  his- 
tory of  the  family.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lauder  are  the 
parents  of  two  children, — Ralph  Emerson  and 
Alma.  The  family  home  is  a  most  attractive  resi- 
dence of  modern  architectural  design,  located 
on  a  ten-acre  tract  near  the  grounds  of  the  State 
University,  and  here  a  gracious  hospitality  is  ex- 
tended to  a  large  circle  of  friends.  Mr.  Lauder 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
while  Mrs.  Lauder  holds  membership  in  the 
Christian  church.  Our  subject  is  one  of  the 
trustees  of  his  church  and  was  prominently  iden- 
tified with  the  building  of  the  fine  church  edifice. 
In  his  political  adherency  he  is  arrayed  in  sup- 
port of  the  Republican  party.  An  energetic,  up- 
right and  enterprising  business  man  of  Moscow, 
Mr.  Lauder  is  one  of  the  city's  honored  and  rep- 
resentative citizens. 

WILLIAM  M.  BROWN,  M.  D. 

The  medical  fraternity  is  ably  represented  by 
Dr.  William  M.  Brown,  who  is  the  leading  phy- 
sician of  Cuprum,  whither  he  removed  in  June 
of  the  present  year,  1899,  from  Salubria,  where 
he  had  continuously  and  successfully  engaged  in 
practice  from  June,  1892.  He  was  born  in 
Preble  county,  Ohio,  on  the  i8th  of  November, 
1860.  His  ancestors  were  early  settlers  of  South 
Carolina,  and  his  grandfather,  James  Brown,  was 
born  in  Due  West,  that  state.  James  Scott 
Brown,  the  Doctor's  father,  was  a  native  of 
Preble  county,  Ohio,  and  having  arrived  at  man's 
estate  he  married  Miss  Julia  Robertson,  of 
Brighton,  Iowa,  who  was  born  at  Spring  Hill, 
Indiana.  He  spent  his  entire  life,  however,  near 
the  old  homestead  where  his  birth  occurred,  and 
was  an  industrious,  prosperous  and  honorable 
farmer.  He  and  his  wife  were  valued  members 
of  the  United  Presbyterian  church  and  exempli- 
fied in  their  daily  lives  their  religious  belief. 

Dr.  Brown,  the  eldest  in  their  family  of  nine 
children,  eight  of  whom  are  yet  living,  was  lib- 
erally educated  and  thus  fitted  for  the  responsi- 
ble duties  of  life.  Having  attended  the  public 
schools  of  the  Buckeye  state,  he  further  contin- 
ued his  studies  in  the  university  at  Oxford;  Ohio, 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


391 


and  in  Monmouth  College,  at  Monmouth,  Illi- 
nois. He  was  graduated  in  the  Miami  Medical 
College  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  in  the  class  of  1888, 
having  therein  completed  a  course  in  medicine, 
after  which  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
chosen  profession  in  Omaha,  Nebraska,  until 
June,  1892,  when  he  came  to  Salubria.  For 
seven  years  he  made  his  home  there  and  his 
practice  constantly  extended  throughout  the  val- 
ley. In  June,  1899,  he  removed  to  Cuprum, 
Idaho,  where  in  connection  with  his  practice,  he 
conducts  a  drug  store.  He  numbers  among  his 
patrons  many  of  the  best  people  of  this  section  of 
the  state,  and  his  success  is  richly  merited,  for 
he  is  a  close  student  of  his  profession  and  spares 
no  efforts  whereby  he  will  be  better  fitted  to  min- 
ister to  the  needs  of  suffering  humanity  and 
check  the  ravages  of  disease. 

Dr.  Brown  erected  a  good  residence  in  Salu- 
bria and  there  resided  with  his  interesting  family 
until  his  removal  to  Cuprum.  He  was  married 
on  the  ist  of  October,  1889,  to  Miss  Emma  L. 
Sherman,  of  New  York,  a  daughter  of  Jesse  S. 
Sherman,  of  the  Empire  state.  They  have  two 
daughters,  Winifred  and  Mildred,  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  family  are  highly  esteemed  in  the 
community.  The  Doctor  is  a  valued  member  of 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  in 
his  political  preferences  and  affiliations  he  is  a 
Republican.  He  has  served  as  coroner  of  Wash- 
ington county  and  takes  a  deep  interest  in  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  welfare  and  advancement 
of  town,  county  and  state. 

JESSIE  K.   CLARKE,   M.  D. 

In  no  field  of  endeavor  requiring  intellectuality 
has  woman  failed  to  demonstrate  her  equality 
with  man,  and  more  and  more  the  different  lines 
of  professional  labor  are  opening  to  her,  and 
therein  she  is  winning  successes  that  are  most 
creditable.  Dr.  Jessie  K.  Clarke,  although  a  re- 
cent acquisition  to  the  medical  fraternity  of 
Grangeville,  has  already  demonstrated  her  right 
to  be  classed  among  the  foremost  physicians  oi 
Idaho  county,  and  her  ability  is  indicated  by  the 
liberal  patronage  she  now  enjoys.  She  makes  a 
specialty  of  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and 
throat,  and  her  labors  have  been  attended  by 
most  gratifying  results  to  patient  and  practi- 
tioner. 


Dr.  Clarke  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  her  birth  hav- 
ing occurred  in  Circleville,  June  i,  1861.  She  is 
of  English  lineage  on  the  paternal  side  and  of 
Scotch  descent  on  the  maternal,  her  mother's 
people  tracing  their  ancestry  back  to  Sir  William 
Wallace,  one  of  the  greatest  heroes  and  patriots 
that  his  land  has  ever  produced.  The  Clarkes  have 
for  generations  been  residents  of  New  York.  To 
this  family  belongs  Dr.  Elisha  Clarke,  a  grand- 
uncle  of  the  lady  of  whom  we  write.  Her  father, 
William  A.  Clarke,  was  a  native  of  Albany,  New 
York,  was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  relig- 
iously was  connected  with  the  United  Brethren 
church.  He  married  Miss  Sarah  M.  Cleveland, 
and  to  them  were  born  eight  children,  all  of 
whom  are  living.  The  father  passed  away  in 
1892,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight  years,  and  his 
wife  is  now  living,  in  her  seventy-first  year. 

Dr.  Clarke  was  educated  in  the  Normal  School 
and  Business  Institute,  at  Paola,  Kansas,  and  in 
the  Willamette  University,  in  Oregon,  graduat- 
ing at  the  latter  institution  in  the  class  of  1879. 
She  pursued  her  medical  education  in  the  Eds- 
worth  Medical  College,  at  St.  Joseph,  Missouri, 
where  she  was  graduated  with  honors  in  the  class 
of  1896,  after  which  she  spent  a  year  in  perfect- 
ing herself  in  her  specialty  in  the  New  York 
Polyclinic.  Thus  well  informed  concerning  the 
science  of  medicine,  and  particularly  well  versed 
concerning  the  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and 
throat,  she  began  practice  in  Topeka,  Kansas, 
where  she  still  has  her  office,  which  is  now  in 
charge  of  her  partner,  H.  L.  Akire.  She  is  a  val- 
ued member  of  the  Kansas  State  Medical  Society, 
also  the  City  Medical  Society  and  of  the  Acad- 
emy of  Medicine  and  Surgery  in  Topeka.  She 
came  to  Grangeville  in  October,  1898,  to  see 
her  mother  and  sister,  who  were  ill,  and  was  by 
them  induced  to  open  an  office  in  Grangeville, 
where  she  is  meeting  with  very  gratifying  suc- 
cess. She  is  a  close  student  of  her  profession,  and 
her  knowledge  of  the  science  of  medicine  is  com- 
prehensive and  accurate.  Her  zeal  and  devotion 
are  manifest  in  the  faithful  performance  of  each 
day's  duty,  from  which  she  also  gains  inspiration 
and  strength  for  the  labors  of  the  succeeding  day. 
She  is  very  skillful  in  the  diagnosing  of  a  case, 
and  has  effected  some  remarkable  cures. 

Dr.  Clarke  is  a  lady  of  fine  physique  and  most 
pleasing  manner,  is  an  excellent  conversational- 


392 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ist  and  has  a  very  sympathetic  nature,  which  is 
manifest  in  her  professional  as  well  as  social 
life.  She  deserves  great  credit  for  her  success, 
for  through  her  own  efforts  she  has  worked  her 
way  upward.  By  teaching  she  acquired  the  means 
that  enabled  her  to  pursue  her  professional  edu- 
cation, and  her  resolution  and  zeal  are  most  com- 
mendable. She  has  already  won  many  friends 
in  Grangeville  and  the  surrounding  country,  and 
the  medical  fraternity  accord  her  a  leading  place 
in  their  ranks. 

HENRY  W.  CURTIS. 

There  is  a  sprinkling  of  English  blood  in  Idaho 
which  adds  to  the  moral  and  financial  vitality  of 
the  state.  One  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Black- 
foot  of  English  birth  is  ex-County  Treasurer 
Henry  W.  Curtis,  who  was  also  the  pioneer 
hardware  merchant  of  that  city.  Mr.  Curtis  was 
born  in  London,  England,  August  9,  1854.  His 
father,  Joseph  H.  Curtis,  of  an  old  English  fam- 
ily, married  Miss  Sarah  Morrell,  a  native  of  Lon- 
don. They  had  seven  children  born  to  them  in 
England,  and  in  1860  they  came  to  the  United 
States,  to  found  a  home  in  the  New  World.  Mr. 
Curtis  was  a  silk-weaver  by  trade  and  for  about 
a  year  was  employed  at  stocking-weaving  in 
Philadelphia.  In  1861  the  family  moved  to  Utah, 
and  there  the  father  died  in  1877,  aged  sixty-four 
years.  His  wife  has  attained  the  age  of  eighty- 
four,  and  their  children  are  all  living. 

Henry  W.  Curtis,  the  youngest  of  the  seven, 
was  educated  in  public  schools  of  Utah  and  be- 
gan to  earn  his  living  at  the  early  age  of  nine 
years.  He  has  not  only  depended  on  himself 
since  that  time,  but  has  helped  others,  and  may 
be  called  a  self-educated  man.  In  his  early  efforts 
to  get  on  in  the  world  he  engaged  four  years  in 
freighting  from  Corinne,  Utah,  to  different  points 
in  Montana.  In  1874  he  embarked  in  the  hard- 
ware business  and  general  manufacture  of  tin- 
ware, and  in  1885  became  the  first  hardware  mer- 
chant of  Blackfoot,  where  he  met  with  well  de- 
served success.  He  has  proven  himself  a  busi- 
ness man  of  first-class  ability,  and  the  favor  with 
which  he  has  been  received  and  which  has  re- 
sulted in  the  building  up  of  a  large  trade  through- 
out all  of  Blackfoot  tributary  territory,  has  been 
won  by  honest  methods  and  the  policy  of  giving 
full  value  in  ever}'  transaction,  large  or  small. 


Mr.  Curtis  has  a  genial  manner  and  a  hearty 
courtesy  which  gain  him  friends  not  only  nume- 
rous but  warm  and  steadfast.  Possessed  of  a  gen- 
erous disposition  and  much  public  spirit,  he  has 
interested  himself  in  every  movement  for  the 
public  good,  and  he  has  been  a  useful  citizen 
whose  good  offices  are  appreciated  by  the  people 
of  Blackfoot.  He  was  twice  elected,  as  a  Re- 
publican, to  the  office  of  county  treasurer  and 
performed  its  duties  to  the  satisfaction  of  every 
good  citizen. 

Mr.  Curtis  was  made  a  Mason,  in  Grove  City 
Lodge,  No.  33,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons,  and  has  passed  every  chair  in  the  local 
Odd  Fellows  lodge  and  is  a  Modern  Woodman  of 
America. 

In  1870  Mr.  Curtis  married  Miss  Luella  Ben- 
son, who  bore  him.  a  son,  Harry  B.  Curtis,  who 
is  one  of  Blackfoot's  most  prominent  young  men 
and  is  a  valuable  assistant  to  his  father  in  his 
business.  Mrs.  Curtis  died  in  1881.  She  was  a 
woman  of  great  ability  and  of  the  truest  worth, 
and  her  loss  was  felt  keenly  not  only  in  her  own 
household,  but  throughout  her  large  circle  of 
acquaintance.  After  the  expiration  of  nine  years, 
in  1890,  Mr.  Curtis  married  Miss  Agnes  E.  Mil- 
len,  who  was  of  Scotch  parentage  and  a  native  of 
Minnesota.  She  died  in  March,  1895,  leaving 
two  daughters,  Lola  and  Sadie.  She  had  proven 
herself  a  loving  wife  and  mother  and  a  woman 
of  value  to  the  community,  and  her  death  caused 
sorrow  to  all  who  knew  her.  Mr.  Curtis  has 
since  lived  a  single  life,  comforted  by  the  affec- 
tion of  his  children. 

EPHRAIM   W.   BAUGHMAN. 

Few  men  are  more  widely  known  in  the  north- 
west than  Captain  E.  W.  Baughman,  of  Lewis- 
ton,  who  for  forty-eight  years  has  sailed  on  the 
rivers  in  this  section  of  the  country.  His  circle 
of  friends  is  indeed  extensive,  and  his  genial 
manner  and  social  disposition  win  him  the  regard 
of  all.  He  was  born  in  Fulton  county,  Illinois, 
May  18,  1835,  and  is  of  German  lineage,  his  an- 
cestors having  long  been  residents  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, however.  His  father,  John  Baughman, 
was  born  in  that  state  and  married  Miss  Jane 
Murphy,  a  lady  of  German  descent.  In  an  early 
day  they  removed  to  Illinois,  settling  in  the  west 
before  the  Black  Hawk  war.  The  father  secured  a 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


393 


farm  in  Fulton  county  and  there  reared  his  family 
of  nine  children,  four  of  whom  are  yet  living.  He 
departed  this  life  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age, 
and  his  wife  passed  away  when  about  the  same 
age. 

Captain  Baughman,  their  fifth  child,  was  reared 
in  the  state  of  his  nativity  until  his  sixteenth 
year,  and  then  crossed  the  plains  with  ox  teams 
to  California,  in  1850.  The  party  with  which  he 
traveled  took  with  them  a  year's  provisions,  but 
found  they  had  more  than  they  needed,  and  on 
reaching  California  they  sold  their  surplus  sup- 
ply of  flour,  bacon,  beans  and  sugar  for  two  dol- 
lars per  pound.  The  Captain  engaged  at  placer 
mining  at  Hangtown  and  on  the  south  fork  of 
the  American  river,  and  after  spending  a  brief 
time  in  the  mines  he  went  on  a  sailing  vessel  to 
Portland,  Oregon,  paying  fifty-five  dollars  for  the 
passage.  The  voyage  lasted  for  a  month,  and  on 
reaching  his  destination  Captain  Baughman 
worked  at  whatever  he  could  find  to  do,  being 
principally  engaged  in  "packing"  things  on  his 
back  from  one  place  to  another  in  the  town. 
After  a  winter  spent  in  that  way  his  employer 
wanted  him  to  take  city  lots  at  fifty  dollars  each 
in  payment,  but  he  declined,  wanting  money  in- 
stead. The  man,  however,  failed  and  in  conse- 
quence he  got  nothing,  and  the  lots  which  he 
refused  are  now  of  great  value. 

That  spring  Captain  Baughman  suffered  a 
severe  attack  of  rheumatism,  during  which  he 
was  cared  for  and  treated  by  Dr.  Baker.  When 
our  subject  had  recovered  and  asked  for  his  bill, 
expecting  to  be  charged  a  very  large  sum,  the 
doctor  responded  that  he  would  make  no  charge 
except  for  the  actual  cost  of  the  medicine,  about 
forty  dollars.  Thus  Captain  Baughman  realized 
the  truth  of  the  old  adage:  "A  friend  in  need  is 
a  friend  indeed!"  Removing  to  Oregon  City,  he 
soon  became  well  and  strong  again,  and  accepted 
a  position  as  fireman  on  a  steamboat.  Later  he 
was  engaged  in  the  sawmill  business  and  subse- 
quently went  to  Yamhill  county,  Oregon,  where 
he  operated  a  farm  for  a  year.  In  1851  he  ac- 
cepted a  position  as  fireman  on  the  Lot  Whitman 
and  was  thus  employed  until  1853,  when  he  went 
to  the  Cascades  and  became  captain  of  a  little 
sailboat,  carrying  lumber  and  merchandise  on 
the  Columbia  river  and  also  taking  emigrants 
down  the  river  to  Portland  and  other  points.  He 


received  eighty-four  dollars  per  ton  for  loading 
freight.  He  next  became  captain  of  the  steamer 
Hasalo,  running  between  the  Cascades  and  The 
Dalles,  and  in  May,  1861,  he  was  sent  by  the 
Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company  to  explore 
the  Snake  river  from  Caldwell  to  Lewiston.  In 
1862  he  was  in  command  of  the  Colonel  Wright 
and  made  the  first  -trip  up  the  Snake  river.  He 
made  for  his  company  over  twenty-one  thou- 
sand dollars,  the  trips  averaging  about  fifteen 
thousand  dollars.  In  August,  1862,  in  partner- 
ship with  Henry  Corbet  (now  ex-senator)  and 
others,  he  built  the  steamboat  Spray,  at  a  cost  of 
thirty-three  thousand  dollars,  and  in  five  months 
he  earned  on  her  trips  fifty-two  thousand  dollars. 
He  then  sold  the  vessel  to  the  Oregon  Steam 
Navigation  Company  for  sixty-three  thousand 
dollars.  While  running  that  boat  the  Captain 
made  seven  hundred  dollars  per  month.  After 
selling  the  Spray  he  went  to  the  Willamette  river 
and  was  a  director  of  the  People's  Navigation 
Company  and  captain  of  one  of  the  boats,  but  the 
starting  of  an  opposition  boat  proved  a  failure 
and  he  lost  money. 

Subsequently  Captain  Baughman  engaged  in 
boating  on  the  Puget  Sound  for  two  years,  and 
was  also  on  the  Fraser  river  for  two  years.  In 
1873  he  returned  to  the  Willamette  river  and 
urged  the  building  of  the  locks  at  Oregon  City, 
helped  to  organize  the  company  for  this  purpose 
and  was  elected  its  president.  He  was  in  com- 
mand of  boats  on  the  Willamette  until  1876,  and 
has  been. connected  with  the  Oregon  Railway  & 
Navigation  Company  longer  than  any  other  of 
its  employes.  His  long  service  on  the  rivers  of 
the  northwest  has  gained  him  a  very  extensive 
acquaintance,  until  in  this  section  of  the  country 
not  to  know  Captain  Baughman  is  almost  to 
argue  oneself  unknown. 

In  1864  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  the 
Captain  and  Miss  Lizzy  Thomas,  a  native  of  St. 
Louis,  and  a  daughter  of  John  Thomas,  an  Eng- 
lish gentleman  who  was  brought  to  America 
when  a  child  by  his  parents.  Mrs.  Baughman 
crossed  the  plains  to  the  Pacific  coast  in  1850. 
By  her  marriage  she  has  become  the  mother  of 
four  children:  Hattie,  wife  of  H.  A.  Thatcher; 
Henry,  who  was  a  steamboat  captain  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  and  is  now  a  leading  business  man 
of  Lewiston;  Ralph,  who  is  a  pilot  on  the  steam- 


394 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


er  Lewiston;  and  Frank,  who  died  of  typhoid 
fever  in  his  nineteenth  year,  while  attending 
school  in  Portland.  The  family  is  one  of  prom- 
inence in  the  community.  Mrs.  Baughman  is  a 
valued  member  of  the  Episcopal  church  and  also 
of  the  order  of  the  Eastern  Star.  The  Captain 
belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  has  at- 
tained the  fourteenth  degree  of  the  Scottish  rite. 
His  many  excellent  qualities,  uniform  courtesy 
and  genuine  worth  have  gained  him  high  and 
uniform  regard,  and  he  well  deserves  mention  in 
the  history  of  his  adopted  state. 

BISHOP    JAMES    THOMAS. 

"Faith  without  works"  has  never  accomplished 
much.  Religion  that  is  practical  and  applicable 
.to  the  every-day  life  of  any  people  is  good  for 
them,  regardless  of  any  peculiarities  of  creed. 
Bishop  Thomas,  of  the  Eagle  Rock  ward  of  the 
Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  must  be  recom- 
mended as  a  man  of  the  highest  quality  of  busi- 
ness ability, — one  who  makes  a  business  of  re- 
ligion and  does  not  attempt  to  do  business  except 
by  the  rule  which  is  the  rule  of  his  private  life. 

Bishop  Thomas  is  a  native  of  Wales  and  a  son 
of  John  and  Mary  (Roberts)  Thomas.  He  was 
born  at  Llanelly,  Carmarthenshire,  April  29, 
1848.  His  parents  were  converted  to  the  faith 
of  the  Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints  that  same 
year.  His  father,  who  was  a  tailor,  came  with 
his  wife  and  seven  of  their  sons  to  America, 
twenty  years  later,  and  settled  at  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah.  There  he  devoted  himself  to  his  trade 
until  his  retirement  from  the  active  life.  He  is 
living  at  Smithfield,  Utah,  aged  eighty-four  years. 
His  wife  died  in  1885  aged  sixty-five.  John, 
Thomas,  William,  James,  Lorenzo,  Dan  and 
George,  their  seven  sons  who  came  with  them 
to  the  United  States,  all  settled  in  Utah  and 
were  ardent  adherents  to  the  Mormon  faith.  Dan 
alone  has  died. 

James  Thomas,  fourth  son  of  John  and  Mary 
(Roberts)  Thomas,  was  educated  in  Wales,  where 
he  learned  the  tailor's  trade  with  his  father  and 
worked  at  it  before  he  came  to  the  United  States. 
He  followed  it  successfully  at  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah,  from  the  date  of  his  arrival  there  until 
1882,  when  he  came  to  Idaho  and  opened  a 
tailoring  establishment  at  Idaho  Falls.  Later  he 
added  a  millinery  department,  and  in  1892  a 


ready-made  clothing  and  men's  furnishing 
department.  As  a  practical  tailor  of  almost  life- 
long experience,  he  has  an  advantage  over  ordi- 
nary merchants  in  selecting  ready  to  wear 
clothing.  Not  only  is  he  able  to  judge  instantly 
the  quality  of  the  cloth  and  trimmings,  but  a 
glance  suffices  to  inform  him  if  garments  are 
artistically  cut  and  properly  tailored,  and  he  car- 
ries no  goods  that  do  not  in  every  way  come  up 
to  his  high  standard  of  quality  and  finish.  He 
has  built  up  a  large  trade,  for  the  public  has 
come  to  know  that  anything  bought  at  his  estab- 
lishment is  exactly  as  represented. 

The  history  of  Bishop  Thomas's  religious  de- 
velopment would  be  most  interesting  in  a  work 
devoted  to  the  spiritual  side  of  life,  but  it  will 
scarcely  be  looked  for  in  a  history  of  the  material 
growth  and  prosperity  of  Idaho  and  her  people. 
Suffice  to  say  that  he  showed  such  zeal  in  church 
work  and  developed  such  conspicuous  talent  as 
an  expounder  of  the  word  of  God,  as  it  was  re- 
vealed to  him  through  the  teachings  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter 
Day  Saints,  that,  as  one  of  the  ministers  of  the 
church,  he  was  sent  to  England  to  preach  and 
to  make  converts.  He  was  so  successful  in  this 
work  and  in  other  important  duties  which  were 
entrusted  to  him,  that  in  1885  he  was  ordained  a 
bishop  and  in  that  high  and  responsible  office  is 
serving  his  people  with  rare  ability  and  fidelity, 
with  authority  over  the  Eagle  Rock  ward.  His 
duties  are  many  and  diverse.  Aside  from  his 
ministerial  office,  he  has  a  business-like  super- 
vision over  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  church  in 
his  ward,  and  is  especially  charged  to  see  that 
the  poor,  of  any  religion  or  no  religion,  do  not 
suffer  for  food  or  other  absolute  essentials  to 
continued  existence  which  may  be  supplied  by 
the  charity  of  the  church.  The  members,  elders 
and  bishops  of  the  Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints 
are  all  enjoined  to  work,  and  they  are  more  than 
self-supporting  in  their  relation  to  the  work  they 
are  given  to  do.  At  Idaho  Falls  a  fine  meeting- 
house of  sandstone  has  been  erected,  and  the 
church  is  thrifty  and  progressive. 

Politically  Bishop  Thomas  is  a  Democrat,  and 
as  such  he  has  twice  been  elected  a  member  of 
Idaho  Falls  town  council,  and  in  that  capacity 
has  served  with  the  practical,  business-like  effec- 
tiveness that  characterizes  everything  he  does, 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


395 


holding  the  welfare  of  the  whole  people  in  view 
at  all  times.  In  every  way  he  has  shown  himself 
public-spirited  and  deeply  concerned  for  the 
growth  of  Idaho  Falls  and  the  advancement  of 
its  every  important  interest.  Personally  he  en- 
joys the  friendship  of  the  best  and  most  patriotic 
citizens  of  southeastern  Idaho,  and  is  highly  re- 
garded in  business  circles  throughout  Idaho  and 
adjoining  states. 

Bishop  Thomas  was  married,  in  Wales,  in 
1866,  to  Elizabeth  Richardson,  daughter  of 
Charles  and  Mary  (Harvey)  Richardson,  this 
event  occurring  before  he  came  to  America,  and 
his  wife  came  with  the  family  party,  as  did  the 
wives  of  some  of  his  brothers.  They  have  a  son 
and  a  daughter.  Lorenzo  R.  Thomas,  the  son,  is 
a  prominent  citizen  of  Bingham  county,  and  is 
now  filling  the  office  of  register  of  the  United 
States  land  office  at  Blackfoot.  Mary  E.,  the 
daughter,  married  S.  H.  Jacobs  and  has  five 

children. 

JAMES    C.    HANSON. 

The  Danish  citizens  of  the  United  States  are 
more  nearly  identical  with  our  Anglo-American 
race  than  any  other  citizens  of  foreign  birth.  They 
possess  the  spirit  which  we  call  "go-aheaditive- 
ness"  in  as  large  measure  as  any  of  our  citizens, 
and  they  become  Americanized  and  assimilate 
with  the  older  population  of  our  country  sooner 
perhaps  than  foreigners  of  any  other  race.  They 
are  industrious,  take  to  business  on  broad  prin- 
ciples and  are  about  as  certain  to  make  successes 
as  any  people  among  us.  James  C.  Hanson, 
one  of  the  prominent  farmers  of  Latah  county, 
Idaho,  is  not  by  any  means  one  of  the  exceptions 
that  prove  this  rule.  He  belongs  rather  to  the 
large  majority  whose  progressive  and  intelligent 
industry  is  having  an  influence  mpre  and  more 
marked  on  our  general  prosperity  as  we  approach 
the  beginning  of  a  new  century. 

Mr.  Hanson  was  a  pioneer  in  Latah  county 
and  is  one  of  its  most  prominent  citizens.  He 
located  in  Idaho  in  1872,  before  there  had  come 
into  existence  anything  to  so  much  as  foreshadow 
the  inception  and  development  of  the  city  of 
Genesee,  and  he  not  only  witnessed  but  has  as- 
sisted in  the  opening  up  and  improvement  of 
Latah  and  her  sister  counties. 

Mr.  Hanson  was  born  in  Denmark  and  was 
educated  and  began  his  active  life  there.  His 


father,  Hanse  K.  Hanson,  married  Miss  Paulson, 
and  the  worthy  couple  lived  and  died  in  their 
native  land,  Mr.  Hanson  passing  away  in  1889, 
aged  seventy  years,  and  Mrs.  Hanson  in  1899, 
aged  eighty.  They  were  devoted  members  of 
the  Lutheran  church.  They  brought  into  the 
world  five  children,  of  whom  four  are  living. 
James  C.  Hanson,  the  subject  of  this  review, 
came  to  America  in  1868  and  located  in  Wis- 
consin. He  had  six  hundred  dollars  with  which 
to  begin  life  in  a  new  world,  but  no  knowledge 
of  the  language  and  ways  of  the  country  in  which 
he  sought  success  and  fortune.  He  determined 
to  begin  cautiously  and  carefully,  and  he  found 
employment  in  Waupaca  county,  Wisconsin,  as 
a  farm  laborer,  first  at  sixteen,  and  later  at 
twenty  dollars  a  month.  He  saved  his  money 
and  acquired  a  knowledge  of  English  as  well  as 
much  other  information  that  he  has  since  found 
useful.  Besides  this,  he  saved  his  money. 

In  1872  he  came  to  Lewiston,  Idaho.  There 
were  then  but  few  settlers  in  this  part  of  Latah 
county,  and  Lewiston  was  the  only  town  within 
the  county  limits.  He  entered  government  land, 
built  on  it,  farmed  it  profitably  and  sold  it  in 
1880,  for  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  and 
then  bought  a  settler's  right  to  another  pre- 
emption. Later  he  bought  his  present  property, 
near  Genesee,  and  he  now  owns  one  hundred  and 
seventy  acres.  He  has  put  this  property  under 
advanced  improvement  and  has  every  facility  for 
thorough  and  successful  farming  and  many  con- 
veniences and  up-to-date  luxuries  not  possessed 
by  farmers  generally  in  this  vicinity.  From  a 
somewhat  distant  spring,  water  is  brought  to  his 
house,  barns  and  stock-yards,  pure,  cold,  health- 
ful and  always  available.  In  1898  he  raised  two 
thousand  two  hundred  bushels  of  wheat  and  cut 
sixty  tons  of  hay.  He  has  bred  many  Norman- 
Percheron  horses  and  has  some  fine  specimens 
of  this  celebrated  breed  on  hand  at  this  time. 

Mr.  Hanson  was  married  January  14,  1869,  to 
Miss  Carrie  Beck,  a  native  of  Denmark.  They 
have  had  five  children,  two  of  whom  are  living. 
Alonzo,  the  elder  son,  is  married  and  his  father 
has  built  him  a  cosy  residence  near  his  own. 
He  is  assisting  in  the  management  of  one  of  the 
farms.  The  other  son,  Ira  D.  J.  Hanson,  is  a 
member  of  his  father's  household.  Mr.  Hanson 
is  an  influential  Republican.  He  has  passed  all 


396 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  chairs  in  both  branches  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  has  been  representa- 
tive in  the  grand  lodge  and  holds  an  important 
office  in  that  lodge.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hanson  are 
active  and  helpful  members  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church  of  Genesee. 

JAMES   W.    POE. 

James  W.  Poe,  a  distinguished  lawyer  and 
Idaho  pioneer,  residing  at  Lewiston,  is  a  native 
of  Jackson  county,  Missouri,  his  birth  having 
there  occurred  on  the  I5th  of  January,  1838.  His 
father,  William  B.  Poe,  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  married  Mrs.  Nancy  Mulkey,  nee 
Johnson,  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  by  whom  he 
had  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  yet  living. 
He  valiantly  served  his  country  as  a  soldier  in 
the  Mexican  war,  and  in  1853  crossed  the  plains 
to  Oregon  with  his  family.  Our  subject  accom- 
panied his  parents  on  their  westward  emigration, 
and  acquired  his  education  at  Forest  Grove  and 
in  the  Portland  Academy.  He  has  the  honor  of 
being  the  first  male  graduate  of  that  then  new 
institution  of  learning.  Well  fitted  by  superior 
educational  advantages  for  the  practical  duties 
of  life,  he  then  entered  upon  his  business  career, 
and  in  1861  came  to  Idaho.  He  engaged  in  min- 
ing at  Oro  Fino,  Florence  and  Warren,  and  also 
conducted  a  mercantile  establishment  for  a  time, 
but  wishing  to  enter  the  legal  profession,  he  took 
•  up  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  and  under  the 
direction  of  the  law  firm  of  Williams  &  Gibbs. 
The  senior  partner,  George  L.  Williams,  after- 
ward became  United  States  attorney  general,  and 
Mr.  Gibbs  held  the  office  of  governor  of  Oregon. 

In  1869  Mr.  Poe  was  admitted  to  practice  in 
the  district  court.  His  partner  was  the  discoverer 
of  gold  at  Warren's,  and  they  operated  and  sold 
goods  there  for  some  time.  Mr.  Poe  was  elected 
the  first  district  recorder  of  the  Warren's  mining 
district,  and  practiced  law  at  Warren's  and  Mount 
Idaho  until  1876,  at  which  time  he  was  elected 
attorney  for  the  district  comprising  all  of  north- 
ern Idaho.  He  then  established  his  office  in 
Lewiston,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home. 
He  had  served  for  six  years  previously  as  deputy 
district  attorney,  filling  that  position  in  all  for 
ten  years.  He  was  elected  and  served  in  the 
territorial  legislature  in  1879-80,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  shaping  the  destiny  of  the  territory 


during  that  period.  Other  public  service  of  a 
very  different  nature  also  fell  to  his  lot,  as  he 
was  a  participant  in  the  Clearwater  battle  with 
the  Nez  Perces  Indians,  the  conflict  resulting  in 
driving  the  Indians  back  into  Montana.  He  was 
a  leading  member  of  the  state  constitutional  con- 
vention, his  knowledge  of  constitutional  law  ren- 
dering him  an  important  factor  in  framing  the 
organic  law  of  Idaho.  He  also  had  the  honor  of 
presiding  over  the  first  mass  meeting  which  was 
called  for  the  purpose  of  adopting  measures  to 
secure  statehood  for  Idaho,  and  is  now,  1899, 
city  attorney  of  Lewiston,  and  attorney  for  the 
board  of  education  of  the  independent  school 
district  of  Lewiston. 

Such  in  brief  is  the  history  of  his  public  service, 
— a  service  in  which  at  all  times  and  under  all 
circumstances  he  has  shown  himself  worthy  of 
the  trust  and  confidence  reposed  in  him.  He  has 
studied  closely  both  the  conditions  and  needs  of 
his  state,  both  locally  and  otherwise,  and  at  all 
times  has  manifested  a  most  loyal  and  public- 
spirited  interest  in  the  common  good.  He  is 
now  engaged  in  the  private  practice  of  law,  as 
the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Poe,  Anderson 
&  Anderson,  one  of  the  most  able  and  prominent 
law  firms  in  this  section  of  the  state.  He  enjoys 
a  large  and  lucrative  practice  and  his  clientage 
has  been  secured  through  his  marked  ability  in 
handling  the  intricate  problems  of  jurisprudence. 
He  is  careful  in  the  preparation  of  his  cases,  clear 
in  argument  and  logical  in  his  deductions  and 
has  gained  many  important  cases. 

Mr.  Poe  has  also  been  the  promoter  of  the 
horticultural  interests  of  northern  Idaho.  He 
planted  a  large  fruit  orchard  at  Lewiston,  and 
as  the  seasons  passed  gathered  large  crops,  thus 
adding  to  his  income  and  at  the  same  time  dem- 
onstrating the  adaptability  of  the  soil  of  this 
region  for  the  production  of  choice  fruits. 

In  1877  Mr.  Poe  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Mrs.  Fannie  L.  Turpin,  a  sister  of  Judge  More- 
land's  wife  and  a  daughter  of  Colonel  John  L. 
Cline,  a  Mexican  war  veteran.  She  had  two 
children  by  her  former  marriage,  the  elder, 
Serena,  being  now  the  wife  of  Dr.  C.  W.  Shaff, 
a  prominent  physician  of  Lewiston ;  and  Sarah  E., 
who  has  been  a  successful  teacher  in  the  state 
university  at  Moscow  since  its  organization. 

Socially  Mr."  Poe  is  connected  with  the  Ma- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


397 


sonic  fraternity,  having  joined  the  order  at  Mount 
Idaho  in  1876.  He  now  affiliates  with  Lewiston 
Lodge,  No.  10,  F.  &  A.  M.  In  politics  he  has 
been  a  lifelong  and  ardent  Democrat,  has  kept 
well  informed  on  the  issues  of  the  day  and  has 
rendered  his  party  valuable  service  in  the  cam- 
paigns. The  record  of  Mr.  Poe  is  that  of  a  man 
who  has  by  his  own  efforts  worked  his  way  up- 
ward to  a  position  of  affluence.  His  life  has 
been  one  of  industry  and  perseverance,  and  the 
systematic  and  honorable  business  methods  he 
has  followed,  together  with  his  diligence  and 
ability  in  his  profession,  have  won  him  the  sup- 
port and  confidence  of  many.  Without  the  aid 
of  wealth,  he  has  risen  to  a  position  among  the 
most  prominent  men  of  the  state,  and  his  native 
genius  and  acquired  ability  are  the  stepping 
stones  on  which  he  mounted. 

FRANK    C.    RAMSEY. 

The  history  of  a  state,  as  well  as  that  of  a 
nation,  is  chiefly  a  chronicle  of  the  lives  and 
deeds  of  those  who  have  conferred  honor  and 
dignity  upon  society.  The  world  judges  of  the 
character  of  a  community  by  those  of  its  repre- 
sentative citizens,  and  yields  its  tribute  of  ad- 
miration and  respect  for  the  genius  or  learning 
or  accomplishment  of  those  whose  works  and 
actions  constitute  the  record  of  a  state's  prosper- 
ity and  pride.  In  a  review  of  the  events  that 
constitute  the  annals  of  Idaho  we  learn  that 
Frank  C.  Ramsey  is  numbered  among  those  who 
have  been  active  in  shaping  the  policy  of  the 
state,  in  promoting  its  interests  and  advancing 
its  welfare.  In  public  office  he  has  acquitted 
himself  as  a  loyal  and  patriotic  citizen,  having 
the  best  interests  of  the  state  at  heart,  and  to-day 
he  is  a  recognized  leader  in  political  circles. 

A  resident  of  Boise,  where  he  engaged  in 
the  loan  and  insurance  business,  he  was  born  in 
Fulton  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  1855,  and  is  of 
Scotch  and  German  ancestry.  The  founders  of 
the  family  in  America  were  early  settlers  in  the 
south,  and  the  maternal  ancestry  furnished  sev- 
eral representatives  to  the  colonial  army  in  the 
war  of  the  Revolution.  His  father,  James  Ram- 
sey, was  born  and  reared  in  the  south,  and  in 
early  life  removed  to  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Susan  Snyder,  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania. They  had  seven  children,  all  of  whom 


are  living.  The  father  departed  this  life  in  1859, 
but  the  mother  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty  years 
and  passed  away  on  the  6th  of  March,  1898.  They 
were  members  of  the  Methodist  church  and  Mr. 
Ramsey  was  an  honest  and  industrious  farmer 
who  won  the  respect  of  all  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact. 

In  the  public  schools  of  his  native  state  Frank 
C.  Ramsey  acquired  his  early  education,  which 
was  supplemented  by  a  course  in  the  Iron  City 
Business  College.  Owing  to  ill  health  he  sought 
a  change  of  climate,  going  first  to  Ohio  and 
thence  to  Idaho,  where  he  spent  some  years  en- 
gaged in  farming.  He  later  removed  to  Kansas 
and  afterward  to  Colorado,  where  he  engaged  in 
the  stock  business  until  1884, — the  year  of  his 
arrival  in  Idaho.  Here  he  continued  in  stock 
raising  for  some  time.  In  Cassia  county  he 
turned  his  attention  to  journalistic  work,  becom- 
ing the  publisher  of  the  Cassia  County  Times, 
now  the  Albion  Times.  He  also  published  the 
Pocatello  Tribune,  both  Republican  papers,  and 
through  the  columns  of  those  journals  exerted 
considerable  influence  in  public  affairs. 

While  in  Cassia  county,  Mr.  Ramsey  served 
as  county  assessor  and  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  legislature  in  1890,  taking  a  prominent 
part  in  the  great  senatorial  contest  of  that  year. 
In  1892  he  was  nominated  and  elected  on  the 
Republican  ticket  state  auditor  of  Idaho,  and  so 
acceptably  discharged  the  duties  of  that  responsi- 
ble position  that  he  was  re-elected  in  1894.  His 
official  record  -was  indeed  creditable  and  he  was 
again  nominated  in  1896,  this  time  for  state 
treasurer;  but  in  that  year  there  was  great  dis- 
satisfaction among  the  Republicans  of  Idaho  on 
account  of  the  money  question  and  he  was  de- 
feated by  the  candidate  of  the  People's  Demo- 
cratic party.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Republican 
state  central  committee  and  president  of  the  Re- 
publican League  of  Ada  county.  After  com- 
pleting his  term  as  auditor  he  was  engaged  in  the 
insurance  and  loan  business  for  about  two  years, 
or  until  he  was  appointed  by  President  McKinley 
United  States  marshal  for  Idaho,  receiving  his 
commission  September  10,  1898. 

On  the  2d  of  February,  1888,  Mr.  Ramsey  mar- 
ried Miss  Rachel  Worthington,  a  native  of  Salt 
Lake  City,  Utah,  and  they  have  three  children, — 
Marion  L.,  Lilian  G.  and  Frances  C.  Mr.  Ram- 


398 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


sey  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
of  the  Benevolent  Protective  Order  of  Elks.  He 
is  very  popular  among  his  brethren  of  these  so- 
cieties, in  political  circles  and  in  business  and 
.  social  life;  for  his  uniform  courtesy,  his  char- 
acter, worth  and  his  genial  manner  have  brought 
him  the  friendship  and  regard  of  a  large  circle 
of  acquaintances. 

CHARLES    L.    GRITMAN,    M.  D. 

Among  the  ablest  representatives  of  the  med- 
ical profession  of  Idaho  is  Dr.  Gritman,  of  Mos- 
cow, who  is  successfully  engaged  in  practice  as 
the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Gritman  & 
Ward,  and  is  also  conducting  the  Moscow  Hos- 
pital. He  was  born  near  Springfield,  Illinois, 
December  28,  1862.  His  grandfather,  Erastus 
Gritman,  was  a  native  of  Germany,  and  when  a 
young  man  crossed  the  broad  Atlantic  to  Amer- 
ica, locating  at  Lockport.  He  thus  became  the 
progenitor  of  the  family  in  the  United  States.  He 
was  married  at  Lockport,  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  life  there  and  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine 
years, — an  honest,  industrious  and  respected 
farmer.  His  son,  Delos  Walter  Gritman,  the 
Doctor's  father,  was  born  in  Lockport  in  1831, 
and  in  his  nineteenth  year  removed  to  central 
Illinois,  where  he  married  Mary  Ellen  Davis,  a. 
native  of  Maryland.  In  his  early  life  he  was  a 
carpenter,  contractor  and  builder,  but  later  be- 
came a  prosperous  farmer.  He  and  his  wife  were 
valued  members  of  the  Methodist  church.  The 
father  died  in  1893  at  the  age  of  sixty-two  years, 
and  the  mother  died  exactly  a  year  later,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-eight  years.  Thev  had  a  family  of 
nine  children,  eight  of  whom  are  living. 

The  Doctor,  the  third  in  order  of  birth,  was 
reared  on  the  home  farm  and  obtained  his  literary 
education  in  Lincoln,  Illinois.  He  then  became 
a  student  in  the  Cincinnati  Medical  College  and 
was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1890,  entering 
upon  an  active  connection  with  the  medical  pro- 
fession in  that  city.  There  he  remained  until 
September,  1892,  when  he  was  called  home  on 
account  of  the  death  of  his  mother,  the  family 
having  in  the  meantime  removed  to  Washington. 
His  father  being  in  poor  health,  the  Doctor  did 
not  return  to  the  east,  but  remained  on  the  Pa- 
cific coast  and  soon  afterward  opened  an  office 
i'n  Moscow,  where  he  rapidly  acquired  a  large 


and  lucrative  patronage.  He  is  well  versed  in  his 
chosen  profession  and  his  devotion  thereto  has 
made  him  one  of  its  most  able  representatives  in 
this  part  of  the  state.  In  1897  he  opened  the 
hospital,  which  is  a  well  built  two-story  brick 
structure,  located  on  the  main  street  of  the  town 
and  containing  sixty  rooms.  It  is  fitted  up  with 
all  modern  appliances  and  conveniences  for  the 
care  of  the  sick,  and  has  been  well  patronized. 
In  his  practice  Dr.  Gritman  is  now  associated 
with  Dr.  Ward,  and  in  the  hospital  they  are  as- 
sisted by  an  able  corps  of  trained  nurses.  Their 
office  is  on  the  first  floor  of  the  hospital  building, 
and  in  addition  to  the  care  of  the  patients  in  the 
institution  they  enjoy  a  large  general  practice, 
both  in  medicine  and  surgery. 

On  the  nth  of  January,  1895,  Dr.  Gritman 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Bertie  E.  Cox,  a 
native  of  Washington,  and  their  hospitable  home 
is  the  center  of  a  cultured  society  circle,  their 
friends  in  the  community  being  many.  The  Doc- 
tor is  a  member  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World 
and  the  Fraternal  Union  of  America,  and  in  his 
political  views  is  a  stanch  Republican,  but  has 
never  been  a  politician  in  the  sense  of  office-seek- 
ing, preferring  to  devote  his  time  and  energies 
to  his  professional  duties,  in  which  he  is  meeting 
with  most  creditable  success  and  in  which  he  has 
attained  a  most  enviable  reputation. 

HON.  JOHN  I.  MITCHAM. 
The  well  known  and  popular  postmaster  of 
Kendrick,  John  Irving  Mitcham,  was  born  in 
Indiana,  April  7,  1849,  and  is  of  Scotch-Irish 
lineage,  his  ancestors  being  early  settlers  of  South 
Carolina.  His  paternal  grandfather  emigrated 
to  Ohio  at  an  early  day,  and  there  John"  Mitcham, 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  and  reared.  When 
a  young  man  he  removed  to  Indiana  and  was 
married  in  the  Hoosier  state  to  Miss  Jane  Mc- 
Cann,  a  native  of  Indiana.  They  have  been  life- 
long and  faithful  members  of  the  United  Brethren 
church,  and  now,  in  their  declining  years,  are 
surrounded  by  the  veneration  and  respect  which 
should  always  accompany  an  honorable  old  age. 
They  reside  in  Fairbury,  Nebraska,  to  which 
state  they  removed  in  1867.  The  father  is  now 
eighty-five  years  of  age,  and  the  mother  eighty- 
one.  Their  home  was  blessed  with  five  children, 
three  of  whom  are  living,  and  they  have  passed 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


399 


the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  their  wedding  day, 
thus  traveling  life's  journey  together  for  more 
than  half  a  century,  their  mutual  love  and  con- 
fidence increasing  as  the  years  have  gone  by. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  eldest  of  their 
children.  He  was  educated  in  Greenhill  Sem- 
inary, in  Indiana,  and  at  Taber  College,  Iowa, 
and  has  devoted  his  life  to  agricultural  pursuits 
and  religious  work  in  the  United  Brethren  and 
Methodist 'churches.  In  1885  he  was  ordained 
a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  became  a  very 
zealous  and  efficient  worker  in  the  Master's  vine- 
yard. He  joined  the  Columbia  river  conference 
and  for  some  years  also  carried  on  his  ministerial 
labors  in  Idaho.  He  came  to  Kendrick  very 
early  in  the  history  of  the  town,  in  1883,  and 
purchased  seventy-five  acres  of  land  adjoining 
the  corporation  limits.  He  has  a  very  pleasant 
home,  overlooking  the  picturesque  valley  in 
which  the  town  is  located,  the  view  being  a  most 
attractive  and  delightful  one,  hardly  surpassed  in 
the  entire  state,  which  so  richly  deserves  the 
name  of  "Gem  of  the  Mountains." 

Mr.  Mitcham  was  happily  married  August  22, 
1878,  to  Miss  Arizona  Miller,  a  native  of  Ne- 
braska. Three  children,  two  daughters  and  a 
son,  have  come  to  bless  their  union, — Floyd, 
Mary  E.  and  John  Milton. 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Mitcham  is  a 
stalwart  Republican,  unswerving  in  his  advocacy 
of  the  principles  of  the  partv.  On  that  ticket  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  last  territorial  legis- 
lature of  Idaho  and  has  been  a  member  of  the 
state  senate.  His  close  study  of  the  conditions, 
needs  and  demands  of  the  state  made  him  a  val- 
uable member  of  the  assembly  and  his  aid  was 
zealously  given  to  every  measure  which  he  be- 
lieved would  prove  of  public  benefit.  For  three 
years  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  city  council 
of  Kendrick,  was  mayor  of  the  city  two  terms, 
was  police  judge  four  years  and  justice  of  the 
peace  six  years.  His  public  duties  have  ever 
been  discharged  in  a  most  prompt  and  faithful 
manner,  showing  him  to  be  a  trustworthy  and 
patriotic  official.  He  is  a  man  of  broad  general 
information,  of  sound  judgment  and  the  highest 
integrity  of  character  and  has  the  unqualified 
confidence  of  his  fellow  townsmen  and  all  who 
know  him.  The  cause  of  education  has  also 
found  in  him  a  warm  friend,  and  he  has  taken 


a  deep  interest  in  everything  pertaining  to  the 
intellectual  advancement  of  this  town,  county  and 
state.  For  three  years  he  was  a  member  of  the 
school  board  of  Kendrick,  was  largely  instru- 
mental in  securing  the  establishment  of  the  State 
University  at  Moscow,  and  has  the  credit  of  hav- 
ing cast  the  deciding  vote  which  located  the 
State  Normal  School  at  Lewiston.  He  received 
the  appointment  of  postmaster  of  Kendrick  on 
the  3d  of  July,  1897,  and  has  made  a  very  capable 
officer,  winning  the  commendation  of  all  con- 
cerned. In  manner  he  is  free  from  all  ostentation 
and  display,  but  his  intrinsic  worth  is  recognized 
and  his  friendship  is  most  prized  by  those  who 
know  him  best,  showing  that  his  character  will 
bear  the  scrutiny  of  close  acquaintance.  He  is 
a  generous,  broad-minded  man,  a  true  type  of  the 
American  spirit  and  an  embodiment  of  that 
progress  which  in  the  last  few  years  has  drawn 
to  this  country  the  admiring  gaze  of  the  nations 
of  the  world. 

DE    FOREST    CHAMBERLAIN. 

Not  only  has  the  subject  of  this  all  too  brief 
sketch  seen  southeastern  Idaho  grow  from  a  wild 
country,  with  only  a  few  white  inhabitants,  to  a 
rich  agricultural  country,  containing  thousands 
of  good  homes  and  acres  of  growing  towns,  in- 
habited by  an  industrious,  prosperous,  enlight- 
ened and  progressive  people,  but  he  has  partici- 
pated in  and  assisted  the  slow,  persistent  work  of 
development  which  was  necessary  to  produce  a 
change  which  is  so  complete  that  it  has  come  to 
be  popularly  referred  to  as  magical. 

De  Forest  Chamberlain  is  descended  from 
English  and  Irish  ancestors,  who  settled  in 
America  before  the  Revolution  and  were  partici- 
pants in  the  struggle  for  libertv.  Riley  Chamber- 
lain, his  father,  was  born  in  Vermont,  and  mar- 
ried Miss  Sarah  Mann,  a  native  of  Onondaga 
county,  New  York.  With  his  wife  he  removed  to 
Illinois,  some  time  between  1830  and  1840,  where 
he  died  in  1873,  aged  sixty-six  vears.  His  widow 
is  still  living,  aged  eighty-one,  making  her  home 
with  a  daughter  at  Creston,  Iowa.  They  had 
three  children. 

De  Forest  Chamberlain  was  born  in  Stark 
county,  Illinois,  August  24,  1843.  He  entered 
Lombard  University  with  the  intention  of  taking 
the  full  collegiate  course,  but  his  studies  were  in- 


400 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


terrupted  by  his  patriotic  ardor,  aroused  by  the 
opening  of  actual  hostilities  between  the  northern 
and  southern  sections  of  our  country,  early  in 
1861.    He  was  one  of  the  first  to  offer  services 
for  -the  defence  of  the  Union,  and  enlisted,  June 
17,  1 86 1,  in  Company  B,  Nineteenth  Illinois  Vol- 
unteer Infantry.     His  first  active  service  was  in 
Missouri,  under  General  John  C.  Fremont.  Later 
he  served  in  the  Department  of  the  Tennessee. 
He  was  in  battle  at  Stone  river,  Chickamauga, 
Missionary  Ridge,  and  Resaca,  and  was  promoted 
to  sergeant  and  honorably  discharged  from  the 
service  and  mustered  out  July  9,  1864,  after  hav- 
ing served  his  country  faithfully  for  three  years 
and   twelve   days.     In    1866  he  went  west  and 
traveled  extensively  through  Colorado,  Wyom- 
ing and  Idaho,  prospecting  and  mining,  but  not 
successfully.    He  went  to  the  Dakotas  also,  and 
to  western  Nebraska,  on  a  prospecting  tour,  a 
part  of  the  time  in  company  with  one  or  two 
others  who  were  going  his  way  for  longer  or 
shorter      distances.       While     journeying     thus 
through  the  Indian  country,  he  had  many  peril- 
ous adventures,  and  hair-breadth  escapes.  Several 
of  his  party  were  killed  in  a  skirmish  with  the 
Indians  at  South  Pass.    At  Lodge  Pole  creek  he 
and  a  companion  were  attacked  by  fifty  Indians. 
Mr.  Chamberlain  and  his  comrade  were  provided 
with  long-range  rifles  and  were  fairly  supplied 
with  ammunition  and  they  stood  their  assailants 
off  for  twenty  hours.     How  the  siege  may  have 
terminated  under  other  circumstances  cannot  be 
known,  but  it  was  evident  to  them  that  the  policy 
of  the  Indians  was  to  induce  them  to  expend  their 
ammunition  and  after  they  had  done  so  to  close 
in  on  them  and  destroy  them.    Opportunely  two 
companies  of  United  States  cavalry  came  upon 
the  scene  and  the  Indians  took  their  ponies  and 
escaped. 

It  was  in  April,  1879,  that  Mr.  Chamberlain 
came  to  Idaho  Falls.  The  railroad,  then  under 
construction,  had  its  terminus  here.  He  opened 
a  saloon  and  built  the  Chamberlain  hotel,  which 
he  managed  successfully  for  seventeen  years. 
Since  1896  he  has  kept  it  open  as  a  lodging 
house  only.  After  coming  to  the  town,  he  bought 
one  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land,  all  of 
which  has  been  platted  and  added  to  the  town 
site,  and  he  has  sixty-five  acres  more  adjoining 
the  town.  He  has  taken  an  active  interest  in  the 


breeding  of  fine  trotting  horses  and  has  bred 
several  of  m<3re  than  ordinary  merit  and  is  the 
owner  of  Young  Gypsey  Boy,  which  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  best  horses  in  the  state,  if  not  the 
best  one. 

Ever  since  the  organization  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic  Mr.  Chamberlain  has  been  identi- 
fied with  it  actively  and  helpfully.  He  is  a  member 
of  Joe  Hooker  Post,  No.  20,  of  Idaho  Falls,  and 
has  several  times  served  as  its  commander.  Pie 
is  past  master  of  the  Eagle  Rock  Lodge,  No.  19, 
Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  of  Idaho 
Falls,  and  has  a  wide  acquaintance  among  Ma- 
sons throughout  Idaho  and  adjacent  states.  In 
his  political  views  he  is  a  Populist,  but  his  tastes 
have  never  inclined  him  to  special  activity  in 
political  work,  yet  he  is  not  without  recognized 
influence  in  his  party.  He  is  a  modest  man  who 
says  little  of  himself  or  his  achievements,  but  his 
worth  is  known  to  his  fellow  citizens,  who  give 
him  rank  as  a  leader  in  public-spirited  work  for 
the  general  good  and  regard  him  as  an  upright 
and  reliable  man  of  business  and  one  of  great 
value  to  Idaho  Falls.  He  was  married,  Novem- 
ber 12,  1871,  to  Miss  Harriet  Regan,  a  native  of 
New  York  city. 

ALFRED    DAMAS. 

The  career  of  Mr.  Damas  has  been  a  very 
eventful  and  interesting  one,  and  now,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-four,  he  is  the  possessor 
of  a  handsome  competence, — the  fitting  reward 
of  his  well  spent  life.  For  twenty-six  years 
he  has  been  prominently  connected  with  the 
mercantile  interests  of  Lewiston  and  his  efforts 
have  been  an  important  element  in  the  prog- 
ress and  advancement  of  this  section  of  the 
state.  He  was  born  far  from  his  present 
home,  being  a  native  of  Brussels,  Belgium,  where 
his  birth  occurred  on  the  i8th  of  July,  1835.  He 
attended  school  in  his  native  country  until  nine 
years  of  age  and  then  became  a  cadet  in  the 
celebrated  naval  academy  at  Antwerp,  where  he 
remained  for  several  years,  spending  a  part  of 
the  time  on  a  school-ship  at  sea.  During  that 
period  they  sailed  in  every  sea  and  visited  all  of 
the  principal  ports  of  the  world,  and  later  Mr. 
Damas  was  graduated  as  a  second-class  midship- 
man. 

In  1848  his  father  sent  him  to  Salem,  Massa- 
chusetts,  to   learn  the    English    language,  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


401 


there,  as  an  apprentice,  he  went  aboard  the  vessel 
Thomas  Perkins,  under  command  of  Captain 
William  Rogers,  sailing  for  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia, the  vessel  dropping  anchor  in  that  harbor 
in  the  summer  of  1849.  Gold  had  but  recently 
been  discovered  and  the  great  excitement  there 
caused  every  man  to  desert  the  ship  save  Mr. 
Damas  and  the  captain,  who  had  to  do  the  com- 
mon sailor's  work.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1850 
they  secured  a  small  crew  of  men  and  bovs  and 
sailed  to  the  Sandwich  islands,  where  a  good 
crew  was  employed,  and  from  there  they  con- 
tinued the  voyage  around  the  world.  They 
remained  at  Calcutta,  India,  for  some  time  and 
returned  by  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
visiting  St.  Helena  and  the  place  where  one  of  the 
greatest  military  heroes  of  the  world,  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  was  laid  to  rest.  They  reached  Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts,  just  before  Christmas  of 
1851,  and  found  Captain  Rogers'  father  ready  to 
launch  the  Witchcraft,  a  very  fast  sailing  clipper 
ship,  making  a  record  of  eighteen  miles  an  hour. 
Mr.  Damas  was  sent  aboard  this  ship  under  his 
former  captain  and  was  given  the  confidential 
position  of  secretary.  They  took  on  a  cargo  for 
San  Francisco  and  started  on  a  second  voyage 
around  the  world.  In  the  China  sea  the  vessel 
was  totally  dismantled  in  a  severe  typhoon,  in 
which  several  ships  were  lost,  but  after  great 
effort  the  Witchcraft  managed  to  reach  Hong 
Kong,  where  she  remained  four  months  undergo- 
ing repairs.  Notwithstanding  all  this  she  made 
better  time  to  San  Francisco  than  any  other  ves- 
sel had  previously  done.  From  Rio  Janeiro 
they  took  on  four  hundred  Chinamen  for  San 
Francisco,  and  during  the  voyage  the  Celestials 
mutinied,  and  almost  succeeded  in  gaining  con- 
trol of  the  ship,  but  finally  they  were  subdued 
and  the  Witchcraft  reached  San  Francisco  in 
safety.  There  they  proceeded  to  prepare  for 
another  trip  to  Calcutta,  but  Mr.  Damas  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  it  was  advisable  to  seek  to 
better  his  condition  on  land,  as  he  saw  no  pros- 
pect of  ever  becoming  owner  of  a  vessel  and 
probably  would  never  be  more  than  a  third  of- 
ficer, or  at  most  a  second  officer.  The  relations 
between  himself  and  Captain  Rogers  had  always 
been  most  harmonious  and  agreeable,  and  the 
Captain  gave  a  very  reluctant  consent  to  Mr.  Da- 
mas'  withdrawal,  yet  acceded  the  justice  of  his 


wishes  to  better  his  lot  in  life.  He  was,  how- 
ever, asked  to  remain  until  the  ship  was  ready 
to  start.  While  the  preparations  for  sailing  were 
being  made  the  crew  made  considerable  fun  of 
him,  assuring  him  that  he  would  not  be  allowed 
to  leave  the  ship,  and  he  had  some  fears  himself 
that  such  might  be  the  case,  but  he  packed  his 
trunk  and  had  all  in  readiness  to  disembark.  The 
pilot  came  on  board,  the  ship  -set  sail,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  pilot  left  the  Witchcraft  that  Mr. 
Damas  received  orders  to  go  ashore.  His  trunk 
was  then  lowered  into  the  pilot's  boat,  and  the 
Captain  bade  him  an  affectionate  good-bye, 
placing  in  his  hand  a  sealed  envelope,  which  on 
opening  he  found  to  contain  a  letter  of  recom- 
mendation and  a  check  for  one  thousand  dollars, 
— certainly  a  high  tribute  to  the  fidelity  and 
ability  of  Mr.  Damas! 

After  some  time  our  subject  went  to  Sierra 
county,  California,  where  he  engaged  in  mining 
with  good  success.  In  1853  he  took  out  as  high 
as  one  hundred  dollars  per  day,  but  he.loaned  his 
money  and  did  not  have  much  at  the  end  of  the 
year.  He  was  one  of  the  discoverers  of  the  How- 
land  Flats,  a  rich  minine  district,  but  before  he 
knew  the  real  value  he  sold  out  for  a  small  sum 
and  went  to  the  Feather  river,  where  he  became 
interested  in  the  building  of  a  large  flume  near 
Oroville.  He  was  also  interested  in  the  Spanish 
Flat-water  ditch.  From  there  he  went  to  Siski 
you  county,  and  arrived  at  Scott's  Bar  just  in 
time  to  take  a  part  in  the  Indian  war  on  the  Kla- 
math  river.  In  1861  the  Oro  Fino  gold  discov- 
eries attracted"  him  to  Idaho.  As  the  snow 
melted  and  they  progressed  farther  into  the  state, 
they  endured  many  hardships.  In  1862  Mr. 
Damas  arrived  at  Lewiston,  and  at  Oro  Fino  ac- 
cepted a  clerkship  in  the  store  of  A.  P.  Aukeny, 
remaining  in  that  position  until  1866,  when,  on 
his  own  account,  he  began  packing  goods  to 
Montana.  He  sold  out  at  Beartown,  making  ten 
thousand  dollars  on  the  transaction.  He  then 
returned  to  Oro  Fino  and  succeeded  A.  P.  Auk- 
eny &  Company  in  the  mercantile  business. 
After  successfully  conducting  a  large  trade  there 
for  about  six  years,  he  was  taken  ill  and  by  his 
physician  was  advised  to  go  to  a  lower  altitude. 
This  led  to  his  removal  to  Lewiston,  where  he  has 
made  his  home  since  1872,  engaged  in  the  gen- 
eral merchandise  business. 


402 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


In  that  year  Mr.  Damas  went  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, purchased  a  stock  of  general  merchandise 
and  opened  the  store  which  he  thereafter  carried 
on  with  eminent  success.  He  had  a  large  and 
well  appointed  store,  carried  a  fine  line  of  goods, 
and  enjoyed  a  very  liberal  patronage  from 
the  beginning,  so  that  he  is  now  the  possessor  of 
a  handsome  competence  acquired  through  his 
own  well  directed  efforts.  He  sold  out  his  busi- 
ness in  May,  1899. 

In  1869  Mr.  Damas  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Maria  Frances  Sperling,  a  native  of  New 
York  city,  who  was  brought  to  Idaho  in  her  early 
girlhood,  and  is  now  one  of  the  honored  pioneer 
women  of  the  state.  They  have  one  daughter, 
Amy  D.,  now  the  wife  of  Frank  W.  Kettenbach, 
of  Lewiston.  She  was  born  in  Pierce  City,  in 
1870,  and  is  now  one  of  the  esteemed  residents 
of  Lewiston. 

Mr.  Damas  has  held  several  positions  of  pub- 
lic honor  and  trust.  He  was  the  first  treasurer 
of  Shoshone  county,  to  which  position  he  was 
elected  in  1862.  He  was  its  first  district  deputy 
clerk  and  also  filled  the  offices  of  justice  of  the 
peace  and  probate  judge,  but  he  is  probably  best 
known  in  connection  with  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
of  which  he  is  an  exemplary  member,  his  life 
standing  in  evidence  of  the  humane,  benevolent 
and  ennobling  principles  of  the  order.  He  be- 
came a  Master  Mason  in  Mount  Idaho  Lodge, 
No.  9,  in  1864,  and  since  then  has  taken  all  the 
degrees  of  the  York  rite,  and  has  attained  the 
thirty-third  degree  of  the  Scottish  rite,  and  been 
proclaimed  a  Sublime  Prince  of  the  Royal  Se- 
cret. He  became  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  in  Lewis- 
ton  Chapter,  No.  4,  has  filled  all  of  its  offices, 
and  was  its  high  priest  for  four  consecutive 
terms.  He  is  a  charter  member  of  Lewiston 
Commandery,  No.  2,  was  knighted  in  1892,  and 
has  filled  the  office  of  generalissimo.  Having 
been  a  close  student  of  the  teachings  and  tenets 
of  Masonry,  and  becoming  more  and  more  im- 
pressed with  its  beautiful  teachings,  he  advanced 
to  the  thirty-second  degree  of  the  Scottish  rite, 
and  has  been  instrumental  in  founding  the  four 
bodies  in  Lewiston.  He  established  the  Lewis- 
ton  Lodge  of  Perfection,  No.  i,  fourteenth  de- 
gree; Lewiston  Rose  Croix  Chapter,  No.  i, 
eighteenth  degree;  Lewiston  Consistory  of 
Knights  of  Kodash,  thirtieth  degree;  and  Idaho 


Consistory,  No.  I,  thirty-second  degree.  He 
now  has  the  honor  of  being  inspector  general  of 
the  state  of  Idaho,  and  has  the  great  honor  of 
legally  wearing  the  Masonic  cross  of  honor,  voted 
him  by  the  supreme  council  of  the  southern  juris- 
diction in  1897,  and  in  October,  1899,  he  was 
elected  a  thirty-third  degree  Mason.  He  is  a 
very  enthusiastic  Mason,  taking  great  delight  in 
the  work  of  the  order,  and  his  wife  is  connected 
with  the  ladies'  branch  of  Masonry,  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star.  As  pio- 
neers of  Idaho  they  have  a  wide  acquaintance 
and  many  friends,  and  none  are  more  worthy  the 
high  regard  of  their  fellow  townsmen. 

NORMAN    SIMON    HUBBELL. 

To  the  brave  pioneers  of  the  early  '6os  and 
'705  Idaho  owes,  in  a  large  measure,  the  pros- 
perity she  now  enjoys,  as  a  state.  Among  those 
hardy  souls  and  courageous  hearts  who  then 
believed  in  her  future,  and  by  long  years  of  toil 
and  undaunted  perseverance  assisted  nobly  in  the 
development  of  her  resources,  is  the  subject  of 
this  article;  and  no  one  is  more  worthy  of  repre- 
sentation in  the  annals  of  the  state. 

The  ancestors  of  Norman  S.  Hubbell  were 
respected  American  citizens  for  many  genera- 
tions. He  was  born  near  Burdette,  in  what  is  now 
Schuyler  county,  New  York,  October  29,  1837, 
and  his  parents,  Walton  and  Rebecca  Emily 
(Cure)  Hubbell,  were  likewise  natives  of  the  Em- 
pire state.  The  father  was  a  millwright  by  trade, 
an  excellent  machinist  and  a  good  business  man. 
At  one  time  he  was  the  drum  major  of  a  militia 
company  in  his  own  state.  He  lived  to  reach  his 
seventy-second  year,  and  died,  loved  and  re- 
spected by  all  who  knew  him.  The  wife  and 
mother  was  summoned  to  the  silent  land  when 
she  was  in  her  sixty-fifth  year.  Of  their  eight 
children  but  two  survive. 

The  education  which  N.  S.  Hubbell  acquired 
was  such  as  the  public  schools  of  his  boyhood 
afforded,  and  from  the  time  he  was  sixteen  until 
he  was  twenty-five  years  of  age  he  gave  all  of  his 
earnings  to  his  parents,  reserving  only  what  was 
necessary  to  his  support.  On  the  I2th  of  June, 
1862,  he  started  west  from  Omaha,  bound  for  the 
Pacific  coast,  and  on  the  3d  of  the  following 
October  reached  his  destination  at  what  is  now 
Baker  City,  Oregon.  From  that  place  he  and 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


403 


two  companions  went  to  Auburn,  Oregon,  pros- 
pecting for  gold,  and  though  they  found  good 
claims  they  were  obliged  to  leave  them,  as  the 
Indians  were  so  hostile  that  their  lives  were 
constantly  menaced.  In  the  spring  of  1863  Mr. 
Hubbell  came  to  Boise  basin,  where  he  found 
employment  at  six  dollars  a  day,  and  the  next 
winter  he  returned  to  Oregon.  After  a  few 
months  he  again  came  to  this  locality  and 
for  a  few  years  he  worked  at  freighting, 
mining  and  other  occupations, — at  anything 
whereby  he  might  earn  money  honestly.  From 
1868  to  1871  he  was  engaged  in  the 
butchering  business  at  Union,  Oregon,  and 
at  the  same  time  he  bought,  sold  and  raised 
cattle  extensively.  The  country  becoming 
overstocked  with  cattle,  prices  declined,  and 
Mr.  Hubbell  retired  from  the  business  in 
1873.  Returning  then  to  Boise  Citv.  he  opened 
a  meat  market  here  and  also  owned  one  at  Wood 
River,  but  these  enterprises  did  not  prove  suc- 
cessful. Then  for  some  years  he  was  interested 
in  sheep-raising,  which  he  continued  until  1898. 
He  now  owns  forty-six  acres  of  land,  situated  a 
mile  and  a  half  west  of  Boise  City,  and  here  he 
still  makes  his  home.  He  built  a  comfortable 
house  and  planted  a  prune  orchard  and  various 
other  fruits.  He  is  still  financially  concerned  in 
the  raising  of  sheep,  and  at  this  writing  has  be- 
tween eight  and  nine  thousand  head.  The  flock 
is  in  charge  of  his  son  Walton,  and  some  seasons 
of  the  year  the  sheep  graze  on  the  ranges  and 
need  no  feed,  while  some  winters  the  cost  of  keep- 
ing them  is  considerable.  Mr.  Hubbell  owns 
stock  in  the  Artesian  Hot  &  Cold  Water  Com- 
pany of  Boise  City  and  has  invested  in  other  local 
plants. 

In  his  habits  of  life  Mr.  Hubbell  is  strictly 
temperate,  upright  and  just  in  all  his  transac- 
tions. He  was  postmaster  and  a  justice  of  the 
peace  in  Oregon,  but  has  never  sought  nor  de- 
sired public  office.  Fraternally,  he  belongs  to  the 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  and  politic- 
ally he  has  been  a  life-long  Republican. 

The  marriage  of  Mr.  Hubbell  and  Miss  Cyn- 
thia Elizabeth  Reynolds  was  celebrated  Au- 
gust 14,  1870.  Mrs.  Hubbell  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  C.  F.  Reynolds,  of  New  York  state, 
and  she  was  born  and  reared  in  the  same 
town  as  was  her  husband.  In  all  his  joys 


and  sorrows  she  has  been  a  true  helpmate, 
cheering  and  strengthening  him  with  her  wifely 
devotion.  She  is  a  valued  member  of  the  Method- 
ist church  of  Boise  City.  Of  the  five  children 
born  to  our  subject  ana  wife,  one,  Nora  P.,  died 
at  the  age  of  seventeen  months.  Clara  Rebecca 
is  the  wife  of  John  McMillan.  Walton  is  manag- 
ing his  father's  sheep,  and  Reynolds,  the  next  son, 
is  in  charge  of  the  McMillan  sljeep  ranch  in  the 
same  locality.  Norman  S.,  Jr.,  is  a  student  in 
the  local  schools. 

ROBERT   GROSTEIN. 

Robert  Grostein,  one  of  Idaho's  most  success- 
ful pioneer  merchants,  has  carried  on  business  in 
Lewiston  since  1862,  and  through  the  interven- 
ing years  has  borne  an  unassailable  reputation  in 
trade  circles,  never  making  an  engagement  which 
he  has  not  kept  nor  contracting  an  obligation 
that  he  has  not  met.  His  sagacity  and  enterprise 
and  moreover  his  untiring  labor  have  brought 
to  him  a  handsome  competence,  and  the  most 
envious  could  not  grudge  him  his  success,  so 
honorably  has  it  been  acquired. 

Mr.  Grostein  is  a  native  of  Poland,  born  in 
1835,  and  is  the  eldest  in  the  family  of  four  chil- 
dren whose  parents  were  Moses  and  Bena 
(Herschell)  Grostein.  Thev  also  were  natives  of 
Poland,  in  which  country  they  were  reared  and 
married,  the  father  there  remaining  until  1838, 
when  he  came  to  the  United  States.  He  had 
been  in  sympathy  with  Napoleon,  to  whom  he 
had  rendered  active  assistance,  and  for  this  reason 
he  was  obliged  to  flee  from  his  native  land.  After 
spending  a  year  in  America  he  sent  for  his  fam- 
ily, having  decided  to  make  his  home  in  the  land 
of  the  free.  He  settled  first  at  Mason,  Georgia, 
spending  six  years  there,  after  which  he  went  to 
Buffalo,  New  York,  and  was  engaged  in  trade 
there  until  1870.  In  that  year  he  came  to  Lewis- 
ton,  Idaho,  bringing  with  him  his  good  wife,  and 
here  they  spent  their  remaining  days  with  their 
son  Robert,  the  father  dying  in  1891,  at  the  age 
of  ninety-two  years,  while  the  mother  reached  the 
age  of  eighty-eight  years.  Of  their  family  two 
sons  and  the  daughter  are  yet  living. 

During  his  early  childhood  Robert  Grostein 
was  brought  to  the  United  States  by  his  mother, 
and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Buffalo, 
New  York.  He  received  his  business  training  in 


404 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


his  father's  store  and  then  went  to  California  by 
way  of  the  Nicaraugua  route,  in  1854,  landing  at 
San  Francisco.  From  the  coast  he  made  his  way 
to  Downieville,  where  he  engaged  in  mining  for 
two  years,  working  for  wages  at  eight  dollars  for 
six  hours'  labor.  He  wisely  saved  his  money, 
hoping  to  be  able  soon  to  engage  in  business  on 
his  own  account,  and  in  1856  he  went  to  The 
Dalles,  Oregon,  where  he  opened  a  store  and 
soon  built  up  a  large  and  lucrative  trade,  suc- 
cessfully carrying  on  operations  there  until  1862, 
when  he  chose  Lewiston  as  a  new  field  of  labor. 
The  gold  excitement  here,  and  the  large  number 
of  people  who  were  making  their  way  to  this 
point,  made  Mr.  Grostein  realize  that  this  would 
prove  an  excellent  business  opening,  and  accord- 
ingly he  came  to  the  new  town,  which  was  then  a 
collection  of  tents.  As  in  all  new  mining  com- 
munities there  was  a  rough  element  mixed  in 
with  the  better  class,  and  on  the  first  night  which 
Mr.  Grostein  spent  in  Nez  Perces  county  a  man 
was  ruthlessly  murdered.  In  a  small  tent  he 
opened  the  store  which  has  now  grown  to  such 
magnificent  proportions,  and  began  business  in 
the  primitive  style  of  the  mining  camps.  He 
had  to  pay  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
per  ton  to  get  his  goods  hauled  to  this  place,  and 
he  took  his  pay  for  his  merchandise  in  gold  dust, 
at  from  thirteen  to  fifteen  dollars  per  ounce.  He 
purchased  his  goods  in  Portland,  and  the  pioneer 
merchants  of  the  northwest  soon  became  his  in- 
timate and  warm  friends.  He  conducted  busi- 
ness in  the  tent  for  a  year  and  a  half,  and  in  1864 
erected  a  log  building,  twenty  by  forty  feet  and 
one  story  in  height,  the  logs  having  been  floated 
down  the  Clearwater  river.  In  1865  he  admitted 
Abraham  Binnard  to  a  partnership  in  the  store, 
and  they  carried  on  business  with  mutual  pleas- 
ure and  profit  for  thirty-three  years,  when,  in 
1898,  Mr.  Binnard  was  called  to 'the  home  be- 
yond. In  1890  they  erected  the  fine  brick  block 
in  which  Mr.  Grostein  now  carries  a  sixty  thou- 
sand dollar  stock  of  goods.  This  is  a  double 
store,  fifty  by  one  hundred  feet  and  two  stories  in 
height  with  basement.  It  is  splendidly  equipped 
in  the  most  approved  style  of  modern  merchan- 
dising, and  he  carries  everything  found  in  a 
first-class  establishment  of  the  kind.  By  close 
attention  to  business  and  liberal  and  honorable 
methods  he  has  met  with  marked  success  and  has 


a  very  liberal  patronage,  which  insures  continued 
prosperity  as  long  as  he  continues  in  the  trade. 
He  also  has  a  branch  store  in  Warren. 

Mr.  Grostein  is  a  man  of  resourceful  ability  and 
carries  forward  to  successful  completion  what- 
ever he  undertakes.  As  his  financial  resources 
have  increased  he  has  made  judicious  investments 
in  real  estate,  has  erected  a  number  of  substantial 
buildings  in  Lewiston,  and  is  now  putting  up  sev- 
eral fine  brick  blocks,  the  rental  from  which  adds 
materially  to  his  income.  He  has  also  been  the 
owner  of  about  thirty-five  hundred  acres  of  land, 
mostly  comprised  in  farms  in  Nez  Perces  county, 
on  which  he  raises  large  quantities  of  wheat.  He 
has  also  erected  one  of  the  finest  residences  of  the 
city,  and  his  improvements  of  property  have  been 
of  incalculable  benefit  to  Lewiston.  He  has  wit- 
nessed almost  the  entire  growth  and  development 
of  the  city,  and  has  done  much  for  its  advance- 
ment. He  has  given  his  support  to  many  meas- 
ures for  the  public  good,  and  in  1864,  when 
murder  and  theft  increased  to  an  alarming  extent 
in  Lewiston,  and  life  and  property  were  in  jeop- 
ardy, he  joined  the  other  law-abiding  citizens, 
and  a  vigilance  committee  was  formed.  A  num- 
ber of  the  worst  characters  were  then  caught  and 
hanged,  order  v/as  effectually  restored,  and  life 
and  property  soon  became  as  secure  in  Lewiston 
as  in  any  section  of  the  entire  country.  In 
many  ways  Mr.  Grostein  has  been  connected  with 
the  events  which  form  the  early  history  of  the 
state.  At  one  time  he  had  two  hundred  mules, 
used  in  packing  goods  to  the  different  mines 
where  he  had  supply  stores,  and  during  the  Nez 
Perces  war  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  these  mules 
were  rented  to  the  government  to  carry  supplies 
to  the  army.  He  was  paid  one  dollar  a  day  for 
each  mule,  and  seventy  of  them  were  lost  and 
killed,  for  which  the  government  paid  him  one 
hundred  dollars  each.  The  remaining  eighty 
mules  were  returned  to  him.  In  the  Cayuse  war 
the  government  again  had  his  mules  for  ninety 
days,  and  he  was  again  paid  for  the  forty  that 
were  lost  in  that  war.  When  the  Bannack  war 
came  on  he  was  able  to  once  more  immediately 
meet  the  needs  of  the  government  for  pack  mules, 
and  thus  greatly  expedited  the  work  of  the  sol- 
diers. 

In  1864  Mr.  Grostein  was  happily  married  to 
Miss  Rachel  Newman,  of  Sacramento.  Their 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


405 


union  has  been  blessed  with  the  following  named 
children:  Leah,  wife  of  A.  Kuhn,  a  resident  of 
Colfax,  Oregon;  Bell,  wife  of  H.  Keminskey; 
Henry,  who  is  conducting  his  father's  store  in 
Warren;  Louie  and  Ruth,  who  are  attending 
school  in  Portland,  Oregon;  and  Mitchel,  the 
youngest,  a  student  in  the  Lewiston  schools.  In 
connection  with  one  of  his  school  friends,  he  is 
now  publishing  a  bright  little  weekly  paper 
called  the  M.  &  M.,  devoted  to  local  news.  The 
family  adhere  to  the  Hebrew  faith.  Mr.  Grostein 
is  a  man  of  excellent  business  and  executive 
ability,  and  is  widely  and  favorably  known 
throughout  the  northwest.  He  has  steadily 
worked  his  way  upward  through  his  own  efforts, 
and  the  competence  that  crowns  his  labors  is 
well  merited. 

HON.    GEORGE   B.    ROGERS. 

Some  men  achieve  success  almost  instantan- 
eously, some  by  slow  accretion,  others  only  after 
long  and  patient  working  and  waiting.  The  ex- 
perience of  men  who  are  willing  to  work  persist- 
ently and  intelligently  and  wait  calmly  goes  to 
prove  that  success  may  surely  be  attained  during 
an  ordinary  life-time,  and  no  man  not  cut  off  at 
an  untimely  age  need  work  and  wait  in  vain. 
These  reflections  have  been  suggested  by  a  con- 
sideration of  the  career  of  Hon.  George  B.  Rog- 
ers, receiver  of  the  United  States  land  office  at 
Blackfoot,  Idaho,  who  is  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent and  successful  citizens  of  the  state.  He  was 
born  in  Dodgeville,  Iowa  county,  Wisconsin, 
February  22,  1842.  His  father,  John  Rogers, 
was  born  in  England  and  there  married  Miss 
Hannah  Bailey.  They  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1837,  bringing  with  them  two  daughters, 
named  Susan  and  Elizabeth,  and  located  at  Min- 
eral Point,  Wisconsin,  where  Mr.  Rogers  en- 
gaged in  lead-mining  and  later  became  a  farmer. 
He  died  in  1880,  aged  seventy-six  years,  and  his 
wife  passed  away  in  1882,  aged  seventy-three. 
They  were  lifelong  members  and  supporters  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  Six  more 
children  were  born  to  them  in  Wisconsin,  of 
whom  George  B.  Rogers  was  the  second  in  order 
of  nativity  and  of  whom  two  others  are  living. 

George  B.  Rogers  was  brought  up  on  his 
father's  farm  and  at  a  tender  age  gained  an  inti- 
mate accuiaintance  with  hard  work  and  long 


hours.  The  winter  schools  of  that  day  and  lo- 
cality were  poor,  but  such  as  they  were  he  at- 
tended as  opportunity  presented,  and  later  he 
attended  night  schools,  but  he  may  be  said  to  be 
practically  self-educated. 

In  1862  Mr.  Rogers  went  to  California  by 
water  and  was  twenty-six  days  en  route.  He  left 
Wisconsin  with  borrowed  capital  to  the  amount 
of  three  hundred  dollars.  For  a  time  he  worked 
for  three  dollars  and  a  half  a  day  in  the  middle 
California  mines,  and  a  knowledge  of  lead-min- 
ing he  had  acquired  while  working  with  his 
father  in  Wisconsin  proved  of  'great  service  to 
him  in  this  employment.  Then  he  went  back  to 
San  Francisco  and  from  there  to  Victoria,  British 
Columbia.  Thence  he  came  back  to  Portland, 
Oregon,  and  from  Portland  he  came  to  Idaho,  in 
1865,  and  went  to  the  placer  mines  in  Boise  basin 
and  worked  for  wages  in  the  Elkhorn  mine.  At 
the  time  of  Salmon  river  mining  excitement  he 
went  to  that  district.  He  worked  there  two 
months,  in  1867,  and  went  from  there  to  Mon- 
tana. The  succeeding  two  years  he  put  in  at  the 
mines  at  Helena  and  the  next  two  years  in  pros- 
pecting in  Nevada  and  Idaho.  He  then  returned 
to  Montana  and  worked  six  months  in  the  old 
Cable  mine.  He  then  bought  mules  and  en- 
gaged in  freighting  between  points  in  Utah  and 
Montana  and,  in  partnership  with  C.  W.  Berry- 
man,  continued  that  business  successfully  for 
fourteen  years.  An  idea  of  the  extent  of  their 
operations  will  be  afforded  by  the  statement  that 
they  owned  considerably  more  than  one  hundred 
mules  and  much  of  the  time  kept  six  twelve-mule 
teams  and  eight  six-mule  teams  busy.  The  work 
was  always  arduous  and  sometimes  dangerous, 
but  it  was  profitable,  and  when,  in  1882,  Rogers 
&  Berryman  sold  out,  they  found  themselves 
well  on  the  way  to  fortune.  Conditions  had 
changed  and  the  business  that  had  served  them 
so  well  was  of  decreasing  value.  They  now 
turned  their  attention  to  stock-raising,  in  which 
they  have  been  eminently  successful.  They  own 
twenty-six  hundred  acres  of  land  twelve  miles 
northwest  of  Blackfoot,  and  most  of  it  is  im- 
proved and  fenced.  Six  hundred  acres  of  this 
land  lies  just  outside  of  Blackfoot.  This  exten- 
sive property  is  in  every  way  adapted  to  stock- 
raising,  and  is  as  valuable  as  any  land  of  its  class 
in  the  state.  At  times  there  are  as  manv  as  five 


406 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


hundred  horses  and  two  hundred  to  five  hundred 
head  of  cattle  on  these  ranges,  and  a  specialty 
has  been  made  of  bringing  fine  blooded  stock 
from  the  east.  Thus  Mr.  Rogers  and  his  partner 
have  improved  their  own  stock  and  have  at  the 
same  time  raised  the  standard  of  stock  through- 
out this  whole  section. 

Mr.  Rogers'  interest  in  the  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  Blackfoot  has  been  manifested  in  many 
ways,  and  he  has  been  influential  in  advancing 
the  public  interests  to  a  degree  that  renders  him 
conspicuous  as  a  public-spirited  citizen.  In  1885 
he  erected  one  of  the  best  residences  in  the  city. 
He  has  been  a  lifelong  Republican,  and  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  first  Idaho  state  senate, 
in  which  he  served  on  several  important  commit- 
tees and  was  active  in  securing  the  passage  of 
the  law  authorizing  the  use  of  the  Australian 
ballot  system  in  the  state.  For  two  years  he  was 
one  of  the  county  commissioners  of  Bingham 
county.  In  October,  1897,  he  was  appointed,  by 
President  McKinley,  receiver  of  the  United 
States  land  office  at  Blackfoot,  an  office  which  he 
is  filling  ably  and  affably  and  to  the  entire  satis- 
faction of  every  one  interested  in  its  administra- 
tion. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  married  in  1876  to  Elizabeth 
Toombs,  a  native  of  England,  whose  father, 
James  Toombs,  is  now  a  resident  of  Ogden, 
Utah.  They  have  four  children:  Eva,  the  eldest, 
is  the  wife  of  E.  J.  Frawley,  a  prominent  lawyer 
of  Boise,  Idaho;  Walter  John,  their  oldest  son, 
manages  a  ranch  for  his  father;  and  Raymond 
and  Susie,  two  young  children,  help  to  make  glad 
their  delightful  home. 

HON.    SAMUEL    F.    TAYLOR. 

Hon.  Samuel  F.  Taylor  was  not  a  pioneer  of 
Idaho  Falls  simply.  He  was  one  of  a  very  few 
who  were  pioneers  at  that  locality  before  the 
town  had  a  beginning,  and  was  active  in  an  en- 
terprise which  was  influential  in  locating  a  town 
at  that  point  on  the  Snake  river.  He  came  to 
the  place  in  1870  with  his  cousin,  J.  M.  Taylor, 
who  with  the  firm  of  Taylor  &  Anderson,  built 
the  bridge  across  the  Snake  river  at  the  falls.  It 
was  the  first  bridge  in  this  part  of  the  state,  was 
a  great  aid  to  immigration  and  made  Idaho  Falls 
(then  Eagle  Rock)  a  point  of  so  much  importance 
on  the  route  into  this  country,  and  to  the  country 


beyond,  that  the  springing  up  of  a  good  town 
there  was  a  foregone  conclusion,  and  only  a  mat- 
ter of  time. 

Samuel  F.  Taylor  is  a  member  of  an  old  Ken- 
tucky family,  and  his  paternal  grandfather  was 
a  pioneer  in  that  state.  Samuel  F.  Taylor,  Sr., 
his  father,  was  born  there  and  married  Fanny 
Simpson,  and  in  his  time  was  i  rominent  in  that 
state.  Samuel  F.  Taylor,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky April  18,  1848,  and  in  1849  ms  parents  re- 
moved to  Missouri  and  located  in  Lafayette 
county.  His  father  was  a  lawyer  and  a  farmer. 
The  family  were  strict  Presbyterians. 

Samuel  F.  Taylor,  Sr.,  was  an  ardent  south- 
erner, and  shortly  after  the  beginning  of  our 
civil  war  he  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army  and 
served  under  General  Sterling  Price,  and  was 
killed  in  battle  at  Corinth,  Mississippi.  Records 
show  that  he  was  captain  of  Company  B,  Sixth 
Missouri  Volunteers.  He  left  a  widow  and  six 
children.  Mrs.  Taylor  is  now  (1899)  seventy- 
two  years  old.  Five  of  their  children  survive. 

Samuel  F.  Taylor,  the  third  of  the  children  of 
Samuel  F.  and  Fanny  (Simpson)  Taylor,  was 
educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Missouri  and 
in  the  Kentucky  State  University,  from  which 
institution,  after  having  completed  his  studies, 
he  came  direct  to  what  is  now  Idaho  Falls.  After 
the  completion  of  the  bridge  he  decided  to  re- 
main in  the  vicinity  and  engage  in  the  stock  busi- 
ness. The  whole  country  then  was  one  vast  and 
almost  limitless  range,  offering  the  best  facilities 
for  such  enterprise,  and  Mr.  Taylor  put  in  several 
years  in  that  way  with  success,  and  then  turned 
his  attention  profitably  to  breeding  fine  trotting 
horses.  He  has  introduced  several  horses  of 
ability,  among  them  Ryland  T.,  who  has  a  record 
of  2:07^.  In  1885  he  established  his  livery  stable 
at  Idaho  Falls  and  soon  became  the  leading  livery- 
man of  the  town.  Eight  miles  southeast  of 
Idaho  Falls  he  has  a  farm  of  three  hundred  and 
sixty  acres,  where  he  raises  hay  and  grain  for 
his  stock.  He  has  one  of  the  many  roomy  and 
elegant  residences  for  which  Idaho  is  famous. 

From  youth  Mr.  Taylor  has  always  been  a 
stro'ng  Democrat,  active  in  promoting  the  inter- 
ests of  his  party.  In  1884  he  was  elected  sheriff 
of  Oneida  county,  which  then  comprised  the 
whole  of  southern  Idaho,  and  filled  that  impor- 
tant office,  with  signal  ability,  during  two  elective 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


407 


terms.  There  were  in  Oneida  county  at  that 
time  many  horse  and  cattle  thieves,  and  Sheriff 
Taylor's  work  toward  ridding  the  county  of  them 
was  so  effective  as  to  be  practically  complete  in 
its  results.  His  efficiency  as  a  public  official  was 
not  forgotten,  and  later  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  Idaho's  last  territorial  legislature,  and  he 
was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention 
that  framed  the  constitution  of  the  new  state. 

In  1880  Mr.  Taylor  was  happily  married  to 
Miss  Bettie  Hays,  daughter  of  Judge  Gilmore 
Hays,  and  a  native  of  Kentucky,  she  being  a 
sister  of  Senator  Charles  M.  Hays,  of  Boise, 
Idaho.  They  have  five  children, — Edward  Lee, 
Fanny  Simpson,  Samuel  F.  (third),  Betsy  Jane 
and  Mary  Ellen.  Mrs.  Taylor  is  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  church.  Mr.  Taylor  was  made 
a  Master  Mason  in  Eagle  Rock  Lodge,  No.  19,  of 
Idaho  Falls,  and  is  one  of  its  past  masters. 

SANFORD    EVANS. 

The  self-made  man,  when  he  has  made  a  place 
for  himself  in  the  world  and  installed  himself  in 
it,  has  done  as  much  for  the  world  as  he  has  done 
for  himself.  The  builder  of  his  own  fortunes  is 
an  active  factor  in  advancing  the  best  interests 
of  the  community  in  which  he  lives  and  flour- 
ishes, and  every  dollar  he  makes  for  himself 
becomes,  in  a  sense,  public  capital.  Such  a  pro- 
gressive and  helpful  citizen  is  Sanford  Evans,  of 
Genesee,  a  prominent  farmer  and  mill  owner, 
who  has  done  as  much  for  the  development  of 
Genesee  and  its  tributary  territory  as  any  other 
man.  A  glance  at  the  successful  incidents  in  his 
career  affords  an  index  to  his  character  and  a 
suggestion  of  the  prime  reason  of  his  success. 
He  would  appear  to  be  a  man  who  plans  far 
ahead,  and,  adhering  tenaciously  to  his  plans, 
works  untiringly  to  insure  their  success. 

Sanford  Evans  is  of  Welsh  ancestry.  His  fore- 
fathers settled  in  the  part  of  old  Virginia  now 
known  as  West  Virginia,  where  Benjamin  Evans, 
his  grandfather,  was  a  successful  farmer.  Silas 
Evans,  son  of  Benjamin  and  father  of  Sanford 
Evans,  was  born  in  Virginia,  succeeded  to  the 
old  Evans  homestead,  married  Miss  Peggie 
Walker,  a  native  of  his  own  state,  and  lived  well- 
to-do  and  respected  until  after  his  sixty-ninth 
birthday.  His  wife  died  in  her  sixty-sixth  year. 
They  had  eight  children,  seven  of  whom  are  liv- 


ing.    Sanford  Evans,  their  third  child,  was  born 
in  what  is  now  known  as  West  Virginia,  January 

8,  1848.     He  was  educated  in  schools  near  his 
home,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  went  to 
Missouri  and  began  life  for  himself.     He  worked 
at  first  as  a  farm  hand  and  remained  there  with 
varying  fortune  for  about  six  years.     In  1874  he 
crossed  the  plains  with  a  team  and  went  to  the 
Willamette  valley,  thence  to  Walla  Walla  and 
from  there  came  on  to  Nez  Perces  county,  Idaho, 
and  located  on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
government  land. 

At  that  time  Mr.  Evans  had  little  besides  his 
horse  and  wagon  and  his  few  personal  belong- 
ings. But  he  was  rich  in  ambition  and  had 
splendid  capital  in  power  for  a  goodly  aggregate 
number  of  days'  work,  upon  which  he  drew  lib- 
erally, and  which  he  invested  profitably.  For 
eight  years  he  lived  a  lonelv  bachelor  life  on  his 
place.  He  paid  for  it  and  enlarged  his  holdings 
from  time  to  time  until  he  was  the  owner  of 
eleven  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  nice  land. 
Meantime  his  attention  was  directed  to  another 
means  to  the  improvement  of  his  fortune  and  he 
availed  himself  of  it  and  improved  it  with  the 
tenacity  of  purpose  that  has  characterized  his  ca- 
reer. While  he  was  building  a  fine  large  resi- 
dence and  other  good  buildings  on  his  property 
he  engaged  in  conducting  a  ware-house  business 
in  Genesee.  This  enterprise  grew  to  such  pro- 
portion that  when  his  ware-house  burned,  January 

9,  1899,  he  lost  forty-eight  thousand  bushels  of 
wheat.     Notwithstanding  he  carried  heavy  insur- 
ance, he  sustained  an  actual  cash  loss  of  about 
three   thousand   dollars.      But   he   has   already 
erected  a  new  flouring  mill  and  ware-house  and 
has  entered  upon  a  new  era  of  prosperity.     His 
mill  is  supplied  with  modern  roller-process  ma- 
chinery and  has  a  capacity  of  seventy-five  barrels 
of  flour  a  day.     He  sows  four  hundred  acres  of 
wheat    every  year,  and    one  year  he    garnered 
twenty-one  thousand  bushels  from  eleven  hun- 
dred acres,  and  on  four  hundred  acres  of  summer 
fallow  he  once  raised  twelve  thousand  bushels. 

Mr.  Evans  returned  to  West  Virginia  in  1886, 
and,  at  his  old  home,  married  Miss  Erma  Bur- 
gess, daughter  of  Columbus  Burgess,  who  came 
of  an  old  Virginia  family.  They  have  three  in- 
teresting children,  named  Edgar,  Roy  and  Min- 
nie. Mr.  Evans  is  a  Republican,  but  is  not 


408 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


enough  of  a  practical  politician  to  have  any  de- 
sire for  office.  He  believes  he  will  best  serve  his 
personal  interests  by  giving  his  attention  entirely 
to  his  large  and  growing  business.  He  is  a 
Knight  of  Pythias  and  is  popular  in  social  and 
business  circles,  and  has  proved  himself  a  public- 
spirited  and  progressive  citizen,  devoted  to  all 
worthy  interests  of  Genesee. 

ARCHIBALD    GAMMELL. 

Archibald  Gammell,  county  assessor  and  tax 
collector  of  Latah  county,  now  residing  in  Mos- 
cow, is  a  native  of  Nova  Scotia,  his  birth  having 
occurred  February  23,  1835.  He  is  descended 
from  Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  of  Presbyterian 
faith.  William  Gammell  was  the  progenitor  of 
the  family  in  the  New  World.  He  crossed  the 
Atlantic  to  Nova  Scotia  about  1776,  since  which 
time  three  generations  of  the  family  have  been 
born  there.  Industry,  uprightness  and  reliability 
are  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  Gammells,  and 
they  are  also  noted  for  longevity,  most  of  the 
name  having  attained  the  age  of  eighty  years  or 
more.  John  Gammell,  the  grandfather,  and 
William  K.  Gammell,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
were  both  born  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  latter 
married  Miss  Martha  Millen,  a  native  of  Ireland. 
They  had  seven  children,  but  three  are  now  de- 
ceased. The  mother  departed  this  life  in  her 
eighty-first  year,  and  the  father  survived  her  only 
twenty-eight  days.  They  were  about  the  same 
age,  and  had  celebrated  their  fifty-sixth  wedding 
anniversary.  In  religious  belief  they  were  Pres- 
byterians, and  their  upright  lives  exemplified 
their  faith. 

Archibald  Gammell  is  now  the  eldest  of  the 
surviving  members  of  the  family.  He  was  reared 
on  his  father's  farm,  educated  in  the  common 
schools,  and  entered  upon  his  independent  busi- 
ness career  as  an  employe  in  a  woolen  factory. 
He  also  learned  the  miller's  trade  in  a  flouring 
mill,  and  in  1875  removed  to  Petaluma,  Califor- 
nia, where  he  was  engaged  in  the  draying  busi- 
ness for  three  years.  He  met  with  moderate 
success  in  that  undertaking,  and  in  1878  came 
to  Idaho,  securing  a  farm  on  American  ridge,  in 
the  Potlatch  country,  in  Latah  county.  Here 
for  twenty-one  years  he  has  carried  on  agricul- 
tural pursuits  and  has  greatly  improved  his 
property,  now  raising  large  crops  of  wheat,  bar- 


ley, corn  and  flax,  together  with  an  abundance  of 
fruit  for  home  consumption.  His  wheat  crops 
have  yielded  as  high  as  thirty-eight  bushels  to 
the  acre,  and  through  his  well  directed  efforts  he 
has  become  one  of  the  prosperous  farmers  of  this 
rich  section  of  the  county  and  one  of  the  most 
progressive,  practical,  and  influential  agricultur- 
ists. 

In  1868  Mr.  Gammell  married  Miss  Agnes 
Brenton,  a  native  of  Nova  Scotia,  who  shares 
with  him  his  pleasant  home.  In  politics  he  has 
always  been  a  zealous  Republican,  and  in  1898 
he  was  elected  on  that  ticket  to  the  office  of 
assessor  and  tax  collector,  which  position  he  is 
now  filling  in  a  most  satisfactory  manner.  The 
assessment  of  the  county  in  1898  reached  the 
sum  of  two  million  seven  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. In  his  social  relations  Mr.  Gammell  is  a 
Mason,  having  taken  the  preliminary  degrees  in 
Eureka  Lodge,  No.  17,  F.  &  A.  M.,  in  Nova 
Scotia;  the  Royal  Arch  degrees  in  Keith  Chap- 
ter, No.  3,  traveling  thirty  miles  in  order  to 
become  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  capitular 
Masonry.  He  is  a  worthy  exemplar  of  the  teach 
ings  of  this  ancient  and  beneficent  fraternity,  but 
his  remoteness  from  the  lodge  makes  it  impossi- 
ble for  him  to  take  an  active  part  in  ritualistic 
work.  He  and  his  estimable  wife  are  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Tuliaetta,  and  now 
attend  the  services  of  that  denomination  in  Mos- 
cow. They  have  many  friends  in  the  county 
where  they  have  so  long  resided  and  are  highly 
esteemed  by  all  with  whom  they  have  come  in 
contact. 

TIMOTHY    REGAN. 

Among  the  pioneers  of  Idaho  is  Timothy  Re- 
gan, of  Boise,  who  came  to  the  territory  in  1864, 
and  has  since  been  largely  instrumental  in  de- 
veloping the  rich  mineral  resources  of  the  state. 
He  is  a  native  of  Rochester,  New  York,  born 
November  14,  1843,  and  is  of  Irish  extraction. 
His  parents,  Morgan  and  Mary  (Burk)  Regan, 
were  both  natives  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  whence 
they  emigrated  to  the  state  of  Maine,  in  1831, 
bringing  with  them  their  two  infant  daughters. 
At  a  later  date  they  removed  to  New  York, 
thence  to  Chicago  and  afterward  to  Wisconsin, 
where  the  father  secured  a  tract  of  land  and  in- 
dustriously carried  on  agricultural  pursuits  until 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


409 


his  death,  which  occurred  in  1878,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-nine  years.  His  wife,  surviving  him  some 
time,  departed  this  life  in  1897,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four  years,  in  Wisconsin.  They  were  de- 
vout members  of  the  Catholic  church  and  were 
people  of  the  highest  respectability.  Nine  child- 
ren were  added  to  their  family  in  America,  of 
whom  seven  are  still  living,  one  being  a  resident 
of  Boise,  namely,  Timothy.  Philip,  who  for 
many  years  was  a  leading  grocer  of  the  city,  died 
February  9,  1899. 

Timothy  Regan,  whose  name  introduces  this 
review,  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
Wisconsin,  and  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm, 
early  becoming  familiar  with  all  the  duties  of 
field  and  meadow.  When  nineteen  years  of  age 
he  started  out  in  life  for  himself.  Leaving  home, 
he  made  his  way  to  New  York,  whence  he 
sailed  for  California,  going  by  way  of  the  isthmus. 
After  reaching  the  golden  state  he  traveled  by 
wagon  to  Humboldt,  Nevada,  and  on  to  Silver 
City,  Idaho,  where  he  engaged  in  mining  in  the 
employ  of  others  for  a  short  time.  He  then  en- 
gaged in  teaming  and  in  furnishing  supplies  to 
the  miners.  He  also  conducted  a  hotel,  and  as 
time  passed  his  financial  resources  gradually 
increased.  Having  acquired  some  capital  he  in- 
vested his  money  in  various  mines  and  found  this 
most  profitable.  He  is  regarded  as  an  expert  in 
his  judgment  of  ore,  and  his  knowledge  in  this 
particular,  combined  with  sound  judgment  in  all 
business  transactions,  has  brought  to  him  most 
gratifying  success.  He  is  the  owner  of  the  cele- 
brated Oro  Fino  mine,  from  which  were  taken 
seventy  tons  of  ore,  that  yielded  eight  hundred 
dollars  to  the  ton.  He  also  owns  the  Golden 
Chariot  mine,  and  formerly  owned  a  mine  at  De 
Lamar  which  he  sold  to  the  De  Lamar  Mining 
Company  for  eighty-seven  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars.  These  mines  all  have  seven  thousand 
feet  on  one,  or  the  mother,  lode.  He  sold  the 
Oro  Fino  mine  to  an  English  company  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  but  after  mak- 
ing a  large  payment,  this  company,  through  mis- 
management, allowed  it  to  revert  to  the  original 
owner. 

As  he  has  met  with  success  in  his  mining  ven- 
tures, Mr.  Regan  has  extended  his  field  of  oper- 
ations into  other  lines  of  business  and  has  been 
the  promoter  of  many  industries,  which  have 


largely  promoted  the  material  interests  of  Boise. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Hot  and 
Cold  Water  Company,  which  supplies  the  city 
with  both  hot  and  cold  water  from  artesian  wells, 
many  of  the  best  buildings  and  residences  being 
heated  with  this  natural  hot  water.  This  enter- 
prise has  proved  of  great  value  to  Boise,  as  have 
others  with  which  Mr.  Regan  is  connected.  He 
is  a  stockholder  and  director  of  the  Boise  City 
National  Bank,  one  of  the  strongest  and  best 
financial  institutions  in  the  state,  now  occupying 
a  splendid  bank  building,  which  was  erected  by 
the  company.  He  is  a  stockholder  in4the  Wei- 
ser  Land  and  Improvement  Company  and  in 
many  other  enterprises,  and  his  capable  manage- 
ment and  wise  judgment  in  business  affairs  have 
proved  of  great  benefit  in  the  control  of  many  of 
these  interests. 

In  1878  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Regan  and  Miss  Rose  Blackinger,  of  Buffalo. 
New  York,  and  to  them  have  been  born  two 
sons,  William  and  John,  who  are  now  attending 
college  in  Santa  Clara,  California.  They  have  a 
beautiful  home  at  the  corner  of  Fourteenth  and 
Bannock  streets,  surrounded  with  well  kept 
grounds,  tastefully  adorned.  t 

Mr.  Regan  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, having  taken  the  first  three  degrees  in 
Silver  City  Lodge,  of  which  he  is  past  master. 
He  has  also  taken  the  royal  arch  and  knight 
templar  degrees,  and  now  belongs  to  the  lodge, 
chapter  and  commandery  of  Boise.  In  politics 
he  is  a  stalwart  Democrat,  but  has  never  sought 
the  honors  or  emoluments  of  public  office,  pre- 
ferring to  devote  his  time  and  energies  to  his 
business  interests,  in  which  he  has  met  with  sig- 
nal success.  His  life  has  been  one  of  untiring 
activity,  and  has  been  crowned  with  a  degree  of 
prosperity  attained  by  comparatively  few  men. 
He  is  of  the  highest  type  of  a  business  man,  and 
none  more  than  he  deserves  a  fitting  recognition 
among  those  whose  hardy  genius  and  splendid 
abilities  have  achieved  results  that  are  the  won- 
der and  admiration  of  all. 

GEORGE    E.    ERB. 

In  the  last  half  century,  especially,  it  is  sel- 
dom that  one  wins  prominence  in  several  lines. 
It  is  the  tendency  of  the  age  to  devote  one's  en- 
tire energies  to  a  special  line,  continually  work- 


410 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ing  upward  and  concentrating  his  efforts  toward 
accomplishing  a  desired  end;  yet  in  the  case  of 
George  E.  Erb  it  is  demonstrated  that  a  leading 
position  may  be  reached  in  more  than  one  line 
of  action.  He  is  an  able  educator,  a  successful 
stock-dealer  and  business  man  and  a  recognized 
leader  in  political  circles.  By  reason  of  his 
prominent  connection  with  the  public  life  and 
interests  of  Lewiston,  and  on  account  of  his  repu- 
tation, which  extends  far  beyond  the  confines  of 
the  city,  he  is  well  entitled  to  representation  in 
this  volume. 

Mr.  Erb  was  born  in  Lafayette  county,  Mis- 
souri, April  26,  1866,  and  is  of  German  descent. 
His  father,  Maximum  Erb,  was  born  in  Ger- 
many, and  when  a  young  man  crossed  the  At- 
lantic to  the  United  States.  He  served  through- 
out the  Mexican  war  as  a  loyal  defender  of  his 
adopted  land,  and  then  took  up  his  residence  in 
Missouri,  becoming  one  of  the  enterprising 
farmers  of  that  state.  He  married  Miss  Mary  A. 
Ferguson,  and  died  in  1878,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
six  years.  The  widow  with  her  five  children, 
four  sons  and  a  daughter,  crossed  the  plains  to 
Oregon  in  1884,  and  she  has  since  resided  near 
Weston,  that  state. 

George  E.'  Erb,  the  eldest  son,  attended  the 
public  schools  until  thirteen  years  of  age,  but 
after  that  had  no  opportunity  to  acquire  further 
education  in  the  school-room.  Study,  reading, 
experience  and  observation,  however,  have  made 
him  a  well  informed  man,  and  his  literary  tastes 
and  attainments  have  gained  him  entrance  into 
the  cultured  society  circles.  He  began  his  busi- 
ness career  as  a  stock-raiser  in  Oregon,  and  in 
1889,  when  but  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he 
walked  to  the  city  of  Lewiston  to  try  his  fortunes 
among  this  enterprising  people.  He  had  no 
capital,  but  was  energetic,  progressive  and  will- 
ing to  work,  and  he  soon  secured  a  position  at 
manual  labor.  His  real  worth  of  character  was 
recognized  by  the  Rev.  John  D.  McConkey,  rec- 
tor of  the  Episcopal  church,  who  took  a  deep  in- 
terest in  the  young  man  and  acted  as  his  tutor 
for  a  few  months,  thus  enabling  him  to  satis- 
factorily pass  an  examination  and  secure  a  teach- 
er's certificate.  His  appetite  for  learning  has 
never  been  satiated,  and  through  the  passing 
years  he  has  continually  added  to  his  store  of 
knowledge,  until  he  is  now  a  man  of  scholarly 


attainments.  After  securing  his  certificate,  he 
successfully  engaged  in  teaching  for  four  years, 
and  then  had  the  honor  of  being  elected  county 
superintendent  of  schools  and  ex-officio  probate 
judge,  which  office  he  filled  most  ably  until  the 
close  of  the  term.  He  was  then  for  three  and  a 
half  years  the  deputy  district-court  clerk,  having 
charge  of  all  the  legal  business  of  the  court.  He 
had  the  honor  of  serving  one  term,  for  the  year 
ending  June  30,  1897,  as  mayor  of  the  city  of 
Lewiston.  On  the  expiration  of  that  period  he 
became  extensively  engaged  in  the  butchering 
business,  including  the  packing  and  curing  of 
meats  and  dealing  in  live-stock,  as  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Dowd,  Shaw  &  Company.  After  a 
year  this  firm  sold  out  and  Mr.  Erb  has  since 
been  engaged  in  stock-raising,  in  connection  with 
his  brothers-in-law,  the  Dowd  brothers.  They 
have  one  fine  ranch  of  seven  hundred  and  twenty 
acres,  on  which  are  three  excellent  artesian  wells. 
On  it  are  six  hundred  head  of  cattle  and  from 
three  to  four  hundred  head  of  horses.  Mr.  Erb 
is  also  the  special  right-of-way  agent  of  the  Ore- 
gon Railway  &  Navigation  Company  for  the 
counties  of  Idaho  and  Nez  Perces.  He  has  also 
acquired  valuable  interests  in  some  promising 
mining  properties  in  the  celebrated  Buffalo 
Hump  mining  district  of  central  Idaho. 

On  the  i4th  of  June,  1893,  Mr.  Erb  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Dowd,  a  daughter 
of  Michael  Dowd,  one  of  the  honored  pioneers  of 
Idaho,  who  was  engaged  in  rrjining  at  Pierce  City 
and  afterward  in  farming  and  stock-raising  in 
Nez  Perces  county,  Idaho.  Mrs.  Erb  was  one 
of  the  first  white  children  born  in  Pierce  City. 
By  her  marriage  she  has  become  the  mother  of  a 
son  and  daughter,— Charles  Frederick  and  Mary 
Ernestine. 

Mr.  Erb  is  a  prominent  member  and  the  grand 
vice-chancellor  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fra- 
ternity for  the  state  of  Idaho,  and  adjutant  of  the 
First  Regiment  of  the  Idaho  Uniformed  Rank  of 
that  order,  in  which  he  stands  very  high.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Rathbone  Sisters  and  of 
the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  In  politics  he  has 
always  been  a  stanch  Democrat  since  casting  his 
first  vote,  and  has  done  effective  service  for  his 
party.  As  chairman  of  the  Democratic  county 
central  committee,  he  ably  managed  the  cam- 
paign in  this  part  of  the  state,  and  did  effective 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


411 


work  in  the  interests  of  Democracy  during  the 
last  campaign.  He  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Steunenberg  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees 
of  the  State  Normal  School,  in  January,  1897,  to 
serve  for  a  term  of  six  years.  His  deep  interest 
in  the  cause  of  education  well  qualifies  him  for 
the  position.  In  his  own  home  he  has  a  fine  li- 
brary and  some  of  his  most  pleasant  hours  are 
spent  with  the  companionship  of  the  master 
minds  of  both  this  and  past  ages. 

ALFRED    EOFF. 

Alfred  Eoff,  the  able  and  widely  known  cashier 
of  the  Boise  City  National  Bank,  possesses  the 
undaunted  spirit  and  business  enterprise  which 
have  developed  and  are  developing  the  marvelous 
resources  and  wealth  of  the  western  states  and 
territories.  All  credit  is  due  the  brave  and  fear- 
less frontiersman  who  paves  the  way  for  the  on- 
coming tide  of  civilization,  and,  by  his  industry 
and  zeal  opens  a  thousand  avenues  for  com- 
merce and  progress.  In  such  a  work  Mr.  Eoff 
has  largely  aided  and.  in  the  history  of  Idaho  he 
well  deserves  representation. 

Of  Dutch  ancestry,  the  forefathers  of  Alfred 
Eoff  settled  at  an  early  day  in  Wheeling,  West 
Virginia,  and  one  of  the  streets  of  that  city  is 
named  in  honor  of  the  family.  James  Eoff,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Virginia  (ere 
that  state  had  been  divided)  and  in  1840  removed 
to  the  prairies  of  Illinois,  in  company  with  his 
father.  When  grown  to  maturity  he  married 
there  Miss  Jane  Ayres,  and  of  their  five  children 
Alfred  is  now  the  only  surviVor. 

He  was  born  in  the  village  of  White  Hall,  Illi- 
nois, June  n,  1845,  and  received  his  education 
in  the  schools  of  Chicago.  In  1862,  when  he  was 
seventeen  years  of  age,  he  joined  an  uncle  in  Col- 
orado, and  within  a  short  time  he  became  con- 
nected with  the  Ben  Holliday  Stage  Company. 
Later  he  was  made  cashier  of  the  Wells-Fargo  & 
Company's  Bank  at  Salt  Lake  City,  which  posi- 
tion he  filled  for  six  years.  He  was  then  offered 
the  place  of  assistant  cashier  of  the  bank  in  San 
Francisco,  owned  by  the  same  corporation,  and 
accepted  the  position,  which  he  retained  until 
1885,  wh,en  he  came  to  Idaho  for  the  purpose  of 
organizing  the  Boise  City  National  Bank,  of 
which  he  has  since  been  cashier  and  manager. 

As  earlv  as  1866  Mr.  Eoff  had  come  to  this 


state  as  the  agent  for  the  Wells-Fargo  Company, 
also  serving  as  their  paymaster  from  Denver  to 
Salt  Lake  City,  until  the  road  was  completed.  To 
his  marked  business  ability  is  due  much  of  the 
success  of  the  Boise  City  National  Bank,  now 
recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  banking  institu- 
tions of  the  northwest. 

Idaho  has  just  cause  to  be  proud  of  her  fine 
commercial  facilities  and  of  the  able,  far-seeing 
financiers  who  stand  at  the  head  of  these  vast 
business  enterprises — the  banks  of  the  state.  The 
one  with  which  Mr.  Eoff  is  connected  as  cashier 
was  organized  in  the  fall  of  1885,  and  on  the  loth 
of  the  following  April  its  doors  were  opened  for 
business.  At  that  time  its  capital  stock  was  fifty 
thousand  dollars;  in  1891  this  was  raised  to 
double  the  amount;  and  it  has  been'authorized  to 
increase  its  capital  to  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. In  1898  the  profits  and  surplus  of  the  bank 
equaled  its  original  capital,  and  this  has  been 
accomplished  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  great  finan- 
cial depression  has  characterized  the  money  mar- 
kets of  this  country  much  of  the  time  covered  by 
the  existence  of  the  bank.  In  the  winter  of 
1891-92  the  fine  building  occupied  by  the  bank 
was  erected,  which,  with  its  furnishings,  cost  up- 
ward of  fifty  thousand  dollars;  but  about  half 
of  that  amount  has  been  since  realized  from  the 
renting  of  offices.  The  first  year  the  deposits  in 
the  bank  amounted  to  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  sum  has  been  gradually  increased  un- 
til it  has  now  reached  five  times  the  original 
amount.  A  dividend  of  ten  per  cent  has  been 
regularly  paid  and  forty  per  cent  has  been  added 
to  the  surplus. — a  truly  wonderful  showing! 
Among  those  prominent  in  the  organization  of 
the  bank  were  Henry  Wadsworth,  cashier  of  the 
Wells-Fargo  Bank  at  San  Francisco;  A.  H. 
Boomer,  manager  of  the  California  &  Oregon 
Stage  Company ;  Edward  A.  Hawley,  of  Hawley 
Brothers  Hardware  Company,  of  San  Francisco; 
and  James  G.  Walker,  a  wholesale  liquor  mer- 
chant of  the  same  city:  H.  B.  and  B.  M.  East- 
man, of  Boise;  and  Joseph  Perrault,  surveyor- 
general  of  Idaho.  The  first  officers  were  Henry 
Wadsworth,  president;  Alfred  Eoff,  cashier;  and 
Joseph  Perrault,  assistant  cashier.  There  have 
been  no  changes  since,  save  that  W.  S.  Bruce  is 
now  the  assistant  cashier. 

During  the  civil  war  Mr.  Eoff  volunteered  his 


412 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


services  in  aid  of  his  country,  was  assigned  to 
Company  C,  First  Colorado  Infantry,  and  was 
sent  against  the  Indians,  who  were  proving  a 
constant  source  of  danger  to  the  white  settlers 
of  the  state  and  of  the  northwest  in  general.  He 
is  now  a  member  of  George  H.  Thomas  Post, 
No.  4,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  Politically 
he  is  an  ardent  Republican. 

One  of  the  handsomest  residences  in  Boise  is 
the  recently  completed  home  of  Mr.  Eoff.  He 
was  married  in  1882  to  Miss  Victoria  Louise 
Mfrsh,  who  was  born  in  Canada,  is  a  lady  of 
superior  education  and  social  attainments,  and 
is  a  consistent  member  of  the  Episcopal  church. 
In  all  his  business  and  social  relations  Mr.  Eoff 
is  popular  and  influential.  His  marked  financial 
and  executive  ability  has  gained  him  pre-emi- 
nence in  commercial  circles,  while  his  pleasant 
personality  and  unquestioned  integrity  have  won 
for  him  the  respect  of  all. 

WILLIAM    B.    ALLISON. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  pioneer  citizens  of 
Salubria  valley,  an  organizer  of  Washington 
county,  and  now  (1898)  its  assessor,  is  William 
B.  Allison,  an  enterprising  and  leading  stock- 
raiser  in  the  beautiful  valley  of  Salubria,  where  he 
has  a  rich  and  finely  improved  farm  of  five  hun- 
dred and  twenty  acres,  through  which  runs  a 
splendid  stream  of  water. 

Air.  Allison  was  born  at  Glasgow,  Columbia 
county,  Ohio,  on  August  22,  1845,  an<l  K  °f 
Scotch  ancestry,  his  parents,  Alexander  and 
Sarah  (Glover)  Allison,  having  been  natives  of 
Scotland.  In  1837  the  father  emigrated  to 
America,  and  was  married  in  Pottsville,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  followed  the  blacksmith's  trade, 
having  learned  the  same  in  Scotland.  He  re- 
moved to  Illinois  in  1854,  and  a  year  later  to 
northwestern  Iowa,  and  in  1863  he  and  his  fam- 
ily, consisting  of  his  wife  and  three  children, 
crossed  the  plains  and  located  in  Boise  valley, 
where  he  took  up  a  farm  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres,  becoming  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
that  valley.  He  found  a  ready  market  for  the 
products  of  his  farm  in  the  mining  camps,  and  in 
those  early  days  received  a  very  remunerative 
price  for  anything  he  could  raise.  The  cost  of 
threshing  grain  was  at  that  time  twenty-five  cents 
a  bushel,  and  everything  else  equally  high.  In 


1868  Mr.  Allison  removed  to  Salubria  valley, 
where  he  took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  rich  land,  one  mile  north  of  where  the  town  of 
Salubria  now  stands,  built  upon  this  land,  im- 
proved it  and  became  a  successful,  industrious 
and  capable  farmer.  Being  a  lover  of  liberty,  he 
identified  himself  with  the  Republican  party  when 
it  was  organized,  and  became  one  of  its  faithful 
adherents.  Among  other  of  the  early  enter- 
prises of  the  territory  aided  by  him  was  the 
founding  of  the  Statesman,  at  Boise,  to  which 
he  liberally  contributed.  In  his  religious  faith  he 
was  a  Presbyterian.  His  death  occurred  at  his 
home  in  Salubria,  in  1882,  at  which  time  he  had 
attained  the  age  of  sixty-nine  years.  The  wife 
to  whom  he  was  first  married  departed  this  life 
in  1854.  His  second  wife,  who  crossed  the 
plains  and  endured  the  hardships  of  pioneer  life 
with  him,  still  survives  him  and  has  attained  the 
grand  old  age  of  ninety  years.  All  the  children 
are  living  in  Salubria. 

William  B.  Allison  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  Pennsylvania  and  Iowa,  and  in  1863, 
when  in  his  eighteenth  year,  he  was  one  of  the 
drivers  of  a  freight  train  across  the  plains,  the 
rate  per  pound  for  freight  at  that  time  being 
thirty-three  cents  to  Salt  Lake,  the  time 
consumed  in  driving  from  Omaha  being  ninety 
days.  After  coming  to  Idaho  our  subject 
freighted  all  over  the  territory,  and  crossed  the 
plains  three  times  with  oxen,  without  accident  or 
misfortune.  In  1868  he  came  to  the  Salubria 
valley  and  took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  rich  land,  upon  a  part  of  which  is  now  built  the 
town  of  Salubria,  and  on  this  property  he  built 
his  log  house,  with  a  dirt  floor  and  roof,  and  in 
this  humble  way  began  his  farm  life.  He  en- 
gaged in  raising  cattle,  horses  and  hogs,  and  from 
time  to  time,  as  by  his  industry  he  secured 
means,  he  added  to  his  farm  until  now  he  has 
five  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  stocked  with  a 
fine  grade'of  Hereford  cattle,  Berkshire  hogs  and 
good  horses.  In  1891  he  erected  a  larger  and 
more  commodious  house  on  his  farm,  and  there 
he  and  his  family  enjoy  the  comforts  of  life  which 
his  unaided  efforts  and  intelligence  have  pro- 
vided. 

Mr.  Allison  was  a  strong  adherent  of  the  Re- 
publican party  up  to  the  time  of  the  St.  Louis 
convention  in  1896,  when  he  decided  that  the 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


413 


"G.  O.  P."  had  left  him,  and  he  allied  himself 
with  the  silver  or  bimetal  forces  01  his  state. 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Idaho  territorial 
legislature  and  introduced  the  bill  creating  the 
county  of  Washington.  He  was  also  elected  a 
member  of  the  second  session  of  the  state  legis- 
lature, and  became  acquainted  with  all  the  rep- 
resentative men  of  the  state.  In  1896  he  was 
elected  assessor  of  Washington  county,  an  office 
he  has  filled  in  a  most  satisfactory  manner.  So- 
cially he  is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the 
I.  O.  O.  F.  of  the  state. 

On  the  1 8th  of  November,  1868,  Mr.  Allison 
was  married  to  Miss  Ruhannah  Hedgecock,  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  and  a  daughter  of  Jos- 
eph Hedgecock.  Of  this  union  five  children 
have  been  born,  namely:  Minnie;  Loutitia, 
now  Mrs.  Henry  Mossman;  Alexander,  who  is 
married  and  resides  with  his  father,  aiding  him 
in  conducting  the  farm;  William  B.,  Jr ,  and 

Joseph. 

JAMES   W.    BALLANTINE. 

One   of   the   foremost   representatives   of   the 
mercantile  interests  of  the  Wood  river  valley  is 
James  W.  Ballantine,  of  Bellevue.     A  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  he  was  born  February   15,   1839, 
and  in  his  life  has  manifested  many  of  the  sterling 
traits  of  his  Scotch  ancestry,  who  emigrated  to 
the  United  States   in    1825.     His  parents  were 
Nathaniel     and     Sarah     (Wallace)     Ballantine, 
natives  of  Scotland,  in  which  country  they  were 
reared  and  married.     Crossing  the  Atlantic  to 
America,  they  took  up  their  residence  near  Can- 
onsburg,    Pennsylvania,    where    the    father    en- 
gaged   in   merchandising.     They   were    Presby- 
terians in  their  religious  faith,  and  were  people 
of  the  highest  integrity  of  character,  respected 
by  all  who  knew  them.     For  more  than  forty 
years  Nathaniel  Ballantine  was  a  successful  busi- 
ness   man    of    Pennsylvania,    and    lived    to    be 
seventy-eight  years  of  age,  while  his  wife  passed 
away  at  the   age  of  seventy.     They  had  eight 
children,  four  of  whom  are  living. 

James  W.  Ballantine  is  the  eldest  living  of  their 
sons.  He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
his  native  state,  and  received  his  business  training 
at  the  store  and  under  the  direction  of  his  father, 
whom  he  assisted  in  the  conduct  of  a  mercantile 
establishment  until  President  Lincoln  issued  his 
first  call  for  volunteers  to  aid  in  suppressing  the 


rebellion  in  the  south.     Mr.  Ballantine  at  once 
responded,  enlisting  in  April,  1861,  and  assisted 
in  raising  Company  E,  of  the   Ninth   Pennsyl- 
vania  Reserve  Corps,  of  which  he  was  elected 
first     lieutenant.     He     was     afterward     chosen 
captain  of  Company  K,  of  the  same  regiment,  in 
which  position  he  served  until  the  expiration  of 
his  term.     He  then  assisted  in  raising  the  One 
Hundred  and  Ninety-third  Regiment  of  Pennsyl- 
vania   Volunteers,    of    which    he    was    elected 
lieutenant    colonel,    continuing    to    act    in    that 
capacity  until  the  close  of  his  second  term  of 
enlistment.     For  three  years   he   was   with  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  and  participated  in  all  of 
its  hard-fought  battles  and  glorious  victories.  He 
was  wounded  by  a  gunshot  in  the  thigh  and  was 
also  captured  at  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Run, 
but  after  two  months  he  returned  to  his  com- 
mand, with  which  he  continued  until  the  close 
of  hostilities.     He  was  always  a  valiant  soldier, 
fearless  and  true,  and  because  of  his  meritorious 
service  on  the  field  of  battle  was  brevetted  major 
by  President  Johnson. 

Soon  after  his  return  home  Major  Ballantine 
engaged  in  the  oil-refining  business,  at  Pittsburg, 
and  did  a  successful  business  in  that  line  from 
1865  to  1883,  when  the  great  mining  excitement 
in  the  Wood  river  vailed  allured  him  to  Idaho, 
and  he  has  since  been  a  valued  and  influential 
citizen  of  this  part  of  the  state.     He  came  to 
superintend  the  mining  and  smeltino-  works  of  a 
Philadelphia  company,  doing  business  at   Mul- 
doon,  and  was- thus  engaged  for  two  years,  when 
the  company  concluded  to  close  their  establish- 
ment.    Mr.  Ballantine  then  turned  his  attention 
to    mining    and    stock-raising.    He    has    been 
interested    in    various    gold  mines,    and    was    a 
member   of   a   company   that,   after   taking   out 
considerable  ore  from  the  Hub  mine,  sold  the 
property  for  ninety  thousand  dollars.    He  is  still 
interested  in  mining  ventures,  and  is  now  work- 
ing a  copper  mine  in  Nevada.    This  property  is 
bonded  and  probably  sold.    He  also  has  a  valu- 
able cattle  ranch  twenty  miles  east  of  Bellevue, 
where    he   is   raising   cattle    and   horses   on   an 
extensive  scale.    At  Bellevue  he  is  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Hill  &  Ballantine,  proprietors  of  the 
largest  general  mercantile  establishment  in  the 
Wood   river   valley.     They   enjoy  an   extensive 
and  constantly  increasing  patronage,  and  have  a 


414 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


well  equipped  store,  supplied  with  everything  in 
their  line  demanded  by  the  general  public. 
Reasonable  prices,  honorable  dealing  and  courte- 
ous treatment  have  secured  for  them  a  good 
business,  and  the  enterprise  has  proved  a  profit- 
able one. 

In  1865,  after  his  return  from  the  war,  Mr. 
Ballantine  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Lena 
Mclntyre,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  they 
had  one  daughter,  Carrie,  who  died  while  the 
family  yet  resided  in  Pittsburg.  Mrs.  Ballantine 
is  a  consistent  and  faithful  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian church. 

Mr.  Ballantine  gave  his  political  support  to  the 
Republican  party  until  1892,  when  his  opinions 
concerning  the  money  question  led  him  to  with- 
draw his  allegiance.  He  then  aided  in  the 
organization  of  the  Populist  party,  and  on  that 
ticket,  in  1892,  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Idaho  state  legislature.  In  1894  he  was  honored 
by  the  Populist  nomination  for  governor  and 
polled  a  heavy  vote,  but  was  defeated  by  a  small 
majority  of  a  few  hundred.  In  1896  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  state  senate  and  was  the 
candidate  of  his  party  for  United  States  senator, 
receiving  the  full  Populist  vote,  lacking  only 
eight  votes  of  being  elected.  Before  coming 
west  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania 
legislature.  He  has  long  taken  an  active  and 
influential  part  in  politics,  and  is  a  recognized 
leader  in  the  ranks  of  his  party,  his  opinions 
carrying  great  weight  in  its  councils.  Socially, 
he  is  connected  with  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen  and  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
and  served  as  commander  of  O.  H.  Rippey  Post, 
No.  41,  of  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania.  In  business 
he  sustains  an  unassailable  reputation,  in  political 
life  he  has  the  ability  and  knowledge  of  the 
statesman,  and  in  social  circles  he  is  known  as  a 
courteous,  cultured  and  popular  gentleman. 

WILLIAM    TAYLOR. 

For  twenty-eight  years  William  Taylor  has 
resided  in  Latah  county,  and  is  therefore  one 
of  the  honored  pioneer  farmers  of  the  locality. 
He  has  not  only  witnessed  the  entire  growth  and 
development  of  this  section  of  the  state,  but  has 
ever  borne  his  part  in  the  work  of  progress,  and 
his  name  should  be  enduringly  inscribed  on  the 
pages  of  its  history.  A  native  of  the  Emerald 


Isle,  he  was  born  in  county  Armagh,  Ireland, 
April  15,  1820,  his  parents  being  Joseph  and 
Elizabeth  (Rankin)  Taylor.  In  1840  the  father 
came  to  America,  bringing  with  him  his  wife 
and  seven  children.  They  made  the  voyage  on 
.  the  sailing  vessel  Fairfield,  and  were  five  weeks 
on  the  passage.  They  took  up  their  residence 
on  Bonus  prairie,  Boone  county,  Illinois,  near 
where  the  city  of  Belvidere  now  stands,  the 
father  purchasing  forty  acres  of  land,  from  which 
he  developed  a  fine  farm.  The  city  of  Chicago 
was  then  but  a  little  muddy  village  and  the 
country  was  largely  unimproved.  Both  he  and 
his  wife  were  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  were  highly  respected  people,  and  each 
lived  to  the  age  of  seventy-three  vears. 

William  Taylor,  their  eldest  child,  was  edu- 
cated in  his  native  land,  and  learned  the  mason's 
trade,  serving  a  five  years'  apprenticeship.  After 
becoming  a  resident  of  Illinois  he  followed  that 
pursuit,  doing  much  of  the  work  in  his  line  in 
that  early  day  both  in  Belvidere  and  Rockford. 
Many  of  the  substantial  structures  of  those  towns 
still  stand  in  evidence  of  his  excellent  handiwork. 
He  was  married,  in  Illinois,  to  Miss  Priscilla 
Mitchell,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  a  daughter 
of  Thomas  Mitchell  of  that  state. 

In  1871  Mr.  Taylor  determined  to  seek  a 
location  in  the  new  and  undeveloped  west.  He 
first  made  his  way  to  California,  later  traveled 
through  Oregon  and  then  came  to  Idaho.  Here 
he  believed  he  had  found  the  richest  farming 
land  in  the  United  States,  and  the  unsettled 
condition  of  the  country  made  it  possible  for  him 
to  take  his  choice  of  a  claim  in  the  vast  region. 
He  selected  the  farm  upon  which  he  now  resides, 
it  being  then  covered  with  rich  verdure.  With  .1 
spade  he  turned  the  sod  in  several  places  and 
found  a  rich  black  loam,  from  four  to  five  feet 
deep.  There  was  also  a  little  stream  on  the  place 
and  several  good  springs,  and  he  believed  that 
everything  could  be  grown  in  abundance  here. 
Time  has  proved  the  wisdom  of  his  judgment,  as 
his  labors  have  resulted  in  making  this  one  of 
the  finest  and  richest  farming  properties  in  the 
state.  He  built  a  log  house  and  then  wrote  for 
his  wife  to  join  him  in  the  new  home.  With  her 
children  she  traveled  to  Ogden,  Utah,  where  Mr. 
Taylor  met  them  with  a  team,  thus  conveying 
them  to  the  new  farm  in  the  wilds  of  Idaho. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


415 


During  those  first  years  he  had  very  little 
money.  He  had  to  go  to  Walla  Walla  for  sup- 
plies, and  for  four  years  Mr.  Silcott,  who  ran 
the  ferry  at  Lewiston,  trusted  him  for  his  ferry 
bill,  but  after  a  time  he  was  able  to  do  some 
building  for  the  kind  ferryman,  and  thus  dis- 
charged his  indebtedness  and  received  twenty- 
five  dollars  additional  for  his  labor.  Mr.  Taylor 
is  a  man  of  great  industry,  energy,  diligence  and 
practical  common  sense,  and  in  his  undertakings 
he  prospered.  He  improved  the  place  and  added 
to  it  until  he  has  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of 
the  splendid  farming  land  of  the  district.  His 
son,  Thomas  J.,  grew  up  to  be  a  capable  young 
business  man  and  became  associated  with  W.  A. 
Lauder,  a  son-in-law  of  our  subject,  in  the  manu- 
facture of  brick.  They  met  with  splendid 
success  in  the  business,  did  contracting  and 
building  and  furnished  all  the  brick  used 
in  Moscow.  They  erected  many  of  the 
finest  public  buildings,  including  the  State 
University.  In  order  to  help  his  son  and  son- 
in-law  in  their  business  reverses,  he  sold  a 
portion  of  the  old  homestead,  but  still  has  left 
one  hundred  acres  of  the  old  homestead  and 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  timber  land  in 
the  mountains,  not  far  distant.  In  addition  to 
the  fine  springs  of  pure  water  which  he  has  on 
his  homestead,  there  is  a  rich  mineral  spring 
which  has  fine  medicinal  properties,  being  a 
curative  for  a  number  of  diseases.  Charles  W. 
McCurdy,  of  the  chemical  department  of  the 
University  of  Idaho,  has  made  a  most  careful 
analysis  of  this  mineral  earth  showing  its  ele- 
ments and  properties,  and  in  the  hands  of  an 
enterprising  man  the  spring  might  be  made  a 
most  profitable  business  undertaking,  but  Mr. 
Taylor  is  now  too  far  advanced  in  years  to  under- 
take a  new  work  of  this  character. 

The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Taylor  are 
Thomas  J.,  now  sheriff  of  Lemhi  county,  Idaho, 
and  a  prominent  young  man;  Edward,  who  was 
graduated  from  West  Point  Military  Academy 
and  is  now  an  officer  in  the  regular  army,  serving 
his  country  in  Manila;  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Mr. 
Clayton,  of  Moscow;  and  Minnie,  wife  of  W.  A. 
Lauder.  The  other  children  are  now  deceased. 

In  early  life  Mr.  Taylor  became  a  Master 
Mason,  in  Illinois.  In  politics  he  was  formerly  a 
Republican,  but  differing  with  the  party  on  the 


money  question,  he  now  gives  his  support  to  the 
men  and  measures  that,  in  his  judgment,  stand 
for  the  best  interests  of  the  country.  He  is  a 
gentleman  of  broad  intelligence,  of  sterling  worth 
and  unassailable  reputation,  and  he  and  his 
estimable  wife  are  numbered  among  the  honored 
pioneers  of  northern  Idaho,— pioneers  to  whose 
unselfish  efforts  this  section  of  the  state  largely 
owes  its  prosperity  and  progress. 

JOHN   STRODE. 

With  two  of  the  most  important  industries  that 
have  contributed  to  the  development  and  pros- 
perity of  the  northwest,— mining  and  stock- 
raising,— John  Strode  has  long  been  identified. 
He  became  a  resident  of  California  in  1852,  ten 
years  later  went  to  Oregon,  and  since  1863  has 
made  his  home  in  Idaho.  His  birth  occurred  in 
Tennessee,  on  the  6th  of  February.  1833,  and  he 
is  of  English,  German  and  Welsh  descent:  but 
the  original  ancestors,  who  came  from  England 
Wales  and  Germany,  found  homes  in  America  at 
an  early  period  in  her  history  and  were  pioneer 
settlers  of  Kentucky.  John  Strode,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  was  born  and  reared  in  Kentucky, 
and  Miss  Nancy  Evans,  of  Ohio,  became  his 
wife.  Thirteen  children  were  born  of  this  union, 
five  of  whom  are  yet  living.  The  father  departed 
this  life  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age,  and  his 
wife  passed  away  in  her  sixty-seventh  year. 

During  his  childhood  John  Strode  accompa- 
nied his  parents  on  their  removal  to  Missouri, 
where  he  remained  until  nineteen  years  of  age, 
when  he  drove  an  ox-team  across  the  plains  to 
California.  The  dangers  and  hardships  of  such 
a  journey  can  scarcely  be  imagined,  much  less 
realized  in  this  age  of  parlor-car  transportation. 
The  company  of  which  Mr.  Strode  was  a  member 
were  four  months  and  eight  days  upon  the  way, 
but  though  they  endured  many  discomforts,  they 
escaped  death  through  disease  or  at  the  hands  of 
treacherous  savages,  yet  many  new-made  graves 
marked  the  route, — the  last  resting  places  of 
those  who  had  hopefully  started  out  to  seek 
fortune  in  the  Golden  state.  After  arriving  on 
the  Pacific  slope,  Mr.  Strode  engaged  in  mining 
for  a  short  time  and  then  conducted  a  ranch  in 
Contra  Costa  county.  Subsequently  he  went  to 
Siskiyou  county,  where  he  engaged  in  placer 
mining  until  his  removal  to  Auburn,  Baker 


416 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


county.  He  was  very  successful  in  his  mining 
operations  there,  often  taking  out  gold  to  the 
value  of  fifty  or  sixty  dollars  per  day.  In  Sis- 
kiyou  county  he  dug  out  a  nugget  worth  three 
thousand  and  thirty-three  dollars!  He  also 
carried  on  mining  at  Independence,  but  in 
1862  left  California  for  Oregon,  and  the 
following  year  came  to  Boise.  He  engaged 
in  mining  in  the  Boise  basin,  at  Atlanta 
Gulch,  and  in  1865  secured  a  nugget  worth 
three  hundred  and  thirty-three  dollars.  iie 
was  interested  in  the  Monarch  mine,  which 
proved  to  be  a  very  rich  one.  He  sold  some  of 
his  stock  for  fifteen  thousand  dollars  cash,  but 
retained  stock  to  the  value  of  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars. After  his  removal  to  Boise,  Mr.  Strode 
began  stock-raising,  which  he  has  followed  with 
excellent  success,  and  is  now  the  owner  of  seven 
hundred  and  fifty-two  acres  of  valuable  land  in 
Idaho,  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in 
Oregon,  and  two  grape  vineyards  in  Sonoma 
county,  California.  He  has  also  a  thirty-acre 
orchard  at  Nampa,  and  a  fine  residence  and  fruit 
farm  one  mile  west  of  the  center  of  Boise,  and 
there  he  makes  his  home. 

In  1869  Mr.  Strode  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Sophia  Youst,  and  to  them  were  born 
seven  children,  namely:  Harvey  Lee,  John, 
Sophia,  William,  James,  Charles  and  George. 
The  mother  died  in  1886,  and  eight  years  later 
Mr.  Strode  married  Mrs.  Flora  A.  Deeds,  a 
native  of  Indiana.  In  all  his  business  relations 
he  has  commanded  the  confidence  and  good  will 
of  his  fellow  men  by  his  honorable  and  system- 
atic methods,  his  fairness  and  his  enterprise.  He 
carries  forward  to  successful  completion  what- 
ever he  undertakes,  and  as  the  result  of  his  sound 
judgment  and  unfaltering  industry  he  is  now 
accounted  one  of  the  wealthy  farmers  and  stock- 
raisers  of  his  adopted  state. 

JOHN  L.  CHAPMAN. 

John  L.  Chapman,  the  postmaster  and  city 
treasurer  of  Lewiston,  is  a  native  of  Wisconsin, 
his  birth  having  occurred  in  Evansville,  Rock 
county,  that  state,  on  the  2/th  of  December,  1850. 
He  is  a  representative  of  one  of  the  old  American 
families.  His  father,  Timothy  S.  Chapman,  was 
a  native  of  New  York,  and  married  Minerva 
Hurlburt,  who  was  also  born  in  the  Empire  state. 


He  was  a  vocalist  of  superior  ability  and  a 
teacher  of. both  instrumental  music  and  singing. 
In  1844116  removed  to  Illinois,  and  there  his  home 
became  a  station  on  the  famous  underground 
railroad.  He  was  a  lover  of  freedom,  an  oppo- 
nent of  oppression  in  any  form,  and,  just  prior  to 
the  war,  he  assisted  many  a  negro  on  his  way  to 
liberty.  Subsequently  he  removed  to  Wisconsin, 
and  later  came  to  Idaho,  where  his  remaining 
days  were  passed.  He  died  in  Lewiston,  in  1891, 
but  his  wife  still  survives  him,  and  is  now  in  the 
eightieth  year  of  her  age.  In  early  life  they  were 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  but  after- 
ward united  with  the  Congregational  church.  Of 
their  family  of  seven  children  only  three  are  now 
living. 

John  L.  Chapman,  whose  name  introduces  this 
sketch,  was  reared  and  educated  in  Mazomanie, 
Wisconsin,  and  came  to  Lewiston  in  1870,  at  the 
age  of  nineteen  years.  He  began  working  in  the 
lumber  regions  at  day's  work  and  engaged  in 
saw-milling,  which  he  followed  for  sixteen  years. 
He  has  been  a  stalwart  Republican  since  attain- 
ing his  majority,  and  in  1892  was  appointed  by 
President  Harrison  to  the  position  of  postmaster 
of  Lewiston  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term.  At 
the  following  election  he  was  chosen  by  popular 
ballot  to  the  office  of  city  treasurer,  which  posi- 
tion he  has  filled  most  satisfactorily  for  the  past 
four  years.  In  January,  1899,  ne  was  appointed 
by  President  McKinley  to  the  position  of  post- 
master, and  at  once  began  a  work  of  improve- 
ment in  the  Lewiston  office,  putting  in  new 
boxes  of  the  latest  style  and  otherwise  carrying 
on  the  business  on  a  progressive  scale.  As  yet 
this  is  only  a  third-class  office,  but  it  is  now  doing 
the  business  of  a  second-class  office  and  will 
undoubtedly  soon  be  raised  to  that  rank. 

Socially  Mr.  Chapman  is  connected  with  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  with  the 
Royal  Arcanum,  and  has  filled  all  the  chairs  in 
the  former.  He  was  married  in  1875  to  Miss 
Emma  J.  Thatcher.  She  was  born  in  what  was 
then  Oregon,  and  is  a  daughter  of  C.  A. 
Thatcher,  an  Oregon  pioneer  of  1852.  Eight 
children  have  been  born  of  this  union,  of  whom 
seven  are  living.  Their  son,  Charles,  a  promis- 
ing young  man  of  twenty-two  years,  was 
drowned  in  the  Clearwater  river  while  in  swim- 
ming. The  surviving  children  are  Ralph  H., 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


417 


John  E.,  Guy  E.,  Fannie  K.,  Roy,  Helen  and 
Willard  L.  John  E.  is  efficiently  assisting  his 
father  in  the  post-office,  in  the  capacity  of  deliv- 
ery clerk.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Chapman  are  valued 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church  and  he  is 
serving  as  one  of  the  elders.  Twenty-three  years 
ago  they  erected  their  pleasant  home  in  Lewis- 
ton,  and  through  .the  intervening  decades  it  has 
always  been  noted  for  its  hospitality  and  good 
cheer.  Mr.  Chapman  is  regarded  as  a  most 
trustworthy  and  efficient  officer  in  both  positions 
which  he  is  filling,  and  in  both  public  and  private 
life  he  has  ever  commanded  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  his  many  friends  and  acquaintances. 

JOHN  McCLELLAN. 

John  McClellan,  one  of  the  earliest  pioneers  of 
Boise,  Idaho,  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in  Licking 
county,  March  16,  1827,  of  Irish  and  English 
extraction,  his  paternal  ancestors  being  Irish,  his 
maternal,  English.  John  McClellan,  his  father, 
was  born  in  Ireland  in  1777,  and  in  the  year  1820 
came  to  America,  landing  at  New  York,  where 
he  remained  for  some  time  and  where  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Amanda  Reed,  a  native  of  New 
York  and  a  daughter  of  English  parents.  From 
New  York  they  removed  to  Dresden,  Ohio, 
where  they  resided  until  iS^o  in  which  year  he 
and  his  wife  and  seven  children  crossed  the  plains 
to  Oregon,  John,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  at 
that  time  being  twenty-two  years  of  age.  That 
year  many  of  the  overland  emigrants  died  of 
cholera,  and  several  of  the  company  with  which 
the  McClellan  family  traveled  were  victims  of 
that  dread  disease  and  were  buried  by  the  way- 
side, among  them  an  aunt  of  our  subject.  His 
immediate  family,  however,  made  the  trip  in 
safety,  and  stopped  first  at  Milwaukee,  on  the 
Willamette  river,  six  miles  above  Portland.  Later 
they  removed  to  Yam  Hill  county  and  settled  on 
a  farm,  where  the  father  spent  the  rest  of  his 
life  and  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight  years.  Of 
his  family  of  seven  who  crossed  the  plains  in  1850, 
only  four  are  now  living. — John  and  three 
sisters. 

From  Dayton,  Oregon,  in  1863,  John  Mc- 
Clellan, the  subject  of  our  sketch,  came  to 
Boise,  arriving  on  the  6th  of  May,  or,  rather, 
came  to  where  Boise  is  now  located,  for  this 
place  was  then  a  wilderness  and  there  were  plenty 


of  Bannack  Indians  camped  near  tne  river.  The 
military  post  was  not  located  until  the  7th  of 
July  following;  the  state  capital  a  little  later.  Mr. 
McClellan's  trip  from  Oregon  to  this  place  was 
made  with  an  ox  train.  He  mined  in  the  Owyhee, 
— witnout  success,  however,  and  was  at  the 
Florence  mines  for  a  short  time,  when  he  took 
out  forty  dollars  per  day,  after  which  he  pros- 
pected, again  being  unsuccessful.  That  same 
year  he  took  a  claim  to  a  tract  of  eighty  acres  of 
land  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  and  built  on 
it  a  log  cabin,  which  still  stands  on  the  property 
in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  and  which  he 
intends  to  keep  there  as  long  as  he  lives.  Later 
he  built  a  good  frame  residence,  the  one  ne  now 
occupies,  which  is  surrounded  with  large  fruit 
trees,  planted  by  his  own  ha.ncls.  In  the  course 
of  time  the  city  of  Boise  grew  out  to  his  property 
and  he  sold  thirty  acres  of  it  for  three  hundred 
dollars  per  acre,  and  on  it  have  been  built  a 
number  of  residences.  Mr.  McClellan,  soon  after 
locating  at  Boise,  floated  logs  down  the  river, 
sawed  them  into  lumber  and  built  a  ferry-boat, 
with  which  for  many  years  he  ferried  the  people 
across  the  river.  Afterward  he,  in  company  with 
others,  built  a  toll-bridge,  and  had  charge  of 
that  some  three  years.  Both  of  these  undertak- 
ings were  a  financial  success.  After  selling  them 
he  directed  his  energies  to  farming  and  raising 
fruit  and  vegetables,  and  later  gave  attention  to 
the  keeping  of  bees,  in  all  of  which  he  has  been 
fairly  successful. 

Mr.  McClellan  is  a  lifelong  Republican,  taking 
an  intelligent  interest  in  public  affairs,  but  never 
caring  for  or  seeking  official  honors.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and 
was  one  of  the  early  trustees  of  the  church  at 
Boise.  His  sister,  Miss  Letta  Ann,  who  came  to 
Boise  in  1867,  is  his  housekeeper,  both  having 
remained  unmarried.  In  their  pleasant  home 
they  extend  to  their  neighbors  and  many  friends 
that  genial  hospitality  so  characteristic  of  the 
west. 

ADDISON  V.  SCOTT. 

Addison  V.  Scott  is  well  known  throughout 
southern  Idaho  as  a  shrewd  argl  public-spirited 
financier  and  real-estate  operator,  and  Mrs. 
Adelia  B.  (Dugan)  Scott,  his  wife,  has  wide  dis- 
tinction as  having  been  the  first  woman  in  Idaho 
elected  to  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace,  the ' 


418 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


important  functions  of  which  she  is  discharging 
with  admirable  ability.  They  were  married  in 
1883  and  are  among  the  prominent  families  of 
Idaho  Falls. 

Addison  V.  Scott  was  born  in  Madison  county, 
Iowa,  January  14,  1858,  and  is  descended  from 
English-Irish  ancestry.  His  forefathers  settled 
early  in  Indiana,  and  Joseph  Scott,  his  grand- 
father, became  prominent  in  that  state.  Joseph 
C.  Scott,  son  of  Joseph  Scott  and  father  of 
Addison  V.  Scott,  was  born,  reared  and  educated 
in  Indiana,  and  there  married  Miss  Eliza  Jane 
Rawlings,  a  native  of  Indiana  and  daughter  of 
Rev.  James  Rawlings,  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal church,  a  man  whose  good  life  and  good 
works  had  a  beneficent  influence  upon  the  people 
among  whom  he  lived  and  labored.  Joseph  C. 
Scott  and  Eliza  Jane  (Rawlings)  Scott  had  eight 
children,  only  three  of  whom  are  living.  The 
father  died,  in  1897,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one. 
His  wife,  who  was  many  years  his  junior,  is  now 
(1899)  sixty-five  years  old.  Addison  V.  Scott, 
their  fourth  child,  was  educated  in  the  high 
schools  of  Iowa,  principally  at  Burlington,  and 
at  the  age  of  seventeen  began  to  teach  school. 
He  was  successful  in  the  work,  but  a  business 
career  was  more  to  his  taste,  and  later  he  was  a 
clerk  in  mercantile  houses  until  he  secured  a 
position  with  a  large  real-estate,  loan  and  bank- 
ing firm.  In  1883  he  was  called  to  the  cashiership 
of  the  Creston  (Iowa)  National  Bank,  of  which 
J.  B.  Harsh  was  president.  He  resigned  the 
position  four  years  later  (1887)  to  go  to  Kansas. 
He  did  not  remain  long  in  the  Sunflower  state, 
however,  but  went  to  Colorado  and  there  engaged 
in  the  real-estate  and  banking  business  on  his 
own  account.  In  1890  he  came  to  Idaho  Falls, 
from  Denver,  and  opened  a  real-estate  and  fire- 
insurance  office.  He  secured  a  combination  of 
first-class  fire-insurance  companies,  and  his 
knowledge  of  underwriting  and  his  business 
ability  were  such  than  he  soon  gained  a  large 
and  increasing  patronage.  He  also  dealt  exten- 
sively in  real  estate  for  himself  and  others  and 
platted  Scott's  Addition  to  Idaho  Falls,  which 
has  been  partial!*  sold  off  and  built  upon,  and 
built  a  hotel  and  a  business  block  which  are 
among  the  prominent  buildings  of  the  town. 
Soon  after  he  came  to  southeastern  Idaho,  the 
importance  of  irrigation  became  apparent  to  him, 


and  he  became  prominent  in  connection  with  the 
work  of  the  Idano  Canal  Company  and  later 
with  that  of  the  Marysville  Canal  &  Improve- 
ment Company,  which  is  doing  much  for  the 
improvement  of  Fremont  county,  and  of  which 
he  was  elected  secretary  and  treasurer,  which 
positions  he  holds  at  this  time. 

Mr.  Scott  is  a  Republican  and  takes  an  active 
and  helpful  interest  in  the  work  of  his  party. 
While  he  lived  in  Iowa  he  was  elected  city  treas- 
urer of  Creston,  and  since  coming  to  Idaho  he 
was  appointed  by  Governor  Willey  one  of  the 
first  regents  of  the  state  university.  There  is  no 
movement  for  the  public  good  that  does  not 
receive  Mr.  Scott's  hearty  indorsement  and 
generous  financial  support,  and  Mrs.  Scott  is 
equally  public-spirited.  She  is  vice-president  of 
the  Ladies'  Improvement  Society,  of  Idaho  Falls, 
an  organization  having  for  its  object  the  improve  - 
ment  and  beautifying  of  the  town,  whose  work 
has  been  so  effective  that  largely  through  its 
agency,  directly  and  indirectly,  Idaho  Falls  is 
cleaner  and  more  attractive  than  many  of  her 
sister  towns. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scott,  who  are  communicants  of 
the  Catholic  church,  did  verv  much  toward  the 
building  of  the  Catholic  church  at  Idaho  Falls 
and  have  labored  otherwise  to  advance  the  cause 
of  their  church  in  the  town  of  their  adoption. 

MICHAEL  J.  SHIELDS. 

The  life  of  Michael  Joseph  Shields  affords  an 
illustration  of  the  vicissitudes  of  business  under 
modern  conditions;  it  emphasizes  the  importance 
of  doing  the  right  thing  at  the  right  time,  and  it 
teaches  a  lesson  of  patience  under  difficulties  and 
perseverance  against  obstacles, — a  lesson  that 
should  not  be  lost  upon  all  of  the  many 
who  need  it.  It  is  suggestive  in  another 
way,  too,  because  it  affords  an  example, 
in  addition  to  many  others  that  have  been 
given  in  the  past,  of  the  excellent  quality  of  the 
sturdy  Irish-American  character. 

Mr.  Shields,  who  is  one  of  the  most  enter- 
prising and  influential  citizens  of  Moscow  and 
who  has  the  reputation  of  having  done  as  much 
toward  the  upbuilding  of  that  city  as  any  other 
man,  was  born  near  Lockport,  New  York,  Sep- 
tember 15,  1853.  His  parents  were  natives  of 
Ireland.  His  father,  John  Shields  a  well  known 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


419 


contractor,  was  drowned  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
one  while  making  improvements  on  a  section  of 
the  Erie  canal.  After  his  death  his  widow,  with 
three  children,  removed  to  Lockport,  where  she 
died  in  her  fifty-seventh  year.  After  having 
attended  school  at  Rochester  and  Lockport,  New 
York,  Michael  Joseph  Shields  began  the  battle 
of  life  as  a  driver  on  the  Erie  canal.  His  business 
ability  was  exhibited  early  in  his  career,  for  at 
seventeen  we  find  him  the  owner  of  a  team,  at 
work  independently,  towing  canal-boats  from 
station  to  station,  at  two  dollars  a  trip.  From 
this  work  he  advanced  to  towing  rafts  of  lumber 
between  Tonawanda  and  Troy,  New  York.  In 
1871,  when  he  was  eighteen,  he  went  to  San 
Francisco,  California,  and  found  employment  as 
teamster  for  a  wholesale  commission  house. 

He  soon  won  the  confidence  of  his  employers 
to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  made  collector  and 
general  outside  man  for  the  concern.  In  1872 
he  had  saved  enough  money  to  enable  him  to 
buy  a  truck  and  team  and  engage  in  trucking 
on  his  own  account.  He  prosecuted  that  business 
successfully  until  1878,  and  then  went  with  a  very 
snug  sum  of  money,  the  result  of  his  enterprise 
and  good  management,  to  Walla  Walla,  Wash- 
ington. He  found  an  investment  at  Dayton, 
Washington,  where  he  completed  and  equipped 
a  hotel,  which  he  sold,  however,  before  it  was 
opened.  He  then  bargained  for  a  ranch  consist- 
ing of  land  for  which  he  was  to  have  paid  the 
sum  of  two  thousand  seven  hundred  dollars,  but 
other  opportunities  came  to  him  which  he 
accepted  as  more  promising,  and  he  let  the  deal 
fall  through.  In  the  light  of  subsequent  events 
he  has  considered  this  the  great  mistake  of  his 
life;  yet  other  men  have  made  just  such  mis- 
takes, some  of  them  on  a  large  scale.  How  could 
he  have  known  that  a  portion  of  the  big  city 
would  in  a  few  years  spring  forth  upon  that 
ranch?  If  he  had  possessed  such  foreknowledge 
he  would  have  made  a  still  greater  mistake  in 
not  securing  all  the  land  now  covered  by 
Spokane  and  its  suburbs. 

It  was  at  Moscow  that  Mr.  Shields  made  the 
investment  that  he  might  have  made  at  Spokane. 
In  March,  1879,  he  opened  up  a  trade  in  farm 
implements  in  Moscow.  In  1882  he  added  hard- 
ware stock  and  in  1885  a  lumber  yard,  and  he 
did  a  growing,  profitable  business  until  1895.  At 


that  time  the  whole  country  was  involved  in 
financial  difficulty.  Banks  were  failing,  shops 
were  shut  down,  crops  failed  and  productive 
energy  was  paralyzed.  There  were  many  failures 
in  the  new  west  as  a  result  of  these  conditions, 
and  Mr.  Shields'  failure  was  by  no  means  one  of 
the  largest  of  them.  He  had  been  engaged  in 
very  extensive  business  operations  for  some 
years.  In  1887  he  had  built  the  Moscow  planing 
mills,  and  he  owned  and  operated  four  sawmills. 
He  had  built  the  works  of  the  Moscow  water 
system  and  the  Moscow  electric-light  plant.  He 
had  built  the  Idaho  University  building,  the 
contract  price  for  which  was  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  he  had  built, 
under  contract,  some  of  Idaho's  largest  publir- 
school  buildings,  and  was  thought  to  be  worth  at 
least  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  He  was 
literally  "driven  to  the  wall"  by  adverse  circum- 
stances, but  his  spirit  was  not  broken,  nor  did  his 
enterprise  slumber.  The  Shields  Company, 
Limited,  was  organized  and  incorporated,  and 
Mr.  Shields  was  made  its  manager.  Its  success 
has  been  noteworthy  and  it  is  now  one  of  the 
strongest  concerns  of  the  kind  in  the  state.  It 
occupies  a  brick  block,  one  hundred  and  forty  by 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet,  which  Mr. 
Shields  erected  in  1890. 

There  was  not  a  citizen  of  Moscow  who  did 
not  sympathize  with  Mr.  Shields  in  his  trouble, 
and  there  is  not  one  who  is  not  glad  that  he  is 
coming  to  the  front  again  with  a  pronounced 
business  success  that  promises  well  for  his  future. 

Mr.  Shields  was  married  in  June,  1885,  to  Miss 
Sarah  A.  Henry,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  who 
has  borne  him  four  children, — Frederick  Milton, 
Madeline  Mary,  James  Henry  and  John  Lewis. 
In  politics  Mr.  Shields  is  a  Republican,  in  reli- 
gion a  Catholic.  He  was  a  regent  of  the  State 
University  of  Idaho,  and  in  that  capacity  did 
much  excellent  and  far-reaching  work  to  advance 
the  cause  of  public  education  in  his  adopted 

state. 

JOSEPH  B.  HULSE. 

Joseph  B.  Hulse,  proprietor  of  the  only  photo- 
graph gallery  in  Hailey,  is  a  native  of  Iowa,  born 
in  Glenwood,  on  the  3d  of  January,  1859.  The 
family,  of  German  origin,  was  planted  on 
American  soil  at  an  early  period  in  the  history  of 
New  England.  The  grandfather,  Joseph  Hulse, 


420 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


was  a  pioneer  settler  of  the  state  of  Ohio,  and 
his  son,  Henry  A.  Hulse,  the  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  born  near  the  old  home  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  in  the  vicinity  of  Springfield,  Illinois. 
.Having  arrived  at  years  of  maturity,  he  married 
Caroline  Maloon  and  removed  to  Iowa,  whence 
he  afterward  went  to  Pike's  Peak.  In  1863  he 
removed  with  his  family  to  Denver,  Colorado, 
and  in  1866  went  to  Saline  county,  Nebraska, 
settling  on  a  farm  on  a  tributary  of  the  Blue 
river,  where  he  remained  until  1880.  In  that 
year  he  became  a  resident  of  Oregon,  taking  up 
his  abode  near  LaGrande,  Union  county,  where 
he  remained  until  called  to  the  home  beyond,  in 
1893,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven  years.  His  widow 
still  resides  there  and  is  now  fifty-six  years  of 
age.  They  were  the  parents  of  eight  children, 
five  of  whom  are  living. 

In  the  public  schools  Joseph  B.  Hulse  acquired 
his  literary  education,  pursuing  his  studies 
through  the  fall  and  winter  months,  while  in  the 
summer  season  he  assisted  in  the  labors  of  the 
home  farm.  In  early  life  he  began  to  learn  the 
art  of  photography,  and  in  1889  established  a 
gallery  in  Alturas,  California,  where  he  remained 
three  years,  after  which  he  spent  nearly  a  year  at 
Lake  View,  Oregon.  He  then  went  to  Mountain 
Home,  and  after  passing  a  winter  there  came  to 
Hailey,  in  the  spring  of  1895.  Here  he  opened 
his  art  gallery,  the  only  one  in  the  town,  and  has 
since  conducted  a  successful  business,  receiving 
all  the  patronage  of  the  entire  county  in  his  line. 


He  does  his  work  in  a  most  artistic  manner  and 
after  the  most  approved  processes  in  photog- 
raphy, and  his  work  gives  general  satisfaction. 
This,  combined  with  his  reasonable  prices  and 
his  uniform  courtesy  to  his  patrons,  has  secured 
him  a  large  and  profitable  business. 

Mr.  Hulse  voted  with  the  Republican  party 
until  1892,  when,  on  account  of  his  views  on  the 
money  question,  he  transferred  his  allegiance  to 
the  Populist  party,  and  in  the  fall  of  1898  was 
elected  on  that  ticket  to  the  state  legislature, 
receiving  a  flattering  majority.  His  careful 
consideration  of  matters  of  public  moment  and 
his  adherence  to  a  course  which  he  believes  to  be 
right  make  him  a  valued  member  of  the  house 
and  a  worthy  representative  of  the  interests  of 
his  constituents. 

Socially  Mr.  Hulse  is  chief  forester  of  the 
Modern  Woodmen  Camp  of  Hailey.  He  has  in 
Elaine  county  a  wide  acquaintance  and  many 
friends,  and  a  home  which  is  a  favorite  resort 
with  many  of  the  best  people  of  the  community. 
He  was  married  in  1892  to  Miss  Kittie  G.  Spar- 
gur,  a  native  of  Reno,  Nevada,  and  a  daughter  of 
Henry  L.  Spargur,  an  attornev  of  Alturas,  Cali- 
fornia. Prior  to  her  marriage  she  was  a  success- 
ful teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  California. 
She  is  descended  from  German  ancestors,  the 
family  having  first  been  founded  in  New  York, 
whence  representatives  of  the  name  went  to  Ohio. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hulse  have  three  children, — 
Amidol  A.,  Henry  D.  and  Joseph  B. 


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CHAPTER  XXIX. 


,  MINES   AND   MINING. 


IDAHO  is  essentially  a  mining  territory.  It 
was  her  mines  that  first  stimulated  immigra- 
tion to  within  her  borders,  and  it  is  to  the 
results  of  the  mines  that  her  present  prosperity 
is  due  in  a  great  measure.  Now  that  mining  has 
been  reduced  to  a  legitimate  occupation,  there  is 
less  reckless  speculation,  perhaps,  than  of  old, 
but  more  solid,  substantial  business.  The  days 
of  stock  gambling  in  mining  properties  are  about 
over.  Science,  aided  by  practical  experience,  has 
taught  the  best  methods  of  treating  ores.  Capi- 
talists no  longer  purchase  prospects  for  fabulous 
prices  on  the  strength  of  picked  specimens  or  the 
vicinity  of  rich  claims.  It  is  a  fortunate  circum- 
stance for  Idaho  that  mining  has  been  for  the 
most  part  a  steady,  productive  industry,  yielding 
rich  returns  to  the  patient  and  intelligent  pros- 
pector, and  that  it  has  not  been  necessary  to 
rely  on  fictitious  "booms." 

As  in  the  case  of  mining  countries  generally, 
the  placer  mines  first  attracted  attention.  The 
placers  of  Boise  basin,  Salmon  river,  and  other 
localities  had  yielded  rich  returns.  But  it  is 
within  a  comparatively  recent  period  that  quartz 
mining  has  become  as  general  as  at  present  in 
southern  and  central  Idaho.  Even  now  in  well 
known  mining  regions  there  are  many  miles  as 
yet  unexplored. 

The  minerals  of  Idaho  are  gold,  silver,  copper, 
iron,  lead,  plumbago,  quicksilver,  coal,  and 
others.  There  are  also  mountains  of  sulphur, 
productive  salt  springs,  quarries  of  the  finest 
marble  and  building  stone,  large  deposits  of 
mica,  and  various  varieties  of  semi-precious 
stones.  Her  precious-metal  belt  is  three  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  long,  and  from  ten  to  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  wide. 

DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD. 

It  is  reported  that  gold  was  discovered  by  a 
French  Canadian  in  Pend  d'Oreille  river,  in  1852. 
Two  years  later  General  Lander  found  gold  while 
exploring  the  route  for  a  military  road  from  the 


421 


Columbia  to  Fort  Bridger.  The  earliest  discov- 
eries of  which  we  have  any  authentic  record, 
however,  were  probably  made  by  members  of  the 
party  with  that  veteran  pioneer  and  path-finder, 
Captain  John  Mullan,  the  originator  of  the  now 
famous  Mullan  road  from  Fort  Benton  to  Walla 
Walla,  a  distance  of  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  miles.  In  a  letter  dated  Washington,  D.  C., 
June  4,  1884,  to  Mr.  A.  F.  Parker,  of  Eagle  City, 
he  says: 

I  am  not  at  all  surprised  at  the  discovery  of  nume- 
rous rich  gold  deposits  in  your  mountains,  because 
both  on  the  waters  of  the  St.  Joseph  and  the  Coeur 
d'Alene,  when  there  many  years  ago,  I  frequently 
noticed  vast  masses  of  quartz  strewing  the  ground, 
particularly  on  the  St.  Joseph  river,  and  wide  veins  of 
quartz  projecting  at  numerous  points  along  the  line 
of  my  road  along  the  Coeur  d'Alene,  all  of  which 
indicated  the  presence  of  gold.  Nay,  more:  I  now 
recall  quite  vividly  the  fact  that  one  of  my  herders 
and  hunters,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Moise,  coming 
into  camp  one  day  with  a  handful  of  coarse  gold, 
which  he  said  he  found  on  the  waters  of  the  north 
fork  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  while  out  hunting  for  our 
expedition.  This  was  in  1858  or  1859.  The  members 
of  my  expedition  were  composed  very  largely  of  old 
miners  from  California,  and  having  had  more  or  less 
experience  in  noticing  the  indication  of  mineral  de- 
posits, their  universal  verdict  was  that  the  entire  coun- 
try, from  Coeur  d'Alene  lake  on  toward  and  including 
the  east  slope  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  was  one  vast 
gold-bearing  country,  and  I  was  always  nervous  as  to 
the  possible  discovery  of  gold  along  the  line  of  my 
road;  and  I  am  now  frank  to  say  that  I  did  nothing 
to  encourage  its  discovery  at  that  time,  for  I  feared 
that  any  rich  discovery  would  lead  to  a  general  stam- 
pede of  my  men  from  my  expedition,  and  thus  destroy 
the  probable  consummation  of  my  work  during  the 
time  within  which  I  desired  to  complete  the  same.  I 
then  regarded  it  as  of  the  first  importance  to  myself 
and  to  the  public  to  open  a  base  line  from  the  plains 
of  the  Spokane  on  the  west  to  the  plains  of  the  Mis- 
souri on  the  east,  from  which  other  lines  could  be 
subsequently  opened,  and  by  means  of  which  the  cor- 
rect geography  of  the  country  could  be  delineated.  My 
object  at  that  time  was  to  ascertain  whether  there  was 
a  practicable  railroad  line  through  the  valleys,  and  if 
there  existed  any  practicable  pass  in  the  main  range 


422 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


of  the  Rocky  mountains  through  which,  in  connection 
with  the  proper  approaches  thereto,  we  could  carry  a 
wagon  road,  to  be  followed  by  a  railroad  line,  and  I 
did  not  hesitate  to  make  all  other  considerations  sec- 
ondary or  subordinate  thereto,  believing  then,  and 
knowing  now,  that  if  a  railroad  line  was  projected  and 
completed  through  the  valleys  and  the  passes  of  the 
Rocky  mountains,  between  the  forty-fifth  and  forty- 
eighth  parallels  of  latitude,  all  other  developments 
would  naturally  and  necessarily  soon  follow. 

A  romantic  tale  is  told  of  the  discoveries  which 
led  to  the  Oro  Fino  excitement  in  1860.  Tra- 
dition relates  that  a  Nez  Perce  Indian,  in  1860, 
informed  Captain  E.  D.  Pierce  that  while  himself 
and  two  companions  were  camping  at  night 
among  the  defiles  of  his  native  mountains,  an 
apparition  in  the  shape  of  a  brilliant  star  sud- 
denly burst  forth  from  among  the  cliffs.  They 
believed  it  to  be  the  eye  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and 
when  daylight  had  given  them  sufficient  courage 
they  sought  the  spot  and  found  a  glittering  ball 
that  looked  like  glass,  embodied  in  the  solid  rock. 
The  Indians  believed  it  to  be  "great  medicine," 
but  could  not  get  it  from  its  resting  place.  With 
his  ardent  imagination  fired  by  such  a  tale, 
Captain  Pierce  organized  a  company,  and  with 
the  hope  of  finding  the  "eye  of  their  Manitou," 
explored  the  mountains  in  the  country  of  the 
Nez  Perces. 

He  was  accompanied  by  W.  F.  Bassett, 
Thomas  Walters,  Jonathan  Smith,  and  John  and 
James  Dodge.  The  Indians  distrusted  them, 
however,  and  refused  to  permit  them  to  make 
further  search.  Thev  would  doubtless  have  had 
to  leave  the  country  had  not  a  Nez  Perce  squaw 
come  to  their  relief  and  piloted  them  through 
to  the  north  fork  of  the  Gearwater  and  the 
Palouse  country,  cutting  a  trail  for  days  through 
the  small  cedars,  reaching  a  mountain  meadow, 
where  they  stopped  to. rest.  While  there  Bassett 
went  to  a  stream  and  tried  the  soil  for  gold, 
finding  about  three  cents  in  his  first  panful  of 
dirt.  This  is  said  to  be  the  discovery  that 
resulted  in  the  afterwards  famous  Oro  Fino 
mines.  After  taking  out  about  eighty  dollars, 
they  returned  to  Walla  Walla.  Sergeant  J.  C. 
Smith,  of  that  place,  thereupon  fitted  out  a  party 
and  started  for  the  mines,  reaching  there  in 
November,  1860.  In  the  following  March  Smith 
made  his  way  out  on  snow-shoes,  taking  with 
him  eight  hundred  dollars  in  gold-dust.  This 


dust  was  shipped  to  Portland,  where  it  caused  a 
blaze  of  excitement. 

During  1861  and  1862  the  rush  continued. 
Steamers  arrived  at  Portland  from  San  Francisco 
and  Victoria  loaded  down  with  freight  and  pas- 
sengers for  the  new  gold-fields.  New  mining 
regions  were  constantly  discovered.  In  the  spring 
of  1861  Pierce  City  was  founded  and  named  in 
honor  of  Captain  Pierce.  The  Elk  City  mines 
were  discovered  early  in  1861  by  parties  from 
Oro  Fino.  Florence  was  discovered  in  the  fol- 
lowing autumn.  In  August,  1862,  James 
Warren  and  others  located  claims  in  what  was 
thereafter  known  as  Warren's  Diggings.  These 
last  named  are  all  on  the  tributaries  of  the 
Salmon  river.  Warren's  never  caused  the  rush 
and  excitement  that  attended  the  discovery  of 
Florence.  The  latter,  it  is  claimed,  was  found 
by  a  greenhorn,  one  of  a  party  of  seven  hunters. 
The  recklessness  characteristic  of  new  mining 
camps  found  full  play  here.  Thirtv  men  were 
killed  in  the  first  year;  shooting  and  cutting  were 
every-day  matters.  Prices  were  abnormal. 

The  Walla  Walla  Statesman,  in  chronicling 
the  event,  gives  the  following  description  of  the 
discovery  of  the  Salmon  river  mines  in  1861 : 
"S.  F.  Ledyard  arrived  last  evening  from  the 
Salmon  river  mines,  and  from  him  it  is  learned 
that  some  six  hundred  miners  would  winter 
there;  that  some  two  hundred  had  gone  to  the 
south  side  of  the  river,  where  two  streams  head 
that  empty  into  the  Salmon,  some  thirty  miles 
southeast  of  the  present  mining  camp.  Coarse 
gold  is  found,  and  as  high  as  one  hundred  dollars 
per  day  to  the  man  has  been  taken  out.  The 
big  mining  claim  of  the  old  locality  belongs  to 
Mr.  Weiser,  of  Oregon,  from  where  two  thousand 
six  hundred  and  eighty  dollars  were  taken  on  the 
aoth,  with  rockers.  On  the  2ist  three  thousand 
three  hundred  and  sixty  dollars  were  taken  out 
with  the  same  machines.  Other  claims  were  pay- 
ing from  two  to  five  pounds  per  day.  Flour  has 
fallen  to  fifty  cents  per  pound,  and  beef  at  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  cents  is  to  be  found  in 
abundance.  Most  of  the  mines  are  supplied  till 
the  first  of  June.  Mr.  Ledyard  met  between 
Slate  creek  and  Walla  Walla,  en  route  to  the 
mines,  three  hundred  and  ninety-four  packs  and 
two  hundred  and  fifty  head  of  beef  cattle." 

The  same  journal  on  December  13,  1861,  gives 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


423 


the    following    account    of    the    new    diggings: 

"The  tide  of  immigration  to  Salmon  river  flows 

steadily  onward.     During  the  week  past  not  less 

than  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  pack-animals, 

heavily  laden  with  provisions,  have  left  this  city 

(Walla  Walla)  for  the  mines.     If  the  mines  are 

one-half  so  rich  as  they  are  said  to  be,  we  may 

safely  calculate  that  many  of  these  trains  will 

return  as  heavily  laden  with  gold-dust  as  they  are 

now    witn    provisions.     The    late    news    from 

Salmon  river  seems  to  have  given  the  gold  fever 

to  everybody  in  this  immediate  neighborhood. 

A  number  of  persons  from  Florence  City  have 

arrived  in  this  place  during  the  week,  and  all 

bring  the  most  extravagant   reports  as  to  the 

richness  of  the  mines.    A  report  in  relation  to  a 

rich  strike  made  by    Mr.    Bridges,    of    Oregon 

City,  seems  to  come  well  authenticated.    The  first 

day  he  worked  on  his  claim,  near  Baboon  Gulch, 

he  took  fifty-seven  ounces;    the  second  day  he 

took  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  ounces;  third 

day,  two  hundred  and  fourteen  ounces;  and  the 

fourth  dav,  two  hundred  ounces  in  two  hours. 

One  gentleman  informs  us  that  diggings  have 

been  found  on  the  bars  of  the  Salmon  river  which 

yield  from  twenty-five  cents  to  two  dollars  and 

fifty  cents  to  the  pan,  and  that  on  claims  in  the 

Salmon  river  diggings  have  been  found  where 

'ounces'  won't  describe  them   and  where  they  say 

the  gulches  are  'full  of  gold.'    The  discoverer  of 

Baboon    Gulch   arrived   in    this    city    yesterday, 

bringing  with  him  sixty  pounds  of  gold-dust;  and 

Mr.  Jacob  Weiser  is  on  his  way  in  with  a  mule 

loaded  with  gold-dust." 

Such  glowing  descriptions  nearly  forty  years 
ago  had  their  inevitable  effects,  while  the  more 
substantial  argument  was  adduced  in  the  fact 
that  $1,750,000  in  gold-dust  was  exported  from 
this  region  that  year.  According  to  Mr.  Elliott, 
during  April,  1862,  three  thousand  persons  left 
Portland,  by  steamer,  for  the  mines,  and  by  the 
last  of  May  it  was  estimated  that  between 
twenty  and  twenty-five  thousand  persons  had 
reached  or  were  on  their  way  to  and  near  the 
mines  east  of  the  Cascade  mountains.  The  yield 
accounted  for,  of  gold,  in  1862,  in  this  region  of 
country,  reached  seven  million  dollars,  and 
several  millions  in  addition  to  this  were  shipped 
through  avenues  not  reported. 

"Such,"  says  the  chronicler,  "were  the  results 


following  in  a  few  short  months  upon  the  trail 
pioneered  by  E.  D.  Pierce,  W.  F.  Bassett,  and 
their  little  party  of  prospectors  whom  the  Indians 
had  driven  out  of  the  country,  but  to  return  to  it 
again  and  again,  first  led  by  a  squaw,  then 
through  the  assistance  of  T.  C.  Smith,  when  pur- 
sued as  trespassers  by  a  company  of  United 
States  cavalry.  Enough  has  been  given  to  show 
the  reader  the  influence  that  awoke  eastern 
Washington,  Oregon,  and  Idaho  from  their  sleep 
through  the  centuries,  to  a  new  era  of  activity 
and  usefulness." 

It  was  a  strange  throng  that  came  pouring 
over  the  mountains  of  north  Idaho  in  the  days 
of  1862.  On  foot,  horseback,  or  by  any  other 
means  that  could  be  obtained,  they  pushed  their 
way  over  swollen  rivers,  rugged  mountains,  and 
Indian-infested  valleys.  Lewiston,  Lapvvai,  Oro 
Fino,  Pierce  City,  Elk  City,  Florence, — these 
were  the  magic  names  that  fired  the  imaginations 
and  stimulated  the  ardor  of  these  dauntless 
pioneers. 

One  of  the  effects  of  the  Florence  excitement 
was  the  discovery  of  Boise  basin,  in  Boise 
county.  A  party  of  men  left  Florence  in  the 
fall  of  1861,  and  in  the  following  summer  passed 
over  into  central  Idaho.  They  came  by  the  way 
of  Oregon,  crossing  the  Snake  river  by  the 
mouth  of  the  Boise.  They  followed  up  Boise 
river  to  the  site  of  Boise  city.  Under  instruc- 
tions from  an  Indian  whom  they  there  encoun- 
tered, they  struck  out  for  the  mountains  north  of 
Boise  river,-  and  subsequently  camped  near 
where  Centerville  now  stands.  While  prospect- 
ing on  the  creek,  one  of  the  party  named  Grimes 
was  killed  by  Indians.  The  creek,  which  has 
become  famous  in  the  history  of  Idaho  placer 
mining,  has  ever  since  been  called  Grimes  creek. 
After  the  death  of  Grimes,  his  companions  left 
the  country  for  Walla  Walla.  Another  party 
returned  to  the  basin  in  October,  1862.  A  stock- 
ade was  built,  and  the  place  was  styled  "Fort 
Hog'em,"  a  name  which  locally  survives  to  this 
day.  A  writer  in  the  Idaho  World  gives  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  the  discover}'  of  Boise  basin: 

A  party  of  thirty-eight  men,  known  as  Turner's  party, 
left  Auburn,  Oregon,  in  the  spring  of  1862,  far  Sinker 
creek,  in  Owyhee  county.  It  was  reported  that  emi- 
grants, in  fishing  along  this  creek,  used  gold  nuggets, 
picked  up  on  the  creek,  for  sinkers — hence  the  name. 


424 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Joseph   Branstetter,   of  this  place,   was  with   Turner's 
party.     Failing  to  find   gold   on   Sinker  creek,   Bran- 
stetter and  seven  others  left  the  party  and  met  Captain 
Grimes'  party  of  eight  men,  between  Sinker  creek  and 
Owyhee    river.      Grimes'   party    and    Branstetter    and 
three  others  of  his  party,  Colonel  Dave  Fogus  one  of 
the   number,   making   twelve  men   all    told,   concluded 
to  strike  up  into  the  mountains  of  this  section.     They 
crossed    Snake   river,   eight  miles   above  the   Owyhee 
river,  in  skiffs  made  of  willows.     Snake  river  was  then 
at  high-water  mark.     The  party  struck   Grimes  creek 
near  Black's  ranch  and  followed  up  said  creek,  along 
which  they  first  discovered  gold,  near  where  the  town 
of  Boston  stood — two  or  three  miles  below  Centerville. 
They  obtained  good  prospects  there — about  a  bit  to  the 
pan.    The  party  proceeded  up  to  Grimes  Pass,  near  the 
head  of  Grimes  creek.     One  day,  while  all  of  the  party 
were  in  camp,  a  shot  was  fired  a  short  distance  from 
the  camp,  the  bullet  passing  over  the  men's  heads.     A 
few  moments  after  a  second  shot  was  fired,  the  bullet 
cutting  the   hair   over  one   of   Mr.   Branstetter's  ears. 
Grimes,  a  Portuguese  named  Phillip,  Mose  Splann,  and 
Wilson,   Grimes'  partner,   then   struck  out  from   camp 
on  the  hunt  of  the  Indian  that  did  the  shooting.    Grimes 
got   on   the  track   of   the    Indian,    on   the    hill    above 
camp,  and  was  following  the  tracks  with  his  shot-gun 
in  his  hands  when  the  fatal  shot  was  fired.     Splann  was 
about  fifty  yards  to  Grimes'  left,  and  the  Portuguese 
a    short   distance    behind.      Grimes   was   within    thirty 
steps  of  an  Indian  and  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
from  the  camp  when  he  was  shot.    The  Indian  made  his 
escape.      Grimes   was   shot  near  the   heart,   and   lived 
only  long  enough  to  tell  Wilson  to  tell  his  wife,  who 
was  in   Portland,  how  he  came  to  his  death.     Grimes 
frequently  made  the  remark  that  he  would  never  reach 
home, — that  he  was  to  be  killed  by  Indians.    The  day 
before  he  was  killed  he  remarked,  while  gazing  at  the 
picture  of  his  only  child,  a  daughter  of  a  few  years  of 
age,  that  he  would  never  see  her  again, — that  he  had 
only  a  short  time  to  live.     Grimes'  remains  were  buried 
at  Grimes   Pass,  where  he  was  killed.     Grimes  was  a 
young  man,  twenty-seven  or  twenty-eight  years  of  age. 
The  party  consisted  of  four  Portuguese  and  three  other 
men,  in  addition  to  those  mentioned,  the  names  of  two 
of  whom  Mr.  Branstetter  never  knew,  and  the  names  of 
the   others   he   has   forgotten.      Grimes   was   killed   in 
August,   1862.     A  short  time  after  his  dea.th  the  party 
left  for  Auburn,  Oregon,  and  returned  in   October  of 
the  same  year.    That  fall  Branstetter  and  A.  Saunders 
rocked   out   from    fifty   to   seventy-five   dollars   a   day- 
near    Pioneerville.   and   packed   the   dirt   one   hundred 
yards   in   sacks.      A.    D.    Saunders   and    Marion    More 
returned  with  the  party  in  October.     The  party  num- 
bered ninety-three  men.     Jeff  Standifer's  party  arrived 
from  Florence  about  a  week  after  the  party  of  ninety- 
three  got  in  from  Auburn.    W.  B.  Noble  of  this  place 
was  with  the  Standifer  party.     The  above  was  related 
to  us  by  Mr.  Branstetter.     He  was  the  youngest  man 
in  Grimes'  party;    was  twenty  years  of  age  when  they 
reached  Boise  Basin. 


The  mines  on  Granite  creek  were  discovered 
about  the  ist  of  December  by  the  party,  who  also 
located  the  site  of  Placerville,  which  contained 
about  six  cabins,  partly  completed  on  the  I4th 
day  of  that  month. 

Boise  basin  soon  became  known  as  the  greatest 
placer  country  outside  of  California.  By  the  ist 
of  January,  1863,  over  three  thousand  men  had 
made  their  way  into  it.  Centerville,  Pioneerville, 
PJacerville,  Granite  Creek,  Idaho  City  (originally 
known  as  Bannock),  sprung  into  existence,  and 
by  September  of  that  year  there  were  probably 
two  thousand  five  hundred  men  scattered  through 
the  basin.  Several  million  dollars  had  been 
taken  out  by  the  close  of  the  season  that  year. 
In  July,  1864,  over  two  thousand  five  hundred 
claims  had  been  recorded  in  Banner  district;  in 
Centerville  over  two  thousand,  and  in  Placerville 
over  four  thousand  five  hundred. 

Idaho  City,  or  Bannock,  became  the  metropolis 
of  the  basin,  and  at  one  time  could  boast  of  a 
population,  transient  and  permanent,  estimated 
as  high  as  from  seven  thousand  to  ten  thousand. 
On  the  1 8th  of  May,  1865,  the  town  was  com- 
pletely destroyed  by  a  disastrous  fire,  property  to 
the  extent  of  one  and  a  quarter  million  of  dollars 
lost,  and  seven  thousand  people  left  homeless  and 
shelterless.  The  town  was  rebuilt  durino-  the 
same  season,  however,  and  though  three  times 
destroyed  by  fire,  for  many  years  retained  its 
prestige  as  the  leading  mining  town  of  Idaho. 

The  first  ferry  across  Snake  river  was  estab- 
lished in  1862.  A  number  of  persons  from 
Placerville,  twenty-seven  in  all,  in  the  spring  of 
1863,  visited  what  is  now  Owyhee  county.  They 
discovered  Reynolds  creek,  which  was  named  in 
honor  of  one  of  their  party.  On  the  following 
day  the  men  reached  a  stream,  where  they 
camped,  panned  the  gravel,  and  obtained  a  hun- 
dred colors.  The  place  was  named  Discovery 
Bar.  Happy  Camp,  near  the  site  of  Ruby  City, 
was  discovered  soon  after.  The  creek  was 
named  after  the  leader  of  the  expedition,  and  the 
district  was  called  Carson,  after  another  member 
of  the  party.  In  July  the  first  quartz  lead  was 
discovered  by  R.  H.  Wade,  and  named  Whisky 
Gulch.  In  the  following  month  the  placers  in 
the  French  district  were  discovered,  and  also  the 
Oro  Fino  quartz  ledge.  The  celebrated  Poor- 
man  mine  was  not  discovered  until  October, 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


425 


1865.  The  mines  of  middle  and  south  Boise,  in 
Alturas  county,  including  Atlanta,  Yuba,  and 
Rocky  Bar,  were  discovered  in  1864. 

Such  in  brief  is  the  history  of  the  mineral  dis- 
coveries in  Idaho  prior  to  1870.  By  that  time 
the  rush,  the  fever,  the  excitement  attendant 
upon  new  discoveries,  had  quieted  down.  Many 
of  those  who  had  come  into  the  territory,  carried 
along  by  the  wave  of  excitement,  left  with  the 
ebbing  tide.  The  placer  mines  had  been  worked, 
though  by  no  means  exhausted.  The  rush  had 
subsided  and  a  reaction  had  set  in.  According 
to  statistics,  the  yield  of  1869  was  less 
than  that  of  any  year  before  or  since.  Those 
who  remained  in  Idaho,  however,  continued  to 
prosper. 

Dispersed  over  Idaho's  immense  territory, 
greater  than  that  of  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Massachusetts,  and  New  Hampshire  combined, 
there  were  in  1870,  exclusive  of  tribal  Indians, 
less  than  fifteen  thousand 'inhabitants,  including 
about  four  thousand  Chinamen.  Her  settle- 
ments were  scattered,  frequently  a  hundred  mifes 
or  more  apart.  Situated  far  from  the  ordinary 
lines  of  through  travel,  only  the  most  daring  and 
hardy  adventurers  sought  her  mountain  soli- 
tudes. The  only  means  of  communication  were 
by  tedious  journeys  by  stage  or  team,  or  more 
frequently  on  horseback,  over  rough  mountain 
trails,  where  natural  obstacles  were  only  en- 
hanced by  the  oft-recurring  presence  of  prowling 
bands  of  Indians,  who  so  long  resented  the  intru- 
sion of  the  whites.  The  nearest  railroad  at  this 
time  was  the  Central  Pacific,  through  Utah  and 
Nevada. 

None  of  these  drawbacks,  however,  could  deter 
the  pioneer  and  prospector.  Great  as  these  ob- 
stacles were,  they  shrank  into  insignificance  when 
confronted  by  the  spirit  of  the  gold-seekers.  The 
discoveries  of  the  past  were  regarded  as  but  an 
earnest  of  the  future.  It  was  known  that  far  up 
among  her  mountain  fastnesses  were  other  store- 
houses of  precious  metals  that  needed  only  en- 
terprise and  capital  to  develop  their  hidden  treas- 
ures. From  the  remote  and  secluded  mountains 
of  "Far  Idaho,"  as  from  an  almost  unknown  and 
unseen  source,  the  golden  streams  continued 
flowing.  For  years  the  placers  of  Boise  basin 
and  Salmon  river,  and  the  ledges  of  Owyhee, 
Rocky  Bar,  and  Atlanta,  continued  yielding  their 


riches,  thus  constantly   adding  to  the  national 
wealth. 

No  discoveries  of  new  fields,  and  no  stampedes 
of  any  importance,  occurred,  however,  for  several 
years.  In  the  meantime  the  great  work  of  pros- 
pecting the  rugged  mountains  still  went  on.  Far 
up  among  the*snow-capped  hills  of  northeastern 
Idaho  was  an  unknown  region,  still  described  on 
some  maps  as  "unexplored  country."  Along  the 
tributaries  of  the  upper  Salmon,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Yankee  Fork,  Kinni-kinnick  and  Bay- 
horse  creeks,  in  what  is  now  Custer  county,  prior 
to  1877,  solitary  prospectors  had  located  a  few 
claims,  and  placers  had  been  worked  to  advant- 
age. Occasional  visitors  from  that  far-off  land 
had  exhibited  among  the  mining  men  of  Salt 
Lake  City  specimens  of  gold  and  silver  ore,  whose 
assay  value  could  be  expressed  only  in  four  fig- 
ures. The  Charles  Dickens  had  been  located  in 
1875.  A  thousand  dollars  had  been  crushed  out 
in  small  hand-mortars  in  a  day.  During  the 
first  month,  two  men  pounded  out  about  twelve 
thousand  dollars.  A  few  tons  of  ore  were  then 
sacked  and  shipped  to  Salt  Lake  City  and  to 
Swansea.  The  net  results  were  fifteen  thousand 
dollars,  the  highest  grade  sampling  three  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  dollars  per  ton.  A  lot  of 
twenty-three  tons  netted  over  seventeen  thousand 
dollars.  In  1878  a  two-bed  arastra,  with  pan 
and  settler,  was  built  at  a  cost  of  nineteen  thou- 
sand four  hundred  dollars,  and  started  up  late  in 
August.  By  the  first  of  November,  by  crushing 
two  tons  of  quartz  per  day,  the  arastra  had  pro- 
duced bullion  to  the  amount  of  thirty-two  thou- 
sand dollars.  A  well  known  writer,  speaking  of 
the  General  Custer  mine  in  the  same  district, 
says: 

It  is  the  only  instance  on  record  where  a  ledge  so 
immense  in  wealth  and  size  was  already  opened  and 
developed  when  the  eyes  of  the  prospector  first  looked 
upon  it.  Ore  bodies  are  usually  found  beneath  the 
surface,  and  miners  consider  themselves  fortunate  if, 
after  long  searching  by  shafts  and  tunnels,  they  strike 
a  vein  that  insures  them  reasonable  dividends  over  and 
above  the  cost  of  development.  The  Custer  required 
no  outlay  of  money  to  make  it  a  paying  mine.  Its  face 
was  good  for  millions.  Nature,  in  one  of  her  philan- 
thropic moods,  did  the  prospecting  and  development. 
The  outer  wall  of  this  great  treasure-vault,  through 
the  wear  and  tear  of  ages,  crumbled  and  slipped  from 
the  ore  body  for  a  distance  of  several  hundred  feet, 
leaving  many  thousands  of  tons  of  the  very  choicest 


426 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


rock   lying   against  the   mountain   side,   to  be   broken 
down  at  little  expense. 

The  Montana  mine  on  Mount  Estes  has  been 
pronounced  by  mining  men  to  be  the  richest  vein 
of  quartz  ever  discovered,  taking  the  whole  vein 
matter  from  wall  to  wall.  Some  of  the  ledge 
matter  was  so  rich  that  it  has  been  worked  in  a 
mortar  at  the  mine.  A  lot  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  yielded  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
dollars. 

The  completion  of  the  Utah  and  Northern  to 
Blackfoot,  early  in  the  spring  of  1879,  brought 
the  Bay-horse  district  within  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  and  the  Yankee  Fork  within  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety  miles, of  railroad  communication. 
In  the  spring  and  summer  of  1879  people  rushed 
in  by  the  hundreds,  and  Challis,  Custer  City,  Bo- 
nanza, Clayton,  Crystal  City  and  /Etna  became 
prosperous  mining  camps.  The  Sawtooth  and 
Wood  river  sections  in  Alturas  county  now  began 
to  attract  attention,  but  were  not  thoroughly 
prospected  till  the  following  year.  To  these  dis- 
tricts incidental  reference  is  made  on  other  pages 
of  this  volume. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  mining  excite- 
ments in  history  was  the  great  Coeur  d'Alene 
stampede  of  1884.  Gold  had  been  discovered  in 
that  country  in  former  years,  but  no  develop- 
ments had  ever  been  made,  owing  to  the  remote- 
ness of  the  locality.  In  1883  a  man  named 
Pritchard  discovered  and  located  the  "Widow's 
Claim,"  which  proved  of  more  than  average  rich- 
ness. Further  discoveries  were  made,  which 
were  rapidly  noised  abroad.  From  the  heart  of 
the  Coeur  d'Alene  mountains,  though  distant 
only  forty  miles  from  the  Northern  Pacific,  came 
the  most  exaggerated  accounts.  The  whole  re- 
gion was  subjected  to  an  artificial  "boom,"  at  a 
most  inopportune  time.  In  February  of  1884, 
over  the  snows  came  trudging  an  eager  multi- 
tude, who  would  harken  neither  to  the  voice  of 
reason  nor  the  warnings  of  experience.  The 
mails  were  flooded  with  fantastic  descriptions  of 
this  latest  El  Dorado.  Newspaper  correspond- 
ents from  all  over  the  land  came  flocking  hither, 
and  contributed  to  give  further  publicity  to  a 
region  already  overadvertised.  Circulars  were 
sent  broadcast  all  over  the  land,  giving  the  most 
glowing  accounts  of  nuggets  of  fabulous  wealth, 


that  could  be  had  almost  for  the  seeking.  It  was 
declared  that  old  prospectors  and  miners,  con- 
versant with  the  history  of  the  banner  districts  of 
California,  Montana,  and  Colorado,  would  stand 
amazed  at  the  new  fields  so  unequaled  in  richness 
and  extent;  that  twenty-five  dollars  to  forty  dol- 
lars per  man  per  day  were  being  panned  out  in 
the  gulches;  that  the  fields  being  practically  in- 
exhaustible, rendered  impossible  any  overcrowd- 
ing of  the  district;  that  wherever  the  bed-rock 
had  been  uncovered,  beautiful  rich  dust  was  be- 
ing ''scooped  up"  by  the  lucky  owners;  that  no 
machinery  or  capital  was  required;  that  limitless 
quartz  ledges  were  being  struck  "fairly  glistening 
with  free  gold."  The  result  was  that  in  a  few 
weeks,  early  in  the  spring  of  1884,  the  forest  land 
at  the  junction  of  Eagle  and  Pritchard  creeks 
became  metamorphosed  into  a  city  of  five  thou- 
sand restless  inhabitants,  all  waiting  for  the  snow 
to  disappear.  The  effect  of  overadvertising  soon 
became  manifest  in  the  reaction  that  took  place 
after  the  summer  had  fairly  set  in.  A  hasty 
exodus  followed,  and  hundreds  left  on  foot, 
"packing  their  blankets"  and  cursing  the  coun- 
try. The  region  was  even  more  misrepresented 
by  the  unsuccessful  adventurers,  who,  in  spite  of 
incontestable  facts,  declared  there  ''was  no  gold 
in  the  country."  Many  of  the  claims  got  into 
litigation,  which  retarded  their  development.  The 
July  term  of  court  at  Eagle  City  settled  the  dis- 
puted titles,  when  the  work  of  development  was 
fairly  begun,  and  since  which  time  the  region  has 
been  keeping  up  a  steady  output.  Business  has 
settled  down  to  a  legitimate  basis,  and  the  coun- 
try is  being  systematically  opened  up. 

Major  N.  H.  Camp,  an  early  superintendent 
of  the  United  States  assay  office  at  Boise,  fur- 
nished the  following  description  of  the  Snake 
river  gold-fields,  and  the  record,  though  written 
a  number  of  years  ago,  is  well  worthy  of  perpetu- 
ation in  this  work: 

It  is  popularly  supposed  that  the  occupation  of  a 
gold-miner  is  most  favorably  adapted  to  the  develop- 
ment of  those  qualities  called  for  by  a  bold  and  ad- 
venturous life,  uncheered  by  the  amenities  of  social 
civilization,  untrammeled  by  its  laws  and  intercourse 
between  its  members,  unlubricated  by  the  presence  of 
fair  woman.  What  wonder,  then,  that  gold-seeking 
should  be  the  chief  interest  of  this  lonely  region!  The 
character  of  its  banks  forbids  the  construction  of  towns, 
while  the  lack  of  navigation  facilities  prevents  this 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


427 


great  water-way  from  ministering  to  the  transporta- 
tion needs  of  the  neighboring  stock-farms,  sage  prai- 
ries, or  the  supplying  of  the  isolated  mining  camps.  It 
is  in  such  localities  that  gold  delights  to  reward  the 
pains  taken  by  the  lonesome  prospector,  and  here 
does  he  find,  not  only  the  coveted  treasure,  but  in 
such  quantities  as  will  reward  his  patient  search  at  a 
minimum  of  expense.  The  only  drawback  is  the  ex- 
tremely small  size  of  the  particles  of  gold;  coarse  gold 
is  unknown  on  Snake  river,  but  from  Eagle  Rock,  in 
Oneida  county,  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  gold  can  be 
found  of  such  exactly  similar  metallurgical  conditions, 
both  as  to  fineness  in  grade  (shape  of  grains  being 
scale-like  in  form)  and  fineness  in  character  of  grains, 
that  it  might  have  come  from  either  end  of  the  river. 
On  the  affluents  of  this  river  gold  is  also  found;  but 
even  within  half  a  mile  of  its  mouth,  "Boise"  gold  sinks 
to  an  assay  fineness  of  from  720  to  780,  while  that  from 
the  river  under  review  will  assay  over  goo  and  even 
090.  The  shape  of  the  grains  is  noticeably  a  feature  of 
Snake  river  gold,  being  so  flat  and  scale-like  that  the 
precious  metal  is  often  seen  floating  on  the  surface  of 
the  water!  while  gold  from  any  of  the  feeder  streams 
assumes  more  the  character  of  shot  gold,  is  coarser, 
and  much  more  easily  harnessed  to  the  service  of  man. 
Its  extremely  small  size  is  also  a  distinguishing  mark 
of  this  gold.  The  writer  has  seen  a  gold-pan  full  of 
the  gold-bearing  sands,  which,  in  the  hands  of  an  ex- 
perienced prospector,  soon  showed  its  bottom  as  if 
gilt  by  a  practiced  workman.  Out  of  curiosity,  an 
attempt  was  made  to  count  the  "colors,"  but  when  the 
sum  of  fourteen  hundred  was  reached,  the  business  was 
given  up  in  disgust — there  were  so  many  left  to  count! 

Nor  has  nature  herself  been  niggardly  in  furnishing 
facilities  to  man  for  mining  these  rich  deposits.  From 
many  a  fissure  in  the  canyon  walls  along  the  banks  of 
this  wonderful  river  fall  "springs"- — some  of  which  arc 
the  size  of  young  rivers — as  they  are  called.  Issuing 
from  one  to  two  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
river,  they  only  require  to  be  conducted  to  the  gravel 
bars  to  assume  the  duties  of  washing  out  gold.  At 
other  points  rivers  fall  into  the  Snake,  along  whose 
banks  it  is  only  necessary  to  dig  the  necessary  ditches, 
to  convert  the  streams  into  the  obedient  and  useful 
servants  of  mankind.  In  many  cases,  however,  these 
ditches  have  to  be  blasted  out  of  the  lava  rock,  and  the 
dams  across  the  smaller  streams  are  costly  and  tedious 
structures,  making  the  enterprise,  when  completed,  as 
dear  to  the  heart  as  something  attained  only  at  great 
cost  of  time,  labor  and  capital,  as  in  one  instance  where 
a  miner  for  two  years  contented  himself  with  the  priva- 
tions and  solitude  of  his  cabin,  mining  in  a  small  way, 
but  devoting  all  his  savings  and  leisure  to  the  con- 
struction of  a  ditch,  despite  the  sneers  and  ridicule  of 
his  neighbors.  The  ditch  was  completed  in  the  spring 
of  1884,  and  now  he  harvests  three  thousand  dollars 
per  month  in  virgin,  gold. 

Where  springs  gush  from  the  canyon  walls  in  suffi- 
cient volume  to  wash  gravel  for  gold,  the  expense  of  a 
moderately  profitable  mining  outfit,  comprising  say 


four  hundred  yards  of  ditching,  seventy-two  feet  of 
fluming,  thirty-six  feet  of  sluice  boxes,  twelve  feet  of 
grizzlies  (sheets  of  perforated  iron),  two  amalgamating 
plates,  a  concentrating  tank  three  by  six,  and  twenty- 
four  feet  of  burlap  tables — ought  to  be  not  less  than 
$550  to  $600;  add  the  cost  of  one  month's  subsistence, 
$40,  for  two  men,  and  the  services  of  a  laborer,  and 
about  the  cost  of  a  small  mining  establishment  on  this 
river  is  told.  This  outfit  ought  to  pay  for  itself  in  three 
months,  and  yield  a  moderate  profit — twelve  to  fifteen 
per  cent,  per  annum  in  excess  of  working  expenses. 
"High  bars"  there  are,  too,  prospecting  rich,  but  until 
some  inexpensive  method  is  discovered  of  raising,  and 
utilizing  for  mining  purposes,  the  water  of  Snake  river, 
these  spots  must  remain  closed  to  the  avarice  of  man. 
A  patent  motor  has  been  devised  for  raising  water  by 
using  the  force  of  the  river  current,  but  experiment  has 
failed  to  demonstrate  its  economy,  or  to  bring  its  price 
within  the  means  of  the  moderately  wealthy. 

But  it  is  not  only  the  production  of  fruits,  and  the 
golden  results  of  placer  mining,  that  the  broadway  jf 
Idaho  relies  on  to  attract  to  her  borders  those  energies 
necessary  in  the  development  of  a  hitherto  terra  incog- 
nita. In  the  range  of  mountains  through  which  our 
river  cuts  her  way,  forming  here  the  western  boundary 
of  Washington  county,  are  rich  deposits  of  copper  and 
silver,  assays  of  which  show  from  twenty-six  to  sixty- 
eight  per  cent,  of  copper,  and  from  nine  to  one  hundred 
and  sixty-three  ounces  of  silver  per  ton.  This  region 
is  now  brought  into  communication  with  the  rest  of, 
the  United  States  by  the  railroad  system  rendered 
available  by  the  meeting  of  the  Oregon  Short  Line  and 
the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Company's  lines. 
The  Wood  river  country  has  proved  an  immense  silver 
success;  but  it  is  predicted  that  the  copper  region  of 
western  Idaho  will  largely  exceed  it  in  bringing  ma- 
terial prosperity  to  those  of  limited  means  coming  in  to 
work  the  bowels  of  the  earth  for  the  riches  to  be  ex- 
tracted therefrom.  To  such,  Idaho  must  look  in  large 
measure  for  the  permanence  of  her  prosperity,  and  it 
is  with  a  view  of  attracting  their  attention  to  our  terri- 
tory that  this  is  written. 

In  view  of  the  developments  which  iater  years 
have  brought  forth,  this  retrospect  is  doubly  in- 
teresting. 

THE  MINING  FIELDS  OF  IDAHO. 

The  following  excellent  monograph  by  W.  C. 
Austin  was  issued  in  pamphlet  form  early  in  the 
present  year  (1899)  by  authority  of  C.  J.  Bassett. 
state  commissioner  of  immigration,  labor  and 
statistics,  and  as  a  valuable  contribution  to  the 
history  of  the  great  mining  industry  of  Idaho  is 
held  to  be  worthy  of  reproduction  in  this  work: 

There  is  no  other  country  on  God's  green  earth  that 
has  encompassed  within  her  borders  such  vast  and 
varied  mineral  wealth  as  Idaho.  The  position  that 


428 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Idaho  occupies  in  the  western  mineral  world  is  like 
a  wagon  wheel,  of  which  Idaho  is  the  hub,  while  her 
great  mineral  belts,  radiating  out  from  her  mountain 
fastnesses,  penetrating  her  sister  states  and  enriching 
them,  represent  the  spokes.  Place  yourself  before  a  map 
and  trace  out  several  of  these  great  mineral  belts.  Be- 
ginning in  the  southern  part  of  California,  the  belt  runs 
through  Eldorado,  Mariposa  and  Calaveras  counties, 
thence  to  Bodie,  across  into  Nevada  in  a  northeasterly 
course,  giving  birth  to  the  great  Comstock  lode  and 
other  camps,  through  by  Winnemucca.  and  in 
Idaho  makes  its  grand  entry  at  Silver  City  and  De 
Lamar,  in  Owyhee  county;  thence  on  in  through 
Rocky  Bar  and  Atlanta,  Custer  and  Bonanza;  thence 
on  ,to  central  Idaho,  at  Gibbonsville.  Here  the  oppo- 
site spoke  to  the  great  mineral  wheel  comes  in  and 
penetrates  the  Rocky  mountains  on  into  Montana, 
where  it  makes  its  debut  at  Butte. 

The  northern  belt  or  zone  was  first  discovered  in 
northern  California;  gave  life  to  such  camps  as  Wea- 
verville,  Scotts,  and  Yreka;  thence  on  through  into 
Oregon,  via  Canyon  City,  Granite,  Old  Auburn,  Baker 
City  and  Sparta.  It  crosses  with  a  grand  flourish  into 
Idaho  at  the  Seven  Devils;  thence  on  into  Warrens, 
Florence,  Buffalo  Hump.  Dixie  and  Elk  City,  where 
it  loses  itself  to  appear  in  its  opposite  spoke  in  the 
Missoula  country  in  Montana.  The  belts  penetrating 
Utah  can  be  easily  traced  through  Cassia  county. 
Idaho,  northward  to  the  interior  of  Idaho. 

The  great  northwestern  belt  begins  in  British  Col- 
umbia, runs  down  through  Washington,  from  the  Trail 
Creek  country,  beginning  at  Rossland,  thence  on 
through  the  Great  Republic  camp  and  on  into  Idaho, 
and  here  it  gives  to  the  world  the  great  Coeur  d'Alene 
country,  with  such  mines  as  the  Bunker  Hill.  Sullivan 
and  Gem.  As  these  great  mineral  zones  draw  nearer 
to  the  hub  the  intervening  country  becomes  more  and 
more  mineralized,  until,  when  Idaho  is  reached,  bands 
of  mineral  reach  out  from  one  zone  to  another,  play- 
ing "hide  and  seek"  in  the  rock-ribbed  mountains  that 
stand  like  grim  sentinels  guarding  the  treasure  within. 
The  whole  country  becomes  a  network  of  veins.  There 
is  not  a  hill  or  mountain  from  east  to  west,  north  or 
south,  in  the  whole  state,  but  what  is  mineral-bearing. 
There  is  no  other  country  in  the  United  States  that  is 
so  little  prospected,  unknown  and  unexplored  as  Idaho. 
No  other  country  in  the  world  can  compare  with  it  in 
richness.  Its  grand  and  beautiful  scenery,  the  poverty 
of  language  makes  it  impossible  to  describe.  Words 
cannot  paint  it.  The  poet  is  unborn  who  is  capable 
of  singing  the  sweet  song  of  Idaho. 

From  Boise  City  northward  is  one  unbroken  line 
of  forest,  valley,  stream  and  lake,  and  mountain  upon 
mountain,  some  craggy,  grim  and  terrible,  walled 
and  turreted,  raising  sheer  walls  of  granite,  white  and 
glistening  in  the  sun,  thousands  of  feet  in  the  air; 
here  and  there  great  domes,  minarets  and  towers — 
grand,  majestic,  awful.  You  feel,  as  you  gaze  for 
the  first  time  upon  God's  grand  cathedral,  as  if  you 
stood  in  His  very  presence;  and  as  you  catch  the 


smile  of  the  beautiful  valley,  with  its  limpid  lake  and 
peaceful  river  nestling  in  security  at  its  feet,  you  can 
appreciate  the  words  of  Joaquin  Miller,  the  poet  of 
the  Sierras,  when  he  says: 

"  'Tis  not  the  place  of  mirthfulness, 
But  meditation  deep,  and  prayer; 
And  kneeling  on  the  salted  sod, 
Where  man  must  own  his  littleness, 
And  know  the  mightiness  of  God." 

'Tis  the  ideal  country  for  the  prospector.  Wher- 
ever he  may  go,  water,  timber  and  grass  everywhere. 
Every  stream  alive  with  salmon  and  trout  of  every 
species;  while  bear,  deer,  elk,  moose  and  sheep  are 
plentiful.  Is  he  interested  in  some  particular  forma- 
tion,— say,  in  porphyry  and  granite,  slate  or  lime,  or 
any  of  the  sub-families  of  these  formations?  If  it 
is  not  in  this  particular  mountain  he  has  it  in  the 
next.  There  is  not  a  mineral  known  to  the  miner- 
alogist, nor  a  gem  to  the  lapidary,  that  is  not  found 
within  her  borders.  Does  he  want  new  fields  to  ex- 
plore? There  are  belts  of  country  a  hundred  miles 
square,  that  have  never  known  the  step  of  a  white 
man.  The  whole  western  slope  of  the  Bitter  Root 
range,  the  headwaters  of  the  Clearwater,  is  an  unex- 
plored field;  and  yet,  it  is  known  to  be  rich  in  gold 
and  other  precious  metals;  for  every  mountain  stream 
is  laden  with  golden  sand  that  has  its  birth  in  their 
rocky  fastnesses.  Stories  of  fabulous  finds  in  the 
early  days,  on  the  outskirts  of  these  unexplored  fields, 
of  lost  diggings,  mountains  of  rich  quartz,  will  be 
told  by  old,  gray,  grizzled  miners  who  were  in  their 
prime  in  the  rush  and  excitement  of  Pierce  City,  Flor- 
ence, Warrens  and  the  Idaho  basin.  The  stories  told 
will  be  like  a  chapter  from  the  Arabian  Nights;  but, 
wild  as  you  may  imagine  them  to  be,  upon  investi- 
gation you  will  find  them  to  be  essentially  true.  For 
years  some  of  the  Indians  of  the  Nez  Perce  reserva- 
tion would  steal  away  and  go  to  the  mountains,  bring- 
ing back  gold  by  the  sack-full.  One  of  them  had  a 
short  time  ago  in  the  bank  at  Moscow,  thirty  thous- 
and dollars  in  nuggets  of  gold.  The  gold  was  ob- 
tained by  picking  it  up  from  off  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  as  they  knew  nothing  about  panning.  The 
secret  of  these  diggings  will  one  of  these  days  belong 
to  some  hardy  prospector. 

The  Buffalo  Hump,  six  months  ago,  was  known 
only  as  a  landmark.  To-day  it  marks  the  center  of 
probably  the  greatest  and  richest  mining  camp  ever 
discovered.  Yet  hundreds  of  prospectors  have  walked 
and  camped  right  on  the  great  mother  lode  of  the 
district.  Big  ledges?  Yes;  but  they  never  examined 
them,  for  they  said  they  were  so  big  they  could  not 
carry  any  value.  But  how  about  the  hundreds  of 
smaller  ones  that  have  been  found  there?  Six  months 
ago  two  prospectors  happened  to  camp  there.  Near 
a  large  reef  of  rock,  one  evening,  one  of  them  hap- 
pened to  pick  up  a  piece  of  the  rock  and  found  ore. 
It  was  rich  beyond  his  wildest  dreaming.  Think  of 
it!  a  vein  from  forty  to  sixty  feet  wide,  cropping  out 


I 

3 

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o 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


429 


for  three  miles,  all  carrying  good  value,  and  some 
of  the  ore  running  into  the  thousands  of  dollars  per 
tonl  And  thus  the  great  mine  was  found. 

Hundreds  of  other  mines  were  found  and  located. 
The  camp  is  not  six  months  old,  and  the  deepest 
prospect  hole  not  forty  feet  deep;  yet  the  original 
discovery  sold  for  $550,000,  then  for  $650,000.  Over 
$2,500,000  have  already  been  negotiated  for  property 
in  this  camp.  This  belt  was  followed  south  to  where 
the  Salmon  river  cut  it,  and  here  a  new  camp,  called 
Mallack,  was  formed  during  the  winter.  The  veins 
here  are  from  ten  to  fifty  feet  wide,  and  run  from 
five  dollars  to  one  hundred  dollars  per  ton;  $250,000 
has  been  refused  for  one  group  of  claims.  Twenty 
thousand  people  will  go  into  the  country  during  the 
coming  year. 

Thunder  Mountain  is  another  new  camp,  struck  last 
year,  lying  about  seventy  miles  east  from  Warrens. 
The  mountain  is  a  soft  porphyry  and  the  whole  mass, 
for  three  hundred  feet  wide,  will  pay  to  mill.  The 
discoverers,  the  Caswell  boys,  sluiced  and  rocked  out 
$3,500  in  a  month  after  their  find.  Last  fall  copper 
ledges  were  found  about  twenty-five  miles  from  Thun- 
der Mountain, — great  veins,  from  ten  to  twenty  feet 
wide,  running  up  one  side  of  the  mountain  and  down 
the  other  and  carrying  values  of  copper  of  from  twen- 
ty-five to  sixty  per  cent,  and  from  eight  to  thirty-five 
dollars  gold  per  ton. 

The  greatest  copper  mines  not  worked  in  the  world 
lie  in  Washington  county,  in  what  is  known  as  the 
Seven  Devils.  The  Peacock  shows  an  outcrop  of 
over  two  hundred  feet  in  width  in  one  place,  and 
gave  an  average  sample  of  nineteen  per  cent,  copper 
and  eight  dollars  gold,  while  contracts  have  been  let 
to  smelters,  agreeing  to  furnish  ore  by  the  thousand 
tons  to  go  not  less  than  twenty-five  per  cent.  Lots 
of  the  ore  shipped  run  above  fifty  per  cent,  copper. 
The  White  Monument,  Hecla,  Bodie,  Standard,  South 
Peacock  and  other  mines  in  the  district  show  up  vast 
bodies  of  ore.  Two  railroads  are  now  being  built 
into  the  district;  one  from  Weiser  City,  on  the  Ore- 
gon Short  Line,  which  will  not  only  open  up  the 
great  copper  mines  that  show  up  for  a  distance  of 
forty  miles  north  and  south,  and  fifteen  miles  east 
and  west,  but  also  a  rich  agricultural  country.  The 
whole  length  the  route  will  be  through  a  country  of 
ever  changing  beauty, — up  the  Weiser  river,  around 
one  jutting  spur  of  the  mountain,  whirled  in  an  in- 
stant from  one  beautiful  valley  to  another,  rich  in 
fruits  and  grain  that  no  'other  country  can  equal, 
while  great  forests  of  pine,  fir  and  hemlock  cover  the 
mountains. 

The  other  line  of  railroad  begins  at  Huntington 
and  follows  down  the  Snake  river  on  the  Oregon  side, 
and  crosses  into  Idaho  below  Mineral,  and  thence 
on  into  the  Seven  Devils.  'Work  is  being  pushed 
rapidly.  The  Devils  was  a  name  given  by  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  to  seven  high  mountain  peaks 
nine  thousand  feet  above  Box  canyon  on  Snake  river. 
The  west  slope  of  these  hills  along  Snake  river  is 


very  steep  and  precipitous  and  only  accessible  in  two 
or  three  places.  The  district  also  has  running  parallel 
with  it,  at  a  distance  of  about  eight  miles,  a  gold 
belt  that  is  proving  of  wonderful  richness.  Colorado 
capital  is  investing  heavily  in  the  gold  district. 

Over  in  old  Owyhee  county  they  say  but  little, 
but  the  shipments  of  ore  speak  for  them.  Car-loads 
have  been  shipped  of  raw  ore  running  as  high  as 
eighty-seven  thousand  dollars  to  the  car-load,  from 
the  Trade  Dollar  mine.  This  was  acknowledged  by 
the  smelters  in  Colorado  to  be  the  richest  car-load 
of  ore  ever  shipped  from  any  mine.  The  mines  of 
Florida  Mountain  and  Wrar  Eagle,  at  Silver  City,  have 
yielded  upwards  of  fifty  million  dollars.  Eight  miles 
west  from  Silver  City  is  situated  the  De  Lamar  mines, 
which  made  Captain  De  Lamar  rise  from  a  miner  to 
be  the  Monte  Cristo  of  the  west.  Ten  years  ago  he 
went  there  poor.  In  five  years  he  was  worth  five  mil- 
lion dollars,  and  he  is  now  estimated  to  be  worth 
ten  million  dollars.  Such  is  fortune  in  Idaho. 

Boise  basin,  of  which  Idaho  City  is  the  center,  is 
by  careful  investigation  supposed  to  have  yielded  from 
her  placers,  a  strip  of  country  fifteen  miles  wide  by 
twenty-five  in  length,  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  mil- 
lion dollars,  while  her  quartz  veins  have  yielded  ten 
million  dollars.  Now  great  attention  is  being  paid 
to  her  quartz  veins,  which  have  furnished  the  placer 
gold.  The  yield  of  some  of  her  quartz  veins  has  been 
wonderful.  The  Ebenezer  yielded  upward  of  $300,000 
in  seventy-five  feet  of  ground;  the  Gambrinus  $325.000; 
Sub  Rosa  $260,000,  etc.  This  is  an  old  camp,  yet 
new  ledges  are  found  every  day.  The  country  is  not 
half  prospected,  nor  the  hundredth  part  developed. 

The  mines  of  Elmore  county,  at  Rocky  Bar  and 
Atlanta,  have  produced,  according  to  the  records  of 
Wells,  Fargo  &  Company's  express,  of  bullion  hauled 
by  them  alone,  $58,800.000;  the  Monarch  lode,  $4.000.- 
ooo;  the  Elmore,  $5.000.000,  and  the  Vishnue,  $1.500.000. 

In  the  Custer  country  the  Charles  Dickens  has  a 
record  of  four  njillion  dollars  before  a  stick  of  tim- 
ber was  put  in  the  mine  or  a  candle  burned.  The 
Montana,  in  Estes  mountains,  paid  one  thousand  dol- 
lars a  foot  while  simply  a  common  prospect  shaft, 
and  yielded  in  going  five  hundred  feet  $380.000.  The 
Custer  has  a  record  of  seven  million  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  The  Lucky  Boy  has  fifteen  feet 
of  twenty-five  dollar  free-gold  ore,  and  has  paid  hun- 
dreds of  thousands.  The  De  Lamar  mine  was  sold  to 
an  English  company  for  $2,500.000  after  Captain  De- 
Lamar  had  taken  out  several  millions.  Since  that 
time  she  has  paid  in  dividends  to  the  English  share- 
holders the  amount  of  the  purchase  price,  and  been 
running  on  velvet  for  two  years.  So  the  yield  must 
be  from  this  one  mine  about  ten  million  dollars. 

The  Wood  river  country  was  always  supposed  to 
be  a  lead  and  silver  country,  and  has  produced  mil- 
lions of  dollars'  worth.  The  Minnie  Moore  has  a 
record  of  $6.500.000,  but  since  silver  was  demonetized 
attention  has  been  paid  to  gold  mining,  and  now  a 
gold  belt  has  been  found — in  fact,  two  of  them — that 


430 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


may  prove  to  be  more  valuable  than  her  silver  mines 
in  the  palmy  days.  The  Camas  No.  i  and  2  show 
great  bodies  of  ore  and  the  Croesus,  at  or  near 
Hailey,  has  ore  that  is  running  from  one  hundred  to 
two  thousand  dollars  per  ton  in  gold,  and  has  just 
been  sold  to  a  big  company. 

Up  the  Boise  river  from  Boise  city,  in  the  last 
two  years,  the  bars  of  gravel  have  all  been  located. 
The  old  timers  have  ridden  over  them  day  after  day, 
but  they  were  found  to  be  rich  in  gold  by  some  ten- 
derfoot, and  big  companies  are  formed  to  work  them.. 
The  Twin  Springs  Company,  of  which  Mr.  Ander- 
son is  superintendent,  have  expended  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  opening  their  ground,  and  last 
fall  struck  an  old  river  channel  upon  the  side  of 
the  mountain  that  out-rivals  Klondike,  going  as  high 
as  twenty-five  dollars  per  yard.  Other  companies,  one 
of  which  Major  F.  R.  Reed  is  managing,  will  be  in 
successful  operation  in  the  spring. 

The  Sheep  Mountain  country  contains  without  doubt 
the  largest  and  richest  silver  mines  in  the  west.  The 
Bull  Dog  mine  shows  an  unbroken  vein  thirty  feet 
wide  for  six  thousand  feet  in  length  and  runs  from 
twenty  to  five  hundred  ounces  silver,  and  gold  from 
two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  to  eighty  dollars  per  ton. 
Ore  shipped  from  J.  Earley's  Birdie  ledge  all  went  from 
three  hundred  and  seventy-five  to  three  thousand  ounces 
silver,  and  from  twenty  to  eighty  dollars  gold.  This 
is  an  unprospected  country.  Lack  of  roads  and  trans- 
portation has  been  the  greatest  drawback  to  the  min- 
ing industry.  There  is  not  a  mine  in  Idaho  but  has 
had  to  pay  its  own  way  for  all  roads,  machinery 
and  everything  for  the  successful  operation  of  the 
mine  from  the  start. 

The  Snake  river  valley,  cold  and  uninviting  as  it 
may  look,  is  lined  with  a  ribbon  of  gold.  Hundreds 
of  miners  are  working  the  bars  along  its  banks.  They 
cannot  save  all  the  gold,  but,  then,  they  save  enough 
to  make  it  a  good  thing.  Some  men,  by  the  most 
primitive  methods  of  working,  are  making  from  ten 
dollars  to  fifty  dollars  per  day,  others  good  wages, 
while  some  of  the  big  companies  who  have  capital 
to  put  in  requisite  plants,  are  making  fortunes.  I 
know  one  company  that  banked  to  their  credit  for 
September,  1898,  nine  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  gold. 

One  of  these  days  the  great  kaolin  and  kaolinite 
beds  will  be  worked,  which  extend  for  miles  along 
the  banks.  There  are  fine  beds  of  gypsum  and  fire 
clays,  magnesium,  lime  and  lithographic  stone  every- 
where, and  the  opal  mines  of  Opaline  produce  opals 
that  are  equal  to  those  found  in  any  country,  and 
in  quantity.  They  took  the  prize  at  the  World's  Fair. 
Opals  weighing  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  carets, 
irridescent,  such  as  would  make  a  Hungarian  opal 
blush  with  envy,  have  been  found,  while  in  Long  Val- 
ley a  sapphire  was  found  that  weighed  upwards  of 
one  thousand  carets.  It  was  perfect,  without  a  flaw, 
and  the  largest  in  the  world. 

Every  mining  camp  will  see  the  greatest  activity 
the  coming  season.  The  great  mines  of  the  Coeur 


d'Alene  in  1898,  produced  in  galena  112.500  tons  aver- 
aging sixty  per  cent,  lead  and  about  thirty-five  ounces 
silver  per  ton,  making  67,500  tons  of  lead  and  3,937,500 
ounces  of  silver.  The  Bunker  Hill,  Sullivan  and  Gem 
mines,  all  have  records  to  their  credit  of  producing 
upwards  of  ten  million  dollars  each.  Can  it  be  beat? 

Pierce  City,  or  Oro  Fino,  was  one  of  the  early 
camps  of  Idaho,  and  yielded  upwards  of  thirty  mil- 
lion dollars  in  placer  gold.  In  the  last  few  years 
quartz  prospectors  have  gone  back  to  the  old  deserted 
camps  and  opened  up  some  wonderful  quartz  veins. 
A  number  of  companies  have  been  organized,  and 
mills  and  machinery  put  in;  three  new  mills  having 
been  built  in  the  past  year.  The  district  is  fast  mak- 
ing a  name  for  itself  and  will  soon  take  a  front 
seat  as  a  producer.  Elk  City  is  another  of  the  old 
placer  camps  that  gave  to  the  world  in  its  placer 
days  twenty  million  dollars  of  gold.  Great  veins  of 
quartz  have  been  found  in  her  hills, — veins  of  ore  from 
ten  to  forty  feet  in  width,  and  milling  upwards  of 
twenty  dollar^  per  ton  free  on  an  average.  Two  years 
ago  these  mines  were  prospects,  but  they  have  been 
prospected  by  shaft  and  tunnel  for  hundreds  of  feet, 
and  the  great  ore  bodies  improve  with  depth,  and 
modern  gold  mills  of  twenty  stamps  were  erected  last 
year.  There  is  no  question  as  to  the  future  of  this 
district,  and  it  is  scarcely  prospected.  In  sight  of 
the  little  camp  are  whole  mountain  ranges  that  have 
never  had  a  prospecting  pick  stuck  in  them. 

The  Dixie  district  is  another  new  camp  opened  up 
in  the  last  year.  It  lies  south  from  Elk  City,  and 
is  on  the  head  waters  of  the  south  fork  of  the  Clear- 
water.  The  ores  are  of  high  value,  and  ledges  carry- 
ing every  character  of  ore  are  found, — lead,  iron,  cop- 
per, zinc,  antimony,  gold  and  silver.  The  great  Buf- 
falo Hump  district  lies  in  the  center  of  a  triangle, 
with  Florence,  Elk  City  and  Dixie  at  the  three  cor- 
ners of  the  angle. 

Florence  was  probably  the  richest  camp  ever  dis- 
covered, according  to  its  size.  The  first  pan  of  dirt 
in  the  discovery  yielded  eight  hundred  dollars.  Last 
year  prospecting  for  quartz  was  prosecuted  extensively, 
and  five  new  mills  built.  The  yield  per  ton  of  her 
quartz  is  wonderful.  In  the  early  days  this  camp 
yielded  thirty-eight  million  dollars  gold  from  her  plac- 
ers. Warrens,  the  sister  camp  to  Florence,  is  also  a 
scene  of  great  activity.  In  the  last  few  years  three  new 
mills  have  been  built.  The  ore  is  very  rich,  some 
of  it  milling  (from  the  Riebolt  mine)  two  thousand 
dollars  per  ton.  This  camp  in  the  early  days  pro- 
duced upwards  of  twenty-five  million  dollars. 

In  most  of  our  sister  states  the  big  mines  are  in 
the  hands  of  big  capitalists  and  close  corporations, 
while  the  prospects  and  anything  that  has  a  chance 
to  make  a  mine  are  in  the  hands  of  middlemen  who 
load  the  property  so  heavy  that  capital  has  to  take 
uneven  chances,  while  here  capital  has  every  show. 
What  the  country  needs  more  than  anything  is  pros- 
pecting and  developing  capital.  There  is  not  a  dis- 
trict in  the  state  but  where  will  be  found  plenty  of 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


431 


good  prospects,  which  have  promise  and  merit,  be- 
longing to  poor  men  who  have  no  money  to  prose- 
cute work  on  them,  or  the  means  or  ability  to  call 
the  attention  of  capital  to  what  they  have  got. 

Idaho  is  the  least  prospected  of  any  state  in  the 
west.  It  has  scarcely  been  run  over,  let  alone  being 
prospected.  Take  any  of  the  old-settled  camps,  for 
instance,  and  the  minute  you  get  outside  of  the  im- 
mediate camp  a  prospect  hole  is  a  curiosity.  Only 
the  veins  cropping  out  bold  and  plain  are  looked  at. 
and  even  not  one  in  a  hundred  then.  Just  think  of 
the  great  mother  vein  in  Buffalo  Hump,  standing  out 
of  the  ground  for  twenty-five  feet  in  height  in  places, 
and  a  well  beaten  trail  crossing  it  half-a-dozen  times, 
over  which  hundreds  of  prospectors  have  ridden  seek- 
ing fortunes,  when  if  they  had  only  gotten  off  their 
horses  and  broken  one  piece  of  the  ore  they  would 
have  had  the  great  bonanza.  And  there  it  lay  un- 
claimed, with  the  trail  running  over  it  for  thirty-five 
years. 

Within  site  of  Boise,  Idaho's  capital,  ledges  have 
been  discovered  in  the  last  year  or  so  that  milled 
free  gold  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  dol- 
lars per  ton.  Let  the  prospector  go  where  he  will, 
— to  the  right  of  him,  to  the  left  of  him,  to  the  front 
of  him,  behind  him, — there  is  but  little  choice,  for  it 
is  everywhere.  There  are  hundreds  of  camps  and  dis- 
tricts not  mentioned, — like  Pine  Grove,  Bonaparte. 
Cassia,  Neal,  Black  Hornet,  Willow  Creek,  Banner, 
Mineral,  Flint  and  hundreds  of  others. 

The  future  of  Idaho  reads  like  an  open  book.  It 
is  plain  as  the  open  day,  and  he  who  runs  may  read. 
Already  the  gigantic  discoveries  made  in  the  last  year 
are  astounding  the  world  with  the  story  of  their  wealth. 
The  dawning  season  marks  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  Idaho.  She  will  march  on  steadily  and  will  soon 
forge  ahead  and  take  the  lead  as  the  greatest  gold, 
silver,  lead  and  copper  producing  country  in  the  world. 
It  is  here  in  the  treasure  vaults  of  her  hills.  The 
magic  wand  of  capital  and  labor  shall  soon  touch  it. 
Cities,  towns  and  hamlets,  connected  with  bands  of 
steel,  shall  find  shelter  in  the  lap  of  her  mountains. 
The  silent  canyons  shall  give  echo  back  of  a  thousand 
stamps,  and  her  hills  shall  be  lit  in  a  hundred  places 
by  night  by  the  glow  of  her  smelters. 

THE  COEUR  D'ALENE  MINING  DISTRICT. 

This  article,  as  well  as  that  following,  con- 
cerning the  lead  belt  of  the  district,  is  contributed 
by  F.  R.  Culbertson,  under  date  of  July  9,  1898: 

The  Coeur  d'Alene  mineral  belt  of  northern  Idaho, 
in  area  about  twenty  miles  square,  first  came  into 
prominence  as  a  gold-placer  camp  in  the  summer 
and  fall  of  1883.  Placer  gold  was  first  discovered  on 
Pritchard  creek,  near  Eagle  City,  now  a  deserted  camp 
in  Shoshone  county.  Fabulous  reports  of  the  rich- 
ness and  extent  of  this  gold  soon  spread  and  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  outside  world.  In  the  spring  of 


1884  there  was  quite  a  stampede  into  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
district,  being  somewhat  similar  to  the  present  excite- 
ment over  Klondike.  Prospectors  for  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes  from  the  west  outfitted  at  Spokane  and  pro- 
ceeded thence  by  rail  to  Rathdrum,  by  stage  to  Coeur 
d'Alene  city  and  from  this  point  on  by  the  old  Mul- 
lan  road  (built  by  the  government  as  a  military  road) 
to  Evolution,  about  twenty  miles  above  the  Mission; 
and  from  this  point  on  by  trail  to  Eagle  City.  Pros- 
pectors from  the  east  left  the  main  line  of  the  North- 
ern Pacific  at  Herron  and  Trout  Creek  and  contin- 
ued from  there  by  trail  into  the  mines.  The  stories 
told  by  the  old  prospectors  of  the  difficulties  of  get- 
ting into  the  country  over  these  trails  remind  one 
of  the  description  and  accounts  of  the  Skaguay  trail. 

In  the  spring  of  1884  Eagle  City  had  grown  to  be 
a  town  of  two  thousand  people  and  became  a  full- 
fledged  mining  camp  with  all  the  accessories,  includ- 
ing dance  halls,  gambling  houses,  restaurants,  etc., 
where  the  prospector  paid  from  one  to  two  dollars 
for  a  meal  consisting  of  bacon  and  beans,  and  one 
dollar  for  a  bed.  which  meant  the  privilege  of  fur- 
nishing your  own  blankets,  which  were  laid  on  the 
floor,  the  landlord  furnishing  the  tent.  It  was  dur- 
ing the  year  1884  that  the  town  of  Murray,  about  five 
miles  up  the  creek  from  Eagle  City,  was  laid  out,  and 
this  new  camp  soon  superseded  Eagle  and  for  sev- 
eral years  was  the  main  town  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes. 
It  was  during  this  year  that  the  town  of  Thompson 
Falls,  on  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  was  laid  out, 
and  a  trail  from  there  to  Murray  was  built,  this  be- 
ing the  shorter  distance  from  the  railroad,  and  it 
was  the  main  outfitting  point  for  the  prospectors  from 
this  time  on.  A  wagon  road  was  built  out  from 
Thompson  Falls  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles  to  what 
was  known  as  the  Mountain  House;  a  stage  line  was 
run  to  this  point;  and  from  there  to  Murray,  a  dis- 
tance of  fifteen  miles  further,  a  trail  was  built  and 
the  traveler  either  footed  it  or  took  a  cayuse  (Indian 
pony,  so  called  from  tribe  of  that  name).  It  was 
also  during  this'year,  1884,  that  Captain  I.  'B.  San- 
born,  C.  B.  King  and  John  Monohan  built  the  steamer 
Coeur  d'Alene  to  ply  between  Coeur  d'Alene  City 
and  the  Old  Mission,  a  distance  of  sixty  miles.  Nel- 
son Bennett  put  on  a  stage  line  between  Spokane  and 
Coeur  d'Alene  City,  and  considerable  travel  and  freight 
were  brought  in  by  this  route.  During  this  same  year 
from  four  to  five  thousand  people  had  come  into  camp 
and  had  prospected  Pritchard  creek  from  mouth  to 
source,  including  the  tributaries,  and  considerable 
placer  gold  was  taken  out  up  to  this  time.  Pros- 
pectors in  this  year  began  to  branch  out  and  look 
for  new  fields.  Several  prospectors  found  their  way 
over  to  Canyon  creek  during  this  year  and  Canyon 
creek,  near  the  town  of  Burke,  was  first  located,  for 
an  extent  of  several  miles,  with  placer  locations,  and 
considerable  work  was  done  but  no  gold  found  in 
paying  quantities. 

In  September,  1884,  John  Carton  and  Almedos  Sey- 
mour, while  looking  for  placers  on  Canyon  creek, 


432 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


discovered   some   float,   which   they   followed   up   and, 
discovering  the  source,  located  the  Tiger  quartz  lode. 
The  next  day  the  Poorman  quartz  lode  was  discovered 
by  Scott  McDonald.     These  two  claims,  both  on  the 
same  ledge,  were  the  first  quartz  discoveries  found  in 
the   lead   belt  of  the   Coeur   d'Alenes.       Other   quartz 
discoveries  soon  followed  on  Canyon  creek, — the  Ore- 
Or-No-Go,     Diamond     Hitch,     Black     Bear,     Badger, 
Frisco,   Gem  and  others  of  less  importance  soon  fol- 
lowing.      Very   little   work   of   any   consequence   was 
done  on  any  of  these  properties  during  the  year  1884, 
except  on  the  Tiger,  which  was  bonded  in  the  month 
of  October  to  John   M.   Burke  and  by   him   to   S.   S. 
Glidden,   at  that   time    in   Thompson    Falls,    Montana, 
Mr.   Glidden  being  engaged  in  the  wholesale  grocery 
business  in   St.    Paul   and  having  a  branch  wholesale 
house   in   Thompson    Falls.     To    Mr.    S.    S.    Glidden, 
now    president    of    the    Old    National    Bank    of    Spo- 
kane, as  much,   if  not  more,   credit  is   due  as  to  any 
other    single    individual    for    the    development    of   the 
quartz   interests  of  the   Coeur  d'Alenes.     Mr.   Glidden 
took   hold    of  the   Tiger   mine   in    October,    1884,   and 
has   been    connected   with    it   up   to    the   recent   date, 
now  being  president  of  the  Consolidated  Tiger  &  Poor- 
man  Mining   Company,   one   of   the   principal   mining 
companies  in  this  district  and  one  of  the  largest  pro- 
ducers.    Development  work  on  the  Tiger  was  carried 
on  during  the  winter  of   1884.     In  the  spring  of  1885 
Mr.    Glidden   closed   out   his    grocery   business   at   St. 
Paul  and  Thompson  Falls  and  devoted  his  entire  time 
and  energies  to  the   development   of   the   Tiger  mine. 
Trails  were  built  by  him  to  connect  with  the  Thomp- 
son Falls  and  Murray  roads,  also  to  connect  at  Placer 
Center,  now  Wallace,  with  the  old  Mullan  wagon  road. 
During  the  summer  and  fall  of  1885  development  work 
was    carried    on    at   the   Tiger,    and    the   value    of   the 
property  sufficiently  determined  to  take  up  the  bond 
for   thirty-five  thousand   dollars,   this   being   the   price 
the  property  was  originally  bonded   for. 

In  the  fall  of  1885  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan 
mines  were  discovered  at  Wardner.  The  surface  show- 
ings at  the  discovery  were  so  much  larger  than  any- 
thing that  had  been  found  up  to  that  time  that  quite 
an  excitement  was  created  at  that  place,  and  numer- 
ous other  valuable  quartz  properties  were  located. 
Also  during  the  early  part  of  this  year  the  Hunter, 
Morning,  Evening,  and  other  quartz  properties  were 
discovered  at  Mullan.  The  Bunker  Hill  and  Sulli- 
van property  was  leased  by  the  original  locators  to 
Jim  Wardner,  after  whom  the  town  was  named. 
Through  him  some  Helena  parties  were  interested  in 
the  deal  and  a  contract  entered  into  with  the  locat- 
ors for  concentrating  fifty  thousand  tons  of  ore  at 
five  dollars  per  ton,  which  at  this  date  would  be 
considered  a  very  extravagant  price  to  pay.  These 
locations  all  coming  to  the  front,  and  with  a  boat 
running  between  the  Mission  and  Coeur  d'Alene  City, 
Mr.  Glidden  turned  his  attention  to  interesting  par- 
ties in  the  building  of  a  railroad  up  the  South  Fork 
from  Spokane  to  Burke.  A  company  was  organized 


for  this  purpose,  and  of  this  Mr.  Glidden  was  one 
of  the  first  promoters.  The  first  company  organized 
fell  through,  and  afterward  D.  C.  Corbin  became  in- 
terested in  the  project  and  organized  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
Railway  &  Navigation  Company,  buying  out  the  boat 
and  building  a  narrow-gauge  railroad  from  Mission 
to  Wardner.  About  this  time  the  Washington  &  Idaho, 
now  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Company, 
commenced  building  from  Pendleton  to  Spokane,  with 
a  branch  from  Tekoa  into  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  Neither 
of  the  roads  at  that  time  would  entertain  the  idea  of 
building  up  Canyon  creek,  and  Mr.  Glidden  organized 
the  Canyon  Creek  Railroad  Company  and  built  a  nar- 
row-gauge railroad  from  Burke  to  Wallace,  to  meet 
the  other  two  roads  which  were  heading  for  that  point. 
This  road  was  built  by  Mr.  Glidden  and  afterward 
sold  by  him  to  D.  C.  Corbin,  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
Railway  &  Navigation  Company,  who  later  disposed 
of  the  same  to  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company, 
who  had  started  to  build  into  the  country  from  the 
main  line  of  their  road  at  De  Smet,  about  six  miles 
west  of  Missoula.  The  Northern  Pacific  also  built  a 
branch  from  Hauser  Junction  to  Coeur  d'Alene  City, 
making  a  .rail,  river  and  lake  route  from  Burke  to 
Hauser  Junction.  The  Washington  &  Idaho  reached 
Wallace  a  short  time  afterward,  giving  the  camp  two 
transcontinental  railroads,  and  reducing  the  freight 
rates  on  ore  shipment  routes. 

The  first  concentrator  in  the  district  was  placed  on 
the  Bunker  Hill  &  Sullivan  mine,  at  Wardner,  and 
was  built  by  A.  M.  Esler,  in  the  interests  of  Helena 
parties  having  the  fifty-thousand-ton  contract,  and  it 
was  of  one-hundred-tons  capacity.  Before  the  expira- 
tion of  this  contract  this  property  was  sold  to  Sim 
Read,  of  Portland,  who  paid  the  different  parties  in- 
terested in  the  property  at  that  time  about  six  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  which  was  con- 
sidered at  that  time  a  very  extravagant  price  for  the 
property.  Two-thirds  of  this  money  found  its  way 
to  Spokane  and  helped  to  build  up  the  town.  The 
title  to  the  property  was  in  litigation  at  the  time  of 
the  sale  and  numerous  interests  had  to  be  bought  out 
to  perfect  the  title.  The  principal  parties  interested 
at  that  time,  and  the  amounts  that  they  were  sup- 
posed to  have  received  for  their  interests,  were:  Noah 
S.  Kellogg,  $100,000;  Goetz  &  Bear,  now  of  Spokane, 
$150,000;  Cooper  &  Peck,  $75,000;  Phil  O'Rourke,  $75,- 
ooo;  Con  Sullivan,  $50,000.  The  Helena  parties  inter- 
ested in  the  lease  were  paid  fifty  thousand  dollars  and 
the  cost  of  their  concentrating  plant,  to  cancel  the 
lease;  the  different  lawyers  interested  in  the  litigation 
received  about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  out  of 
the  deal,  and  the  balance  went  to  other  parties,  who 
had  smaller  interests.  Sim  Read  worked  the  prop- 
erty for  several  years,  afterward  selling  out  to  the 
present  company,  who  are  California  parties  and  mem- 
bers of  the  Standard-  Oil  Company.  This  property  is 
now  under  the  management  of  F.  W.  Bradley,  with 
head  office  at  San  Francisco,  California,  and  F.  Bur- 
bidge  as  resident  manager  at  Wardner.  The  com- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


433 


pany  have  been  gradually  absorbing  all  the  adjacent 
claims,  and  now  have  control  of  something  like  forty 
or  fifty  locations  adjoining  and  connecting,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Last  Chance  Mining  Company's 
property,  they  have  about  all  the  desirable  mining 
property  in  Wardner.  As  a  whole,  it  is  probably  the 
greatest  lead  property  in  the  world,  exceeding  that  of 
Broken  Hills  mine  in  Australia,  which  has  always 
been  heretofore  considered  the  greatest  lead  producer. 

The  company  have  extensive  improvements  and  are 
now  operating  a  seven-hundred-ton  concentrating  plant, 
producing  about  three  thousand  tons  of  shipping  ore 
per  month.  The  property  could  probably  produce 
double  this  quantity  of  shipping  ore  by  enlarging  their 
concentrating  plant,  without  making  any  serious  in- 
roads on  their  ore  reserves.  They  give  employment 
to  about  four  hundred  men  and  are  now  constructing 
a  tunnel  two  miles  in  length  from  their  mill  at  Kel- 
logg to  their  mine  at  Wardner,  which  will  cut  their 
ledge  at  seven  hundred  and  fifty  feet  vertical  depth 
below  their  lowest  workings  and,  with  the  incline  of 
the  ledge,  will  give  them  about  one  thousand  five  hun- 
dred feet  of  sloping  ground.  This  tunnel  will  be 
used  for  drain  purposes  and  bringing  ore  from  the 
mine  to  the  mill;  it  will  require  about  fifteen  months 
for  completion,  and  when  completed  will  give  them 
a  large  amount  of  ore  which  can  be  taken  out  without 
any  pumping,  and  no  doubt  at  that  time  the  capacity 
of  the  mill  will  be  enlarged. 

The  Last  Chance  Company  has  several  valuable 
claims  at  Wardner.  They  are  operating  a  one-hundred- 
and-fifty-ton  concentrator  and  producing  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  to  nine  hundred  tons  of  concentrates 
per  month.  Plans  have  been  drawn  for  enlarging  the 
mill  and  the  property  can  easily  be  made  to  produce 
double  the  present  quantity  of  ore  that  is  now  being 
taken  out.  Unfortunately,  for  several  years  the  prop- 
erty has  been  handicapped  with  more  or  less  litiga- 
tion, which  has  had  the  effect  of  retarding  the  devel- 
opment to  that  extent  which  the  property  would  war- 
rant. There  are  other  valuable  properties  in  Ward- 
ner, but  at  present  none  are  being  worked  to  any 
great  extent. 

Between  Wardner  and  Wallace  on  the  South  Fork 
there  are  several  promising  prospects,  from  which  con- 
siderable ore  has  been  shipped,  the  principal  value 
of  the  ore  being  silver;  and  with  an  increase  in  the 
price  of  silver  considerable  work  would  be  done  on 
them. 

From  Wallace,  which  is  now  the  main  town  of  the 
Coeur  d'Alenes,  diverge  Placer  creek,  Nine  Mile 
creek,  Canyon  creek,  and  the  continuation  of  the 
South  Fork  above  Mullan.  There  are  quite  a  number 
of  prospects  on  Placer  creek,  but  no  extensive  devel- 
opment work  has  been  done.  On  Nine  Mile  are  sit- 
uated the  Custer  and  Granite  mines,  both  of  which 
properties  have  concentrating  plants  and  have  been 
heavy  producers,  but  neither  of  which  are  being  at 
present  operated.  Development  work  is  being  carried 
on  in  both  properties  with  good  showings  and  fair 


prospects  of  resuming  milling  operations.  Numerous 
other  properties  are  situated  on  this  creek,  and  con- 
siderable development  work  is  now  being  done.  Sun- 
set Peak,  on  which  are  situated  some  of  the  largest 
surface-showings  in  the  camp,  is  reached  from  this 
canyon,  and  with  a  railroad  up  the  canyon  from  Wal- 
lace, the  roadbed  of  which  has  already  been  graded, 
the  Nine  Mile  properties  would  be  brought  to  the 
front  in  a  short  time. 

At  Mullan,  seven  miles  up  the  South  Fork  from 
Wallace,  are  situated  the  Hunter,  Morning,  Evening, 
You  Like,  and  numerous  other  properties.  The  Hun- 
ter Mining  Company  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  their 
mill  by  fire  this  summer  and  at  the  present  the  prop- 
erty is  not  being  operated.  Report  is  that  they  ex- 
pect to  rebuild  this  winter  and  arrangements  and  plans 
are  now  made  for  new  concentrating  plant.  The  mine 
is  a  valuable  one  and  produces  a  high-grade  ore.  The 
Morning  Mining  Company,  situated  at  this  point,  is 
operated  by  Larson  &  Greenough,  who  are  working 
the  Morning,  Evening  and  You  Like  mines.  They 
have  a  six-hundred-ton  concentrating  plant  in  opera- 
tion, a  narrow-gauge  railroad  and  are  producing  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  tons  of  concentrates 
per  month,  giving  employment  to  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  men. 

Canyon  creek  is  and  has  always  been  the  heaviest 
producer  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  At  the  mouth  of 
the  creek  is  situated  the  Standard  mill,  the  ore  from 
the  Standard  mine  five  miles  up  the  creek  being 
brought  down  by  the  railroad  to  the  mill,  concentrat- 
ing about  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  tons  per  day, 
and  producing  about  two  thousand  two  hundred  tons 
of  concentrates  per  month.  The  ore  from  this  prop- 
erty produces  the  highest  grade  of  concentrates  in  the 
camp  and  as  a  dividend-payer  has  probably  exceeded 
that  of  any  other  company  in  the  district.  The  For- 
mosa mine  and  mill  is  the  next  property  up  the  creek, 
being  situated  about  a  mile  below  Gem.  The  com- 
pany have  erected  during  the  present  year  a  seventy- 
five-ton  mill,  which  has  only  recently  been  completed 
and  very  little  ore  has  yet  been  taken  from  this 
property.  The  Granite  mill  comes  next  and  at  pres- 
ent is  not  being  operated.  The  Gem  mill  belonging 
to  the  Milwaukee  Mining  Company  comes  next  and 
is  now  being  run  on  ore  from  the  Mammoth  mine. 
The  Mammoth  vein  is  on  the  same  ledge  as  the  Stand- 
ard and  this  property  also  produces  high-grade  con- 
centrates. The  Gem  mine  has  been  a  valuable  pro- 
ducer and  dividend-payer,  but  at  present  only  the 
upper  workings  are  being  worked  by  leasers,  the  lower 
part  of  the  mine  being  allowed  to  fill  with  water  dur- 
ing the  low  prices  prevailing  for  lead  and  silver  last 
year.  The  mill  having  been  leased  to  the  Mammoth 
company,  it  is  not  likely  that  any  extensive  mining 
operations  will  be  resumed  until  the  expiration  of  this 
lease.  The  Frisco  mine  and  mill,  about  a  mile  above 
the  Gem,  are  being  worked  very  extensively.  The 
company  has  expended  a  large  amount  of  money  in 
improvements  and  development  work  since  January  lit 


434 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


of  this  year.  The  mill  started  up  in  July  and  is  now 
shipping  from  one  thousand  eight  hundred  to  two 
thousand  tons  per  month  and  giving  employment  to 
about  two  hundred  men.  The  product  from  this  prop- 
erty is  considerably  above  the  average,  running  high 
in  silver.  The  controlling  interest  has  recently  changed 
hands  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  London 
Exploration  Company,  of  England.  Joseph  McDon- 
ald is  the  resident  manager  for  the  company.  The 
Black  Bear  mine  and  mill,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
above  the  Frisco,  were  operated  in  early  days,  but  for 
several  years  have  lain  idle,  the  company,  composed 
of  eastern  parties,  becoming  more  or  less  involved  in 
financial  difficulties  during  the  panic  of  1893.  The 
Standard  mine  is  the  next  property  and  adjacent  to 
it  is  the  Mammoth.  The  ore  from  the  Standard  is 
taken  to  the  mouth  of  Canyon  creek  and  milled,  and 
that  from  the  Mammoth  to  the  Gem  Mill  at  Gem. 
The  Standard  mine  at  this  point  gives  employment  to 
about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  men  and  at  their 
mill  about  twenty-five  more,  Emerson  Gee  being  the 
manager  of  the  mill  and  mine,  and  Richard  Wilson 
the  manager  of  the  Mammoth.  The  Mammoth  Com- 
pany give  employment  at  the  mine  and  mill  to  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five. 

The  Tiger  &  Poorman,  at  Burke,  being  the  oldest 
location  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  more  work  has  been 
done  on  this  property  than  any  other;  both  mines 
have  been  steady  producers  since  January,  1887.  The 
Tiger  concentrator  was  completed  in  January,  1887,  and 
during  the  same  month  the  narrow-gauge  railroad 
from  Burke  to  Wallace  was  also  completed.  The  Tiger 
mill  was  the  second  concentrator  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes, 
being  originally  built  for  a  one-hundred-ton  mill.  The 
Poorman  concentrator  was  the  third  mill  built  in  the 
Coeur  d'Alenes  and  was  finished  during  the  fall  of 
1887,  the  concentrator  being  a  three-hundred-ton  plant. 
Prior  to  October,  1895,  both  the  Tiger  and  Poorman 
were  operated  as  separate  companies  and  both  were 
fully  equipped  with  mills,  hoists,  surface  buildings, 
etc.  Patrick  Clark  was  the  operator  of  the  Poor- 
man  Company  up  to  the  time  of  the  consolidation 
in  October,  1893.  The  two  companies  consolidated 
their  interests,  extensive  improvements  were  made  for 
the  economic  working  of  the  two  properties  as  one, 
and  at  about  the  time  of  the  completion  of  these  im- 
provements, in  March,  1896,  a  fire  occurred,  com- 
pletely destroying  both  mills  and  all  surface  improve- 
ments, excepting  the  Tiger  hoist,  of  the  two  properties. 
The  mines  at  the  time  of  the  fire  had  reached  a  depth 
of  one  thousand  feet,  and,  owing  to  the  destruction 
of  their  boiler  plant,  the  mines  were  allowed  to  fill 
with  water.  Considerable  doubt  was  expressed  at 
the  time  as  to  what  the  consequence  might  be  in 
allowing  the  mines  to  fill  with  water,  and  fears  were 
entertained  that  the  ground  might  cave  after  being 
pumped  out.  Rebuilding  of  the  plant  was  commenced 
immediately  after  the  fire  and  a  five-hundred-ton  con- 
centrator with  the  latest  improved  machinery  and  ap- 
pliances for  the  economical  handling  of  ore  was  com- 


pleted and  started  up  in  February  of  this  year. 
Pumping  out  the  mines  was  started  in  August  and 
the  mine  was  unwatered  by  the  middle  of  January, 
with  no  bad  results  showing  on  account  of  its  hav- 
ing been  allowed  to  fill.  The  property  is  now  pro- 
ducing from  one  thousand  eight  hundred  to  two  thous- 
and tons  of  concentrates  per  month  and  giving  em- 
ployment to  one  hundred  and  sixty  men.  The  prop- 
erty is  well  equipped  with  the  heaviest  mining  ma- 
chinery in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  is  so  arranged  that 
all  the  machinery  can  be  operated  by  either  water  or 
steam  power,  the  company  having  a  water  power 
amply  sufficient  for  all  purposes  during  a  portion  of 
the  year.  The  company  are  also  operating  an  elec- 
tric plant  of  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  horse- 
power capacity  which  at  the  time  of  its  completion, 
some  seven  or  eight  years  ago,  was  the  largest  elec- 
tric plant  in  the  United  States.  Both  mines  are  worked 
from  one  shaft,  which  at  the  present  time  is  down 
to  their  one  thousand  three  hundred  station,  being 
one  thousand  one  hundred  feet  vertically  below  the 
bed  of  the  creek.1  The  lowest  workings  show  an  im- 
provement both  in  quality  and  quantity  of  ore  as  depth 
is  increased.  From  all  indications  shown  in  the  low- 
est workings,  there  is  no  reason  why  it  is  not  safe 
to  say  that  the  ore  will  go  down  to  that  point  where 
the  cost  of  handling  the  water  will  stop  further  opera- 
tions. With  improved  pumping  machinery,  water  and 
electric  power,  this  point  should  not  be  reached  until 
after  the  three-thousand-foot  mark  has  been  passed. 
The  depth  of  the  Tiger  &  Poorman  augurs  well  for 
the  future  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  the  mines  of 
this  section,  insuring  a  long  life  ahead  as  a  mining 
camp. 

While  we  read  a  great  deal  about  the  rich  mines 
of  Rossland,  Cripple  Creek,  Creede  and  other  camps, 
there  are  but  few  camps  in  the  west  that  compare 
to  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  as  steady  producers,  and  with 
little  or  no  notoriety  they  have  gone  forward  and 
kept  steadily  at  work  for  the  past  eight  years,  except- 
ing a  period  of  six-months  shut-down  during  the 
strike  of  1892,  and  with  lead  down  as  low  as  two 
dollars  and  fifty  cents  and  silver  as  low  as  fifty-one 
cents.  At  the  present  time  the  shipments  from  the 
Coeur  d'Alenes  will  show  a  tonnage  of  thirteen  thous- 
and tons  per  month,  which  tonnage  is  made  up  as 
follows: 

Tons  per  month. 

Bunker  Hill  &  Sullivan 3,000 

Morning  2,500 

Standard  2,200 

Tiger  &  Poorman  1,800 

Helena  &  Frisco   1,800 

Last  Chance  75° 

Mammoth  600 

Other  smaller  properties  including  prospects 350 

Making  a  total  of  13,000 

The  output  has  averaged  fifty-five  per  cent,  lead  and 
thirty  ounces  of  silver,  which  at  present  prices  show 
a  valuation  of  over  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


435 


dollars  per  month  or  nearly  ten  million  dollars  per 
year  added  to  the  wealth  of  the  world  by  the  lead  and 
silver  shipments  from  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  to  say  noth- 
ing about  the  gold  from  the  north  side,  of  which  there 
is  considerable  quantity,  furnishing  steady  employ- 
ment to  over  two  thousand  men  at  the  best  wages  in 
the  west.  What  other  mining  camp  outside  of  Butte 
can  beat  this  record? 

The  total  lead  production  of  the  United  States  for 
the  year  1896  amounted  to  174,692  tons,  of  which 
135.332  tons  were  desilverized  lead,  33,428  were  soft 
lead  from  the  Missouri  and  Kansas  districts,  and  5,932 
tons  were  hard  or  antimonial  lead.  In  addition  to 
the  domestic  production  there  were  80,159  tons  imported 
in  all  forms,  chiefly  as  base  bullion,  from  Mexico  and 
Canada.  This  year's  production  will  probably  show 
an  increase,  and  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  will  produce  nearly 
one-half  of  the  entire  production.  It  is  to  this  camp 
that  American  Smelters  now  have  to  look  for  their 
largest  supply  of  lead  ore. 

THE  LEAD  BELT  OF  THE  COEUR  D'ALENES. 

Lead  was  first  discovered  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  min- 
ing district,  in  northern  Idaho,  on  Canyon  creek  in 
the  fall  of  1884,  the  discovery  at  that  time  being 
the  Tiger  mine,  situated  at  the  town  of  Burke.  Dur- 
ing same  year  a  few  other  locations  were  made  on 
Canyon  creek,  a  few  at  Mullan,  and  in  the  fall  of 
1885  the  Bunker  Hill  &  Sullivan  mines  were  discov- 
ered at  Wardner. 

At  the  time  these  discoveries  were  made  the  coun- 
try was  inaccessible,  with  no  railroads,  wagon  roads 
or  trails,  and  the  only  way  of  getting  in  was  by  foot; 
ten  to  fifteen  miles'  travel  per  day  was  about  all  the 
distance  a  prospector  could  cover,  owing  to  the  heavy 
underbrush  and  timber  at  that  time.  The  prospector 
of  that  day  who  has  not  kept  posted  with  the  prog- 
ress of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  would  hardly  be  able  to 
recognize  the  country  at  this  time.  The  camp  at  pres- 
ent may  be  divided  into  four  districts,  viz.:  Canyon 
Creek,  Wardner,  Mullan  and  Nine  Mile,  and  stand- 
ing in  the  importance  of  output  in  the  order  named. 
The  veins  in  the  Canyon  creek  district  are  true  fis- 
sure veins  and  as  such  are  likely  to  go  to  great  depth, 
some  of  them  having  already  reached  a  depth  of  one 
thousand  feet  to  one  thousand  two  hundred  feet,  with 
no  signs  of  any  decrease  in  quality  or  quantity  of 
ore.  The  ore  shutes  in  all  the  mines  on  Canyon  creek 
are  well  defined,  regular  in  width  and  length  and  lying 
between  two  walls  that  require  but  very  little  pros- 
pecting outside  the  walls  or  ore-bearing  bodies.  The 
shutes  are  much  longer  than  usually  found  in  other  ' 
camps  with  like  character  of  ore.  The  pay  streaks 
vary  from  two  to  thirty  feet  in  width  and  the  ore  is 
comparatively  clean,  requiring  no  sorting  of  waste, 
that  is,  everything  between  the  walls  being  milled. 
This  district  lies  between  the  Mullan  and  Nine  Mile 
districts,  and  being  in  the  center  the  ore  bodies  are 
larger  and  richer.  In  the  Wardner  district  the  veins 


are  not  so  regular  and  defined.  The  ore  bodies  lie 
between  the  two  walls,  which  are  from  200  feet  to 
300  feet  apart;  between  these  walls  the  vein  is  filled 
with  ledge  matter,  the  ore  bodies  or  pay  ore  being 
bunchy  in  character  and  somewhat  irregular  as  to 
position,  requiring  a  large  amount  of  prospecting 
work  and  considerable  sorting  of  the  waste  from  the 
ore  when  found.  It  would  be  called  more  of  a  min- 
eral zone  than  a  fissure  vein.  The  ore  bodies  when 
found  are  large,  being  anywhere  from  two  to  one 
hundred  feet  in  width,  but  the  shutes  are  usually  short 
in  length.  The  Mullan  district  more  fully  resembles 
the  Canyon  creek  veins,  but  the  ore  bodies  do  not 
carry  as  high  values  in  silver.  The  Nine  Mile  is  also 
similar  to  Canyon  creek  with  the  exception  that  the 
shutes  are  not  as  regular  or  defined  and  the  ore  bodies 
not  so  long  or  wide. 

Generally  speaking,  as  to  the  formation  of  the  camp, 
the  country  rock  is  slate  with  more  or  less  quartz- 
ite  and  is  said  to  resemble  closely  the  formation  of 
the  Hartz  mountains  in  Germany,  in  which  district 
the  lead  mines  have  been  worked  for  the  last  cen- 
tury to  a  depth  of  over  three  thousand  feet.  The  gen- 
eral character  of  the  ore  is  an  argentiferous  galena, 
and  on  an  average  it  carries  about  one-half  an  ounce 
of  silver  to  one  per  cent,  of  lead.  The  output  of  the 
camp  for  the  last  ten  years  has  been  steadily  increas- 
ing, and  in  1897  the  Coeur  d'Alene  lead  district  pro- 
duced nearly  forty  per  cent,  of  the  entire  lead  product 
of  the  United  Slates.  It  is  on  this  district  that  the 
smelters  rely  principally  for  their  supply  of  lead  ores. 

From  official  figures  I  append  the  following  lead 
statistics  for  the  past  four  years;  showing  the  United 
States  production  and  consumption  of  lead,  together 
with  average  prices  for  same: 

PIG-LEAD    STATISTICS.    1894  TO    1897. 

Tons  produced.  1894          1895          1896          1897 

Deslvd  product  JJ.  S. 


Missouri-Galena   

38,113 

38.189 

44,616 

»3-"4/0 
43.820 

Total  U.  S.  produc- 
tion   

1=8    T  QA 

Used    from    imported 
ores  and  bullion.  .  . 
Imported  foreign  pig. 

29.276. 
8,572 

48,O2O 

22,947 

27.451 
2,414 

30,528 
1,740 

Total  supply   . 

196  O42 

212  876 

7?C   S-f^y 

Re-exported  manu- 
factured   

QCO 

2048 

Decrease  or  increase 
in  stocks  

195.092 
2  OOO 

236,856 

211,376 

227.313 

Total  consumption.  197,092    225,356    222,276    223,313 


Stocks,   Dec.   3ist 2,000       13.500        2,600        6,600 

Yearly   average   price 
of  "Common"  at  N. 


$312        $3.12          $2.83      $3.38 


Tons  of  2.000  Ibs.  throughout. 


436 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


From  the  above  statistics  for  the  year  1897,  the  total 
United  States  production  shows  196,295  tons,  of  which 
amount  the  Coeur  d'Alene  lead  belt  produced  69.600 
tons  of  metallic  lead,  having  shipped  during  the  year 
1897,  116,000  tons  of  concentrates  which  will  average 
sixty  per  cent,  lead  and  thirty  ounces  silver  to  the 
ton, — this  output  for  the  year  1897  being  made  up 
from  the  three  districts — Canyon  Creek.  Wardner  and 
Mullan,  as  follows:  Canyon  Creek.  54.565  tons;  Ward- 
ner, 36.715  tons;  Mullan,  23,660  tons;  and  furnished 
by  the  following  mines: 

Tons. 
C  C    Tiger  &  Poorman  Mining  Co.  (9  mos.).  . .  .16.740 

a  r    Mammoth  Mining  Co 4,360 

n  e  Standard  Mining  Co 22.075 

y  e  Helena  &  Frisco  Mining  Co.  (5  mos.) 10,750 

o  k  Milwaukee   Mining  Co 600 

n       Formosa  Mining  Co 40 

\\r    A         j  Bunker  Hill  &  Sullivan  Mining  Co.  ..29.600 
Wardner  ]  Last  Chance  Minjng  CQ » SM»u 

Mullan:  Morning  Mining  Co 23,660 

From  sundry  other  smaller  claims  (estimated)..   1,060 


Total    116.000 

Of  this  116,000  of  concentrates  shipped,  the  lead 
contents  will  average  for  the  district  sixty  per  cent, 
lead,  producing  69.600  tons  desilverized  lead,  contain- 
ing 3,480,000  ounces  silver,  being  an  average  of  thirty 
ounces  to  the  ton  of  concentrates  shipped.  The  aver- 
age price  for  lead  for  1897  was  three  dollars  and  thirty- 
eight  cents  per  one  hundred  pounds,  and  the  average 
price  of  silver  per  ounce  for  1897  was  fifty-nine  cents, 
showing  a  gross  value  of  lead,  $4,704.960.  and  a  gross 
value  of  silver,  $2,053,200,  making  a  total  of  $6,758.160. 

Statistics  so  far  this  year  (1898)  show  a  general  fall- 
ing off  in  the  lead  production  of  the  United  States  of 
about  twenty  per  cent.,  while  British  Columbia  shows 
a  reduction  of  about  thirty  per  cent.  This  falling  off 
of  the  production  and  the  natural  advance  in  all  the 
products  on  account  of  the  war  have  had  the  effect  to 
advance  the  price  of  lead,  and  prices  to-day  are  about 
one-half  a  cent  higher  than  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  with  probabilities  of  a  still  further  advance. 
Should  the  war  continue  long,  Spanish  production, 
which  cuts  quite  a  figure,  must  be  considerably  de- 
creased; and  this  and  the  numerous  sums  of  money 
to  be  spent  on  the  navies  of  the  world  for  the  next 
few  years  must  create  a  large  demand  for  all  mate- 
rials. The  construction  of  the  larger  guns  for  the  navy 
requires  more  lead  than  is  demanded  for  the  use  of 
the  guns  afterward,  in  actual  warfare. — the  guns  using 
iron  and  steel  for  the  projectiles,  while  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  guns  there  is  an  average  of  from  thirty 
to  sixty  tons  of  lead  used  per  gun  for  counter-weights 
on  the  disappearing  gun  carriages.  This  shortage  of 
production  from  other  sources,  the  probable  increase 
for  the  use  of  lead  in  gun  construction  and  electrical 
machinery,  would  indicate  higher  prices  for  the  ma- 
terial and  better  times  for  the  Coeur  d'Alenes. 

That  the  Coeur  d'Alene  district  is  getting  ready  to 
take  advantage  of  these  prices  is  evidenced  by  the  gen- 
eral activity  throughout  the  entire  district,  new  pros- 


pects being  opened  up  and  getting  into  the  hands  of 
capital  able  to  work  them,  and  all  of  the  older  mines 
preparing  for  a  larger  output.  Nine  Mile  district  will 
be  a  producer  in  a  short  time.  The  Black  Cloud  Com- 
pany have  recently  erected  a  one-hundred-ton  concen- 
trator, which  will  be  ready  for  operation  August  1st. 
The  Custer  mine  is  also  being  worked  again;  consid- 
erable work  has  been  done  on  the  Tamarack  &  Chesa- 
peake properties,  also  on  the  Cowan  and  Blue  Grouse, 
as  well  as  numerous  other  properties  on  Nine  Mile, 
— all  of  which  make  a  good  showing.  There  is  every 
reason  to  expect  that  Nine  Mile  next  year  will  show 
quite  a  tonnage.  That  the  permanency  of  the  camp 
is  assured  is  fully  evidenced  by  the  workings  of  the 
older  mines.  The  first  mines  discovered  in  the  camp 
are  all  working  to-day  and  turning  out  more  ore 
than  ever  before  in  their  history. 

The  Tiger  &  Poorman,  the  first  location  in  the  belt, 
has  been  a  steady  producer  since  1887;  the  Tiger  shaft 
is  down  to  the  one  thousand  four  hundred  level, — 
a  perpendicular  distance  of  one  thousand  two  hundred 
feet.  The  lower  workings  of  this  property  are  better 
to-day  than  they  were  nearer  the  surface.  The  Helena 
&  Frisco,  in  the  same  canyon,  is  down  a  depth  of  one 
thousand  feet  vertically,  with  same  conditions.  From 
these  two  properties,  which  are  the  deepest  in  the 
camp,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  deep  mining  in  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes  is  only  in  its  infancy  and  with  a  long  future 
in  store. 

All  the  producing  mines  have  concentrators  of  their 
own,  which  for  extensive  and  close  work  cannot  be 
excelled  anywhere  in  the  United  States.  All  of  them 
are  equipped  with  both  water  and  steam  power,  and 
for  six  months  in  the  year  are  able  to  run  by  water 
power,  effecting  considerable  saving  in  operating  ex- 
penses. All  are  equipped  with  machine  shops,  enab- 
ling the  mines  to  do  most  of  their  repair  work  about 
the  mines  and  mills.  Nowhere  do  you  find  the  busi- 
ness of  mining  conducted  on  better  business  principles 
than  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  The  ore  is  here,  the  veins 
are  permanent,  and  while  it  requires  considerable  money 
to  open  up  the  properties  as  well  as  large  outlays  for 
machinery  to  handle  the  ore,  after  this  is  done  it 
simply  becomes  a  business  proposition  to  get  out  the 
ore  as  cheaply  as  possible.  Every  advantage  is  used 
for  the  economical  working  of  the  ore  with  as  little 
handling  of  same  as  possible,  from  the  time  the  ore 
is  taken  from  the  mine  until  loaded  on  the  cars  in 
the  shape  of  concentrates. 

Air  drills  are  used  almost  altogether  for  the  break- 
ing of  the  ore  in  the  mines,  all  the  mines  being 
equipped  with  the  best  compressing  plants  that  money 
can  buy,  and  some  of  the  plants  having  capacities  of 
forty  to  sixty  drills,  and  very  few  less  than  twenty 
drill  plants.  Heavy  mining  machinery  of  all  kinds 
is  used,  there  being  two  20x60  direct-acting  hoists  now 
working  in  the  camp,  situated  on  the  Tiger  &  Poor- 
man and  Helena  &  Frisco  properties.  These  hoists 
are  built  to  go  to  a  depth  of  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred feet  and  handle  from  six  hundred  to  seven  hun- 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


437 


dred  tons  of  ore  per  day,  besides  handling  the  waste 
and  necessary  mining  supplies,  and  requiring  from 
five  hundred  to  six  hundred  horse  power  to  operate 
them.  Pumps  of  a  capacity  of  one  thousand  gallons 
per  minute,  hoisting  one  thousand  feet  in  one  lift, 
are  to  be  found  in  these  mines.  Some  idea  of  the  size 
of  these  pumps  and  the  amount  of  power  required  to 
operate  same,  may  be  formed  when  it  is  consid- 
ered that  few  cities  of  twenty  thousand  population 
have  larger  water-works  for  supplying  the  city  than 
these  same  pumps,  which  are  used  only  for  keeping 
some  of  the  mines  dry.  From  one  thousand  to  one  thous- 
and five  hundred  horse  power  is  not  uncommon  for  the 
amount  of  power  required  to  operate  the  machinery 
of  some  of  the  mines  of  the  district;  and  to  furnish 
this  power,  water,  electricity  and  steam  are  generally 
used.  Water  power  costs  nothing  outside  the  devel- 
opment of  the  power,  which  first  cost  of  installation 
does  not  generally  exceed  that  of  first  cost  of  steam 
plant  for  same  amount  of  power;  but  expenses  of 
operation  are  only  nominal  after  flumes  and  water 
wheels  are  in  place.  With  steam,  the  cost  of  furnish- 
ing power  is  quite  an  item,  with  some  companies  re- 
quiring an  expenditure  of  from  thirty-five  to  fifty  thous- 
and dollars  per  year.  This  will  be  remedied  within 
a  few  years  by  the  installation  of  large  electrical  plants 
which  will  be  operated  by  water  power  and  which  will 
distribute  the  power  for  the  different  mines  interested, 
from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand  horse  power  each. 
Such  an  enterprise  will  be  a  paying  investment  and 
can  not  long  be  delayed,  there  being  several  suffi- 
cient water  powers  within  forty  to  fifty  miles  of  the 
camp.  When  this  is  installed  it  will  materially  add  to 
the  life  of  the  mines  and  the  permanency  of  the  dis- 
trict, cheapening  the  cost  of  power  and  allowing  low- 
grade  properties  to  be  worked  at  a  profit. 

The  shipping  facilities  of  the  camp  cannot  be  ex- 
celled in  any  mining  camp  in  the  west.  There  are 
two  transcontinental  railroads  running  to  the  mill  doors 
of  nearly  all  the  producing  mines  of  the  camp.  The 
ore  is  delivered  direct  from  the  mill  to  the  cars  with- 
out any  team-hauling  and  the  only  improvement  in 
this  line  would  be  a  reduction  in  railroad  freights, 
which  the  camp  is  entitled  to,  not  only  on  account  of 
the  magnitude  of  the  tonnage  furnished,  but  more 
especially  on  account  of  excessive  freight  charges  in 
comparison  with  rates  given  other  camps.  Present 
freight  rates,  which  will  average  twelve  dollars  per  ton 
to  Denver  and  Colorado  points,  should  be  reduced 
at  least  one-third.  Smelter  rates  should  also  be  re- 
duced. Without  the  lead  ores  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes, 
more  than  one-half  the  smelters  now  in  operation 
would  be  compelled  to  close  down,  and  without  our 
lead  ores  the  dry  ores  of  Colorado  and  Utah  could 
not  be  worked. 

The  present  condition  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  is  one 
of  prosperity.  We  are  furnishing  steady  employment 
to  fully  two  thousand  men  in  the  working  of  the  mines 
and  mills  at  the  best  wages  in  the  west.  Fully  three 
thousand  more  men  derive  their  living  indirectly  from 


the  mines  and  mills,  and  depend  upon  their  prosperity. 
This,  with  the  women  and  children,  will  give  a  popu- 
lation of  eight  to  ten  thousand  living  immediately  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  camp  and  all  more  or  less  inter- 
ested in  the  working  of  the  mines  in  this  district.  The 
pay  roll  of  the  camp  for  wages  paid  out  each  month 
will  amount  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars, or  three  million  dollars  per  annum.  The  railroad 
companies  are  paid  for  outgoing  and  incoming  freights 
not  less  than  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars 
per  annum,  and  the  smelters,  for  the  treatment  of  the 
ore,  nearly  a  million  more  annually. 

Where  can  you  find  a  more  prosperous  condition  of 
affairs?  Were  it  not  for  the  few  agitators  who  infest 
the  camp,  and  who  not  only  commit  lawless  acts  them- 
selves (which  are  a  disgrace  to  the  community  and  an 
outrage  upon  the  liberties  of  law-abiding  citizens)  but 
draw  others  into  them  who  are  opposed  to  such  things, 
but  dare  not  assert  their  opinions  concerning  same, 
for  fear  of  incurring  the  enmity  of  organized  labor, — 
we  would  have  one  of  the  best  and  most  prosperous 
camps  in  the  west. 

The  Miners'  Union  and  the  Knights  of  Labor  prac- 
tically control   the   work   of   the   camp   outside   of   the 
Wardner  district,  which  is  a  non-union  camp,  the  other 
camps  being  union  camps  and  paying  the  union  scale 
of  wages   which   is   three   dollars   and   fifty   cents  per 
day  for  underground  men  and  three  dollars  per  day 
for  all   men   above  ground.     These  two   organizations 
are  a  power  in  the  district  and  could  do  and  do  ac- 
complish a  great  deal  of  good  in  relieving  the  suffer- 
ing of  their  fellow   workmen   in   case  of  sickness  and 
accidents,  by  paying  them  weekly  allowances  and  look- 
ing after  their  sick,   and   in   case  of  death  by   giving 
them  a  decent  burial  and  paying  all  funeral  expenses. 
For  their  efforts  in  this  direction,  as  well  as  to  secure 
a  good  rate  of  wages,  no  reasonable  person  can  object 
to  their  union;  and  were  it  not  for  the  agit.ator  who 
makes   himself  conspicuous  under  the  guise  of  work- 
ing  for   the    cause    of   labor,    but    in    reality    working 
against  the  laboring  man's  interest  by  stirring  up  strife 
and  discord  between  laborer  and  employer,  the  country 
would   be    better   off   and    more   prosperous.     By    the 
co-operation   of  the  better   class   of   members   of   the 
Miners'  Union  and  the  Knights  of  Labor,  which  ele- 
ment  is  largely   in   the  majority   in  both  orders,   with 
the   law-abiding   element   of   the   business   community, 
working  together  in   harmony,  the  restoration   of  law 
and  order  could  easily  be  brought  about  and   a  stop 
put  to  the  many  outrages  that  have  been  a  disgrace 
to  this  section  of  the  country  and  that  have  prevented 
outside  capital   from  seeking  investment  in  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes,  forcing  capital  to  British  Columbia  and  other 
points   where   the   opportunities    for   profitable   invest- 
ments  are   not   half   so   good   or   sure   as   in    the   lead 
belt  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.     The  unions  for  their  own 
interests,  as  well  as  in  the  interest  of  organized  labor 
at   large,    should    lend   their   assistance   to   put   a   stop 
to  some  of  the  occurrences  which  have  taken  place  in 
the  camp  and   for   which   the  unions  as   a  body  have 


438 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


been  blamed,  while  as  organizations  they  have  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  same,  but  have  allowed  a  few 
of  their  members  to  commit  these  acts  and  to  cover 
them  under  the  plea  that  it  had  been  done  for  the 
cause  of  labor, — thereby  using  the  unions  as  a  cloak 
to  cover  their  acts.  That  the  better  element  in  both 
organizations  of  the  camp  do  not  approve  and  counte- 
nance these  outrages,  the  writer  is  satisfied  from  a 
personal  acquaintance  with  a  large  number  of  its  mem- 
bers. 

LABOR  TROUBLES  IN  THE  COEUR  D'ALENE 
DISTRICT. 

The  following  account  of  the  recent  labor  trou- 
bles in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mining  district  is 
contributed  by  H.  H.  Smith,  of  the  Cincinnati 
Post,  who,  as  a  reporter  of  the  Scripps-McRae 
League,  was  present  on  the  scene  and  made 
careful  investigation  of  the  matter: 

The  blowing  up  of  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  mill 
at  Wardner  on  April  29,  1899,  entailing  a  financial  loss 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  and  the  mur- 
der of  two  men,  was  the  culminating  act  of  violence  in 
the  ten-years  war  between  labor  and  capital  that  has 
waged  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  In  the  active  prose- 
cution of  that  warfare  many  lives  have  been  sacrificed, 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  property 
have  been  blown  to  pieces  with  dynamite,  and  the  devel- 
opment of  the  richest  and  most  extensive  silver-lead 
mines  in  the  •  United  States  has  been  retarded  to  a 
degree  that  leaves  the  country  practically  in  its  infancy, 
when  under  natural  conditions  it  would  now  be  em- 
ploying thousands  of  men.  More  regrettable  is  the  fact 
that  as  this  is  written  things  are  still  in  a  condition  of 
disorder,  and  no  one  can  foretell  what  the  end  will  be. 

Troubles  between  the  mine  managers  and  their 
employes  commenced  almost  with  the  opening  up  of 
the  new  country,  but  it  was  not  until  1891  that  the 
first  serious  dispute  arose.  In  that  year  the  employes 
of  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  Company  struck  to 
enforce  their  demand  that  they  be  allowed  to  pay  their 
hospital  dues  of  one  dollar  a  month  to  a  hospital  of 
their  own  selection,  and  they  gained  their  point.  The 
mine-owners  then  organized  an  association  of  their 
own  with  which  to  combat  the  miners'  unions  of  Gem, 
Wardner,  Mullan  and  Burke,  and  their  .relations  with 
their  men  became  badly  strained. 

In  1892  all  of  the  principal  mines  closed  down,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  mine-owners  commenced  to  import 
men  and  work  them  under  the  protection  of  hired 
detectives  and  special  officers.  Wages  were  not 
reduced,  but  the  union  men  claimed  that  was  to  follow. 
The  mine-owners  bought  rifles  and  ammunition  for 
their  new  employes  and  the  men  who  guarded  them, 
and  the  union  men  also  armed  themselves  for  the 
approaching  conflict.  On  Monday,  July  11,  a  pitched 
battle  ensued  and  six  men  were  killed,  in  addition  to  the 
blowing  up  of  the  Frisco  mill.  It  has  always  been  a 


disputed  point  as  to  which  side  was  the  direct  cause 
of  the  battle.  The  union  men  insist  that  all  of  the 
trouble  was  created  by  the  imported  Pinkerton,  Hill 
and  Sullivan  agency  detectives  and  that  they  com- 
menced the  bloody  struggle  by  firing  on  and  killing  a 
union  man.  On  the  other  hand,  the  mine-owners  allege 
that  the  unionists  were  responsible  for  the  whole  affair. 
At  any  rate,  some  one  fired  the  first  shot,  and  before 
a  truce  was  patched  up  three  men  on  each  side  were 
dead.  The  unionists  lost  Ed  Cummins  and  two  min- 
ers named  Carlson  and  Hennessy.  Their  opponents' 
death  list  was  made  up  of  Ivory  Bean,  John  Stanlik 
and McDonald. 

A  penstock, — which  was  afterward  known  as  "the 
long  gun  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes" — six  hundred  and 
forty  feet  long,  through  which  water  was  fed  to  the 
turbines,  ran  down  the  side  of  the  mountain  to  the 
'Frisco  mill.  The  union  men  ran  three  or  four  hun- 
dred pounds  of  dynamite  down  the  penstock  and 
exploded  it  and  the  mill  was  blown  to  pieces.  Mc- 
Donald, one  of  the  guards,  was  killed.  The  Gem 
and  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  mills  then  surrendered, 
and  it  was  agreed  that  all  of  the  nonunion  men  should 
be  sent  out  of  the  country  and  that  the  companies 
would  employ  union  men  at  three  dollars  and  a  half 
a  day  for  all  underground  labor. 

Things  then  quieted  down  for  a  time,  but  trouble 
broke  out  at  intervals.  John  Kneebone,  who  had 
deserted  the  union  for  the  mine-owners,  was  murdered 
on  July  3,  1894,  and  F.  D.  Whitney,  a  foreman  at  the 
'Frisco  concentrator,  was  assassinated  on  December  23, 
1897. 

These  crimes,  with  others,  were  laid  at  the  door  of 
the  unions,  but  the  unionists  always  protested  their 
entire  innocence,  and  passed  resolutions  denouncing 
some  of  the  outrages.  The  agreement  entered  into  after 
the  trouble  of  1892  was  lived  up  to  by  all  of  the  com- 
panies except  the  Bunker  Hill  &  Sullivan,  which  soon 
reduced  wages  to  three  dollars  a  day  for  shovelers  and 
car  men  and  three  dollars  and  a  half  for  miners.  In 
1894  it  had  some  more  trouble  with  its  men,  and  again 
reduced  wages  to  two  dollars  and  a  half  and  three  dol- 
lars a  day.  The  Bunker  Hill  &  Sullivan  is  the  only  dry 
mine  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  and  the  company  claimed 
it  was  paying  as  good  wages  as  the  others,  everything 
considered.  Its  management  was  very  antagonistic  to 
the  unions,  and  the  dislike  was  mutual.  The  unions 
declared  it  a  "scab"  mine  and  let  it  go  at  that,  attempt- 
ing no  violence. 

Early  in  1899,  however,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
unionize  the  mine,  and  the  old  fire  broke  out  again. 
On  May  26th  the  company  raised  wages  to  three  dol- 
lars for  shovelers  and  three  dollars  and  a  half  for 
miners,  but  refused  to  recognize  the  union.  Three 
days  later  its  mill  was  blown  up.  The  rioters  seized  a 
Northern  Pacific  train  at  Burke  and  ran  it  to  Ward- 
ner, picking  up  delegations  from  Gem,  Mullan  and 
Wallace.  A  stop  was  made  at  the  'Frisco  magazine 
and  eighty  fifty-pound  boxes  of  dynamite  were  taken. 
By  the  time  the  train  reached  Wardner  it  had  over  a 


1 

•o 

§ 

J-* 

C/5 


h 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


439 


thousand  men  on  board.  Many  of  them  were  masked 
and  carried  rifles.  They  evidently  anticipated  and  were 
prepared  for  a  fight,  but  they  met  with  no  opposition, 
as  all  of  the  mill  employes  had  heard  of  the  approach 
of  the  Jrain  and  fled  over  the  hills.  James  Cheyne, 
one  of  the  mill  men,  was  shot  and  mortally  wounded 
as  he  was  running  away,  and  Jack  Smith,  one  of  the 
rioters,  was  killed  by  his  companions,  presumably  by 
mistake.  The  eighty  boxes  of  dynamite  were  scattered 
around  the  mill  and  it  was  blown  to  fragments.  The 
rioters  then  returned  home,  and  in  an  hour  everything 
was  quiet  again. 

Governor  Steunenberg  called  for  federal  troops,  and 
several  hundred  were  sent  in  under  command  of  Brig- 
adier General  H.  C.  Merriam.  Martial  law  was 
declared  in  Shoshone  county,  and  Bartlett  Sinclair, 
state  auditor,  was  placed  in  charge  as  the  governor's 
representative.  He  caused  wholesale  arrests,  and  at  one 
time  nearly  one  thousand  men  were  in  custody.  Those 
who  were  considered  to  have  had  no  part  in  the  rioting 
were  released  as  rapidly  as  possible,  but  on  September 
ist  there  were  still  about  one  hundred  men  confined 
in  a  stockade  known  as  the  "bull  pen,"  while  many 
others  were  out  on  bond.  Paul  Corcoran,  financial  sec- 
retary of  the  Burke  Miners'  Union,  was  the  first  one 
of  the  alleged  rioters  to  be  tried.  He  was  convicted 
and  sentenced  to  seventeen  years  in  the  penitentiary. 
Many  other  cases  are  to  be  tried  in  September,  1899— 
the  time  of  this  writing.  Corcoran's  attorneys  alleged 
gross  irregularities  in  his  trial  and  a  motion  was  made 
for  a  rehearing. 

The  sheriff  and  commissioners  of  Shoshone  county 
were  removed  from  office  when  martial  law  was  de- 
clared, as  it  was  claimed  they  sympathized  with  the 
rioters,  and  the  county  attorney  was  suspended  for  the 
same  reason.  Other  officers  were  named  in  their  places. 
The  miners'  unions  were  declared  to  be  criminal  bodies, 
and  the  governor's  representative  issued  an  order  that 
none  should  be  employed  in  or  around  the  mines  with- 
out a  permit  from  him.  Governor  Steunenberg 
declared  that  troubles  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  must  stop 
and  the  miners'  unions  be  wiped  out,  and  that  to  that 
end  martial  law  would  continue  until  his  term  of  office 
expires  on  January  i,  1901.  The  sub-committee  on 
mining  of  the  industrial  commission  visited  Wallace 
and  investigated  the  trouble,  but  could  secure  no  con- 
clusive testimony  that  the  unions  were  responsible  for 
it,  though  members  of  the  unions  might  have  been 
involved  in  it.  All  of  the  union  men  who  were  exam- 
ined swore  that  the  blowing  up  of  the  mill,  or  any 
other  deed  of  violence,  was  never  discussed  or  thought 
of  by  the  unions,  and  was  deplored  by  them.  They 
said  the  mill  was  blown  up  by  outside  hotheads  and 
not  by  members  of  the  unions.  Some  of  the  mine- 
owners  expressed  the  belief  that  very  few  of  the  riot- 
ers were  union  men,  and  even  that  they  did  not  know 
that  property  was  to  be  destroyed  when  they  joined 
the  mob  that  went  to  Wardner.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  all  of  the  leading  spirits  in  the  mob,  who  are 
declared  to  have  never  been  members  of  any  union, 


were  out  of  the  country  long  before  the  soldiers 
arrived,  and  there  seems  to  be  little  likelihood  of  their 
ever  being  apprehended  or  punished. 

THE    STANDARD    GROUP    OF    MINERAL 
CLAIMS. 

The  Standard  group  of  claims  consists  of  the 
following  patented  lode  claims:  Standard,  Ban- 
ner, Snow  Line,  Sancho,  Sandwich,  Youngs- 
town,  Sullivan  Fraction,  Banner  Fraction,  Par- 
allel, Little  Chap,  Mammoth  Fraction,  a  portion 
of  the  Mammoth,  and  Tariff,  also  the  Columbia, 
Crown  Point  and  Tom  Reed, — all  located  in  the 
Coeur  d'Alene  silver-lead  mineral  belt,  Lalande 
mining  district,  Shoshone  county,  Idaho,  one 
mile  from  Burke, — also  the  Union  Mill-site, 
located  at  Wallace,  Idaho,  together  with  water 
rights  and  flumes  from  which  is  developed  about 
three  hundred  horse-power.  The  Standard  claim 
was  located  May  7,  1885,  by  Timotny  McCarthy, 
Timothy  Hynes,  Frank  Hanson  and  John  H. 
Simmons. 

All  the  claims  in  the  Standard  group  are  pat- 
ented, the  patents  having  issued  direct  to  the 
Standard  Mining  Company,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Mammoth,  Tariff  and  Mammoth  Fraction. 
These  claims  are  patented,  but  the  patent  issued 
direct  to  the  original  owners  and  was  afterward 
transferred  to  the  Standard  Mining  Company. 
The  Standard  Mining  Company  is  a  corporation 
of  Idaho.  Its  capital  stock  is  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  divided  into  five  hundred  thou- 
sand shares  of  the  par  value  of  one  dollar  each. 
The  officers  of  the  company  are  as  follows: 
Amasa  B.  Campbell,  president;  John  A.  Finch, 
vice-president  and  treasurer:  W.  E.  Finch,  sec- 
retary. The  stock  is  held  principally  by  the 
Finch  &  Campbell  Syndicate  of  Youngstown, 
Ohio,  Chicago  and  Milwaukee. 

The  property  was  purchased  by  the  Standard 
Company  in  the  spring  of  '1891,  when  the  de- 
velopment work  was  commenced.  The  first  ore 
was  struck  in  the  fall  of  1892,  and  since  that  time 
it  has  been  a  steady  shipper  and  dividend-payer. 
The  property  has  been  worked  through  four 
tunnels.  The  lower,  or  Campbell  tunnel,  as  it  is 
called,  is  two  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  long,  and  is  nine  hundred  feet  below  the 
upper  tunnel.  In  all  there  are  probably  over 
ten  thousand  feet  of  tunnel.  At  the  end  of  this 
long  tunnel  is  the  chamber  for  the  hoisting  en- 


440 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


gine.  The  chamber  is  one  hundred  feet  long, 
fifty  feet  wide  and  thirty-six  feet  high.  Here 
they  have  a  twenty  by  sixty  first-motion 
hoisting  engine,  built  by  Fraser  &  Chalmers, 
capable  of  hoisting  two  thousand  five  hundred 
feet.  The  shaft  is  down  two  hundred  feet  from 
the  Campbell  tunnel,  and  a  drift  has  been  run  to 
strike  the  vein,-  where  it  is  found  they  have  an 
ore  chute  over  six  hundred  feet  long  and  from 
fifteen  to  forty  feet  wide.  But  little  stoping  has 
been  done  from  this  level  up. 

The  ore  is  silver-lead,  and  the  average  assay 
of  the  entire  vein  is  ten  to  fifteen  per  cent  lead 
and  twelve  to  fifteen  ounces  silver.  This  ore  is 
transported  from  the  mine, one  mile  below  Burke, 
Idaho,  to  the  concentrator,  which  is  located  at 
Wallace,  a  distance  of  six  miles.  Here  the  ore 
is  concentrated  into  a  shipping  product.  It  re- 
quires about  five  and  eight-tenths  tons  of  crude 
ore  to  make  one  ton  of  concentrates,  or  ship- 
ping product.  The  capacity  of  the  mill  is  six 
hundred  tons  of  crude  ore  in  twenty-four  hours. 
The  average  assay  of  concentrates  is  fifty-eight 
to  sixty  per  cent  lead  and  about  fifty-eight  to 
sixty  ounces  of  silver  to  the  ton. 

Up  to  May  i,  1899,  the  Standard  shipped 
68,295  tons  of  concentrates,  the  net  value  of 
which  (after  paying  freight  charges  to  the  smelter 
and  treatment  on  the  ore,  which  averaged  about 
twenty-two  dollars  per  ton),  was  $3,416,248.87. 
The  company  has  paid  in  dividends  the  sum  of 
$1,775,000.00,  or  $3.55  per  share.  The  original 
cost  of  the  property  was  $33,804.80.  The  amount 
expended  for  improvements  and  equipment  to 
date  is  $280,000.00,  all  of  which  was  taken  out  of 
the  mine  in  addition  to  the  amount  paid  in  divi- 
dends. The  property  is  under  the  management 
of  Finch  &  Campbell  of  Spokane,  Washington, 
their  representative  being  H.  R.  Allen,  of  Wal- 
lace, Idaho. 

The  Standard  is  one  of  the  best  equipped  mines 
in  the  world,  and  it  was  developed  from  the  grass 
roots  by  and  under  the  supervision  of  Archie 
McCallum,  who  is  at  present  in  charge  of  the 
mine. 

THE  HECLA  GROUP. 

The  Hecla  mine  is  located  at  Burke,  Shoshone 
county  (Lalande  mining  district).  The  original 
claims  comprising  the  Hecla  group  were  the 
Hecla  and  Katie  May  lode  claims,  located  by 


James  Toner  on  May  5,  1885.  The  property  was 
purchased  by  the  Hecla  Mining  Company,  a  cor- 
poration of  Idaho,  the  principal  stockholders  be- 
ing A.  B.  Campbell,  John  A.  Finch,  Patrick 
Clark,  Simon  Haley  and  a  party  of  Milwaukee 
gentlemen.  Up  to  January  i,  1898,  the  Hecla 
shipped  thirteen  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  lead- 
silver  ore  while  the  development  work  was  pro- 
gressing. This  ore  was  taken  out  partly  by  the 
company  and  partly  by  leasers.  During  the 
spring  and  summer  of  1898  the  Hecla  Mining 
Company  of  Washington  was  organized,  with  a 
capital  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
— one  million  shares  of  the  par  value  of  twenty- 
five  cents  each, — the  officers  being:  A.  B. 
Campbell,  president;  John  A.  Finch,  vice-presi- 
dent; and  H.  R.  Allen,  secretary  and  treasurer. 
The  new  company  purchased  the  Hecla  and 
Katie  May  claims  from  the  old  Hecla  company, 
and  also  purchased  the  Or-No-Go  fraction  lode 
from  James  Doherty,  M.  Maher  and  John  Stack. 

A  bond  was  taken  on  the  Orphan  Boy,  Orphan 
Girl,  Leadville,  Denver,  Climax  and  Sylvanite, 
from  John  H.  Van  Dorn,  which  was  subsequently 
taken  up  by  the  company.  Later  on  the  com- 
pany purchased  the  Muscatine  and  Burlington 
claims  from  J.  H.  Van  Dorn,  John  Frank  and 
Ed.  Ehrenberg,  and  also  the  Muscatine  Fraction 
and  Croesus  from  H.  R.  Allen. 

In  all,  the  Hecla  group  now  comprises  fifteen 
lode  claims  and  a  mill-site,  the  total  area  being 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres.  The  develop- 
ment work  consists  of  a  sixteen  hun- 
dred-foot tunnel  run  in  at  a  depth  from  the  sur- 
face of  about  nine  hundred  feet,  and  a  four- 
hundred-foot  tunnel,  which  is  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  feet  above  the  long  tunnel.  In  the 
lower  tunnel  they  have  an  ore  chute  about  three 
hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  long,  averaging 
three  feet  wide.  They  still  have  five  hundred  feet 
to  drive  before  getting  under  the  immense  crop- 
pings  which  show  on  the  surface. 

The  Hecla  is  still  a  prospect,  but  it  is  more 
than  paying  its  own  way.  It  is  being  worked  by 
a  force  of  twenty  men.  The  ore  is  milled  at  the 
Standard  mill  at  Wallace,  being  transported  over 
the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Company's 
road,  a  distance  of  seven  miles.  The  average 
grade  of  the  ore  is  fifty-eight  per  cent  lead  and 
forty  ounces  silver.  The  property  is  under  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


441 


management  of  Messrs.  Finch  &  Campbell,  of 
Spokane,  Washington,  their  representative  in 
this  district  being  Mr.  H.  R.  Allen,  of  Wallace, 
Idaho. 

THE    PHILADELPHIA    &    IDAHO    MINING    & 
SMELTING  COMPANY. 

The  above  named  company  was  organized  in 
1882  by  Colonel  Green  and  Philadelphia  parties, 
who  built  two  stock  plants  and  a  large  smelter 
plant  at  Muldoon,  Elaine  county,  this  state,  and 
operated  them  for  several  years,  in  Muldoon. 
The  ores  in  the  vicinity  of  Ketchum,  Idaho,  were 
of  a  higher  grade,  and  were  attracting  more  at- 
tention than  those  they  were  then  mining,  and 
certain  Philadelphia  gentlemen  had  become  in- 
terested in  them,  and  they  induced  the  Philadel- 
phia Mining  &  Smelting  Company  to  come  to 
Ketchum.  A  small  test  was  made  with  a  little 
tester,  and  in  the  course  of  less  than  a  week  a 
profit  of  ten  thousand  dollars  was  made!  They 
then  joined  with  the  other  Philadelphia  people 
and  organized  the  Philadelphia  &  Idaho  Com- 
pany. 

The  Philadelphia  company  that  had  first  begun 
the  work  had  acquired  the  North  Star  mine,  the 
West  Fork  group,  the  Ervin  and  the  Ten  Brook 
on  Boyle  mountains,  the  Silver  Star,  Salamander, 
Xe\v  York  Boy  and  the  Muldoon.  The  build- 
ings at  the  North  Star  and  Silver  Star  mines 
were,  on  the  reorganization,  remodeled  and  en- 
larged; power  was  obtained  from  two  water 
wheels.  The  flume,  coming  out  from  Warm 
Springs  creek  about  two  miles  above  the  smelter 
and  just  below  the  geyser  hot  springs,  was  easily 
kept  open  during  the  coldest  weather,  which  was 
an  exceptional  advantage,  and  enabled  the  com- 
pany to  continue  their  work  uninterruptedly 
throughout  the  year.  The  operations  for  a  time 
were  so  promising  that  the  proprietors  overdid 
the  work  of  providing  facilities,  especially  by  the 
erection  of  a  mill  at  the  Silver  Star  mine,  at  a 
cost-of  seventy-six  thousand  dollars.  It  was  not 
only  badly  located  but  proved  ill  adapted  to  the 
ore,  of  which  there  was  a  large  quantity  on  hand. 
This  ore,  which  is  still  there,  is  a  galena,  very 
much  mixed  with  silver,  copper  and  iron,  carry- 
ing gold  in  a  true  fissure  vein.  The  silver  and 
lead  might  be  made  to  pay.  The  heavy-grade 
ores,  of  which  there  were  large  quantities  mined, 


have  averaged  two  to  three  hundred  ounces  of 
silver  to  the  ton  in  quartz.  A  great  deal  of 
galena,  which  yielded  sixty  per  cent,  lead  and 
eighty  ounces  of  silver,  was  shipped  to  the  smel- 
ters as  first-class  ore;  but  the  mill  was  built  to 
treat  only  the  more  common  kind,  which  con- 
tained twenty-two  per  cent,  lead,  as  many  ounces 
of  silver,  with  copper  sulphide,  carrying  gold  to 
the  amount  of  ten  to  fifteen  dollars  and  mixed 
with  zinc,  spar,  quartz,  and  lime. 

The  running  of  the  mill,  which  was  located 
upon  the  hill  side,  was  unsuccessful  and  the  insti- 
tution was  shut  down  and  sold;  and  since  that 
time  little  has  been  done  with  it,  except  that  it 
has  been  lea&ed  to  miners  who  work  in  a  small 
way. 

The  most  prominent  property,  the  North  Star, 
has  been  a  continuous  producer  ever  since  1881. 
Although  much*extravagant  outlay  was  incurred, 
the  operation  was  successful.  The  ore  is  not  of 
a  grade  so  high  as  most  of  the  ore  on  Wood 
river,  running  sixty  per  cent,  lead  and  seventy- 
five  to  eighty  ounces  of  silver;  but  many  of  the 
bodies  have  been  large  and  continuous  for  a  con- 
siderable distance, — being  large  enough  to  yield 
over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  each.  There 
have  also  been  considerable  bodies  of  ore  run- 
ning on  the  average  eighteen  per  cent,  lead,  twen- 
ty-two to  twenty-four  ounces  of  silver,  ten  per 
cent,  zinc,  in  arsenical  iron  and  quartz,  with  spar 
and  lime.  These  bodies  have  been  milled  at  the 
North  Star  works,  making  a  fairly  good  grade  of 
concentrates. 

In  1892,  when  the  clean  galena  could  not  be 
obtained  in  sufficiently  large  quantities  to  run 
the  smelters,  the  general  managers  endeavored 
to  run,  in  the  winter  of  1892-3,  on  the  bodies  of 
low-grade  ore  from  the  North  Star  mine;  and, 
owing  chiefly  to  the  presence  of  zinc, — which  ran 
at  times  as  high  as  seventeen  per  cent., — the  work 
was  unsuccessful:  the  smelters  were  closed  and 
have  not  since  been  opened.  The  work  at  the 
North  Star  has  been  continued  by  leasing. 

At  the  Silver  Star  they  now  have  fourteen 
claims,  and  at  the  North  Star  there  are  also  large 
bodies  of  arsenical-iron  pyrite,  which  carry  gold 
from  ten  to  twenty  dollars  to  the  ton.  The  mine  is 
on  the  east  fork  of  Wood  river,  seven  miles  from 
Gimlet  station.  The  Silver  Star  is  thirty  miles 
from  the  town  of  Ketchum.  At  the  town  of 


442 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Ketchum  the  company  have  a  large  and  substan- 
tially built  smelter  and  all  the  appliances  and 
structures, — one  of  the  best  plants  in  the  county, 
and  the  works  are  located  in  a  delightful  situa- 
tion. The  boarding  house  and  buildings  for  the 
offices  of  the  company  are  first-class  and  afford  a 
delightful  residence  and  resort  in  the  summer. 
Wood  river  is  so  near  the  residence  that  its  gur- 
gling current  can  be  heard  there. 

THE  RED  CLOUD  GROUP  OF  MINES. 

This  group  of  mines  is  situated  on  Deer  creek, 
a  tributary  of  Wood  river,  about  twelve  miles  in 
a  northwesterly  direction  from  the  town  of 
Hailey,  in  Mineral  Hill  mining  district,  Elaine 
county,  and  is  owned  by  Lyttleton  Price,  of 
Hailey,  and  Pittsburg  parties.  These  mines  were 
discovered  by  Orin  Porter,  E.  H.  Porter  and 
James  L.  Mason,  in  1880.  The  present  owners 
purchased  them  in  1889,  organized  what  was 
known  as  the  Red  Cloud  Mining  Company,  and 
worked  these  properties  for  several  years,  paying 
in  dividends  ten  thousand  dollars  per  month,  ap- 
proximating in  the  total  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars. 

In  1897  large  quantities  of  water  were  struck 
and  a  deep  tunnel  was  run  on  the  property  for 
the  purpose  of  draining  the  mines  and  exploring 
them  at  greater  depth.  About  this  time  the  com- 
pany put  in  a  water-power  plant,  air-compressor, 
and  also  every  other  mechanical  adjunct  neces- 
sary to  modern  mining;  but,  after  they  had  ex- 
tended their  deep  tunnel  to  a  distance  of  six  thou- 
sand feet  and  made  connection  with  the  upper 
workings,  five  hundred  and  sixty  feet  higher, 
they  found  that  the  country  was  broken  and 
faulted  and  that,  together  with  the  very  low  price 
of  silver  and  lead  then  prevailing,  discouraged  the 
owners  and  they  accordingly  discontinued  opera- 
tions, although  the  mine  was  considered  by  ex- 
perts to  be  one  of  the  most  valuable  in  the  state. 
The  deep  tunnel  opens  and  drains  the  country  to 
a  depth  of  fourteen  hundred  feet. 

United  States  patents  have  been  granted  for 
these  mines,  comprising  sixteen  claims.  The 
Red  Cloud  Mining  Company  has  gone  out  of  ex- 
istence, the  property  being  now  owned  as  above 
stated.  Nothing  has  been  done  for  a  number  of 
years  on  this  property  until  within  a  few  months 
since,  when  operations  were  resumed  under  lease 


by  Lyttleton  Price,  Thomas  Kennelly  and  G.  L. 
Havens,  who  now  have  a  fine  ore  body  developed 
and  are  extracting  and  shipping  ore,  and  from 
present  indications  this  group  of  mines  now 
promises  to  be  one  of  the  most  valuable  proper- 
ties in  the  state  of  Idaho. 

THE  POORMAN  MINE. 

On  War  Eagle  mountain,  a  mile  and  a  half 
southeast  of  Silver  City,  are  a  group  of  about 
twenty  mines,  in  one  of  the  richest  belts  in  that 
section  of  the  state, — a  belt  which  has  afforded 
material  to  render  Silver  City  famous  throughout 
the  civilized  world.  The  Poorman  mine  has  a 
production  record  of  three  million  dollars,  and 
other  properties  of  the  group — as  Bell  Pick,  Oso, 
Illinois  Central,  Jackson  and  Silver  Cord — have 
all  been  good  producers. 

The  Poorman  mine  was  discovered  in  1865, 
and  between  July  9  and  October  I,  1866,  there 
was  shipped  from  it  the  enormous  sum  of  $606,- 
692.  The  ore  consists  of  chloride,  sulphide  of 
silver  and  a  considerable  proportion  of  copper. 
At  a  depth  of  one  hundred  feet  five  hundred 
pounds  of  ruby  silver  were  taken  out  in  one  solid 
piece.  This  piece  of  ore  was  awarded  a  gold 
medal  at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1867.  The 
Poorman  mine  is  said  to  have  been  the  richest 
body  of  ore  for  its  size  ever  discovered.  The 
mine  is  equipped  with  a  ten-stamp  mill,  erected 
in  1895,  and  for  the  transportation  of  ore  from 
the  mine  to  the  mill  there  is  a  wire-cable  tramway 
of  the  Hallidie  system  one  mile  long.  In  1888 
the  property  was  purchased  by  a  syndicate  of 
London,  England,  which  is  incorporated  as  the 
Poorman  Gold  Mines,  limited.  John  B.  Bryson, 
a  resident  of  London,  is  the.  president  of  the 
company,  and  R.  H.  Britt,  a  resident  here,  is  the 
manager.  This  company  contemplates  a  deeper 
cut  into  the  earth  and  a  larger  development,  and 
great  results  are  expected. 

THE  BLACK  JACK  MINE. 

This  famous  mine,  situated  on  Florida  moun- 
tain three  miles  southwest  of  Silver  City  and  one 
and  a  half  miles  from  Dewey,  was  discovered  in 
the  early  '6os,  being  the  first  mine  found  in  this 
mountain.  The  company  was  first  incorporated 
as  the  Black  Jack  Mining  Company,  and  was 
listed  on  the  San  Francisco  Stock  Board.  This 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


443 


company  is  said  to  have  taken  out  one  million  and 
six  hundred  thousand  dollars  worth  of  the  pre- 
cious metals ;  but,  owing:  tec  the  failure  of  the 
Bank  of  California,  in  1875,  all  work  in  this  vicin- 
ity was  stopped,  including  operations  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Black  Jack  mine.  This  property 
was  then  sold  for  debt  and  finally  came  into  the 
possession  of  William  H.  Dewey.  During  the 
period  of  his  ownership  of  the  mine  it  was  worked 
principally  by  lessees,  who  opened  no  new 
ground,  and  the  production  was  very  light. 

In  1889  the  present  owners,  the  Idaho  &  Pitts- 
burg  Mining  &  Milling  Company,  of  Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania,  came  into  possession  of  the  prop- 
erty, by  purchase.  They  were  incorporated  in 
1890,  under  the  laws  of  Kentucky,  with  a  nomi- 
nal capital  of  two  and  a  half  million  dollars,  di- 
vided into  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  shares, 
of  ten  dollars  each.  They  immediately  began  ex- 
tensive work,  building  a  ten-stamp  mill  and  all 
the  necessary  structures  and  starting  a  tunnel  to 
tap  the  ledge  five  hundred  and  seventy  feet  below 
the  deepest  of  the  old  workings.  This  tunnel 
reached  the  ledge  in  1891,  after  passing  through 
over  nine  hundred  feet  of  country  rock,  and  at 
last  found  the  ledge  barren!  Drifting  south, 
however,  on  the  ledge,  a  pay  chute  was  located. 
This  was  cut  in  1892,  and  from  that  time  on  the 
enterprise  has  been  on  a  permanent  producing 
basis,  with  the  exception  of  only  one  month,  dur- 
ing the  panic  of  1893. 

In  1894  a  tunnel  was  started  three  hundred 
feet  below  the  tunnel  above  referred  to,  and  was 
completed  in  1895,  cutting  the  ledge  after  going 
through  two  thousand  and  one  hundred  feet  of 
country  rock.  Connections  were  made  with  the 
upper  levels,  and  from  that  time  on  all  the  ore 
for  the  mill  has  been  taken  out  from  the  lower 
tunnel  and  hauled  directly  to  the  top  of  the  ten- 
stamp  mill,  where  it  is  discharged  into  the  ore 
bin.  In  1896  a  shaft  was  started  to  work  below 
the  lower  tunnel,  which  is  now  (1898)  down  two 
hundred  and  thirty-five  feet;  it  is  equipped  with 
a  cage.  The  power  is  furnished  by  an  air-com- 
pressor at  the  mill,  twenty-six  hundred  feet  dis- 
tant. The  lowest  level  of  the  mine  approximates 
fourteen  hundred  feet  below  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  the  mine  is  opened  up  by  levels  about 
a  hundred  feet  apart.  The  twelve-hundred-foot 
level  connects  with  the  Elaine  tunnel  of  the  Trade 


Dollar  Company,  so  that  it  is  possible  to  go  from 
the  Black  Jack  mill  to  the  Trade  Dollar  by  an 
underground  route,  the  distance  being  seven 
thousand  and  five  hundred  feet, — two  thou- 
sand feet  of  which  being  a  cross-cut  and  the  re- 
mainder a  drift  on  the  ledge. 

The  mill  is  a  Frazier  &  Chalmers  ten-stamp 
combination,  equipped  with  frew  vanners.  There 
are  four  six-foot  vanners,  over  which  the  pulp 
passes  before  going  to  the  pans.  In  the  latter 
the  material  is  treated  by  regular  amalgamation, 
eight  pans  and  four  settlers  being  required.  The 
engine  is  a  C.  &  G.  Cooper  Corliss  single-cylin- 
der structure  of  a  hundred-horse  power.  Two 
seventy-five-horse-power  boilers  generate  the 
steam  required  for  the  plant.  An  Ingersoll-Sar- 
gent  air-compressor,  located  in  the  mill,  furnishes 
the  power  for  the  underground  hoist  previously 
referred  to. 

The  ore  occurs  in  a  medium-hard  quartz;  the 
silver  in  the  form  of  an  argentite  carries  about 
two-thirds  of  the  values,  and  gold  one-third. 
Gold  assays  can  be  obtained  from  picked  speci- 
mens that  will  run  enormously  rich, — as  high  as 
a  thousand  ounces ;  but  the  average  value  of  the 
ore  is  between  thirty  and  forty  ounces  of  silver 
and  ten  dollars  in  gold  to  the  ton. 

Eighty  men  are  employed  at  the  mine  and 
twelve  at  the  mill.  The  mine  and  mill  are  run 
continuously,  with  two  shifts  of  men,  every  day 
and  night  in  the  year  excepting  two  davs  at 
Christmas,  two  at  the  Fourth  of  July  and  one 
Labor  Day.  .  About  seventy  per  cent,  of  the 
values  are  obtained  by  concentration  and  about 
twenty  per  cent,  in  bullion,  making  a  total  of 
ninety  per  cent,  saving.  The  concentrates  are 
shipped  to  Denver  for  final  treatment.  The  of- 
ficers of  the  company  are  John  Irwin,  Jr.,  presi- 
dent; Edward  Bindley,  vice-president:  James 
McKay,  treasurer;  and  Lloyd  L.  Little,  secre- 
tary, residing  at  Pittsburg.  The  local  officers  are 
Frederic  Irwin,  superintendent;  J.  B.  Mattenson, 
mine  foreman ;  James  Ingals,  mill  foreman ;  and 
Bert  Haug,  assayer  and  accountant.  The  com- 
pany are  the  owners  of  the  following  mines: 
Black  Jack,  Empire  State,  Phillips,  Sullivan,  Bel- 
fast and  Independence, — all  of  which  are  pat- 
ented; while  the  unpatented  claims  are  the  Vir- 
ginia, Bay  State,  Industry,  Economy  and  Sun- 
flower. 


444 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


THE  ONTARIO  GROUP  OF  MINES. 
These  mines,  which  are  now  owned  by  Michael 
Carey,  state  senator,  are  located  on  Warm  Spring 
creek,  twelve  miles  west  of  Ketchum,  in  Elaine 
county,  Idaho.  They  yield  galena  ore — silver 
and  lead — and  the  veins  extend  east  and  west, 
dipping  toward  the  south,  and  average  from 
three  to  three  and  a  half  feet  in  width.  The  ore 
has  an  average  yield  of  forty  per  cent,  lead, 
eighty  ounces  of  silver  and  three  dollars  in  gold 
to  the  ton.  These  mines  are  worked  by  tunnels, 
which  thus  afford  drainage  and  permit  the  ore  to 
be  run  out  on  tracks.  They  were  first  discovered 
by  John  Boyle  in  1880,  were  purchased  by  the 
Warm  Springs  Consolidated  Company,  and,  as 
stated,  are  now  the  property  of  Senator  Carey. 
The  group  consists  of  the  following  mines:  On- 
tario, Hub  No.  2,  Niagara,  Hathaway,  Sunday, 
Gopher,  Kalemet  Fraction,  Log  Cabin,  Michigan 
Fraction  and  the  North  Star.  Half  a  million  of 
dollars  have  been  taken  from  the  Ontario.  The 
Star  has  been  a  good  producer,  also  the  Sunday, 
and  the  others  have  not  as  yet  been  worked  so 
extensively.  There  is  a  good  concentrating  mill, 
costing  twenty  thousand  dollars,  on  the  prop- 
erty, and  quite  a  number  of  tunnels  have  been 
made,  the  longest  being  three  hundred  feet.  All 
the  mines  in  this  vicinity  produce  rich  ore,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  Ontario  will  yield 
to  its  owner  valuable  ores  for  many  years  to 
come. 

THE  ALTURAS  SENATOR  MINING  COMPANY. 

The  mines  of  this  company  are  situated  at  Ga- 
lena, Elaine  county,  Idaho,  comprising  ten 
claims,  the  most  promising  of  which  are  the  Sen- 
ate and  Gladwater.  At  one  time  these  mines 
were  yielding  well,  but,  because  of  the  decline  in 
silver,  operations  were  discontinued  and  the 
smelter  dismantled.  Some  development  is  con- 
templated in  this  year,  1899.  The  company  is 
composed  of  wealthy  men  in  New  York.  Lewis 
Edwards,  the  president,  and  Dr.  Barron,  the 
president  of  the  Carpenter  Steel  Works  of  New 
York,  are  the  principal  factors. 

The  Ashland  Group  Mining  Company  have 
four  silver-lead  claims  at  Muldoon  and  two  silver- 
lead  claims  on  Boyle  mountain.  Nothing  has 
been  done  with  these  claims  for  the  past  twelve 
years. 


The  Cansada-Ledlie  Company  own  two  claims, 
the  Cansada  and  the  Ledlie,  on  Trail  creek  about 
six  miles  from  Ketchum.  George  Yount,  of 
Ketchum,  and  a  Philadelphia  party  are  conduct- 
ing some  development  work  on  the  Cansada  un- 
der the  management  of  Knox  Taylor. 

THE  SILVER  KING  MINING  COMPANY. 

This  company  was  organized  under  the  laws 
of  New  Jersey,  by  Philadelphia  parties,  with 
Henry  Tevis  as  president.  They  have  two 
groups  of  mines.  The  Davitt,  a  silver-lead  prop- 
erty, is  located  on  Deer  creek,  a  tributary  of 
Wood  river.  The  ore  occurs  in  a  granite  forma- 
tion. A  large  and  continuous  seam  has  pro- 
duced a  great  deal  of  silver  and  lead.  ,  It  was 
operated  with  a  shaft;  but  a  snow-slide  ruined 
the  hoist  and  operations  were  abandoned. 

The  company  also  owns  the  Silver  King,  a 
group  of  four  claims  located  four  miles  above 
Sawtooth  on  the  Salmon  river,  in  a  granite  forma- 
tion and  quartz,  being  very  rich  in  silver,  with 
sulphur,  antimony,  a  sulphide  of  iron  and  zinc. 
Gold  has  been  found  in  the  iron  to  the  amount  of 
twenty-four  dollars.  The  silver  values  have  been 
very  high,  averaging  at  times  three  hundred 
ounces,  with  sometimes  as  high  as  fifteen  hun- 
dred ounces,  and  many  shipments  running  to 
four,  five  and  even  six  hundred  ounces. 

Major  Hyndman  had  a  lease  of  the  property 
for  three  years  and  paid  the  company  in  one  of 
the  years  ten  thousand  dollars  on  a  fifteen  per 
cent,  royalty;  but  little  other  work  has  been  done 
on  it.  At  length  he  acquired  an  interest  in  the 
enterprise  and  finally  became  half-owner,  and 
was  leasing  the  property  in  1892  when  the  saw- 
dust covering  of  the  boiler  at  the  hoist  caught 
fire  and  the  hoist  was  burned;  and  the  apparatus 
has  not  since  been  repaired,  and  after  Major 
Hyndman's  death  disagreements  with  his  widow 
have  prevented  work.  The  improvements  of  the 
property  consist  of  mill,  rolls  and  two  frew  run- 
ners. 

PIERCE  CITY  GOLD  CAMP. 

This  camp  is  now  attracting  considerable  at- 
tention from  capitalists.  Ohio  parties  have  pur- 
chased an  interest  in  the  Golden  Gate  Mining 
Company's  property,  and  are  now  carrying  on 
work  there.  The  Milling  &  Mining  Company 
also  have  a  five-stamp  mill  on  their  property  three 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO: 


445 


miles  from  Pierce  City,  have  begun  the  milling  of 
ore,  and  good  results  have  been  obtained.  Some 
sixty  thousand  dollars  in  gold  has  been  extracted 
by  a  three-stamp  mill  owned  by  the  Dunn  Broth- 
ers on  adjoining  property.  The  character  of  the 
ore  in  this  camp  is  mostly  free-milling  gold 
quartz.  The  Chapman  group  of  gold-quartz 
claims  on  the  Oro  Grande  creek,  fifteen  miles 
northeast  of  Pierce  City  will  be  worked  in  1899. 
The  showing  is  one  hundred  thousand  tons  of  ore 
in  sight,  free-milling,  with  assays,  from  seven 
dollars  and  forty-five  cents  to  fifty-six  dollars  per 
ton.  A  contemporary  publication  in  an  article 
headed  "The  Free  Milling  Gold  Belt  of  Idaho." 
gives  the  following:  "The  Western  Mining 
World's  correspondents  in  Idaho  exhibit  a  well 
founded  enthusiasm  over  the  mineral  outlook  in 
that  state.  In  writing  from  Pierce  City  one  gen- 
tleman refers  to  the  fact  that  mining  men  seeking 
investment  have  a  natural  preference  for  free- 
milling  propositions,  the  great  advantage  being 
that  the  ore  requires  no  shipment  from  the  mine, 
but  is  milled  on  the  ground  by  stamp  mills.  An- 
other advantage  is  that  the  machinery  required  is 
not  ponderous  and  can  be  transported  to  the 
mine  by  wagon  or  pack  train,  and  a  mill  can  be 
erected  at  a  cost  of  from  two  to  five  thousand 
dollars  that  will  turn  out  from  eight  to  fifteen 
tons  of  ore  per  day  at  an  expense  of  from  four  to 
five  dollars  per  ton.  Then  again,  after  the  ore  is 
extracted  and  put  on  the  dump,  four  men  are 
sufficient  to  operate  a  stamp  mill  with  an  ex- 
pense— including  labor,  fuel  and  repairs — not 
exceeding  twenty-five  dollars  per  day  to  mill 
twelve  tons.  The  expense  of  taking  ore  from  the 
mine  might  be  estimated  at  two  dollars,  and  the 
milling  two  dollars  per  ton.  As  no  shipment  of 
ore  is  required,  free-milling  camps  are  free  from 
the  exactions  and  high  tariffs  of  transportation 
companies.  The  fact  that  Pierce  City  is  a  free- 
milling  gold-quartz  camp  perhaps  has  more  to  do 
with  the  rapid  growth  now  in  progress  than  any 
other  one  thing. 

"The  Idaho  free-milling  gold  belt  embraces 
thousands  of  square  miles  of  territory  lying  in 
Shoshone  county  and  running  southeasterly  to 
Pierce  City,  between  the  forks  of  Clearwater 
river  and  including  the  headwaters  of  the  Oro 
Fino,  Oro  Grande,  French,  Lo-Lo  and  Mussel 
Shell  creeks,  and  continuing  on  to  Dixie,  Elk 


City,  Florence  and  Warrens,  comprising  the 
southeastern  slope  of  the  Bitter  Root  mountain. 
The  streams  above  mentioned  empty  into  the 
Clearwater,  Salmon  and  Snake  rivers.  Other 
minerals  than  gold  are  found  in  the  territory,  and 
some  gold  quartz  has  been  found  that  is  not  free- 
milling,  but  the  main  feature  of  the  important 
properties  so  far  developed  has  been  free-milling 
gold.  This  vast  mineral  district  is  largely  tribu- 
tary to  Spokane,  and  mining  men  of  that  city  are 
becoming  interested  in  some  of  the  best  proper- 
ties, and  are  sending  forward  machinerv  and  sup- 
plies to  aid  in  rapid  development." 

Quartz  mining  in  this  locality  can  be  carried 
on  twelve  months  in  the  year,  and  the  large  tract 
of  agricultural  land  in  the  Xez  Perces  reservation 
now  being  cultivated  makes  living  as  cheap  in 
Pierce  City  as  in  almost  any  farming  community. 
Fairly  good  wagon  roads  from  Lewiston  and 
Kendrick  are  traveled  daily  with  freight,  camp 
supplies,  stage  and  express.  The  distance  is 
eighty  miles  from  Lewiston  and  sixty-five  miles 
from  Kendrick.  Steamboats  from  Lewiston 
make  trips  in  the  spring  within  twenty-five  miles 
of  Golden  Gate,  and  merchandise  for  Pierce  City 
is  landed  at  the  mouth  of  Oro  Fino  creek,  forty 
miles  away.  The  government  is  now  working  a. 
force  of  men,  improving  the  navigation  as  far  up 
as  Chamois,  which  will  probably  make  it  naviga- 
ble for  steamers  six  months  in  the  year.  Work 
on  the  free-milling  gold-quartz  mines  of  French, 
Oro  Fino,  Rhodes  and  Mussel  Shell  creeks  is 
being  pushed,  and  some  new  developments  are 
reported.  The  Klondyke  has  widened  into  a 
twelve-foot  vein  of  solid  ore.  The  manager  of 
the  Gold  Bar  reports  sixty  feet  depth  in  shaft  No. 
I,  with  a  twenty-eight-inch  vein  of  ore  that  assays 
one  hundred  and  twelve  dollars  and  twenty-seven 
cents  a  ton.  It  is  proposed  to  go  down  seventy- 
five  feet  and  then  run  in  a  tunnel,  tapping  the 
main  body  of  ore  at  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet.  The  Golden  Gate  will  go  down  two 
hundred  feet  on  one  ore  vein  of  three  feet  in 
width  and  a  parallel  vein  of  eighteen  inches.  The 
veins  are  seven  feet  apart.  These  properties  are 
attracting  a  great  deal  of  attention  and  the  invest- 
ment of  capital  in  the  operation  of  the  mines  will 
make  this  one  of  the  richest  mining  districts  of 
the  country,  and  will  thereby  contribute  to  the 
growth  and  material  advancement  of  the  state. 


446 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


THE  TIP-TOP  MINE. 

This  is  a  gold  property.  It  is  situated  twelve 
miles  west  of  Hailey,  Elaine  county,  in  the  center 
of  what  is  known  as  the  gold  belt.  The  mine 
is  thoroughly  developed  by  an  inclined  shaft  three 
hundred  feet  in  depth,  passing  through  three 
levels,  from  which  project  several  wings.  The 
ore  is  obtained  to  the  extent  of  five  hundred  feet, 
with  an  average  width  of  the  tunnel  from  five  to 
six  feet.  The  ore  consists  of  gold  in  iron  and 
copper  pyrites.  The  value  of  the  gold  is  one 
ounce  to  the  ton.  A  twenty-stamp  mill  is  in 
process  of  construction  at  the  mine,  which  will 
probably  be  completed  and  running  before  the 
publication  of  this  volume.  A  four-inch  water 
pipe  two  miles  in  length  supplies  the  mill  with 
water,  which  has  to  be  raised  nine  hundred  feet. 
The  ore  is  treated  by  running  it  from  the  battery 
over  copper-silver  plates,  where  one-half  is  amal- 
gamated. The  remaining  gold  is  concentrated  by 
twelve  frew  runners  and  other  concentrating 
machinery,  which  work  can  be  effected  with  the 
result  of  a  high  percentage. 

The  outlay  in  developing  the  mine  to  its  present 
stage  and  in  erecting  the  mill  is  about  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  The  plant  is  owned  by 
John  Q.  Packard,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  H.  E. 


Miller,  of  Bellevue,  a  thoroughly  practical  mining 
expert.  The  work  is  under  the  direct  superin- 
tendency  of  Captain  James  A.  Lusk,  a  prominent 
mining  man  from  Utah.  Mr.  Miller  came  to 
Wood  river  in  1881  and  has  assisted  in  the  devel- 
opment of  various  mines,  among  which  may  be 
mentioned  the  Minnie  Moore,  whicn  eventually 
proved  to  be  the  largest  producer  of  all  the  mines 
in  the  Wood  river  country,  yielding  nearly  as 
much  as  any  four  of  the  best  mines  in  that 
section  of  the  state.  The  amount  of  ore,  con- 
sisting of  galena  carrying  ninety  ounces  of  silver, 
which  has  been  shipped  from  this  mine,  is  esti- 
mated at  three  or  four  million  dollars,  shipping 
value. 

In  1883  this  mine  was  purchased  by  an  English 
company,  who  for  a  time  afterward  continued  its 
operation;  but  at  present  no  work  is  being  done. 
They  paid  half  a  million  dollars  for  the  plant.  It 
has  an  inclined  shaft  nine  hundred  feet  in  extent, 
with  levels  of  one  hundred  feet  each.  Professor 
Blake,  a  distinguished  metallurgist,  said  that  this 
mine  contained  the  largest  body  of  galena  ore 
he  had  ever  seen  in  America.  The  ore  is  clear 
galena,  carrying  one  hundred  and  twelve  ounces 
of  silver.  For  a  length  of  three  hundred  feet  the 
tunnel  has  an  average  width  of  eighteen  feet. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


HORACE  E.  NEAL. 

FOR  the  past  six  years  this  enterprising 
young  business  man  has  occupied  the 
responsible  position  of  cashier  of  the  Cap- 
ital State  Bank,  of  Idaho,  and  is  rapidly  acquiring 
the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  ablest 
financiers  in  the  state.  Prior  to  his  connection 
with  this  well  known  banking  institution,  now 
regarded  as  one  of  the  best  in  the  great  northwest, 
he  had  had  experience  in  the  handling  of  finances, 
having  for  several  years  been  engaged  in  the 
loan  business  in  this  state  and  in  Colorado,  and 
having  served  as  the  first  county  treasurer  of  Kit 
Carson  county,  Colorado,  after  its  organization 
by  act  of  the  state  legislature,  his  appointment 
coming  from  Governor  J.  A.  Cooper. 

The  ancestors  of  Horace  E.  Neal  were  Scotch, 
as  his  name  indicates,  and  for  several  generations 
the  family  has  lived  in  New  Jersey  and  Ohio. 
James  E.  Neal,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Ohio,  and  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation.  In  politics  he  has  been  a 
Republican  from  the  time  that  the  party  was 
organized.  For  his  wife  he  chose  Miss  Mary  A. 
Xincehelser,  a  lady  of  German  extraction,  whose 
family  had  long  resided  in  Pennsylvania;  and 
unto  James  E.  and  Mary  A.  Neal  were  born 
seven  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  three  of  the 
sons  are  numbered  among  the  successful  business 
men  of  Boise.  The  birth  of  Horace  E.  Neal 
occurred  in  Van  Burcn  county,  Iowa,  September 
7,  1859,  and  when  a  child  he  removed  with  his 
parents  to  Peru,  Nebraska,  where  he  was  reared 
on  a  farm.  He  received  a  common-school  train- 
ing, and  later  pursued  his  studies  in  the  State 
Normal  at  Peru,  Nebraska,  and  at  Tabor  College, 
Tabor,  Iowa,  and  completed  his  education  in  the 
Methodist  University,  then  located  at  York, 
Nebraska.  For  three  years  he  engaged  in  teach- 
ing in  the  common  and  graded  schools  of 
Nemaha  county,  Nebraska;  afterward  he  went 
to  western  Kansas;  thence  to  Burlington,  Colo- 

447 


rado,  and  during  his  residence  in  those  cities  was 
engaged  in  the  lumber,  real-estate  and  loan 
business.  He  then  served  in  the  capacity  of 
treasurer  of  Kit  Carson  county,  Colorado,  for  two 
years,  and  in  November,  1890.  came  to  Boise, 
where,  in  partnership  with  his  brother,  W.  Scott, 
he  engaged  in  the  insurance  and  loan  business.' 

In  July,  1891,  Horace  E.  Neal  became  inter- 
ested in  the  organization  of  the  Capital  State 
Bank  of  Idaho,  and  for  the  first  two  years  of  its 
existence  he  was  its  assistant  cashier.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1893,  he  was  elected  to  the  position  of 
cashier,  and  has  since  served  as  such.  Much  of 
the  prosperity  which  this  institution  enjoys  is 
directly  traceable  to  the  energy,  good  judgment 
and  keen  foresight  of  Mr.  Neal  in  the  manage- 
ment of  its  affairs.  The  bank  was  organized 
with  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  paid-up  stock,  and 
an  authorized  capital  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  it  now  has  a  surplus  of 
fourteen  thousand  dollars.  Among  the  gentlemen 
who  were  concerned  in  the  establishment  of  the 
bank  were  George  D.  Ellis;  J.  S.  Fordyce;  James 
H.  Bush;  B.  Lombard,  Jr.,  of  Boston;  H.  E. 
Neal;  H.  H.  Wheeler,  of  Lincoln,  Nebraska; 
Edward  Shainwald;  and  Frank  A.  Nourse.  The 
first  officers  were  J.  S.  Fordyce,  president;  J.  H. 
Bush,  vice-president;  W.  E.  Mitchell,  cashier; 
and  H.  E.  Neal,  assistant  cashier.  The  present 
officers  are  George  D.  Ellis,  president;  J.  C. 
Pence,  vice-president;  Horace  E.  Neal,  cashier: 
and  F.  D.  Young,  assistant  cashier.  The  bank 
now  numbers  among  its  patrons  the  leading  mer- 
chants, cattle,  sheep  and  mining  men  of  the 
northwest. 

In  1803  H.  E.  Neal  was  honored  by  an  appoint- 
ment to  the  office  of  city  treasurer  of  Boise,  and 
in  July,  1895,  was  elected  to  the  position  which 
he  still  retains.  He  takes  a  deep  interest  in 
educational  matters,  and  in  1896  was  elected  as  a 
member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  inde- 
pendent school  district  of  Boise.  In  the  Masonic 


448 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


fraternity  he  ranks  deservedly  higdi.  In  1891  he 
was  made  a  Master  Mason  of  Boise  Lodge,  No.  2, 
A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  is  a  member  of  the  chapter, 
commandery  and  shrine,  being  past  master  of 
Boise  Lodge.  In  his  political  views  he  is  an 
uncompromising  Republican. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  1893,  Mr.  Neal  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  Wallace,  daugh- 
ter of  John  N.  Wallace,  of  Boise  City.  They  have 
one  child,  a  little  son,  W.  Edwin.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Neal  are  valued  workers  and  members  of  the 
Methodist  church  here,  the  former  being  the 
popular  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school. 
Mr.  Neal  takes  a  lively  interest  in  all  public 
matters,  and  takes  a  firm  stand  on  the  side  of 
right  at  all  times.  He  is  president  of  the  State 
Sunday  School  Association,  and  as  such  officer 
has  been  the  means  of  building  up  the  work 
throughout  the  state. 

AUREN  G.  REDWAY. 

F"or  thirty-six  years  Auren  G.  Redway  has 
been  a  resident  of  Boise,  and  for  many  years  was 
prominently  connected  with  her  banking  inter- 
ests, but  is  now  living  retired,  enjoying  that  well 
earned  rest  which  is  the  fitting  reward  of  an 
honorable  and  active  business  career.  He  comes 
from  the  far-off  east  and  is  a  representative  of  a 
family  that  was  established  in  America  in  colonial 
days.  His  grandfather,  Preserved  Redway, 
served  his  country  throughout  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  was  one  of  General  Washington's 
body  guard,  and  had  the  honor  of  being  a 
corporal  of  the  guard  at  the  time  of  the  surrender 
of  General  Burgoyne.  He  lost  one  of  his  limbs 
in  that  great  struggle  for  independence,  but  it  was 
a  willing  sacrifice  for  the  great  cause  of  American 
liberty.  By  occupation  he  was  a  farmer,  making 
that  pursuit  his  life  work.  In  religious  belief  he 
was  a  Presbyterian,  and  his  death  occurred  April 
28,  1837,  when  he  had  attained  an  advanced  age. 
His  wife,  Azuba  Redway,  survived  him  a  number 
of  years,  and  passed  away  January  i,  1853. 

Their  son,  Abel  Redway,  father  of  our  subject, 
was  born  in  Adams,  Jefferson  county,  New  York, 
February  8,  1805,  and  married  Sally  Charlotte 
Grinnell,  a  representative  of  the  prominent  Grin- 
nell  family  of  the  Empire  state.  She  was  born 
at  Galway,  on  the  igth  of  May,  1810,  and  at 
the  time  of  her  marriage  went  to  her  husband's 


home,  on  one  of  the  farms  of  Jefferson  county. 
They  were  also  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  and  by  their  union  were  born  six  children, 
four  of  whom  are  still  living. 

Auren  G.  Redway,  the  second  child,  was  born 
in  Adams,  Jefferson  county,  New  York,  on  the 
5th  of  March,  1835,  and  was  reared  and  educated 
in  his  native  town.  On  the  2Oth  of  December, 
1859,  when  a  young  man  of  twenty-four  years, 
he  sailed  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  by 
way  of  the  isthmus  of  Panama,  and  arrived  at  his 
destination  on  the  loth  of  January,  1859,  making 
the  voyage  in  twenty  days  and  six  hours.  For  a 
time  he  was  engaged  in  the  nursery  business  in 
San  Jose,  California,  and  in  1862  he  went  to  Van- 
couver, Washington,  where  he  was  employed  as 
clerk  in  a  sutler's  store  until  his  removal  to  Boise, 
on  the  loth  of  July,  1863.  He  was  then  com- 
missioned to  act  as  sutler  to  the  fort  which  had 
recently  been  established  at  Boise,  and  bought 
goods,  selling  to  the  soldiers.  He  continued  in 
that  business  for  five  years,  or  until  1868,  when 
he  turned  his  attention  to  speculating  in  loans, 
buying  obligations,  etc.  In  1872  he  entered  the 
First  National  Bank,  of  Boise,  as  bookkeeper,  and 
was  connected  with  that  institution  for  twenty- 
four  years.  He  served  for  fourteen  years  as 
bookkeeper,  four  years  as  assistant  cashier  and 
six  years  as  cashier,  and  in  1896  retired  to  private 
life.  During  all  that  time  he  was  never  absent 
from  the  bank  with  the  exception  of  two  weeks, 
and  his  fidelity,  trustworthiness  and  ability,  mani- 
fested in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  contributed 
not  a  little  to  the  success  of  the  institution. 

On  the  30th  of  August,  1856,  Mr.  Redway  was 
happily  married  to  Miss  Marv  Ann  Outterson,  a 
native  of  Dublin,  Ireland,  who  at  the  asje  of  four 
years  was  brought  to  the  United  States  by  her 
father,  Andrew  Outterson,  a  paper  manufacturer, 
who  made  for  the  government  the  first  paper  on 
which  greenbacks  were  issued.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Redway  have  three  children.  William  Harvey  is 
now  a  prosperous  and  popular  merchant  of  Cald- 
well,  Idaho.  George  Francis  has  for  seventeen 
years  been  connected  with  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Boise,  in  which  he  is  now  serving  as 
assistant  cashier.  The  daughter,  Elizabeth  Char- 
lotte, is  an  accomplisned  and  successful  teacher 
in  St.  Margaret's  school,  an  Episcopal  boarding 
and  day  school  for  girls  and  young  ladies.  The 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


449 


family  have  a  pleasant  and  hospitable  home  in 
Boise,  and  the  members  of  the  household  occupy 
a  very  enviable  position  in  social  circles.  Mr. 
Redvvay  is  a  member  of  the  Pioneer  Society  of 
Idaho  and  of  the  State  Historical  Society,  and 
of  the  latter  is  now  serving  as  treasurer. 

JAMES  A.  GERWICK. 

Of  the  commercial  interests  of  Weiser  James 
A.  Gerwick  is  a  leading  representative.  He  is 
now  engaged  in  the  harness  and  saddlery  busi- 
ness, and  enjoys  a  liberal  patronage  which  comes 
to  him  from  all  sections  of  Washington  county. 
His  conformity  to  high  business  principles  and 
honorable  methods,  combined  with  energy  and 
enterprise,  have  gained  him  a  foremost  place  in 
mercantile  circles,  and  a  well  merited  success 
rewards  his  efforts. 

Mr.  Gerwick  came  to  the  west  from  far-off 
Pennsylvania.  He  is  a  native  of  Butler  county, 
that  state,  and  is  of  German  lineage.  His  parents 
are  Fred  and  Lovina  (Winters)  Gerwick,  natives 
of  Germany,  in  which  land  their  ancestors  had 
resided  for  many  generations.  The  father  of  our 
subject  came  to  the  United  States  with  his 
parents,  the  family  locating  in  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  married  in  Pittsburg,  and  is  now  a  merchant 
in  McKeen  county,  of  the  Keystone  state.  In 
the  family  were  eleven  children,  ten  of  whom  are 
living. 

Of  these  James  A.  Gerwick  is  tne  ninth  in 
order  of  birth.  He  was  educated  in  Pennsylvania 
and  during  his  residence  in  the  east  carried  oh 
agricultural  pursuits.  In  1887  he  came  to  Idaho 
and  engaged  in  raising  sheep,  in  which  industry 
he  continued  successfully  for  about  thirteen  years, 
when  he  sold  his  sheep  for  thirteen  thousand  and 
seven  hundred  dollars.  He  had  at  times  owned 
as  high  as  five  thousand  head,  and  was  very 
prosperous  in  that  business.  He  disposed  of  his 
ranch,  however,  in  order  to  engage  in  the  harness 
and  saddlery  business,  which  he  finds  a  more 
congenial  occupation.  He  has  erected  a  sub- 
stantial brick  store,  which  is  filled  with  a  large 
line  of  every  class  of  goods  of  the  kind,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1898  he  added  a  comolete  line  of  boots 
and  shoes.  His  straightforward  dealing,  his 
earnest  desire  to  please  his  customers  and  his 
moderate  prices  have  secured  to  him  a  liberal 
patronage. 


In  1888  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Gerwick  and  Miss  Laura  Monroe,  and  their 
union  has  been  blessed  with  two  sons  and  a 
daughter, — Guy  Albert,  Roy  Leslie  and  Edith 
Luvena.  Their  home,  erected  by  Mr.  Gerwick, 
is  one  of  the  finest  residences  in  the  city,  and  its 
air  of  culture  and  good  cheer  renders  it  a  favorite 
resort  with  tneir  many  friends.  Socially  Mr.  Ger- 
wick is  connected  with  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  and  in  his  political  affiliations  is  a 
Republican.  Coming  to  the  west  with  the  hope 
of  bettering  his  financial  condition,  he  has  never 
had  occasion  to  regret  the  step  thus  taken,  for 
prosperity  has  attended  his  efforts  and  due 
recognition  has  been  accorded  his  sterling  qual- 
ities of  character,  such  as  command  respect  in 
every  land  and  clime. 

DR.  HOMER  D.  JONES. 

In  nearly  every  community  the  leadinsr  dentist 
divides  with  the  family  physicians  a  public  con- 
fidence which  is  accorded  him  to  a  degree  that 
is  little  understood  outside  the  profession.  If  a 
dentist  cannot  inspire  such  confidence  he  never 
becomes  a  leading  dentist.  The  experience  of 
Hailey  emphasizes  these  facts.  Hailey's  leading 
dentist  is  Dr.  Homer  D.  Jones,  who  is  also  its 
oldest  dental  practitioner  in  point  of  years,  of 
residence  and  practice. 

Dr.  Jones  was  born  in  Jeffersonville,  Oregon. 
April  12,  1867.  His  father,  Ansel  Cromwell 
Jones,  a  native  of  Ohio,  was  one  of  the  bold  and 
hardy  pioneers  who  crossed  the  trackless  plains 
in  1850  to  the  then  isolated  territory  of  Oregon. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  the  beautiful 
Willamette  valley,  and  there  he  met  and  married 
Miss  Elizabeth  Smith,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania, 
who  had  found  an  abiding  place  in  that  far-away 
land.  He  was  a  successful  lawyer,  influential  in 
public  affairs  and  was  elected  to  numerous 
offices,  representing  his  people  in  the  Oregon 
legislature  and  otherwise  serving  their  interests 
with  ability  and  integrity.  He  is  now  living 
retired  at  San  Diego,  California,  and  the  wife  of 
his  youth  is  spared  to  him  in  his  declining  years. 
He  is  sixty-seven  and  she  is  fifty-one  years  of 
age.  They  had  five  children,  three  of  whom  are 
living. 

Dr.  Homer  D.  Jones  was  educated  at  Albany- 
College,  Oregon.  After  completing  his  classical 


450 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


course  he  studied  dentistry  three  years  under  the 
preceptorship  of  Dr.  N.  W.  Davis,  of  Roseburg, 
Oregon.  He  practiced  his  profession  in  his  native 
state  until  the  summer  of  1888.  June  I,  that 
year,  he  located  at  Hailey,  where  his  skill  as  a 
dental  surgeon  was  at  once  recognized  and  where 
he  has  built  up  a  large  .and  successful  practice, 
which  extends  to  all  the  country  round  about. 
He  has  never  married. 

N.  P.  NIELSON. 

N.  P.  Nielson,  treasurer  of  Bannock  county, 
and  a  pioneer  grocer  of  Pocatello,  is  a  native 
of  Denmark,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  that 
country,  September  17,  1852.  rie  was  the  second 
in  order  of  birth  in  a  family  of  two  sons  and  two 
daughters,  whose  parents  were  Peter  and  Mary 
(Henson)  Nielson,  also  natives  of  the  same  coun- 
try. The  subject  of  this  sketch  came  to  America 
in  1868,  and  four  years  later  the  rest  of  the  family 
also  crossed  the  Atlantic,  taking  up  their  resi- 
dence in  Utah,  where  the  father  died  at  the  age 
of  sixty-four  years,  the  mother  passing  away 
several  years  previously.  The  brother  of  our 
subject  is  also  deceased,  but  the  two  sisters  are 
still  living. 

N.  P.  Nielson  acquired  his  education  in  the 
schools  of  his  native  land,  and  after  coming  to 
the  United  States  took  up  his  residence  in  Salt 
Lake  City,  Utah,  where  he  secured  a  position  as 
clerk  in  the  old  Townsend  House.  Later  he 
occupied  a  similar  position  in  the  Keeney  House, 
in  Ogden,  Utah,  and  in  1880  he  came  to  Black- 
foot,  Idaho,  where  he  assisted  in  opening  a  hotel, 
also  known  as  the  Keeney  House.  There  he 
remained  until  1885,  when  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Pocatello.  Here  he  served  as  clerk  in 
the  Pacific  Hotel  for  a  time,  but  was  soon 
afterward  elected  constable  of  the  town  and 
served  in  that  capacity  for  two  years,  in  a  most 
efficient  and  acceptable  manner.  It  was  then  a 
rough  railroad  town  of  twenty-five  hundred  pop- 
ulation, and  his  duties  were  difficult  and  arduous, 
but  he  discharged  them  without  fear  or  favor. 
In  1888  he  established  a  grocery  store,  and  now 
has  the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest  in  years  of 
consecutive  connection  with  the  trade  of  any 
grocery  merchant  in  Pocatello.  He  established 
this  enterprise  with  but  little  capital,  but  he  had 
the  necessary  requisites  of  industry  and  in- 


tegrity, and  by  means  of  a  credit  which 
he  never  abused  he  was  enabled  to  stock 
his  store  and  begin  operations.  Success  has 
attended  his  efforts  from  the  beginning, 
and  in  the  conduct  of  his  store  he  is  now 
assisted  by  his  wife  and  son.  He  now  has  a  large 
patronage  from  among  the  best  citizens  of 
Pocatello  and  the  surrounding  country,  and  not 
only  owns  the  grocery  stock,  but  also  the  store 
building  in  which  he  is  carrying  on  business.  In 
addition  he  has  a  pleasant  residence  and  other 
city  property,  all  of  which  has  been  acquired 
through  his  own  well  directed  and  honorable 
efforts. 

In  1 88 1  Mr.  Nielson  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Hattie  Jackson,  a  native  of  England,  and  a 
daughter  of  William  Jackson,  of  Ogden,  Utah. 
Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  nine  children, 
and  the  family  circle  vet  remains  unbroken.  They 
are  William  E.,  Niels  P.,  Elvira  Pearl,  Joseph 
Leroy,  Mary  Ethel,  Arthur  H.,  Charlotte  Kate, 
Matie  Cumorah  and  John  Harmon  Gilbert.  The 
parents  are  members  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints  and  Mr.  Nielson  is 
past  master  workman  of  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen.  In  politics  he  is  a  Populist, 
and  on  that  ticket  was  elected  county  treasurer, 
in  which  capacity  he  is  now  serving.  His  admin- 
istration of  the  financial  affairs  of  the  county  is 
characterized  by  the  same  ability  which  marks 
his  business  affairs,  and  the  public  money  has 
certainly  been  entrusted  to  worthy  hands. 

JAMES  N.  STACY. 

One  of  the  most  straightforward,  ener- 
getic and  successful  business  men  of  Lew- 
iston  is  James  N.  Stacy,  who  has  also 
attained  distinction  in  political  circles  and 
is  now  the  honored  state  senator  from  his 
district.  He  is  president  of  the  Gold  Bar 
Mining  Company,  a  director  in  the  Golden  Gate 
Company  and  is  also  extensively  engaged  in  real- 
estate  dealings.  In  studying  the  lives  and  char- 
acters of  prominent  men  we  are  naturally  led  to 
inquire  into  the  secret  of  their  success  and  the 
motives  that  prompted  their  action.  Success  is 
not  the  result  of  genius,  as  held  by  many,  but  is 
the  outcome  of  experience  and  sound  judgment, 
for  when  we  trace  the  career  of  those  who  stand 
highest  in  public  esteem,  we  find  that  in  nearly 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


451 


every  case  they  are  those  who  have  risen 
gradually,  fighting  their  way  in  the  face  of  all 
opposition.  Self-reliance,  conscientiousness,  en- 
ergy, honesty, — these  are  the  traits  of  character 
that  insure  the  highest  emoluments  and  greatest 
success.  To  these  may  we  attribute  the  success 
that  has  crowned  the  efforts  of  Senator  Stacy. 

He  was  born  in  North  Adams,  Massachusetts, 
March  10,  1839,  and  is  of  English  and  Scotch 
lineage.  His  ancestors  were  early  settlers  of  the 
east,  and  the  family  gradually  spread  through 
New  York,  Vermont  and  Massachusetts.  His 
parents  were  Ezra  and  Sophia  (Gleason)  Stacy, 
both  of  whom  were  natives  of  Vermont.  The 
father  was  a  Methodist  in  religious  faith,  and  the 
mother  belonged  to  the  Presbyterian  church  until 
late  in  life,  when  she  became  a  Methodist.  Both 
reached  a  very  ripe  old  age,  and  the  Stacy  family 
is  one  noted  for  longevity,  many  of  its  represen- 
tatives reaching  ages  between  ninety  and  one 
hundred  years. 

James  N.  Stacy  was  the  eighth  in  order  of 
birth  in  a  family  of  nine  children,  and  when  a 
little  lad  of  six  summers  accompanied  his  parents 
on  their  removal  to  West  Virginia,  where  he 
received  a  common-school  education.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1856,  they  went  to  the  territory  of  Minnesota, 
locating  in  Wright  county,  where  for  some  years 
our  subject  engaged  in  land  surveying. 

In  1862,  when  the  Sioux  war  broke  out  in 
Minnesota,  he  enlisted  in  the  First  Regiment  of 
Mounted  Rangers,  for  one.  year,  and  served  for 
thirteen  months  in  the  Indian  war,  holding  a 
commission  as  second  lieutenant.  He  then 
received  an  honorable  discharge,  and  in  August, 
1863,  he  enlisted  in  Company  F,  Eleventh  Minne- 
sota Volunteer  Infantry.  He  was  again  made 
second  lieutenant,  and  with  his  command  was  in 
active  service  in  the  army  of  the  Cumberland 
until  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he  returned  to 
his  home  in  Wright  county.  In  1867  he  began 
business  as  a  general  merchant  in  Monticello, 
Minnesota,  conducting  his  store  until  1877,  after 
which  he  engaged  in  iron  and  manganese  mining 
until  1894.  In  this  enterprise  he  was  very 
successful  and  also  extended  his  operations  into 
other  fields,  being  a  man  of  resourceful  business 
ability  and  carrying  forward  to  successful  com- 
pletion whatever  he  undertakes.  He  was  the 
organizer  and  served  as  president  of  the  Minne- 


sota Mining  Company.  He  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  dry  pressed  brick  and  was 
instrumental  in  forming  the  company  which  con- 
ducted the  Minneapolis  and  the  Monticello  brick 
works.  He  was  also  its  president,  and  in  addition 
to  his  connection  with  these  interests  he  dealt 
quite  extensively  in  real  estate. 

His  splendid  executive  ability  and  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  public  needs  also  led  to  his  selection 
for  political  honors.  He  was  elected  and  served 
for  six  years  as  auditor  of  Wright  county,  was 
for  two  years  a  member  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives and  for  a  similar  period  represented  his 
district  in  the  state  ,  senate.  He  declined  the 
nomination  for  congress  in  the  convention  of  the 
fifth  congressional  district,  because  of  his  having 
been  instructed  for  another  aspirant.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  national  convention,  held  in 
Chicago,  which  nominated  James  G.  Elaine  for 
the  presidency,  and  also  of  the  Republican  con- 
vention which  made  Benjamin  Harrison  its 
nominee.  He  was  also  offered  the  position  of 
United  States  marshal  of  the  district  of  Minne- 
sota, but  declined  in  favor  of  another  applicant, 
and  signified  his  willingness  to  accept  an  appoint- 
ment as  chief  of  the  secret-service  bureau  instead, 
from  the  secretary  of  the  United  States  treasury, 
William  Windom.  That  appointment  was  to  be 
made  at  the  expiration  of  the  term  "of  the  then 
incumbent,  but  before  the  term  expired  Secretary 
Windom  died,  and  his  successor  did  not  redeem 
the  pledge  which  had  been  made  Mr.  Stacy. 

In  1894  Mr..  Stacy  came  to  Lewiston.  He 
spent  two  years  in  gold  mining  and  then  organ- 
ized two  companies,  the  Golden  Gate  and  the 
Golden  Bar  Companies.  From  one  of  the  placer 
mines  ten  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars  were 
taken,  and  a  number  of  nuggets  were  valued  from 
twenty-three  to  fifty-two  dollars,  while  five 
nuggets  were  worth  one  hundred  and  one  dollars 
and  fifty  cents.  He  is  still  devoting  his  attention 
to  mining  and  to  the  real-estate  business,  and  his 
capable  management  is  bringing  him  excellent 
financial  returns.  He  is  president  of  the  Gold 
Bar  Mining  Company,  and  one  of  the  directors 
in  the  Golden  Gate,  which  have  a  capitalization 
of  one  million  dollars  and  a  treasury  stock  of 
four  hundred  thousand.  He  has  always  taken  a 
deep  interest  in  politics,  as  every  true  American 
citizen  should  do,  has  made  a  careful  study  of 


453 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


political  matters,  and  no  citizen  of  Idaho  is  better 
informed  on  the  issues  of  the  day.  He  has  always 
been  a  stanch  Republican  and  on  that  ticket  he 
was  elected  to  the  state  senate  from  Nez  Perces 
county  in  1898.  He  soon  took  a  prominent  place 
among  the  leaders  of  his  party  and  was  largely 
instrumental  in  securing  much  needed  legislation. 
He  served  with  ability  as  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittees on  rules  and  public  lands,  and  was 
a  member  of  the  committees  on  appro- 
priations, judiciary  and  mines  and  mining. 
He  introduced  and  secured  the  passage  of  a 
number  of  important  bills,  made  an  important 
record,  and  though  strongly  partisan,  won  the 
warm  friendship  of  many  of  the  Democratic 
members. 

In  1869  Mr.  Stacy  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Augusta  E.  Granger,  a  native  of  Illinois, 
and  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Granger,  of  that  state. 
Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  three  children, 
but  only  one  is  now  living,  Emma  A.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Stacy  and  daughter  are  valued  members  of 
the  Methodist  church,  contribute  liberally  to  its 
support  and  take  an  active  part  in  its  work.  Mr. 
Stacy  is  also  a  valued  representative  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  the  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star 
and  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  He  is  a 
genial,  cordial  gentleman,  and  his  ready  wit  and 
fun  make  him  a  most  entertaining  companion. 
He  is  also  a  most  interesting  and  fluent  speaker, 
and,  well  informed,  progressive  and  enterprising, 
he  stands  to-day  one  of  the  leading  representative 
men  of  the  state, — a  man  who  is  a  power  in  his 

community. 

MICHAEL  C.  NORMOYLE. 

In  the  olden  days  the  kings  and  rulers  of 
countries  erected  palaces,  temples  or  shrines  in 
honor  of  themselves  and  to'  serve  as  monuments 
perpetuating  their  memory  after  they  had  passed 
away,  but  how  much  more  does-  one  do  for 
civilization  and  his  fellow  men  who  aids  in  the 
substantial  upbuilding  of  a  city,  the  promotion 
of  enterprises  that  add  to  its  prosperity  or  the 
establishment  of  movements  that  produce  prog- 
ress and  improvement  along  intellectual,  social 
and  material  lines.  Such  Michael  Charles 
Normoyle  has  done.  No  resident  of  Kendrick 
through  the  past  nine  years  has  done  more  for 
the  city  than  he,  for  through  the  establishment 
and  conduct  of  private  business  interests  he  has 


led  to  the  improvement  and  growth  of  the  town. 
He  is  a  most  loyal  and  public-spirited  citizen,  and 
is  now  the  possessor  of  a  handsome  capital,  which 
has  come  to  him  through  his  own  labors.  A  bell- 
boy in  a  hotel  at  the  age  of  ten,  he  is  now 
proprietor  of  the  St.  Elmo  Hotel,  one  of  the  best 
in  the  state  of  Idaho,  and  has  other  extensive  and 
profitable  investments  which  render  him  the 
heaviest  tax-payer  in  Kendrick. 

A  native  of  Troy,  New  York,  Mr.  Normoyle 
was  born  September  8,  1853,  and  is  of  Irish 
lineage.  His  parents,  John  and  Bessie  (Clancy) 
Normoyle,  were  both  born  in  Ireland,  and  came 
to  the  United  States  with  their  resoective  parents 
in  1834.  They  were  reared  and  married  in  Troy, 
New  York,  where  the  father  followed  his  trade 
of  stone-cutting.  He  departed  this  life  in  the 
forty-third  year  of  age,  but  his  wife  survives  him 
and  now  resides  in  Kendrick,  with  her  son 
Michael,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years.  They 
were  devout  members  of  the  Catholic  church.  Of 
their  six  children  three  are  now  living. 

Michael  C.  Normoyle,  whose  name  introduces 
this  review,  was  educated  in  the  city  of  Denver, 
Colorado,  and  began  his  present  successful 
career  as  a  bell-boy  in  a  hotel  in  Washington, 
D.  C.,  when  but  ten  years  of  age.  He  was 'then 
an  active,  bright,  good-looking  little  fellow,  who 
became  very  popular, on  account  of  his  obliging 
ways,  and  by  his  fidelity  to  duty  he  steadily 
worked  his  way  upward,  becoming  successively 
waiter,  steward  and  clerk,  and  when  but  eighteen 
years  of  age  was  proprietor  of  the  Lindell  Hotel, 
in  Denver,  Colorado.  He  successfully  conducted 
it  for  five  years,  and  then  conducted  all  the  eating 
houses  on  the  Rio  Grande  Railroad  for  five  years. 
Subsequently  he  was  actively  engaged  in  the 
hotel  business,  conducting  two  hotels  at  a  time 
for  three  years,  after  which  he  went  to  Palouse 
City,  where  he  was  in  business  as  proprietor  of 
the  St.  Elmo  Hotel  for  two  years,  meeting  with 
gratifying  prosperity  in  his  undertakings. 

In  1890  Mr.  Normoyle  came  to  Kendrick,  and 
has  been  identified  with  the  growth  of  the  town 
almost  from  the  beginning.  He  built  a  frame 
hotel — the  first  in  the  place — and  therein  enter- 
tained the  visitors  to  Kendrick  until  1892,  when 
the  building  was  destroyed  by  fire,  entailing  a 
loss  of  fourteen  thousand  dollars,  the  accumula- 
tion of  many  years  of  active  business  life.  With 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


453 


remarkable  enterprise,  however,  he  continued  to 
care  for  his  patrons  in  tents  until  more  substan- 
tial quarters  could  be  secured.  Men  of  means, 
believing  implicitly  in  his  business  ability  and 
integrity,  offered  to  advance  him  the  means  with 
which  to  erect  a  new  hotel,  and  thus  he  was 
enabled  to  build  the  St.  Elmo,  a  fine  brick 
structure,  together  with  the  St.  Elmo  block,  a 
two-story  brick.  These  are  the  finest  buildings 
of  the  town  and  the  confidence  in  the  future  of 
Kendrick  which  Mr.  Normoyle  thus  displayed 
by  the  erection  of  these  substantial  structures 
has  been  an  important  factor  in  the  further 
upbuilding  of  the  place,  by  causing  others  to 
invest  in  realty  here.  The  hotel,  two  stories 
high,  is  built  in  the  form  of  an  L,  sixty  by 
ninety-two  feet,  the  first  story  with  sixteen  feet 
between  joists,  the  second  eleven  feet.  It  is 
fitted  up  with  fine  offices  and  oarlors  and  twenty- 
four  handsome  sleeping  apartments,  and  supplied 
with  every  modern  convenience  which  will  min- 
ister to  the  comfort  of  the  guests.  His  patronage 
is  so  large  that  he  also  utilizes  several  rooms  on 
the  second  floor  of  adjoining  buildings.  He  is  a 
most  popular  landlord,  and  his  earnest  desire  to 
please  his  patrons,  his  genuine  interest  in  their 
welfare,  and  his  cordial,  genial  manner  have 
gained  for  him  many  friends  among  the  visitors 
to  Kendrick. 

The  St.  Elmo  block  is  sixty  by  seventy-five 
feet,  two  stories  in  height,  the  lower  floor  making 
a  fine  double  store,  while  the  second  story  is 
fitted  up  with  scenery,  stage  and  chairs,  making 
a  most  pleasing  little  opera  house,  where  many 
attractive  entertainments  are  offered  the  citizens 
of  the  town.  Mr.  Normoyle  takes  a  deep  interest 
in  everything  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of 
Kendrick,  and  lends  an  active  support  to  all 
measures  for  the  public  good.  He  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Ken- 
drick, one  of  its  stockholders  and  a  member  of 
the  directorate.  He  is  the  owner  of  a  fine  farm 
of  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  acres  of  land 
adjoining  the  town,  whereon  he  raises  cattle, 
hogs,  poultry,  vegetables  and  fruit,  thus  supply- 
ing the  hotel  with  nearlv  everything  demanded  by 
the  table.  He  is  president  of  the  company  which 
has  furnished  Kendrick  with  its  splendid  water 
system,  the  water  supply  being  obtained  from  a 
spring  on  his  property,  four  hundred  and  five 


feet  above  the  town.  They  have  a  reservoir  with 
a  capacity  of  six  hundred  thousand  ^allons,  three 
hundred  feet  head  and  on  the  main  street  a 
pressure  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  nounds  to  the 
square  inch.  He  also  has  large  and  valuable 
mining  interests.  He  furnished  food  and  pro- 
visions to  the  miners  who,  it  is  believed, 
rediscovered  the  lost  Robinson  gold  quartz 
mines.  To  operate  this  mine  a  large  corporation 
has  been  formed,  composed  of  many  of  the 
leading  capitalists  of  Spokane,  under  the  name  of 
the  Syndicate  Gold  Mining  Company,  and  Mr. 
Normoyle  was  elected  its  vice-president  and  is 
one  of  its  heavy  stockholders.  The  mine  is 
located  in  Shoshone  county,  in  what  is  known  as 
the  Burnt  Creek  mining  district,  three  and  a  half 
miles  north  of  the  north  fork  of  the  Clearwater 
river,  thirty-two  miles  from  Kendrick  and  twenty 
miles  west  of  Pierce  City.  There  has  been  over 
six  hundred  feet  of  work  done,  and  competent 
experts  estimate  more  than  one  thousand  tons  of 
high  grade  ore  in  sight,  an  average  of  eighty 
dollars  in  gold  being  obtained.  Mr.  Normoyle 
is  entitled  to  the  credit  for  the  assay  and  develop- 
ing work  that  has  been  done  in  this  mine. 

In  1872  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Mary  Aggara,  and  to  them  was  born  a  son, 
Thomas  Francis,  who  is  now  clerk  of  the  district 
court  at  Butte,  Montana,  and  a  member  of  the 
Montana  state  legislature,  and  he  is  now  only 
twenty-five  years  of  age.  The  mother  died  in 
1885,  and  Mr.  Normoyle  was  again  married,  in 
Kendrick,  in  1891,  his  second  union  being  with 
Arra  Nichols.  They  have  two  very  bright  little 
sons,  George  W.  and  Edwin  N.  The  father  is  a 
valued  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  the 
Eastern  Star  and  of  the  Odd  Fellows  society,  of 
which  he  is  representative  for  Idaho  to  the  grand 
lodge  of  the  state  of  Louisiana.  He  is  a  charter 
member  of  Kendrick  Lodge,  No.  26,  F.  &  A.  M., 
formerly  served  as  master  and  is  now  its  efficient 
secretary.  In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat,  but  has 
had  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  seek  office, 
although  he  served  as  a  member  of  tne  first  city 
council  of  Kendrick.  He  possesses  marked  busi- 
ness and  executive  ability,  keen  discrimination 
and  sound  judgment,  and  his  resolute  purpose 
has  enabled  him  to  carry  forward  to  successful 
completion  whatever  he  has  undertaken.  His 
life  has  been  well  spent  and  successful,  and  his 


454 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


capital  is  the  merited  reward  of  indefatigable 
effort.  In  manner  he  is  free  from  all  ostentation 
and  display,  but  his  intrinsic  worth  is  recognized 
and  his  friendship  is  most  prized  by  those  who 
know  him  best,  showing  that  his  character  will 
bear  the  scrutiny  of  close  acquaintance.  He  is  a 
generous-spirited,  broad-minded  man,  a  true  type 
of  the  American  spirit  and  an  embodiment  of  that 
progress  which  in  the  last  few  years  has  drawn 
to  this  country  the  admiring  gaze  of  the  nations 
of  the  world. 

FREDERICK   CRETE,   SR. 

One  of  the  most  successful  pioneer  citizens  of 
Silver  City  is  Frederick  Crete,  who  is  a  native  of 
Hanover,  Germany,  where  he  was  born  in 
August,  1833.  He  is  a  brother  of  John  Crete,  ST., 
whose  sketch  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this 
volume.  While  still  a  young  man  Mr.  Crete  de- 
cided to  try  his  fortunes  in  the  New  World,  of 
which  he  had  heard  so  much,  and  bidding  adieu 
to  the  Fatherland  and  all  its  happy  associations, 
he  embarked  on  a  vessel  which  landed  him  in 
New  York  city  in  1852.  From  there  he  found  his 
way  to  Attleboro,  Massachusetts,  where  for  some 
time  he  worked  at  the  jewelry  business. 

In  1858  Mr.  Crete  became  a  victim  of  the 
California  fever  and  took  a  trip  to  the  land  of 
gold  by  way  of  the  isthmus  of  Panama,  sailing 
on  the  steamer  John  L.  Stephens.  He  remained 
in  California  until  1865,  during  that  time  study- 
ing and  practicing  dentistry,  and  then  removed  to 
Silver  City,  where  he  carried  on  his  profession 
for  some  years.  He  also  had  a  store  at  a  place 
called  Fairview,  on  Eagle  mountain.  This  town 
was  burned  out  in  1875  and  Mr.  Crete  lost  all 
his  property.  Soon  after  this  the  great  excite- 
ment caused  by  the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  Black 
Hills  swept  over  the  land,  and  our  subject  started 
with  hundreds  of  others  to  test  the"  truth  of  the 
reports.  He  traveled  as  far  as  Cheyenne, 
Wyoming,  but  on  reaching  there  received  some 
intelligence  from  Silver  City  which  caused  him  to 
return,  and  soon  afterward  he  started  the  Silver 
City  brewery,  which  he  has  since  carried  on  with 
great  success.  He  is  also  the  owner  of  the 
Brewery  saloon.  Mr.  Crete  is  largely  interested 
in  the  San  Juan  group  of  mines  on  War  Eagle 
mountain.  They  are  now  running  a  tunnel  under- 
neath the  veins  which  they  have  been  working. 


and  from  which  many  thousands  of  dollars  have 
been  taken.  Three  hundred  feet  of  this  tunnel 
have  been  completed  and  two  hundred  remain 
yet  to  be  excavated,  when  it  is  expected  that 
very  rich  ore  will  be  struck. 

Mr.  Crete  was  married  in  1862,  in  the  old  town 
of  Shasta,  California,  to  Miss  Wilhelmina  Korn- 
mann,  a  native  of  New  York  city,  born  in  1843, 
and  a  sister  of  Mrs.  John  Crete,  Sr.  She  has  been 
a  resident  of  California  since  1861.  Of  this  union 
six  children  have  been  born,  of  whom  three  are 
living  namely:  Charles  H.,  a  well  known  mer- 
chant of  Silver  City;  Ida,  the  wife  of  Severon 
Moe,  a  jeweler  of  Silver  City;  and  Edward,  who 
is  associated  with  his  father  in  business. 

Mr.  Crete  is  a  silver  Republican,  but  does  not 
take  a  prominent  part  in  politics.  He  is  a  much 
esteemed  member  of  the  Odd  Fellows  fraternity, 
receiving  the  degrees  in  Owyhee  Lodge,  No.  2, 
in  1869.  He  has  passed  all  the  chairs  and  has 
several  times  represented  his  lodee  in  the  grand 
lodge.  Mrs.  Crete  is  past  noble  grand  in  the 
lodge  of  Daughters  of  Rebekah,  and  is  also  a 
member  of  the  St.  James  Guild.  She  is  highly 
esteemed  for  her  kindness  and  benevolence,  and 
with  her  husband  shares  the  regard  of  a  large 
circle  of  friends. 

JOHN  J.   OWEN. 

The  history  of  the  first  things  is  always  inter- 
esting. In  any  town  the  first  settler's  is  the 
name  most  carefully  preserved.  The  places  where 
he  established  his  home  and  first  worked  at  his 
primitive  vocation  are  carefully  noted,  and  his 
deeds  and  words  are  recounted  often  and  witn 
increasing  interest  as  generations  succeed  one 
another.  There  lives  in  Genesee,  Idaho,  a  man, 
now  the  postmaster  of  the  city,  who  was  its 
pioneer  in  more  ways  than  one,  and  it  is  the 
purpose  of  the  biographer  to  record  now  a  brief 
statement  of  the  facts  of  his  life  and  of  his  resi- 
dence in  the  town  with  whose  progress  he  has 
been  so  long  and  closely  identified. 

John  J.  Owen  is  of  English  and  Welsh 
ancestry  and  was  born  in  Birmingham,  England, 
January  30,  1843,  a  son  °f  Jonn  and  Matilda 
(Jordan)  Owen.  In  1849,  when  he  was  six  years 
old,  the  family  came  to  the  United  States.  It 
consisted  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Owen,  John  J.  and  two 
sisters.  Charles,  an  older  son,  had  been  lost  at 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


455 


sea.  W.  H.,  the  youngest  of  the  family,  was 
torn  after  the  others  came  to  this  country  and 
is  now  living  in  Minnesota.  The  family  settled 
at  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  where  the  elder  Owen 
found  work  as  a  tinner,  a  trade  which  he  had 
learned  and  at  which  he  had  been  employed  in 
England.  Later  the  family  lived  successively  in 
Mason  county  and  in  Iroquois  county,  Illinois; 
and  there  John  Owen  died  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
seven,  after  having  survived  his  wife  several 
years.  They  had  been  reared  in  the  Baptist 
faith,  and  later  in  life  allied  themselves  with  the 
Seventh-day  Adventists.  Their  two  daughters 
married  well. 

John  J.  Owen  was  educated  at  the  Grand 
Prairie  Seminary,  in  Illinois,  and  at  Milton 
Academy,  at  Milton,  Wisconsin.  He  was  in 
school  when  the  civil  war  began,  and  threw  down 
his  books  to  respond  to  President  Lincoln's  first 
call  for  troops.  He  enlisted  in  Company  C,  Fifty- 
seventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  while  yet  a 
boy  in  his  'teens,  served  with  this  regiment  until 
the  end  of  its  term  of  enlistment,  and  was  the 
only  member  of  it  who  made  himself  a  veteran 
by  re-enlistment.  As  a  member  of  Company  I 
of  the  same  regiment  he  served  until  the  close  of 
the  hostilities.  His  regiment  was  attached  to  the 
command  of  General  Jonn  A.  Logan,  who  was 
in  charge  of  the  Western  Department,  and  young 
Owen  fought  at  Fort  Donelson,  Altoona  Pass. 
Goldsboro,  Shiloh,  Corinth  (second  regiment), 
Buzzard's  Roost  creek,  Bee  creek  and  Resaca. 
After  that  the  regiment  was  transferred  to  the 
command  of  General  W.  T.  Sherman  and  fol- 
lowed him  on  his  famous  march  from  Atlanta  to 
the  sea.  When  the  war  was  at  the  end  he 
participated  in  the  grand  review  of  the  victorious 
army  at  Washington.  He  received  an  honorable 
discharge  from  the  service  and  was  mustered  out 
at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  returned  to  his 
home,  a  victor  and  a  veteran,  and  at  once  settled 
down  to  the  peaceful  vocation  of  a  tinner  and 
hardware  dealer. 

From  1868  to  1876  he  was  a  farmer  in 
Nebraska.  Then  after  two  years'  residence  at 
Sacramento,  California,  he  went  to  Astoria,  Ore- 
gon. The  steamer  Great  Republic,  on  which, 
with  his  wife  and  two  daughters,  he  took  passage, 
was  wrecked.  The  disaster  occurred  unex 
pectedly,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when 


all  the  passengers  were  asleep  in  their  state- 
rooms. They  were  a  day  on  the  wreck  before 
they  were  taken  off  by  life-boats.  Mr.  Owen  lost 
all  he  had,  even  to  his  family  records,  and  was  so 
glad  that  he  and  his  wife  and  daughters  were 
alive  that  he  felt  little  like  finding  fault.  He 
went  with  his  family  to  Knappa,  Oregon,  and 
from  there,  in  1885,  they  removed  to  Moscow, 
Idaho.  Two  years  later  he  came  to  Genesee. 
When  he  arrived  here  only  one  little  shanty  had 
been  erected  in  the  town,  and  on  a  lot  which  he 
purchased  he  proceeded  to  put  the  first  building 
dignified  and  made  habitable  by  a  shingle  roof. 
This  was  Genesee's  pioneer  hotel,  which  he  suc- 
cessfully managed  four  years,  or  until  he  was 
appointed  industrial  teacher  in  the  Indian  agency. 
Two  years  later  the  school  was  discontinued  and 
Mr.  Owen  returned  to  Genesee,  took  his  hotel  off 
the  hands  of  a  lessee  who  had  been  running  it  in 
his  absence  and  again  assumed  its  personal 
direction,  which  he  retained  until  he  sold  the 
property. 

In  1897  Mr.  Owen  was  appointed  postmaster 
of  Genesee,  then  a  fourth-class  post-office.  Not 
long  afterward  it  was  advanced  to  the  third  class, 
and  he  received  his  appointment  from  President 
McKinley.  He  has  added  greatlv  to  the  facilities 
of  the  office  and,  with  the  assistance  of  Mrs. 
Owen,  who  is  his  deputy,  he  is  giving  Genesee 
the  best  mail  service  the  city  ever  had. 

Mr.  Owen  married,  in  1867.  Miss  Thalia  L. 
Krunn,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  a  woman  of  many 
virtues  and  accomplishments.  She  has  borne 
him  three  daughters,  Mettie  E.,  now  Mrs.  A.  W. 
Conway;  Nettie,  wife  of  Captain  A.  McKing,  of 
the  United  States  signal  service,  Philippine 
islands;  and  Cora  Matilda,  who  is  a  member  of 
her  father's  household.  Mr.  Owen  is  a  Knight  of 
Pythias  and  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  comrade  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  Mrs.  Owen  is  a 
member  of  the  Relief  Corps,  an  adjunct  of  the 
local  Grand  Army  post,  and  of  the  Rathbone 
Sisters,  a  woman's  organization  connected  with 
the  Knights  of  Pythias.  In  the  Grand  Army 
work  Mr.  Owen  has  been  especially  prominent, 
and  he  has  been  elected  to  many  important  offices 
in  his  post.  He  has  been  a  lifelong  Republican 
and  has  served  as  city  marshal  of  Genesee  and 
wras  a  member  of  the  first  city  council.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Owen  have  a  home  where  comfort  and  quiet 


456 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


elegance  prevail,  and  its  generous  hospitality  is 
partaken  of  by  the  best  people  of  Genesee  and 
all  the  country  round  about.  Mr.  Owen  is  a 
popular  citizen,  and  in  the  best  sense,  he  wears 
the  honors  of  a  pioneer  of  the  day  of  small  things 
for  Genesee,  and  is  prominently  identified  with 
the  leading  interests  of  the  modern  progressive 
city. 

PETER    ADAMS. 

For  a  third  of  a  century  Peter  Adams  has 
been  a  resident  of  Owyhee  county,  and  has  been 
identified  with  the  important  work  of  taking  from 
the  mountain  side  the  rich  mineral  deposits  and 
securing  the  valuable  metals  that  they  may  be 
used  in  connection  with  the  commercial  activity 
of  the  nation.  He  came  to  the  west  from  the  far- 
off  Empire  state,  his  birth  having  occurred  in 
Dunkirk,  New  York,  on  the  24th  of  February, 
1837.  The  Adams  family  is  of  Scotch  origin,  and 
the  parents  of  our  subject  were  Peter  and  Jane 
(Brodie)  Adams,  residents  of  Buffalo,  New  York. 
The  father  followed  the  business  of  stone-cutting 
and  contracting,  and  died  in  the  forty-seventh 
year  of  his  age.  His  wife,  surviving  him  many- 
years,  was  called  to  her  final  rest  at  the  age  of 
seventy-six.  They  were  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian church,  and  were  people  of  the  highest  in- 
tegrity and  respectability. 

Peter  Adams,  who  was  one  of  their  family  of 
seven  children,  was  reared  and  educated  in  New 
York,  and  in  1864  crossed  the  plains  to  California, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  butchering  business  for 
two  years.  In  1866  he  went  to  Silver  City,  Idaho, 
and  soon  afterward  formed  a  partnership  with 
T.  W.  Jones,  since  which  time  they  have  done 
a  large  and  profitable  business  as  contractors  and 
builders.  They  have  constructed  many  of  the 
hoisting  works  and  erected  many  of  the  resi- 
dences of  Silver  City  and  vicinity,  and  substantial 
and  attractive  structures  stand  as  monuments  to 
their  skill  and  enterprise.  For  a  number  of  years 
they  were  also  in  the  furniture  business.  Mr. 
Adams  is  now  the  owner  of -the  Garfield  group  of 
mines,  located  in  the  Corson  district,  one-half 
mile  from  De  Lamar.  Here  he  has  the  Garfield, 
Gold  Hill,  North  End,  and  Chief  mines,  and  he 
was  the  shipper  of  the  first  ore  sent  from  the  De 
Lamar  district  over  the  Short  Line  Railroad  to 
Salt  Lake,  Denver  and  Omaha.  He  also  built 
the  first  quartz  mill  in  the  De  Lamar  district. 


He  has  three  thousand  feet  of  tunnels  and  has 
large  quantities  of  gold  and  silver  ore  in  sight, 
so  that  there  is  every  evidence  of  continued  pros- 
perity. 

In  1863  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Adams  and  Miss  Etta  Wells,  and  to  them  was 
born  a  daughter,  Jennie,  who  is  now  the  wife 
of  James  L.  Napier.  The  mother  died  in  1891, 
at  Salt  Lake,  and  Mr.  Adams  has  not  remarried. 
In  his  political  affiliations  he  is  a  silver  Repub- 
lican and  has  given  close  and  earnest  study  to  the 
issues  and  questions  which  now  demand  the 
public  attention.  He  has  been  honored  with 
office,  having  represented  his  district  in  the  terri- 
torial legislature  in  1872,  while  in  1898  he  was 
again  the  nominee  for  that  position.  He  is  a 
progressive  and  public-spirited  man,  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  welfare  of  his  county  and  state,  and 
withholds  his  co-operation  from  no  movement 
for  the  general  good. 

FRANZ    L.    KOEHLER. 

The  sturdy  German  element  in  our  national 
commonwealth  has  been  one  of  the  most  import- 
ant factors  in  furthering  the  substantial  and 
normal  advancement  of  the  country,  for  this  is  an 
element  signally  appreciative  of  practical  values 
and  also  of  the  higher  intellectuality  which  trans- 
cends all  provincial  confines.  Well  may  any 
person  take  pride  in  tracing  his  lineage  to  such  a 
source.  As  one  of  the  able  and  enterprising 
citizens  whom  the  German  Fatherland  has  con- 
tributed to  the  United  States,  and  as  one  of  the 
prominent  and  progressive  citizens  of  the  flour- 
ishing town  of  Moscow,  Latah  county,  Idaho, 
Franz  Louis  Koehler  is  worthy  of  distinct  recog- 
nition in  this  work. 

Mr.  Koehler  is  a  native  of  the  province  of 
Bavaria,  Germany,  where  he  was  born  on  the 
8th  of  October,  1859,  coming  of  stanch  old 
German  stock.  He  received  his  educational 
discipline  in  the  excellent  schools  of  the  Father- 
land and  there  instituted  his  association  with  the 
practical  affairs  of  life  by  learning  the  brewing 
business,  a  line  of  enterprise  in  which  the  sons 
of  the  German  empire  have  ever  been  the  leaders. 
He  was  employed  in  the  leading  breweries  of  his 
native  land,  becoming  thoroughly  familiar  with 
every  detail  of  the  business  and  with  the  methods 
employed  to  secure  the  maximum  excellence  in 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


457 


products.  Finally  determining  to  try  his  for- 
tunes in  the  New  World,  Mr.  Koehler  embarked 
for  the  United  States  in  the  year  1883,  the  vessel 
on  which  he  secured  passage  dropping  anchor  in 
the  harbor  of  New  York  city  in  due  course  of 
time.  Upon  his  arrival  here  he  was  entirely 
unfamiliar  with  the  language  of  his  adopted 
country,  but  was  amply  fortified  by  strong  men- 
tality, industrious  habits,  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  brewing  business,  and  by  a  cash  capital 
of  one  thousand  dollars,  with  which  to  make  a 
start  for  himself.  Mr.  Koehler  readily  secured 
employment  in  the  line  of  his  trade,  and  worked 
in  leading  breweries  at  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis 
prior  to  removing  to  the  far  west.  He  eventually 
became  a  resident  of  Portland,  Oregon,  where  he 
was  engaged  in  work  at  his  trade  and  whence  he 
came  to  Idaho,  becoming  foreman  of  the  Boise 
City  Brewery,  where  he  remained  until  1890, 
when  he  came  to  Moscow,  where  he  effected  a 
lease  of  the  Moscow  Brewery,  which  he  con- 
tinued to  operate  on  this  plan  until  1895,  when 
he  purchased  the  property.  He  forthwith 
remodeled  the  plant,  supplying  it  with  the  most 
modern  and  approved  facilities,  increased  its 
capacity  to  meet  the  demands  of  his  rapidlv 
expanding  business,  and  has  made  the  brewery 
a  model,  both  in  its  equipment  and  in  the  super- 
iority of  its  product.  Mr.  Koehler  is  an  expert 
in  the  brewing  business,  and  in  addition  to  this  is 
not  satisfied  with  anything  short  of  the  highest 
grade  of  products,  so  that  he  spares  neither  care 
nor  expense  in  his  efforts  to  insure  desired 
results.  He  utilizes  the  finest  oarley  grown  in 
the  Palouse  valley  and  the  best  Oregon  hops, 
while  every  process  of  the  manufacture  is  con- 
ducted with  the  single  view  of  securing  the 
highest  possible  excellence.  Adulterated  or 
improperly  matured  stock  he  will  not  tolerate, 
and  this  fact  is  recognized  and  appreciated  by 
the  public,  whose  patronage  is  thus  freely 
accorded,  so  that  the  business  is  constantly 
increasing  in  extent  and  importance,  the  products 
of  the  brewery  being  sold  principally  in  Moscow 
and  contiguous  territory.  The  product  is  pro- 
nounced by  competent  judges  to  be  equal  in 
flavor  and  permanency  to  the  best  eastern  beers, 
and  there  is  a  perceptibly  increasing  demand  for 
it.  The  capacity  of  the  brewery  is  two  thousand 
barrels  per  annum. 


In  the  city  of  Spokane,  Washington,  in  the 
year  1891,  Mr.  Koehler  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Bertie  Herman,  a  native  of  Switzerland, 
and  their  happy  home  has  been  brightened  by 
the  presence  of  a  son  and  a  daughter, — Adolph 
Louis  and  Freda  Emma.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Koehler 
are  communicants  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church 
and  in  politics  our  subject  gives  his  support  to 
the  Republican  party.  He  is  3.  man  whose  relia- 
bility and  integrity  are  beyond  question,  and  he 
merits  the  respect  and  esteem  which  are  so  uni- 
formly accorded  him  in  the  community  where  he 
lives  and  in  whose  advancement  he  maintains  a 
lively  interest. 

CHARLES    W.    SHAFF,    M.  D. 

Holding  marked  prestige  as  a  member  of  the 
medical  profession  of  Idaho  is  Dr.  Charles  W. 
Shaff,  of  Lewiston,  now  the  honored  president 
of  the  State  Medical  Association.  In  the  learned 
professions  advancement  depends  upon  the  man, 
his  talents,  his  skill  and  his  ambition.  The  phy- 
sician's power  is  especially  his  own;  not  by  pur- 
chase, by  gift  or  by  influence  can  he  gain  it.  He 
must  commence  at  the  very  beginning,  learn  the 
very  rudiments  of  medicine  and  surgery,  con- 
tinually add  to  this  knowledge  by  close  study 
and  earnest  application,  and  gain  reputation  by 
merit.  If  he  would  gain  the  highest  prominence 
it  must  come  as  the  result  of  superior  skill,  knowl- 
edge and  ability, — which  qualifications  are  pos- 
sessed in  an  eminent  degree  by  Dr.  Shaff.  He  is 
known  throughout  the  state  as  one  of  the  most 
eminent  members  of  the  profession  in  Idaho,  and 
his  opinions  are  widely  received  as  authority. 

The  life  history  of  such  a  man  is  always  of 
profit  as  well  as  interest.  The  Doctor  has  spent 
his  entire  life  on  the  Pacific  coast,  his  birth  hav- 
ing occurred  in  Eldorado  covmty,  California,  July 
6,  1855.  During  the  colonial  history  of  New 
York  his  ancestors,  natives  of  Germany,  located 
in  the  Empire  state,  and  representatives  of  the 
family  loyally  served  their  country  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary war  and  in  the  war  of  1812.  The  Doc- 
tor's father,  Joseph  Shaff,  was  born  in  New  York 
and  married  Miss  Betsy  Matilda  Scott,  a  native 
of  Vermont,  and  a  descendant  of  two  of  the 
prominent  families  of  the  Green  Mountain  state, 
— the  Scotts  and  the  Woods.  Some  of  her  ances- 
tors were  among  the  Green  Mountain  boys  who 


458 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


won  fame  for  their  daring  and  gallant  conduct 
in  the  struggle  for  independence.  The  Scott  fam- 
ily was  founded  in  America  in  1622,  a  settlement 
being  made  on  Manhattan  Island.  The  Doctor's 
parents  were  married  in  Prairie  du  Chien,  Wis- 
consin, in  1848,  and  in  1852  went  to  California  by 
way  of  the  isthmus  route.  The  father  was  en- 
gaged in  mining  there  until  1857,  and  the  follow- 
ing year  removed,  with  his  family  to  Oregon, 
purchasing  a  farm  near  Salem,  where  he 
made  his  home  until  his  death,  devoting  his 
energies  to  agricultural  pursuits.  He  died  in 
1880,  at  the  age  of  fifty-nine  years,  and  his  wife, 
now  sixty-seven  years  of  age,  is  still  living  on 
the  old  homestead,  near  Salem.  They  had  four 
sons,  of  whom  only  two  are  living. 

Dr.  Shaff,  the  second  in  order  of  birth,  began 
his  education  in  the  common  schools,  later  pur- 
sued a  three  years'  course  in  the  Willamette  Uni- 
versity, and  also  took  a  full  course  in  the  Pacific 
University,  at  Forest  Grove,  graduating  from  the 
last  named  institution  in  the  class  of  1877.  Deter- 
mining to  devote  his  attention  to  the  practice  of 
medicine,  he  became  a  student  in  the  medical 
department  of  the  Iowa  State  University,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  1881.  Immediately  after- 
ward he  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Brownsville,  Oregon,  where  he  remained  for  two 
years,  but  becoming  favorably  impressed  with 
Lewiston,  its  location  and  its  prospects,  he  deter- 
mined to  locate  here,  and  in  1883  opened  his 
office.  From  the  beginning  he  has  met  with 
very  marked  success,  and  the  volume  of  his 
practice  is  an  indication  of  his  ability.  He  has 
put  forth  every  effort  to  perfect  himself  in  his 
chosen  life  work,  and  took  a  year's  post-gradu- 
ate work  in  the  New  York  City  Post  Graduate 
School.  His  careful  diagnosis  of  a  case,  his 
comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  science  of  medi- 
cine and  his  marked  skill  in  applying  medical 
principles  to  the  needs  of  suffering  humanity 
have  gained  him  a  foremost  place  among  the 
representatives  of  the  medical  fraternity  of  Idaho. 
He  enjoys  a  large  practice,  which  comes  from 
the  best  families  of  Lewiston  and  the  surround- 
ing district,  and  his  standing  among  his  profes- 
sional brethren  is  shown  by  the  honor  conferred 
upon  him  by  his  election  to  the  office  of  presi- 
dent of  the  Idaho  State  Medical  Society. 

The  Doctor  is   also  a  prominent  and   active 


Mason  and  Odd  Fellow,  and  is  past  master  in  the 
former  organization  and  past  grand  in  the  latter. 
He  has  been  a  lifelong  Republican,  has  served 
for  two  terms  as  regent  of  the  State  University, 
and  is  now  serving  his  second  term  as  a  trustee 
of  the  State  Normal  School.  For  eight  years  he 
has  been  a  member  of  the  school  board  of  Lewis- 
ton,  and  his  deep  interest  in  educational  matters 
is  shown  by  his  efficient  efforts  in  behalf  of  the 
schools,  which  owe  not  a  little  of  their  progress 
to  his  labors  and  influence. 

The  Doctor  was  happily  married,  in  1888,  to 
Miss  Rena  M.  Poe,  the  stepdaughter  of  Judge 
Poe,  a  prominent  lawyer  and  citizen  of  Lewiston. 
They  now  have  a  lovely  little  daughter,  Terressa 
Louisa.  Mrs.  Shaff  is  a  lady  of  great  refinement 
and  culture,  and  a  graduate  of  the  Boston  Con- 
servatory of  Music.  She  has  superior  talent  as  a 
musician,  and  her  accomplishments  in  that  direc- 
tion form  an  important  feature  of  many  social 
functions.  The  Doctor  and  his  wife  are  both 
very  agreeable,  genial  people,  and  have  drawn 
about  them  a  host  of  warm  friends,  including 
Lewiston's  best  people. 

JOSEPH    R.    NUMBERS,    M.  D. 

A  member  of  the  medical  fraternity  of  Weiser, 
Washington  county,  Dr.  Numbers  was  born  in 
Lexington,  Ohio,  May  30,  1864,  and  traces  his 
ancestry  back  to  some  of  the  early  colonists  of 
Pennsylvania,  who  were  of  German  lineage.  His 
father,  Esau  Numbers,  was  born  in  the  Keystone 
state,  November  I,  1816,  and  became  one  of  the 
pioneer  farmers  of  Ohio,  whither  he  removed  in 
1840.  He  married  Miss  Anna  Smith,  of  western 
Ohio,  and  to  them  were  born  eight  children,  but 
only  three  are  now  living.  Their  eldest  son,  Will- 
iam Numbers,  died  in  the  service  of  his  country 
in  the  great  civil  war,  losing  his  life  at  Cumber- 
land Gap.  The  mother  departed  this  life  in  1877, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-six  years,  and  in  1888  the 
father  accompanied  Dr.  Numbers  to  Idaho, 
spending  his  last  days  in  Weiser,  where  his  death 
occurred  when  he  had  reached  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-two  years. 

Dr.  Numbers  acquired  his  literary  education  in 
the  Ohio  Central  College  and  prepared  for  his 
profession  in  the  Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  of 
Cincinnati,  where  he  was  graduated  in  the  class 
of  1885.  He  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


459 


chosen  calling  in  Kansas,  where  he  remained  one 
year,  and  then  went  to  Minneapolis,  Minnesota, 
being  a  representative  of  the  medical  fraternity 
of  that  city  for  two  years.  Since  1888  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  Weiser,  where  he  has  built  up  a 
large  and  lucrative  practice  that  many  an  older 
physician  might  well  envy.  He  has  a  broad,  com- 
prehensive and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  science  of  medicine  and  by  the  faith- 
ful performance  of  each  day's  duty  he  finds 
strength  and  inspiration  for  the  labors  of  the 
next.  His  efforts  have  been  attended  with  excel- 
lent success,  and  the  public  and  the  profession 
accord  him  a  foremost  place  among  the  able  prac- 
titioners of  this  section  of  the  state.  He  is  a 
valued  member  of  the  Idaho  Medical  Society, 
the  National  Medical  Society,  and  of  the  board  of 
medical  examiners  of  the  state.  Through  these 
connections,  as  well  as  through  the  perusal  of 
some  of  the  leading  medical  journals  of  the  coun- 
try, he  keeps  abreast  with  all  the  advancement 
that  is  continually  being  made  in  methods  of 
medical  practice. 

In  1887  the  Doctor  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  B.  Swartz,  of  Topeka,  Kansas,  and 
by  their  union  have  been  born  three  children; 
Donald  S.,  Joseph  Reno  and  Josephine.  The 
Doctor  and  his  family  occupy  a  high  place  in  the 
esteem  of  their  fellow-citizens.  In  1886  he  was 
made  a  Mason  in  Carbondale  Lodge,  No.  72. 
A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Kansas,  and  is  a  past  master. 
He  also  belongs  to  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fra- 
ternity and  to  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  the 
World.  He  devotes  his  time  and  energies  almost 
exclusively  to  his  profession  and  his  ability  has 
gained  him  a  gratifying  degree  of  success. 

LOUIS    ELG. 

The  man  who  first  used  gas  for  illumination 
at  Idaho  Falls,  who  put  in  the  first  telephone  and 
who  set  up  the  first  soda  fountain  in  the  town, 
is  Louis  Elg,  druggist,  Front  and  Maine  streets. 
In  other  respects  Mr.  Elg  has  been  a  pioneer 
as  well.  His  life  has  been  a  busy  and  eventful 
one  and  its  important  details  are  well  worth  the 
writing  and  the  reading.  He  was  born  in  Swe- 
den, June  8,  1853,  and  is  descended  from  a  long 
line  of  Swedish  ancestors.  His  father,  also  named 
Louis  Elg,  was  an  iron-worker  and  was  frozen 
to  death,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight,  in  1867.  His 


son  Louis  was  then  fourteen  years  old,  and  on 
him  devolved  much  of  the  task  of  providing  for 
the  widow  and  her  seven  other  children.  He 
worked  in  a  nail  factory  and  in  due  course  of 
time  learned  the  blacksmith's  trade.  In  1874, 
when  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  he  came  to 
America.  His  mother  is  still  living  in  her  native 
land,  being  eighty  years  old. 

When  Mr.  Elg  came  to  the  United  States  he 
found  himself  seriously  handicapped  in  his  efforts 
to  get  on  by  reason  of  his  total  ignorance  of  the 
prevailing  language  of  the  country,  but  that  was 
only  one  of  the  difficulties  which  he  overcame  as 
time  passed.  He  stopped  for  a  while  in  Chi- 
cago, and  then  located  in  Boone  county,  Iowa, 
and  worked  for  a  time  in  the  coal  mines  there. 
After  that  he  made  his  way  to  Omaha,  Nebraska, 
where  he  found  employment  as  a  blacksmith. 
Later  he  worked  in  Van  Dorn's  machine  shop 
and  after  that  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune  made 
him  in  turn  the  driver  of  a  grocery  wagon  and  a 
barkeeper.  In  1879  he  went  to  Rollins,  Wyo- 
ming, and  again  worked  at  his  trade.  Then  he 
attached  himself  to  the  work  gang  that  was 
constructing  the  railroad  which  connects  Idaho 
Falls  with  the  outside  world,  and  worked  in  the 
building  department  until  operations  had  ex- 
tended as  far  as  Dillon,  Montana.  From  that 
point  he  returned  to  Red  Rock  and  opened  a 
saloon  and  ran  it  for  a  time  at  a  profit.  From 
Red  Rock  he  came  to  Idaho  Falls,  where  he 
accepted  a  situation  as  barkeeper  and  later  bought 
a  half  interest  in  the  saloon  in  which  he  was 
employed.  Still  later  he  engaged  in  the  saloon 
business  alone  and  continued  in  it  successfully 
until  1895,  when  he  abandoned  the  enterprise 
to  open  his  drug  store.  He  has  erected  a  build- 
ing at  Front  and  Maine  streets,  which  contains 
two  large  stores,  one  of  which  he  rents  and  one 
of  which  he  occupies.  He  carries  a  large  stock 
of  drugs,  medicines,  toilet  articles,  paints,  oils 
and  such  other  goods  as  are  usually  found  in  the 
best  drug  stores.  He  also  deals  extensively  in 
coal  and  ice  and  is  the  owner  of  considerable 
town  property  and  a  fine  farm  of  one  hundred 
arid  sixty  acres. 

Mr.  Elg  is  a  Democrat,  but  devotes  little  time 
or  attention  to  practical  politics.  He  is  an  en- 
terprising and  public-spirited  citizen,  who  takes  a 
deep  and  abiding  interest  in  the  development  and 


460 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


prosperity  of  Idaho  Falls,  and  there  is  no 
measure  for  the  enhancement  of  the  public  weal 
that  does  not  have  his  generous  support.  He  is 
a  Master  Mason,  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  Knight  of 
Pythias. 

In  1887  Mr.  Elg  married  Charlotte  Salstrom, 
a  native  of  Sweden,  and  they  have  a  son,  named 
Edward  August.  Mrs.  Elg  is  identified  with  the 
Lutheran  church. 

DONALD    S.    McCREA. 

Mr.  McCrea,  who  is  a  hardware  merchant  of 
Kendrick,  and  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the 
town,  dates  his  residence  here  from  August,  1891. 
A  native  of  Minnesota,  he  was  born  February  10, 
1862,  and  is  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  his  ancestors 
having  been  early  settlers  of  New  Brunswick. 
His  parents  were  both  natives  of  that  country, 
and  were  reared,  married  and  educated  there. 
The  father  was  Andrew  McCrea  and  the  mother 
bore  the  maiden  name  of  Lydia  Jane  Murphy. 
Soon  after  their  marriage  they  removed  to  Min- 
nesota, where  Andrew  McCrea  became  a  promi- 
nent lumberman.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  abil- 
ity and  influence  and  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Minnesota  legislature,  both  in  the  house  and 
senate.  Later  in  life  he  removed  to  Spokane, 
Washington,  where  he  was  connected  with  the 
Great  Northern  Railroad  Company  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  1894,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
one  years.  His  wife  departed  this  life  in  1876, 
at  the  age  of  forty-seven  years.  They  had  a  fam- 
ily of  ten  children,  eight  of  whom  are  living. 

Donald  S.  McCrea,  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth, 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
state,  and  there  learned  the  hardware  business. 
In  1881,  at  Warren,  Minnesota,  he  established 
a  store  of  his  own  in  that  line,  conducting  the 
same  for  three  years,  when  he  removed  to  Rock- 
ford,  Washington,  where  he  carried  on  a  hard- 
ware store  for  eight  years.  On  the  expiration 
of  that  period  he  came  to  Kendrick,  in  1891,  and 
organized  the  hardware  firm  of  McCrea  Brothers 
&  Company.  After  some  time  he  bought  out  his 
partners,  and  is  now  the  sole  owner  of  the  busi- 
ness. He  has  a  good  brick  store  building,  in 
the  center  of  the  business  district,  and  by  close 
attention  to  his  store,  by  honorable  dealing  and 
by  courteous  treatment  of  his  patrons  he  has 
secured  a  large  and  constantly  growing  trade, 


which  extends  all  over  the  rich  Potlatch  country 
and  even  comes  from  a  distance  of  sixty-five 
miles.  He  carries  a  large  stock  of  shelf  and  heavy 
hardware,  doors,  window-glass,  iron,  steel,  farm- 
ing implements  and  coal,  and  his  sales  have  now 
reached  a  very  desirable  volume.  In  addition  to 
his  store  building  he  has  a  large  warehouse,  in 
which  to  place  the  stock  until  needed. 

Mr.  McCrea  exercises  his  right  of  franchise  in 
support  of  the  men  and  measures  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  and  has  served  as  a  member  of  the 
city  council  of  Kendrick.  He  has  been  a  trustee 
in  the  Knights  of  Pythias  lodge  and  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  the  World. 
He  was  married,  in  1883  to  Miss  Dora  M.  Davies, 
a  native  of  Wisconsin,  but  after  three  years  of 
happy  married  life  she  was  called  to  the  home 
beyond,  leaving  a  beautiful  little  daughter,  Dora 
Viola,  who  is  now  attending  school  at  Spokane. 
Mrs.  McCrea  was  a  most  estimable  lady,  and  her 
many  admirable  qualities  endeared  her  to  all  who 
knew  her.  Mr.  McCrea  has  maintained  a  most 
honorable  record  throughout  the  whole  of  his 
business  career,  as  well  as  in  private  life,  and  is  a 
useful  and  popular  citizen  of  Kendrick.  He  has 
been  the  architect  of  his  own  fortunes  and  has 
builded  wisely  and  well.  His  honorable  methods 
and  indefatigable  industry  formed  the  foundation 
of  the  structure,  which  is  substantial  and  endur- 
ing. 

FRANK  L.  MOORE. 

The  junior  member  of  the  prominent  law 
firm  of  Forney,  Smith  &  Moore,  of  Moscow,  is 
Frank  Latham  Moore,  who  was  born  in  Olm- 
stead  county,  Minnesota,  February  8,  1863,  and 
is  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry.  The  family  was  early 
founded  in  Canada,  the  great-grandfather  of  our 
subject  being  its  progenitor  there.  The  grand- 
father, Chauncy  Moore,  was  born  in  Canada,  and 
when  a  young  man  removed  with  his  family  to 
Rochester,  New  York,  where  Reuben  Billings 
Moore,  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  1826. 
The  grandfather  removed  from  Rochester  to  Put- 
nam county,  Illinois,  where  he  secured  land  from 
the  government  and  made  his  home  until  his 
death,  in  1844,  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of 
forty-three  years.  His  wife  was  a  cousin  of  Cap- 
tain Johnson,  who  fought  in  the  war  of  1812,  and 
is  credited  with  having  killed  the  Indian  chief 
and  warrior,  Tecumseh.  Her  people  were  of  Ger- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


461 


man  descent  and  were  early  settlers  of  the  Mo- 
hawk valley. 

In  1849  Reuben  B.  Moore  crossed  the  plains 
to  California  with  oxen,  being  the  first  to  arrive 
at  Sutler's  Fort  that  year.  He  mined  on  Feather 
river,  but  was  principally  engaged  in  construct- 
ing ditches  and  flumes  to  convey  water  to  the 
miners.  He  met  with  a  satisfactory  degree  of 
success  during  his  ten-years  residence  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  then  returned  to  Illinois.  Soon  after- 
ward he  removed  to  Rochester,  Minnesota,  where 
he  purchased  a  farm.  In  1859  he  married  Miss 
Adele  Buckland,  a  native  of  Cattaraugus  county, 
New  York,  and  to  them  were  born  four  children. 

Frank  Latham  Moore,  their  eldest  child,  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Rochester, 
Minnesota,  was  graduated  in  the  high  school  with 
the  class  of  1879,  and  was  graduated  in  the  law 
department  of  the  Michigan  State  University,  at 
Ann  Arbor,  in  1888.  Soon  afterward  he  came  to 
the  Pacific  coast  and  practiced  his  profession  for 
four  years  in  Palouse  City,  Washington.  In  April, 

1893,  he  came  to  Moscow,  and  in  November, 

1894,  the  present  law  firm  of  Forney,  Smith  & 
Moore  was  organized. 

In  March,  1893,  Mr.  Moore  married  Miss  Vina 
Deavitt,  a  native  of  Canada,  and  they  now  have 
two  children,  Gladys  and  Latham. 

C.  A.  S.  PROSSER,  M.  D. 

For  six  years  a  distinguished  member  of  the 
medical  profession,  of  Boise,  honored  and  re- 
spected in  every  class  of  society,  Dr.  C.  A.  S. 
Prosser  is  numbered  among  the  leading  citizens 
of  his  community.  In  the  great  competitive 
struggle  of  life,  when  each  must  enter  the  field 
and  fight  his  way  to  the  front,  or  else  be  over- 
taken by  disaster  of  circumstance  or  place,  there 
is  ever  particular  interest  attaching  to  the  life  of 
one  who  has  turned  the  tide  of  success  and  has 
shown  his  ability  to  cope  with  others  in  their  rush 
for  the  coveted  goal.  This  Dr.  Prosser  has  done 
and  his  high  standing  in  his  profession  is  an 
unmistakable  indication  of  his  ability. 

A  native  of  Ontario,  Canada,  he  was  born  in 
Lunenburg,  on  the  zgi\i  of  January,  1864.  For 
three  generations  the  family  has  resided  in  Can- 
ada, but  the  ancestry  can  be  traced  back  to  Eng- 
land. The  great-grandfather  of  our  subject 
located  in  New  England,  but  during  the  war  of 


the  Revolution,  owing  to  his  loyalty  to  the  king, 
he  removed  to  Canada,  accompanied  by  his  fam- 
ily, which  included  Jesse  Prosser,  the  Doctor's 
grandfather.  The  latter  fought  on  the  side  of 
Great  Britain  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  his  son, 
Henry  Calvin  Prosser,  participated  in  the  war 
of  1837,  in  Canada,  fighting  at  Prescott,  at  what 
was  called  the  Windmill  battle.  He  married  Ann 
Eliza  Wade,  of  Fort  Covington,  New  York,  a 
lady  of  English  ancestry,  who  died  in  1863. 
Henry  Prosser,  however,  is  still  living,  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  seventy-nine  years,  and  through 
his  active  business  career  successfully  carried  on 
agricultural  pursuits. 

Dr.  Prosser  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  six 
children,  and  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm, 
while  in  the  common  schools  of  his  native  land 
he  acquired  his  elementary  education.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen  years  he  removed  to  Le  Mars, 
Iowa,  where  he  began  the  study  of  medicine 
under  the  direction  of  his  brother,  Dr.  W.  O. 
Prosser,  a  graduate  of  McGill  Medical  Col- 
lege, of  Montreal,  Canada.  He  also  won  the  de- 
grees of  L.  R.  C.  P.  and  L.  R.  C.  S.,  of  Edinburg. 
In  March,  1887,  C.  A.  S.  Prosser  was  graduated 
at  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College,  of  New 
York  city,  after  which  he  practiced  his  profession 
for  six  months  in  Potsdam,  New  York.  He  then 
took  charge  of  his  brother's  business  while  the 
latter  tookamuch  needed  rest  and  upon  the  return 
of  his  brother,  Dr.  Prosser,  of  this  review,  opened 
an  office  on  his  own  account  in  Marcus,  Iowa, 
where  he  soon  built  up  an  excellent  business. 
In  1893  ne  entered  the  Post-Graduate  Medical 
School,  of  Chicago,  and  then,  on  account  of  his 
health,  he  determined  not  to  return  to  Iowa,  but 
to  try  the  climate  of  Idaho.  Accordingly  he 
came  to  Boise,  where  he  has  built  up  an  extensive 
and  lucrative  practice.  He  holds  rank  with  the 
ablest  physicians  and  surgeons  of  the  state,  and 
by  his  study  and  investigation  and  the  perusal  of 
the  medical  journals  he  keeps  in  constant  touch 
with  the  profession  and  the  advance  which  is 
carrying  it  forward  toward  perfection.  In  con- 
nection with  his  private  practice,  he  also  occupies 
the  position  of  physician  and  surgeon  to  the  Wes- 
leyan  Hospital  of  Boise. 

The  Doctor  occupies  a  pleasant  suite  of  rooms 
in  the  Pioneer  Building,  and  has  a  beautiful  resi- 
dence at  No.  316  Bannock  street.  He  was  mar- 


4G2 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ried  July  3,  1889,  to  Miss  Clara  Raymond,  of 
Ontario,  and  they  now  have  two  daughters, 
Beatrice  Gertrude  and  Laura  Clarissa.  The  par- 
ents are  valued  members  of  the  Methodist  church 
and  take  an  active  part  in  its  work.  Dr.  Prosser 
inspires  personal  friendships  of  unusual  strength, 
and  all  who  know  him  have  the  highest  admira- 
tion for  his  good  qualities  of  head  and  heart. 

WILLIAM    A.    CALDWELL. 

The  history  of  pioneer  life  has  long  rivaled  in 
interest  the  tales  of  battles  and  of  life  on  the 
tented  field.  Without  the  roar  of  cannon  and 
musketry  or  the  inspiring  notes  of  fife  and  drum, 
hosts  no  less  brave  and  determined  have  gone 
forth  into  the  wilderness  to  reclaim  it  for  the  pur- 
poses of  civilization  and  have  fought  the  hard 
battle  of  conquering  the  raw  land,  the  sturdy 
forest  and  the  rocky  fastnesses  of  the  earth,  mak- 
ing each  yield  of  its  treasures  such  elements  as 
can  be  utilized  for  man.  This  is  an  arduous  labor 
and  one  to  which  is  due  recognition  and  commen- 
dation, and  therefore  in  preparing  a  history  of 
Idaho  it  is  with  pleasure  that  we  introduce  the  life 
records  of  such  worthy  pioneers  as  William  A. 
Caldwell,  whose  identification  with  the  state  ante- 
dates the  formation  of  its  territorial  government. 

He  was  born  in  Newford,  New  York,  Decem- 
ber 10,  1832,  and  is  of  Scotch  lineage.  His 
grandfather,  William  Caldwell,  having  emigrated 
from  Scotland  before  the  Revolution,  settled  first 
in  Xew  Jersey  and  later  removed  to  Orange 
county,  New  York.  By  occupation  he  was  an 
agriculturist,  and  in  connection  with  general 
farming  he  conducted  a  dairy.  He  married  Miss 
Maria  Anderson,  also  a  native  of  Scotland,  and 
they  became  the  parents  of  eight  children,  of 
whom  Mr.  Caldwell  of  this  review  is  now  the  only 
male  survivor.  The  father  died  in  the  sixty-third 
year  of  his  age,  and  the  mother  departed  this  life 
at  the  age  of  fifty-eight. 

In  Tompkins  county,  New  York,  William  A. 
Caldwell  spent  his  boyhood  days.  His  early  edu- 
cational privileges  there,  acquired  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  were  supplemented  by  study  in 
Ithaca,  New  York,  after  which  he  learned  the 
boat-builder's  trade.  He  then  served  on  the  Pan- 
ama railroad  survey  and  crossed  the  plains  from 
St.  Paul  with  Colonel  Knobles.  While  en  route  he 
heard  of  the  Fraser  river  excitement,  caused  by 


the  gold  discoveries,  and  with  four  others  con- 
tinued across  the  country  to  Walla  Walla,  where 
he  arrived  December  20,  1859.  The  government 
post  was  then  in  process  of  construction,  and  the 
pioneers  of  the  northwest  were  but  beginning 
their  labors  of  reclaiming  this  section  of  the  coun- 
try. Mr.  Caldwell  went  with  a  pack  train  to 
Fraser  river,  taking  to  the  mines  provisions,  con- 
sisting of  bacon,  beans,  flour  and  sugar.  Those 
commodities  he  bought  for  about  twenty  cents 
per  pound  and  sold  for  ninety,  thus  realizing  a 
handsome  profit.  He  also  sold  his  horses  and 
cleared  a  large  sum  of  money  in  that  way.  He 
made  the  trip  to  Carriboo,  then  returned  to  Walla 
Walla  and  from  there  made  his  way  to  Pierce 
City.  The  following  year  he  secured  a  claim  and 
in  two  years  cleared  two  thousand  dollars  off  that 
property. 

On  the  expiration  of  that  period  he  went  to  the 
Boise  basin  and  took  up  a  claim,  but  sold  the 
property  for  six  hundred  dollars  and  engaged  in 
packing  to  every  camp  in  the  territory.  He  had 
fifty-two  packs,  and  between  July  and  the  late  fall 
cleared  four  thousand  dollars.  In  1861  he  was 
paid  by  Mr.  Baker  fifty  dollars  to  carry  a  letter 
from  Walla  Walla  to  Lewiston,  and  made  the 
journey  of  nearly  a  hundred  miles  with  one  horse 
in  a  day.  Nor  did  he  injure  the  horse  by  hard 
riding,  but  was  able  to  ride  it  some  distance  the 
next  day.  Subsequently  he  sold  his  pack  train 
and  was  engaged  in  furnishing  hay  and  grain  to 
the  government,  under  contract.  He  had  a  sta- 
tion on  the  reservation,  and  met  with  most  grati- 
fying and  creditable  success  in  that  undertaking. 
His  station  was  located  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tains, twenty-two  miles  distant  from  Lewiston, 
and  there  he  presided  for  almost  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  He  also  engaged  in  raising  cattle  and 
sheep,  having  one  thousand  head  of  cattle  and 
ten  thousand  sheep.  By  the  wise  direction  of  his 
business  affairs  and  his  undaunted  energy  and 
perseverance  he  has  gained  a  desirable  fortune, 
and  is  now  the  owner  of  six  hundred  acres  of  land 
in  one  farm,  together  with  several  lots 'in  Lewis- 
ton.  He  has  a  beautiful  and  valuable  block  in  the 
city  in  which  he  and  his  family  now  reside. 

Mr.  Caldwell  was  married  in  1871,  the  lady  of 
his  choice  being  Miss  Maria  Reddy,  a  native  of 
Canada.  They  have  four  children:  William, 
Solomon,  Frederick  and  Moses.  In  his  social  re- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


463 


lations  Mr.  Caldvvell  is  a  Master  Mason,  and 
politically  he  is  a  Democrat,  but  has  never  sought 
nor  desired  official  preferment.  He  is  now  living 
retired,  enjoying  a  rest  which  he  has  truly  earned 
and  richly  deserves. 

JOHN    Q.    MOXLEY,   M.   D. 

Dr.  John  Quincy  Moxley,  the  pioneer  druggist 
of  Lewiston,  and  a  successful  practicing  physi- 
cian, was  born  in  Scioto  county,  Ohio,  April  15, 
1846,  and  is  of  English  lineage,  the  original 
American  ancestors  having  been  early  settlers  of 
New  England.  His  father,  Thomas  S.  Moxley, 
was  born  in  Vermont,  and  when  a  young  man 
removed  to  Ohio,  where  Tie  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine  for  fifty  years.  He  married  Miss 
Susan  McConnell,  of  Portsmouth,  Ohio,  and  to 
them  were  born  six  children,  three  of  whom  are 
now  living.  The  father  died  in  the  seventy-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  and  the  mother  passed  away  at 
the  age  of  seventy-nine. 

Their  son,  John  Quincy  Moxley,  completed  his 
literary  education  in  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  Univer- 
sity, and  in  the  Miami  Medical  College,  of  Cin- 
cinnati, prepared  for  his  profession.  Subsequent- 
ly he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine  in  the 
Buckeye  state,  and  in  1873  emigrated  westward, 
locating  in  Mount  Idaho,  this  state,  where  he 
practiced  for  six  months.  He  then  came  to  Lew- 
iston and  bought  of  Dr.  Kelly  the  pioneer  drug 
store  of  the  town.  Since  that  time  he  has  con- 
ducted the  store  and  attended  to  a  large  practice, 
which  is  steadily  increasing  in  volume  and  in  im- 
portance. He  is  a  competent  physician,  with  a 
comprehensive  and  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
science  of  medicine,  and  his  professional  labors 
have  been  followed  by  excellent  results.  He  has 
also  built  up  a  good  trade  in  the  store,  and  has 
the  good  will  and  respect  of  all  with  whom  he  has 
been  brought  in  contact. 

In  addition  to  his  other  business  interests  the 
Doctor  was  for  twelve  years  a  director  in  the 
Lewiston  National  Bank,  and  is  a  stockholder  in 
various  mines  in  British  Columbia,  Pierce  City 
and  Florence,  and  in  the  Iron  Crown  mine  on 
Newsom  creek,  where  they  have  an  inexhaustible 
supply  of  rich  ore,  having  taken  out  as  high  as 
twenty-one  hundred  and  eighteen  dollars  in  one 
hundred  hours'  run.  He  owns  a  fine  business 
block. — a  brick  structure  at  the  corner  of  Main 


and  Third  streets,  the  very  center  of  the  business 
district.  He  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in 
the  educational  affairs  of  the  city,  has  been  di- 
rector of  the  Lewiston  schools,  and  has  efficiently 
served  as  county  superintendent  of  schools.  He 
is  a  most  progressive  and  public-spirited  citizen, 
advocating  all  commendable  improvements  and 
lending  an  active  support  to  all  measures  for  the 

public  good. 

EDWARD   S.  JEWELL. 

Edward  S.  Jewell  dates  his  residence  in  the 
Salubria  valley  from  1869,  and  is  therefore  num- 
bered among  its  pioneer  farmers  and  stock-rais- 
ers. A  native  of  Wisconsin,  he  was  born  in 
Dodgeville,  Iowa  county,  that  state,  on  the  gth 
of  October,  1846,  and  is  of  English  extraction. 
His  father,  Edward  S.  Jewell,  Sr.,  was  born  in 
Cornwall,  England,  and  after  his  marriage  came 
with  his  wife  and  five  children  to  the  United 
States,  locating  in  Wisconsin,  where  he  remained 
until  1852,  when  he  went  to  California  to  secure 
gold  in  the  Eldorado  of  the  west.  It  is  believed 
that  he  was  killed  by  the  Indians,  for  no  news 
was  ever  afterward  received  of  him.  His  wife 
survived  him  two  years  and  died  in  1854,  leaving 
a  family  of  six  children,  three  of  whom  are  now 
living  in  Idaho.  She  was  a  devout  member  of 
the  Methodist  church. 

In  the  public  schools  of  his  native  state  Edward 
S.  Jewell,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  acquired  his 
education.  He  was  only  sixteen  years  of  age 
when  he  -drove  a  team  across  the  hot  and  arid 
plains  to  California,  in  company  with  his  uncle, 
U.  E.  Rowe,  and  S.  B.  Dilley.  They  continued 
their  travel  to  Auburn,  Oregon,  where  Mr.  Jew- 
ell learned  the  blacksmith's  trade.  The  following 
year  he  went  to  Idaho  City,  there  continuing  to 
work  at  his  trade,  at  which  there  was  more  money 
to  be  made  than  at  mining.  The  price  for  shoe- 
ing a  horse  was  ten  dollars,  for  setting  a  tire  on 
a  wagon  from  twenty-four  to  thirty  dollars,  while 
a  miner's  pick  sold  for  sixteen  dollars  and  every- 
thing else  was  proportionately  high.  In  1869  Mr. 
Jewell  came  to  the  Salubria  valley,  entered  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  built  upon  it  and 
otherwise  improved  it,  and  from  time  to  time  ex- 
tended its  boundaries  by  additional  purchase, 
until  he  now  has  seven  hundred  and  seventy-five 
acres  of  highly  cultivated  land,  the  well  tilled 
fields  yielding  to  him  a  golden  tribute  in  return 


464 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


for  the  care  and  labor  he  bestows  upon  them. 
His  home  is  pleasantly  located  just  a  half  mile 
west  of  Salubria,  so  that  the  conveniences  and  ad- 
vantages of  town  as  well  as  country  life  are  easily 
accessible.  Upon  his  farm  are  located  the  Wash- 
ington county  fair  grounds.  Throughout  his 
residence  here  he  has  engaged  in  stock-raising, 
and  he  is  now  breeding  Hereford  cattle  and  Ham- 
bletonian  horses,  having  some  of  the  best  stock 
in  the  county.  He  is  also  engaged  in  raising 
Berkshire  hogs,  and  has  met  with  very  desirable 
success  in  his  stock-raising  ventures.  He  was 
the  first  to  introduce  Norman  and  Hambletonian 
horses  in  Salubria  valley,  and  in  this  way  has 
aided  in  improving  the  grade  raised  in  this  local- 
ity. Nor  are  his  efforts  confined  alone  to  the 
labors  connected  with  his  farm.  He  is  a  stock- 
holder in  the  Creamery  Company  and  the  Tele- 
phone Company,  and  is  not  slow  to  co-operate  in 
any  movement  which  he  believes  will  advance  the 
material  welfare  of  this  section  of  the  state. 

In  1868  Mr.  Jewell  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  A.  Markham,  who,  in  1864,  came  to 
Idaho  with,  her  father,  David  Markham,  now  a 
resident  of  Arizona.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jewell  have 
had  ten  children,  namely:  William  E.,  who  is  en- 
gaged in  merchandising  in  Arizona ;  Mary  Grace, 
wife  of  W.  H.  Eckles,  a  farmer  of  Salubria  valley; 
Edgar  D.,  who  assists  in  the  operation  of  the 
home  farm ;  Maud  May,  who  is  engaged  in  teach- 
ing music  and  makes  her  home  with  her  parents; 
James  Edward,  who  entered  his  country's  service 
when  war  was  declared  against  Spain  and  is  now 
in  Manila;  Edna  Salome  and  Esther  T.,  who  are 
successful  school-teachers;  and  Sarah  E.,  Fred 
Markham  and  Earl  C,  yet  under  the  parental 
roof. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Jewell  has  always 
been  a  Democrat  and  was  twice  elected  county 
commissioner  of  Washington  county.  He  also 
served  as  a  member  of  the  territorial'  senate  and 
of  the  convention  which  framed  the  present  state 
constitution,  and  was  a  member  of  the  first  state 
senate.  He  has  studied  closely  the  questions  af- 
fecting the  welfare  of  the  commonwealth,  and  has 
given  his  support  to  all  measures  which  he  be- 
lieves to  be  for  the  public  good.  His  course  has 
ever  been  most  commendable,  and  he  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  influential  citi- 
zens of  this  portion  of  Idaho.  Socially  he  is  con- 


nected with  the  Masonic  fraternity,  having  been 
made  a  Master  Mason  in  Idaho  City,  in  1868. 
He  is  a  charter  member  of  Salubria  Lodge,  No. 
31,  and  has  filled  all  the  offices  therein.  All  who 
know  him,  and  his  acquaintance  is  extensive, 
esteem  him  for  the  possession  of  most  sterling 
traits  of  character. 

JAMES  R.  STRONG. 

James  Russell  Strong,  judge  of  the  probate 
court  of  Latah  county,  was  born  in  Sullivan,  Ash- 
land county,  Ohio,  September  24,  1849.  His 
great-grandfather,  Russell  Strong,  was  a  resident 
of  Vermont  and  participated  in  the  events  which 
go  to  form  the  early  history  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tain state.  His  son,  Alvah  Strong,  grandfather 
of  our  subject,  was  a  participant  in  the  war  of 
1812  when  but  a  boy,  and  for  one  year  served  in 
the  Union  army  during  the  civil  war  as  a  member 
of  Company  F,  First  Nebraska  Volunteer  Infan- 
try. He  participated  in  the  battle  of  Fort  Donel- 
son  and  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh  received  an 
honorable  discharge  on  account  of  his  advanced 
age.  He  spent  his  last  days  with  his  son,  Orrin 
R.  Strong,  and  his  grandson,  James  R.  Strong, 
and  had  passed  the  ninetieth  milestone  on  life's 
journey  when  called  to  his  final  rest. 

Orrin  R.  Strong,  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  in  Ellicottville,  Cattaraugus  county,  New 
York,  September  30,  1823,  and  having  arrived  at 
years  of  maturity  married  Miss  Amanda  Gibbs, 
who  was  born  in  Rutland  county,  Vermont,  a 
daughter  of  Elijah  Gibbs,  of  that  state.  Mr. 
Strong  was  a  farmer,  but  at  the  time  of  the 
rebellion  he  put  aside  all  business  cares  and  per- 
sonal considerations  to  enter  his  country's  serv- 
ice, as  a  member  of  Company  C,  Fourth  Regi- 
ment of  Missouri  Cavalry.  On  the  expiration  of 
his  first  term  he  re-enlisted,  and  continued  at  the 
front  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  now  resides 
in  Garfield,  Washington,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
six  years,  and  his  wife  is  seventy-one  years  of 
age.  They  celebrated  their  golden  wedding  in 
October,  1898,  having  traveled  life's  journey  to- 
gether for  half  a  century.  They  are  members  of 
the  Methodist  church,  in  which  they  have  for 
many  years  been  faithful  workers.  In  their  fam- 
ily were  eight  children,  six  of  whom  are  living. 

James  Russell  Strong,  the  eldest  of  the  family, 
acquired  his  preliminary  education  in  the  public 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


465 


schools,  and  later  was  a  student  in  Amity  Acad- 
emy, in  Page  county,  Iowa.  He  entered  upon  his 
business  career  as  a  school-teacher  and  farmer, 
performing  the  labors  of  the  school-room  through 
the  winter  season,  while  in  the  summer  months 
he  worked  in  the  fields.  In  1877  he  removed  to 
Kansas,  where  he  purchased  a  cheese  factory, 
which  he  operated  for  five  years.  He  was  also 
engaged  in  merchandising  for  five  years  in  Rip- 
ley,  Kansas,  but  in  1889  sold  his  business  inter- 
ests in  that  state  and  came  to  Idaho,  locating  on 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  Latah  county,  his  post-office  being 
Cora.  He  has  also  acted  as  salesman,  book- 
keeper and  time-keeper  in  connection  with  a 
large  sawmill  in  the  neighborhood. 

In  politics  Mr.  Strong  has  always  been  a  Re- 
publican and  has  been  honored  with  a  number 
of  positions  of  public  trust.  He  has  served  as 
postmaster  and  justice  of  the  peace,  and  in  1898 
received  the  Republican  nomination  for  judge  of 
the  probate  court  of  Latah  county.  Being  elected, 
he  is  now  ably  serving,  discharging  his  duties  in 
a  most  prompt  and  able  manner.  The  cause  of 
education  ever  finds  in  him  a  warm  friend  and  he 
has  rendered  effective  service  as  school  trustee. 

In  1876  Mr.  Strong  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  M.  Putnam,  a  native  of  Canton,  Ful- 
ton county,  Illinois,  and  they  have  four  children: 
Alvah,  Eunice,  Ettie  and  Alice,  all  yet  under  the 
parental  roof.  Mrs.  Strong  holds  membership  in 
the  Methodist  church,  and  for  many  years  Mr. 
Strong  has  been  a  valued  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  passing  all  the 
chairs  in  the  encampment.  He  is  a  gentleman 
of  ability  and  is  an  obliging  and  painstaking 

officer. 

JOSHUA  G.  ROWTON. 

One  of  the  prominent  farmers  of  Catnas  prairie 
is  Joshua  Graham  Rowton,  who  was  born  in 
Benton  county,  Missouri,  June  16,  1850.  He  is  of 
English  descent,  his  ancestors  having  been  early 
settlers  of  Kentucky,  where  the  family  was  founded 
by  John  Rowton,  the  grandfather  ef  our  subject. 
He  afterward  removed  to  Missouri  and  was  num- 
bered among  the  pioneers  of  that  state.  William 
Willis  Rowton,  the  father  of  Joshua,  was  born 
near  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  when  a  young  man 
accompanied  the  family  on  their  emigration  to 
Missouri.  He  made  his  home  in  Benton  county, 


but  died  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-seven  years. 
He  married  Martha  Graham,  who  was  left  a 
widow  with  two  little  sons.  She  was  ever  faith- 
fully devoted  to  her  children  and  is  still  living,  in 
her  seventy-first  year,  her  home  being  in  Kansas. 
She  has  long  been  a  member  of  the  Baptist 
church  and  is  a  most  estimable  lady. 

Mr.  Rowton  of  this  review  was  only  a  year 
old  when  his  father  died.  He  had  little  oppor- 
tunity for  acquiring  an  education,  and  as  the 
family  lost  all  their  property  during  the  civil  war 
his  school  privileges  were  necessarily  more  lim- 
ited than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case. 
However,  reading  and  experience  in  the  practical 
affairs  of  life  have  added  greatly  to  his  knowl- 
edge, and  he  is  to-day  a  very  well  informed  man. 
When  fourteen  years  of  age  he  removed  with  his 
mother  to  Kansas,  and  since  that  time  has  been 
dependent  entirely  upon  his  own  resources  for  his 
livelihood,  so  that  whatever  success  he  has 
achieved  is  due  entirely  to  his  own  efforts.  In  the 
fall  of  1872  he  removed  to  Montana,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  packed  over  the  mountains  to  Camas 
prairie.  Here  he  located  the  homestead  upon 
which  he  now  resides,  a  rich  tract  of  land  seven 
and  a  half  miles  northeast  of  Grangeville.  Here, 
as  the  result  of  his  industry  and  energy,  he  has 
now  a  fine  country  place,  and  from  time  to  time 
has  extended  the  boundaries  of  his  farm  until  it 
now  comprises  six  hundred  acres.  His  cozy 
home,  attractive  grounds,  good  orchard  and 
many  other  improvements  all  indicate  the  pro- 
gressive spirit  and  good  taste  of  the  owner,  who 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  leading  representatives 
of  the  agricultural  interests  in  this  part  of  the 
state.  He  follows  general  farming,  but  has  given 
his  attention  chiefly  to  stock-raising,  including 
cattle,  horses,  sheep  and  hogs.  He  has  had  as 
many  as  three  hundred  head  of  cattle  at  one  time, 
and  in  this  branch  of  his  business  is  meeting  with 
very  gratifying  success. 

In  1877  Mr.  Rowton  was  united  in  marriage  to 
.  Miss  Emma  L.  Clarke,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and 
three  children  grace  their  union:  Eva,  Homer 
C.  and  Jessie.  Mrs.  Rowton  is  a  cultured  and 
amiable  lady,  and  presides  very  gracefully  over 
their  hospitable  home,  being  to  her  husband  a 
worthy  helpmeet. 

Since  coming  to  this  state  Mr.  Rowton  has 
been  actively  connected  with  many  of  the  events 


466 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


which  form  its  history.  At  the  time  the  Nez 
Perces  Indian  war  broke  out  he  was  at  Mount 
Idaho,  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  volunteer  in  the 
service  of  quelling  the  uprising.  He  aided  in 
building  the  stone  fortifications  at  Mount  Idaho 
and  was  one  of  the  party  that  routed  a  band  of 
Indians  in  that  vicinity.  He  also  served  with 
General  Custer  in  Texas  in  following  a  band  of 
Indians  who  had  captured  a  white  woman  on  the 
Red  river.  After  a  long  and  arduous  chase  they 
overtook  the  Indians  and  rescued  the  woman, 
a  fact  of  which  the  participants  in  the  affairs  have 
every  reason  to  be  proud. 

In  politics  Mr.  Rowton  has  also  been  an  active 
factor.  He  belongs  to  a  family  of  Republicans, 
and  had  an  uncle  who  was  a  slave-holder  in  the 


south,  but  who  nevertheless  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  Union  and  fought  in  the  northern  army  in 
support  of  the  supremacy  of  the  government  at 
Washington.  Our  subject  has  always  been  a 
stanch  advocate  of  the  Grand  Old  Party,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1893  was  elected  on  its  ticket  to  the 
state  legislature,  where  he  served  most  creditably 
and  was  the  chairman  of  the  committee  on  roads 
and  bridges.  In  1896  he  was  again  nominated, 
but  the  entire  ticket  met  defeat  in  Idaho  in  that 
year.  Mr.  Rowton,  however,  has  never  been  an 
office-seeker,  preferring  to  devote  his  energies  to 
his  business  interests.  Socially  he  is  a  representa- 
tive of  the  Odd  Fellows  society.  Both  he  and  his 
wife  have  a  wide  acquaintance  on  Camas  prairie 
and  are  very  favorably  known. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 


EDUCATIONAL   ADVANTAGES   IN   IDAHO. 


IN  THE  character  of  her  schools  and  the  facili- 
ties for  education  Idaho  has  kept  fully  abreast 
with  the  other  states  of  the  west.  Education 
in  the  Gem  state  has  kept  pace  with  her  material 
developments.  The  future  of  Idaho  as  regards 
educational  facilities  and  advantages  is  most 
promising.  The  munificent  grant  of  land  made 
to  the  state  by  the  general  government,  coupled 
with  the  minimum  price  (ten  dollars  per  acre)  at 
which  state  lands  may  be  sold,  secures  an  endow- 
ment amply  sufficient  to  defray  all  expenses  of 
the  public  schools.  The  amount  received  from 
the  sale  of  school  lands  goes  into  the  general 
school  fund,  which  is  irreducible,  the  interest  de- 
rived from  its  investment  in  state  bonds  and  farm 
mortgages  being  alone  available  for  the  support 
of  the  schools.  This  interest,  after  but  one  year's 
operation  of  the  law  providing  for  sales  of  land, 
amounted  to  over  forty  thousand  dollars  per  an- 
num. The  first  school  land  was  sold  November 
27,  1891.  When  it  is  remembered  that  there  are 
belonging  to  the  state,  under  the  grant  for  com- 
mon schools,  nearly  three  million  five  hundred 
thousand  acres,  an  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
school  fund  in  the  near  future  can  be  formed. 
Within  a  few  years  it  is  confidently  expected  that 
the  common  schools  of  the  state  will  be  entirely 
supported  by  the  income  from  the  state  fund,  and 
that  local  taxation,  except  for  extraordinary  pur- 
poses, will  not  be  known  in  connection  with  the 
public  schools. 

Other  educational  institutions  are,  like  the 
common  schools,  munificently  endowed.  The 
university,  located  at  Moscow,  has  a  grant  of 
fifty  thousand  acres,  which,  at  the  minimum  price 
of  ten  dollars  an  acre,  means  an  irreducible  fund 
for  the  university  of  at  least  five  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  Very  much  of  this  land  will  sell  for 
twice  or  thrice  the  minimum,  so  that  the  univer- 
sity may  be  safely  said  to  have  one  million  dollars 
represented  by  her  grant  of  lands.  The  grant  for 
the  support  of  the  normal  schools  is  one  hundred 

467 


thousand  acres,  and  assures  for  the  teachers  of 
Idaho  opportunities  for  technical  training  equal 
to  the  best  in  the  Union.  The  selection  of  large 
tracts  of  land  in  all  parts  of  the  state,  in  satisfac- 
tion of  the  grants  made  by  the  United  States, 
affords  to  colonies  opportunities  to  secure  thou- 
sands of  acres  in  a  body,  for  the  establishment  of 
homes  and  for  the  acquisition  of  lands  under  the 
most  favorable  conditions. 

The  school  age  is  from  six  to  seventeen  years. 
In  1896  there  were  39,288  children  enrolled  in 
the  public  schools.  On  the  reorganization  of  the 
school  system  and  the  passage  of  the  compulsory 
school  law  by  the  legislature,  in  1887,  a  more 
general  attention  was  given  to  this  subject.  As 
now  arranged  the  school  officers  consist  of  a  state 
superintendent  of  public  instruction,  a  superin- 
tendent in  each  county,  and  a  board  of  three 
trustees  in  each  district. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  IDAHO. 

The  University  of  Idaho  is  a  part  of  the  educa- 
tional system  of  the  state.  The  governing  body 
of  the  institution  is  a  board  of  nine  regents,  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor,  as  provided  in  its  char- 
ter. The  university  aims  to  complete  and  crown 
the  work  that  is  begun  in  the  public  schools,  by 
furnishing  ample  facilities  for  liberal  education  in 
literature,  science  and  the  arts,  and  for  thorough 
technical  training  in  engineering,  mining  and 
agriculture.  Through  the  aid  that  has  been  re- 
ceived from  the  United  States  and  the  state,  it  is 
enabled  to  offer  its  privileges  to  all  persons  of 
either  sex,  who  are  qualified  for  admission. 

The  university  comprises,  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  its  charter,  the  colleges  or  de- 
partments of  arts,  letters,  agriculture  and 
mechanic  arts,  mining,  applied  sciences,  engi- 
neering, music,  freehand  and  industrial  art  and 
graduate  study.  Six  collegiate  courses  are  of- 
fered: The  classical,  leading  to  the  degree  of 
bachelor  of  arts;  the  philosophical,  leading  to  the 


468 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


degree  of  bachelor  of  philosophy;  the  scientific, 
leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  science;  the 
civil-engineering,  leading  to  the  degree  of  bach- 
elor of  civil  engineering;  the  mining-engineering, 
leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  mining  en- 
gineering; the  agricultural,  leading  to  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  agriculture.  The  master's  degree 
will  be  conferred  upon  the  fulfilment  of  the  proper 
conditions.  The  university  not  yet  having  facili- 
ties for  graduate  work  beyond  the  degree  of  mas- 
ter will  not  entertain  applications  for  the  doctor- 
ate degrees. 

Moscow,  the  seat  of  the  university,  is  the  prin- 
cipal city  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  com- 
monly known'  as  the  "Panhandle."  It  is  on  the 
main  line  of  the  Spokane  &  Palouse  Railroad,  a 
branch  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  and  on  a  branch 
of  the  Spokane  line  of  the  Oregon  Railway  & 
Navigation  Company's  lines.  The  population  is 
about  four  thousand.  The  city  has  electric  lights 
and  an  abundant  supply  of  pure  artesian  water. 
There  are  several  well  sustained  churches  and  ex- 
cellent public  schools.  The  altitude  is  about 
twenty-seven  hundred  feet,  the  air  pure  and  in- 
vigorating and  the  climate  healthful.  The  winters 
are  neither  severe  nor  prolonged.  There  is  no 
better  climate  for  effective  study. 

The  university  is  located  upon  one  of  the  beau- 
tiful rolling  hills  that  environ  the  city.  The  pros- 
pect is  one  of  the  most  charming  in  the  famous 
Palouse  country  and  is  an  ideal  scenic  location 
for  an  educational  institution.  The  campus  com- 
prises twenty  acres.  North  of  the  main  building 
is  a  meadow  of  several  acres,  which  is  used  as  an 
athletic  field  and  drill  ground.  In  front  is  a 
broad  terrace,  which  is  devoted  entirely  to  lawn. 

The  main  or  administration  building  is  an  at- 
tractive and  commodious  structure  of  three 
stories  and  a  high  basement,  finished  in  California 
redwood  and  supplied  with  artesian,  water  and 
electric  lights.  It  has  cost  with  furniture  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  when 
completed  and  furnished  throughout  will  repre- 
sent an  outlay  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars.  At  present  thirty-five  rooms 
are  occupied,  the  different  departments  hav- 
ing from  one  to  four  rooms  as  necessity 
demands. 

A  wooden  building,  50x125,  known  as  the  An- 
nex, is  located  about  one  hundred  feet  in  the  rear 


of  the  main  building.  Standing  on  the  edge  of 
the  embankment  of  "the  graded  area  about  the 
university  building  it  consists  of  one  story  and 
basement  and  two  stories  in  the  rear.  The  main 
portion  of  the  front  affords  fair  accommodations 
for  the  armory.  Here  are  also  to  be  found  rooms 
for  the  dairy  school,  cooking  school,  milk-testing 
laboratory  and  a  dark-room  for  the  photographic 
work  of  the  experiment  station ;  also  seed,  work- 
ing, tool  and  store  rooms,  and  excellent  cellars 
for  the  experiment  station.  East  of  the  main 
building  stands  the  greenhouse.  The  greenhouse 
proper  is  18x50  feet,  resting  upon  a  stone  founda- 
tion with  brick  and  glass  side  walls,  wrought  iron 
rafters,  cement  floor,  and  every  provision  known 
to  the  best  greenhouse  construction.  In  front  of 
the  greenhouse  is  a  neat  wooden  structure  24x34, 
being  the  class  room  and  office  of  the  horticul- 
tural department  and  working-room  for  the 
greenhouse. 

The  library  of  the  university  is  composed  of  a 
general  library  and  the  technical  libraries  of  agri- 
culture, art,  chemistry,  botany,  civil  engineering, 
languages,  mathematics,  mechanic  arts,  military 
tactics,  mining,  physics  and  zoology.  At  present 
the  library  contains  three  thousand  purchased 
volumes,  thirty-one  hundred  government  docu- 
ments, and  over  ninety-five  hundred  pamphlets, 
files  of  magazines,  newspapers,  and  agricultural 
bulletins  and  reports.  The  general  library  and 
reading-room  occupies  a  large,  well  lighted  room 
on  the  first  floor  of  the  university  building.  The 
technical  libraries  are  kept  in  the  rooms  of  the 
respective  departments.  The  station  library  has 
been  organized  and  placed  in  the  general  library. 
This  consists  of  books  on  general  station  work, 
government  documents  and  files  of  bulletins  and 
agricultural  papers.  The  bulletins  are  arranged 
according  to  states  and  topics  and  made  available 
by  a  special  card  catalogue  of  over  fifteen  thou- 
sand numbers. 

The  various  laboratories  are  conveniently  ar- 
ranged and  supplied  with  necessary  equipments 
for  the  proper  illustration  of  the  several  courses 
of  study  implied.  The  necessary  expenses  of  the 
student  in  the  university  are  very  low  as  com- 
pared with  other  institutions  affording  equal 
advantages.  The  various  courses  of  study  are 
admirably  arranged  for  effective  work  on  the  part 
of  students  and  the  faculty  and  corps  of  supple- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


469 


mental  instructors  are  all  strong  in  their  respec- 
tive fields. 

The  preparatory  school  is  sustained  expressly 
for  preparing  students  for  the  college  courses. 
Its  courses  are  so  arranged  as  to  facilitate  prepa- 
ration for  college.  No  instruction  is  given  in  the 
elementary  sciences,  except  physiology,  as  the 
sciences  are  fully  treated  in  the  collegiate  depart- 
ment. Accordingly  students  devote  their  entire 
time  in  the  preparatory  courses  to  those  branches 
that  lead  directly  to  the  college  courses.  The 
preparatory  school  is  under  the  immediate  super- 
vision of  the  president  and  faculty.  This  insures 
a  high  order  of  instruction  and  thoroughly  har- 
monizes its  methods  with  those  of  the  university 
proper.  While  the  courses,  as  stated  above,  are 
strictly  college  preparatory,  they  are  nevertheless 
thoroughly  practical,  being  divested  of  non- 
essentials,  and  invaluable  to  those  who  .do  not 
contemplate  entering  the  university. 

The  personnel  of  the  present  board  of  regents 
is  as  follows:  Hon.  James  H.  Forney  (president), 
Hon.  Frank  Martin  (vice-president),  Hon.  Frank 
E.  Cornwall  (secretary),  Hon.  John  G.  Brown, 
Hon.  D.  M.  Eckman,  Hon.  James  H.  Hawley, 
Hon.  A.  F.  Parker,  Hon  Warren  Truitt,  Mrs.  M. 
J.  Whitman.  Hon.  W.  L.  Payne  is  treasurer. 

The  faculty  of  the  university  as  at  present  con- 
stituted is  as  follows,  the  scholastic  assignment  of 
each  member  being  given  in  the  connection: 
Joseph  P.  Blanton,  A.  M.,  LL.  D.  (president), 
philosophy;  Charles  W.  McCurdy,  Ph.  D.,  pro- 
fessor of  chemistry ;  Willard  K.  Clement,  Ph.  D., 
professor  of  Latin  and  Greek;  Louis  F.  Hender- 
son, Ph.  B.,  professor  of  botany;  John  M.  Al- 
drich,  M.  S.,  professor  of  zoology;  Harriett  E. 
Cushman,  A.  M.,  professor  of  English  language 
and  literature;  John  E.  Bonebright,  B.  S.,  pro- 
fessor of  physics ;  Fred  G.  Frink,  B.  S.,  professor 
of  civil  engineering;  Alfred  S.  Miller,  Ph.  D., 
professor  of  mining  and  metallurgy;  Hiram  T. 
French,  M.  S.,  professor  of  agriculture;  Fred  A. 
Huntley,  B.  S.  A.,  professor  of  horticulture;  S. 
Annette  Bowman,  acting  professor  of  free-hand 
drawing;  I.  J.  Cogswell,  B.  M.,  acting  professor 
of  music;  Aurelia  I.  Henry,  B.  L.,  acting  pro- 
fessor of  elocution  and  physical  culture  and  in- 
structor in  French;  Thorn  Smith,  B.  S.,  assistant 
chemist  and  instructor  in  chemistry;  J.  J.  An- 
thony, Ph.  B.,  instructor  in  mechanic  arts  and 


preparatory  mathematics;  Sara  E.  Poe,  B.  L.,  in- 
structor in  English  in  preparatory  department; 
Flora  P.  Moore,  B.  S.,  instructor  in  history  and 
German;  Gurry  E.  Huggins,  B.  L.,  instructor  in 
military  science  and  tactics  and  Latin;  Herbert 
T.  Condon,  registrar  and  secretary  of  the  faculty; 
Stella  M.  Allen,  Ph.  B.,  librarian;  John  M.  Al- 
drich,  curator  of  museum. 

The  following  interesting  data  are  gleaned 
from  the  annual  report  of  the  president  of  the 
board  of  regents  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  De- 
cember 31, 


The  University  of  Idaho  was  chartered  by  the  ter- 
ritorial legislature  in  1889,  and  located  at  Moscow.  The 
university  and  agricultural  college  were  wisely  com- 
bined, making  their  support  by  the  state  comparatively 
easy,  when  aided  by  the  several  federal  funds  set  apart 
for  the  support  of  colleges  of  agriculture  and  mechanic 
arts  and  agricultural  experiment  stations.  A  state  tax 
for  building  purposes  was  levied  for  several  years. 
Through  this,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  was  raised  for  the  construction  of  the  present 
attractive  and  commodious  main  building.  Its  entire 
central  part,  however,  above  the  basement  and  first 
story,  is  still  unfinished. 

The  university  opened  in  October,  1892.  with  a  faculty 
of  two.  This  has  been  steadily  increased  and  now  num- 
bers nineteen.  Among  these  are  graduates  from  insti- 
tutions like  Cornell,  Oberlin.  Leland  Stanford  and 
Northwestern,  the  universities  of  California,  Michigan 
and  Missouri,  and  the  agricultural  colleges  of  Iowa. 
Michigan  and  South  Dakota.  The  enrollment  in  1897 
was  two  hundred  and  forty-eight,  eighty-seven  of  these 
being  in  the  college  classes:  the  enrollment  to  date  is 
two  hundred  and  nine,  of  whom  eighty-one  are  in  the 
college  classes.  The  enrollment  of  the  present  year  has 
been  considerably  affected  by  two  causes. — the  lowest 
preparatory  class  has  been  discontinued  (this  would  have 
had  a  membership  of  not  less  than  fifty),  and  thirty-nine 
of  the  young  men,  nearly  all  of  them  college  students, 
enlisted  in  the  Idaho  Volunteers  and  are  now  stationed 
at  Manila.  These  two  factors  will  account  for  the  ap- 
parent falling  off  in  this  year's  enrollment.  As  the 
public  high  schools  of  the  state  had  come  into  closer 
touch  with  the  university  and  had  adjusted  their  courses 
to  meet  its  requirements,  it  was  decided,  on  account 
of  the  crowded  condition  of  the  rooms  available,  to 
disconfinue  the  lowest  preparatory  year.  The  faculty 
were  exceedingly  loath  to  take  this  action,  as  they 
knew  that  there  were  many  worthy  youths  applying  fot 
admission,  who  had  no  high-school  advantages  at 
home,  and  who  tame  to  the  university  to  receive  what 
they  could  not  get  in  their  neighborhood  schools,  but 
it  was  found  impossible,  with  the  present  facilities  and 
teaching  force,  to  accommodate  them  \vithout  neglect- 
ing the  higher  instruction  which  seemed  the  more  legit- 
imate function  of  the  institution.  When  the  building  is 


470 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


finished  it  might  be  wise  to  reinstate  this  preparatory 
year. 

It  is  a  matter  that  should  excite  the  patriotic  pride  of 
every  citizen  of  the  state  that  the  University  of  Idaho 
furnished  a  larger  number  of  soldiers  to  the  late  war, 
relative  to  enrollment,  than  any  other  university  in  the 
United  States. 

Nine  courses  of  study  have  been  offered  for  the  past 
two  years.  These  are  the  classical,  the  philosophical, 
the  civil-engineering,  the  mining-engineering,  the  agri- 
cultural, and  the  four  courses  in  science,  with  botany, 
chemistry,  zoology  and  mathematics  and  physics  as 
major  subjects.  Considerable  freedom  of  election  pre- 
vails. Advanced  courses  in  art,  elocution,  oratory  and 
music  are  offered.  The  university  has  a  department  of 
music  with  a  course  of  four  years,  leading  to  a  diploma. 
The  departments  of  mining,  agriculture  and  horticul- 
ture have  made  special  efforts  to  be  of  practical  assist- 
ance to  the  people  of  the  state  of  Idaho  along  the  lines 
where  so  much  of  its  prosperity  lies.  The  professor  of 
mining,  besides  making  frequent  assays  for  miners  in 
all  sections  of  the  state,  has  given  two  short  practical 
courses  in  assaying  for  the  benefit  of  prospectors  and 
mining  men.  These  were  well  attended.  The  agri- 
culturist, assisted  by  other  members  of  the  experiment 
station  staff,  has  conducted  numerous  investigations, 
the  results  of  which  have  been  already  published,  or 
are  being  prepared  for  the  press.  Members  of  the  staff 
have  visited  various  sections  of  the  state  repeatedly  in 
response  to  appeals  and  have  materially  assisted  in 
combating  many  pests  which  seriously  threaten  our 
agricultural  and  horticultural  interests.  It  is  the  pur- 
pose of  the  agricultural  department  to  hold  numer- 
ous farmers'  institutes  during  the  coming  winter  and 
spring. 

In  the  summer  of  1896,  the  citizens  of  Moscow  pur- 
chased a  fine  farm  of  ninety-four  acres  and  presented  it 
to  the  university  for  the  use  of  the  college  of  agriculture 
and  experiment  station.  Suitable  barns  and  outbuild- 
ings have  been  erected  and  the  practical  value  of  the 
gift  is  already  evident. 

A  course  in  manual  training  is  offered,  instruction  in 
the  use  of  tools  and  in  wood-working  being  furnished 
to  all  young  men  pursuing  courses  requiring  a  knowl- 
edge of  this  subject,  and  in  wood-carving  to  all  young 
women  who  may  elect  it.  The  Morrill  act,  under  which 
we  draw  our  aid  in  instruction  in  the  mechanic  arts, 
requires  that  students,  so  desiring,  shall  be  given  man- 
ual training  in  both  wood  and  iron. 

THE  LEWISTON  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL. 
The  history  of  the  Lewiston  State  Normal 
School  is  the  history  of  progress.  Handicapped 
for  want  of  funds  on  several  occasions,  the 
normal  building  came  to  a  standstill  and  the 
school  was  not  inaugurated  as  early  as  was  ex- 
pected; but  from  the  6th  of  January,  1896,  when 
the  school  was  first  opened,  there  has  been  a 


steady  development  until  to-day  the  school  has  a 
future  in  every  way  most  encouraging. 

In  the  erection  of  an  excellent  building,  in  the 
selection  of  teachers  and  in  the  general  manage- 
ment the  trustees  have  been  most  harmonious 
and  fortunate.  The  buildings,  enclosures  and 
grounds  were  completed  and  dedicated  with  ap- 
propriate ceremonies  on  June  3,  1896. 

THE  ALBION  NORMAL  SCHOOL. 
This  institution  was  established  by  an  act  of  the 
second  legislative  assembly  of  Idaho,  March  "j, 
1893,  as  one  of  the  two  normal  schools  of  the 
state,  the  other  one  being  located  at  Lewiston, 
Nez  Perces  county.  It  was  at  first  thought  by 
many  to  be  a  mistake  for  the  young  state  to  at- 
tempt to  support  two  schools  of  this  character, 
but  when  it  is  considered  that  the  two  sections  of 
the  state,  the  north  and  the  south,  are  separated 
by  almost  impassable  mountain  barriers,  and  that 
a  journey  of  several  hundred  miles,  passing 
through  two  other  states,  is  necessary  in  order  to 
pass  from  one  section  to  the  other,  the  necessity 
of  two  schools  for  the  training  of  teachers  is  ap- 
parent. The  common  schools  are  the  hope  of  the 
future  state,  and  we  cannot  have  the  highest  and 
best  results  in  them  without  trained  teachers. 
The  Albion  Normal  School  is  the  only  state  insti- 
tution of  learning  in  southern  Idaho,  and  the 
people  are  coming  to  more  fully  appreciate  the 
importance  of  maintaining  it  liberally. 

THE  COLLEGE  OF  IDAHO. 

One  of  the  promising  young  institutions  of  the 
state  of  Idaho  is  the  one  whose  official  title  is 
given  above.  Though  but  a  few  years  old  it  has 
already  taken  a  distinctive  position  among  the 
educational  institutions  of  the  northwest  and  is 
destined  to  exercise  vast  power,  if  it  may  be 
judged  by  what  has  already  been  accomplished. 
Nothing  is  a  surer  index  to  the  civilization  and 
progress  of  a  community  than  the  character  of  its 
schools  and  the  opportunities  which  are  afforded 
to  the  rising  generation  in  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge,  and  undoubtedly  one  of  the  secrets  of 
the  success  achieved  by  the  American  people  lies 
in  the  fact  that  they,  as  a  people,  have  always  en- 
couraged and  loyally  supported  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation. 

The  College  of  Idaho  was  formally  organized 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


471 


October  7,  1891,  its  first  board  of  managers  being 
Rev.  J.  H.  Barton,  of  Boise  City,  Rev.  W.  J. 
Boone,  of  Caldwell,  and  J.  M.  Jones,  of  Nampa. 
The  first  sessions  of  the  school  were  held  in  the 
side  room  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Caldwell, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  ensuing  year  that  the  col- 
lege building  was  ready  for  occupancy.  Rev.  W. 
J.  Boone  was  elected  to  serve  as  president,  and 
has  continued  faithfully  at  the  head  of  the  man- 
agement since  the  inception  of  the  enterprise. 
The  college  is  now  out  of  debt  and  is  self-sustain- 
ing, and,  encouraged  and  upheld  by  the  memory 
of  past  victories,  is  pressing  forward  to  larger 
power. 

The  college  opens  on  the  2ist  of  September 
and  closes  on  the  22d  of  June  (approximately). 
The  terms  are  moderate,  the  regular  academic 
department  course  being  but  twenty-five  dollars 
a  year.  Over  three  hundred  students  have  been 
accommodated  at  the  college  and  forty  have  been 
graduated  from  here.  Some  have  gone  forth  as 
teachers  and  many  have  gone  east  to  obtain  still 
higher  advantages  in  the  fine  old  universities  of 
their  fathers  and  grandfathers. 

The  first  faculty  of  the  College  of  Idaho  in- 
cluded John  C.  Rice,  A.  M.,  professor  of  Greek 
and  mathematics;  John  T.  Morrison,  A.  M.,  his- 
tory and  English;  C.  S.  Blatchley,  B.  S.,  elocu- 
tion; Edward  E.  Maxey,  M.  D.,  physiology; 
Charles  A.  Hand,  drawing;  L.  A.  Hemphill,  Ph. 
D.,  German  and  Latin.  The  present  faculty  and 
the  chairs  occupied  are  as  follows:  W.  J.  Boone, 
M.  A.,  natural  science  and  Latin;  Abbie  F.  Hull, 
English  and  mathematics;  Ambrose  P.  Hayden, 
M.  A.,  Greek  and  German;  J.  H.  Barton,  M.  A., 
Evidences  of  Christianity;  Grace  D.  M.  Mor- 
rison, M.  B.,  piano  and  harmony;  Elma  Brown, 
painting  and  drawing;  H.  O.  Douglass,  M.  A., 
bookkeeping  and  commercial  law;  Nettie  Doug- 
lass, typewriting  and  stenography;  Albert  F. 
Isham,  M.  D.,  practical  chemistry;  William  C. 
Maxey,  M.  D.,  American  history,  and  Abbott 
Satterthwait,  hygiene. 

WEISER  ACADEMY. 

Among  the  institutions  which  indicate  the  in- 
tellectual progress  and  status  of  the  state  of  Idaho 
is  Weiser  Academy,  which  has  made  for  itself  a 
most  excellent  record  and  has  contributed  in  no 
small  degree  to  the  mental  and  moral  advance- 


ment of  this  section  of  the  Gem  of  the  Mountains. 
There  are  at  least  two  prominent  essentials  in 
the  constitution  of  a  desirable  citizen, — a 
conscience  and  an  enlightened  common 
sense.  The  Christian  church  and  the 
Christian  school  are  the  two  most  potent 
agencies  in  the  production  of  these  necessary  ele- 
ments of  character,  and  our  Pilgrim  Fathers 
made  no  mistake  when  they  built  a  church  in 
every  settlement  and  a  schoolhouse  by  its  side. 
Actuated  by  the  same  high  moral  idea,  patriotic 
men  have  gone  west  and  founded  Christian  mis- 
sions and  Christian  schools  on  the  frontier. 
Among  the  most  notable  founded  in  recent  years 
are  the  Weiser  church  and  Weiser  Academy,  at 
Weiser,  Idaho.  The  work  which  has  resulted  in 
the  means  of  grace  and  of  enlightenment  was  be- 
gun in  1892,  when  the  Rev.  E.  A.  Paddock  was 
commissioned  as  missionary  to  Idaho  by  the  Con- 
gregational Home  Missionary  Society,  of  New 
York  city.  The  work  of  erecting  a  church  build- 
ing was  begun  in  November  of  that  year,  and 
within  twelve  months  from  the  time  ground  was 
broken  there  was  completed  a  church,  which,  to- 
gether with  the  lot  it  occupied,  cost  nearly  four 
thousand  dollars.  The  Church  Building  Society 
made  a  grant  of  five  hundred  dollars,  and  benev- 
olent persons  in  the  east  contributed  a  large  part 
of  the  balance  required. 

It  was  evident  to  Mr.  Paddock  that  a  Christian 
school  was  needed  also.  Miss  Miriam  Lee,  an 
earnest  Christian  young  lady,  whose  home  had 
formerly  been  in  New  York  city,  consented  to 
unite  with  him  in  the  enterprise.  The  school  was 
opened  with  five  pupils  in  the  new  church  build- 
ing. The  next  year  a  hotel  building  was  rented 
for  its  use.  The  school  was  successful  and,  en- 
larging the  scope  of  its  work,  more  teachers  were 
needed,  and  it  was  evident  that  some  one  must 
be  found  who  would  be  as  self-denying  as  the 
founders  of  the  school.  Miss  Lee  remained  as 
lady  principal,  and  the  Rev.  A.  G.  Upton,  for- 
merly home-missionary  superintendent  of  New 
York,  accepted  the  presidency. 

The  second  year  was  even  more  successful  than 
the  first,  and  the  academy  abundantly  proved  its 
right  to  be;  but  the  success  achieved  demanded 
greater  things  for  the  future.  Eighty  acres  of 
land  were  donated  for  the  academy  campus  and 
building  grounds  by  H.  A.  Lee,  of  Weiser,  and  a 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


gentleman  who  is  a  warm  friend  of  every  good 
enterprise  advanced  the  money  at  a  low  rate  of 
interest  to  erect  three  buildings  for  the  use  of  the 
academy.  The  school  is  picturesquely  located 
about  one  mile  to  the  north  of  the  village,  and, 
situated  on  an  elevation,  it  commands  a  fine  view 
of  the  town,  the  surrounding  country  and  the  two 
rivers — the  Snake  and  the  Weiser — which  here 
unite.  The  academy  buildings  consist  of  a  three- 
story  hall,  with  first-class  appointments  for  young 
women;  a  two-story  dormitory  for  young  men; 
and  a  two-and-a-half-story  recitation  building, 
the  last  containing  a  chapel,  library  and  reading 
room,  president's  office  and  recitation  rooms. 
Students  may  pursue  the  classical,  philosophical, 
scientific  or  English  courses,  and  there  is  an  ex- 
cellent music  department  in  connection.  Train- 
ing is  also  given  in  elocution,  oratory  and  phys- 
ical culture.  All  work  done  in  the  school  is  of  the 
highest  order,  exalted  ideals  being  continually 
placed  before  the  pupils,  thus  stimulating  them  to 
greater  effort.  The  library  contains  more  than  a 
thousand  volumes  and  pamphlets,  including 
standard  works  of  reference,  together  with  the 
best  literature  and  the  modern  magazines  of 
worth.  Although  the  majority  of  the  trustees 
must  always  be  Congregational,  the  school  is 
non-sectarian,  several  denominations  being  rep- 
resented among  both  teachers  and  pupils. 

The  high  standard  of  work  done  in  the  school 
is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  a  certificate  of  grad- 
uation therefrom  will  entitle  the  holder  to  admis- 
sion to  some  of  the  leading  colleges  of  the  east 
without  further  examination.  Already  a  small 
endowment  fund  has  been  started,  and  the  acad- 
emy is  now  in  a  very  flourishing  condition.  Ten 
pupils  have  been  graduated  from  the  school, 
which  is  now  only  five  years  old.  A  paper  called 
The  Search  Light  is  published  in  the  interest  of 
the  academy,  and  now  has  a  circulation  of  four 
thousand,  making  the  school  well  known  in  the 
east.  The  faculty  consists  of  seven  able  teachers, 
including  Augustus  G.  Upton,  A.  M.,  D.  D., 
president,  and  Miss  Miriam  B.  Lee,  lady  prin- 
cipal. Under  the  able  superintendence  of  Dr. 
Upton  and  his  corps  of  assistants  Weiser  Acad- 
emy has  taken  a  place  among  the  leading  schools 
of  its  character  in  the  northwest  and  is  a  credit  to 
the  town  and  the  state.  The  institution  is  incor- 
porated as  Weiser  College  and  Academy,  but  the 


college  department  will  not  be  opened  before  the 
fall  of  1900. 

The  educational  work,  however,  is  only  a  part 
of  that  done  by  the  academy,  for  the  Christian  in- 
fluence exerted  over  the  students  is  most  marked. 
Nearly  all  of  the  students  become  Christians  be- 
fore leaving  the  school,  and  they  engage  in  active 
Christian  work  at  once,  both  as  students  and 
when  they  are  at  home  on  their  vacations.  The 
communities  whence  the  students  come  are  thus 
leavened  and  the  influence  of  the  academy  is  felt 
in  many  needy  places. 

THE    BOISE    BUSINESS    AND    SHORTHAND 
COLLEGE. 

Miss  Grace  E.  Doyle,  proprietor  of  the  Boise 
Business  and  Shorthand  College,  is  in  every  sense 
of  the  word  a  practical,  energetic,  young  woman, 
possessing  rare  natural  abilities  and  skill  as  an  in- 
structor and  the  culture  and  refinement  of  a  lady. 
She  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  polished  and 
efficient  young  women  of  Idaho. 

She  was  born  in  the  state  of  Nebraska,  of 
American-Irish  parents  of  no  mean  attainments. 
Inheriting  a  fine  mental  but  frail  physical  consti- 
tution, her  parents  with  wise  foresight  saw 
the  necessity  of  an  early  training  in  business,  its 
management  and  methods.  They  placed  her  in 
one  of  the  colleges  of  her  native  state,  where  her 
general  education  was  well  rounded  and  followed 
by  one  of  the  most  complete  and  thorough  busi- 
ness courses  extant. 

•  Since  coming  to  the  state  of  Idaho,  where  the 
enfranchisement  of  women  gives  them  equal  rep- 
resentation with  their  brothers,  she  perceived  the 
necessity  of  a  wider  business  education  for  the 
young  of  both  sexes,  and,  associated  with  James 
W.McKinney,  established  the  Boise  Business  and 
Shorthand  College.  Two  years  later  Miss  Doyle 
became  sole  proprietor  of  the  present  success- 
ful and  well  known  institution,  which  is  a  daily 
tribute  to  her  business  ability,  energy  and  skill  as 
a  teacher.  The  educational  enterprise  of  this 
young  woman  is  one  of  which  the  state  of  Idaho 
may  be  justly  proud,  and  it  has  met  with  hearty 
appreciation  and  support  of  the  business  people 
of  Boise  and  southern  Idaho.  The  following  tes- 
timonial reflects  the  general  sentiment  of  the 
business  men  of  Boise: 

Boise.  Idaho.  May  29,  1899. 
Miss  Grace   E.  Doyle,  Proprietor  Boise  Business  and 

Shorthand  College.  Boise.  Idaho: 
Miss  Doyle:  Boise  may  well  be  proud  in  possessing 
such  an  institution  as  the  Boise  Business  and  Short- 
hand College.  The  Boise  Chamber  of  Commerce 
unhesitatingly  gives  your  college  and  its  proprietor  its 
most  hearty  endorsement. 

BOISE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE, 

Fred.  R.  Reed,  President. 
Attest:     S.  M.   Coffin.  Secretary. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS. 


JAMES    H.    BUSH. 

JAMES  H.  BUSH,  deceased,  was  one  of  the 
prominent  and  widely  known  business 
men  of  Boise,  where  he  spent  the  greater 
part  of  his  life.  He  was  born  in  White  Lake, 
Oakland  county,  Michigan,  July  29,  1842,  and 
was  a  son  of  Elias  Oliver  and  Mary  Jane  (Fife) 
Bush,  both  of  whom  were  well-to-do  farmers  and 
early  settlers  of  Michigan  and  members  of  the 
Baptist  church. 

James  Bush  was  educated  in  Flint,  Michigan, 
and  in  early  manhood  was  a  purser  on  a  steam- 
boat. In  February,  1865,  he  sailed  from  New 
York  for  the  Pacific  coast  by  way  of  Panama, 
reaching  Boise  Basin  in  April,  and  there  engag- 
ing in  mining  with  William  Law.  In  the  summer 
of  1874  he  came  to  Boise  and  purchased  the  Cen- 
tral Hotel,  which  he  personally  conducted  for 
fifteen  years  in  a  most  successful  manner.  He 
was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Capital  State 
Bank,  was  elected  its  first  vice-president  and 
filled  that  office  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  de- 
voting his  time  and  talents  during  his  incum- 
bency to  the  task  of  making  it  the  prosperous 
institution  it  became.  As  a  business  man  he  was 
enterprising,  capable  and  energetic,  and  in  1892 
built  one  of  the  beautiful  and  commodious  houses 
which  adorn  the  city  of  Boise.  As  an  early  set- 
tler of  the  state  he  took  a  great  interest  in  its  de- 
velopment and  progress  and  did  everything  in  his 
power  to  advance  its  interests.  During  the  Ban- 
nack  war  he  was  captain  of  a  company,  and  on 
one  occasion,  with  forty-five  men,  he  gallantly 
rescued  a  train  of  sixty  wagons  which  was  be- 
sieged by  the  Indians  near  Cold  Springs. 

On  January  5,  1876,  Mr.  Bush  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Ellen  Kelly,  a  daughter  of  the 
late  Judge  Kelly,  one  of  Idaho's  distinguished 
citizens,  and  three  children  were  born  to  them: 
Mabel,  now  the  wife  of  George  S.  Lindsey,  of 
Blackfoot;  Florence  and  Milton.  Mrs.  Bush  sur- 
vives her  husband  and  is  a  most  estimable  lady, 


who  now  resides  in  the  beautiful  home  provided 
by  Mr.  Bush. 

Mr.  Bush  departed  this  life  on  November  22, 
1897,  and  his  loss  was  deeply  felt  not  only  by  his 
family  but  also  by  all  the  citizens  of  Boise,  to 
whom  he  had  long  been  endeared.  He  was  a 
valued  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  was 
made  a  Master  Mason  in  1868,  at  Idaho  City.  He 
was  also  made  a  Knight  Templar,  at  Flint,  Mich- 
igan. 

CHARLES    A.    THATCHER. 

Identified  with  pioneer  life  in  Oregon,  Wash- 
ington and  Idaho,  Charles  Albert  Thatcher  fig- 
ured long,  and  prominently  in  the  development 
and  progress  of  the  northwest  and  in  the  events 
which  form  its  history.  He  lived  an  honorable, 
upright  life,  won  prosperity  through  determined 
purpose  and  indefatigable  energy,  and  at  all  times 
enjoyed  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  men,  by  reason 
of  those  sterling  qualities  of  manhood  which  in 
every  land  and  every  clime  awaken  admiration 
and  regard. 

Mr.  Thatcher  was  born  in  Bradford  county, 
Pennsylvania,  July  24,  1826,  and  was  a  repre- 
sentative of  an  old  American  family.  He  acquired 
his  education  in  Harford  University  and  in  Ober- 
lin  College,  at  Oberlin,  Ohio,  but,  his  health  fail- 
ing him,  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  his  studies 
before  the  day  of  graduation  arrived,  and  spent 
two  years  in  the  pine  forests  of  Wisconsin.  He 
was  much  benefited  by  his  sojourn  in  that  state, 
and  afterward  engaged  in  teaching  school  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  In  1852  he  crossed  the 
plains  to  Oregon,  starting  early  in  the  season 
with  a  party  en  route  for  the  Pacific  coast.  They 
were  fortunate  in  escaping  the  cholera  and  at- 
tacks from  the  Indians,  safely  reaching  their 
destination  after  some  months  of  travel.  The  fol- 
lowing year  the  territory  of  Washington  was  or- 
ganized and  Mr.  Thatcher  was  made  its  first 
school  superintendent.  He  formed  the  first  school 
districts,  and  filled  that  office  for  nine  years,  dur- 


473 


474 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ing  which  time  he  placed  the  educational  system 
of  the  state  on  a  firm  basis  and  gave  it  a  progres- 
sive impetus  whose  influence  is  still  felt.  Thus  he 
engraved  his  name  deeply  on  the  record  of  Wash- 
ington's intellectual  advancement. 

In  1854  Mr.  Thatcher  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Eliza  Huntington,  a  daughter  of  Jacob 
Huntington,  who  with  his  family  crossed  the 
plains  in  1852.  Mrs.  Thatcher  was  born  in  In- 
diana, and  was  a  maiden  of  fifteen  summers  when 
she  came  to  the  west.  Her  father  secured  a  dona- 
tion claim  on  the  Cowlitz  river,  where  he  made  a 
good  home  and  there  lived  until  October,  1897, 
when  he  was  called  to  his  final  rest,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-five  years.  His  good  wife  passed  away 
many  years  previously.  After  their  marriage  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Thatcher  continued  to  reside  in  Cowlitz 
county  until  the  time  of  the  mining  excitement  at 
Florence,  Idaho,  when  our  subject  made  his  way 
thither,  in  company  with  Judge  Langdon.  They 
did  not,  however,  meet  with  the  success  which 
they  had  anticipated,  and  in  consequence  went  to 
Lewiston,  where  Mr.  Thatcher  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  farming  at  Lapwai.  He  con- 
tinued in  that  capacity  among  the  Nez  Perces  In- 
dians for  six  years,  and  during  that  time  he  and 
Mrs.  Thatcher  were  intimate  friends  of  that  noble 
man,  Rev.  Spaulding,  the  Presbyterian  mission- 
ary, who  labored  so  earnestly  among  the  red  men 
and  established  the  mission  at  Lapwai  at  a  very 
early  day. 

In  October,  1868,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thatcher  re- 
moved to  Lewiston,  and  he  was  appointed  by 
President  Grant  to  the  position  of  postmaster, 
acceptably  serving  in  that  office  for  two  years, 
when  he  resigned  and  engaged  in  general  mer- 
chandising. Later  he  opened  a  book  and  station- 
ery store,  which  he  conducted  until  1896,  when, 
his  health  failing  him,  he  turned  over  the  business 
to  his  son  and  retired  to  private  life.  He  had 
built  up  an  excellent  trade,  and  his  business  was 
constantly  increasing  in  volume  and  importance. 
Mr.  Thatcher  never  recovered  his  health,  his 
strength  gradually  failing  him  until  the  end  came, 
September  18,  1897,  and  he  was  at  rest.  In  poli- 
tics he  was  a  stanch  Republican.  A  public  spir- 
ited man  and  valued  citizen,  his  loss  was  felt 
throughout  the  entire  community.  He  was  a  de- 
voted husband  and  father,  and  as  the  result  of  his 
well  directed  efforts  in  business  he  was  enabled 


to  leave  his  family  in  comfortable  circumstances. 
Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thatcher  were  born  six 
children:  Eva,  who  died  in  1870,  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  years;  Charles,  who  in  1879,  when  in  his 
thirty-ninth  year,  was  robbed  and  killed  at  Lap- 
war,  where  he  was  engaged  in  business;  Emma, 
wife  of  John  L.  Chapman,  who  is  postmaster  at 
Lewiston ;  Harry  A.,  who  married  the  daughter 
of  Captain  E.  W.  Baughman  and  resides  in  Gen- 
esee;  Katherine,  wife  of  B.  B.  Bravincler;  Cur- 
tis, who  is  conducting  business  in  partnership  with 
Fred  A.  Kling,  in  Lewiston;  and  George,  who  is 
likewise  at  home  with  his  mother.  Mrs.  Thatcher 
still  makes  her  home  in  Lewiston.  She  is  a 
Christian  Scientist,  a  most  intelligent  lady  and 
one  of  the  honored  pioneer  women  of  the  state. 

JOHN  HANSON. 

John  Hanson,  who  loyally  served  this  country 
as  a  member  of  the  navy,  is  now  successfully  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  stock-raising  on  Camas 
prairie,  in  Idaho  county,  where  he  owns  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty  acres  of  land.  He  is  a  native  of 
Denmark,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  that  land 
on  the  gth  of  June,  1827.  At  the  age  of  fifteen 
he  bade  adieu  to  home  and  friends  and  went  to 
sea,  eventually  sailing  to  New  York,  in  1849. 
While  there  he  joined  the  United  States  Navy 
and  served  for  sixteen  months,  at  the  expiration 
of  which  period  he  received  an  honorable  dis- 
charge. He  then  sailed  on  merchant  vessels  on 
the  Pacific  ocean  and  on  the  Mediterranean  sea, 
and  became  a  well  informed  seaman,  his  ability 
and  worth  winning  him  promotion  from  time  to 
time,  until  he  became  a  first  mate.  During  his 
seafaring  life  he  passed  through  many  dangers 
and  hardships,  which  if  written  out  in  full  would 
make  a  most  interesting  volume.  He  was  ship- 
wrecked twice  off  the  coast  of  San  Francisco, 
where  the  ship  was  driven  ashore,  and  was  also 
in  a  fearful  typhoon  in  South  American  waters, 
the  ship  being  lost,  but  the  crew  escaped  -with 
their  lives.  When  the  United  States  became  in- 
volved in  the  greatest  civil  war  known  to  modern 
history,  he  determined  to  aid  in  the  perpetuation 
of  the  Union,  and  enlisted  in  the  navy,  March  28, 
1862.  He  became  acting  master  of  the  Cayuga, 
a  gunboat  in  the  gulf  squadron,  under  Admiral 
Farragut.  They  had  several  engagements  up  the 
Mississippi  river  and  were  engaged  in  forming 


o 

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i 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


475 


the  blockade  off  Galveston  and  Mobile.  Mr. 
Hanson  continued  in  the  service  until  December, 
1865,  when  he  received  an  honorable  discharge, 
after  which  he  located  at  Vineland,  New  Jersey. 

There  he  turned  his  attention  to  agricultural 
pursuits,  which  he  followed  for  nine  years,  but 
the  business  was  entirely  new  to  him,  and  after 
nine  years  of  hard  work,  in  which  he  gained  much 
valuable  experience,  he  was  glad  to  get  out  of  his 
farm  what  he  had  put  into  it.  He  then  came  west, 
locating  first  at  San  Francisco,  and  in  1876  took 
up  his  abode  on  his  present  farm  on  Camas 
prairie,  where  he  secured  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  of  land,  to  which  he  has  added  an- 
otherquarter  section,  now  owning  a  valuable  tract 
of  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres.  He  has  erected 
there  a  comfortable  residence,  good  barns  and 
outbuildings,  and  has  all  the  latest  improved  ma- 
chinery necessary  in  carrying  on  his  farm  after 
the  most  approved  modern  methods.  He  raises 
grain,  hay,  cattle,  horses  and  hogs,  and  has  had 
as  high  as  two  hundred  head  of  cattle  at  one  time. 
He  is  a  successful  stock-raiser,  and  has  acquired 
a  handsome  competence  through  his  well  directed 
efforts. 

In  1859  Mr.  Hanson  was  married  to  Mrs.  Anna 
Savage,  widow  of  James  Savage.  She  had  no 
children  by  her  first  marriage,  but  by  the  second 
union  has  become  the  mother  of  the  following 
named :  Henry,  a  farmer  and  miner,  residing  at 
White  Bird,  Idaho ;  George,  who  carries  on  farm- 
ing and  stock-raising; Frederick,  an  agriculturist; 
William  and  Charles,  who  are  at  home  with  their 
parents.  . 

Mr.  Hanson  is  a  Republican  in  politics  and  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  since 
1857.  Both  he  and  his  estimable  wife  hold  mem- 
bership in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and 
are  people  of  the  highest  respectability,  enjoying 
the  friendship  and  esteem  of  all  who  know  them. 
Mr.  Hanson  has  ever  been  a  loyal  citizen  since 
first  entering  the  naval  service  of  his  adopted 
land,  and  no  native-born  son  is  truer  to  her  inter- 
ests and  welfare. 

CHARLES  F.   LELAND. 

Charles  F.  Leland,  coming  to  Lewiston  in  his 
boyhood,  has  spent  almost  his  entire  life  in  this 
beautiful  and  prosperous  city  of  northern  Idaho, 
where  he  is  now  serving  as  general  stage  agent 


and  also  as  agent  for  the  Northern  Pacific  Ex- 
press Company.    He  was  born  in  Portland,  Ore- 
gon, November  5,  1858,  and  in  1864  removed  to 
Lewiston  with  his  parents.     His  father,  Alonzo 
Leland,  was  born  in  Springfield,  Vermont,  July 
12,  1818,  and  in  the  public  schools  acquired  his 
education.     At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  began  to 
earn  his  own  living  by  teaching,  which  profession 
he  followed  for  two  years,  in  the  meantime  doing 
what  he  could  to  fit  himself  for  a  higher  educa- 
tion.    He  subsequently  spent  three  years  as  a 
student  in  the  New  Hampshire  State  Academy, 
and  for  a  similar  period  continued  his  education 
in  Brown  University,  graduating  with  honor  in 
the  class  of  1843.    During  the  acquirement  of  his 
education  he  maintained  himself  by  working  dur- 
ing vacations  at  the  carpenter's  trade.    After  the 
completion  of  his  collegiate  course  he  engaged 
in  teaching  in  Maryland  and  in  Massachusetts  for 
a  number  of  years,  but  becoming  aware  of  the 
great  possibilities  of  the   growing  west   he   re- 
solved to  try  his  fortune  on  the  Pacific  coast.    By 
way  of  the  isthmus  of  Panama  he  proceeded  to 
Portland,  Oregon,  where  he  arrived  in  October, 
1850,  and  having  acquired  a  knowledge  of  civil 
engineering  he  was  employed  on  the  work  ot 
surveying  and  platting  that  city,  which  was  then 
being  builded  in  the  bushes  along  the  banks  of 
the  Willamette  river.    Subsequently  he  turned  his 
attention   to  journalism  and   had   the  honor  of 
establishing  the  first  daily  paper,  the  Portland 
Standard,  in  that  then  rapidly  growing  town.   He 
was  appointed  and  served  as  postmaster  of  Port- 
land, and  also  held  the  office  of  judge  of  the  pro- 
bate court.     In  the  meantime  he  had  devoted 
much  of  his  leisure  time  for  several  years  to  the 
study  of  law,  and  in  1861  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
It  was  not  long  after  this  that  discoveries  of 
gold  were  made  at  Florence  and  Warrens,  Idaho, 
and   with   the  hope   of  more  rapidly   acquiring 
wealth  Alonzo  Leland  made  his  way  to  the  terri- 
tory of  Idaho,  where  for  some  time  he  was  en- 
gaged in  placer  gold  mining.    In  1862  he  opened 
a  law  office  in  Lewiston,  and  was  prominently 
connected  with  the  important  litigated  interests 
in  those  early  days.    In  addition  he  was  also  con- 
nected with  the  Lewiston  Journal  and  was  the 
founder  of  The  Teller,  which  he  conducted  as  a 
neutral  paper,  devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  his 
town  and  surrounding  country.     He  made  this 


476 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


one  of  the  leading  journals  of  the  state,  and 
through  its  columns  he  advocated  and  promoted 
many  movements  of  great  public  benefit.  He 
continued  to  edit  and  publish  this  paper  until 
1891,  when  he  sold  out.  His  death  occurred  in 
October  of  the  same  year,  and  thus  was  ended  an 
important  life  work.  In  early  manhood  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Rachel  Bliss,  a  native  of  Springfield, 
Vermont,  and  to  them  were  born  five  children, 
four  of  whom  are  yet  living. 

Charles  F.  Leland,  the  fourth  in  order  of  birth, 
was  a  mere  child  when  his  parents  came  to  Lew- 
iston.  In  its  public  schools  he  acquired  his  edu- 
cation, and  in  his  father's  office  he  learned  the 
printer's  trade,  which  he  mastered,  becoming  an 
expert  workman.  He  was  admitted  to  a  partner- 
ship in  The  Teller,  and  assisted  in  making  it  one 
of  the  most  progressive  and  readable  journals  in 
this  section  of  the  state.  In  1891  the  paper  was 
sold  and  he  has  since  devoted  his  energies  to 
other  lines  of  activity. 

Mr.  Leland  has  been  somewhat  prominent  in 
the  public  service,  having  for  two  years  accept- 
ably served  as  marshal  of  Lewiston.  In  politics 
he  has  been  a  lifelong  Democrat  and  warmly 
espouses  the  principles  of  his  party.  Since  June, 
1893,  he  has  been  general  stage  agent,  and  in 
May,  1894,  was  appointed  agent  for  the  Northern 
Pacific  Express  Company,  serving  both  the  com- 
pany and  the  citizens  of  Lewiston  in  a  most  satis- 
factory manner. 

In  1892  Mr.  Leland  married  Mrs.  Helen  Clin- 
dining,  widow  of  John  Clindining,  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Lewiston  and  a  daughter  of  Joel  B. 
Martin,  a  noted  pioneer  of  Idaho.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Leland  now  have  one  child,  Evangeline  Rudel. 
They  have  a  delightful  home  in  Lewiston  and  en- 
joy the  esteem  of  many  friends.  Mr.  Leland  is 
an  acceptable  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
fraternity,  and  is  widely  and  favorably  known  in 
this  community,  where  he  has  spent  almost  his 

entire  life. 

JOHN  GREEN. 

For  the  past  four  years  a  distinguished  member 
of  the  Lewiston  bar,  John  Green  was  born  in 
Wythe  county,  Virginia,  September  30,  1860,  and 
is  a  descendant  of  General  Nathaniel  Greene,  of 
Revolutionary  fame.  His  father,  John  W.  Green, 
was  born  in  Germantown,  Pennsylvania,  and 
married  Miss  Betty  Newell  Fulton,  a  native  of 


Staunton,  Virginia,  and  a  direct  descendant  of 
the  noted  family  of  Stewarts.  Her  father,  An- 
drew S.  Fulton,  was  judge  of  the  supreme  court 
and  presided  over  the  fifteenth  judicial  district  of 
Virginia  for  thirty  consecutive  years.  He  was  a 
cousin  of  J.  E.  Stewart,  a  prominent  cavalry  of- 
ficer in  the  civil  war.  Whgn  a  young  man  Mr. 
Green,  the  father  of  our  subject,  removed  to 
Hillsville,  Virginia,  and  became  a  successful  mer- 
chant of  the  town,  where  he  carried  on  operations 
along  that  line  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
March  24,  1899,  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of 
sixty-seven  years.  His  wife  still  survives  him  and 
is  now  in  her  sixty-eighth  year.  They  were 
prominent  and  leading  members  in  the  Presby- 
terian church,  and  in  his  political  views  Mr. 
Green  was  a  Democrat.  He  held  the  office  of 
treasurer  of  Carroll  county,  Virginia,  for  sixteen 
consecutive  years  and  was  a  citizen  of  the  highest 
integrity  and  worth. 

John  Green,  of  this  review,  was  the  second  in 
a  family  of  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  was 
reared  to  manhood  in  Carroll  county,  Virginia, 
completed  his  literary  education  by  his  gradua- 
tion in  the  Hampden-Sidney  College,  with  the 
class  of  1880,  and  pursued  the  study  of  law  in 
the  office  and  under  the  direction  of  his  grand- 
father, Judge  Andrew  S.  Fulton,  and  his  uncle, 
Judge  John  Fulton,  both  eminent  jurists  of  the 
Old  Dominion.  He  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  his  native  county,  where  he  prac- 
ticed successfully  for  ten  years.  He  then  trav- 
eled quite  extensively  through  the  west,  and  after 
visiting  many  points  he  gave  to  the  city  of  Lewis- 
ton  his  preference  and  located  here  August  15, 
1895.  From  the  beginning  he  has  succeeded  in 
his  new  field  of  labor  and  now  has  a  distinctively 
representative  clientage.  It  would  be  impossible 
for  any  one  man  to  be  perfectly  familiar  with 
every  point  of  law,  but  it  is  possible  for  him  to 
prepare  for  each  case,  and  his  careful  study,  ana- 
lyzation  and  plan  of  argument  ofttimes  bring  the 
decisions  for  which  he  strives.  Mr.  Green  is  par- 
ticularly careful  in  informing  himself  on  the  law 
which  applies  to  the  questions  in  controversy, 
and  this,  added  to  his  logical  reasoning  and  ora- 
torical power,  renders  his  efforts  before  court  or 
jury  most  effective.  The  public  and  the  profes- 
sion accord  him  a  foremost  place  in  the  ranks  of 
the  legal  fraternity.  Since  his  arrival  in  Lewis- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


477 


ton  he  has  also  been  thoroughly  identified  with 
the  affairs  of  the  city  and  county  and  withholds 
his  support  from  no  measure  which  he  believes 
will  prove  of  public  benefit.  He  is  a  stockholder 
in  the  Lapwai  Placer  Mining  Company,  owning 
a  number  of  rich  mining  claims,  which  they  are 
now  preparing  to  work  after  the  most  approved 
methods. 

On  the  gth  of  September,  1896,  Mr.  Green  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Annie  Alice  Russell, 
a  native  of  Douglas  county,  Oregon,  and  a 
daughter  of  George  Russell,  who  was  born  in 
Kentucky,  but  who  for  twenty  years  has  been  a 
resident  of  the  Sunset  state.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Green 
now  have  two  interesting  little  daughters:  Ethel 
Alice  and  Lucile.  They  have  a  delightful  home 
in  Lewiston  and  are  highly  esteemed. 

Mr.  Green  was  made  a  Master  Mason  in  Ful- 
ton Lodge,  No.  193,  F.  &  A.  M.,  which  was  or- 
ganized by  his  grandfather  and  named  in  his 
honor.  He  became  actively  interested  in  the  work 
of  the  order  and  has  served  as  junior  warden 
of  the  lodge.  He  also  belongs  to  the  Knights  of 
Pythias  fraternity,  and  to  Tscemimcum  Tribe, 
No.  8,  I.  O.  R.,  of  Lewiston,  having  the  honor  of 
being  the  present  sachem  of  the  latter.  Both  he 
and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  United  Artisans. 
In  politics  Mr.  Green  has  been  a  lifelong  Demo- 
crat and  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  work  and 
counsels  of  this  party.  In  a  recent  campaign  he 
was  candidate  for  county  attorney,  but  though  he 
made  a  strong  race  was  defeated  by  a  small  ma- 
jority. In  Virginia  he  served  as  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  county  committee  and  a  member  of 
the  state  executive 'committee,  and  did  a  large 
amount  of  campaign  work.  He  has  studied 
closely  the  issues  of  the  day  and  his  intelligent 
support  of  the  party  measures  has  been  effective 
in  securing  their  adoption  in  the  locality  in  which 
he  resides.  He  is  a  young  man  of  marked  ability 
and  strong  intellectuality,  and  his  honorable 
career  adorns  a  profession  that  has  furnished  to 
the  nation  many  of  her  most  brilliant  men. 

MASON  A.   CORNWALL. 

This  honored  citizen  of  Moscow  has  now 
attained  the  venerable  age  of  seventy-seven 
years,  yet  largely  possesses  the  vigor  of  a  man 
in  his  prime.  His  life  has  been  a  busy,  useful 
and  honorable  one,  and  has  been  crowned  with 


a  rich  measure  of  success  as  the  fitting  reward 
of  his  labors  and  his  well  directed  energies.  He 
is  still  actively  interested  in  business  affairs  and  in 
all  that  is  connected  with  the  state's  prosperity 
and  progress,  and  is  one  of  the  most  valued  cit- 
izens of  Idaho.  Old  age  is  not  necessarily  a 
synonym  of  weakness  or  inactivity.  It  need  not 
suggest  as  a  matter  of  course  want  of  occupation 
or  helplessness.  There  is  an  old  age  that  is  a 
benediction  to  all  that  comes  in  contact  with  it, 
that  gives  out  of  its  rich  stores  of  learning  and 
experience,  and  grows  stronger  intellectually  and 
spiritually  as  the  years  pass.  Such  is  the  life  of 
Mr.  Cornwall,  an  encouragement  to  his  associ- 
ates and  an  example  well  worthy  of  emulation  to 
the  young. 

Mason  A.  Cornwall  was  born  in  Truxton, 
Cortland  county,  New  York,  December  2,  1821, 
and  is  a  descendant  of  an  old  English  family  that 
numbers  many  prominent  men  among  its  repre- 
sentatives. Four  Cornwall  brothers  emigrated  to 
New  England  in  1636,  and  founded  the  family  in 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island.  William  Corn- 
wall settled  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  became 
the  progenitor  of  the  branch  of  the  family  to 
which  our  subject  belongs.  Benjamin  Cornwall, 
his  grandfather,  served  as  a  captain  in  the  colo- 
nial army  throughout  the  Revolutionary  war,  thus 
valiantly  aiding  in  the  struggle  for  independence, 
and  after  the  establishment  of  the  republic  he 
removed  from  Connecticut  to  Montgomery 
county,  New  York.  He  had  a  large  family  of 
boys,  and  with  them  he  divided  his  landed  pos- 
sessions in  Truxton,  Cortland  county,  and  they 
all  settled  around  him.  There  he  resided,  sur- 
rounded by  the  comforts  of  life,  until  called  to 
his  final  rest,  in  1835,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five 
years.  His  wife  bore  the  maiden  name  of  Esther 
Carrington. 

Their  son  Enos  Cornwall,  the  father  of  our 
subject,  was  born  in  the  Nutmeg  state,  and 
located  on  a  farm  near  his  father  in  Cortland 
county,  New  York.  Loyalty  to  his  country 
prompted  his  service  as  captain  of  a  company 
in  the  war  of  1812,  and  at  all  times  he  was  faith- 
ful to  his  duties  of  citizenship.  He  married  Miss 
Betsy  Fox,  a  native  of  Montgomery  county,  and 
they  became  the  parents  of  ten  children,  six  of 
whom  reached  years  of  maturity.  The  mother 
departed  this  life  at  the  age  of  forty  years  and  the 


478 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


father  died  in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age. 
They  were  Baptists  in  their  religious  faith  and 
were  people  of  the  highest  respectability. 

Mason  A.  Cornwall,  their  youngest  son,  is  now 
the  only  surviving  member  of  the  family.  He 
was  educated  at  Cornwall  Hill,  the  place  of  his 
nativity,  so  called  in  honor  of  his  father.  Remov- 
ing to  the  Western  Reserve  of  Ohio,  he  settled 
in  Cuyahoga,  and  while  there  he  worked  in  order 
to  secure  further  educational  advantages  afforded 
in  the  Berea  Seminary.  After  leaving  that  insti- 
tution he  taught  school  for  several  years  and  then 
entered  the  Fredonia  Academy,  wherein  he  be- 
came a  teacher  of  French.  Subsequently  he 
removed  to  Canada,  where  he  was  successfully 
engaged  in  educational  work  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  having  the  happy  faculty  of  im- 
parting clearly  and  readily  to  others  the  knowl- 
edge he  had  acquired.  From  Canada  he  removed 
to  Lorain  county,  Ohio,  where  he  purchased  a 
large  ranch  at  a  bargain,  retaining  possession  of 
that  property  until  1864,  when  he  sold  the  farm 
(for  which  he  had  paid  twelve  hundred  dollars) 
for  forty-seven  hundred  dollars.  Mr,  Cornwall 
also  resided  for  about  twenty  years  in  the  town- 
ship of  Eagle,  Richland  county,  Wisconsin,  and 
became  the  owner  of  a  number  of  farms  there. 
He  also  purchased  a  portable  sawmill,  which 
was  to  be  operated  by  another  man,  but  the  one 
who  took  charge  of  it  did  not  make  a  success  of 
the  business,  and  Mr.  Cornwall  converted  it  into 
a  store,  carrying  on  merchandising  there  for  sev- 
eral years.  The  confinement,  however,  made  in- 
roads upon  his  health,  and  he  went  to  New 
Orleans,  where  he  became  interested  in  sugar 
plantations  and  both  made  and  lost  money. 

In  1883  he  arrived  in  Idaho  and  secured  from 
the  government  a  ranch  of  eighty  acres,  six  and 
a  half  miles  east  of  Moscow.  There  he  built  a 
store,  opened  trade,  secured  the  establishment 
of  a  post-office,  which  was  called  Cornwall,  and 
continued  merchandising  until  1887,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Moscow.  Here  he  engaged  in  money 
loaning  and  in  speculating,  and  subsequently 
established  the  Bank  of  Moscow,  in  partnership 
with  McConnell,  McGuire  &  Brown.  He  held 
half  of  the  stock  and  was  elected  president,  but 
after  five  months  he  withdrew,  and  in  1890  erected 
the  Cornwall  Block,  sixty-two  and  a  half  feet 
front,  on  Third  street,  and  seventy  feet  deep.  It 


is  a  fine  substantial  structure,  three  stories  in 
height,  and  stands  as  a  fitting  monument  to  his 
business  ability  and  enterprise.  He  now*  owns 
nearly  the  whole  of  that  valuable  block,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  feet  front,  and  his  building 
brings  him  a  rental  of  four  hundred  dollars  per 
month.  He  continues  his  money  speculations 
and  is  still  the  owner  of  the  ranch  which  he 
entered  from  the  government,  together  with 
many  other  fine  ranches,  which  are  principally 
planted  to  wheat.  He  has  built  and  occupies  one 
of  the  finest  residences  in  the  town,  and  it  stands 
in  the  midst  of  twenty-seven  acres  of  ground. 
Mr.  Cornwall  is  also  largely  interested  in  several 
gold  quartz-mines,  among  which  is  the  Ozark 
mine,  at  Florence,  and  the  Oro  Fino,  which 
assays  as  high  as  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
dollars  to  the  ton,  and  of  which  he  and  his  son 
own  one-half  interest.  He  has  shares  to  the  value 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
in  the  Golden  Gate  mine,  six  and  a  half  miles 
from  Moscow,  its  ore  assaying  seventy-six  dollars 
to  the  ton,  and  is  a  shareholder  in  many  other 
rich  mining  properties. 

In  1849  Mr.  Cornwall  married  Miss  Barbara 
Wise,  a  lady  of  German  descent,  who  was  born 
in  Canada.  Their  union  was  blessed  with  four 
sons  and  two  daughters.  They  lived  happily  to- 
gether for  about  twenty  years,  when  death 
claimed  the  loving  wife,  during  their  residence 
in  Wisconsin.  All  of  the  children  of  that  mar- 
riage still  reside  in  the  Badger  state,  except  the 
eldest  daughter,  who  is  deceased,  and  the  second 
child,  Frank  E.,  who  resides  in  Moscow  and  is 
his  father's  partner  in  various  enterprises.  Mr. 
Cornwall  was  again  married  July  17,  1881,  when 
Annie  Maria  Olson  became  his  wife.  She  was 
born  in  Wisconsin  and  is  of  Norwegian  descent. 
Their  children  are:  Lulu  A.,  Mason  H.,  Enos  C. 
and  Corwin  E.,  all  living  at  home  with  their 
parents,  although  the  two  eldest  are  now  attend- 
ing the  state  university.  Mrs.  Cornwall  is  a 
valued  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church  and 
Mr.  Cornwall  contributes  liberally  to  its  support. 
He  was  made  a  Master  Mason  many  years  ago 
in  Orion  Lodge,  No.  70,  F.  &  A.  M.,  in  Wiscon- 
sin, filled  every  office  and  is  now  past  master.  He 
has  now  reached  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years, 
but  is  still  hale  and  hearty.  The  record  of  his 
life  is  a  history  of  business  ability  and  success,  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


479 


his  taxes  now  amount  to  one  thousand  dollars 
annually.  He  has  been  a  liberal  giver  to  church 
and  public  enterprises  and  has  taken  a  deep  inter- 
est in  the  upbuilding  and  prosperity  of  the  town. 
In  his  business  dealings  he  ha's  ever  been  just  and 
honorable,  and  on  no  occasion  has  he  ever 
oppressed  or  cramped  a  debtor  whom  he  believed 
to  be  honest,  but  who  through  unfortunate  cir- 
cumstances was  unable  to  meet  his  obligations. 
His  life  has  been  one  of  the  highest  integrity.  He 
is  a  man  of  broad  scholarly  attainments,  of  culture 
and  ability,  and  he  belongs  to  that  class  of  repre- 
sentative Americans  who,  while  advancing  indi- 
vidual success,  also  promote  the  general  welfare. 

WILLIAM   F.   SCHMADEKA. 

This  gentleman  has  been  such  an  important 
factor  in  the  upbuilding  of  Grangeville  that  his 
life  record  forms  a  part  of  its  history,  and  no 
work  purporting  to  give  an  account  of  the 
growth  and  improvement  of  Idaho  and  her  towns 
and  cities  would  be  complete  without  an  account 
of  his  life.  He  has  always  resided  in  the  north- 
west, his  interests  are  centered  here,  and  he  has 
labored  untiringly  for  the  best  interests  of  this 
section  of  the  country. 

A  native  of  Lane  county,  Oregon,  he  was  born 
on  the  5th  of  September,  1860,  and  is  a  son  of 
George  Schmadeka,  one  of  the  honored  pioneers 
of  northern  Idaho,  whose  sketch  appears  else- 
where in  this  work.  Our  subject  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools  of  Oregon,  and  also  con- 
tinued his  education  in  Grangeville,  whither  he 
came  with  his  parents  when  sixteen  years  of  age. 
He  entered  the  Grangeville  Academy,  and  prose- 
cuted his  studies  under  the  direction  of  Judge 
Hall.  He  entered  upon  his  business  career  as  a 
farmer  and  stock-raiser,  and,  owing  to  his  capable 
management  and  wise  business  policy,  met  suc- 
cess in  his  undertakings.  He  had  been  a  resident 
of  the  county  only  a  year  when  the  Nez  Perces  In- 
dian war  broke  out,  at  which  time  he  was  on  the 
ranch  with  his  brothers,  George,  John  and  Henry, 
and  his  sister,  Caroline.  While  they  were  loading 
up  a  wagon  in  order  to  make  their  escape  to 
Mount  Idaho  they  were  joined  by  some  freight- 
ers, who  had  been  attacked  by  the  Indians  and 
had  cut  their  horses  loose  from  the  wagons  and 
ridden  them  to  the  Schmadeka  farm.  They  all 
made  their  way  together  to  Mount  Idaho,  the 


Indians  following  them  almost  to  the  town.  At 
Mount  Idaho  our  subject  and  his  brothers 
assisted  in  fortifying  the  place  and  remained  there 
for  twenty  days.  After  returning  to  their  home, 
in  connection  with  other  settlers  ol  the  locality, 
they  built  a  strong  stockade,  formed  of  logs  six- 
teen feet  long,  imbedded  in  the  ground  five  feet. 
There  were  three  thicknesses  of  logs.  In  the 
center  of  the  stockade  was  the  Grange  Hall,  the 
second  floor  of  which  was  used  as  a  hospital  for 
wounded  soldiers,  and  they  fortified  the  upper 
room  by  piling  sacks  of  flour  on  the  inside  of 
the  walls.  The  fort  at  Mount  Idaho  was  built 
of  stone,  and  Mr.  Schmadeka  took  an  active  part 
in  preparing  these  places  of  safety  and  stood  on 
guard  many  a  night  on  the  hill  near  by,  in  order 
to  give  the  warning  in  case  of  attack. 

He  has  long  been  prominently  identified  with 
the  business  interests  of  the  city,  having  for 
twelve  years  conducted  a  meat  market,  after 
which,  in  1893,  he  established  his  present  general 
mercantile  store.  He  erected  a  brick  building, 
fifty  by  eighty  feet,  which  is  filled  with  a  large 
and  well  selected  stock  of  dry  goods,  groceries, 
nlen's  furnishing  goods  and  millinery.  He  re- 
ceives a  liberal  patronage  and  is  conducting  a 
profitable  and  constantly  increasing  business.  He 
is  also  accredited  with  having  erected  more  build- 
ings in  Grangeville  than  any  other  man.  He  put 
up  the  first  brick  block  and  the  second  two-story 
building,  the  first  being  the  Grange  Hall,  and  all 
these  substantial  structures,  erected  through  his 
efforts,  not  only  stand  as  monuments  to  his  enter- 
prise and  business  ability,  but  have  also  proven  of 
material  benefit  to  the  town. 

On  the  loth  of  May,  1893,  Mr.  Schmadeka  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Lorena  Harmon,  the 
wedding  ceremony  being  performed  by  the  Rev. 
W.  A.  Hall,  his  friend  and  former  teacher.  Their 
union  has  been  blessed  with  one  son,  whom  they 
have  named  Edmund  Carlisle.  Theirs  is  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  homes  in  Grangeville.  sur- 
rounded by  extensive  and  well  kept  grounds,  and 
its  hospitality  makes  it  the  center  of  a  cultured 
society  circle. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Schmadeka  has  al- 
ways been  a  Democrat,  and  active  in  support  of 
the  party.  He  served  as  deputy  sheriff  of  the 
county  under  T.  J.  Rhodes,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  first  board  of  trustees  of  the  town  of 


480 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Grangeville,  being  appointed  to  that  position  by 
the  board  of  county  commissioners.  He  was 
afterward  elected  to  the  same  office  and  dis- 
charged his  duties  in  a  most  prompt  and  able 
manner.  He  was  also  at  one  time  an  active 
worker  in  the  Grange,  and  has  ever  been  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  progressive  and  public-spir- 
ited citizens  of  his  town  and  county. 

WILLIAM   F.   SOMMERCAMP. 

William  F.  Sommercamp,  the  leading  merchant 
of  Weiser,  Idaho,  is  a  native  son  of  the  golden 
west.  He  was  born  in  California,  February  16, 
1860,  and  comes  of  German  ancestry.  His  father, 
William  F.  Sommercamp,  was  born  in  Germany 
and  when  a  young  man  emigrated  to  America, 
landing  at  New  Orleans,  where  for  a  time  he  fol- 
lowed his  trade,  that  of  confectioner.  Subse- 
quently he  married  Miss  Mary  Slack,  of 
Zanesville,  Ohio,  and  shortly  after  their  marriage 
they  removed  to  California,  where  he  engaged  in 
mining.  In  1864  he  came  over  into  Idaho  and 
became  one  of  the  promient  miners  and  stock- 
raisers  of  Owyhee  county.  He  died  in  the  sixty- 
second  year  of  his  age.  His  widow  is  living, 
aged  fifty-nine  years,  and  of  their  children, — three 
daughters  and  seven  sons, — only  four  are  now 
living,  three  sons  and  a  daughter. 

William  F.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  is  the 
eldest  of  the  family.  He  was  in  his  fifth  year 
when  they  moved  to  Idaho  and  located  in  Silver 
City,  and  in  the  public  schools  of  this  place  his 
education  was  begun.  Later  he  attended  St. 
Augustine  College,  at  Benicia,  and,  after  clerk- 
ing three  years  in  a  mercantile  establishment, 
took  a  course  in  Heald's  Business  College,  San 
Francisco,  where  he  graduated  in  due  time. 
After  his  graduation  he  accepted  a  position  in  a 
San  Francisco  wholesale  house,  where  he  re- 
mained three  years.  Next,  we  find  him  at  Bodie 
employed  as  bookkeeper  for  Gilson,  Barber  & 
Company,  and  afterward  he  was  for  two  years 
receiving  teller  in  the  Bodie  Bank.  Returning 
to  Silver  City  at  the  end  of  that  time,  he  became 
manager  of  the  mercantile  business  of  W.  D. 
Bigelow.  In  the  course  of  a  year  Mr.  Bigelow 
died  and  Mr.  Sommercamp  took  charge  of  the 
business,  running  it  on  shares  for  a  year. 
Then  he  purchased  the  stock  and  continued  the 
business  five  years  longer.  In  1891  he  came  to 


Weiser  and  opened  his  general  merchandise  busi- 
ness in  this  city.  From  the  first  he  met  with  grati- 
fying success,  his  long  experience  and  excellent 
training  standing  him  in  good  stead.  His  busi- 
ness has  constantly  grown,  and  to-day  his  well 
stocked  general  store  would  do  credit  to  any 
merchant  in  any  town. 

Mr.  Sommercamp  was  married  December  16, 
1881,  to  Miss  Alice  Harley,  a  native  of  Oregon 
and  a  daughter  of  W.  S.  Harley  of  that  state. 
They  have  two  sons  and  a  daughter, — William 
H.,  Walter  E.  and  Ora  Belle. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sommercamp  are  worthy  mem- 
bers of  the  Episcopal  church.  Fraternally  he  is 
identified  with  the  popular  orders  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, Knights  of  Pythias  and  Masons.  In  the 
I.  O.  O.  F.  he  is  past  grand,  and  past  chief 
patriarch  of  the  encampment,  and  he  holds  the 
rank  of  past  chancellor  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 
Politically  he  supports  the  Democratic  party,  tak- 
ing an  active  and  influential  part  in  local  affairs. 
For  three  successive  terms  he  served  as  treasurer 
of  Owyhee  county. 

HENRY  A.  RUSSELL. 

Among  the  industrial  interests  which  claim  the 
attention  of  the  residents  of  northern  Idaho  fruit- 
raising  now  demands  special  attention,  and  the 
gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  review  has  at- 
tained considerable  prominence  as  a  horticultur- 
ist and  has  made  a  life  study  of  the  subject,  is 
familiar  with  the  needs  of  the  different  kinds  of 
fruits,  and  his  success  has  demonstrated  his  prac- 
ticability and  enterprise.  It  is  worthy  of  note 
that  he  was  but  twelve  years  of  age  when  he 
planted  his  first  orchard,  which  comprised  two 
hundred  pear,  peach  and  apple  trees,  which  he 
purchased  of  the  Rochester,  New  York,  nurser- 
ies, with  funds  of  his  own  earning. 

A  native  of  Mercer  county,  Pennsylvania,  Mr. 
Russell  was  born  December  23,  1855,  and  is  of 
German  and  Irish  ancestors,  who  settled  there  at 
an  early  period  in  its  history.  His  father,  John 
Russell,  was  born  in  Lawrence  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  married  Miss  Julia  A.  Bryan.  By 
occupation  he  is  a  farmer  and  live-stock  dealer 
and  has  followed  these  pursuits  throughout  his 
entire  life.  He  is  now  seventy-two  years  of  age. 
His  wife  died  in  1887,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four 
years.  In  their  family  were  seven  sons  and  three 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


481 


daughters,  all  of  whom  are  yet  living.  Leonard 
Russell,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  a 
native  of  Manassas  Gap,  Virginia,  and  died  at  the 
age  of  eighty-nine  years. 

Henry  Agnew  Russell,  who  was  the  third  child 
in  his  father's  family,  was  reared  under  the 
parental  roof  and  acquired  his  education  in  the 
Jamestown  Academy  and  the  Pennsylvania  State 
Normal  School,  after  which  he  spent  several  years 
in  Illinois,  in  teaching  and  studying.  He  then 
made  his  way  across  the  Mississippi,  and  at  dif- 
ferent times  has  been  in  southwestern  Missouri, 
Kansas,  Dakota  and  eastern  Washington,  teach- 
ing in  most  of  those  states.  He  came  to  his  pres- 
ent home  in  1892  and  here  has  two  hundred  and 
forty  acres  of  land.  He  has  planted  his  trees 
twenty  feet  apart,  alternating  the  apple  trees  with 
peaches,  pears,  cherries  and  prunes.  Upon  his 
arrival  he  erected  a  nice  commodious  residence, 
in  which  he  and  his  family  reside,  and  all  the 
other  accessories  of  the  model  farm  are  there 
found,  in  addition  to  the  fruits  mentioned. 
Being  a  practical  nurseryman  he  propagates 
ornamental  trees  and  plants  as  well  as  fruit  trees, 
and  raises  wheat,  oats,  corn,  beans,  barley,  tim- 
othy and  clover  hay,  flax,  live  stock,  poultry  and 
Italian  bees.  While  the  orchard  was  young  he 
planted  it  with  beans,  placing  five  rows  between 
the  trees,  believing  the  growing  of  a  leguminous 
crop  to  be  much  better  than  to  leave  the  ground 
uncultivated  and  uncovered.  He  raised  one  thou- 
sand pounds  of  beans  to  the  acre,  last  season's 
crop  amounting  to  eighteen  tons,  without  taking 
any  of  the  tree  food  from  the  ground,  and  the 
land  seemed  benefited  by  the  methods  which  he 
followed.  He  has  taken  a  very  active  interest  in 
fruit  culture  and  fruit  shipping,  his  present 
orchard  consisting  of  more  than  ten  thousand 
trees,  mostly  coming  in  bearing,  the  output 
amounting  to  five  carloads  last  season,  and  it 
would  be  almost  impossible  to  find  any  one  better 
informed  on  the  subject  than  he,  having  propa- 
gated most  of  the  orchard  trees  now  bearing  in 
the  Potlatch  fruit  belt. 

Mr.  Russell  was  assistant  collector  of  fruits, 
etc.,  for  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition, 
which  display  from  Idaho  was  so  greatly  admired 
and  highly  spoken  of.  He  was  also  the  first  ap- 
pointed fruit  inspector  of  Idaho  and  has  served 
continuously  under  the  different  laws  enacted. 


The  work  of  this  officer  is  to  inspect  the  orchards, 
to  direct  and  compel  the  ridding  them  of  fruit 
pests  and  noxious  weeds  and  to  aid  in  promoting 
and  protecting  the  horticultural  interests  of  the 
commonwealth  and  preventing  the  sale  or  dis- 
tribution of  infected  fruits,  etc.  He  was  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  Potlatch  fruit-growers  at  the 
Spokane  Fruit  Fair  for  three  years,  and  received 
the  gold  medal  for  their  display  of  fruits.  He  is 
one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  Northwestern 
Fruit  Growers'  Association,  and  it  was  from  their 
exhibition  at  the  Columbian  Exposition  that  the 
fruit  was  taken  which  won  the  first  prize  in  com- 
petition with  the  apples  of  the  world.  Very  suc- 
cessful fruit  fairs  are  now  held  in  Spokane  annu- 
ally, and  the  horticultural  interests  of  the  north- 
west are  thereby  greatly  advanced.  Mr.  Russell 
has  built  a  fruit  evaporator  on  his  property  with  a 
capacity  of  three  tons  of  green  fruit  daily,  and  is 
thereby  prepared  to  care  for  the  products  of  his 
orchard  when  the  market  will  not  pay  fair  prices 
for  the  fresh  fruit.  He  has  served  for  some  years 
as  inspector  and  secretary  of  the  Potlatch  Horti- 
cultural Association,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
leading  representatives  of  the  fruit-raising  inter- 
ests of  Idaho. 

Mr.  Russell  was  married  September  15,  1886, 
to  Miss  Minnie  O.  Burns,  a  native  of  Ray  county, 
Missouri,  and  a  daughter  of  Agnew  Burns.  They 
now  have  three  children,  Emile  H.,  Frederick  A. 
and  Floyd  E.  In  politics  Mr.  Russell  is  a  Repub- 
lican,' locally  casting  his  vote  without  regard  to 
party  ties.  He  belongs  to  the  Modern  Woodmen 
of  the  World  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias  fra- 
ternity, and  is  held  in  high  esteem  by  all  who 

know  him. 

LEMUEL  C.  NEAL. 

A  representative  of  the  mercantile  interests  of 
Lewiston,  Lemuel  C.  Neal  is  engaged  in  the 
furniture  and  undertaking  business  and  is  a  most 
energetic,  enterprising  man,  whose  success  comes 
to  him  as  the  reward  of  his  well  directed  efforts, 
and  is  therefore  justly  deserved.  He  is  native  of 
Wisconsin,  his  birth  having  occurred  at  Sun 
Prairie,  Dane  county,  on  the  I2th  of  June,  1845. 
His  ancestors  were  early  settlers  of  Maine,  and 
there  his  parents,  Thomas  and  Olive  (Dalton) 
Neal,  were  born,  reared  and  married.  In  1843 
they  removed  to  Wisconsin,  locating  within  its 
borders  ere  its  admission  to  the  Union.  In  1867 


482 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


they  went  to  Kansas,  purchased  lands  at  Beloit, 
and  there  the  father  carried  on  agricultural  pur- 
suits until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1887, 
when  he  had  reached  the  age  of  seventy-two 
years.  His  .wife  departed  this  life  in  her  fifty- 
sixth  year.  They  had  nine  children,  of  whom  six 
are  living. 

Lemuel  C.  Neal,  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth,  was 
reared  to  manhood  on  his  father's  farm  in  Wis- 
consin, and  pursued  his  education  through  the 
winter  seasons  in  a  log  school  house,  while  in  the 
summer  months  he  assisted  in  the  labors  of  culti- 
vating the  fields.  When  he  was  but  sixteen  years 
of  age  the  country  became  involved  in  the  great 
civil  war,  and  from  the  beginning  his  patriotic 
spirit  prompted  his  enlistment.  It  was  not  until 
the  29th  of  September,  1862,  however,  when  he 
was  seventeen  years  of  age,  that  he  was  received, 
but  the  demand  for  soldiers  had  then  become  so 
great  that  the  enlisting  officers  did  not  draw  the 
lines  so  closely,  and  he  was  enrolled  among  the 
boys  in  blue  of  Company  I,  Twelfth  Wisconsin 
Infantry.  He  participated  in  the  siege  and  cap- 
ture of  Vicksburg,  under  General  Grant,  and  was 
later,  with  General  Sherman,  in  the  memorable 
Atlanta  campaign,  taking  part  in  the  thirty-days 
fighting  before  the  city  was  reached  and  captured. 
Then  came  the  celebrated  march  to  the  sea,  and 
later  he  participated  in  the  grand  review  in  Wash- 
ington, the  most  brilliant  military  pageant  ever 
seen  in  the  western  hemisphere,  the  victorious 
army  marching  through  the  streets  of  the  capital 
city  that  was  the  seat  of  a  government  whose 
power  and  supremacy  they  had  established  by 
the  force  of  arms.  Mr.  Neal  then  returned  to 
Wisconsin,  and  was  honorably  discharged  in 
June,  1865,  after  two  years  and  nine  months  of 
faithful  service.  He  participated  in  many  a  hard- 
fought  battle,  including  the  terrible  battle  of  At- 
lanta, but  had  the  good  fortune  to  return  to  his 
home  with  only  a  slight  flesh  wound.  The  record 
of  the  boy  soldier  was  a  most  brilliant  and  credit- 
able one,  and  he  had  just  completed  his  twentieth 
year  when  mustered  out. 

When  the  war  was  over  and  the  country  no 
longer  needed  his  services,  Mr.  Neal  engaged  in 
farming  in  his  native  state,  and  also  followed  that 
occupation  in  Dakota,  where  he  took  up  wild  land 
from  the  government,  transforming  it  into  richly 
cultivated  fields.  He  also  erected  and  conducted 


a  hotel  in  Larimore,  North  Dakota,  for  ten  years, 
and  there  established  a  furniture  and  undertaking 
business,  meeting  with  success  in  both  lines  of 
endeavor.  His  excellent  business  methods,  strict 
integrity  and  careful  management  brought  him 
prosperity,  and  he  continued  his  active  connec- 
tion with  the  business  interests  of  that  state  until 
failing  health  caused  him  to  seek  a  different  loca- 
tion, and  he  found  the  needed  change  of  climate 
in  Lewiston.  Here  he  purchased  property -and 
built  a  good  residence  and  store,  opening  a  furni- 
ture and  undertaking  establishment.  He  has  won 
an  enviable  reputation  in  business  circles,  and  his 
reliability,  reasonable  prices  and  earnest  desire  to 
please  his  patrons  have  secured  him  a  good  trade. 
He  studied  embalming  in  the  Minneapolis  School 
of  Embalming,  and,  having  had  an  experience  of 
twenty  years  in  the  business,  is  a  careful  and 
accomplished  funeral  director. 

In  1879  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Neal  and  Miss  Ella  Forest,  a  native  of  Canada. 
Four  children  have  blessed  their  union,  namely: 
John  T,  Olive  E.,  Thomas  F.  and  Mabel  W.  The 
parents  are  active  and  prominent  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  church,  in  which  Mr.  Neal  is  now 
serving  as  elder.  He  is  a  worthy  member  of  R. 
B.  Hayes  Post,  No.  2,  G.  A.  R.,  at  Lewiston,  and 
while  in  Dakota  filled  all  the  offices  of  the  post 
with  which  he  was  connected  there.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows  lodges 
in  Lewiston,  and  is  highly  esteemed  in  social, 
church  and  business  circles,  being  true  and  faith- 
ful to  every  duty  and  in  every  relation  of  life.  He 
is  as  loyal  to  the  best  interests  of  his  country  as 
when  he  followed  the  starry  banner  over  the  bat- 
tle fields  of  the  south  and  valiantly  fought  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Union. 

JAMES  COLSON. 

One  of  the  respected  pioneer  farmers  of  Salu- 
bria  is  James  Colson,  who  came  to  Idaho  in 
1864,  and  has  since  been  engaged  in  stock-rais- 
ing. He  was  born  in  Ripley  county,  Indiana, 
October  23,  1834,  a  son  of  John  and  Polly  (Allen) 
Colson,  the  former  of  whom  was  a  farmer  in  Ken- 
tucky, moving  to  Iowa  in  1850,  where  he  was 
successful  as  a  business  man  and  land-owner. 
He  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy  years.  To 
him  and  his  wife  were  born  eight  children,  three 
of  whom  survive. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO, 


483 


James  Colson  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm 
and  received  his  education  in  the  public  schools, 
remaining  at  home  until  1853,  when  he  crossed 
the  plains  to  California,  locating  in  Siskiyou 
county.  Here  he  engaged  in  mining,  but  met 
with  only  moderate  success,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  he  took  out  in  one  day  four  hundred 
dollars,  which,  with  a  great  deal  more,  he  lost  in 
unprofitable  mining  enterprises.  After  three 
years  spent  in  California  he  returned  to  his  home 
by  steamer  and  in  1860  went  to  Colorado,  where 
he  mined  a  year,  then  removed  to  Idaho  in  1864, 
and  during  his  many  journeys  never  met  with  any 
misfortune.  He  resided  two  years  at  Idaho  City 
and  a  similar  length  of  time  at  Weiser,  and  in 
1868  located  in  Salubria  valley,  on  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  land,  and  since  then  has  been 
successfully  engaged  in  raising  cattle,  horses  and 
hogs.  In  politics  Mr.  Colson  is  a  silver  Repub- 
lican, but  has  never  sought  office,  preferring  to 
give  his  entire  attention  to  his  business. 

On  July  3,  1856,  our  subject  was  married  to 
Miss  Margaret  Ann  Taylor,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and 
of  this  union  ten  children  were  born,  of  whom 
five  are  now  living,  namely:  Anthony  M.,  Daniel 
S.,  Frank,  Charles  and  George.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Colson  are  consistent  members  of  the  Methodist 
church,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  pillars.  Thor- 
oughly reliable  in  all  his  dealings,  Mr.  Colson 
possesses  the  high  regard  and  confidence  of  all 
with  whom  he  comes  in  contact. 

JAMES  J.  ROGERS. 

The  life  of  James  J.  Rogers  has  not  been  one 
of  unvarying  monotony,  circumscribed  by  the 
habits,  thoughts  and  customs  of  some  narrow 
community,  but  contains  many  interesting  inci- 
dents that  come  with  travel  and  extensive  inter- 
course with  the  world.  Born  on  the  Atlantic 
coast,  he  has  visited  foreign  lands,  has  viewed 
many  of  the  interesting  scenes  of  our  own  coun- 
try, and  is  now  located  in  the  beautiful  city  of 
Boise,  which  nestles  in  one  of  the  loveliest  valleys 
of  the  Pacific  slope.  There  he  is  successfully 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  law,  and  in  the  political 
affairs  of  the  state  he  is  no  unimportant  factor. 

A  native  of  Maryland,  he  was  born  in  the  city 
of  Baltimore,  on  the  24th  of  July,  1862,  and  is  of 
Irish  lineage.  His  parents,  Joseph  P.  and  Eliza- 
beth (Donahue)  Rogers,  were  both  natives  of  Bel- 


fast, Ireland,  and  in  1858  crossed  the  Atlantic  to 
Baltimore,  where  the  father  devoted  his  energies 
to  bookkeeping.  In  politics  he  was  a  Democrat, 
and  in  religious  belief  both  he  and  his  wife  were 
Catholics.  His  death  occurred  on  the  I4th  of 
April,  1895,  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of  six- 
ty-two years,  and  his  wife  passed  away  on  the 
22d  of  February,  1878,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine 
years.  They  were  the  parents  of  nine  children, 
seven  of  whom  are  residents  of  either  Illinois  or 
Iowa. 

During  his  childhood  James  J.  Rogers  re- 
moved with  his  parents  from  his  southern  home 
to  New  York  city,  and  in  America's  metropolis 
he  spent  his  early  boyhood.  He  there  attended 
the  public  schools,  and  after  the  removal  of  the 
family  to  Peoria,  Illinois,  he  was  a  student  in  the 
Christian  Brothers'  College  of  that  city  for  sev- 
eral years.  On  putting  aside  his  text-books  he 
entered  the  theatrical  profession,  and  played  with 
several  companies  in  the  south  and  southwest. 
In  1882,  however,  he  abandoned  the  histrionic 
art  and  entered  the  Washington  University,  at 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  where  he  pursued  a  special 
course  in  painting,  and  for. some  time  thereafter 
engaged  in  portrait-painting  and  decorating.  He 
has  traveled  extensively  and  has  gained  that 
knowledge  and  culture  which  only  travel  can 
bring.  He  has  visited  China  and  Japan  in  the 
Orient,  our  new  possessions  in  the  Pacific, — the 
lately  annexed  Hawaiian  islands, — the  cold 
regions  of  Alaska,  and  many  points  in  the  United 
States  that  are  of  interest  to  the  traveler.  For 
six  years  he  resided  in  Nevada,  and  two  years  in 
Utah  and  Montana,  and  on  the  I2th  of  February, 
1892,  arrived  in  Boise.  Here  he  entered  upon 
the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Hon.  J.  H.  Rich- 
ards, and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1895,  after 
which  he  began  the  practice  of  the  profession  as  a 
partner  of  his  former  preceptor.  He  is  now  alone, 
occupying  a  suite  of  rooms  in  the  Sonna  Block, 
and  at  the  bar  is  meeting  with  success.  He  is 
also  a  very  active  and  influential  factor  in  politics, 
and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Populist  party 
in  Idaho.  He  served  as  secretary  of  the  first  state 
central  committee,  and  also  held  that  office  in 
1894  and  1895.  The  following  year  he  was 
elected  to  the  house  of  representatives  of  Idaho 
and  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  effective 
debaters  and  active  workers  in  that  assembly. 


484 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


In  1893  he  served  as  secretary  of  the  state  senate. 
On  the  2d  of  January,  1889,  while  residing  at 
Elko,  Nevada,  Mr.  Rogers  was  happily  married 
to  Miss  Rose  Gertrude  Garrecht,  a  native  of  that 
place.  They  now  have  two  interesting  children: 
Lucille  Mary  and  James  J.  Mr.  Rogers  and  his 
wife  enjoy  the  hospitality  of  the  best  homes  of 
Boise  and  occupy  an  enviable  position  in  cul- 
tured society  circles.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  much 
ability  and  great  versatility  of  talent.  On  the 
stage,  in  the  field  of  painting  and  at  the  bar  he 
has  scored  notable  successes.  His  broad  culture 
and  wide  general  knowledge,  arising  from  his 
travels,  makes  him  a  most  entertaining  conver- 
sationalist, and  he  is  a  most  companionable  gen- 
tleman, whose  unfailing  courtesy  renders  him  a 

favorite  with  all. 

i 

LAMBERT  L.  STRONG. 

Lambert  Leroy  Strong,  one  of  Lewiston's  rep- 
resentative and  enterprising  citizens,  engaged  in 
the  undertaking  and  embalming  business  here  for 
the  past  fifteen  years,  was  born  in  Franklin 
county,  Ohio,  August  8,  1849.  He  is  of  Scotch 
descent  and  his  ancestors  were  early  settlers  of 
New  York.  The  paternal  grandfather  was  a 
Methodist  minister  and  became  one  of  the  pio- 
neer settlers  of  Ohio.  His  son,  Caleb  Strong, 
the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Ohio,  and 
married  Miss  Albinia  Lambertson.  When  our 
subject  was  only  five  years  of  age  they  removed 
with  their  family  to  Cedar  county,  Iowa.  The 
father  served  his  country  in  the  war  with  Mex- 
ico, and  in  1862  started  across  the  plains  to  Cali- 
fornia, but  died  at  Fort  Kearney,  at  the  age  of 
fifty  years.  His  wife  still  survives  him  and  is 
now  sixty-eight  years  of  age.  They  had  four 
children,  of  whom  three  are  living. 

The  eldest  of  the  family,  Lambert  L.  Strong, 
spent  his  boyhood  days  under  the -parental  roof, 
and  as  soon  as  old  enough  to  handle  the  plow 
began  work  in  the  fields.  He  assisted  in  the  culti- 
vation of  the  fields  through  the  summer  months 
and  in  the  winter  season  pursued  his  education 
in  a  little  log  school-house.  On  attaining  his 
majority  he  enlisted  in  the  regular  army,  and 
served  for  three  years,  receiving  an  honorable 
discharge  on  the  expiration  of  that  term.  In 
1879  he  came  to  Lewiston  and  entered  from  the 
government  a  claim  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 


acres  of  land,  which  he  has  improved  and  still 
owns.  He  has  erected  a  good  residence  on  the 
place  and  now  has  the  fields  planted  to  wheat. 
He  also  has  a  good  residence  in  Lewiston,  where 
he  and  his  family  make  their  home.  For  some 
years  Mr.  Strong  has  been  engaged  in  the  under- 
taking business,  and  in  1888  pursued  a  course  in 
the  embalming  school  conducted  by  Dr.  Rogers, 
of  San  Francisco.  He  was  graduated  there  Oc- 
tober 23,  1890,  and  has  since  done  most  excellent 
work  in  the  line  of  embalming.  He  keeps  a  large 
line  of  caskets  and  everything  pertaining  to  a 
first-class  undertaking  business,  and  has  acquired 
an  excellent  reputation.  His  reliable  business 
methods  have  gained  him  a  very  desirable  posi- 
tion in  the  ranks  of  the  leading  business  men  of 
Lewiston,  all  of  whom  entertain  for  him  the  high- 
est regard  and  accord  him  their  confidence. 

In  1877  Mr.  Strong  led  to  the  marriage  altar 
Miss  Ester  A.  Blackington,  a  native  of  Illinois 
and  a  daughter  of  M.  R.  Blackington,  who  re- 
moved from  Vermont  to  Illinois.  Mrs.  Strong  is 
a  valued  member  of  the  Methodist  church,  and 
Mr.  Strong  holds  membership  in  the  Knights  of 
Pythias  fraternity.  Both  have  many  warm 
friends  in  Lewiston,  won  through  their  sterling 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart.  In  his  political 
views  and  affiliations  Mr.  Strong  was  for  many 
years  connected  with  the  Republican  party,  but 
now  disagrees  with  it  on  the  great  money  ques- 
tion. He  has  served  his  city  as  one  of  her  coun- 
cilmen  and  has  twice  been  elected  coroner  of 
Nez  Perces  county.  His  duties  have  been 
promptly  and  faithfully  performed,  and  no  trust 
reposed  in  him,  whether  of  a  public  or  private 
nature,  has  ever  been  betrayed. 

JOHN  CORAM. 

One  of  the  most  extensive  land-owners  and 
stockmen  of  Camas  prairie  is  John  Coram,  who, 
through  his  well  directed  efforts  has  achieved  a 
most  creditable  success  in  his  business  career  and 
has  not  only  won  a  handsome  competence  but  has 
gained  the  confidence  and  respect  of  all,  by  rea- 
son of  his  honorable  methods  and  reliability.  A 
native  of  Bristol,  England,  he  was  born  August 
i,  1841,  his  parents  being  William  and  Jane 
(Dunn)  Coram,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of 
England.  They  were  married  in  that  country 
and  in  1847  emigrated  to  Canada,  becoming  re- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


485 


spected  farming  people  of  the  British  domain. 
The  mother  died  there  in  1853,  at  tne  age  of 
thirty-two  years,  leaving  her  husband  and  two 
children  to  mourn  her  loss.  Mr.  Coram  reached 
the  advanced  age  of  seventy-four  years. 

John  Coram  obtained  his  education  in  Can- 
ada, and  became  a  seafaring  man.  He  was  upon 
the  ocean  from  1860  until  1883,  occupying  the 
position  of  engineer  on  a  steamer.  On  December 
21,  1861,  when  on  the  steamship  Columbus,  in 
Central  America,  he  was  shipwrecked,  the  vessel 
running  ashore  and  dashing  to  pieces  against  the 
rocks  in  the  night.  On  the  27th  of  July,  1862, 
he  was  on  the  fated  steamer  Golden  Gate,  when 
she  was  lost  by  fire  while  en  route  from  San 
Francisco  to  Panama.  Two  hundred  and  thirty 
passengers  were  lost.  Mr.  Coram  escaped  death 
by  swimming  ashore,  but  he  can  never  forget  the 
terrible  disaster.  The  boat  ran  toward  shore,  but 
he  did  not  leave  his  post  until  the  flames  envel- 
oped the  sixteen-foot  ladder  upon  which  he  had 
to  depend  if  he  escaped.  He  was  badly  burned, 
but  rushed  through  the  flames,  jumped  over- 
board into  the  water  and  swam  ashore,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  five  hundred  yards.  The  marks  of 
that  catastrophe  he  still  carries  with  him  in  the 
scars  of  his  burns.  During  his  "life  on  the  ocean 
wave"  he  experienced  many  hardships  and  dan- 
gers and  visited  many  portions  of  the  world,  so 
that  he  has  a  broad  and  comprehensive  knowl- 
edge of  the  globe  and  can  relate  most  interesting 
anecdotes  of  his  voyages  and  the  sights  he  has 
witnessed  in  foreign  ports. 

In  1883  Mr.  Coram  came  to  Camas  prairie  and 
took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land, 
since  which  time  he  has  engaged  in  raising  cat- 
tle, horses  and  hogs,  of  the  Durham,  Shire  and 
Poland-China  breeds,  respectively.  He  and  his 
brother  have  had  as  high  as  four  hundred  head 
of  cattle,  one  hundred  head  of  horses  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  head  of  hogs  at  one  time,  and 
have  added  to  their  landed  possessions  until  their 
farm  property  aggregates  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  the  rich  productive  land  of  Camas 
prairie.  They  have  met  with  almost  phenomenal 
success  in  their  undertakings  since  coming  to 
Idaho  sixteen  years  ago,  the  rich  land  affording 
them  excellent  returns  for  their  labors,  while  in 
their  stock-raising  industry  they  have  been 
equally  prosperous.  They  are  gentlemen  of  ex- 


cellent business  ability  and  marked  energy  and 
well  deserve  to  be  ranked  among  the  leading  cit- 
izens of  this  section  of  Idaho. 

Mr.  Coram  of  this  review  was  married  in  No- 
vember, 1884,  to  Miss  Mary  Catherine  Carroth- 
ers,  a  native  of  Westminster,  Canada.  Their 
children  are:  Maude  V.,  Olive  G.,  Cassia  M., 
Jessie  I.  and  Edwin.  They  are  an  interesting 
family  and  have  many  friends  in  the  community. 
Mr.  Coram  belongs  to  the  Masonic  and  Odd 
Fellows  fraternities,  takes  a  deep  interest  in  edu- 
cational affairs  and  gives  an  earnest  and  hearty 
support  to  all  measures  calculated  to  advance  the 
material,  social,  moral  or  intellectual  welfare  of 
the  community  in  which  he  resides. 

EDWARD  E.  LORTON. 

Edward  Ewell  Lorton,  the  proprietor  of  The 
City  Drug  Store,  at  Salubria,  is  a  native  of  Mis- 
souri, his  birth  having  occurred  in  Montgomery 
county,  that  state,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1866.  The 
family  of  which  he  is  a  representative  is  of  Eng- 
lish origin,  and  the  ancestry  can  be  traced  back 
to  John  S.  Lorton,  the  great-grandfather  of  our 
subject,  who  took  up  his  abode  in  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  at  one  time  owning  the  town  location, 
whence  he  afterward  removed  to  Norfolk,  North 
Carolina,  in  1801,  and  there  his  son,  John  J., 
the  grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  born,  March 
2O,  1805.  In  1810  John  S.  Lorton  and  family 
removed  to  Warren  county,  Kentucky,  where 
William  H.  Lorton,  father  of  Edward  Ewell  Lor- 
ton, was  born,  February  20,  1827.  Having  ar- 
rived at  years  of  maturity  he  married  Miss  Mary 
A.  Sailor,  their  union  being  solemnized  Novem- 
ber n,  1854.  She  was  a  native  of  Missouri,  in 
which  state  William  H.  Lorton  engaged  in  stock 
dealing.  He  owned  a  large  amount  of  land  there 
and  carried  on  business  on  an  extensive  scale. 
In  1888  he  came  with  his  family  to  Idaho,  locat- 
ing in  Salubria,  where  he  is  now  living  a  retired 
life. 

Edward  E.  Lorton,  whose  name  introduces  this 
sketch,  is  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth  in  a  family  of 
six  children.  He  was  educated  in  Shell  City, 
Missouri,  and  for  a  number  of  years  successfully 
engaged  in  teaching  school,  being  a  most  able 
and  efficient  instructor,  having  marked  ability  to 
impart  clearly  and  concisely  to  others  the  knowl- 
edge that  he  had  acquired.  In  1895  he  purchased 


486 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  pioneer  drug  store  of  Salubria,  it  having  been 
established  by  W.  D.  Shaw,  in  1889.  From  the 
beginning  Mr.  Lorton  has  enjoyed  a  good  trade, 
which  is  constantly  increasing,  and  the  prosperity 
which  is  attending  his  efforts,  is  well  deserved. 
As  a  business  man  he  is  highly  regarded  for  his 
probity,  and  his  upright,  honorable  methods  com- 
mend him  to  the  confidence  and  support  of  all. 
In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat  and  religiously  he  is 
connected  with  the  Christian  church.  A  popular 
resident  of  Salubria,  having  many  friends  in  the 
community,  he  is  justly  deserving  mention 
among  the  representative  men  of  western  Idaho. 

JOHN  W.  DANIELS. 

The  public-school  system  of  Boise  is  a  monu- 
ment to  the  character  and  labors  of  Professor 
John  W.  Daniels.  There  is  no  nobler  profession 
to  which  man  may  devote  his  energies  than  that 
of  the  teacher.  What  man  prominent  in  public 
life  does  not  attribute  his  success  in  a  considerable 
measure  to  the  influence  of  some  teacher  whose 
instruction  he  enjoyed  in  youth?  The  thoughts 
implanted  in  the  young  minds  grow  and  develop, 
and  largely  shape  the  destinies  of  those  by  whom 
they  have  been  received.  It  is  therefore  of  the 
utmost  importance  that  the  training  of  the  young 
shall  be  entrusted  to  those  who  have  a  just  appre- 
ciation of  the  responsibilities  that  rest  upon  them, 
who  realize  the  value  of  physical,  mental  and 
moral  development,  who  can  instruct  the  chil- 
dren how  best  to  use  their  powers,  and,  while 
promoting  intellectual  activity,  neglect  not  to  sow 
the  seeds  of  character  that  will  produce  high 
ideals  of  manhood  and  womanhood.  Such  is  the 
mission  of  the  teacher,  and  such  has  been  the  life 
work  of  John  W.  Daniels. 

Professor  Daniels  was  born  in  England,  on  the 
ist  of  January,  1846,  and  when  five  years  of  age 
was  brought  to  America  by  his  parents,  Thomas 
and  Margaret  (Sullivan)  Daniels,  who  crossed 
the  Atlantic  with  their  five  children,  and  located 
near  Boston,  Massachusetts.  The  father  had 
learned  the  dyer's  trade  in  England  and  had  be- 
come very  proficient  in  that  line  of  work,  which 
he  successfully  followed  during  his  residence  in 
this  country.  He  departed  this  life  in  the  sixty- 
third  year  of  his  age,  his  wife  having  died  ten 
years  previously. 

Their  son,  John  W.  Daniels,  acquired  his  early 


education  in  the  public  schools,  where  he  was 
always  known  as  a  bright  and  enthusiastic  stu- 
dent. In  his  young  manhood  he  engaged  in 
school-teaching,  whereby  he  acquired  the  capital 
which  enabled  him  to  pursue  his  studies  in  higher 
institutions  of  learning.  He  pursued  a  literary 
course  in  New  Hampton,  New  Hampshire,  where 
his  Greek  and  Latin  studies  were  directed  by  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Andrews.  He  continued  studying 
and  teaching  alternately  until  his  graduation  in 
Bates  College,  of  Lewiston,  Maine,  in  1876.  The 
great  persistence  which  he  displayed  in  the  ac- 
•quirement  of  his  education  has  marked  his  busi- 
ness career  throughout  life.  For  some  time  he 
was  engaged  in  teaching  in  the  Westbrook  Semi- 
nary and  Female  College,  at  Westbrook,  Maine, 
and  during  that  time  Mr.  Lippincott,  now  an  ex- 
sheriff  of  Boise  county,  was  one  of  his  pupils. 

In  1876  Professor  Daniels  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Alice  S.  Steward,  of  North  Anson, 
Maine,  and  in  1881  they  came  to  Boise,  where 
they  have  since  made  their  home.  At  that  time 
the  public-school  system  had  not  been  estab- 
lished, there  was  no  good  school  building  in  the 
town,  and  less  than  two  hundred  pupils.  When 
the  large  and  handsome  central  school  building, 
containing  sixteen  rooms,  was  erected,  the  school 
board  was  severely  criticized  for  putting  up  a 
structure  of  such  dimensions,  but  it  is  now 
crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and  two  other 
fine  brick  edifices  are  included  within  the  school 
property  of  Boise.  Professor  Daniels  at  once 
commenced  his  work  of  organizing  a  public- 
school  system,  and  has  been  seconded  in  all  his 
efforts  by  the  school  board,  who  have  the  utmost 
confidence  in  the  ability  and  trustworthiness  of 
their  superintendent  of  public  instruction.  Thus 
assisted  by  a  progressive  board,  he  has  prose- 
cuted his  labors  along  advanced  lines,  introduc- 
ing the  best  methods  of  teaching  and  securing 
all  the  modern  appliances  which  aid  in  the  ac- 
quirement of  an  education.  His  labors  are  by 
everyone  spoken  of  in  terms  of  the  highest 
praise,  and  the  schools  of  Boise  rank  with  the 
best  in  the  land.  A  man  of  scholastic  attainments 
and  broad  general  knowledge,  Professor  Daniels 
is  also  an  excellent  disciplinarian,  an  enthusiastic 
instructor  and  a  gentleman  of  culture  and  refine- 
ment, never  failing  to  leave  the  impress  of  his 
own  individuality  upon  the  minds  and  characters 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


487 


of  his  pupils.  He  is  assisted  by  a  most  efficient 
corps  of  teachers,  and  the  work  done  in  the 
school  is  alike  creditable  to  the  instructors  and 
the  pupils.  The  latter  are  furnished  with  all 
things  necessary  for  their  school  work,  from  the 
most  advanced  text-books  down  to  lead  pencils 
and  even  pencil  sharpeners. 

In  teachers-institute  work  Professor  Daniels  is 
also  very  successful,  for  his  methods  are  practical 
and  appeal  at  once  to  the  intelligence  of  those 
whom  he  is  directing.  He  has  the  faculty  of  im- 
parting clearly  and  readily  to  others  the  knowl- 
edge he  has  acquired  and  of  inspiring  other  teach- 
ers with  his  own  enthusiasm  and  interest  in  the 
work.  In  1885,  after  having  advanced  the 
schools  of  Boise  to  a  high  standard  of  proficiency, 
he  resigned  his  position,  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  supreme  court.  He 
then  practiced  in  Boise  with  good  success  for  six 
years,  but  during  this  time  the  schools  degener- 
ated, and  the  board  induced  him  to  again  resume 
the  superintendency,  giving  him  a  salary  of  two 
thousand  dollars  per  year.  Almost  as  if  by  magic 
the  tone  of  the  school  was  improved,  and  Boise 
has  now  every  reason  to  be  proud  of  her  excellent 
educational  system.  In  April,  1899,  Professor 
Daniels  was  re-elected  to  the  superintendency, 
and  his  long  service  is  certainly  an  incontrovert- 
ible argument  in  evidence  of  his  marked  ability. 

The  home  of  Professor  and  Mrs.  Daniels  is 
the  center  of  a  cultured  society  circle.  Mrs.  Dan- 
iels possesses  that  grace  of  manner  and  cordiality 
that  renders  her  a  charming  hostess.  She  is  an 
excellent  pianist  and  her  husband  possesses  a  fine 
tenor  voice,  so  that  music  is  often  a  feature  of 
their  pleasant  ''at  homes."  Their  residence  is 
surrounded  by  most  tasteful  and  beautiful 
grounds,  and  the  air  of  culture  and  gracious 
cordiality  that  pervades  the  place  is  most  pleas- 
ing. The  Professor  ranks  among  the  most  noted 
educators  of  the  northwest,  and  the  high  char- 
acter of  his  work  shows  forth  the  lofty  principles 
which  permeate  all  that  he  says  or  does. 

GEORGE  A.  FROST. 

The  horologe  of  time  has  marked  off  thirty- 
nine  years  since  George  Ai  Frost  came  to  the 
Pacific  coast,  and  thirty  years  have  been  added 
to  the  cycle  of  the  centuries  since  his  arrival  in 
Lewiston.  He  is  numbered  among  the  esteemed 


and  valued  residents  of  this  place,  and  as  a  repre- 
sentative citizen  of  northern  Idaho  well  deserves 
mention  in  this  volume.  He  was  born  in  St. 
Auburns,  Somerset  county,  Maine,  November  14, 
1836,  and  is  of  Scotch  and  English  lineage.  His 
parents  were  both  natives  of  Kennebec  county, 
Maine,  and  in  1852  the  father  came  to  the  west, 
making  the  journey  by  way  of  the  Panama  route. 
He  first  located  in  California,  where  he  engaged 
in  mining,  and  was  one  of  the  first  at  the  Corn- 
stock  lead,  in  Nevada.  He  later  removed  to 
Walla  Walla,  Washington,  where  his  death  oc- 
curred in  1878,  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of 
seventy-eight  years.  His  widow  still  resides 
there  and  is  now  in  her  seventy-ninth  year. 

George  A.  Frost  is  the  eldest  of  their  three 
children.  He  was  educated  in  Dexter,  Maine, 
and  when  his  father  returned  to  the  Pine  Tree 
state  for  the  family  he  came  to  the  Pacific  coast. 
They  followed  the  isthmus  route  and  located  in 
California,  our  subject  engaging  in  mining  on  the 
American  river.  He  afterward  went  to  Nevada, 
where  he  took  out  considerable  gold,  and  then 
sold  his  claim  for  twenty-seven  thousand  dollars. 
Then  followed  a  period  in  which  he  was  not  quite 
so  successful,  and  he  returned  to  the  east  by  the 
overland  route.  He  paid  Charles  A.  Robinson 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  a  claim  which  was 
represented  to  be  very  rich,  and  then  again 
crossed  the  plains  for  the  purpose  of  finding  and 
working  his  new  claim,  but  he  never  found  it. 
He  then  prospected  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  moun- 
tains for  three  years,  and  discovered  a  valuable 
claim,  which  he  still  owns  and  which  is  now 
about  to  be  developed.  It  is  located  between  the 
Coeur  d'Alene  and  Buffalo  Hump,  and  is  a  very 
rich  property. 

Mr.  Frost,  however,  has  not  confined  his  atten- 
tion and  energies  entirely  to  mining  interests. 
While  in  San  Francisco  he  studied  photography, 
and  in  1871  opened  an  art  gallery  in  Lewiston, 
where  he  carried  on  business  for  three  winters. 
Subsequently  he  accepted  a  position  in  John 
Brearley's  private  bank  and  was  thus  employed 
until  the  death  of  Mr.  Brearley.  In  1875  he  was 
superintendent  of  the  Rescue  mine  at  Warrens. 
He  was  also  engaged  in  the  draying  business  for 
a  number  of  years,  but  eventually  sold  out  and  is 
now  partially  retired  from  active  business.  How- 
ever, he  looks  after  his  property  interests,  hav- 


488 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ing  considerable  improved  and  unimproved  city 
property,  and  personally  superintends  its  sales. 
He  manages  his  business  interests  with  marked 
ability,  and  his  undaunted  enterprise,  strong  reso- 
lution and  native  sagacity  have  been  the  salient 
features  in  his  success. 

Mr.  Frost  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Angeletta  Sidelinger,  a  native  of  Maine,  and  to 
them  have  been  born  a  son  and  two  daughters: 
Caro  C,  George  H.  and  Alta  A.  In  his  political 
views  Mr.  Frost  has  always  been  a  stalwart  Re- 
publican, unswerving  in  his  allegiance  to  the 
party.  He  was  elected  and  served  for  five  years 
as  a  member  of  the  city  council  of  Lewiston,  and 
has  ever  been  active  in  promoting  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  town,  giving  his  aid  to  all  measures 
tending  to  advance  the  social,  intellectual,  ma- 
terial and  moral  welfare.  He  has  witnessed  almost 
the  entire  development  of  this  region.  When 
he  came  to  Lewiston  there  were  but  four  ranches 
under  cultivation  near  the  city,  and  all  goods 
were  brought  by  pack  trains.  Now  this  is  a 
beautiful  railroad  center,  surrounded  by  a  splen- 
did agricultural  district,  the  fields  of  waving  grain 
giving  evidence  of  a  prosperous  and  contented 
people. 

HON.  RUEL  ROUNDS. 

Ex-Senator  Ruel  Rounds,  postmaster  and 
prominent  citizen  6f  Idaho  Falls,  was  born  in 
Rutland,  Vermont,  September  3,  1841,  a  son  of 
William  M.  and  Maria  (Sanderson)  Rounds,  both 
natives  of  Vermont,  where  his  ancestors  were 
early  settlers.  Forefathers  of  his  in  both  lines 
fought  for  American  liberty  in  the  Revolutionary 
war.  His  parents  were  members  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church  and  wielded  an  influence 
for  good  upon  all  who  knew  them.  His  father, 
who  was  a  successful  farmer,  died  in  his  fifty- 
eighth  year.  His  mother  died  ten  years  younger. 
Of  their  eight  children,  five  are  living  and  Ruel 
was  the  first  born. 

After  having  gained  requisite  primary  educa- 
tion in  the  district  schools  near  his  home,  Ruel 
Rounds  entered  Windsor  College,  from  which  in- 
stitution he  was  "graduated"  into  the  United 
States  Army  in  May,  1861,  without  waiting  to 
finish  his  classical  course.  He  became  a  member 
of  Company  K,  First  Regiment  Vermont  Volun- 
teer Infantry,  and  on  the  loth  of  June,  the  next 
month  after  his  enlistment,  received  his  "baptism 


of  fire,"  in  the  battle  of  Big  Bethel.  His  term 
of  service  expired  in  1862,  and  he  re-enlisted  in 
Company  K,  Twelfth  Regiment,  Vermont  Volun- 
teer Infantry,  which  was  included  in  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  He  was  in  numerous  engage- 
ments, among  them  those  of  Falmouth,  Fred- 
ericksburg  and  Gettysburg,  where  he  participated 
in  heavy  and  prolonged  fighting.  At  the  end  of 
his  term  of  enlistment  he  received  a  second  hon- 
orable discharge  from  the  service  in  the  United 
States  Army.  Returning  to  the  life  of  a  private 
citizen,  he  was  for  two  years  engaged  in  the 
marble  business.'  In  1866  he  left  New  York  city 
for  the  west  and  arrived  in  Virginia  City,  Mon- 
tana, in  the  fall.  A  little  later  he  joined  a  com- 
pany of  prospectors  bound  for  the  Wind  River 
mountain,  where  he  prospected  during  the  winter 
and  spring  of  1866-7,  and  early  in  the  summer 
following  he  established  a  trading  post  at  South 
Bitter  Creek,  on  the  stage  road  between  Denver, 
Colorado,  and  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah.  While  this 
enterprise  promised  well  at  the  outset,  it  was 
doomed  to  an  early  termination,  for  the  estab- 
lishment was  wiped  out  of  existence  by  Indians, 
July  7,  1867,  and  its  proprietor  was  left  nothing 
but  his  rifle  and  the  clothes  he  wore.  A  posi- 
tion as  guard  on  the  stage  line  was  offered  him 
by  the  Wells-Fargo  Express  Company,  and  he 
accepted  it,  the  more  gladly  because  he  hoped 
some  day  to  get  a  shot  at  some  of  the  redskins 
who  had  despoiled  him.  Whether  he  did  or  not 
he  never  knew,  for  he  never  recognized  any  of 
the  Indians  who  from  time  to  time  were  defeated 
in  attacks  on  the  stages  on  which  he  rode.  The 
life  was  an  exciting  one,  and  he  continued  it  until 
the  Union  Pacific  railroad  was  completed  to 
Green  river,  Wyoming.  He  then  engaged  in 
merchandising  along  the  line  of  construction, 
stopping  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  at  different 
points,  as  business  policy  appeared  to  dictate. 
When  the  two  branches  were  completed  to  the 
junction,  in  1869,  he  sold  his  stock  in  trade  and 
for  about  two  years  mined  with  considerable  suc- 
cess in  the  Sweet  Water  mining  country.  Again 
he  started  up  a  business  in  marble,  this  time  in 
Denver,  Colorado,  but  he  sold  it  out  after  two 
years  to  go  back  to  mining  in  the  San  Juan  dis- 
trict in  that  state.  There  he  operated  to  some 
good  purpose,  and  in  1878  he  went  to  Silver  Cliff, 
a  new  mining  town  in  the  Wet  Mountain  valley. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


489 


He  was  successful  there  for  two  years  and  then 
mined  a  year  at  Leadville.  At  this  time  oppor- 
tunity for  merchandising  with  profit  along  the 
line  of  construction  of  the  Mexican  Central  Rail- 
road was  presented.  He  availed  himself  of  the 
opportunity  and  operated  at  different  points  be- 
tween El  Paso  del  Norte  and  the  city  of  Mex- 
ico until  the  railroad  was  completed.  He  then 
returned  to  Colorado,  and  in  1885  went  thence  to 
southwestern  Kansas,  where  he  developed  into 
an  efficient  and  prominent  real-estate  operator 
and  from  1885  to  1880  helped  to  "boom"  several 
Kansas  towns.  In  1889  he  returned  to  Colorado. 
In  1890  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Idaho  Falls, 
where  he  bought  land,  and  was  interested  with 
others  in  the  purchase  of  all  the  unsold  lots  in 
the  original  town  site  and  also  bought  more  land 
outside  the  town  limits  and  helped  to  plat  addi- 
tions thereto  and  became  one  of  the  leading  pro- 
moters of  the  town. 

In  1893  ne  was  appointed,  by  Governor  Mc- 
Connell,  commissioner  for  Bingham  county,  a 
responsible  position,  in  which  he  served  with 
great  ability  and  credit  for  two  years,  assisting 
to  adjust  satisfactorily  all  matters  of  difference 
between  Bingham  and  adjacent  counties,  grow- 
ing out  of  the  erection  of  several  new  counties 
from  the  territory  formerly  known  as  Oneida 
county.  His  part  in  these  important  affairs  was 
taken  so  creditably  that  he  was  the  most  available 
Republican  candidate  for  the  state  senatorship, 
in  the  campaign  that  followed.  He  was  elected 
and  made  an  enviable  record  as  a  senator,  plac- 
ing himself  on  the  right  side  of  much  important 
legislation  and  bearing  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
movement  which  seated  Hon.  George  L.  Shoup 
in  the  United  States  senate.  •  In  1897  Mr.  Rounds 
was  appointed  postmaster  of  Idaho  Falls,  and  it 
is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  his  was  the  first  appoint- 
ment by  the  present  administration  in  the  state 
of  Idaho,  it  having  been  confirmed  by  the  sen- 
ate April  19, 1897.  Mr.  Rounds  entered  upon  the 
performance  of  the  duties  of  this 'office  June  I, 
following,  and  is  discharging  them  in  such  man- 
ner as  to  win  the  approbation  of  all  classes  of 
citizens. 

Mr.  Rounds  has  seven  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  of  rich  farming  land  near  Idaho  Falls,  and 
a  fine  fruit  farm  at  one  side  of  the  town.  His 
residence  in  Idaho  Falls  is  one  of  the  finest  in 


the  city  and  he  owns  other  town  property.  His 
interest  in  everything  which  affects  the  welfare 
of  the  people  of  Idaho  Falls  and  the  growth  and 
development  of  the  city  along  all  industrial,  com- 
mercial and  financial  lines,  is  deep  and  abiding, 
and  as  a  citizen  and  an  official  he  has  the  respect 
of  all  who  have  knowledge  of  his  straightforward 
methods  and  uprightness  of  character. 

JOSEPH  ALEXANDER. 

There  is  ever  an  element  of  interest  in  the  his- 
tory of  a  self-made  man, — one  who  starts  out  in 
life  empty-handed  and  wrests  fortune  from  an 
adverse  fate.  Obstacles  and  difficulties  are  en- 
countered, but  to  the  man  of  resolute  purpose 
these  but  call  for  renewed  effort  and  serve  as 
stepping  stones  to  something  higher.  The  life 
record  of  Mr.  Alexander  stands  in  exemplifica- 
tion of  what  may  be  accomplished  in  this  free 
land  of  ours,  where  the  man  of  ambition  and  de- 
termination is  unhampered  by  caste  or  class. 

He  was  born  in  Adelsheim,  in  the  grand  duchy 
of  Baden,  Germany,  on  the  i7th  of  March,  1837, 
his  parents  being  Samuel  and  Caroline  (Stein- 
hart)  Alexander.  The  father  was  a  dealer  in  cat- 
tle and  horses.  Both  parents  were  Hebrews  in 
religious  faith,  and  the  mother  departed  this  life 
in  her  forty-fourth  year,  while  the  father  reached 
the  ripe  old  age  of  seventy-one.  They  had  two 
sons  and  two  daughters,  all  yet  living.  Joseph 
Alexander  attended  the  public  schools  of  his  na- 
tive land  until  his  sixteenth  year,  when  he  bade 
adieu  to  home  and  friends  and  crossed  the  Atlan- 
tic to  America,  hoping  to  make  a  fortune  in  the 
New  World.  He  was  a  poor  boy  and  the  lan- 
guage of  the  people  was  unknown  to  him,  but 
with  a  stout  heart  and  ready  hands  he  began 
work,  being  employed  for  a  few  years  as  clerk  in 
a  general  store  in  New  York  city.  During  that 
time  he  became  familiar  with  the  methods  of 
merchandising  and  thus  was  well  fitted  for  carry- 
ing on  business  on  his  own  account. 

In  1857  Mr.  Alexander  sailed  for  California, 
going  by  way  of  the  isthmus  of  Panama,  and  ar- 
riving at  San  Francisco  in  the  same  year.  There 
he  secured  a  clerkship  which  continued  for  three 
years,  during  which  time  he  saved  his  earnings 
and  was  thus  enabled  to  embark  in  business  on 
his  own  account.  At  the  Metropolitan  market 
he  began  dealing  in  live  and  dressed  poultry,  and 


490 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


was  thus  engaged  until,  attracted  by  the  gold 
discoveries  in  Idaho,  he  came  to  this  state  with 
Mr.  Strouce,  for  whom  he  clerked  for  a  few 
years.  He  then  began  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count in  Lewiston,  and  the  history  of  his  ven- 
ture has  been  one  of  remarkable  success  from 
the  beginning.  He  first  opened  a  general  mer- 
cantile store  on  the  street  next  to  the  river,  and 
in  1883  erected  his  present  large  store  and  ware- 
house. He  carries  a  large  stock  of  general  mer- 
chandise and  does  an  extensive  and  profitable 
business.  So  successful  has  he  been  in  this  ven- 
ture that  he  has  been  enabled  to  establish  branch 
stores  in  Grangeville,  Genesee  and  Oaksdale,  all 
of  which  are  now  paying  investments.  He  has 
also  judiciously  invested  in  lands,  until  he  is  now 
the  owner  of  about  four  thousand  acres,  com- 
prising some  of  the  finest  farms  of  the  state.  He 
also  owns  several  good  buildings  in  Lewiston, 
including  a  fine  residence  property,  and  for  some 
years  has  been  prominently  connected  with  the 
Lewiston  National  Bank,  as  vice-president,  di- 
rector and  stockholder. 

Mr.  Alexander  has  long  taken  a  deep  and 
active  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  town,  has  been 
instrumental  in  promoting  many  of  its  beneficial 
measures,  and  for  fourteen  years  has  served  as 
a  member  of  the  city  council,  exercising  his  of- 
ficial prerogatives  in  support  of  all  movements 
calculated  for  the  public  good.  In  politics  he 
is  a  Republican,  and  socially  he  is  connected 
with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  His 
business  career  has  been  remarkably  successful, 
but  his  wealth  is  the  natural  effect  following 
cause.  Energy,  untiring  labor,  keen  business 
discernment  and  unfailing  honesty, — these  have 
made  him  a  prosperous  man,  and  at  all  times  his 
uprightness  and  reliability  have  won  him  the  re- 
gard and  confidence  of  those  with  whom  he  has 
been  brought  in  contact. 

LOUIS  F.   HORNING. 

Louis  F.  Horning,  who  follows  farming  on 
Camas  prairie,  is  a  native  of  the  Sunset  state,  his 
birth  having  there  occurred  August  20,  1851.  .His 
father,  Frederick  Horning,  was  born  in  Prussia, 
August  9,  1822,  and  was  educated  in  Germany, 
after  which  he  came  with  his  father,  George  God- 
frey Horning,  to  America.  The  last  named  was 
likewise  a  Prussian  by  birth,  and  on  crossing  the 


Atlantic  he  took  up  his  residence  in  St.  Louis, 
being  one  of  the  pioneers  of  that  now  populous 
city.  For  fifteen  hundred  dollars  he  sold  ten 
acres  of  land  which  is  now  in  the  heart  of  the 
city  and  is  now  worth  an  almost  fabulous  price. 
He  afterward  went  to  Westport,  Missouri,  and 
located  on  the  present  site  of  Kansas  City,  where 
his  heirs  now  have  a  vineyard  which  he  formerly 
owned.  He  lived  to  be  ninety-three  years  of 
age,  and  died  in  1870. 

Frederick  Horning,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
went  to  Milwaukee,  Oregon,  in  1849,  a*  which 
time  that  little  place  had  hopes  of  becoming  the 
metropolis  of  the  state.  Later  he  settled  near 
Corvallis  and  purchased  a  donation  claim,  which 
he  improved,  transforming  it  into  a  good  farm. 
He  spent  his  last  days  in  retirement  from  labor, 
and  died  in  1892,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years.  He 
married  Miss  Mary  A.  Johnson,  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky. Her  father  crossed  the  plains  with  his 
family  at  a  very  early  day  and  suffered  greatly  on 
the  journey.  The  wife  and  one  daughter  died 
on  the  plains.  The  mother  of  our  subject  de- 
parted this  life  in  her  thirty-ninth  year.  Like  her 
husband  she  was  a  faithful  member  of  the  Pres- 
byterian church,  and  they  were  regarded  by  all 
who  knew  them  as  people  of  the  highest  respecta- 
bility and  worth.  Mr.  Horning  was  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  They  were  laid  to 
rest  in  the  cemetery  near  Corvallis,  but  their 
memory  remains  as  a  good  influence  with  all  who 
knew  them.  They  had  a  family  of  eleven  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  are  yet  living. 

Louis  F.  Horning,  their  second  child  and  oldest 
son,  completed  his  literary  education  in  Corvallis 
College,  and  then  learned  the  printer's  trade  in 
Corvallis,  following. that  occupation  for  a  time. 
He  afterward  removed  to  southeastern  Oregon 
and  for  seven  years  was  successfully  engaged  in 
the  stock  business  there.  In  1879  he  came  to 
Camas  prairie,  locating  at  his  present  place  of 
residence,  where  he  took  up  a  government  claim 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres.  To  this  he  has 
added  until  his  landed  possessions  now  aggre- 
gate three  hundred  and  twenty  acres.  He  was 
still  single  when  he  came  to  the  farm.  In  1880, 
however,  he  married  Miss  Dora  Spooner,  who 
was  born  in  Missouri,  but  was  reared  in  New 
York  and  Maine.  He  then  erected  a  more  com- 
modious residence  and  also  built  substantial 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


491 


barns  and  other  outbuildings  necessary  for  the 
shelter  of  grain  and  stock.  He  now  has  a  highly 
improved  farm  and  was  one  of  the  pioneer  fruit 
men  of  this  region,  especially  in  the  cultivation 
of  peaches.  He  now  has  a  most  excellent  or- 
chard, and  everything  about  the  place  indicates 
the  careful  supervision  of  a  practical  and  pro- 
gressive owner.  The  home  has  been  blessed 
with  the  presence  of  five  daughters  and  two  sons, 
namely:  Emma,  Mary,  Cora,  Ella,  Nellie, 
Charles  and  Arthur,  all  of  whom  were  born  on 
the  farm  and  are  still  under  the  parental  roof. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Horning  is  a  Demo- 
crat, exercising  his  right  of  franchise  in  sup- 
port of  the  men  and  measures  of  the  party,  yet 
never  seeking  office  for  himself,  preferring  to  de- 
vote his  time  and  energies  to  his  business  inter- 
ests, in  which  he  is  meeting  with  good  success. 
He  has  always  resided  in  the  northwest,  and  is 
thoroughly  identified  with  this  region,  its  inter- 
ests and  its  upbuilding,  ever  lending  his  aid  to 
all  measures  for  the  public  good. 

CAPTAIN  R.  PICKERING. 

The  veteran  soldier  who  risked  his  life  in  de- 
fense of  the  flag,  all  things  else  being  equal,  takes 
high  rank  as  a  citizen.  This  may  be  partly  be- 
cause of  the.  quality  of  the  patriotism  of  the 
American  public,  but  there  is  another  reason  for 
the  pre-eminence  of  the  veteran.  The  man  who 
has  the  form  of  character  to  rise  to  distinction  as 
a  soldier  possesses  the  resourceful  perseverance 
so  necessary  to  success  in  other  fields.  Captain 
R.  Pickering,  who  has  been  a  prominent  resident 
of  Genesee  from  its  earliest  history,  was  born  in 
Belmont  county,  Ohio,  May  3,  1842,  and  comes 
of  a  very  old  and  honorable  English  family.  The 
progenitor  of  the 'American  branch  was  Joseph 
Pickering,  who  settled  in  New  England  in  1711, 
and  he  and  his  posterity  were  conspicuous  in 
colonial  history  .and  in  the  struggle  for  American 
independence. 

John  Pickering,  grandfather  of  R.  Pickering, 
was  born  in  Virginia,  was  a  successful  farmer  in 
that  state  and  removed  to  Ohio,  where  he  was  a 
pioneer.  There  his  son,  Elisha  Pickering,  father 
of  R.  Pickering,  was  born,  and  there  he  married 
Miss  Mary  Berry.  He  removed  later  in  life  to 
Iowa,  and  thence  to  Nebraska,  where  he  died  in 
1891,  aged  eighty-six  years.  His  wife  died  two 


years  previously.  This  worthy  couple  were  of 
Quaker  stock  and  were  strict  adherents  to  the 
faith  of  their  forefathers.  R.  Pickering,  their 
only  son,  had  the  advantages  of  excellent  moral 
training  and  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  Ohio.  He  had  not  yet  celebrated  his 
nineteenth  birthday,  when,  in  1861,  President 
Lincoln  issued  his  first  call  for  seventy-five 
thousand  volunteers,  for  three  months,  to  sup- 
press in  the  south  an  insurrectionary  movement 
whose  vitality  and  longevity  had  been  terribly 
miscalculated.  The  next  call  was  for  a  large 
number  of  men  to  serve  for  three  years  or  during 
the  war.  In  response  to  this  call,  now  that  war 
was  upon  the  country  and  there  was  little  pros- 
pects of  soon  dispelling  it,  young  Pickering  of- 
fered himself  for  his  country's  service,  and  Sep- 
tember 23,  1 86 1,  enlisted  in  Company  K,  Fif- 
teenth Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry.  He  served  in 
the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  His  first  engage- 
ment, at  Stone  River,  turned  out  somewhat  disas- 
trously for  him.  He  was  slightly  wounded  and 
pretty  thoroughly  stunned,  and  when  he  got  his 
senses  back  he  and  others  were  prisoners  in  the 
hands  of  the  "Johnny  Rebs"  and  booked  for 
Castle  Thunder  and  Libby  prison.  He  was  pa- 
roled at  the  end  of  six  weeks'  memorable  expe- 
rience. After  he  returned  to  the  regiment  he  was 
in  the  fighting  at  Liberty  Gap,  Chickamauga, 
Missionary  Ridge  and  in  the  Atlanta  campaign, — 
a  month  of  almost  continuous  battling,  which 
ceased  only  when  Atlanta  fell.  He  was  also  in 
the  engagement  at  Franklin  and  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee. In  January,  1864,  he  re-enlisted  and  was 
commissioned  captain  of  Company  I,  of  the  same 
regiment,  which  he  commanded  until  the  close  of 
the  war,  when  he  was  mustered  out  of  the  service* 
at  San  Antonio,  Tex.,  November  26,  1865. 

After  the  war  was  over  Captain  Pickering  re- 
turned to  Ohio  and  for  two  years  was  engaged  in 
merchandising.  He  then  removed  to  Iowa  and 
farmed  there  with  success  during  the  ensuing  ten 
years.  Selling  out  his  interest  in  Iowa,  Captain 
Pickering  removed  to  Nebraska,  where  he  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  clerk  of  the  United 
States  Indian  agency  and  was  later  given  charge 
of  the  agency.  When  the  Indians  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  Indian  Territory  he  accompanied 
them  and  remained  in  charge  of  them  until  he 
was  given  charge  of  the  Pawnee  agency.  In 


492 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


1889  he' took  up  his  residence  in  eastern  Oregon, 
and  a  few  months  later  removed  to  Genesee, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  loan  and  insurance  busi- 
ness, which  he  has  continued  successfully  to  the 
present  time.  He  represents  a  list  of  strong  fire 
and  life  insurance  companies,  and  as  underwriter 
has  always  been  exceedingly  popular  and  given 
the  most  complete  satisfaction  to  his  patrons. 
He  has  invested  quite  heavily  in  real  estate  and 
owns  and  occupies  one  of  the  best  residences 
in  the  city.  He  has,  for  a  number  of  years, 
served  the  public  well,  and  faithfully  as  justice 
of  the  peace  and  notary  public. 

Captain  Pickering  was  married  February  21, 
1867,  to  Miss  Sarah  E.  Mead,  a  daughter  of  Filo 
Mead,  and  a  native  of  his  own  county  in  Ohio. 
Captain  and  Mrs.  Pickering  have  had  seven  chil- 
dren: Fred  L.;  Mary,  M.,  who  is  Mrs.  George 
Ingraham;  Maud  A.,  who  died  in  her  eighteenth 
year;  Anna,  who  married  Charles  Power;  J.  L. ; 
Edna  B.,  and  A.  F. 

Captain  Pickering  was  made  a  Mason  in  1868, 
has  filled  every  important  office  and  is  past  mas- 
ter of  Unity  Lodge,  No.  32,  of  Genesee.  He 
identified  himself  with  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  at  the  organization,  has  always  worked 
ardently  to  advance  its  interests,  is  commander 
of  Lyon  Post,  No.  24,  and  has  been  a  member  of 
the  staff  of  the  commander  of  the  Idaho  state 
department.  As  a  business  man,  citizen,  public 
officer  and  veteran  soldier,  Captain  Pickering 
takes  high  rank.  He  is  a  man  of  pleasing  per- 
sonality, genial,  sympathetic  and  helpful,  and  his 
friends  are  many  and  steadfast. 

GEORGE   N.    IFFT. 

George  N.  Ifft,  of  the  firm  of  Ifft  &  Wallin, 
proprietors  and  managers  of  the  Pocatello  Trib- 
une, is  a  native  of  Butler  county,  Pennsylvania, 
born  January  27,  1865.  He  began  .newspaper 
work,  as  a  reporter,  in  Pittsburg,  that  state,  and 
continued  in  that  capacity  and  in  various  edi- 
torial relations  in  other  cities,  as  Washington, 
D.  C.,  Chicago,  Denver,  Salt  Lake  City  and  San 
Francisco, — until  January  i,  1893,  when  he  came 
to  Idaho,  locating  at  Pocatello,  and  since  that 
time  he  has  been  connected  with  the  Pocatello 
Tribune,  as  more  fully  described  in  our  sketch  of 
that  paper. 

Mr.  Ifft  is  a  Republican,  but  is  one  of  those 


who  have  always  been  firm  believers  in  silver  as 
advocated  by  the  people  of  the  west  generally, 
and  as  such  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  poli- 
tics of  the  state. 

William  Wallin  is  a  practical,  all-around  news- 
paper man,  who  came  to  Idaho  in  1893,  after  a 
service  extending  over  a  number  of  years  in  vari- 
ous capacities  on  papers  in  Ogden  and  Salt  Lake 

City. 

BENJAMIN   BENNETT. 

There  have  been  few  more  impressive  lessons 
of  the  value  of  faithfulness  in  small  things  than 
that  afforded  by  the  struggles  and  triumphs  of 
Benjamin  Bennett  of  Idaho  Falls,  Idaho,  who  is 
prominent  in  the  commercial  circles  of  Idaho 
and_  adjoining  states  and  whose  high  position  as 
a  merchant  and  as  a  citizen  has  been  gained  by 
honest  devotion  to  every  interest  entrusted  to 
him  as  boy  and  man. 

Benjamin  Bennett  was  born  in  the  north  of 
Wales,  January  i,  1846.  His  parents,  John  and 
Jane  (Roberts)  Bennett,  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1863,  bringing  with  them  their  ten 
children,  and  settled  at  Fillmore,  Millard  county, 
Utah.  In  his  native  land  the  elder  Bennett  had 
been  a  sea  captain  and  a  river  pilot.  He  became 
a  farmer  in  Utah,  where  he  died,  aged  forty-six, 
leaving  the  management  of  the  farm  and  the  care 
of  the  family  to  his  son  Benjamin,  then  a  lad  of 
sixteen,  but  one  already  used  to  work,  and  brave 
and  resolute  beyond  most  boys  of  his  age;  for 
he  was  the  eldest  son  and  his  help  had  been  re- 
quired several  years  earlier.  After  he  was  twelve 
years  old  he  had  no  opportunity  to  attend  school, 
and  he  may  be  truly  said  to  be  a  man  self-edu- 
cated and  self-made,  for  he  is  a  man  of  thorough 
and  comprehensive  mental  training  and  of  un- 
doubted standing.  His  mother  and  eight  of  her 
ten  children  are  living  and  she  has  attained  to 
the  advanced  age  of  seventy-six  years. 

Young  Bennett  tried  to  do  his  duty,  and  in  so 
doing  made  for  himself  a  good  reputation,  which 
helped  him  to  a  higher  business  plane.  He  was 
called  to  a  mercantile  position  and  acquitted 
himself  so  creditably  in  it  that  his  promotion  was 
only  a  matter  of  time.  In  1873  he  was  made 
manager  of  a  co-operative  store  at  Halden,  Mil- 
lard  county,  Utah.  He  left  that  position  to  go 
to  Frisco,  Beaver  county,  Utah,  where  he  be- 
came a  partner  in  a  mercantile  house.  Mean- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


493 


time  he  had  developed  religiously  until  he  was 
an  able  speaker  and  an  efficient  worker  in  the 
church  of  Latter  Day  Saints.  He  was  chosen 
one  of  the  elders  of  that  church  and  for  a  time 
relinquished  his  business  career  to  go  on  a  mis- 
sionary tour  through  England.  Two  years  were 
consumed  in  the  work  and  his  labors  were  crowned 
with  gratifying  success.  On  his  return  to  Utah 
he  was  made  manager  of  a  store  of  the  Beaver 
Co-operative  Mercantile  Institution,  at  Beaver, 
Beaver  county,  Utah.  Later  he  had  charge  of  a 
similar  establishment  at  Provo  City,  Utah,  and 
from  there  came  to  Idaho  Falls,  in  1894,  to  man- 
age the  large  mercantile  house  of  the  Zion  Co- 
operative Mercantile  Institution  at  that  place. 
It  may  be  edifying  to  note  in  this  connection 
that  this  extensive  business  house  is  one  of  the 
branches  of  a  large  corporation,  capitalized  at 
one  million  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  has  its  principal  offices  at  Salt  Lake 
City,  Utah,  and,  through  favorably  located 
branch  stores,  handles  every  kind  of  merchan- 
dise required  by  its  trade.  The  concern  owns 
and  operates  factories  in  which  some  classes  of 
goods  are  made,  and  is  enabled  to  buy  other 


merchandise  in  large  quantities,  to  be  shipped 
by  the  carload  to  some  of  its  important  branch 
stores,  including  that  at  Idaho  Falls.  Under  the 
management  of  Mr.  Bennett,  the  business  of  the 
store  has  increased  satisfactorily  and  extends 
into  the  country  at  least  fifty  miles  in  every  di- 
rection. Goods  are  sold  for  cash  or  on  credit  to 
approved  purchasers,  and  a  discount  is  made  in 
some  classes  of  goods  for  spot  cash,  which  is 
quite  an  inducement  to  thrifty  buyers. 

Mr.  Bennett  is  a  Democrat,  and  while  he  has 
never  been  particularly  active  politically,  he  has 
been  chosen  to  several  important  offices,  among 
them  that  of  mayor  of  Beaver,  Utah,  and  county 
commissioner  of  Beaver  county,  Utah.  Wher- 
ever he  has  lived,  his  influence  has  been  for  the 
public  good.  He  was  married  in  1869  to  Emma 
Jane  Holman,  daughter  of  James  S.  Holman,  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  who  was  a  pioneer  there 
in  1847.  They  have  had  twelve  children,  eleven 
of  whom  are  living,  all  members  of  the  church 
of  Latter  Day  Saints.  Three  of  the  sons  are  mis- 
sionaries for  the  church, — one  in  England,  one  in 
California  and  one  in  Oregon. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


BINGHAM   COUNTY. 


WHILE  not  one  of  the  most  populous  nor 
one  of  the  most  wealthy  counties  in  the 
state,  Bingham  county  does  not  by  any 
means  stand  at  the  foot  of  the  list. 

In  1891  the  Idaho  Register,  published  at 
Idaho  Falls,  in  giving  a  description  of  Bingham 
county,  stated  that  it  was  the  largest  county  in 
the  state.  Its  length  was  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-six miles,  its  width  ninety  miles,  and  it  con-_ 
tained  about  fourteen  thousand  square  miles,  or 
about  eight  million  acres  of  land;  it  extended 
from  the  Montana  line  on  the  north  to  within 
about  twenty-one  miles  of  the  Utah  line  on  the 
south.  By  an  act  approved  March  6,  1893,  a 
strip  of  about  fifty-six  miles  was  taken  from  the 
south  end  of  the  county  and  a  new  county 
formed,  called  Bannock  county,  and  by  an  act 
approved  March  4,  at  the  same  session  of  the 
legislature,  a  strip  of  about  seventy-five  miles 
was  taken  from  the  north  end,  forming  a  new 
county,  called  Fremont.  This  left  Bingham 
county  about  ninety  miles  east  and  west  and 
about  forty-five  miles  north  and  south. 

The  central  portion  of  the  county  is  traversed 
by  the  Snake  river,  and  what  is  known  as  the 
great  Snake  river  valley  composes  a  large  part 
of  the  central  portion  of  the  county.  It  is  a  very 
fertile  section  of  country.  The  most  extensive 
yield  of  wheat,  oats,  hay  and  potatoes  is  here 
shown.  Many  fields  of  wheat  average  fifty  bush- 
els to  the  acre,  machine  measure,  which  would 
usually  hold  out  to  nearly  fifty-five  bushels  by 
weight,  as  nearly  all  the  wheat  runs  sixty-two  to 
sixty-three  pounds  to  the  bushel.  Oats  at  ninety 
bushels  to  the  acre,  at  forty  pounds  to  the  bushel, 
is  not  an  unusual  yield,  in  fact  it  is  seldom  that 
oats  run  less  than  forty  pounds  to  the  bushel  and 
sometimes  as  high  as  forty-four. 

For  quantity  and  quality  of  production  there 
is  no  country  that  can  excel  and  few  can  compare 
with  this  valley.  All  kinds  of  vegetables  are 
raised,  such  as  squash,  pumpkins,  turnips,  beets 


and  tomatoes,  and  while  it  cannot  be  called  a 
corn  country  this  product  is  often  raised  and 
matured. 

About  two-thirds  of  the  area  of  the  county  is 
mountainous.  The  foot-hills,  valleys  and  can- 
yons furnish  most  excellent  feed  for  cattle  and 
horses,  and  during  many  seasons  they  are  (espe- 
cially horses)  allowed  to  roam  during  the  entire 
winter  to  hunt  their  own  feed,  and  they  usually 
come  out  in  the  spring  in  good  condition.  The 
snow  in  the  mountains  does  not  commence  to 
melt  until  June,  when  it  furnishes  an  abundance 
of  water  for  irrigating,  the  highest  stages  of  the 
river  being  usually  between  the  I5th  of  June  and 
loth  of  July. 

The  climate  is  mild,  not  exceedingly  hot  in  the 
summer,  the  nights  always  being  cool.  The 
winters  are  not  severe,  although  the  mercury 
often  indicates  from  fifteen  to  thirty  degrees  be- 
low zero.  The  atmosphere  being  dry,  the  cold  is 
not  felt  to  the  extent  the  same  degree  of  cold 
would  be  in  a  damper  climate. 

The  mountains  abound  in  game  such  as  elk, 
deer,  antelope,  moose,  bear  and  mountain  sheep, 
while  small  game,  such  as  sage  hens,  prairie 
chickens,  partridges,  grouse,  geese,  ducks  and 
rabbits,  are  found  in  the  valleys,  and  the  Snake 
river  and  its  tributaries  abound  in  trout. 

The  altitude  of  the  valley  is  from  forty-four  to 
forty-eight  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  or  about 
three  hundred  feet  above  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  in 
most  instances  the  great  storms  that  traverse  the 
continent,  especially  those  from  the  west,  pass 
either  to  the  north  or  south  of  this  section.  A 
blizzard  or  a  cyclone  is  unknown  in  this  valley. 
Whenever  the  weather  is  severely  cold  there  is 
hardly  a  breath  of  air  stirring.  It  is  a  beautiful 
sight  on  a  frosty  morning  when  the  sun  is  just 
beginning  to  cast  its  first  rays  over  the  moun- 
tain tops  to  see  the  smoke  from  the  scores  of 
chimneys  rising  straight  toward  the  sky  for  hun- 
dreds of  feet. 


494 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


495 


All  crops  are  raised  by  irrigation  and  a  failure 
on  account  of  drouth  or  excess  of  rainfall  is  not 
known.  Being  at  the  head  of  the  water  supply 
of  the  Snake  river,  there  is  no  danger  whatever 
of  the  supply  being  exhausted.  A  large  amount 
of  money  has  been  expended  in  this  vicinity  in 
building  irrigating  canals.  There  are  probably 
more  miles  of  completed  irrigating  canals  in  this 
valley,  and  the  greater  part  of  them  in  this 
county,  than  in  all  other  portions  of  the  state 
combined.  Xone  of  these  are  prospective  canals, 
but  each  and  every  one  of  them  is  completed 
and  supplying  water  to  those  having  land  under 
them,  and,  as  before  stated,  these  are  all  in  Bing- 
ham  county  or  its  immediate  vicinity. 

The  immense  canal  system  of  the  American 
Falls  Power  &  Canal  Company,  consists  of  a 
main  supply  canal  eighty  feet  wide  at  the  top 
and  sixty  feet  wide  at  the  bottom.  This  canal  is 
sixty-five  miles  long  and  one  hundred  miles  of 
laterals  convey  the  water  'to  the  lands  to  be  irri- 
gated. The  company  has  constructed  an  emer- 
gency reservoir  covering  three  hundred  acres  of 
land,  which  will  be  used  as  a  feeder  on  the  lower 
end  of  the  system.  The  canal  leaves  the  Snake 
river  about  nine  miles  north  of  Blackfoot,  on 
the  west  side,  and  takes  a  general  southwesterly 
course,  crossing  the  Oregon  Short  Line  at 
American  Falls.  The  system  will  water  about 
seventy-five  thousand  acres  of  the  finest  and 
most  fertile  lands  in  the  west,  and  as  the  canal 
has  a  carrying  capacity  sufficient  to  water  ninety- 
six  thousand  acres,  there  will  at  all  times  be  an 
abundance  of  water  and  the  farmer  who  secures 
water  under  this  system  will  be  fortunate.  The 
system  is  one  of  the  most  complete  and  exten- 
sive in  the  west,  and  one  of  the  chief  features  to 
recommend  it  to  a  man  looking  for  a  home  is  the 
wise  provision  made  by  the  company  to  the  ef- 
fect that  whenever  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  stock 
is  sold  the  control  and  management  of  the  com- 
pany passes  to  the  farmers,  thereby  giving  each 
man  entitled  to  water  from  the  canal  a  voice  in 
the  management  of  the  company. 

The  Snake  river  rises  in  the  Yellowstone  Na- 
tional Park,  among  the  snow-capped  peaks  of 
the  Teton  mountains,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  rivers  on  the  American  continent.  It 
affords  an  abundance  of  water  at  all  times  to  irri- 
gate the  immense  tracts  of  land  lying  along  its 


course,  and  at  the  same  time  would  furnish 
power  enough  to  turn  the  wheels  of  every  manu- 
facturing plant  in  the  Union.  The  land  under 
this  canal  can  be  obtained  at  a  nominal  cost,  and 
crops  of  all  kinds  can  be  raised  at  once.  This 
makes  it  most  desirable  for  the  poor  man  or  man 
with  moderate  means,  as  he  can  make  a  good 
living  and  at  the  same  time  meet  his  payments 
on  the  land.  He  has  the  best  of  markets  and  all 
the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  society, 
schools  and  churches,  as  towns  are  being  estab- 
lished every  few  miles  along  the  canal. 

The  Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad  passes 
through  the  county  north  and  south,  crossing 
the  Snake  river  at  Idaho  Falls. 

The  principal  towns  of  the  county  are :  Idaho 
Falls,  Blackfoot  (which  is  the  county  seat  and 
location  of  the  United  States  land-office),  Basalt, 
Shelly,  lona;  with  the  settlements  of  Riverside, 
New  Sweden,  Tilden,  Bryan,  Presto,  Leorin, 
Taylor,  Ammon,  Fairview,  Gray,  Coltman,  Rosa, 
Goshen  and  Prospect. 

The  population  of  the  county  is  about  eight 
thousand. 

In  regard  to  schools  Bingham  county  is  not 
behind  any  of  her  sister  counties,  and  she  has 
reason  to  be  proud  of  her  facilities  in  this  line. 
There  are  in  the  county  thirty-four  districts  and 
thirty-six  school-houses,  the  total  value  of  build- 
ings and  other  property  aggregating  nearly 
forty-four  thousand  dollars. 

BLACKFOOT. 

The  attractive  village  of  Blackfoot  is  located 
on  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad,  distant  to 
the  north  twenty-four  miles  from  Pocatello  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  miles  from  Ogden, 
Utah;  while  the  city  of  Butte,  Montana,  is  two 
hundred  and  thirty-nine  miles  northward. 

Its  population  is  one  thousand,  grown  thus 
from  its  birth  in  1880,  but  a  conservative  forecast 
of  its  population  five  years  hence  is  two  thou- 
sand. It  is  the  capital  of  Bingham  county,  and 
was  formerly  the  mother  county  seat  of  this, 
Bannock  and  Fremont  counties,  before  their 
segregation,  and  a  twenty-three  thousand  dollar 
court-house  is  here.  It  is  the  home  of  the  State 
Insane  Asylum  since  1885,  in  whose  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand  dollar  structure 
some  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  unfortunates 


496 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


are  kindly  kept  captive.  The  original  asylum 
was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1887,  only  to  be  replaced 
by  a  much  better  one.  Since  1887  the  United 
States  land-office  has  been  located  here,  and  the 
following  facts  hint  the  magnitude  of  its  transac- 
tions and  its  vital  import  to  Blackfoot:  In  May, 
1898,  there  were  of  homestead  entries  84,  with  an 
acreage  of  12,766;  June,  95  entries,  acreage 
13,996;  July,  122  entries,  acreage  18,330.  In  the 
corresponding  period  of  homestead  proofs  there 
were  in  May,  1898,  36,  acreage  5,475;  June,  22» 
acreage  3,776;  July,  35,  acreage  5,404. 

Industrially  there  are  here:  A  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollar  roller  flouring  mill,  fifty  barrels  daily 
capacity,  and  as  an  adjunct  a  five  thousand  dol- 
lar elevator  with  a  storage  capacity  of  thirty 
thousand  bushels;  a  creamery  is  completed,  which 
will  give  a  high  cash  market  price  for  milk,  but- 
ter and  cheese;  the  town  has  one  hundred  busi- 
ness and  professional  representatives,  and  its 
yearly  trade  transactions  are  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Its  trade  territory  is 
twelve  miles  north  and  south  and  one  hundred 
and  eighty  miles  west,  beyond  even  the  great 
Custer  county  mining  district,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  distant,  whose  gold,  silver,  lead  and 
copper  propositions  sometimes  employ  four 
thousand  men,  supplies  for  all  of  whom  are 
bought  in  Blackfoot,  a  daily  stage  line 
running  between  here  and  Challis,  the  center  of 
the  famous  camps.  A  tri-weekly  stage  also  runs 
from  here  to  Tilden,  thirty-five  miles  southwest. 
A  goodly  quota  of  trade  is  likewise  drawn  from 
the  Indian  industrial  school,  nine  miles  east- 
ward, where  one  hundred  and  fifty  students  are 
under  the  supervision  of  thirty  government  em- 
ployes. 

The  immediate  environing  country  is  agri- 
cultural, prodigal  in  its  products,  though  as 
yet  but  in  the  infancy  of  its  development  and 
utility. 

Blackfoot  maintains  an  advanced  position  in 
regard  to  educational  and  religious  advantages. 
Its  attractive  brick  school-house  was  erected  at 
a  cost  of  twelve  thousand  dollars  and  is  an  endur- 
ing monument  to  the  zeal  of  the  citizens  for  the 
mental  uplifting  of  the  rising  generations.  Of 
the  religious  societies  the  Methodists,  Baptists 
and  Episcopalians  have  attractive  houses  of  wor-' 
ship  here,  and  the  Mormon  church  also  has  an 


organization  here.  The  various  fraternal  or- 
ganizations are  well  represented  and  are  in  flour- 
ishing condition. 

The  business  portion  of  Blackfoot  is  of  attrac- 
tive brick  and  stone  structures,  the  stone  being 
quarried  near  by.  The  town  is  tented  in  trees, 
hence  is  called  "Grove  City."  The  great  Snake 
river  is  but  a  mile  to  the  west,  and  the  largest 
canal  in  Idaho  is  near  by,  supplemented  by  four 
others.  Both  business  and  resident  lots  are 
25x125  feet;  the  former  sell  at  from  two  hundred 
to  four  hundred  dollars;  the  latter  at  from 
twenty-five  to  seventy-five  dollars.  Blackfoot's 
altitude  is  four  thousand  six  hundred  feet,  and 
one  can  see  with  a  nude  eye  seventy-five  miles  to 
the  west.  Blackfoot  is  the  seat  of  government 
of  Bingham  county,  with  a  population  of  one 
thousand  wide-awake,  prosperous,  happy  and 
contented  people,  surrounded  by  the  comforts  of 
life.  The  history  of  Blackfoot  has  been  one  of 
steady  growth  and  development.  Its  streets  are 
dotted  with  cozy  cottages  and  handsome  homes, 
which  form  the  border  for  substantial  brick  and 
stone  business  blocks,  and  it  has  the  general  ap- 
pearance of  solidity  and  commercial  activity. 
Vigorous  and  strong,  its  future  growth  is  as- 
sured. The  city  has  a  good  system  of  water- 
works and  a  well  organized  fire  department, 
which  affords  protection  to  life  and  property. 

IDAHO   FALLS. 

Idaho  Falls  is  an  old  and  a  new  town.  Away 
back  in  1865,  when  the  Indians  had  possession 
of  nearly  all  of  this  country,  parties  who  had 
gone  up  the  Missouri  river  and  discovered  mines 
in  Montana,  the  trail  from  these  mining  camps 
to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  to  connect  with  the  great 
overland  stage  line  to  California,  was  opened 
through  this  section  and  Snake  river  was  crossed 
here.  A  bridge  was  built,  and  in  order  to  get 
required  bolts,  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  was 
paid  for  an  old  freight  wagon,  for  the  iron  it 
contained. 

When  the  Union  Pacific  and  Central  Pacific 
Railroads  were  completed,  a  few  years  later, 
there  was  considerable  travel  between  Corinne, 
about  thirty  miles  west  of  Ogden,  and  Montana 
points.  This  place  was  then  known  as  Taylor's 
bridge.  It  was  afterward  changed  to  Eagle 
Rock,  on  account  of  a  large  rock  in  the  river,  a 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


497 


short  distance  above  the  present  town,  where 
eagles  built  their  nests. 

When  the  Utah  Northern  Railroad  was  com- 
pleted, in  1 88 1,  this  was  made  a  division  and  the 
machine  and  car  shops  were  located  here.  In 
1882  and  1883  the  town  grew  rapidly,  and  in 
1885  the  population  was  fully  fifteen  hundred, 
and  it  was  one  of  the  best  towns  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  the  territory. 

In  1887,  however,  the  railroad  company  re- 
moved the  shops  to  Pocatello,  and  at  least  sixty 
other  buildings,  mostly  dwellings,  were  removed, 
and  the  population  of  the  town  was  greatly  de- 
creased, leaving  it  not  to  exceed  three  hundred. 

With  the  completion  of  some  of  the  irrigation 
canals,  however,  the  county  began  to  settle  up 
and  the  town  began  to  grow.  In  1890  the  name 
was  changed  to  Idaho  Falls,  and  a  new  impetus 
given  it.  It  was  advertised  throughout  the  east, 
until  to-day  it  is  one  of  the  best  business  points 
in  southern  Idaho,  and  we  doubt  if  there  is  an- 
other town  in  the  state  of  equal  population  that 
can  show  the  volume  of  business  that  Idaho 
Falls  can. 

Its  growth  has  been  substantial.  Fine  brick 
or  stone  buildings  have  taken  the  place  of 
shacks.  The  dwellings  are  more  commodious 
and  pretentious.  The  population  is  about  one 
thousand  four  hundred  and  is  steadily  increasing. 

Idaho  Falls  is  situated  on  the  east  bank  of 
Snake  river,  where  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Rail- 
road crosses  on  a  substantial  iron  bridge.  There 
is  also  a  first-class  iron  wagon-bridge.  At  this 
point  there  is  a  succession  of  rapids  in  the  river, 
the  fall  being  twenty-two  feet  in  a  little  over  a 
quarter  of  a  mile,  making  one  of  the  grandest 
water  powers  in  the  Rocky  mountain  region. 
Competent  engineers  have  measured  and  placed 
it  at  twenty-six,  thousand  horse-power. 

In  respect  to  schools  and  churches  Idaho  Falls 
is  well  supplied.  The  first  society  to  build  a 
church  was  the  Baptist,  who  have  a  commodious 
building  that  will  seat  about  two  hundred  per- 
sons comfortably.  The  society  also  has  a  fine 
parsonage.  The  Presbyterians  were  the  next  to 
build,  but  eventually  they  found  they  were  short 
of  room,  and  built  a  large  addition  for  a  Sunday- 
school  room,  which  is  shut  off  from  the  main 
room  by  folding  doors. 

The  Mormons  built  a  small  church   several 


years  ago,  but  it  was  found  entirely  inadequate 
to  their  needs,  and  in  1896  they  erected  a  large 
stone  building  capable  of  seating  four  hundred. 

The  Methodist  society  started  to  build  in  1895, 
but  many  things  retarded  the  completion  of  the 
building,  which  is  the  finest  church  edifice  in  the 
town.  The  Episcopal  society  has  been  organ- 
ized for  some  time  and  in  1896  a  handsome  brick 
church  was  completed  except  seating.  The  Cath- 
olic society  has  been  organized  for  some  time, 
and  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  where  there  is  a 
large  Swedish  population,  a  fine  church  was  built 
in  1895.  Services  are  held  every  Sunday. 

The  public  schools  of  Idaho  Falls  are  second 
to  none  in  the  state.  A  large  two-story  brick 
building  stands  in  the  center  of  a  block  and  pre- 
sents a  commanding  view.  The  various  secret 
societies  are  well  represented  in  the  village. 

Idaho  Falls  is  incorporated  as  a  village.  The 
affairs  are  conducted  by  a  board  of  five  trustees, 
elected  every  year  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  April. 

There  are  probably  few  towns  of  the  size  that 
can  boast  of  as  good  a  system  of  water-works, 
which  supplies  a  large  portion  of  the  town  with 
fine  water  from  Snake  river.  There  are  about 
three  thousand  feet  of  four-inch  mains,  with  a 
large  amount  of  one-and-a-half-inch  connections 
and  four  large  hydrants  for  fire  purposes.  The 
power  is  supplied  by  steam  and  a  wind-mill. 
There  is  also  a  chemical  engine,  which  is  always 
kept  ready  for  use,  but  Idaho  Falls  has  been  very 
fortunate  regarding  fires.  Only  two  fires,  where 
there  has  been  any  considerable  loss,  have  oc- 
curred. 

The  United  States  weather  bureau  is  located 
here.  Reports  are  received  from  all  over  the 
state  during  the  summer  months  and  a  regular 
monthly  bulletin  published.  Reports  of  the 
weather  forecasts  are  received  and  sent  out  every 
day. 

The  following  pen  picture  was  written  by  a 
citizen  of  Butte  after  he  had  passed  a  few  days  in 
Idaho  Falls: 

"Standing  on  the  terraced  foothills  of  the  Teton 
range,  seven  miles  east  of  Idaho  Falls,  Idaho,  the 
wondering  eye  is  met  by  a  scene  unsurpassed  in 
beauty  and  grandeur.  The  towering  mountains 
are  behind  you,  rising  high  above  the  foothills, 
high  above  the  timber  line,  until  their  hoary 
peaks  are  bathed  in  lofty  regions  of  perpetual 


498 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


snow.  Standing  thus,  you  have  laid  out  before 
you  the  rich  and  fertile  valley  of  the  Snake  river, 
with  her  three  million  acres  of  farming  lands, 
like  a  great  map.  The  solemn  magnificence  of 
mighty  crags  and  peaks  is  above  you,  while  the 
sound  of  rushing  torrents  from  many  waterfalls 
is  sweet  music  to  your  ears.  Numerous  rivu- 
lets and  streams  of  water,  all  carrying  the  wealth 
of  Ophir  in  their  pure  and  limpid  depths,  wend 
their  way  to  the  verdant  plain  below,  and  in  the 


western  distance,  some  seven  miles  away,  there 
stands  in  all  her  newness,  beauty  and  promise, 
Idaho  Falls,  the  'Orient  of  the  West,'  upon  the 
banks  of  the  mighty  Snake  river,  containing 
oceans  of  water,  and  beyond  to  the  westward, 
across  the  broad  and  level  valley,  the  purple 
mountains  rise  again  in  majesty  and  grandeur, 
while  the  afterglow  of  the  sun's  reflection  turns 
the  waters  of  the  irrigating  canals  throughout 
the  valley  into  liquid  gold." 


LEWIS  PUBLISHING  CD  CSO 


*-v 


0-»-v-^ 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


JOHN   LEMP. 

TUT  ORE  than  a  third  of  a  century  has  passed 
7Y\       since  John  Lemp  came  to  Idaho,  and 

•*•  *•  throughout  this  long  period  he  has 
been  most  actively  connected  with  the  business 
interests  of  Boise.  His  labors  have  contributed 
largely  to  its  growth  and  upbuilding,  and  its 
commercial  enterprise  is  due  in  no  small  measure 
to  his  investment  in  industries  and  business  con- 
cerns which  have  contributed  materially  to  its 
prosperity.  He  is  one  of  the  highly  esteemed 
residents  of  the  city,  whose  history  would  be  in- 
complete without  the  record  of  his  life. 

A  native  of  Germany,  John  Lemp  was  born 
April  21,  1838,  and  belongs  to  an  old  family  of 
the  Fatherland.  There  he  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated. In  1852  he  came  to  the  United  States, 
landing  at  New  York,  whence  he  made  his  way 
to  Louisville,  Kentucky,  where  he  was  principally 
engaged  in  clerking  until  1850,  when  he  removed 
to  Colorado.  There  he  owned  a  claim  and  was 
for  some  time  engaged  in  mining,  but  not  meet- 
ing with  the  success  he  anticipated  he  abandoned 
the  claim  and  came  to  Idaho  in  1863.  The  city 
of  Boise  was  just  springing  into  existence.  The 
post  had  been  located  there,  and  a  few  residences 
and  business  houses  had  been  erected,  but  its 
development  was  a  work  of  the  future  in  which 
Mr.  Lemp  was  to  bear  an  active  part.  He  first 
went  to  Idaho  City,  in  the  Boise  basin,  then  the 
center  of  mining  excitement,  but  after  a  short 
time  returned  to  Boise,  where  he  has  since  re- 
sided. Here  he  began  the  brewing  business  on  a 
small  scale,  but  by  good  management  and  in  pro- 
portion to  the  growth  of  the  city  his  trade  has 
grown  and  for  many  years  the  manufacture  of 
beer  in  this  city  was  profitable.  In  1864  he 
erected  the  brewery,  which  he  still  conducts,  but 
being  a  man  of  resourceful  business  ability  his 
efforts  have  by  no  means  been  confined  to  one 
line  of  endeavor.  Many  of  the  fine  buildings  of 
the  city  stand  as  monuments  to  his  enterprising 


and  progressive  spirit.  He  erected  the  Capital 
Hotel,  a  fine  building  containing  one  hundred 
and  twenty-three  rooms  and  having  a  frontage 
on  Main  street  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet.  There  are  three  stories  and  a  basement,  and 
the  entire  building  is  supplied  with  modern  acces- 
sories and  conveniences,  constituting  it  one  of 
the  best  hotel  buildings  in  the  state.  Mr.  Lemp 
also  erected  the  Shainewalt  block,  thirty-six  by 
one  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  together  with  many 
other  buildings.  In  fact,  he  has  been  one  of  the 
most  extensive  builders  in  the  city.  He  was, 
for  years,  a  stockholder  and  director  of  the  First 
National  Bank,  one  of  the  leading  and  reliable 
financial  institutions  in  the  state;  is  a  stockholder 
of  the  Boise  Electric  Railway  Company,  and  a 
stockholder  in  the  Hot  and  Cold  Water  Com- 
pany. He  has  probably  done  as  much  as  any 
other  one  individual  toward  advancing  the  varied 
interests  of  the  city  and  is  numbered  among  its 
most  liberal  and  progressive  men. 

In  1866  Mr.  Lemp  was  married  to  Miss  Cath- 
arine Kohlhept,  who  was  born  in  Germany,  but 
was  reared  in  this  country.  To  them  have  been 
born  the  following  children,  namely:  John  Emil. 
who  died  in  1895;  George  William,  who  is  man- 
aging his  father's  farm;  Elizabeth,  wife  of  W.  B. 
Conner;  Augusta,  wife  of  Roderick  Grant;  Ida 
and  Ada,  twins,  the  latter  now  the  wife  of  H. 
Hunt;  William,  who  died  in  1881;  Albert,  who 
is  connected  with  his  father  in  the  management 
of  the  hotel  and  dry-goods  business;  Edward, 
Herbert  and  Bernard,  who  are  attending  school ; 
and  Marie,  who  died  in  1896,  at  the  age  of  four 
years.  The  family  is  one  of  prominence  in  the 
community,  and  the  members  of  the  household 
occupy  enviable  positions  in  social  circles. 

Mr.  Lemp  has  been  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  for  many  years,  having  been  made  a 
Master  Mason  in  Shoshone  Lodgfe,  No.  3,  which 
has  since  been  consolidated  with  Boise  Lodge, 
No.  2,  and  of  which  he  is  a  past  master.  He  also 


499 


500 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


belongs  to  the  chapter,  commandery  and  the 
Mystic  Shrine.  He  has  also  been  a  member  of 
the  Odd  Fellows  society  since  1868,  has  filled  all 
of  its  chairs,  was  noble  grand,  and  for  thirteen 
years  served  as  its  grand  treasurer.  The  Ancient 
Order  of  United  Workmen  likewise  numbers  him 
among  its  valued  representatives.  In  politics  Mr. 
Lemp  has  always  been  a  stanch  Republican  and 
an  ardent  worker  in  the  ranks  of  the  party.  In 
1874  he  was  elected  by  his  fellow  townsmen 
mayor  of  Boise,  and  for  about  twenty  years  he 
has  been  a  member  of  the  city  council.  He  has 
ever  used  his  official  prerogatives  to  advance  the 
welfare  of  Boise,  to  aid  in  its  improvement  and 
promote  its  best  interests.  At  all  times  he  is 
possessed  of  that  progressive  spirit  which  seeks 
not  his  own  good  alone,  but  is  alive  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  city,  county  and  state,  and  his  place 
in  Boise  would  be  difficult  to  fill. 

CHARLES   F.    BROWN. 

Charles  Francis  Brown  is  the  owner  of  a  fine 
ranch  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  on  Camas 
prairie,  near  Grangeville,  where,  in  addition  to 
farming  and  stock-raising,  he  owns  and  oper- 
ates a  sawmill,  manufacturing  a  large  amount  of 
lumber.  His  well  directed  efforts  are  bringing  to 
him  a  deserved  success,  and  he  is  accounted  one 
of  the  substantial  citizens  of  the  community.  He 
claims  Wisconsin  as  the  state  of  his  nativity,  his 
birth  having  occurred  in  Monroe,  Green  county, 
on  the  1 5th  of  November,  1846.  His  parents 
were  William  G.  and  Clarissa  (Hartley)  Brown, 
the  former  a  native  of  Missouri,  and  the  latter  of 
Ohio.  They  were  married  in  Wisconsin  and 
were  numbered  among  the  pioneer  settlers  of  that 
state.  In  1849  the  father  crossed  the  plains  to 
California,  attracted  by  the  then  recent  discov- 
eries of  gold,  and  in  his  mining  ventures  met  with 
success.  He  afterward  returned  to  the  east, 
but  later  again  went  to  the  Golden  state.  He 
was  a  man  of  ability  and  influence  and  held  a 
number  of  public  positions  of  honor  and  trust. 
He  departed  this  life  in  1898,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three  years,  and  his  wife  passed  away  in  the 
spring  of  1899,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two  years. 
They  were  the  parents  of  nine  children,  four  of 
whom  are  now  living. 

Charles  F.  Brown,  the  eighth  of  the  family, 
was  only  a  small  boy  when  he  accompanied  his 


parents  to  California.  He  was  educated  in  the 
public  school  at  Dutch  Flat,  that  state,  and  after- 
ward engaged  in  mining.  When  a  young  man, 
however,  he  came  to  Camas  prairie  where  he 
purchased  eighty  acres  of  land,  to  which  he  has 
since  added  until  he  now  has  a  valuable  tract 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres.  He  has  erected 
thereon  a  desirable  residence  and  has  one  of  the 
most  attractive  and  beautiful  ranches  in  his  sec- 
tion of  the  county.  His  land  is  mostly  planted 
to  timothy  hay  for  the  stock,  and  in  his  stock 
business  he  is  meeting  with  signal  success.  Since 
coming  to  Idaho  he  has  crossed  his  cattle  until 
now  the  Hereford  blood  prevails.  In  1892  he 
purchased  his  sawmill  property.  He  has  here  a 
good  water-power  and  a  mill  which  turns  out 
seven  thousand  feet  of  lumber  daily.  He  has  a 
large  home  demand  for  all  the  lumber  he  can 
manufacture,  and  this  branch  of  his  business 
therefore  adds  materially  to  his  income. 

In  1866  Mr.  Brown  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  Lumis,  and  to  them  have  been  born 
four  children:  William  G.,  who  now  assists  his 
father  in  the  mill;  Jennie,  wife  of 'Harry  Mark- 
ham,  a  resident  of  Grangeville;  Ada,  wife  of 
Charles  Keller,  whose  home  is  in  Cadiz,  Wiscon- 
sin; and  Udora,  now  deceased.  The  mother  of 
this  family  was  called  to  her  final  rest  in  1873. 
She  was  a  most  faithful  wife  and  a  loving  and  in- 
dulgent mother  and  her  loss  was  deeply  felt  by 
her  family  and  many  friends.  Four  years  later, 
in  1877,  Mr.  Brown  wedded  Miss  Almira  Tuck, 
a  native  of  Maine,  and  they  now  occupy  their 
pleasant  home  on  the  ranch. 

Mr.  Brown  has  always  been  a  loyal  and  de- 
voted citizen  of  the  republic,  and  when  only 
seventeen  years  of  age  gave  evidence  of  his  patri- 
otic spirit  by  enlisting,  in  1864.  in  the  Union 
army  as  a  member  of  Company  D,  Seventh  Cali- 
fornia Infantry.  The  regiment  expected  to  be 
sent  to  the  south,  but  was  put  on  the  border  line 
between  Mexico  and  Arizona  in  order  to  keep 
the  Indians  in  subjection.  Thus  our  subject  par- 
ticipated in  several  Indian  skirmishes.  He  re- 
mained in  the  army  until  he  received  an  honor- 
able discharge,  in  May,  1866.  He  is  a  valued 
member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and 
in  politics  has  been  a  stalwart  Republican  since 
attaining  his  majority.  His  time  and  attention 
are  closely  given  to  his  business  interests,  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


501 


his  industry,  enterprise  and  capable  management 
are  the  important  elements  in  his  success. 

BENJAMIN   F.   MORRIS. 

The  prominent  position  which  Benjamin  F. 
Morris  occupies  in  business  circles  is  indicated 
by  the  honor  that  was  conferred  upon  him  by 
his  election  to  the  presidency  of  the  Commercial 
Club,  of  Lewiston.  He  is  a  man  of  marked  busi- 
ness and  executive  ability,  of  sterling  worth  and 
of  great  popularity,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  valued  citizens  of  Lewiston.  A  native  of 
Missouri,  he  was  born  in  1843,  °f  English  ances- 
try. The  family  was  founded  in  America  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  ago,  and  from  Xew  York,  where 
the  first  settlement  was  made,  representatives  of 
the  name  removed  to  Virginia,  and  later  to  Ken- 
tucky. One  of  the  family  signed  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  others  valiantly  fought  for 
the  cause  of  freedom  in  the  Revolutionary  war. 
Benjamin  Morris,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  in  Virginia,  and  married  Miss  Amanda  J. 
Hamilton,  a  native  of  West  Virginia.  He  was  a 
farmer  and  stock-raiser  by  occupation,  and  died 
of  cholera,  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  age, 
while  his  widow,  long  surviving  him,  lived  to  be 
seventy-seven  years  of  age.  They  had  eight 
children,  of  whom  seven  are  yet  living. 

Mr.  Morris  of  this  review  acquired  his  educa- 
tion in  his  native  state  and  in  Oregon.  He 
crossed  the  plains  to  California  in  1863,  driving  a 
mule  team  to  Salt  Lake  City  and  riding  a  mule 
the  rest  of  the  way.  He  remained  in  the  Golden 
state  for  a  short  time,  but  in  1864  went  by  water 
to  Oregon,  where  he  took  pack  horses  from  The 
Dalles  to  Warrens.  In  the  latter  place  he  also 
engaged  in  mining  and  took  an  active  part  in 
public  affairs,  serving  for  ten  years  as  auditor 
and  recorder  and  clerk  of  the  district  court.  He 
filled  that  position  for  fifteen  years,  after  which 
he  was  register  of  the  land  office  for  four  years, 
and  is  now  land  'attorney.  He  is  engaged  in  the 
real-estate  and  insurance  business,  and  is  a  stock  • 
holder  in  the  Lewiston  Mercantile  Company,  do- 
ing a  large  wholesale  business,  and  has  large 
tracts  of  land  in  Idaho  county.  He  is  a  man  of 
sound  judgment,  keen  discrimination  and  un- 
abating  energy,  and  his  well  directed  efforts  have 
crowned  with  prosperity  the  various  enterprises 
with  which  he  is  connected.  He  also  has  the 


honor  of  being  president  of  the  Commercial  Club, 
of  Lewiston,  and  is  justly  popular  in  business  and 
social  circles. 

In  1881  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Morris  and  Miss  Harriet  F.  Graham,  and  their 
union  has  been  blessed  with  three  children:  John 
Roy,  William  Graham  and  Zella  A.  They  have 
in  Lewiston  a  very  attractive  home,  which  was 
built  by  Mr.  Morris,  and  the  members  of  the 
household  occupy  enviable  positions  in  social  cir- 
cles and  enjoy  the  friendship  of  many  of  Lewis- 
ton's  best  people. 

In  politics  Mr.  Morris  has  been  a  lifelong  Dem- 
ocrat, unswerving  in  his  allegiance  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  party.  He  is  aiso  a  very  prominent 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  in  which  he 
has  taken  all  the  degrees  of  the  York  rite  and 
has  attained  the  thirtieth  degree  in  the  Scottish 
rite.  He  is  a  past  master  and  deputy  grand  mas- 
ter of  the  state  of  Idaho,  and  is  not  only  eminent 
in  that  organization,  but  bv  his  upright  life  has 
won  a  place  among  the  representative  men  of 
northern  Idaho. 

WILLIAM  H.   B.   CROW. 

William  Henrv  Byron  Crow  -was  born  in 
Greene  county,  Illinois,  June  16,  1852,  and  came 
of  English  ancestors  who  emigrated  to  America 
before  the  Revolution.  His  paternal  great- 
grandfather was  born  at  Bennineton,  Vermont,  in 
1754,  and  with  his  son,  Mr.  Crow  s  grandfather, 
went  to  Ohio  in  1818,  where  the  elder  Crow  died 
in  1844,  aged  ninety  years.  Stephen  Crow,  father 
of  William  H.  B.  Crow,  was  born  in  New  York 
in  1816,  and  was  two  years  old  when  the  family 
removed  to  Ohio.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Prater,  a  native  of  Indiana,  born  in  1825,  who 
was  brought  up  and  educated  at  Dowagiac, 
Michigan,  where  her  father  was  a  prominent 
pioneer  settler.  Stephen  Crow  and  his  wife  are 
both  living,  he  being  eighty-three  years  old,  she 
seventy-four..  They  are  Baptists  and  have  been 
almost  literally  pillars  of  the  church,  Mr.  Crow 
having  been  one  of  its  deacons  for  many  years. 
They  had  ten  children,  nine  of  whom  are 
yet  living.  William  Henry  Byron  Crow,  their 
fifth  child,  was  educated  in  district  schools  in 
Iowa,  in  the  Missouri  Valley  (Iowa)  high  school 
and  at  Lincoln  University,  and  he  was  a  pro- 
fessional teacher  in  Iowa  and  eastern  Nebraska 


502 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


during  the  years  from   1870  to   1880.     A  close 
student,  a  logical  thinker  and  conclusive  reasoner, 
he  gained  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful educators  in  that  part  of  the  country.    In 
1880  he  came  to  Idaho  Falls  and  filed  on  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  and  a  desert 
claim,  both  adjoining  the  Idaho  Falls  town  plat 
on  the  east,  which  he  subsequently  platted  and 
sold  and  which  tract  has  come  to  be  known  as 
the  Crow  Addition  to  Idaho  Falls.    Not  finding 
an    opening    in    his    accustomed    vocation,    he 
found  employment  in  the  erection  of  the  railroad 
shops,  and  as  foreman  for  the  railroad  company 
directed  their  removal.    From  the  day  of  his  ad- 
vent in  the  town  he  has  been  active  in  the  up- 
building of  all  its  important  interests.     He  was 
the  organizer   of  the   Idaho   Falls  Waterworks 
Company,  which  supplies  water  to  the  town  from 
Snake  river,  and  is  now  its  sole  owner.     He  is 
the  owner  also  of  considerable  valuable  ranch 
property  and  of  other  town  property,  including 
a  fine  home.     His  career  as  a  teacher  naturally 
inclined   him   to  concern   himself  -in   the   public 
schools  of  Idaho  Falls,  and  he  has  been  a  tireless 
and  very  efficient  promoter  of  their  best  inter- 
ests.   Since  the  organization  of  the  school  board 
of  the  town  he  has  been  almost  continuously  one 
of  its  members.    He  helped  to  incorporate  Idaho 
Falls  and  was  a  member  of  the  first  board  of 
trustees.     He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Bingham  County  Agricultural  Fair  Association 
and  was  influential  in  securing  the  location  of  the 
state  experimental  station  at  Idaho  Falls.    He  is 
a  charter  member  of  Bingham  Lodge,  No.   14, 
Independent   Order  of   Odd   Fellows,    and   had 
much  to  do  with  bringing  about  the  building  of 
the  Odd  Fellows'  Orphans'  Home,  having  been 
a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  that  had  the 
supervision  of  its  erection  at  Idaho  Falls.    He  is 
an  active  Republican  and  serves  his  party  unos- 
tentatiously, as  he  does  everything  else,  but  al- 
ways effectively.    In  1888  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  last  Idaho  territorial  legislature.     He 
was  a  useful  legislator,  especially  active  in  the 
irrigation  legislation,  and  represented  Bingham 
county  before  the  senatorial  committee  on  irri- 
gation in  1890. 

Mr.  Crow  married,  in  1882,  Miss  Sarah  E. 
Murphy,  a  native  of  McHenry  county,  Illinois. 
Mrs.  Crow  is  an  active  and  useful  member  of 


the  Methodist  church,  and  Mr.  Crow,  while  not 
one  of  its  communicants,  is  one  of  its  ardent  and 
generous  supporters.  Mrs.  Crow  possesses 
much  musical  talent,  which  has  been  cultivated 
most  generously,  and  she  is  an  invaluable  help  in 
the  musical  department  of  the  church  work.  No 
children  have  been  born  to  bless  their  union  and 
they  have  an  adopted  daughter,  Emma  Owena 
Crow,  who  has  been  to  them  as  their  own  child 
since  she  was  two  weeks  old. 

JUDGE  CHARLES  F.   MOLDEN. 

Young  shoulders  that  bend  beneath  unnatural 
responsibilities  which  may  not  be  laid  aside  be- 
come strong  shoulders,  and  young  brains  that 
must  plan  and  direct  the  work  of  bread-winning 
become  active  and  practical,  and  the  boy  who 
makes  success  from  ruin,  as  manv  a  boy  has  done, 
is  pretty  apt  to  develop  into  a  successful  man  of 
affairs.  Such  a  boy  was  Charles  F.  Molden,  and 
such  a  man  is  this  boy  grown  to  maturity,  who 
is  the  present  judge  of  probate  of  Blackfoot, 
Bingham  county,  Idaho. 

Judge  Molden  was  born  in  Germany,  March  4, 
1862,  a  son  of  Fredrick  and  Bertha  (Febing) 
Molden,  both  of  whom  descended  from  old  Ger- 
man families.  In  1872  when  the  future  Judge 
Molden  was  only  ten  years  old,  .Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Molden  came  with  their  family  of  seven  sons  to 
the  United  States  and  located  at  Black  River 
Falls,  Wisconsin.  Mr.  Molden  had  been  steward 
of  a  large  estate  in  his  native  land  and  he  became 
a  farmer  in  the  New  World.  In  the  spring  of 
1873,  scarcely  a  year  after  his  settlement  in  Wis- 
consin, he  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight  years. 
His  wife  survived  him,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
sixty-nine  years,  in  1886.  It  was  now  that  Judge 
Molden  was  brought  face  to  face  with  the  stern- 
est necessity  of  his  life.  His  mother  and  his 
younger  brothers  must  be  provided  for,  and  the 
task  devolved  largely  on  him.  He  sold  fish  and 
berries  and  did  anything  that  was  honest  that  any 
one  would  pay  him  for  doing.  He  proved  him- 
self a  good  boy,  willing  to  work,  and  as  time 
passed  his  opportunities  improved.  He  attended 
school  when  he  could,  read  and  studied  in  his 
spare  moments  and  managed  to  educate  him- 
self to  an  extent,  and  he  kept  the  wolf  from  the 
door  for  those  who  were  dependent  upon  him. 
Some  of  the  younger  boys  came  to  his  assistance 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


503 


later,  and  by  hard  effort  and  skillful  management 
he  not  only  supported  the  family,  but  paid  for 
the  farm,  which  he  operated  for  years,  and  which 
he  still  owns. 

In  1894  Mr.  Molden  came  to  Idaho  and  lo- 
cated on  a  ranch  three  miles  west  of  Blackfoot, 
where  he  has  a  fine  home  and  raises  fruit  and 
cattle.  He  also  deals  in  cattle  quite  extensively, 
buying  and  shipping  them  to  eastern  markets. 

Judge  Molden  has,  as  a  Democrat,  interested 
himself  actively  and  intelligently  in  politics.  He 
was  chairman  of  the  Democratic  county  conven- 
tion of  1898,  and  received  the  Democratic  nomi- 
nation for  the  office  of  judge  of  probate.  Later 
there  was  a  fusion  of  the  county  Democracy  with 
the  silver  Republicans.  The  election  that  ensued 
was  a  signal  test  of  Mr.  Molden's  personal  popu- 
larity. While  the  entire  fusion  ticket  was  elected, 
Mr.  Molden  was  elected  by  one  hundred  and 
forty-eight  majority.  As  a  trial  judge  he  has 
been  very  successful,  his  decisions  having  been 
in  accordance  with  the  law  and  tne  evidence  and 
not  one  of  them  having  been  reversed  by  an 
appellate  court. 

Judge  Molden  was  married  August  3,  1886,  to 
Miss  Anna  Lee,  a  native  of  Red  Wing,  Minne- 
sota. They  have  three  daughters,  named  Clara, 
Mabel  and  Hazel.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Molden  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  church,  and  the  Judge 
is  a  member  of  the  Woodmen  of  America. 

SYLVESTER  WERNETH. 

Sylvester  Werneth  came  to  America  from  the 
Fatherland.  He  was  born  in  Germany,  on  the 
29th  of  December,  1856,  and  when  eight  years 
of  age  crossed  the  Atlantic  with  his  parents,  the 
family  locating  in  Wisconsin,  whence  they  after- 
ward removed  to  Springfield,  Illinois.  In  the 
capital  city  of  the  Prairie  state  he  acquired  his 
education  in  the  public  schools  and  was  there 
reared  to  manhood.  When  about  sixteen  years 
of  age  he  entered  upon  an  independent  business 
career,  learning  the  brewer's  trade,  at  which  he 
worked  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  in  California. 
In  1886  he  came  to  Weiser,  Idaho,  and  purchased 
the  little  brewery  in  the  old  town.  He  has  since 
successfully  carried  on  the  brewing  business,  in- 
creasing his  facilities  to  meet  the  growing  de- 
mands of  his  trade,  until  he  now  has  the  best 
equipped  and  one  of  the  largest  breweries  in  the 


state.  In  1897  he  purchased  a  large  lot  in  the 
new  section  of  Weiser,  near  the  depot  and  in 
the  business  center,  and  erected  thereon  a  large 
brick  building,  ninety  by  seventy  feet,  and  two 
stories  and  basement  in  height.  The  brewing 
department  is  twenty-five  by  fifty  feet,  all  of  brick 
and  substantially  built — the  best  brewing  plant 
in  the  state.  He  manufactures  a  fine  article  of 
beer  and  has  a  large  home  trade,  besides  ship- 
ping quite  extensively  to  various  places  in  the 
northwest.  He  also  owns  a  good  residence  and 
grounds  in  the  city. 

In  1885  Mr.  Werneth  married  Miss  Mary 
Fisherkiller,  a  native  of  Illinois,  but  of  German 
descent.  They  have  four  children,  namely:  Tre- 
sea  Ellen,  Mary  Francis,  Ethel  Julia  and  Louis 
Sylvester.  In  his  political  views  our  subject  is  a 
Democrat,  but  has  never  sought  or  desired  office, 
preferring  to  give  his  time  and  attention  to  his 
business  interests,  in  which  he  is  meeting  with 
excellent  success.  His  prosperity  is  the  reward 
of  his  own  unaided  and  well  directed  efforts,  and 
to-day  he  ranks  among  the  representative  resi- 
dents of  his  adopted  city. 

JOHN  HALLENBECK. 

In  March,  1864,  John  Hallenbeck  became  a 
resident  of  Silver  City,  and  from  that  time  until 
his  death,  throughout  the  period  of  pioneer  de- 
velopment and  latter-day  progress,  he  was  promi- 
nently identified  with  its  upbuilding  and  inter- 
ests. A  native  of  the  Empire  state,  he  was  born 
in  Albany,  October  24,  1830,  and  was  of  Holland 
lineage.  His  ancestors  were  among  the  early 
settlers  of  New  York  and  participated  in  the 
events  which  form  the  colonial  and  Revolution- 
ary history  of  that  state.  The  maternal  grand- 
father of  our  subject  was  also  one  of  the  heroes 
of  the  war  for  independence,  and  his  wife  after- 
ward received  a  pension  in  recognition  of  his 
services.  He  lived  to  be  seventy-eight  years  of 
age,  while  her  death  occurred  when  she  had  at- 
tained the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven. 

Mathew  Hallenbeck,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
was  born  in  New  York,  and  married  Catharine 
Shoudy,  a  native  of  the  same  state.  He  devoted 
his  energies  to  many  pursuits,  having  been  a  car- 
penter and  joiner,  also  a  teacher  of  music  and 
a  teacher  in  the  public  schools.  In  1841  he  re- 
moved with  his  family  to  Syracuse,  New  York, 


504 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


and  in  1854  to  Cordova,  Illinois,  where  he  re- 
sided up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  1878.  Both  he  and  his  wife  were  members  of 
the  Dutch  Reformed  church,  and  they  had  a  fam- 
ily of  twelve  children,  nine  of  whom  grew  to 
years  of  maturity,  while  three  sons  and  four 
daughters  are  yet  living. 

John  Hallenbeck  spent  his  early  boyhood  days 
on  his  father's  farm,  near  Syracuse,  New  York, 
and  assisted  in  the  labors  of  the  fields  through 
the  summer  months  while  in  the  winter  season 
he  pursued  his  education  in  the  public  schools. 
At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  started  out  to  fight 
the  battles  of  life  unaided,  and  that  victory 
crowned  his  efforts  was  due  to  his  untiring  dili- 
gence, perseverance  and  enterprise.  He  was  first 
employed  as  a  clerk  in  a  little  store  in  Orville, 
New  York,  where  he  remained  for  three  years, 
during  which  time  he  was  made  its  manaeer. 
The  state  was  then  building  an  aqueduct  at 
that  place,  and  the  house  boarded  all  of  the  of- 
ficers engaged  in  the  management  of  the  enter- 
prise. The  superintendent  became  quite  inter- 
ested in  young  Hallenbeck,  and  after  completing 
his  work  there  and  becoming  superintendent  of 
the  Delaware  &  Chesapeake  canal,  he  sent  for 
our  subject,  who  left  the  little  grocery  store  and 
was  employed  on  the  canal  until  its  completion, 
having  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  large 
reservoir  adjoining  the  exit  lock.  His  next  work, 
under  the  same  superintendent,  was  on  the  en- 
larging of  the  Erie  canal  at  Black  Rock,  where 
he  remained  for  a  year,  when,  his  task  being  fin- 
ished, he  visited  Baltimore,  Norfolk,  Richmond 
and  Washington,  viewing  the  various  points  of 
interest  in  the  different  cities. 

After  this  little  period  of  recreation,  Mr.  Hal- 
lenbeck engaged  once  more  in  canal  construc- 
tion, in  the  capacity  of  foreman  at  Weedsport. 
New  York.  He  made  considerable  money  in 
this  way.  but  spent  it  freely.  Later  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  engineer's  corps  as  leveler  until 
the  fall  of  1858,  when  the  discovery  of  gold  at 
Pike's  Peak  excited  the  entire  country.  In  the 
spring  of  1859  he  started  for  Colorado,  accom- 
panied by  a  party  named  Benham,  whose  ex- 
penses he  agreed  to  pay  upon  condition  that  he 
was  to  receive  half  of  what  Mr.  Benham  could 
make  for  two  years.  They  left  Weedsport,  New 
York,  for  Illinois,  where  Mr.  Hallenbeck's  par- 


ents were  then  residing,  and  there  engaged  pass- 
age on  ox  trains  bound  for  "Pike's  Peak  or  bust," 
and  under  the  charge  of  two  men,  Duffee  and 
Addison  by  name.  While  at  home  preparing  for 
the  trip  Mr.  Hallenbeck  was  accidentally  shot  in 
the  arm  by  his  partner,  which  detained  him  for  a 
few  weeks,  but  when  the  party  could  no  longer 
delay  he  started  with  them,  although  entirely  un- 
fit for  travel.  They  journeyed  on  toward  the 
Eldorado  of  the  west,  through  mud  and  snow, 
over  slush  and  bad  roads, — a  six  weeks'  trip 
through  Iowa,  during  which  they  encountered 
innumerable  storms.  At  length  they  reached  the 
Missouri  river,  at  Plattsburg,  where  they  met  the 
returning  tide  of  emigration,  declaring  the  dig- 
gings a  humbug.  The  captains  of  the  ox  teams 
decided  to  return  and  refused  to  refund  Mr.  Hal- 
lenbeck's money,  but  he  succeeded  in  getting  his 
money  at  the  point  of  a  revolver,  and  with  his 
partner  decided  to  try  and  overtake  a  party  en 
route  for  California.  Thev  went  to  Glenwood, 
twenty-five  miles  distant  from  Council  Bluffs,  and 
engaged  passage  on  the  stage.  It  arrived  at  12:30 
and  departed  at  i  P.  M.,  but  it  was  too  crowded 
to  take  on  any  more  passengers,  and  they  decided 
to  walk  the  distance  to  Council  Bluffs.  They 
made  their  way  in  the  moonlight  over  a  rolling 
prairie,  sending  their  baggage  by  stage,  and  the 
next  morning  reached  their  destination  tired  and 
hungry.  Mr.  Hallenbeck,  however,  could  not 
eat,  and  after  taking  a  cup  of  coffee  ordered  a 
hack  to  take  them  to  the  river.  When  they 
climbed  the  bluffs  at  Omaha  the  California  party- 
was  just  starting  on  its  long  trip  across  the 
plains.  There  were  twenty  wagons,  fifty-seven 
men,  three  women  and  a  few  children,  the  party 
being  under  command  of  Captain  George  Pierce. 
Mr.  Hallenbeck  engaged  passage  for  himself  and 
partner  to  Hangtown,  California,  for  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  dollars.  They  had  the  privilege 
of  riding  all  the  way  in  a  wagon  fitted  up  to  carry 
ten  people,  and  all  they  had  to  do  was  to  take  their 
turn  in  standing  guard  once  a  week.  The  trip 
was  an  exciting  one,  owing  to  the  stampedes  of 
the  stock  and  the  danger  of  Indian  attacks,  and 
for  nearly  three  and  a  half  months  they  traveled 
in  that  way  across  the  hot  sands  and  through  the 
mountain  passes  until  they  arrived  at  Placerville, 
California,  September  8,  1859,  having  left  Omaha 
on  the  22d  of  May. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


505 


After  a  week  Mr.  Hallenbeck  and  his  partner 
went  to  Sacramento.  His  funds  having  become 
exhausted  he  borrowed  twenty  dollars  of  Captain 
Pierce  and  then  started  for  San  Francisco,  where 
they  boarded  the  steamer  Panama  for  Portland, 
Oregon,  where  they  arrived  at  the  time  Gen- 
eral Scott  was  on  his  way  to  settle  the 
San  Juan  affair — "fifty-four,  forty  or  fight." 
On  arriving  at  Portland  Mr.  Hallenbeck  had 
only  five  dollars  and  ten  cents  left.  He 
went  to  the  Columbus  Hotel,  where  he  was  told 
he  and  his  partner  might  remain  until  they  found 
work,  but  he  realized  that  he  would  soon  be  piling 
up  a  large  debt  and  proposed  to  his  companion 
that  they  should  chop  wood,  as  no  other  employ- 
ment could  be  secured.  He  purchased  a  chop- 
ping outfit  on  credit,  took  an  empty  cabin  in 
Penitentiary  gulch,  and  the  first  week  they  cut 
thirteen  cords  of  wood,  but  the  partner  \\as  not 
satisfied  with  his  lot,  being  opposed  to  hard  work, 
and  concluded  to  return  to  California,  so  our  sub- 
ject divided  his  blankets  with  him  and  he  took 
his  departure,  Mr.  Hallenbeck  never  hearing 
from  him  again. 

The  next  week,  all  alone,  Mr.  Hallenbeck  cut 
thirteen  cords  of  wood  for  a  dollar  and  seventy- 
five  cents  per  cord.  After  a  month  he  obtained 
a  position  in  Abrams  &  Hogue's  sawmill,  first  at 
tail-sawing,  then  turning  screws,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1860,  when  the  sawyer  left,  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  vacant  position.  He  was  thus  em- 
ployed until  the  spring  of  1861,  when  he  left  for 
the  Oro  Fino  mines,  where  he  worked  during  the 
summer,  returning  to  Portland  to  spend  the  win- 
ter. In  the  spring  of  1862,  in  connection  with 
Kirkpatrick,  Hay  and  others,  he  discovered  the 
camp  where  Auburn,  Oregon,  is  now  located,  but 
he  did  not  like  the  prospects  there,  and  visited 
Walla  Walla,  Lewiston  and  Florence.  A  short 
time  afterward  he  crossed  the  country  to  Oro 
Fino,  where  he  purchased  a  claim  and  made 
some  money,  but  in  the  fall  again  returned  to 
Portland  and  was  sent  bv  his  former  employer, 
Mr.  Abrams,  to  The  Dalles  to  take  charge  of  his 
office  and  lumber  yards  there.  Desiring,  how- 
ever, to  engage  in  mining,  Mr.  Hallenbeck  soon 
started  for  Auburn,  and  on  arriving  there  learned 
of  the  Boise  basin  and  Owyhee  mines  excitement. 
Accordingly  he  started  for  Idaho  and  arrived  at 
his  destination  March  22,  1864.  Ruby  City  had 


been  founded  in  the  fall  of  1863  and  Silver  City 
had  its  beginning  in  the  fall  of  1864.  Building  a 
cabin  out  of  logs  hewed  by  himself,  he  then  began 
prospecting,  which  he  continued  for  five  years, 
when  he  met  heavy  losses.  With  his  small  re- 
maining capital  he  then  engaged  in  various  kinds 
of  speculating,  in  which  he  prospered  somewhat 
better.  Subsequently  he  invested  in  stocks  and 
in  1878  the  financial  crash  and  the  failure  of  the 
California  Bank  again  brought  heavy  losses  to 
him,  as  well  as  to  many  others,  but  with  un- 
daunted courage  he  embarked  in  the  grain  and 
feed  business,  in  which  he  continued  at  Silver 
City,  building  up  a  large  and  profitable  trade. 
He  also  loaned  money  and  was  one  of  the  most 
reliable  and  trustworthy  business  men  of  the 
county.  Great  determination,  energv  and  excel- 
lent executive  ability  were  the  salient  points  in 
his  business  career  and  eventually  brought  him 
success. 

In  his  early  political  affiliations  Mr.  Hallenbeck 
was  a  Whig,  but  joined  the  Republican  party  on 
its  organization  and  was  one  of  its  stalwart  ad- 
vocates up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred May  5,  1899.  He  was  made  a  Master 
Mason  in  Weedsport.  New  York,  'in  1854,  and 
afterward  took  the  Royal  Arch  degrees  and 
served  for  a  number  of  terms  as  master  of  the 
lodge  in  Silver  City.  As  a  man  and  citizen  he 
enjoyed  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  all  who 
knew  him,  and  his  name  should  be  enduringlv 
inscribed  on  the  roll  of  Idaho's  pioneers. 

GEORGE  M.  ROBERTSON. 

The  treasurer  of  Idaho  county,  George  M. 
Robertson,  of  Mount  Idaho,  is  a  native  of  Kauf- 
man county,  Texas,  his  birth  having  there  oc- 
curred February  4,  1862.  He  is  of  Scotch  de- 
scent, his  great-grandfather,  John  Robertson, 
having  emigrated  from  Scotland  to  New  Jersey 
in  colonial  days.  When  the  oppression  of  Great 
Britain  became  so  intolerable  that  the  colonies 
rose  in  rebellion,  he  joined  the  American  army 
and  served  throughout  the  Revolutionary  war, 
which  brought  to  the  nation  her  independence. 
He  afterward  became  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers 
of  Kentucky,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  His  son,  William  Robertson,  the  grand- 
father of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and 
removed  thence  to  Missouri,  where  his  active 


506 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


business  life  was  passed.  He  served  as  colonel 
of  militia  at  the  time  the  Mormons  were  driven 
out  of  Jackson  county,  that  state.  His  son, 
George  W.  Robertson,  Sr.,  was  born  in  Missouri, 
and  having  arrived  at  years  of  maturity  married 
Larcena  Van  Pool,  a  native  of  that  state.  He 
was  a  talented  and  devoted  minister  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  and  made  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
of  peace  his  life  work.  He  died  in  Lewiston,  and 
was  called  to  his  final  rest  in  1889,  when  fifty- 
four  years  of  age.  His  wife,  a  most  estimable 
lady,  departed  this  life  in  1874.  They  had  five 
children,  four  sons  and  a  daughter. 

George  M.  Robertson,  the  third  child  of  the 
family,  was  educated  at  Pea  Ridge  Academy, 
Arkansas,  and  began  life  on  his  own  account  as 
a  farmer  and  school-teacher.  He  came  to  Idaho 
in  the  spring  of  1886  and  resided  near  Farming- 
ton,  and  also  engaged  in  educational  work  and 
farming.  In  the  fall  of  1890  he  sold  out  and 
came  to  Camas  prairie,  locating  on  a  tract  of 
land  on  the  east  side  of  the  south  fork  of  the 
Clearwater  river,  where  he  has  since  developed  a 
good  farm  that  he  still  owns.  He  made  many 
excellent  improvements  on  the  place  and  trans- 
formed the  land  into  rich  and  fertile  fields.  In 
the  fall  of  1892  he  was  elected  county  surveyor 
of  Idaho  county  and  during  his  term  of  office 
did  a  large  amount  of  road  surveying.  In  the 
fall  of  1896  he  was  chosen  by  his  fellow  citizens 
to  the  office  of  county  treasurer,  and  on  the  ex- 
piration of  his  term  of  two  years,  was  re-elected, 
in  1898,  so  that  he  is  the  present  incumbent.  In 
1898  he  also  acceptably  served  as  deputy  clerk 
of  the  county,  under  C.  W.  Case.  In  politics  he 
is  a  stanch  Democrat  and  keeps  well  informed 
on  the  issues  of  the  day.  Socially  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees. 

Mr.  Robertson  was  united  in  marriage  at 
Farmington,  in  1888,  to  Miss  Ora  R.  Quarles, 
daughter  of  J.  P.  Quarles,  a  leading  citizen  of 
Nez  Perces  county.  They  have  three  children, 
Jesse,  Leo  and  Ira.  The  parents  are  members 
of  the  Christian  church. 

OSCAR  B.  STEELY,  M.  D. 

Oscar  B.  Steely,  M.  D.,  is  a  prominent  resi- 
dent and  physician  living  at  Pocatello,  Idaho, 
and  is  surgeon  of  the  Idaho  and  Montana  division 
of  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Railroad.  Dr.  Steely 


was  born  in  Belleville,  Pennsylvania,  August  22, 
1862,  and  is' descended  from  English  and  German 
ancestry.  His  forefathers  in  both  lines  were 
among  the  early  settlers  of  Pennsylvania,  and  his 
maternal  grandfather  (Baker)  did  patriotic  ser- 
vice as  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  His 
parents  were  William  and  Sarah  (Baker)  Steely, 
both  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  His  father,  who 
for  many  years  was  a  successful  dealer  in  meats, 
died  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  in  1897.  His  wife 
died  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  three  days  prior  to 
the  death  of  her  husband.  They  lived  happily  as 
man  and  wife  for  forty-nine  years  and  enjoyed  in 
the  highest  sense  the  respect  of  all  who  knew 
them.  They  had  eight  children,  four  of  whom 
are  living  and  of  whom  Dr.  Oscar  B.  Steely  was 
the  youngest  born. 

Dr.  Steely  was  prepared  for  college  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  and  was  graduated  from  Pennsylvania 
College  in  the  class  of  1883  and  from  the  Jeffer- 
son Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  in  1891.  For 
a  year  thereafter  he  practiced  in  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal hospitals  of  Philadelphia,  and  thus  espe- 
cially fitted  himself  for  the  duties  of  railway  sur- 
gery. From  that  institution  he  came  direct  to 
Pocatello  to  accept  the  position,  which  had  been 
tendered  him,  of  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Railway.  In  1896,  when  the  Oregon  Short 
Line  was  organized,  he  was  appointed  to  his 
present  position  as  surgeon  of  the  Idaho  and 
Montana  divisions.  He  has  had  an  extensive 
and  varied  experience  in  surgery  in  Idaho  and  ad- 
joining states  and  as  a  skillful  surgeon  and  phy- 
sician has  won  a  reputation  of  which  a  practi- 
tioner of  twice  his  years  might  be  justly  proud. 
His  standing  with  the  profession  is  exceptionally 
high.  Dr.  Steely  was  a  member  of  the  State 
Medical  Association  of  Pennsylvania,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  State  Medical  Association  of  Idaho 
and  a  member  of  the  Association  of  Military 
Surgeons  of  the  United  States.  He  was  surgeon 
general  of  the  state  of  Idaho  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  Governor  McConnell.  As  is  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  this  honor  was  conferred  upon 
him  by  such  authority,  he  is  a  stanch  Republican 
politically,  but  he  is  not  in  the  accepted  sense  of 
the  term  a  politician. 

He  was  made  a  Mason  in  Cassin  Lodge,  No. 
273,  Ardmore,  Pennsylvania,  and  took  tne  Royal 
Arch  degree  at  Pocatello  and  is  now  high  priest 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


507 


of  his  chapter.  He  has  advanced  slowly  in  the 
order  from  choice,  and  has  made  an  exhaustive 
study  of  its  principles  as  he  nas  proceeded,  apply- 
ing them  to  his  daily  life,  until  he  has  adopted 
them  as  the  rule  of  his  conduct  in  all  his  rela- 
tions with  his  fellow  men.  He  is  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Woodmen 
of  the  World.  Personally  he  is  popular  wher- 
ever he  is  known  and  his  acquaintance  is  large 
and  growing  rapidly,  both  professionally  and 

sociallv. 

NOYES    B.    HOLBROOK. 

Mr.  Holbrook  dates  his  residence  in  Idaho 
from  1862,  and  is  therefore  one  of  its  pioneer  set- 
tlers. He  has  witnessed  almost  the  entire  growth 
and  development  of  the  state,  and  has  largely 
aided  in  its  progress  and  advancement,  neglecting 
no  duty  of  citizenship  and  withholding  his  sup- 
port and  co-operation  from  no  measure  for  the 
public  good.  He  is  now  proprietor  of  the  roller- 
process  flouring  mill  at  Juliaetta,  and  is  an  en- 
terprising business  man  whose  honorable  meth- 
ods commend  him  to  the  confidence  and  secure 
him  the  patronage  of  a  large  portion  of  the  com- 
munity with  which  he  is  connected. 

Mr.  Holbrook  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Con- 
necticut, March  29,  1830,  and  is  of  English  de- 
scent, a  representative  of  one  of  the  early  New 
England  families.  John  Holbrook,  his  great- 
grandfather, was  a  native  of  the  "merrie  isle," 
and  thence  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  the  New 
World,  taking  up  his  residence  in  New  Haven 
county,  Connecticut.  He  had  a  family  of  five 
sons,  four  of  whom  served  in  the  war  which 
brought  to  America  her  independence,  being 
loyal  members  of  the  Colonial  army.  The  young- 
est served  under  General  Harrison  in  the  war 
of  1812.  One  of  these  sons,  Abel  Holbrook,  was 
the  grandfather  of  our  subject.  He  was  born  in 
New  Haven  county,  and  during  the  Revolution 
served  as  captain  of  a  company.  By  occupation 
he  was  a  farmer,  and  operated  his  land  with  the 
aid  of  slaves,  but  becoming  disgusted  with  the 
institution  of  slavery  he  freed  his  negroes  and 
was  active  in  promulgating  an  abolition  senti- 
ment throughout  the  community.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  and 
lived  to  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty  years,  respected 
by  all  who  knew  him,  as  one  of  Connecticut's 
best  citizens. 


Thomas  C.  Holbrook,  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  and  reared  in  New  Haven  county,  Connecti- 
cut, and  married  Miss  Maria  Benham,  also  of  the 
Nutmeg  state.  He  followed  the  occupation  of 
farming  in  pursuit  of  fortune,  and  was  an  in- 
dustrious man  and  reliable  citizen.  His  deatn 
occurred  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of  ninety- 
four,  and  his  wife  passed  away  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four.  They  had  three  children,  two  of 
whom  are  yet  living. 

Noyes  B.  Holbrook,  the  youngest  of  the  fam- 
ily, was  educated  in  Connecticut  and  in  the  North 
Wilbraham    Academy,    in    Massachusetts,    after 
which  he  learned  the  trade  of  a  brick-layer  and 
plasterer.    Determining  to  try  his  fortune  in  the 
rapidly  developing  west,  he  sailed  for  California 
in  1854,  by  way  of  the  isthmus  route,  and  at 
length  arrived  safely  in  San  Francisco.    There  he 
worked  at  his  trade  for  a  time,  and  then  engaged 
in  mining  in  Nevada  and  Butte  counties  on  the 
Feather  river.     He  made  money,  but  sunk  it  in 
other  mining  ventures,  and  after  losing  all  that 
he   had   he   returned   to   Marysville,    California, 
where  he  worked  at  his  trade,  doing  considerable 
contracting  and  building.     In  1862,  at  the  time 
of  the  gold  discoveries  at  Florence,  -he  made  the 
journey  with  a  companion  through  eastern  Ore- 
gon to  the  place  of  the  excitement.     He  pros- 
pected and  worked  at  his  trade  in  the  then  new 
town  of  Lewiston,  and  the  following  year  went 
to  the.  Boise  basin,  making  the  journey  by  boat 
up  the  Snake  river.    He  met  with  fair  success  in 
the  placer  mines  in   the  Boise  basin  and  then 
returned  to  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  estab- 
lishing a  store  on  Salmon  river.     After  a  time 
he  sold  that  property  and  purchased  a  placer 
claim,  from  which  he  took  out  from  fifty  to  sev- 
enty-five dollars  per  day.    The  following  spring 
he  went  to  Lapwai,  where  he  worked  for  the 
government  for  three  months,  spending  the  suc- 
ceeding winter  in  Lewiston.    When  spring  came 
he  went  to  the  Coeur  d'Alene  district  and  was 
there  during  the  Wilson  excitement.     A    mur- 
dered negro  was  found  there  and  buried  on  the 
prairie,  which  for  a  long  time  thereafter  went 
by  the  name  of  "Nigger  Prairie."    The  town  of 
Mullan  now  stands  on  the  site. 

On  leaving  that  locality  Mr.  Holbrook  went 
to  Montana  at  the  time  of  the  Blackfoot  excite- 
ment, and  thence  returned  to  Idaho  by  way  of 


508 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  Lolo  trail.  He  opened  a  store  at  Long  Bar, 
on  the  Salmon  river,  but  the  following  year  sold 
that  and  established  a  store  on  the  main  crossing 
of  the  Coeur  d'Alene,  and  in  connection  pur- 
chased and  operated  the  ferry  there.  He  sold 
out  the  following  winter  and  went  to  Lewiston, 
where  he  secured  the  appointment  to  the  position 
of  deputy  sheriff,  in  which  capacity  he  served 
until  the  following  July.  He  then  resigned,  and 
resumed  prospecting  in  the  Seven  Devils  country. 
He  took  up  the  Peacock  lead  and  had  it  recorded 
in  Idaho  county,  but  finally  let  it  go  by  default. 
Thence  he  went  to  Warrens,  where  he  aided  in 
building  the  first  quartz-mill  at  that  point.  He 
remained  in  Warrens  for  five  years,  was  there 
appointed  deputy  sheriff  and  while  thus  serving 
brought  out  four  murderers  through  the  then  un- 
inhabited mountain  districts.  He  spent  the  winter 
of  1870  in  Portland,  Oregon,  and  the  next  spring 
purchased  a  livery  business  in  Lewiston,  conduct- 
ing the  same  for  fourteen  years.  He  met  with  good 
success  in  the  undertaking,  having  a  very  liberal 
patronage.  In  1880  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  Nez 
Perces  county,  and  so  acceptably  did  he  serve 
through  the  two  years'  term  that  he  was  re- 
elected.  In  1884  he  sold  his  livery  barn  and 
turned  his  attention  to  stock  dealing.'  In  1885  he 
erected  his  flouring-mill  in  Juliaetta,  where  he 
has  fine  water  power  and  a  full  roller-process 
mill,  with  a  capacity  of  fifty  barrels  of  flour  per 
day.  His  special  brand  is  called  the  "Pride  of 
the  Potlatch,"  and  is  of  very  superior  quality.  In 
1896  Mr.  Holbrook  removed  to  Juliaetta,  and  has 
since  managed  the  mill  himself.  Owing  to  the 
excellent  quality  of  the  product  and  his  honor- 
able business  methods  he  receives  a  liberal  pat- 
ronage, and  is  conducting  a  profitable  business. 
He  resides  in  a  pleasant  home  of  his  own,  a 
short  distance  above  the  mill,  and  from  his  resi- 
dence has  a  splendid  view  of  the  beautiful  valley. 
In  1880  Mr.  Holbrook  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Lizzie  Armstrong,  but  she  died  two 
years  later.  In  1896  he  wedded  Eliza  E.  Cald- 
well,  his  present  wife.  They  have  three  chil- 
dren. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holbrook  are  most  highly 
esteemed  and  have  a  large  circle  of  warm  friends 
in  the  community.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  , 
Masonic  fraternity  for  more  than  forty-five  years, 
having  joined  the  order  in  1853,  m  Morning  Star 
Lodge,  No.  43,  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Seymour,  Con- 


necticut. He  assisted  in  organizinf  the  lodge  at 
Lewiston  and  was  one  of  its  most  active  mem- 
bers. In  politics  he  has  been  a  lifelong  Demo- 
crat, but  during  the  war  was  a  strong  Union 
man.  He  has  filled  various  public  positions  of 
honor  and  trust,  and  in  every  case  has  shown 
himself  fully  worthy  of  the  confidence  reposed 
in  him.  He  was  at  one  time  county  commis- 
sioner of  Nez  Perces  county,  and  served  as  mayor 
of  Lewiston.  He  ever  discharged  his  duties  with 
promptness  and  fidelitv,  and  exercised  his  official 
prerogatives  to  advance  all  measures  which  he 
believed  would  prove  of  general  pood.  His  life 
has  been  a  busy,  useful  and  honorable  one,  and 
he  well  deserves  mention  among  the  representa- 
tive citizens  of  Idaho. 

JAMES  AND  THOMAS   SURRIDGE. 

The  Surridge  Brothers,  of  Bridgeport,  Idaho 
county,  came  to  the  territory  of  Idaho  in  June, 
1876,  and  are  numbered  among  the  most  enter- 
prising and  progressive  citizens  of  the  community 
in  which  they  make  their  home.  They  are  both 
natives  of  London,  England,  sons  of  John  and 
Mary  (Cochran)  Surridge,  who  emigrated  to 
America  in  1859,  bringing  with  them  their  three 
children.  They  located  at  Milan,  Monroe  coun- 
ty, Michigan,  where  the  father  improved  a  good 
farm  and  spent  his  remaining  days.  Mr.  Sur- 
ridge died  in  1898,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two 
years,  and  his  wife  is  still  living,  in  1899,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-three.  Five  children  were  added 
to  the  family  in  Michigan  and  all  the  sons  and 
daughters  yet  survive. 

James  Surridge  was  born  July  3,  1847,  and 
Thomas  Surridge  in  October,  1849.  When  they 
became  young  men  they  went  to  California  and 
thence  removed  to  Camas  prairie,  where  they 
now  reside.  They  took  up  government  land  and 
successfully  and  extensively  engaged  in  stock- 
raising,  being  the  first  to  introduce  Clydesdale 
horses  and  Berkshire  hogs  into  this  section  of 
the  county.  They  also  graded  their  cattle  with 
the  Durham  breed,  and  thus  did  much  to  advance 
the  interests  of  the  stock-raisers  of  Idaho  by  im- 
proving the  grade  of  cattle,  horses  and  hogs 
raised.  They  have  become  large  land-owners, 
their  possessions  aggregating  two  thousand  two 
hundred  acres,  of  which  fifteen  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  belong  to  James,  while  six  hundred 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


509 


and  forty  acres  belong  to  Thomas.  The  land  lies 
on  the  south  fork  of  the  Clearwater  river,  at  the 
old  Jackson  bridge,  and  there  they  have  platted 
a  town  site  of  forty  acres,  which  they  have  named 
Bridgeport.  It  is  on  the  Clearwater  river  twelve 
miles  from  Grangeville  and  on  the  road  between 
Elk  City  and  Xewsom  creek.  The  business  lots 
are  twenty-five  by  one  hundred  feet  and  the  resi- 
dence lots  fifty  by  one  hundred  feet,  with  an  alley 
in  the  rear.  The  town  site  is  a  beautiful  one,  be- 
ing located  on  high  ground  adjoining  the  river. 
There  is  fine  water-power  and  two  quartz  leads 
on  the  property,  with  a  five-foot  vein  at  the  sur- 
face and  ore  which  shows  fiftv  dollars  per  ton 
at  the  shaft.  There  are  also  a  school-house,  store 
and  other  buildings  on  the  town  site,  and  the 
Stirridge  brothers,  being  men  of  the  highest  in- 
tegrity of  character,  will  spare  no  pains  to  make 
it  for  the  interest  of  people  to  join  them  in  mak- 
ing Bridgeport  one  of  the  most  thriving  towns 
in  the  county.  They  conduct  a  stage  line  and 
have  the  mail  contract  from  Grangeville  to  Elk 
City.  Their  business  interests  are  varied  and 
comprehensive.  They  own  eight  hundred  head 
of  cattle,  one  hundred  head  of  horses,  and  they 
pack  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  head  of 
hogs  annually.  Their  brand  is  "70,"  and  they 
brand  all  of  their  products.  They  supply  the 
miners  with  beef  and  pork,  and  thus  add  materi- 
ally to  their  income.  They  are  both  men  of  great 
industry  and  enterprise,  and  their  keen  sagacity, 
judicious  investments  and  capable  management 
have  brought  to  them  splendid  success,  which 
they  well  merit. 

In  1876  Thomas  Surridge  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Julia  Pequay,  a  native  of  Rutland, 
Vermont,  and  they  have  four  children:  May, 
Katie,  John  and  Georgie.  In  politics  the  broth- 
ers are  both  stalwart  Democrats  and  James  has 
served  as  justice  6f  the  peace  in  his  township 
for  a  number  of  years.  They  also  belong  to  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  are  active  and  valued 
members  of  the  order.  In  1877  James  Surridge 
made  a  trip  to  the  east  and  was  absent  at  the  time 
of  the  Nez  Perces  war,  but  Thomas  volunteered 
and  served  as  a  scout  and  guide.  They  also  par- 
ticipated in  the  Bannock  and  Sheep-eater  Indian 
wars,  doing  guard  duty  and  performing  all  the 
service  necessary  in  the  protection  of  the  fort  at 
Mount  Idaho.  They  are  very  widely  and  favor- 


ably known  throughout  Idaho  and  are  held  in 
high  esteem  by  all  with  whom  they  have  come  in 
contact.  Their  efforts  have  been  attended  by  a 
most  creditable  success,  and  their  business  policy- 
has  ever  commended  them  to  the  confidence  of 
those  with  whom  they  have  had  dealings. 

JOEL   M.   WALKER. 

In  all  the  walks  of  life  Captain  Joel  M. 
Walker  has  so  acquitted  himself  as  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  most  valued  and  honorable  citizen, 
and  as  a  representative  business  man  and  a  leader 
in  political  circles  he  well  deserves  mention 
among  the  prominent  residents  of  Idaho. 
Through  the  civil  war  he  loyally  served  his  coun- 
try upon  the  field  of  battle,  and  has  ever  dis- 
charged his  duties  of  citizenship  with  marked 
promptness  and  fidelity.  It  is  pleasing  in- 
dulgence to  write  the  biography  of  a  man  who 
has  been  so  prominent  in  the  civil  and  military 
affairs  of  the  nation  as  has  Captain  Walker.  This 
country  has  brought  forth  many  heroes,  states- 
men, financiers  and  brilliant  men  in  all  spheres 
of  life.  Its  annals  teem  with  the  records  of  good 
lives  and  noble  deeds.  Most  of  our  noblest  and 
best  men  are  "self-made,"  and  a  worthy  repre- 
sentative of  that  class  is  the  subject  of  this  re- 
view, who  deserves  prominent  mention  in  this 
volume  by  reason  of  his  broad  sympathies  and 
public  spirit.  He  has  left  the  imprint  of  his  in- 
dividuality on  each  place  in  which,  for  any  length 
of  time,  he  ever  resided,  and  Kendrick  owes 
much  of  its  advancement  to  his  efforts.  His 
patriotism  is  clearly  shown  by  his  quick  response 
to  the  call  to  arms,  when  his  country  was  in  need, 
and  to-day  he  is  numbered  among  the  loyal  and 
progressive  residents  of  Moscow. 

Captain  Walker  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  his  birth 
having  occurred  in  Pickaway  county,  November 
8,  1835.  He  is  a  representative  of  an  old  Vir- 
ginian family,  and  from  the  Old  Dominion  his 
paternal  grandfather  removed  to  Ohio  in  1805. 
Thomas  Armstrong  Walker,  the  father  of  the 
Captain,  was  born  in  that  year  and  was  given 
his  mother's  maiden  name,  Armstrong.  She  be- 
longed to  an  equally  old  Virginian  family,  and 
of  the  Walker  family,  Mrs.  James  K.  Polk  was 
a  member.  In  1840  Thomas  A.  Walker  removed 
with  his  family  to  Iowa,  where  he  resided  until 
1882,  when  he  went  with  his  son  to  southern 


510 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Kansas,  where  his  death  occurred  in  1888,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-three  years.  In  their  religious 
faith  both  he  and  his  wife  were  Presbyterians. 
Mr.  Walker  was  a  man  of  marked  ability  and 
wide  influence  and  held  a  number  of  positions  of 
public  trust.  During  the  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Polk  he  served  as  postmaster  of  Fort  Mad- 
ison, Iowa,  and  was  register  of  the  land  office  at 
Des  Moines  during  the  presidency  of  Franklin 
Pierce  and  a  portion  of  President  Buchanan's  ad- 
ministration. His  wife  died  at  an  early  age,  leav- 
ing two  children,  but  the  Captain  is  the  only  one 
now  living.  The  father  afterward  married  again 
and  had  a  family  by  the  second  union. 

In  the  common  schools  Captain  Walker  ac- 
quired his  preliminary  education,  which  was  sup- 
plemented by  a  course  in  the  Denmark  Acad- 
emy, a  Congregational  school,  at  Denmark,  Lee 
county,    Iowa.     When   only   four   years  of   age 
he  was  taken  to  the  Hawkeye  state  by  his  father, 
and  for  many  years  made  his  home  within  its 
borders.     After  leaving  school  he   spent  some 
time  in  his  father's  office  and  then  read  law  under 
the  direction  of  Finch  &  Crocker,  the  latter  being 
the  distinguished  General  Crocker.    He  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  in  the  district  courts  before 
he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  when  twen- 
ty-two years  of  age  was  licensed  to  practice  in 
the  supreme  court,  but  the  great  civil  war  was 
inaugurated  and  interfered  with  his  professional 
labors.      President   Lincoln    issued   his   call    for 
troops  and  Captain  Walker  and  a  friend  enlisted 
two  hundred  men,  from  among  whom  they  chose 
one  hundred  to  form  Company  B,  of  the  Twenty- 
third  Iowa  Volunteers.    Mr.  Walker  was  offered 
the  captaincy  of  the  company,  but  declined  be- 
cause  he   had   no  military   knowledge,   and  his 
friend  was  then  given  command,  while  he  was 
elected  first  lieutenant.    With  that  rank  he  went 
to  the  front,   serving   first  in   Missouri   against 
the  guerrillas.     The  first  engagement  of  import- 
ance in  which  he  participated  was  the  Vicksburg 
campaign,  and  his  regiment  was  the  first  to  cross 
the  Mississippi  river,  April  30,  1863.    They  were 
under  fire  throughout  the  entire  night  and  were 
in  the  battle  the  next  day.     They  were  also  in 
the  battle  of  Champion  Hill,  May  16,  and  led  the 
charge  on  the    enemy's  works  at    Black  river 
bridge,  where  three  thousand  Confederate  sol- 
diers were  .taken  prisoners,  and  the  colonel  and 


several  other  officers  and  men  were  killed.    After 
this  battle  the  regiment  to  which  Captain  Walker 
belonged  was  detailed  by  General  Grant  to  take 
the  prisoners  to  Memphis,  Tennessee,  and  place 
them  in  charge  of  the  federal  authorities  there. 
When  they  had  returned  to  Vicksburg  a  colored 
regiment  was  attacked  by  Texans  and  when  hard 
pressed  broke.    The  Twenty-third  Iowa  was  then 
thrown  in  and  stood  the  brunt  of  the  fight.     It 
was  a  desperate,  almost  hand-to-hand,  encounter, 
but  finally  victory  perched  on  the  banner  of  the 
Union  forces.    After  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg 
the  regiment  was  ordered  to  New  Orleans,  under 
General    Banks,   and   with   him   they  made   the 
march  through  Louisiana  and  into  the  border  of 
Texas,  where  they  spent  the  winter  of  1863-4. 
By  this  time  their  ranks  had  become  very  much 
depleted,  and  in  the  spring  Captain  Walker  was 
ordered  on  recruiting  service  in  order  to  fill  up 
the  thinned-out  columns.     When  that  task  was 
completed  Captain  Walker  received  an  appoint- 
ment on  the  staff  of  General  Crocker,  who  had 
been  appointed  governor  of  Arizona.    They  made 
their  way  across  the  plains  to  New  Mexico  and 
the  Captain  remained  on  the  Governor's  staff  un- 
til the  close  of  the  war,  in  1865.     Soon  after  en- 
tering active  service  in  the  Union  army  he  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain,  and  led  his  com- 
pany in  all  the  engagements  until  he  was  ap- 
pointed staff  officer.    He  rejoined  his  regiment  at 
Mobile,  Alabama,  in  June,  1865,  and  they  were 
again   sent  to  Texas,  where  he  was   appointed 
assistant  provost  marshal,  and  paroled  many  of 
General  Kirby  Smith's  men.    The  regiment  was 
mustered   out   in   August,     1866,    and    Captain 
Walker  immediately  returned  to  his  home. 

Not  long  after  this  he  was  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent Johnson  to  the  position  of  United  States 
marshal  for  the  state  of  Iowa,  and  when  his  term 
expired  he  engaged  in  farming  in  the  central  por- 
tion of  that  state,  having  a  large  stock  ranch, 
whereon  he  engaged  extensively  in  the  raising  of 
blooded  cattle,  owning  many  of  the  best  in  Iowa. 
In  1882  he  sold  out  and  removed  to  southern 
Kansas,  hoping  that  a  change  of  climate  would 
benefit  his  impaired  health.  He  engaged  in  loan- 
ing money  in  Howard,  that  state,  and  there  re- 
mained for  eight  years,  after  which  he  spent  three 
months  in  the  sanitarium  at  Battle  Creek,  Michi- 
gan. In  August,  1890,  still  in  search  of  health, 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


511 


he  took  up  his  abode  in  Kendrick,  Idaho,  and 
established  the  Bank  of  Kendrick,  opening  it  for 
business  in  October,  of  that  year.  He  conducted 
it  successfully  until  1892,  when  he  sold  out  to 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Moscow.  He  had 
erected  the  bank  building,  which  was  the  first 
brick  structure  in  the  town,  and  was  prominent 
in  advancing  the  interests  of  the  town.  He  is 
still  connected  with  business  affairs  there,  he  and 
his  family  owning  all  of  the  stock  of  the  Lincoln 
Hardware  &  Implement  Company,  of  Kendrick. 
They  have  a  large  store,  carry  a  complete  line  of 
goods  and  do  an  extensive  business.  In  connec- 
tion with  his  son-in-law.  Captain  Walker  is  inter- 
ested in  a  book  and  stationery  store  in  Moscow. 

Not  only  has  he  won  prominence  in  military 
circles  and  prosperity  in  business  life,  but  he  is 
also  recognized  as  a  leader  in  political  circles, 
being  a  stanch  advocate  of  the  Democratic  party. 
He  is  not  an  office-seeker  in  the  usually  accepted 
sense  of  the  term,  yet  has  been  honored  by  his 
fellow  citizens  with  positions  of  public  trust. 
While  in  Polk  county,  Iowa,  he  was  elected  and 
served  for  two  terms  on  the  board  of  county 
supervisors,  notwithstanding  the  district  was 
largely  Republican.  He  was  also  twice  candidate 
for  the  state  legislature  and  was  once  candidate 
for  lieutenant  governor, — facts  which  indicate  his 
high  standing  in  Democratic  circles.  Since  com- 
ing to  Latah  county  he  has  been  the  candidate 
for  state  senator.  He  was  for  two  years  chair- 
man of  the  Democratic  state  central  committee  of 
Iowa.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Soldiers'  and 
Sailors'  national  convention,  which  met  at  Phila- 
delphia, in  1866.  He  has  always  attended  the 
state  conventions  of  his  party,  wherever  he  has 
resided,  and  has  exerted  great  influence  in  the 
affairs  and  deliberations  of  those  organizations. 

In  October,  1857,  Captain  Walker  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Idie  Marshall,  a  native  of 
Iowa  and  a  representative  of  a  Kentucky  family. 
Their  union  was  blessed  with  three  children,  of 
whom  two  are  living:  Eliza  Marshall,  now  the 
wife  of  J.  R.  Hall,  of  Moscow;  and  India,  wife 
of  James  M.  Pierce,  of  Kendrick.  Both  sons-in- 
law  are  associated  with  Captain  Walker  in  busi- 
ness. After  six  years  of  happy  married  life  Mrs. 
Walker  was  called  to  her  final  rest,  and  in  1865 
the  Captain  married  Miss  Lou  Ramsay,  a  native 
of  Iowa.  They  have  one  son,  Ramsay  M.,  who 


is  now  in  charge  of  the  large  hardware  business 
in  Kendrick.  Captain  Walker  and  his  wife  have 
also  reared  two  bright  girls,  the  daughters  of  his 
half-sister,  who  died  during  their  infancy.  They 
were  reared  as  members  of  the  Walker  household 
and  both  are  now  comfortably  settled  in  homes 
of  their  own.  They  are  Louise,  wife  of  R.  C. 
Smclair;  and  Bessie  W.,  wife  of  Robert  Snyder, 
both  residents  of  Kendrick.  Mrs.  W'alker  de- 
parted this  life  July  4,  1892,  and  her  death  was 
deeply  mourned  by  her  many  friends.  The 
Captain  has  since  resided  with  his  daughters,  in 
Kendrick  and  Moscow,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
highly  esteemed  residents  of  this  section  of  the 
state.  He  has  been  true  to  all  the  duties  of  life, 
meeting  fully  every  obligation  resting  upon  him, 
and  his  honorable  career  has  gained  him  the  re- 
spect, confidence  and  warm  regard  of  all  with 
whom  he  has  been  brought  in  contact. 

ED.  F.  WINN. 

No  work  that  might  attempt  to  tell  the  story 
of  the  settlement  and  civilization  of  Idaho  would 
be  complete  if  it  should  contain  no  account  of 
the  hard,  brave  work  performed  by  Deputy 
Sheriff  and  Deputy  United  States  Marshal  Ed. 
F.  Winn,  in  ridding  the  country  of  the  gangs  of 
thieves,  cut-throats  and  outlaws  that  once  infested 
it.  A  book  devoted  to  the  exploits  of  Winn  and 
other  Federal  and  civil  officers  in  this  part  of 
the  country  would  be  of  thrilling  interest. 

Ed.  F.  Winn  is  a  native  of  Brownsville,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  was  born  October  29,  1857.  His 
parents,  Isaac  and  Mary  Jane  (Moore)  Winn, 
came  to  the  United  States  from  Lancashire, 
England,  soon  after  their  marriage  and  settled  in 
Pennsylvania,  where  they  are  yet  living.  Mr. 
Winn  being  still  in  the  active  practice  of  his 
profession,  as  a  civil  engineer.  They  are  people 
of  the  highest  worth,  ornaments  of  the  commu- 
nity in  which  they  live,  and  have  been  lifelong 
members  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
church.  They  had  three  sons  and  a  daughter, 
and  Ed.  F.  Winn  was  their  second  child.  He 
was  educated  and  learned  the  carpenter's  trade 
in  his  native  state,  and  in  1875,  when  he  was 
about  eighteen,  went  to  Iowa  and  thence  to 
Nebraska.  At  Omaha  he  found  work  as  a  car- 
penter, in  the  employ  of  the  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
road Company.  He  was  sent  out  on  the  line  of 


512 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


construction,  while  the  road  was  being  built,  and 
worked  his  way  to  Helena,  Montana,  where  he 
arrived  July  8,  1879.  He  found  employment  in 
Helena  until  fall  and  then  took  up  work  for  the 
Utah  &  Northern  Railway  Company,  at  Oxford, 
and  was  thus  employed  until  the  line  had  been 
constructed  as  far  as  Dillon.  From  Dillon  he 
returned  to  Idaho  Falls  and  worked  on  the  rail- 
road shops,  which  were  then  being  erected.  When 
that  work  was  finished  he  engaged  in  the  saloon 
business,  in  which  he  continued  successfully  until 
he  was  appointed  deputy  sheriff  of  Oneida  county 
by  Sheriff  Homer.  Oneida  county  then  comprised 
a  large  territory,  and  it  was  infested  by  cattle  and 
horse  thieves,  escaped  criminals  and  other  out- 
laws. Deputy  Sheriff  Winn's  work  against  this 
class  was  so  aggressive  and  effective  that  it  came 
to  the  notice  of  United  States  Marshal  Fred  T. 
Dubois,  who  appointed  him  deputy  United  States 
marshal.  The  office  which  Mr.  Winn  filled  at 
that  time  required  indomitable  will,  chilly  nerve 
and  the  quality  known  as  "clear  grit."  These 
he  proved  that  he  possessed.  He  had  many  gun 
fights  and  hand-to-hand  "scrimmages"  with  the 
desperate  men,  often  against  fearful  odds,  but  he 
invariably  came  out  victorious.  He  was  shot  at 
many  times  and  had  to  shoot  men  down  in  self- 
defence,  but  if  he  went  out  for  a  man  he  got  him 
if  he  was  to  be  found  and  brought  him  in  if  he 
once  got  his  hand  on  him.  In  time  the  bad  men 
with  whom  he  'had  to  deal  found  this  out,  and 
then  his  work  was  not  quite  so  hard.  He  brought 
many  to  trial,  many  fled  the  country  and  in  time 
Oneida  county  came  to  be  a  law-abiding  place, 
and  as  such  was  gradually  taken  possession  of  by 
law-abiding  people.  This  welcome  change  was 
due  in  no  small  measure  to  the  efforts  of  Mr. 
Winn.  He  was  kept  at  this  good  work  under 
reappointment  by  Sheriff  Wooden,  in  1893-4, 
and  during  that  period  shot  a  burglar  whom  he 
had  captured  and  who  sought  to  escape  from 
custody. 

For  some  years  Mr.  Winn  had  a  stock  ranch, 
where  he  was  engaged  somewhat  extensively  in 
raising  and  dealing  in  cattle,  buying  in  the  fall, 
feeding  through  the  winter  and  selling  in  the 
spring,  and  in  this  enterprise  he  met  with  the 
same  degree  of  satisfactory  success  that  has  at- 
tended his  other  business  ventures.  Not  long 
after  he  came  to  Idaho  Falls  he  took  up  twenty- 


two  acres  of  land  adjoining  the  town  site,  which 
he  platted  as  Winn's  Addition  to  Idaho  Falls, 
and  which  has  been  sold  off  and  built  upon  quite 
extensively.  He  has  built  several  good  residences 
and  has  otherwise  done  his  part  fully  in  the 
development  of  the  town  from  the  day  of  small 
things  to  the  present  magnitude  and  prominence. 
In  this  connection  reference  should  be  made  to 
the  fact  that  Mr.  Winn  built  the  Odd  Fellows 
Orphans'  Home,  at  Idaho  Falls,  a  fine  large 
sandstone  structure  which  is  a  credit  alike  to  the 
order  and  to  him. 

In  1888  Mr.  Winn  went  into  the  grocery  trade, 
at  the  corner  of  Main  street  and  Capital  avenue, 
Idaho  Falls,  and  his  business  has  grown  to  such 
proportions  that  it  is  not  only  large  locally,  but 
extends  throughout  all  of  Idaho  Falls'  rapidly 
developing  tributary  territory. 

Mr.  Winn  is  a  strong  Republican  and  has 
always  attended  state  and  county  conventions 
and  otherwise  aided  actively  in  the  work  of  his 
party.  His  standing  as  a  man  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  he  has  been  elected  to  impor- 
tant offices  on  a  ticket  to  which  he  was  opposed, 
having  been  taken  up  in  that  way  because  he 
was  logically  the  best  man  for  the  place.  He  has 
long  been  an  active  Odd  Fellow,  devoted  to  the 
order  in  all  principles  and  in  all  phases  of  its 
work.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public-spirited  and  up- 
to-date,  ready  always  to  give  his  time  and  means 
for  the  furtherance  of  any  public  measure  which 
commends  itself  to  his  judgment  as  being  just 
and  wise. 

In  January,  1885,  Mr.  Winn  married  Miss 
Katie  Freeman,  who  was  then  living  at  Golden, 
Colorado,  a  native  of  England  and  a  daughter 
of  Joseph  and  Martha  Freeman,  of  Cheyenne, 
Wyoming.  Mrs.  Winn  is  a  member  of  the  Epis- 
copal church. 

STAAS  SPEKKER. 

As  his  name  indicates,  Staas  Spekker,  of  Lewis- 
ton,  the  well  known  assessor  and  tax  collector  of 
Nez  Perces  county,  is  of  German  birth. — one  of 
the  representative  citizens  that  the  Fatherland 
has  furnished  to  the  New  World.  The  German 
element  is  an  important  one  in  our  national 
existence,  for  its  men  of  sterling  worth,  of  enter- 
prise and  perseverance,  have  done  much  to  pro- 
mote the  industrial,  commercial  and  professional 
interests  of  the  land.  In  his  business  career  Mr. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


513 


Spekker  has  manifested  the  sterling  character 
of  his  race,  and  is  regarded  to-day  as  one  of  the 
valued  citizens  of  northern  Idaho.  Hte  was  born 
in  Hanover,  Germany,  March  4,  1841,  was  edu- 
cated in  the  schools  of  that  country,  and  during 
the  period  of  his  scholastic  training  studied  the 
English  language,  so  that  he  was  familiar  with 
the  tongue  of  the  people  among  whom  he  cast 
his  lot  in  1871.  Before  coming  to  this  country, 
however,  he  had  had  practical  experience  in  farm- 
ing. Having  attended  a  school  of  agriculture,  he 
accepted  the  position  of  superintendent  of  a  large 
estate  owned  by  a  German  nobleman,  and  held 
that  position  until,  tiring  of  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  nobility,  he  determined  to  seek  a 
home  in  the  land  of  the  free.  Accordingly  he 
crossed  the  Atlantic  and  located  first  at  Ackley, 
Hardin  county,  Iowa,  where  he  was  employed  as 
a  farm  hand. 

Mr.  Spekker  was  married  there  to  Miss  Mary 
Latzsch.and  immediately  afterward  they  removed 
to  Oregon,  renting  a  farm  in  Linn  county,  of 
Judge  Geary.  There  he  remained  for  eight  years, 
and  by  untiring  industry  and  close  application  he 
acquired  considerable  capital.  Disaster  overtook 
him,  however,  for  the  heavy  rains  caused  the 
utter  failure  of  his  crops.  In  1879  he  removed  to 
eastern  Oregon,  erected  a  country  hotel  and  con- 
ducted a  stage  station.  Prosperity  attended  his 
efforts  in  that  direction,  and  after  carrying  on 
the  business  for  two  years  he  removed  to  the 
territory  of  Washington,  in  1881.  There  he  took 
up  a  homestead  claim  from  the  government,  re- 
siding thereon  for  six  years.  He  made  many 
excellent  improvements  on  the  place  and  in  1885 
sold  the  property  for  four  thousand  dollars.  In 
1886  he  came  to  Nez  Perces  county  and  pur- 
chased a  farm  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  acres, 
two  miles  from  Leland,  where  he  has  since  been 
engaged  in  raising  wheat,  barley,  oats  and  stock. 
This  is  a  valuable  farming  property,  and  by  lite 
judicious  methods  and  thrifty  management  he 
has  gained  a  well  merited  prosperity. 

Unto  our  subject  and  his  wife  have  been  born 
seven  sons  and  five  daughters,  and  the  family  cir- 
cle yet  remains  unbroken  by  the  hand  of  death.  In 
order  of  birth  the  children  are  Edwin,  Peter, 
Clara,  Minnie,  Clay,  Amos,  Arthur,  Marion,  Ida, 
Opal,  Clarence  and  Emma.  The  two  eldest  sons 
are  now  deputies  in  their  father's  office  and  also 


operating  the  farm,  while  the  younger  children 
of  the  family,  together  with  their  parents,  are 
occupying  the  pleasant  home  in  Lewiston,  which 
is  included  among  Mr.  Spekker's  realty  posses- 
sions. The  children  are  now  enjoying  the  excel- 
lent educational  advantages  offered  by  the  public 
schools  of  Lewiston,  and  thus  are  being  well 
prepared  for  life's  practical  duties.  In  religious 
views  the  family  is  somewhat  divided.  Mr.  Spek- 
ker was  reared  in  the  Reformed  church  of 
Germany,  his  wife  in  the  Lutheran  church,  and 
some  of  the  children  belong  to  the  Methodist 
church,  while  others  attend  the  Presbyterian 
services. 

In  politics  our  subject  has  been  a  stalwart 
Republican  since  becoming  an  American  citizen, 
and  in  the  fall  of  1898  he  was  chosen  by  popular 
ballot  to  fill  the  offices  of  assessor  and  tax  collec- 
tor of  Nez  Perces  county,  in  which  capacity  he 
is  now  acceptably  serving,  being  well  qualified 
to  assess  the  taxable  property  of  the  county, 
owing  to  his  systematic  business  methods  and 
his  thorough  reliability.  No  trust  reposed  in  him 
has  ever  been  betrayed,  and  all  know  him  for  a 
man  of  sterling  worth.  His  career  in  America 
has  been  crowned  with  the  success  that  comes 
through  earnest,  honest  labor,  and  he  has  justly 
won  the  proud  American  title,  of  a  "self-made 
man." 

HENRY  WAX. 

Henry  Wax,  president  of  the  board  of  trustees 
of  Grangeville  and  one  of  her  most  enterprising 
business  men,  claims  California  as  the  state  of 
his  nativity,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  Sail 
Francisco,  on  the  4th  of  August,  1859.  His 
parents  were  Jacob  and  Amelia  (Elkles)  Wax, 
natives  of  Germany,  who  located  in  California  in 
pioneer  days.  The  year  1852  witnessed  their 
arrival  in  the  Golden  state,  where  the  father  car- 
ried on  merchandising  in  several  towns  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  passed  away  in  his  forty- 
fourth  year,  his  estimable  wife  having  been  called 
to  the  home  beyond  three  weeks  previously.  In 
their  family  were  seven  children,  of  whom  only- 
three  are  living. 

Henry  Wax,  the  third  in  order  of  birth,  was 
only  a  small  boy  when  bereft  of  his  parents.  He 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
town  and  began  to  earn  his  own  living  as  a  clerk 
in  the  store  of  Meier  &  Frank,  remaining  with 


514 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


that  firm  for  seven  years,  as  one  of  their  most 
trusted  employes.  There  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  his  future  successful  career,  by  acquiring  a 
systematic  and  thorough  knowledge  of  business 
methods  and  becoming  familiar  with  the  qualities 
of  goods  handled.  In  1880  he  became  a  resident 
of  Mount  Idaho,  and  in  partnership  with  Mr. 
Weiler  began  business  on  his  own  account.  In 
1886  he  opened  his  store  at  Grangeville,  and 
from  the  beginning  success  attended  the  new 
enterprise.  In  1888  he  established  a  branch  store 
at  Cottonwood,  and  for  several  years  the  firm 
conducted  the  three  stores,  but  found  that  the 
one  at  Grangeville  could  supply  the  Mount  Idaho 
customers,  and  accordingly  the  one  in  the  latter 
place  was  abandoned.  Business  is  carried  on  at 
Cottonwood  by  the  firm  of  Wax  &  Brown,  while 
Mr.  Wax  is  now  sole  proprietor  of  the  store  in 
Grangeville.  He  carries  a  large  and  well  selected 
stock  of  goods  and  has  studied  closely  the  varied 
.tastes  of  the  public,  so  that  he  is  able  to  meet  the 
demand.  His  honorable  business  policy,  com- 
bined with  his  uniform  courtesy  and  his  earnest 
desire  to  please  his  patrons,  has  secured  to  him  a 
liberal  patronage. 

His  efforts  have  not  been  confined  entirely  to 
mercantile  pursuits.  He  has  been  the  promoter 
of  ether  interests  which  have  resulted  to  the  gen- 
eral good  as  well  as  to  individual  benefit.  He  wa.j 
the  organizer  of  the  Lewiston  &  Camas  Prairie 
Telephone  Company,  one  of  the  most  valuable 
acquisitions  to  the  business  interests  of  the  town. 
He  is  also  one  of  the  stockholders  and  a  director 
of  the  Bank  of  Camas  Prairie.  He  carries  for- 
ward to  successful  completion  whatever  he 
undertakes,  and  his  enterprise  and  capable  man- 
agement are  most  marked. 

Mr.  Wax  is  independent  in  his  political  views, 
casting  his  vote  for  the  men  and  measures  that 
he  believes  will  best  advance  the  interests  of  the 
county.  That  he  is  one  of  Grangeville's  most 
public-spirited  and  able  citizens  is  evinced  by 
the  fact  that  he  is  now  serving  this  third  term  as 
president  of  the  board  of  trustees,  and  in  that 
capacity  is  doing  all  that  he  can  to  promote  the 
upbuilding  and  welfare  of  the  town.  The  public 
acknowledges  its  indebtedness  to  him,  and  his 
fellow  townsmen  give  him  their  active  co-opera- 
tion as  he  labors  for  the  improvement  of  the 
place. 


In  1885  Mr.  Wax  married  Miss  Hinda  Bin- 
nard,  daughter  of  A.  Binnard,  one  of  Lewiston's 
most  prominent  merchants,  now  deceased.  Their 
union  has  been  blessed  with  a  son,  Monte,  n 
bright  young  bov.  who  takes  an  active  interest  in 
selling  goods  in  his  father's  •  store  during  the 
months  of  vacation  from  school.  Mr.  Wax  is  a 
valued  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  has  passed  all  the  chairs  in  both 
branches  and  has  represented  his  lodge  in  the 
grand  lodge  of  the  state.  He  is  also  connected 
with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  has  repre- 
sented that  organization  in  its  grand  lodge.  His 
wife  is  a  member  of  the  Daughters  of  Rebekah, 
and  both  enjoy  the  high  esteem  of  their  fellow 
townsmen.  His  reliability  in  business,  his  devo- 
tion to  the  public  good,  and  his  fidelity  to  all  the 
duties  of  life  have  made  Mr.  Wax  a  most  popular 
citizen  of  Grangeville. 

W.  H.  PUCKETT. 

The  junior  member  of  the  well  known  law 
firm  of  Hawley  &  Puckett  is  the  gentleman 
whose  name  forms  the  caption  of  this  sketch. 
He  is  still  a  young  man,  but  has  attained  a  posi- 
tion of  distinction  at  the  bar  that  many  an  older 
practitioner  might  well  envy.  He  was  born  at 
Herndon  Place,  Ballard  county,  Kentucky,  on 
the  8th  of  August,  1869.  His  father,  W.  J. 
Puckett,  was  a  native  of  Jackson,  Mississippi, 
and  became  one  of  the  prominent  lawyers  of 
Kentucky,  where  he  practiced  successfully  for  a 
number  of  years.  He  is  now  living  retired  in 
Denver,  Colorado. 

In  the  public  schools  of  his  native  town  W.  H. 
Puckett  acquired  his  preliminary  education, 
which  was  supplemented  by  a  course  in  the 
Baptist  College  at  Blandville,  Kentucky.  In  1885 
he  went  to  Denver,  Colorado,  and  was  graduated 
in  the  Denver  Business  College,  in  1888.  The 
same  year  he  became  a  student  in  the  Washing- 
ton and  Lee  University,  of  Lexington,  Virginia, 
where  he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Law.  The  year  1891  witnessed  his 
arrival  in  Idaho.  He  secured  a  position  as  sten- 
ographer in  the  law  office  of  Hawley  &  Reever, 
at  Blackfoot,  and  in  1892  came  with  them  to 
Boise,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home.  He 
continued  with  the  firm  until  its  dissolution, 
when  he  joined  the  senior  partner  in  the  estab- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


515 


lishment  of  the  present  firm  of  Hawley  & 
Puckett.  They  eccupy  a  commanding  position 
at  the  bar  and  enjoy  a  very  liberal  share  of  the 
legal  business  in  the  courts  of  this  locality.  Mr. 
Puckett  is  thoroughly  devoted  to  his  profession, 
prepares  his  cases  with  great  thoroughness,  is 
ready  and  apt  in  argument,  and  quick  to  note  any 
point  of  attack  in  an  opponent's  position. 

In  his  social  relations  he  is  a  Mason,  a  valued 
representative  of  Boise  Lodge,  No.  2,  A.  F.  & 
A.  M.  He  also  belongs  to  Capital  City  Lodge, 
No.  310,  B.  P.  O.  E.,  in  which  he  holds  the  office 
of  esteemed  loyal  knight,  and  in  politics  he  is  a 
Democrat.  He  is  regarded  as  a  gentleman  of 
high  character  and  reliability,  of  laudable  ambi- 
tion and  commendable  enterprise  in  business,  and 
a  successful  future  undoubtedlv  awaits  him. 

JUDGE   FREDERICK  S.   STEVENS. 

The  distinguished  citizen  of  Bineham  county, 
Idaho,  whose  name  appears  above,  has  lived 
longer  in  that  county  than  any  other  resident 
now  alive.  He  has  at  different  stages  of  his  life 
in  the  county  been  soldier,  pioneer,  storekeeper, 
farmer  and  jurist,  and  in  each  capacity  has  won 
the  respect  of  all  who  have  been  associated  with 
him,  and  he  is  widely  known  as  one  of  the  most 
prominent  citizens  of  southeastern  Idaho. 

Frederick  S.  Stevens  was  born  in  Lynn,  Massa- 
chusetts, August  7,  1838.  Benjamin  Stevens,  his 
grandfather,  was  born  in  Massachusetts,  as  was 
also  Benjamin  Stevens,  Jr.,  his  father.  Benjamin 
Stevens  married  a  native  of  Lynn,  Massachusetts, 
and  a  daughter  of  Smith  Downing.  He  was  a 
tanner,  and  died  in  1856,  at  the  age  of  forty-four 
years.  His  widow  lived  seventy-five  years,  her 
death  occurring  in  1896.  They  were  devout  and 
helpful  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church.  They  had  four  children,  three  of  whom 
are  living. 

Judge  Frederick  S.  Stevens,  the  eldest  of  the 
survivors  of  his  father's  family,  was  graduated 
from  the  Lynn  (Massachusetts)  hieh  school.  He 
went  early  in  life  to  California,  via  the  isthmus 
of  Panama,  and  was  there  a  miner,  a  bookkeeper 
and  a  clerk  in  turn,  until  the  outbreak  of  the  civil 
war.  In  April,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  Company  H, 
Third  Regiment  of  California  Volunteer  Infan- 
try, with  the  expectation  that  the  regiment  would 
be  sent  to  participate  in  the  war  in  the  southern 


states,  but  it  was  sent  into  the  interior,  instead, 
to  keep  the  Indians  in  subjection  and  to  protect 
emigrants.  The  regiment  was  located  at  Camp 
Douglas  and  at  Soda  Springs,  and  Judge  Stevens 
saw  three  years  and  six  months  of  service  in  the 
wilderness,  which  has  now  mostly  disappeared, 
the  territory  it  covered  being  dotted  by  hundreds 
of  villages  and  cities  and  peopled  bv  thousands  of 
prosperous  and  contented  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, surrounded  bv  all  the  evidences  of  an  ad- 
vanced civilization,  rvfter  he  was  mustered  out 
of  the  service,  he  opened  a  settler's  store  at  Soda 
Springs,  and,  with  a  company  stationed  there, 
carried  on  a  trade  which  paid  to  a  degree  and 
promised  more,  but  was  terminated  suddenly  at 
the  expiration  of  a  year  by  the  unexpected  re- 
moval of  the  company. 

In  1866  Judge  Stevens  came  to  the  site  of 
Blackfoot,  then  luxuriant  in  sage-brush  and  a 
frequent  resort  of  Indians.  He  pre-empted  a 
farm  and  acquired  a  timber  claim  and  set  himself 
energetically  to  the  work  of  improvement  and 
cultivation.  The  farm  has  become  one  of  the 
model  farms  of  Bingham  county,  and  it  has  a 
fine  brick  residence  and  large  modern  outbuild- 
ings. The  timber  claim  has  been  developed  into 
one  of  the  finest  timber-culture  quarter-sections 
in  the  state,  and  not  far  from  the  handsome  brick 
house  stands  the  little  log  hut  in  which  Judge 
Stevens  began  life  in  the  wilderness.  In  that 
rude,  scanty  structure  was  dispensed  a  pioneer 
hospitality  which  was  often  made  available  by 
emigrants  to  or  through  the  place;  and  some- 
times it  was  the  scene  of  festive  gatherings  of 
neighbors,  who  crowded  one  another  within  its 
narrow  walls  and  gave  themselves  up  to  the  en- 
joyment of  a  mutual  friendship  that  was  as  gen- 
uine as  it  was  spontaneous  and  hearty.  Indian 
scares  were  frequent  in  those  pioneer  days.  On 
such  occasions  the  few  settlers  would  seek  safety 
in  the  house  of  Mr.  Warren,  which'was  provided 
with  loopholes  between  the  layers  of  logs  and 
was  otherwise  adapted  to  purposes  of  defense, 
and  men  would  take  turns  standing  guard  out- 
side, day  and  night.  Inside  everything  was  in 
readiness  for  desperate  battle,  and  every  man  was 
resolved  to  sell  his  life  at  the  greatest  possible 
cost  to  his  assailants.  Judge  Stevens  made 
many  trips  to  Logan,  to  Corinne  and  to  other 
distant  points,  with  an  ox  team,  for  necessary 


516 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


supplies.  The  perils,  deprivations  and  hardships 
of  the  past  are  now  but  a  memory.  Judge  and 
Mrs.  Stevens  have  seen  the  land  of  their  choice 
touched  by  the  magical  hand  of  progress,  the 
old  order  of  things  has  given  place  to  the  new, 
and  the  pioneer  is  not  without  honor  in  his  own 
country.  Stock-raising  has  received  much  at- 
tention from  Judge  Stevens,  and  he  has  become 
prominent  as  a  breeder  of  and  dealer  in  Durham 
cattle. 

Busy  as  Judge  Stevens  has  been,  his  interest 
in  public  affairs  has  always  been  keen.  A  Repub- 
lican in  politics,  he  cast  his  first  presidential  vote 
for  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  from  that  day  to  this 
he  has  been  a  faithful  and  active  adherent  to  the 
principles  of  his  party.  He  was  postmaster  of 
Blackfoot  under  President  Harrison,  and  filled 
that  position  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  whole  town 
for  eight  years.  He  was  three  times  elected 
probate  judge  of  Bingham  county,  and  during 
his  long  term  of  service  administered  the  office 
admirably.  The  trial  of  criminal  as  well  as  civil 
cases  then  devolved  upon  this  office,  and  its  in- 
cumbent was  ex-officio  superintendent  of  the 
schools  of  the  county.  The  various  and  respon- 
sible duties  of  the  position  were  performed  by 
Judge  Stevens  with  rare  ability  and  fidelity,  and 
it  is  a  matter  of  record  that  only  one  of  his  de- 
cisions was  reversed  by  a  higher  court. 

In  1864  he  married  Finetta  Garrett,  a  native 
of  England,  and  they  entered  upon  a  married  life 
whose  happiness  has  not  been  diminished  by 
time.  They  have  brought  up  a  family  of  five 
interesting  children:  Fred,  named  in  his  father's 
honor,  died  of  typhus  fever  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
six  years;  James  is  one  of  the  prominent  lawyers 
of  this  part  of  the  state  and  lives  at  Blackfoot; 
Emma,  Abbie  and  Rachel  are  members  of  their 
parents'  household. 

TOM  K.  LITTLE. 

From  his  boyhood  until  the  present  time  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  has  been  connected  with 
mercantile  interests,  and  is  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  that  line  of  business  in  every  detail.  Almost 
a  decade  ago  he  became  a  resident  of  Caldwell, 
Canyon  county,  and  during  the  intervening  years 
ne  has  been  one  of  the  enterprising  business  men 
of  the  place,  devoting  his  time  and  energies  to 
the  conduct  of  a  general  store.  So  ably  has  he 


managed  his  interests  that  he  has  met  with  most 
gratifying  success,  and  at  th«  same  time  has 
gained  the  public  confidence  and  good  will  by 
his  honorable  business  methods. 

Mr.  Little  was  born  in  the  northern  part  of 
Ireland,  in  the  town  of  Mohill,  county  Leitrim, 
October  26,  1850,  his  parents  being  of  Scotch- 
Irish  ancestry.  When  he  had  mastered  the  ele- 
mentary branches  of  an  education  he  commenced 
serving  an  apprenticeship  in  a  dry-goods  house 
in  Longford,  Ireland,  and  by  diligence  and  close 
application  won  the  esteem  and  trust  of  his  em- 
ployers. At  length  he  became  possessed  of  the 
desire  to  try  his  fortune  in  America,  for  he  was 
an  ambitious  lad  and  had  determined  to  make  a 
success  of  his  life  if  it  lay  within  his  power.  Ac- 
cordingly he  sailed  for  the  New  World,  and  after 
landing  on  American  shores  continued  his  west- 
ward journey  to  Chicago,  where  he  pursued  a 
course  of  practical  commercial  training  in  the 
well  known  Bryant  &  Stratton's  College  of  that 
thriving  young  metropolis.  Having  acquitted 
himself  with  credit  in  the  college  he  was  offered 
a  good  position  by  the  large  wholesale  dry-goods 
house  of  John  V.  Farwell  &  Company,  of  that 
city,  and  for  twenty-one  years  was  one  of  the 
most  trusted  employes  of  that  firm.  Naturally 
he  became  thoroughly  posted  in  the  various  de- 
partments of  the  business,  as  he  handled  all  kinds 
of  goods  in  the  line.  For  several  years  he  trav- 
eled almost  exclusively  in  Michigan  for  the  firm 
and  was  thus  .brought  into  contact  with  large 
and  small  dealers,  becoming  conversant  with  the 
retail  as  well  as  the  wholesale  trade.  After  all 
these  years  of  experience  he  was  eminently  well 
qualified  to  carry  on  a  business  of  his  own,  and 
since  opening  his  store  in  Caldwell  he  has  met 
with  the  success  which  he  richly  deserves.  It  was 
in  1891  that  a  stock  company  was  formed  here, 
with  Mr.  Little  as  vice  president  and  Montie  B. 
Gwinn  as  president,  and  three  years  later  Ernest 
Boone  and  Mr.  Little  bought  out  the  Montie  B. 
Gwinn  interests.  But  in  January,  1898,  Mr.  Lit- 
tle purchased  his  partner's  interests  and  has  since 
been  sole  proprietor.  He  carries  a  large  and 
well  selected  stock  of  dry  goods,  clothing,  fur- 
nishing goods,  hats  and  caps,  boots  and  shoes, 
carpets  and  general  supplies.  Year  by  year  the 
volume  of  business  transacted  by  the  firm  has 
increased,  and  the  house  now  ranks  with  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


517 


leading  ones  of  the  state.  January  15,  1899,  Mr. 
Little  purchased  the  Lucas  block,  which  he  re- 
modeled and  is  now  occupying  the  same,  it  being 
one  of  the  finest  and  most  modern  in  the  state 
and  in  every  way  suitable  to  meet  the  demands 
of  his  increasing  business. 

On  the  24th  of  February,  1879,  Mr.  Little  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Minnie  Hollecker,  of 
Ottawa,  Illinois,  where  the  wedding  was  cele- 
brated. They  now  have  one  child,  a  daughter 
named  Anabelle.  Theirs  is  one  of  the  attractive 
homes  of  Caldwell,  and  in  this  city  they  enjoy 
the  high  regard  of  many  friends.  Mr.  Little  has 
always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  development 
and  growth  of  the  town  and  has  been  foremost 
in  all  local  improvements  and  enterprises  calcu- 
lated to  permanently  benefit  the  locality.  While 
he  gives  his  attention  strictly  to  his  business 
affairs,  he  finds  time,  nevertheless,  to  fulfil  his 
duties  as  a  patriotic  citizen  of  this  great  common- 
wealth. His  ballot  supports  the  nominees  and 
measures  of  the  Republican  party. 

LINDOL  SMITH. 

For  seventeen  years  this  gentleman  has  been 
a  resident  of  Moscow,  and  has  been  one  of  the 
most  active  factors  in  its  upbuilding,  progress 
and  advancement.'  He  was  born  in  New  Phila- 
delphia, Tuscarawas  county,  Ohio,  June  6,  1832. 
His  paternal  great-grandfather  was  a  French 
revolutionist,  and  was  a  refugee  from  his  native 
land.  Coming  to  this  country,  he  joined  the 
colonial  army  in  the  struggle  for  independence, 
and  loyally  aided  in  the  war  for  freedom.  His 
son  Jonathan  Smith  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of 
1812,  and  in  an  early  day  became  a  pioneer  of 
Ohio,  where  he  reared  his  family.  His  son, 
James  M.  Smith,  father  of  our  subject,  was  born 
in  Millersburg,  Ohio,  and  married  Miss  Sarah  N. 
Casebeer,  a  lady  of  Pennsylvania-Dutch  ancestry. 
He  was  a  minister  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
church  and  devoted  his  life  to  the  work  of  saving 
souls.  When  well  advanced  in  years  he  retired 
from  the  ministry  and  spent  his  last  days  with 
his  son  Lindol,  in  whose  home  he  passed  away, 
at  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-four  years.  During 
the  civil  war  he  manifested  the  same  spirit  of 
loyalty  which  has  ever  been  a  marked  character- 
istic of  the  familv.  and  went  to  the  front,  caring 
for  the  soldiers  ill  with  smallpox  in  the  hospitals 


in  Nashville,  Tennessee.  He  had  great  love  for 
his  fellow  men  and  improved  every  opportunity 
for  doing  good  to  others.  His  estimable  wife, 
who  proved  to  him  a  faithful  companion  and 
helpmeet,  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  years. 
They  had  eleven  children,  of  whom  only  four 
survive,  the  subject  of  this  review  being  the 
eldest. 

The  family  removed  to  Indiana  when  Lindol 
Smith  was  only  seven  years  of  age,  and  after 
acquiring  a  practical  education  in  the  public 
schools  he  learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  and  has 
made  contracting  and  building  his  life  work.  In 
1862,  however,  when  the  country  was  engaged  in 
civil  war,  he  could  no  longer  content  himself  to 
remain  at  the  bench,  and  joined  the  boys  in  blue 
of  Company  G,  Seventy-third  Indiana  Infantry, 
which  was  attached  to  the  Army  of  the  Cumber- 
land. The  first  battle  in  which  he  participated 
was  at  Richmond,  Kentucky,  after  which  he  was 
engaged  in  fighting  nearly  every  day  until  Bragg 
and  his  forces  were  driven  from  the  state.  They 
then  went  to  Tennessee  for  the  purpose  of  cap- 
turing John  Morgan,  and  while  making  a  charge 
Mr.  Smith  attempted  to  jump  across  a  ditch,  fell, 
and,  striking  a  root,  broke  two  of  his  ribs.  One 
of  the  bones  penetrated  his  lungs,  pneumonia 
followed  and  he  was  forced  to  lie  in  the  hospital 
for  a  month.  He  was  then  granted  a  thirty-days 
furlough.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  he  re- 
joined his  regiment  at  Camp  Morton,  the  com- 
mand in  the  meantime  having  been  captured, 
paroled  and  then  placed  on  duty  to  guard 
prisoners.  Mr.  Smith  was  examined  by  the  sur- 
geon, and  being  declared  unfit  for  field  duty,  was 
placed  in  charge  of  the  military  prison  at  Indian- 
apolis, where  he  remained  until  the  close  of  the 
war,  when  he  received  an  honorable  discharge, 
July  2,  1865. 

Before  the  war  he  had  married  Miss  Rachel 
Surface,  and  to  them  were  born  four  children, 
but  he  lost  his  wife  and  two  of  his  children,  and 
two  of  his  brothers  through  the  dread  disease, 
scarlet  fever.  He  was  again  married  January 
10,  1861,  Miss  Alwieda  Patton,  a  native  of  In- 
diana, becoming  his  wife.  When  he  was  wounded 
she  obtained  from  Governor  Morton  a  commis- 
sion as  a  nurse,  went  to  her  husband's  bedside 
and  remained  as  matron  of  the  hospital  until  the 
war  was  over,  having  one  hundred  and  fifty  sick 


518 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


and  wounded  soldiers  under  her  supervision.  She 
was  untiring  in  her  efforts  to  relieve  their  suffer- 
ings and  minister  to  their  wants,  and  was  very 
much  beloved  by  the  gallant  boys  in  blue.  In 
consideration  of  her  services,  her  country  has 
granted  her  a  pension  of  twelve  dollars  per 
month. 

After  the  war  Mr.  Smith  was  in  poor  health 
for  some  time  and  unfit  for  active  carpenter  work. 
He  therefore  engaged  in  buying  and  selling  lum- 
ber until  the  financial  panic  of  1873,  when  he 
lost  heavily.  In  1882  he  came  to  Moscow,  built 
a  planing  mill  and  in  connection  with  its  opera- 
tion engaged  in  contracting  and  building,  super- 
intending the  erection  of  many,  of  the  best 
buildings  in  the  city.  He  was  employed  by  the 
state  board  of  regents  of  the  university  to  super- 
vise its  construction,  to  see  that  proper  materials 
were  used  and  that  the  work  was  done  according 
to  the  most  improved  methods,  and  at  the  present 
time  he  is  occupied  with  the  superintendency  of 
the  completion  of  the  building.  The  university 
is  a  credit  to  the  city  and  the  state  and  stands  as 
a  monument  to  the  business  ability  and  skill  of 
Mr.  Smith.  He  is  most  reliable  in  all  dealings, 
faithfully  lives  up  to  the  terms  of  a  contract  and 
has  the  confidence  and  patronage  of  the  public 
in  an  unusual  degree. 

Mr.  Smith  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in 
the  welfare  and  progress  of  the  town,  has  served 
for  eleven  years  as  a  member  of  the  school  board 
and  has  largely  promoted  the  cause  of  education. 
He  was  also  a  member  of  the  citv  council  one 
term,  and  for  two  terms,  as  mayor,  administered 
the  affairs  of  Moscow,  his  rule  being  a  beneficent 
and  progressive  one.  In  1898  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  state  legislature,  and  in  all  the 
positions  of  trust  has  labored  earnestly  and 
effectively  for  the  welfare  of  his  countv  and  state. 

Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  have  -been  born 
seven  children,  four  of  whom  are  living.  The 
daughter,  Ivanella,  is  now  the  wife  of  J.  W. 
Lewellan,  of  Moscow.  Edward  had  just  gradu- 
ated from  the  State  University  when  the  war 
with  Spain  began,  and  with  forty-five  of  his 
fellow  students  he  enlisted  and  was  made  captain 
of  Company  D,  First  Idaho  Volunteers,  in  which 
capacity  he  is  now  serving  his  country  at  Manila, 
under  General  Lawton.  He  received  a  slight  gun- 
shot wound  in  the  left  leg  at  San  Pedro.  Captain 


Smith  is  only  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  is 
said  to  be  the  youngest  captain  in  the  service. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  state  militia  and  a 
thorough  tactician,  and  his  ability  in  His  present 
office  rivals  that  of  many  a  veteran  of  twice  his 
years.  Leo,  the  second  son,  now  nineteen  years 
of  age,  is  serving  in  his  brother's  company  and 
has  written  a  poem  of  much  merit  on  the  Boys 
in  Blue.  The  youngest  son,  Wilbert  A.,  is  now 
attending  the  summer  term  of  the  state  univer- 
sity. The  parents  certainly  have  just  reason  to 
be  proud  of  their  children  who  in  a  foreign  land 
are  protecting  the  starry  banner  of  the  natiqn. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  valued  member  of  the  Odd 
Fellows  society  and  has  filled  all  the  offices  in 
both  branches  of  the  order.  His  wife  belongs 
to  the  adjunct  order,  the  Daughters  of  Rebekah, 
was  the  first  president  of  the  assembly  and  was 
also  the  first  president  of  the  Women's  Relief 
Corps  of  the  state.  Mr.  Smith  is  very  active  in 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  is  past  com- 
mander of  the  local  post,  and  state  department 
commander.  He  has  near  his  home  a  flag-pole 
from  which  he  flies  "old  glory"  on  occasions  of 
note,  and  also  has  a  ten-pound  Parrott  gun  which 
he  received  from  Bostonforthe  benefit  of  the  post. 
The  family  is  one  long  celebrated  for  loyalty  to 
the  flag,  for  since  the  time  the  French  refugee 
landed  on  American  shores  down  to  the  present 
when  two  loyal  sons  of  our  subject  are  serving 
in  Manila,  each  generation  of  the  family  has  been 
represented  in  the  wars  which  have  sustained  the 
honor  of  the  nation  and  led  to  its  present  great- 
ness and  its  proud  position  among  the  powers  of 
the  world. 

JESSE  L.  CONANT,  M.  D. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  worthy  example 
of  the  large  class  of  well  read,  careful  and  honor- 
able physicians  who  are  dear  to  their  fellow 
townsmen  wherever  their  lot  may  be  cast.  They 
are  near  to  the  people  in  sickness  and  trouble  and 
grow  very  near  to  them  in  all  relations  of  life, 
and  become,  many  of  them,  the  most  influential 
men  in  their  communities.  Doctor  Jesse  Lyman 
Conant,  mayor  and  prominent  physician  and 
druggist  of  Genesee,  Idaho,  was  born  in  Birming- 
ham, Essex  county,  New  York,  May  31,  1831, 
and  is  descended  from  an  old  Norman  family 
which  went  to  the  mother  country  with  William 
the  Conqueror.  George  Conant,  who  came  early 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


519 


to  New  England  and  was  the  friend  and  rival  of 
Miles  Standish,  was  the  progenitor  of  the  family 
in  America.  Doctor  Conant's  grandfather  was 
born  in  Berkshire,  Massachusetts,  and  his  son, 
Clark  Conant,  who  was  Doctor  Conant's  father, 
was  a  native  of  the  same  town. 

Clark  Conant  married  Samantha  Grandy,  of 
Vermont,  and  moved  to  Jackson  county,  Michi- 
gan, at  a  comparatively  early  date.  Thence  they 
removed,  in  1878,  when  somewhat  advanced  in 
life,  to  Los  Angeles,  California,  where  Mr. 
Conant  died  at  the  age  of  ninety-eight,  and  Mrs. 
Conant  at  the  age  of  ninety-six.  They  were  of 
the  highest  character  and  were  almost  lifelong 
members  of  the  Baptist  church.  They  had  six 
children,  of  whom  four  are  living.  George  Clark 
Conant  died  in  defense  of  his  country  during  the 
civil  war. 

Doctor  Jesse  Lyman  Conant  was  educated  in 
a  general  way  in  the  public  schools  and  profes- 
sionally in  Rush  Medical  College,  where  he  stood 
third  in  a  class  of  eighty.  He  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  his  profession  and  pursued  it  success- 
fully in  Jackson  county,  Michigan,  for  a  number 
of  years.  Then  for  eight  years  he  ministered  to 
the  sick  at  Blair,  Nebraska,  where  he  became  well 
known  as  ail  able  and  successful  physician  and 
surgeon.  The  succeeding  eight  years  were  passed, 
with  similar  results,  at  Buffalo  Gap,  South 
Dakota.  From  there  he  came  to  Genesee,  where 
he  and  his  son,  Dr.  J.  L.  Conant,  Jr.,  erected  a 
two-story  and  basement  store  building,  twenty- 
five  by  eighty  feet,  which  he  so  planned  that  he 
has  one  of  the  most  attractive  as  well  as  one  of 
the  most  convenient  drug  stores  in  northern 
Idaho.  He  carries  a  large  stock  of  drugs,  paints, 
oils,  and  stationery,  and  has  an  extensive  and 
constantly  growing  trade.  He  has  prospered  in 
a  professional  way  also,  and  has  a  large  practice 
among  the  best  citizens  of  Genesee  and  its  sur- 
rounding country. 

Dr.  Conant  was  married,  in  1854,  to  Miss  Julia 
Rock,  a  native  of  Clinton  county,  New  York. 
They  have  had  three  children,  of  whom  two  are 
living.  Their  daughter,  Helen  Elizabeth,  is  the 
wife  of  Frank  Standish.  Doctor  Jesse  L.  Conant, 
Jr.,  their  son,  received  a  thorough  medical  educa- 
tion and  became  his  father's  partner  and  gained 
an  enviable  professional  reputation.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Spanish  war  he  tendered  his 


services  to  his  country  and  was  appointed  sur- 
geon of  the  First  Idaho  Regiment,  and  is  now 
serving  with  it  in  the  Philippine  Islands. 

Doctor  Conant's  first  vote  was  cast  for  Win- 
field  Scott,  Whig  candidate  for  president,  and 
when  the  Republican  party  was  formed  he 
attached  himself  to  it  and  has  voted  for  every  one 
of  its  nominees  for  the  presidency,  from  Fremont 
to  McKinley,  and  has  been  a  warm  supporter  of 
its  party  at  all  periods  of  its  history.  He  never 
was  an  office-seeker,  and  has  often  refused  posi- 
tions of  responsibility  which  might  have  been  his 
for  the  taking,  but  in  1899  he  was  prevailed  upon 
to  become  the  nominee  of  his  party  for  the 
mayoralty  of  Genesee.  His  election  followed, 
and  the  choice  was  so  good  a  one  that  it  "was 
satisfactory  to  the  citizens  of  all  classes  and 
parties.  He  was  made  Mason  many  years  ago 
and  is  a  past  master  of  his  lodge. 

CARMEL  C.   CARPENTER. 

One  whose  faith  in  the  magnificent  agricultural 
possibilities  of  Idaho  was  such  as  to  lead  him  to 
become  identified  with  this  great  basic  industry 
is  Carmel  C.  Carpenter,  who  is  one  of  the  prom- 
inent and  representative  farmers  of  Latah  cotintv. 
Results  have  amply  justified  his  confidence,  and 
he  to-day  maintains  his  residence  on  his  fine 
farm,  which  is  located  seven  and  one-half  miles 
south  of  the  thriving  town  of  Moscow.  Mr. 
Carpenter  is  a  native  of  the  state  of  Iowa,  having 
been  born  in  Dubuque  county,  on  the  271!.!  of 
April,  1845.  His  lineage  traces  back  to  stanch 
old  English  stock,  the  first  American  representa- 
tives of  the  family  having  been  numbered  among 
the  early  settlers  in  Vermont,  from  which  state 
the  great-grandfather  of  our  subject  went  forth 
to  valiant  service  for  the  cause  of  independence 
in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 

Cephas  Carpenter,  grandfather  of  Carme!  C., 
was  born  in  Vermont,  and,  as  a  colonel  in  the 
militia  of  that  state,  saw  active  service  in  the 
war  of  1812,  participating  in  the  battle  of  Platts- 
burg  Heights.  He  attained  remarkable  longevity, 
being  ninety-six  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his 
death  and  being  active  and  in  full  possession  of 
his  faculties  even  to  the  day  of  his  demise.  It  is 
a  matter  of  record  that  he  walked  a  distance  of 
seven  miles  the  day  before  he  passed  away, — an 
honored  patriarch,  in  whom  there  was  no  guile. 


520 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


He  was  by  profession  a  lawyer,  was  a  man  of 
high  intellectual  gifts  and  sterling  integrity,  and 
that  as  a  prototype  his  influence  on  heredity  has 
been  altogether  beneficial  may  be  inferred  from 
the  fact  that  one  of  his  grandsons  was  Matt.  H. 
Carpenter,  the  celebrated  lawyer  of  Wisconsin 
and  for  many  years  a  representative  of  that  state 
in  the  United  States  senate.  • 

Alfred  Carpenter,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  review,  was  born  in  the  state  of  Vermont,  his 
birth  having  occurred  in"  Washington  county,  in 
the  year  1812.  He  was  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
and  his  efforts  were  attended  with  a  due  measure 
of  success.  He  married  Miss  Mary  K.  Cheney, 
a  native  of  Milford,  Massachusetts,  and  they  be- 
came the  parents  of  thirteen  children,  all  of  whom 
reached  mature  years  and  of  •  whom  only 
two  are  deceased  at  the  present  time.  The 
father  lived  to  attain  the  age  of  seventy  years, 
and  his  widow  has  now  reached  the  venerable  age 
of  seventy-seven  years. 

In  this  large  family  of  children,  who  grew  up 
under  the  invigorating  influences  of  the  old 
Green  Mountain  state,  Carmel  C.  Carpenter,  of 
this  sketch,  was  the  third  in  order  of  birth  and 
is  the  eldest  of  the  survivors.  He  was  reared  on 
the  parental  farmstead,  early  becoming  familiar 
with  the  duties  incidental  to  its  cultivation,  while 
in  the  winter  seasons  he  was  accorded  the  ad- 
vantages afforded  by  the  district  schools.  Mr. 
Carpenter  was  a  youth  of  seventeen  years  when 
the  dark  cloud  of  civil  war  cast  its  pall  over  the 
national  horizon,  and  his  patriotic  ardor  was 
quickened  to  the  point  of  action.  In  response  to 
President  Lincoln's  second  call  for  volunteers, 
he  enlisted  in  Company  G,  Twenty-third  Missouri 
Volunteer  Infantry,  with  which  he  served  in  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee  and  later  in  the  Army  of 
the  Cumberland.  He  participated  in  many  of 
the  important  conflicts  which  marked  -the  prog- 
ress of  the  great  war  of  the  Rebellion,  among 
the  number  being  those  of  Shiloh,  Peach  Tree 
Creek,  New  Hope  Church  and  Jonesboro, 
Georgia,  while  he  also  was  an  active  participant 
in  the  almost  continuous  fighting  of  the  Atlanta 
campaign,  including  the  taking  of  the  city.  His 
regiment  accompanied  General  Sherman  on  the 
ever  memorable  "march  to  the  sea,"  and  he  took 
part  in  the  battles  at  Louisville,  Georgia,  and 
Waynesboro.  Mr.  Carpenter  was  too  young  to 


secure  promotion,  but  his  military  record  was 
one  of  splendid  order  and  one  in  which  he  may 
justly  take  pride.  It  is  worthy  of  note  in  this 
connection  that  the  youthful  soldier  did  not  re- 
ceive a  wound  during  the  entire  course  of  his 
service,  nor  was  he  ill  for  even  a  day,  his  sturdy 
vigor  and  his  intrepid  bravery  making  him  a 
valuable  addition  to  the  ranks  of  "boys  in  blue" 
who  perpetuated  the  integrity  of  our  nation.  Mr. 
Carpenter  received  an  honorable  discharge  at 
Savannah,  Georgia,  on  the  24th  of  January,  1865, 
a  youthful  veteran  who  had  rendered  to  his  coun  • 
try  the  valiant  service  of  a  loval  son  of  the 
republic. 

His  army  service  thus  ended  and  victory  hav- 
ing crowned  the  Union  arms,  Mr.  Carpenter 
returned  to  his  far-distant  home,  where  he  forth 
with  resumed  the  vocation  of-farming.  In  1869 
was  consummated  his  marriage  to  Miss  Amy  M. 
Randall,  who  was  born  in  Iowa,  the  daughter  of 
Almeron  Randall. 

In  the  year  1880  Mr.  Carpenter  disposed  of 
his  farm  in  Missouri  and  turned  his  face  toward 
the  "shining  mountains"  of  Idaho,  the  Gem  state 
of  the  Union.  Upon  arriving  here  he  located 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  rich  farming 
land  in  Latah  county,  where  he  has  since  main- 
tained his  home  and  where  success  has  crowned 
his  indefatigable  and  well  directed  efforts.  He 
has  given  his  attention  to  the  improvement  and 
cultivation 'of  his  property,  bringing  to  bear  the 
most  approved  methods  and  carrying  on  opera- 
tions according  to  scientific  principles.  His  suc- 
cess, as  taken  in  connection  witn  the  natural 
benefices  which  soil  and  climate  afford,  has  been 
a  natural  result,  and  he  is  to  be  numbered  among 
those  who  have  done  much  to  advance  the  agri- 
cultural interests  of  a  state  whose  prestige  is  ever 
increasing.  Wisely  interpreting  the  possibilities 
for  successful  production,  Mr.  Carpenter  has  de- 
voted his  attention  'principally  to  the  raising  of 
wheat,  having  secured  a  yield  of  as  high  as  forty 
bushels  per  acre,  as  an  average  for  the  entire 
crop.  Of  barley  he  has  raised  seventy-eight 
bushels  per  acre,  the  entire  crop  being  sold  at 
the  rate  of  one  cent  a  pound  and  returning  to  him 
twenty-five  dollars  per  acre.  Upon  his  place  Mr. 
Carpenter  has  also  a  fine  fruit  orchard,  the  prod- 
ucts of  which  are  principally  retained  for  home 
use. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO.- 


521 


To  our  subject  and  his  wife  seven  children 
have  been  born,  and  of  this  number  five  are 
living.  The  eldest  daughter,  Nellie,  is  the  wife 
of  Ralph  L.  Hall,  of  Coeur  d'Alene;  and  the 
younger  children  are  Jessie,  Arthur,  Jennie  and 
Leona. 

In  his  political  adherency  Mr.  Carpenter  is 
stanchly  arrayed  in  support  of  the  Republican 
party  and  its  principles.  For  two  years  he  has 
been  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Latah 
county,  and  for  the  long  period  of  eighteen  years 
he  has  served  as  one  of  the  trustees  of  his  school 
district,  while  for  three  years  he  was  a  member 
of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Soldiers'  Home, 
at  Boise,  having  been  appointed  to  this  position 
by  Governor  McConnell.  He  keeps  alive  the 
associations  and  memories  of  his  military  life  by 
retaining  membership  in  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  and  in  addition  to  this  valued  fraternal 
connection,  he  is  also  identified  with  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

Mr.  Carpenter  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  rep- 
resentative citizens  of  the  county,  being  a  man 
of  marked  intellectuality  and  inflexible  integrity 
and  holding  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all 
who  come  in  contact  with  him.  He  and  his  family 
enjoy  a  wide  acquaintanceship  and  distinct  popu- 
larity in  Latah  county,  where  they  have  resided 
for  so  many  years,  and  they  merit  consideration 
in  any  work  which  has  to  do  with  the  history  of 
the  fair  state  of  Idaho. 

SAMUEL   O.    TANNAHILL. 

Samuel  O.  Tannahill,  of  the  law  firm  of  Tanna- 
hill  &  Tannahill,  of  Lewiston,  is  a  native  of 
Iowa,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  Van  Btiren 
county,  that  state,  August  10,  1868.  In  colonial 
days  the  family  was  founded  in  New  England, 
and  the  great-grandfather  of  our  subject,  Henry 
W.  Tannahill,  was  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revo- 
lution, valiantly  fighting  for  the  independence  of 
the  nation.  He  afterward  became  one  of  the 
pioneer  settlers  of  Ohio,  and  there  occurred  the 
birth  of  Henry  and  John  L.  Tannahill,  the  former 
the  grandfather,  the  latter  the  father  of  our  sub- 
ject. When  a  young  man  John  L.  Tannahill 
emigrated  to  Iowa,  and  became  an  industrious 
and  successful  farmer  of  that  state.  He  married 
Miss  Elmira  Jones,  a  native  ot  Iowa,  and  to  them 
were  born  three  sons,  all  yet  living.  At  the  time 


of  the  civil  war,  the  father  responded  to  the  coun- 
try's call  for  aid  and  served  in  the  Seventh  Iowa 
Cavalry  until  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  Later 
he  removed  to  Kansas,  in  1872,  where  he  died  in 
the  thirty-third  year  of  his  age.  His  widow  still 
survives  him  and  is  now  forty-nine  years  of  age. 
She  belongs  to  the  Presbyterian  church,  as  did 
her  husband. 

Samuel  O.  Tannahill,  the  eldest  son,  acquired 
his  preliminary  education  in  the  public  schools 
of  Kansas,  and  later  was  a  student  in  the  Kansas 
State  Normal  School.  He  was  reared  on  the 
home  farm,  and  when  seventeen  years  of  age 
began  to  earn  his  own  living  by  teaching  school. 
He  was  employed  as  a  teacher  of  country  schools 
until  1888,  when  he  came  to  Idaho  and  continued 
his  labors  along  educational  lines,  in  Nez  Perces 
county,  until  1892,  when,  by  popular  ballot,  he 
was  elected  to  the  office  of  assessor  and  ex-officio 
tax  collector.  He  then  came  to  Lewiston  to 
reside,  and  filled  his  position  in  such  a  satisfactory 
manner  that  in  1894  he  received  the  nomination 
of  his  party  for  clerk  of  the  district  court  and 
ex-officip  auditor  and  recorder  of  the  county. 
He  was  also  clerk  of  the  board  of  commissioners, 
and  his  public  service  was  most  acceptable  and 
commendable.  In  the  meantime  Mr.  Tannahill 
had  read  law,  and  having  passed  the  necessary 
examination  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  then 
entered  into  partnership  with  his  brother,  George 
W.  Tannahill,  who  is  a  graduate  of  the  law 
school  at  Valparaiso,  Indiana,  and  they  have 
rapidly  acquired  a  good  practice,  now  retaining 
a  distinctively  representative  clientele.  They  have 
a  nicely  appointed  office,  a  good  library  and  also 
own  a  set  of  abstract  books. 

Samuel  O.  Tannahill  has  always  been  an  advo- 
cate and  supporter  of  the  Democracy,  has 
attended  many  of  the  county  and  state  conven- 
tions and  has  a  wide  acquaintance  in  the  party 
throughout  the  state.  He  had  the  honor  of  being 
appointed  by  Governor  Steunenberg  a  member 
of  his  staff.  He  keeps  well  informed  on  the 
issues  of  the  day  and  is  therefore  able  to  give  an 
intelligent  support  to  the  principles  in  which  he 
so  firmly  believes. 

Mr.  Tannahill  was  married,  in  1897,  *°  Miss 
Alice  Cox,  a  daughter  of  W.  S.  Cox,  a  prominent 
Lewiston  merchant.  She  is  a  lady  of  culture 
and  refinement  and  is  a  valued  member  of  the 


522 


•HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Presbyterian  church.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tannahill 
have  a  nice  home  in  Lewiston,  where  he  has 
acquired  considerable  property.  He  belongs  to 
the  Odd  Fellows  society,  has  passed  all  the  chairs 
in  all  its  branches,  is  a  blue-lodge  and  royal-arch 
Mason  and  has  taken  the  Scottish-rite  degrees  up 
to  and  including  the  eighteenth.  He  is  a  young 
man  of  worth  and  ability,  and  has  the  happy 
faculty  of  making  friends  and  drawing  them 
closer  to  him  as  the  years  pass  by.  At  the  bar 
he  has  attained  an  enviable  position.  Deeply  in- 
terested in  his  profession  he  spares  no  pains  in 
perfecting  himself  in  his  chosen  calling,  and 
has  a  wide  and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  jurisprudence. 

CARTER  W.  BURNS. 

Among  the  public  officials  of  Elmore  county 
is  Carter  W.  Burns,  of  Mountain  Home,  who  is 
now  acceptably  serving  as  sheriff.  His  entire  life 
has  been  spent  west  of  the  Mississippi,  his  birth 
having  occurred  in  Jackson  county,  Iowa,  on 
the  5th  of  April,  1856.  The  family  is  of  Scotch 
descent  and  was  early  founded  in  the  state  of 
Missouri,  the  paternal  grandfather  of  our  subject 
having  taken  up  his  residence  there  when  the 
region  was  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness 
Jerome  Samuel  Burns,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
was  born  in  Missouri  and  wedded  Miss  Mary 
Kuntz,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  German 
descent.  They  are  now  residents  of  San  Jose, 
California,  the  father  having  attained  the  age  of 
sixty-seven,  the  mother  fifty-seven  years.  They 
are  both  valued  members  of  the  Methodist  church, 
and  are  people  of  the  highest  respectability  and 
worth.  In  their  family  were  twelve  children,  ten 
of  whom  reached  years  of  maturity,  while  nine 
are  still  living. 

Carter  W.  Burns,  whose  name  introduces  this 
review,  acquired  his  education  in  the  public 
schools  near  his  Iowa  home,  and  spent  his  boy- 
hood days  upon  his  father's  farm,  assisting  in 
the  work  of  plowing,  planting  and  harvesting. 
His  time  was  thus  occupied  until  he  attained  his 
majority,  when  he  left  home  and  went  to  the 
Black  Hills,  where  he  engaged  in  prospecting 
and  mining.  During  the  Leadville  excitement  he 
went  to  Colorado,  where  he  again  engaged  in 
mining  and  also  followed  freighting  for  some 
time.  He  carried  supplies  for  the  miners  into 


the  state  of  Durango,  Mexico,  and  while  in  that 
land  took  a  contract  for  building  a  portion  of  the 
Rio  Grande  Railroad.  On  the  completion  of 
that  work  he  returned  to  Colorado,  and  in  1882 
came  to  Idaho,  locating  on  Wood  river,  where 
he  engaged  in  prospecting,  mining,  freighting 
and  in  furnishing  railroad  ties  for  the  railroad 
between  Shoshone  and  Ketchum. 

In  1884  Mr.  Burns  arrived  in  Mountain  Home 
and  opened  a  meat  market,  which  he  conducted 
with  excellent  success  for  ten  years.  He  also  had 
the  contract  for  carrying  the  mail  from  Mountain 
Home  to  Rocky  Bar,  and  is  now  quite  exten- 
sively interested  in  mining  claims,  having  made 
judicious  investments  in  mining  property.  In 
1896  he  was  elected  on  the  silver  Republican 
ticket  to  the  office  of  county  sheriff,  which  posi- 
tion he  has  filled  with  marked  capability.  He  is 
prompt  and  reliable,  discharging  his  duties  with- 
out fear  or  favor,  and  the  high  commendation  of 
the  public  is  accorded  him. 

In  1886  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Burns  and  Miss  Emma  Jane  Bluett,  a  native  of 
Walla  Walla,  Washington.  Their  union  has  been 
blessed  with  two  children,  Mary  L.  and  Charles 
J.,  who  are  still  with  their  parents.  Airs.  Burns 
is  an  acceptable  member  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal church,  and  both  our  subject  and  his  wife 
are  held  in  the  high  regard  of  an  extensive  circle 
of  friends  and  acquaintances. 

CHESTER  P.  COBURN. 

Among  the  well  known  and  highly  respected 
citizens  of  northern  Idaho  who  have  borne  an 
important  part  in  the  development  of  the  state  is 
Chester  P.  Coburn,  of  Lewiston,  whose  name  is 
enrolled  among  the  pioneers  who  came  to  this 
section  of  the  country  in  1862.  He  aided  in  the 
organization  not  only  of  the  state  but  of  the 
territory,  and  has  ever  been  a  prominent  factor 
in  the  progress  and  advancement  which  have 
wrought  a  marvelous  transformation  here.  It  is 
a  well  attested  maxim  that  the  greatness  .of  a 
state  lies  not  in  its  machinery  of  government, 
nor  even  in  its  institutions,  but  in  the  sterling 
qualities  of  its  individual  citizens,  in  their  capacity 
for  high  and  unselfish  effort  and  their  devotion  to 
the  public  good.  Regarded  as  a  citizen,  Mr. 
Coburn  belongs  to  that  public-spirited,  useful 
and  helpful  type  of  men  whose  ambitions  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


523 


desires  are  centered  and  directed  in  those  chan- 
nels through  which  flow  the  greatest  and  most 
permanent  good  to  the  greatest  number,  and  it 
is  therefore  consistent  with  the  purpose  and  plan 
of  this  work  that  his  record  be  given  among  those 
of  the  representative  men  of  the  state. 

A  native  of  Vermont,  Chester  P.  Coburn  was 
born  in  Rochester,  that  state,  May  3,  1832.  His 
ancestors  were  early  settlers  of  New  Hampshire 
and  the  Green  Mountain  state,  and  his  grand- 
fathers, Abraham  Coburn  and  Benjamin  Stone, 
fought  for  the  freedom  and  independence  of  the 
colonies  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  His  father, 
Thomas  Coburn,  was  a  native  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  in  early  life  learned  the  tanner's  trade, 
but  in  later  years  became  a  farmer.  He  married 
Miss  Amelia  Stone,  and  they  removed  from  Ver- 
mont to  Potsdam,  New  York,  where  the  father 
departed  this  life  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
six  years,  while  the  mother  was  called  to  her  final 
rest  in  her  eighty-fourth  year.  They  were  lifelong 
members  of  the  Congregational  church,  and  in 
his  political  views  Mr.  Coburn  was  first  a  Whig 
and  afterward  a  Republican.  Both  he  and  his 
wife  enjoyed  the  high  regard  of  many  friends 
and  their  lives  were  exemplary  in  all  respects. 
They  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  three  sons 
and  six  daughters,  but  four  of  the  daughters  are 
now  deceased. 

Chester  P.  Coburn,  the  eighth  in  order  of  birth, 
was  reared  and  educated  in  Vermont  and  New 
York.  He  left  his  home  in  August,  1849,  at  the 
age  of  seventeen  years,  and  went  to  New  York, 
where  he  remained  until  1852,  when  he  sailed  for 
California,  going  by  way  of  the  Nicaragua 
route.  He  was  for  some  years  engaged  in  mining 
and  merchandising  in  Placer  and  Yolo  counties, 
where  members  of  his  party  took  out  nuggets 
worth  seventy-five  and  eighty  dollars.  The  larg- 
est one  he  ever  secured,  however,  was  worth  ten 
dollars.  He  also  engaged  in  stock-raising  in 
California,  and  had  been  in  the  latter  business 
four  years  when,  attracted  by  the  Florence  gold 
discoveries,  he  came  to  Lewiston,  Idaho.  During 
the  first  summer  he  engaged  in  mining,  and  then 
established  a  livery  business,  for  there  was  a  large 
demand  for  pack  and  saddle  horses.  He  carried 
on  operations  along  that  line  until  1864,  when 
he  sold  his  barn  and  went  to  Oregon,  where  he 
purchased  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  head  of 


cattle,  which  he  brought  to  Lewiston.  He  then  en- 
gaged in  stock-raising  and  in  the  dairy  business, 
and  subsequently  carried  on  the  butchering  busi- 
ness in  Lewiston  for  fourteen  years.  In  1890  he 
went  to  the  Salmon  river  country,  took  up  gov- 
ernment land  and  continued  in  the  stock  busi- 
ness, meeting  with  gratifying  success.  He  is  a 
man  of  great  industry,  and  his  sagacity  in 
business  affairs  and  his  untiring  energy  resulted 
in  securing  a  handsome  competence.  In  1898  he 
sold  his  ranch  and  stock,  and  just  as  he  was 
concluding  the  transaction  he  was  robbed  of  three 
thousand  dollars  worth  of  stock.  He  never  found 
the  thief  or  cattle,  although  he  traveled  in  every 
direction,  searching  for  months,  but  without 
avail.  He  is  now  retired  from  active  business 
life  and  resides  in  his  home  in  Lewiston,  which 
he  has  owned  for  thirty  years. 

In  1866  Mr.  Coburn  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Martha  Chauncy,  a  native  of  Illinois,  who 
crossed  the  plains  in  an  early  day.  Their  union 
has  been  blessed  with  seven  children,  four  sons 
and  three  daughters,  all  yet  living,  namely: 
Albert  C.;  Howard  S.  and  Herbert  E.,  twins; 
Ransom  M.;  Alice  M.;  Flora  G.,  wife  of  Frank 
Sears;  and  Cora  E. 

Mr.  Coburn  cast  his  first  presidential  vote  for 
Winfield  Scott,  and  was  one  of  the  organizers  of 
the  Republican  party  in  California.  He  remained 
as  one  of  its  most  stalwart  supporters  for  many 
years,  but  is  not  in  harmony  with  it  on  the 
financial  question,  and  is  therefore  independent 
at  the  present  time,  placing  the  country's  good 
before  party  advancement.  He  has  attended 
various  conventions  of  his  party  in  Boise,  when 
the  fare  by  stage  was  one  'hundred  and  five 
dollars  each  way,  and  several  weeks  were  re- 
quired for  the  transaction  of  business  and  the 
accomplishment  of  the  journey.  Few,  if  any,  of 
the  pioneers  have  manifested  greater  devotion  to 
the  best  interests  of  the  state  or  performed  more 
effective  labor  in  behalf  of  the  general  progress 
and  advancement  of  Idaho.  He  has  left  the  im- 
press of  his  individuality  upon  the  social,  moral, 
business  and  political  life  of  fhe  state,  and  is 
regarded  as  one  of  Idaho's  most  valued  citizens. 
He  is  very  prominent  in  Masonic  circles  and  has 
attained  distinction  in  connection  with  the  official 
labors  of  the  organization.  He  was  made  a 
Master  Mason  in  Nez  Perces  Lodge,  No.  10,  F. 
&  A.  M.,  was  a  charter  member  of  Lewiston 
Chapter,  No.  4,  R.  A.  M.,  and  was  chosen  its 
first  high  priest,  serving  in  that  capacity  for 
seven  years.  He  is  also  past  master  of  the  lodge 
and  past  grand  master  of  the  order  in  the  state. 
His  life  exemplifies  the  ennobling  principles  of 
the  fraternity,  which  through  countless  ages  has 
inculcated  charity  and  kindliness  among  men. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


POLITICAL,  RESUMED. 


IN   1890  there  were  two  important  supreme- 
court  decisions  rendered  which  were  of  popu- 
lar   interest.     The    legislature    remained  in 
session  for  a  time  beyond  the  sixty-day  limit  pre- 
scribed by  the  constitution,  and  the  question  was 
raised  as  to  the  validity  of  the  laws  passed  after 
that  limit  was  passed.     The  supreme  court  of 
the  state  decided  that  they  were  valid,  and  this 
decision  was   finally  affirmed  by    the    supreme 
court  of  the  United  States. 

The  other  decision  concerned  the  great  Mor- 
mon question  and  the  test  oath  so  stringently 
adopted  by  the  early  settlers  of  the  territory.  The 
territorial  statute  provided  that  no  person  should 
be  entitled  to  vote  who  was  a  "member  of  any 
order,  organization  or  association  which  teaches, 
advises,  counsels  or  encourages  its  members, 
devotees  or  any  other  person  to  commit  the 
crime  of  bigamy  or  polygamy,  or  any  other  crime 
defined  by  law,  as  a  duty  arising  or  resulting  from 
membership  in  such  order,  organization  or  asso- 
ciation, or  which  practices  bigamy,  polygamy  or 
plural  or  celestial  marriages  as  a  doctrinal  rite 
of  such  organizations." 

To  enforce  this  provision  it  was  further  en- 
acted that  every  person  applying  for  registration 
should  take  a  stringent  oath,  known  as  the  "test 
oath,"  to  the  effect  that  he  "does  not  and  will  not 
practice  bigamy  or  polygamy,  and  is  not  and  will 
not  be  connected  in  any  way  with  the  Mormon 
organization  or  aid  it,  or  teach  its  doctrines."  It 
was  claimed  by  the  Mormons  that  these  statutes 
violated  the  first  amendment  to  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  which  forbids  the  passage 
of  any  law  "respecting  the  establishment  of  re- 
ligion or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof." 
The  decision  of  this  court,  rendered  February  3, 
1890,  denied  this  contention  and  fully  established 
the  constitutionality  of  such  legislation.  The 
document  contains  the  following  statements  of 
the  law: 

Bigamy  and  polygamy  are  crimes  by  the  laws  of  all 
civilized  and  Christian  countries.  They  are  crimes  by 


the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  they  are  crimes  by 
the  laws  of  Idaho.  The  term  "religion"  has  reference 
to  one's  views  of  his  relations  to  his  Creator  and  to  the 
obligations  they  impose  and  reverence  for  His  being 
and  character,  and  of  obedience  to  His  will.  It  is  often 
confounded  with  the  cultus  or  form  of  worship  of  a 
particular  sect,  but  is  distinguished  from  the  latter. 
The  first  amendment  to  the  constitution,  in  declaring 
that  "congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  the  estab- 
lishment of  religion  or  prohibit  the  free  exercise 
thereof,"  was  intended  to  allow  every  one  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  to  entertain  such 
notions  respecting  hi*  relations  to  his  Maker  and  the 
duties  they  impose  as  may  be  approved  by  his  judgment 
and  conscience,  and  to  exhibit  his  sentiments  in  such 
form  of  worship  as  he  may  think  proper  not  injurious 
to  the  equal  rights  of  others,  and  to  prohibit  legislation 
for  the  support  of  any  religious  tenets  or  the  modes  of 
worship  of  any  religious  sect.  The  oppressive  measures 
adopted,  and  the  cruelties  and  punishments  inflicted 
by  the  governments  of  Europe  for  many  ages,  to  com- 
pel parties  to  conform  in  their  religious  beliefs  and 
modes  of  worship  to  the  views  of  the  most  numerous 
sect,  and  the  folly  of  attempting  in  that  way  to  control 
the  mental  operation  of  persons  and  enforce  an  outward 
conformity  to  a  prescribed  standard,  led  to  the  adop- 
tion of  the  amendment  in  question.  It  was  never  in- 
tended or  supposed  that  the  amendment  could  be  in- 
voked as  a  protection  against  legislation  for  the  pun- 
ishment of  acts  inimical  to  the  peace,  good  order  and 
morals  of  society.  However  free  the  exercise  of  re- 
ligion may  be,  it  must  be  subordinate  to  the  criminal 
laws  of  the  country  passed  with  reference  to  actions 
regarded  by  general  consent  as  properly  the  subjects 
of  punitive  legislation.  Probably  never  before  in  the 
history  of  this  country  has  it  been  seriously  contended 
that  the  whole  punitive  power  of  the  government,  for 
acts  recognized  by  the  general  consent  of  the  Christian 
world  in  modern  times  as  proper  matters  for  prohib- 
itory legislation,  must  be  suspended  in  order  that  the 
tenets  of  a  religious  sect  encouraging  crime  may  be 
carried  out  without  hindrance. 

It  was  further  decided  that  the  legislation  in 
question  was  entirely  within  the  powers  granted 
by  congress  to  the  territorial  legislature. 

ADMISSION   TO   THE   UNION. 

The  passage  of  the  Idaho  admission  bill 
through  congress  was  virtually  assured  by  the 
above  decision.  Until  it  was  made  certain  that 


524 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


525 


the  new  state,  if  admitted,  could  lawfully  control 
and  exclude  from  power  its  polygamous  popula- 
tion, no  one  cared  to  hasten  its  admission ;  and 
the  bill  slumbered  in  the  house  committee  at 
Washington.  After  this  decision  the  bill  was 
reported  to  the  house,  and  passed,  April  3.  It 
received  the  approval  of  the  senate  July  i,  and 
was  signed  by  the  president  on  July  3,  and  at 
that  moment  Idaho  became  a  state.  Its  constitu- 
tion had  been  framed  in  July,  1889,  and  adopted 
by  the  people  in  November  of  that  year. 

The  boundaries  of  the  new  state  were 
defined  as  follows:  Beginning  at  the  inter- 
section of  the  thirty-ninth  meridian  with 
the  boundary  line  between  the  United  States 
and  the  British  possessions,  then  following 
said  meridian  south  until  it  reaches  the 
summit  of  the  Bitter  Root  mountains,  then 
southeast  along  the  crest  of  the  Bitter  Root 
range  and  the  continental  divide  until  it  inter- 
sects the  meridian  of  thirty-four  degrees  of  longi- 
tude, thence  southward  on  this  meridian  to  the 
forty-second  parallel  of  latitude,  thence  west  on 
this  parallel  of  latitude  to  its  intersection  with 
the  meridian  drawn  through  the  mouth  of  the 
Owyhe'e  river,  thence  north  on  this  merid- 
ian to  the  mouth  of  the  Owyhee  river, 
thence  down  the  mid-channel  of  the  Snake 
river  to  the  mouth  of  the  Clearwater  river, 
and  north  on  the  meridian  which  passes 
through  the  mouth  of  the  Clearwater  to  the 
boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and  the 
British  possessions,  and  east  on  said  boundary 
line  to  the  place  of  beginning. 

On  the  admission  of  Idaho  into  the  Union,  it 
was  assigned  one  representative  in  congress,  be- 
sides the  two  senators.  It  was  provided  that  in 
the  first  election  held  for  state  officers  the  terri- 
torial laws  for  registration,  including  the  test-oath 
law,  should  apply.  The  sixteenth  and  thirty-sixth 
sections  of  the  public  lands  in  each  township,  or 
sections  in  lieu  thereof,  were  granted  to  the  state 
for  the  support  of  common  schools,  the  proceeds 
from  the  sale  of  such  lands  to  be  preserved  as  a 
permanent  school  fund.  This  fund  was  entitled 
also  to  receive  five  per  cent,  of  the  net  proceeds 
accruing  to  the  United  States  from  the  sale  of 
public  lands  in  the  state.  Fifty  sections  of  the 
public  lands  were  granted  in  aid  of  the  erection 
.of  public  buildings  at  the  capital,  and  ninety 


thousand  acres  were  granted  for  the  establish- 
ment and  maintenance  of  an  agricultural  college. 
In  lieu  of  the  general  grant  of  lands  for  internal 
improvements  usually  made  to  new  states,  the 
following  special  grants  were  made:  For  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  a  scientific 
school,  100,000  acres;  for  state  normal  schools, 
90,000  acres;  for  the  maintenance  of  the  insane 
asylum  at  Blackfoot,  50,000  acres;  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  state  university  at  Moscow,  50,000 
acres;  for  the  penitentiary  at  Boise,  50,000  acres; 
and  for  other  state  charitable,  educational,  penal 
and  reformatory  institutions,  150,000  acres.  None 
of  the  lands  granted  was  to  be  sold  for  less  than 
ten  dollars  an  acre. 

THE  FIRST  STATE  OFFICERS. 

Pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  the  admission 
act  and  of  the  new  constitution,  Territorial  Gov- 
ernor Shoup  issued  a  proclamation,  July  18,  1890, 
directing  a  special  election  to  be  held  on  October 
i  to  choose  a  full  corps  of  state  and  county 
officers  and  a  representative  to  the  fifty-first  and 
fifty-second  congresses.  Nominating  conventions 
were  at  once  called  by  the  Republican  and  Demo- 
cratic state  committees. 

The  Republican  state  convention  met  at  Boise 
August  20  and  nominated  the  following  ticket: 
For  governor,  George  L.  Shoup;  for  lieutenant 
governor,  Norman  B.  Willey;  secretary  of  state. 
A.  J.  Pinkham;  auditor,  George  Robethan;  treas- 
urer, Frank  R.  Coffin;  attorney  general,  George 
H.  Roberts;  superintendent  of  public  instruction. 
J.  E.  Harroun;  justices  of  the  supreme  court, 
Joseph  W.  Huston,  John  T.  Morgan  and  Isaac 
N.  Sullivan;  and  member  of  congress  for  both 
terms,  Willis  Sweet.  In  their  platform,  besides 
the  customary  declarations,  the  Republicans  de- 
manded a  repeal  of  the  national  law  which  placed 
the  public  domain  of  the  state  of  Idaho  within 
th.e  arid  region  and  reserved  the  same  from  settle- 
ment, which  law  "retarded  the  growth  of  the 
state  and  worked  a  great  injustice  to  the  people." 

The  Democratic  state  convention  also  met  at 
Boise,  August  26,  and  nominated  Benjamin  Wil- 
son for  governor,  Samuel  F.  Taylor  for  lieutenant 
governor,  E.  A.  Sherwin  for  secretary  of  state, 
James  H.  Wickersham  for  auditor,  T.  A.  Regan 
for  treasurer,  Richard  Z.  Johnson  for  attorney 
general,  Milton  A.  Kelly  for  superintendent  of 


526 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


public  instruction,  I.  N.  Maxwell,  F.  H.  Ensign 
and  Hugh  W.  Weir  for  justices  of  the  supreme 
court,  and  Alexander  E.  Mayhew  for  member  of 
congress.  In  their  platform  they  declared  for  the 
free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  for  an  eight- 
hour  system  of  labor,  for  laws  restricting  Chinese 
immigration  and  prohibiting  their  employment, 
and  even  favored  the  deportation  of  the  Chinese 
that  may  be  found  already  in  the  state;  and  they 
also  favored  the  principle  of  electing  United 
States  senators  by  a  popular  vote. 

During  the  ensuing  canvass  the  name  of  Silas 
W.  Moody  was  substituted  on  the  Republican 
ticket  for  that  of  George  Robethan.  The  election 
resulted  in  a  victory  for  the  Republican  ticket, 
as  follows:  For  George  L.  Shoup,  Republican 
candidate  for  governor,  10,262;  for  Benjamin 
Wilson,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  that  office, 
7,948;  for  Willis  Sweet,  Republican  candidate  for 
member  of  congress,  10,150;  for  Alex.  E.  May- 
hew,  for  the  same  office,  8,026;  and  the  other 
candidates  received  majorities  varying  from  1,500 
to  2,200. 

The  state  legislature  was  composed  of  fourteen 
Republicans  and  four  Democrats  in  the  senate, 
and  thirty  Republicans  and  six  Democrats  in  the 
house.  On  November  3,  soon  after  assuming 
office,  Governor  Shoup  issued  his  proclamation 
convening  the  new  legislature  for  its  first  session 
at  Boise  on  December  8.  This  body  accordingly 
met  on  that  date,  and  completed  its  session  on 
March  14  following.  Almost  immediately  after 
assembling,  the  legislature  proceeded  to  the  elec- 
tion of  United  States  senators.  On  December  18 
it  chose  Governor  Shoup  for  the  term  ending 
March  4,  1897,  and  William  J.  McConnell  for 
the  term  ending  March  4,  1893.  At  the  same 
time  this  legislature  elected  ex-Delegate  Fred- 
erick T.  Dubois  to  succeed  Governor  Shoup  at 
the  end  of  his  term.  The  ballot  for  Dubois  was 
taken  in  joint  session,  without  having  first,  on 
the  day  previous,  taken  a  ballot  separately  in 
each  house,  according  to  the  statute.  His  Re- 
publican opponents  took  advantage  of  this,  and, 
combining  with  the  Democrats,  protested  against 
the  election  as  illegal.  They  passed  through  both 
houses  a  resolution  under  which,  on  February  10, 
each  house  separately  voted  for  a  senator  in  place 
of  Dubois.  This  resolution  declared  that  great 
doubt  of  the  validity  of  the  former  election  ex- 


isted, because  it  took  place  in  advance  of  the 
time  fixed  by  law,  and  without  a  separate  ballot 
in  each  house.  On  February  1 1  both  houses  in 
joint  session,  finding  that  no  choice  had  been 
made  on  the  preceding  day  on  the  separate  ballot 
in  each  house,  proceeded  by  joint  ballot  to  elect 
William  H.  Clagett  to  the  United  States  senate, 
by  a  vote  of  twenty-eight,,  to  four  for  all  other 
candidates.  Seventeen  Republican  members  were 
present  and  refused  to  vote,  and  four  were  ab- 
sent; but  the  Republican  minority  and  the  Demo- 
crats (who  voted  for  Clagett)  formed  a  majority 
of  both  houses.  Subsequently  acting  Governor 
Willey  signed  the  certificate  of  Clagett's  election ; 
but  Secretary  of  State  Pinkham  refused  to  coun- 
tersign it  or  affix  the  state  seal.  Dubois  had 
previously  obtained  a  certificate  of  election 
signed  by  the  governor  and  the  secretary  of  state 
and  duly  sealed.  It  then  became  the  duty  of  the 
United  States  senate  to  pass  upon  the  validity  of 
both  these  certificates. 

At  this  session  of  the  legislature  the  Australian 
ballot  system  was  adopted,  applying  to  all  elections 
in  the  state  excepting  school-district  elections. 
Under  its  provisions  candidates  may  be  nomi- 
nated by  the  convention  or  primary  meeting  of  a 
political  party,  or  by  certificates  of  nomination 
signed  by  electors  residing  within  the  political 
division  for  which  the  nomination  is  made  to  the 
number  at  least  of  three  hundred  if  for  a  state 
office,  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  if  for  an 
office  representing  two  or  more  counties,  and  so 
on  down  in  a  corresponding  ratio.  In  connec- 
tion with  elections  a  registration  law  was  adopted, 
and  the  usual  restrictions  placed  upon  qualifica- 
tions of  voters. 

In  order  to  fund  the  bonded  and  floating  debts 
of  the  state,  an  act  was  passed  authorizing  the 
issue  of  six-per-cent.  state  bonds,  redeemable  on 
December  i,  1911,  or  at  any  time  after  Decem- 
ber i,  1900,  at  the  option  of  the  state.  At  the 
time  of  the  adoption  of  this  law  the  bonded  debt 
of  the  state  to  be  refunded  amounted  to 
$51,715.06,  with  accrued  interest,  while  the  float- 
ing debt  was  about  $76,000,  with  accrued 
interest.  The  ad-valorem  state  tax  to  be  levied 
annually  for  general  purposes  was  fixed  at  eight 
and  a  half  mills  on  the  dollar,  and  a  further 
annual  tax  of  three-fourths  of  a  mill  was  levied 
in  aid  of  the  state  university  building  fund.  The 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


527 


legislature  also  passed  a  law  changing  the  school 
system  m  conformity  with  the  requirements  of 
the  state  constitution  and  provided  for  an  annual 
tax  levy  in  each  county,  for  the  support  of 
schools,  of  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  ten 
mills  on  the  dollar.  The  liquor-license  law 
enacted  at  this  session  fixed  the  annual  license 
fee  at  five  hundred  dollars  in  all  places  where  the 
total  vote  for  governor  at  the  preceding  election 
exceeded  one  hundred  and  fifty;  three  hundred 
dollars  in  other  places ;  but  a  tavern  where  liquor 
was  sold  three  miles  or  more  from  a  village  should 
pay  only  one  hundred  dollars  annually.  The  sell- 
ing or  giving  of  liquors  to  minors  was  forbidden. 
The  sum  of  thirty-five  thousand  dollars  was  ap- 
propriated for  restoring  the  buildings  of  the 
insane  asylum  at  Blackfoot,  which  had  been 
burned.  For  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition 
at  Chicago  twenty  thousand  dollars  was  appro- 
priated. Aliens  were  forbidden  to  acquire  or  hold 
any  real  estate  in  the  state  except  mining  lands, 


unless  such  real  estate  be  acquired  by  inheritance 
or  by  the  enforcement  of  a  lien  or  judgment  for 
debt.  Resolutions  were  adopted  urging  an 
amendment  to  the  federal  constitution  permitting 
the  election  of  United  States  senators  by  a  direct 
vote  of  the  people.  The  county  of  Canyon  was 
created  out  of  a  portion  of  Ada  county.  A  state 
penitentiary  was  established  at  Boise  in  the  build- 
ings already  in  use  by  the  territory,  two  miles 
east  of  the  city.  The  killing  of  moose  was  pro- 
hibited for  six  entire  years.  Three-fourths  of  a 
jury  in  civil  cases  were  allowed  to  render  a  ver- 
dict. Eight  hours  was  made  a  "day's"  work.  A 
county  horticultural  commissioner  was  provided 
for  in  certain  cases.  A  great  seal  for  the  state 
was  adopted.  Three  thousand  dollars  was  appro- 
priated annually  for  the  education  of  the  deaf, 
dumb  and  blind  of  the  state  at  institutions  in 
adjoining  states  or  territories;  and  many  other 
important  acts  were  passed. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 


IDAHO   IN    1890. 


THE  officers  for  the  territory  and  state  of 
Idaho  for  the  year  1890  were:    Governor. 
George  L.  Shoup,  Republican;  secretary 
of  state,   Edward  J.   Curtis;   treasurer,   Charles 
Himrod;    comptroller,    James  H.  Wickersham; 
attorney  general,  Richard  Z.  Johnson;  superin 
tendent  of  public  instruction,  Charles  C.  Stever.- 
son;  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court,  James 
H.  Beatty;  associate  justices,  Willis  Sweet  and 
Charles  H.  Berry. 

November  I,  1890,  the  following  state  officers 
were  declared  elected  by  the  state  board  of  can- 
vassers and  soon  thereafter  assumed  office:  Gov- 
ernor, George  L.  Shoup;  lieutenant  governor, 
Norman  B.  Willey;  secretary  of  state,  A.  J.  Pink- 
ham  ;  auditor,  Silas  W.  Moody ;  treasurer,  Frank 
R.  Coffin;  attorney  general,  George  H.  Roberts; 
superintendent  of  public  instruction,  J.  E.  Har- 
roun;  justices  of  the  supreme  court,  Isaac  N. 
Sullivan,  Joseph  W.  Huston  and  John  T.  Mor- 
gan. Justice  Sullivan  drew  by  lot  the  shortest 
term  and  thereby  became  the  chief  justice. 

The  population  of  Idaho  in  1890  by  counties 


was: 


Ada  8,368 

Alturas  2,629 

Bear  Lake 6,057 

Bingham    13,575 

Boise   3,342 

Cassia  3,143 

Custer    2,176 

Elmore    1,870 

Idaho   2,955 

Kootenai   4.108 

Latah    9,173 

Lemhi 1,915 

Logan    4,169 

Nez  Perces 2,847 

Oneida   6,819 

Owyhee   2,021 

Shoshone    5.382 

Washington    3.836 

Total  for  the  state 84,385 

Increase  since  1880 51-775 

528 


The  total  indebtedness  of  the  counties  in  1890, 
when  Idaho  became  a  state,  was  $1,320,795,  of 
which  $858,700  was  bonded.  The  state  debt 
October  i,  1890,  was:  Bonds  of  1877,  due  De- 
cember i,  1891,  $46,715.06;  capitol-building 
bonds  of  1885,  $80,000;  insane-asylum  bonds  of 
1885,  $20,000;  outstanding  warrants  unpaid, 
$92,552.89;  total  debt,  $239,267.95.  The  large 
amount  of  outstanding  warrants  was  due  to  ap- 
propriations made  by  the  preceding  legislature 
for  improvements  upon  the  capitol  grounds,  the 
insane  asylum  and  the  university  lands,  and  to 
unusual  expenditures  caused  by  the  destruction 
of  the  insane  asylum  at  Blackfoot  by  fire  on  No- 
vember 24,  1889.  Before  the  end  of  December 
the  wagon  road  bonds,  amounting  to  $50,000, 
authorized  by  the  preceding  legislature,  were  sold 
at  a  premium,  to  be  delivered  as  fast  as  money 
for  the  road  should  be  needed. 

The  balances  in  the  various  funds  of  the  state- 
treasury  were:  General,  $799.39;  capitol  build- 
ing, $20,774.95;  library,  $198.89;  university, 
$78.32;  common  school,  $758.60;  insane,  $334.57; 
general  school  fund,  $10,919.40;  total,  $33,- 
864.12. 

The  governor  estimated  the  necessary  expenses 
of  the  first  year  of  statehood  at  $177,535,  to  meet 
which  a  tax  levy,  for  1891,  of  six  and  a  half  mills, 
would  be  necessary,  exclusive  of  the  half-mill 
levy  for  the  state  university  and  the  one-fifth-mill 
levy  for  the  wagon  roads. 

The  state  university  was  established  at  Moscow 
by  an  act  of  the  fifteenth  legislature,  and  the  sum 
of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  appropriated  for  the 
purchase  of  a  site  and  for  procuring  plans  and 
specifications  for  a  building. 

The  growth  of  the  public  schools  during  the 
two  years  ending  August  31,  1890,  was  indicated 
by  the  following  figures:  The  number  of  school 
districts  increased  from  337  to  410;  school-houses 
from  269  to  315;  schools  from  376  to  497;  chil- 
dren of  school  age  (between  five  and  twenty-one) 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


529 


from  20,433  to  2SA7l  >  the  amount  received  for 
school  purposes  from  $158,512  to  $202,235. 

The  assessed  valuation  of  property  for  the  year 
1890  was:  Real  estate  and  improvements, 
$11,173,511;  railroad  property,  $5,358,338;  live 
stock,  $4,744,276;  goods,  wares  and  merchandise, 
$1,612,615;  money,  bank  shares  and  other  secur- 
ities, $763,284;  other  personal  property,  $1,929,- 
281;  total,  $25,581,305.  The  rate  of  taxation 
upon  this  valuation  was  four  mills, — three  and  a 
half  mills  being  for  general  purposes,  and  half  a 
mill  for  the  university. 

The  mineral  production  for  the  year  1890  by 
counties,  was: 

Silver,  Lead, 

at  $i  at  4  cts. 

Gold.  per  ounce.  a  pound. 

Ada   $     16,000  $         500       $    

Alturas   140,000  360,000  240,000 

Bingham   66,000  

Boise   410,000  125,000              

Cassia    4S,ooo 

Custer  260,000  893,000  145,000 

Elmore   200,000  18,000              

Idaho   485,000  37,000              

Kootenai    166,500  325,000  110,000 

Lemhi   725,500  150,000              

Logan  75,ooo  550,000  125,000 

Owyhee 651,000  325,000              

Shoshone    340,000  2,750,000  3,890,000 

Washington   15,000  60,000              

Total   $3,595,000        $5,594,000        $4,510,000 

Besides,  Custer  county  produced  $75,000  worth  of 
copper,  and  Washington  county  $50,000  worth,  mak- 
ing the  grand  total  $13,824,500. 

During  the  year  ending  March  31,  1890,  crops 
were  raised  in  the  state  by  irrigation  on  217,0x35 
acres  of  land,  or  339.07  square  miles, — about 
four-tenths  of  one  per  cent  of  the  area  of  the 
state.  The  number  of  farms  on  May  31,  1890, 
was  6,654,  of  which  4,323,  or  about  two-thirds, 
irrigated  areas,  the  remaining  third  being  farms 


in  the  northern  counties  or  stock  ranges  requir- 
ing no  irrigation.  The  average  first  cost  of  water 
right  was  $4.74  an  acre,  and  the  average  cost  of 
preparing  the  soil  for  cultivation,  including  the 
purchase  price  of  the  land  but  excluding  the  cost 
of  water  right,  was  $10.56  an  acre.  The  average 
annual  cost  of  water  is  eighty  cents  an  acre.  The 
average  value  of  the  irrigated  land  was  $45.50  an 
acre. 

On  August  i,  1890,  there  were  seventy-five 
prisoners  in  the  state  penitentiary,  which  is  lo- 
cated two  miles  east  of  Boise,  on  a  tract  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres.  Of  these  six  were 
United  States  prisoners.  There  is  no  employ- 
ment for  the  inmates  of  this  institution,  but  occa- 
sionally some  were  employed  in  a  quarry  near  by. 
During  the  year  1889  congress  made  an  appro- 
priation of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  the 
support  of  this  prison,  consisting  of  an  addition 
to  the  building,  on  which  work  was  begun  in 
March,  1890,  and  completed  before  the  close  of 
the  year.  In  1893  it  was  reported  by  the  officer 
in  charge  that  the  cost  of  keeping  each  prisoner 
was  about  seventy-three  cents  a  day,  the  convicts 
not  being  employed  at  profitable  labor.  Indeed, 
nearly  all  of  them  had  never  learned  a  trade.  On 
December  i,  this  year,  there  were  one  hundred 
and  thirty-two  prisoners.  The  cost  of  their  food 
per  diem  was  fifteen  cents  per  capita. 

The  Idaho  national  guard,  in  1890,  consisted 
of  six  companies,  aggregating  about  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men,  supplied  with  uniforms  by 
the  national  government. 

The  legislature  of  1889  appropriated  fifty 
thousand  dollars  for  the  construction  of  a  wagon 
road  from  Mount  Idaho  to  Little  Salmon 
Meadows.  This  section  of  the  public  highway, 
after  it  was  completed,  for  a  long  time  was  the 
only  means  of  communication  within  the  state 
between  the  northern  and  southern  counties. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


ROBERT   NOBLE. 

THIS  well  known  citizen  of  Reynolds,  Owy- 
hee  county,  is  one  of  the  largest  sheep- 
raisers  in  Idaho  and  has  been  largely 
instrumental  in  improving  the  grade  of  stock 
raised  in  the  state.  His  efforts  have  therefore 
been  of  public  benefit,  for  the  improvement  of 
stock  adds  to  its  market  value,  and  the  wealth 
of  the  agricultural  class  is  thereby  augmented. 
The  rich  pasture  lands  of  the  northwest  provide 
excellent  opportunities  to  the  stock-raiser,  and 
this  industry  has  become  a  most  important  one 
in  the  commercial  interests  of  Idaho. 

Mr.  Noble,  one  of  its  leading  representatives, 
is  of  English  birth, — a  native  of  Cumberland 
county,  England,  born  October  19,  1844. 
His  father,  John  Noble,  was  born  in  the  same 
county,  and  wedded  Miss  Mary  Mossop.  In 
1854  they  came  to  Canada  with  their  family  of 
eight  children,  crossing  the  Atlantic  in  a  sailing 
vessel  which,  after  a  voyage  of  eight  weeks, 
reached  the  harbor  of  Quebec.  At  Kingston, 
Canada,  the  wife  and  mother  died,  being  then 
forty-four  years  of  age.  In  1857  the  family  came 
to  the  United  States  and  settled  in  New  York 
state.  All  of  the  children  are  yet  living,  and 
three  of  the  number  are  residents  of  Idaho.  The 
father  died  in  Owyhee  county,  in  March,  1899, 
his  birth  having  occurred  August  13,  1800.  He 
resided  in  Tonawanda,  New  York,  for  twenty 
years,  and  afterward  resided  successively  in  Illi- 
nois, Iowa,  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  while  since 
May,  1895,  he  made  his  home  with  his  son  Robert 
in  Reynolds  until  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was 
the  father  of  thirteen  children,  the  grandfather  of 
thirty-nine  and  the  great-grandfather  of  sixteen. 

Robert  Noble  attended  school  for  a  short  time 
in  Canada  and  continued  his  education  in  the 
state  of  New  York.  Upon  the  breaking  out  of 
the  great  civil  war  he  volunteered  in  the  Union 
army,  and  served  in  the  quartermaster's  depart- 
ment in  Missouri  and  Tennessee  until  honorably 


discharged  at  Springfield,  Tennessee,  in  April, 
1865.  He  then  engaged  in  farming  in  Illinois 
until  1870,  when  he  came  to  Idaho,  making  the 
journey  westward  by  way  of  California.  He  has 
resided  upon  his  sheep  ranch  at  Reynolds  since 
1874,  and  has  valuable  ranches  aggregating  in 
area  twenty-two  hundred  acres.  In  the  year  1898 
he  had  seventy  thousand  sheep  and  two  seasons' 
clip  of  wool  on  hand,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of 
the  most  successful  as  well  as  one  of  the  most 
extensive  sheep-raisers  of  the  state.  He  is  also 
engaged  in  raising  horses,  of  which  he  has  quite 
a  band,  and  is  also  the  owner  of  a  valuable  Eng- 
lish shire  horse  which  weighs  eighteen  hundred 
pounds,  and  is  one  of  the  finest  horses  to  be 
found  in  Idaho. 

In  1877  Mr.  Noble  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Anna  Peters,  a  native  of  Missouri,  and  of 
German  descent.  They  have  seven  children,  all 
born  in  Reynolds,  namely:  Nellie,  Robert, 
Frank  C.,  Ernest,  May,  James  Elaine  and  Rosella. 
The  older  children  are  attending  school  in  San 
Rafael,  California,  and  Boise.  Mr.  Noble  and 
his  family  are  Episcopalians,  and  he  is  a  Knight 
Templar  Mason.  He  also  belongs  to  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  in  politics  is 
a  Republican.  In  all  his  business  dealings  he  is 
straightforward  and  commands  the  confidence 
and  good  will  of  those  with  whom  he  is  brought 
in  contact.  His  prosperity  is  therefore  well  de- 
served, as  it  comes  in  return  for  effort,  both 
honorable  and  consecutive. 

PETER  S.  BECK,  M.  D. 

The  physician  wields  an  influence  in  any  com- 
munity which  is  peculiarly  strong,  because  it  is 
based  on  relations  with  the  general  public  more 
intimate  than  those  of  almost  any  one  else,  and 
any  good  physician  who  is  at  the  same  time  a 
good  man  may  continue  to  broaden  and  deepen 
this  influence  to  the  end  of  his  days.  These  re- 
flections have  been  suggested  by  the  success  of 


530 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


531 


Dr.  Peter  S.  Beck,  ex-mayor  of  Genesee,  Idaho. 
Dr.  Beck  is  a  Homeopathic  physician,  and  Home- 
opathy is  gaining  in  popularity,  but  that  does 
not  fully  account  for  his  success,  for  he  has  car- 
ried the  banner  of  his  chosen  school  of  medicine 
to  victory  against  prejudice  and  opposition, 
which  he  could  not  have  done  had  he  not  pos- 
sessed a  personality  and  a  character  which  would 
have  made  him  popular  and  successful  in  about 
any  other  field  of  endeavor. 

Doctor  Beck  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  hav- 
ing been  born  in  Armstrong  county,  March  28, 
1852,  of  German  ancestors,  who  were  early  set- 
tlers in  that  commonwealth.  Jacob  Beck,  his 
father,  was  born  in  the  same  county,  in  1820, 
and  his  mother,  Sophia  (Soxman)  Beck,  was 
born  there  one  year  earlier.  She  also  was  de- 
scended from  a  German  family,  representatives  of 
which  were  early  settlers  in  Pennsylvania.  Jacob 
Beck  is  a  Dunkard,  his  wife  a  Methodist.  He  is 
seventy-nine  years  old,  and  she  is  eighty  years 
of  age.  They  had  six  sons  and  a  daughter,  five 
of  whom  are  living. 

Doctor  Beck  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm 
and  attended  the  public  schools  as  occasion  pre- 
sented, to  such  good  purpose  that  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  he  was  sufficiently  advanced  to  begin 
teaching.  It  was  by  such  work  that  he  supported 
himself  while  he  completed  his  general  education 
and  took  a  course  in  medicine  at  the  Iowa  State 
University.  After  he  secured  his  diploma,  he 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Kansas. 

It  was  in  1893  that  Doctor  Beck  came  to  Idaho 
and,  in  association  with  his  brother,  Dr.  John 
Beck,  took  up  his  professional  work  at  Genesee. 
Their  success  has  been  more  than  satisfactory  to 
them,  but  it  has  not  been  undeserved  and  has 
been  fairly  won  in  open  competition  with  older 
physicians.  It  means  that  they  have  proven  them- 
selves able  physicians  and  the  practical  results  of 
their  work  have  commended  them  to  the  good 
opinion  of  the  general  public.  Their  practice  is 
large,  not  only  in  Genesee,  but  throughout  all 
the  country  tributary  to  that  thriving  town. 

On  the  1 3th  of  August,  1892,  Dr.  Beck  was 
happily  married  to  Miss  Ida  A.  Thomas,  a  native 
of  Michigan,  who  has  borne  him  two  sons,  prom- 
ising boys,  named  Orrin  Roy  and  Joseph 
Edward.  Mrs.  Beck  is  a  member  of  the  Seventh- 


day  Advent  church  and  active  in  all  good  works 
in  which  the  women  of  Genesee  participate. 
Doctor  Beck  is  a  royal-arch  Mason,  a  Knight  of 
Pythias,  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  Woodman  of  the 
World,  and  is  active  in  promoting  the  local  and 
general  interests  of  these  orders.  Politically  he  is 
an  Independent,  and  his  political  influence  has 
made  itself  felt  on  more  than  one  occasion.  He 
is  a  school  trustee  and  councilman  of  Genesee 
and  was  mayor  of  the  city  in  1897,  and  in  that 
capacity  administered  its  municipal  affairs  admir- 
ably. He  has  relations  with  medical  societies 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Genesee  board  of  phar- 
macy and  in  every  professional  relation  and  in 
every  relation  of  citizenship  is  progressive  and 
helpful  to  a  generous  degree.  He  has  built  a 
roomy  residence  on  ten  acres  of  choice  land, 
nicely  located  in  Genesee,  and  grows  fruit  and 
vegetables  in  great  variety  and  gives  much  atten- 
tion to  poultry  raising,  so  that  his  table  is  always 
supplied  with  every  reasonable  delicacy,  for  he  is 
a  believer  in  the  theory  that  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent good  eating  makes  for  good  living.  He  is 
a  successful  man,  who  richly  deserves  his  success, 
and  has,  while  gaining  it,  gained  the  public  con- 
fidence in  a  remarkable  degree. 

JOHN  C.  MILLICK. 

The  large  steam  roller-proces's  flouring  mill  at 
Blackfoot,  Idaho,  represents  one  of  the  prominent- 
business  interests  of  that  city.  It  is  the  property 
of  Mr.  John  C.  Millick,  and  it  is  to  give  some 
account  of  Mr.  Millick's  career  that  these  para- 
graphs are  presented. 

Mr.  Millick  is  a  very  modest  and  unassuming 
man,  but  he  is  very  busy  and  successful.  He  is 
of  German  descent  and  was  born  in  Dodge  coun- 
ty, Wisconsin,  August  4,  1854,  a  son  of  Joseph 
Millick,  who  had  come  to  that  part -of  the  country 
from  Germany,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and 
children.  Joseph  Millick  died  in  Dodge  county, 
Wisconsin,  in  1876,  aged  seventy-eight  years,  his 
wife  also  having  died  there,  in  1863.  They  had 
ten  children,  all  but  one  of  whom  are  living.  Of 
these  John  C.  was  the  seventh  in  order  of  birth, 
and  he  was  only  nine  years  old  when  his  mother 
died.  Though  he  began  to  earn  his  own  living 
when  he  was  thirteen,  he  found  some  time  to 
attend  such  schools  as  existed  in  that  part  of 
Wisconsin  at  that  time.  When  he  was  eighteen 


532 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


years  old  he  went  to  northern  Kansas,  where 
he  found  employment  as  a  farm  hand  and  later 
farmed  on  his  own  account,  on  rented  land.  From 
Kansas  he  came,  in  1880,  to  the  Salmon  river 
country,  Idaho,  then  new  and  very  sparsely  popu- 
lated. He  hired  out  as  a  miner,  at  three  dollars 
a  day,  and  was  thus  employed  most  of  the  time 
for  three  years.  The  succeeding  six  years  he 
spent  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  at  Pocatello,  and  this 
experience  was  so  comprehensive  and  he  made 
such  good  use  of  his  opportunities  that  he  ac- 
quired an  expert  knowledge  of  merchandising. 
He  then,  in  1889,  bought  a  post  trader's  store  at 
Ross  Fork  and  sold  goods  there  four  years. 
He  then  returned  to  the  Salmon  river  country 
and  mined  and  bought  and  sold  mining  claims 
and  property.  For  a  part  of  his  interest  in  one 
mine,  which  is  a  steady  producer,  he  secured  ten 
thousand  dollars,  and  he  still  retains  an  interest, 
which  brings  him  a  constant  income.  Later  he 
did  considerable  business  as  a  money-loaner,  and 
one  important  financial  transaction  terminated  in 
his  ownership  of  the  large  stone  steam  roller- 
process  flouring  mill  at  Blackfoot.  Mr.  Millick 
is  a  Republican,  but  not  a  practical  poli- 
tician. He  was  postmaster  at  Ross  Forks  during 
his  residence  there. 

In  1897  Mr.  Millick  built  an  elegant  brown- 
sandstone  residence,  which  is  in  every  respect 
one  of  the  best  in  the  city.  It  stands  in  the  midst 
of  large,  well  kept  grounds  and  contains  every- 
thing essential  to  make  it  comfortable  and  attrac- 
tive as  a  home.  In  1896  Mr.  Millick  married 
Miss  Gertrude  Cleeg,  a  native  of  England,  and 
they  have  a  little  daughter,  named  Marie. 

ROBERT   H.   BARTON. 

One  of  the  well  known  citizens  of  Moscow  is 
Robert  H.  Barton,  who  is  now  capably  serving  as 
postmaster.  He  is  true  and  faithful  to  this  public 
trust  and  at  all  times  has  discharged  his  duties 
of  citizenship  with  the  same  promptness  and 
fidelity  which  marked  his  course  when  on  the 
battle-fields  of  the  south  he  followed  the  starry 
banner  to  victory  and  thus  aided  in  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Union.  He  came  to  Moscow  in  1877. 
His  birth  occurred  in  Perry  county,  Ohio,  Febru- 
ary i,  1842,  and  he  is  of  Scotch-Irish  lineage. 
His  grandfather,  Robert  Barton,  emigrated  from 
the  north  of  Ireland  to  the  New  World  and  lo- 


cated in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  where  Andrew 
Barton,  father  of  our  subject,  was  born,  in  1811. 
The  latter  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Biddison,  also 
a  native  of  Baltimore,  and  a  daughter  of  William 
Biddison,  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812.  They 
were  farming  people,  and  in  1833  removed  to 
Perry  county,  Ohio,  where  the  father  improved 
a  farm  and  reared  his  family.  He  died  on  the 
old  homestead  which  he  had  acquired  through 
his  own  industry,  passing  away  in  1883,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-two  years.  His  wife  died  in  1876, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-three  years.  They  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and  were 
the  parents  of  twelve  children,  eleven  of  whom 
grew  to  years  of  maturity,  while  six  are  yet  living. 
Robert  H.  Barton,  their  fifth  child,  acquired 
his  education  in  the  public  schools  and  in  the 
Ohio  University,  at  Athens,  and  in  1861,  in 
answer  to  President  Lincoln's  first  call  for  volun- 
teers to  put  down  the  rebellion,  he  put  aside  his 
text-books  and  college  duties  to  perform  his 
greater  duty  to  his  country,  enlisting  in  Com- 
pany D,  Seventeenth  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry.  He 
served  for  four  months  in  the  Army  of  Western 
Virginia,  under  General  Rosecrans,  after  which 
his  regiment  was  disbanded,  but  the  danger  was 
not  yet  past,  and  he  re-enlisted  in  Company  B, 
First  Ohio  Volunteer  Cavalry,  serving  with  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland.  His  regiment  first  did 
escort  duty  with  General  O.  M.  Mitchell  and 
later  with  the  cavalry  in  General  Buell's  cam- 
paign. Subsequently  they  were  with  General 
Rosecrans  at  Stone  river  and  until  after  the 
battle  of  Chickamauga,  and  during  the  Atlanta 
campaign  were  at  General  McPherson's  head- 
quarters. Mr.  Barton  served  as  a  foraging  scout 
for  department  headquarters  until  General  Mc- 
Pherson  was  killed.  He  saw  the  brave  comman- 
der fall,  and  caught  his  horse.  Later  he  was  at 
General  Howard's  headquarters  in  the  same 
capacity,  and  after  the  capture  of  Atlanta  was 
sent  with  his  regiment  on  the  Wilson  raid.  They 
were  at  Macon,  Georgia,  when  they  received  the 
glad  news  of  the  surrender  of  General  Lee,  and 
Mr.  Barton  was  honorably  discharged  at  Hilton 
Head,  South  Carolina,  on  the  25th  of  September, 
1865.  During  the  whole  of  his  service  during 
the  great  struggle  he  was  only  off  duty  one  time, 
this  being  occasioned  by  a  gun-shot  wound  which 
he  sustained  in  the  battle  of  Russellville,  Ala- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


533 


bama,  July  2,  1862.  The  ball  broke  his  jaw  and 
carried  away  both  the  upper  and  lower  teeth 
on  that  side.  He  was  in  the  hospital  for  six 
weeks  and  was  then  granted  a  thirty-days  fur- 
lough which  he  spent  at  home.  He  entered  the 
service  as  a  private,  was  promoted  to  quarter- 
master sergeant  and  was  recommended  for  pro- 
motion to  the  captaincy  of  a  colored  company, 
but  the  war  closed  and  the  regiment  was  not 
organized. 

With  a  most  creditable  military  record  Mr. 
Barton  returned  to  his  home  and  began  school- 
teaching  in  Ohio,  but  soon  afterward  removed  to 
Kansas,  where  he  entered  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  land,  operating  his  land  through  the 
summer,  while  in  the  winter  he  taught  school. 
During  his  residence  there  he  also  served  as  a 
member  of  the  school  board,  was  recorder  of 
deeds  and  assessor  of  the  county  for  six  years. 
From  Kansas  he  removed  to  Utah,  where  he 
taught  school  for  two  years,  and  in  1877,  he 
brought  a  sawmill  to  Moscow  and  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  lumber.  He  continued  in  the 
sawmill  business  for  three  years,  and  in  1881  built 
the  Barton  Hotel,  which  he  conducted  until  1890. 
when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire,  entailing  a  loss  of 
fifteen  thousand  dollars.  He  then  erected  the 
Moscow  Hotel,  valued  at  thirty-five  thousand 
dollars,  not  including  the  price  of  the  land.  To 
do  this  he  had  to  borrow  twenty  thousand  dollars. 
He  conducted  the  hotel  for  a  short  time,  but  soon 
the  financial  panic  came  on  and  he  was  forced  to 
lose  this  valuable  and  beautiful  property.  The 
building  is  a  very  fine  one,  being  creditable  alike 
to  the  city  and  the  builder. 

Mr.  Barton  was  then  appointed  by  President 
Harrison  to  the  position  of  postmaster  of  Mos- 
cow, and  served  for  two  and  a  half  years,  when 
his  party  went  out  of  power,  but  in  1899  he  was 
reappointed,  by  President  McKinley,  and  is  the 
present  incumbent  of  the  office.  He  is  very  oblig- 
ing, prompt  and  courteous,  and  has  won  favor 
with  the  public  through  his  capable  discharge  of 
duties.  The  Moscow  office  is  of  the  second  class 
and  is  well  managed  by  Mr.  Barton,  his  eldest 
son  acting  as  his  deputy,  while  other  members  of 
the  family  serve  in  clerical  positions.  Mr.  Barton 
was  also  deputy  sheriff  of  Nez  Perces  county  for 
eight  years. 

In  1869  was  celebrated  his  marriage  to  Miss 


Lettie  Langdon,  a  native  of  Illinois,  and  to  them 
were  born  two  children,  but  one  is  now  deceased. 
The  other,  Ed.  T.,  is  now  serving  as  his  father's 
deputy.  The  mother  died  in  1872,  and  in  1875 
Mr.  Barton  wedded  her  sister,  Louise  Langdon, 
by  whom  he  has  had  five  children,  four  of  whom 
are  living.  The  eldest,  Maude  M.,  is  a  graduate 
of  the  Moscow  high  school  and  is  now  attending 
the  Idaho  University;  Earl  S.  is  also  a  student  in 
the  university;  Louise  E.  is  in  the  high  school; 
and  Faith  S.  is  the  youngest.  She  was  named 
by  the  Idaho  department  of  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic  during  its  encampment  in  Moscow, 
at  which  time  her  birth  occurred,  and  by  the 
soldiers  was  presented  with  a  nice  silver  set. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barton  have  always  been  very 
active  and  valued  members  respectively  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  its 
auxiliary,  the  Women's  Relief  Corps,  and  he 
is  past  commander  and  she  past  secre- 
tary of  the  state  departments  of  their  re- 
spective organizations.  In  consideration  and 
recognition  of  the  great  service  he  has  rendered 
Anderson  Post,  No.  5,  he  was  presented  by  it 
with  a  fine  sword,  which  he  highly  prizes  and 
which  now  hangs  by  the  faithful  blade  which  he 
carried  in  the  great  struggle  to  preserve  the 
Union.  He  has  been  a  stalwart  Republican  since 
casting  his  first  presidential  vote,  for  Abraham 
Lincoln,  during  the  war,  and  was  very  highly 
recommended  by  the  leading  statesmen  of  Ohio 
and  Idaho  for  the  position  of  United  States  mar- 
shal of  Idaho,  but  as  the  office  was  promised 
to  another  he  was  given  his  present  position,  that 
of  postmaster.  In  1889  he  purchased  a  large  lot, 
pleasantly  located,  and  erected  thereon  a  fine 
modern  residence,  in  which  he  now  resides  hap- 
pily, surrounded  by  his  interesting  family.  His 
career  has  ever  been  upright  and  honorable,  and 
his  friendship  is.  prized  most  by  those  who  know 

him  best. 

JAMES  DEAKIN. 

Those  who  have  opened  the  way  for  civilization 
in  our  land,  as  the  star  of  empire  has  taken  its 
way  toward  the  sunset  gates,  have  been  men  of 
strong  character, — courageous,  hardy,  tenacious 
of  purpose  and  willing  to  endure  hardships  and 
privations  for  the  sake  of  making  homes  for 
themselves  and  posterity.  All  honor  has  been 
paid  the  pioneers  who  blazed  their  way  through 


534 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  sylvan  wilderness  of  the  middle  west  in  past 
generations,  while  not  less  is  the  homage  due 
to  those  whose  fortitude  led  them  to  traverse  the 
plains,  invade  the  mountain  fastnesses  and  do 
battle  with  a  dusky  and  treacherous  foe  in  the 
great  empire  of  the  far  west.  Among  those  who 
are  to  be  considered  as  genuine  pioneers  of  Latah 
county  is  James  Deakin,  one  of  the  honored 
citizens  of  the  thriving  county-seat,  Moscow. 
Hither  he  came  to  make  his  permanent  abode  as 
early  as  the  year  1871,  at  which  time  there  was 
no  Moscow,  no  Colfax,  no  Spokane, — this  entire 
region,  with  its  opulent  resources,  being  then  i 
wild  and  uninhabited  district,  save  as  the  red  men 
roamed  at  will  among  the  peaceful  valleys  and 
over  the  mountain  crags.  At  the  time  our  subject 
located  here  the  settlers  were  compelled  to  go  to 
Walla  Walla  for  their  supplies, — a  distance  of 
ninety  miles.  He  passed  through  many  and  try- 
ing vicissitudes  and  has  watched  with  interest 
the  development  and  advancement  of  this  section 
and  is  now  able  to  enjoy  here  the  privileges 
which  modern  civilization  supplies.  The  trans- 
formation has  been  wonderful,  and  one  can  to-day 
scarcely  realize  the  changes  which  a  few  years 
have  wrought  in  this  favored  section  of  the 
Union. 

James  Deakin  is  a  native  of  the  Emerald  Isle, 
having  been  born  in  county  Antrim  on  the  2Oth 
of  June,  1840,  a  representative  of  stanch  old 
Irish  stock,  his  parents  having  been  devout  mem- 
bers of  the  Roman  Catholic  church.  He  received 
his  educational  discipline  in  his  native  land,  but 
laid  aside  his  text-books  at  the  early  age  of 
fifteen  years  and  came  to  America,  and  since 
that  time  has  been  a  leal  and  loyal  son  of  the 
republic.  In  the  year^iSyi  he  arrived  on  the 
spot  where  the  thriving  city  of  Moscow,  Idaho, 
now  stands.  At  that  time  there  were  established 
in  the  county  the  homes  of  a  few  settlers, — the 
list  comprising  William  Taylor,  Ailsbury 
Llewellyn,  William  Frazier,  the  Cameron  broth- 
ers, Thomas  Tirney  and  Thomas  Corley.  Mr. 
Deakin  says  there  may  have  been  one  or  two 
others  located  here,  but  if  so  he  fails  to  recall 
them  or  their  names.  He  took  up  a  tract  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  upon  which  a  portion 
of  the  city  of  Moscow  now  stands,  and  including 
the  ground  upon  which  the  splendid  building  of 
the  Idaho  State  University  is  located. 


Mr.  Deakin  at  once  set  to  work  to  improve 
his  farm,  platted  a  portion  of  the  town  and  did 
all  in  his  power  to  aid  in  the  development  of  the 
locality.  He  may  be  appropriately  termed  one 
of  the  fathers  of  Moscow.  He  has  been  frugal, 
industrious,  and  his  personal  prosperity  has  kept 
pace  with  the  development  of  this  section.  He  is 
a  man  of  alert  mentality  and  sterling  integrity, 
and  his  conduct  has  been  such  as  to  gain  and 
retain  to  him  the  confidence  and  high  esteem  of 
all  with  whom  he  has  come  in  contact.  He  is 
now  spending  the  evening  of  his  life  in  the  quiet 
enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  his  many  years  of 
toil  and  endeavor,  having  a  commodious  and 
attractive  home  residence  in  the  city  which  he  has 
so  greatly  aided  in  developing,  and  of  which  he 
was  one  of  the  first  settlers.  It  was  his  plow 
which  first  turned  the  soil  where  Moscow  now 
stands,  and  here  he  grew  his  crops  of  wheat,  bar- 
ley and  oats,  and  reaped  rich  harvests  in  due 
season.  Mr.  Deakin  has  several  fine  farms  in  the 
county,  and  these  are  being  operated  on  shares, 
desirable  tenants  being  secured  for  the  same. 

In  the  year  1874  was  solemnized  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Deakin  and  Miss  Annie  King,  of  New 
York,  and  they  are  both  devoted  adherents  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  church.  In  politics  Mr. 
Deakin  is  a  stalwart  Democrat.  He  and  his 
estimable  wife  enjoy  a  marked  popularity  in  the 
community,  and  as  one  of  the  honored  pioneers 
of  the  county  Mr.  Deakin  amply  deserves  recog- 
nition in  this  work. 

WILLIAM  W.   WATKINS,  M.  D. 

A  man's  reputation  is  the  property  of  the 
world.  The  laws  of  nature  have  forbidden  isola- 
tion. Every  human  being  submits  to  the  con- 
trolling influence  of  others  or,  as  a  master,  wields 
a  power  for  good  or  evil  on  the  masses  of  man- 
kind. There  can  be  no  impropriety  in  justly 
scanning  the  acts  of  any  man  as  they  affect  his 
public,  social  and  business  relations.  If  he  be 
honest  and  successful  in  his  chosen  field  of  en- 
deavor, investigation  will  brighten  his  fame  and 
point  the  path  along  which  others  may  follow. 
One  whose  record  will  bear  the  closest  scrutiny 
and  stand  the  test  of  public  criticism  is  Dr.  Wat- 
kins,  a  most  able  physician,  a  loyal  citizen  and 
true  gentleman,  whom  Moscow  numbers  among 
her  valued  residents. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


535 


The  Doctor  was  born  in  Warner,  Merrimac 
county,  New  Hampshire,  August  3,  1846,  that 
locality  having  been  the  birthplace  of  three  gen- 
erations of  the  family  before  him.  On  the  pater- 
nal side  he  is  of  Welsh  descent,  and  on  the 
maternal  of  English  lineage.  His  father,  Jason 
D.  Watkins,  was  there  born  and  in  early  life 
followed  farming,  but  afterward  became  a  mer- 
chant. He  married  Miss  Phoebe  Abbott,  a  native 
of  Boscawen,  New  Hampshire,  and  a  representa- 
tive of  the  eminent  Abbott  family  of  America. 
Their  union  was  blessed  with  seven  children.  In 
religious  faith  they  were  Baptists  and  were  people 
of  the  highest  respectability  and  integrity  of 
character.  The  father  reached  the  psalmist's  life 
span  of  three  score  years  and  ten,  but  the  mother 
passed  away  at  the  age  of  fifty-four. 

Dr.  William  Woodburv  Watkins,  their  young- 
est child,  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
his  native  state,  and  in  the  medical  department 
of  the  Washington  University,  at  St.  Louis,  pre- 
pared for  his  professional  career.  In  the  latter 
institution  he  was  graduated  in  1872  and  imme- 
diately afterward  opened  an  office  in  Mine  La 
Motte,  Missouri,  where  he  remained  until  1880, 
when  he  became  a  member  of  the  medical  frater- 
nity of  St.  Louis,  there  continuing  until  1887.  In 
1884  he  was  appointed  professor  of  theory  and 
practice  of  medicine  in  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  in  St.  Louis,  and  ably  filled  that 
chair  until  failing  health  compelled  his  resigna- 
tion and  necessitated  his  removal  to  Moscow,  in 
the  hope  that  a  change  of  climate  would  prove 
beneficial.  This  hope  has  been  realized,  and 
soon  Dr.  Watkins  acquired  a  large  and  remuner- 
ative practice,  which  he  has  since  enjoyed.  He 
has  been  prominently  connected  with  various  in- 
terests of  the  city,  both  along  professional  and 
other  lines.  He  has  for  years  been  surgeon  of  the 
Latah  County  Hospital,  and  during  the  greater 
part  of  his  residence  in  Moscow  has  been  United 
States  examining  surgeon  for  pensions.  In  1890 
he  became  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Idaho 
State  Medical  Society,  and  was  elected  its  first 
president, — a  fact  indicative  of  his  high  standing 
among  his  professional  brethren.'  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  is 
examining  surgeon  for  various  life-insurance 
companies  and  is  also  vice-president  of  the  Idaho 
state  board  of  medical  examiners.  He  has  always 


been  a  close  student  of  his  profession,  has  a  most 
comprehensive  and  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
science  of  medicine,  is  most  careful  in  the  diag- 
nosing of  cases,  and  his  judgment  is  rarely  at 
fault  in  the  slightest  degree  in  administering  the 
remedies  which  most  quickly  produce  the  best 
results. 

His  time  is  largely  occupied  by  the  engrossing 
duties  of  his  large  practice,  yet  he  manages  to 
find  opportunity  to  aid  in  the  furthering  of  those 
interests  which  promote  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity. After  the  location  of  the  state  university 
at  Moscow,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
board  of  regents,  was  its  secretary,  and  in  1894 
established  in  the  institution  the  Watkins  gold 
medal  for  oratory.  He  is  president  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  at  Moscow,  and  had  the  honor 
of  being  chairman  of  the  first  Idaho  Republican 
state  convention.  These  varied  interests  show 
the  versatility  of  the  man  and  indicate  a  well 
rounded  character. 

In  1873  the  Doctor  wedded  Miss  Carolina  A. 
Woodhouse,  a  native  of  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
and  a  daughter  of  John  V.  Woodhouse,  a  master 
mechanic  whose  varied  inventions  have  gained 
him  a  world-wide  reputation.  He  is  now  living 
a  retired  life  in  western  Washington,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-three  years.  The  union  of  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Watkins  has  been  blessed  with  three  daugh- 
ters: Henrietta,  wife  of  A.  Ryrie,  of  Moscow; 
and  Elsie  and  Winnie,  at  home.  The  parents 
and  children  hold  membership  in  the  First  Pres- 
byterian church  in  Moscow.  The  Doctor  has 
erected  a  brick  office  and  also  a  nice  residence 
in  Moscow,  and  is  the  owner  of  a  good  farm,  a 
mile  from  the  city,  where  he  is  raising  a  high 
grade  of  Jersey  cattle  and  thoroughbred  poultry, 
and  also  has  an  extensive  apple  orchard.  He  is  a 
very  active  business  man,  not  only  taking  great 
interest  in  his  practice,  but  also  in  the  welfare 
and  progress  of  Moscow.  Socially  he  is  an  Odd 
Fellow  in  good  standing,  having  been  identified 
with  the  order  for  nearly  thirty  years,  and  is  an 
exemplary  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He 
is  now  master  of  Paradise  Lodge,  No.  17,  F.  & 
A.  M.,  of  Moscow,  received  the  blue  lodge  de- 
grees in  Pittsburg,  Kansas,  the  Royal  Arch 
degrees  in  Oswego,  Kansas,  and  was  also  created 
a  Knight  Templar  there.  He  is  a  man  of  strong 
individuality  and  indubitable  probity,  has  at- 


536 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


tained  a  due  measure  of  success  in  the  affairs  of 
life,  and  his  influence  has  ever  been  exerted  in 
the  direction  of  the  good  and  the  true.  He  is  a 
man  of  genial  and  social  nature  and  has  thereby 
contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the  sum  of 
human  happiness. 

EDMOND  PEARCY. 

Edmond  Pearcy,  whose  history  is  one  of  close 
connection  with  the  pioneer  development  of  the 
state  as  well  as  its  latter-day  progress  and  pros- 
perity, was  born  in  Bedford  county,  Virginia,  on 
the  22d  of  March,  1832,  and  is  of  Scotch  and 
Dutch  descent.  His  ancestors  were  early  settlers 
of  Virginia,  and  for  many  years  the  families  were 
represented  in  Bedford  county.  His  father, 
Nicholas  Pearcy,  was  born  there,  and  having  ar- 
rived at  years  of  maturity  he  married  Rebecca 
Hardy,  a  native  of  Maryland.  They  became  the 
parents  of  twelve  children,  eleven  sons  and  one 
daughter,  and  of  the  number  but  three  are  now 
living. 

Edmond  Pearcy  was  the  youngest  of  the  fam- 
ily. He  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm  and  re- 
ceived a  common-school  education  in  his  native 
state,  after  which  he  taught  school  for  one  term. 
In  1852,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  he  started 
for  California,  but  arrived  in  Missouri  too  late 
to  join  an  emigrant  train  en  route  for  the  Golden 
state,  and  consequently  spent  the  winter  with  a 
relative  in  Pike  county,  Missouri.  In  the  spring 
of  1853  ne  started  with  a  company  of  sixteen. 
They  drove  a  band  of  cattle  across  the  plains  and 
mountains  to  California,  but  on  reaching  the 
mountains  were  greatly  retarded  by  the  deep 
snows,  and  were  without  food  for  two  days.  It 
was  the  middle  of  November  when  they  at  last 
reached  the  Sonora  mines,  and  from  that  point 
they  pushed  south  to  the  San  Joaquin  valley, 
where  Mr.  Pearcy  was  for  a  short  time  engaged 
in  teaming.  He  then  went  to  San  Francisco,  and 
on  the  ist  of  January,  1854,  sailed  for  Portland, 
Oregon,  in  search  of  his  brothers,  Nathan  and 
James.  He  found  them  on  the  Willamette  and 
remained  with  them  through  the  winter.  He 
engaged  in  shipping  lumber  and  hay  on  a  flat- 
boat,  and  in  the  spring  of  1855,  in  company  with 
his  brother  James,  he  went  to  Scott's  valley,  in 
northern  California,  where  his  brother  engaged 
in  mining  and  he  in  ranching.  They  met  with 
only  moderate  success  there,  and  accordingly  de- 


termined to  return  to  Portland,  Oregon.  On  the 
way  Mr.  Pearcy  was  taken  dangerously  ill.  At 
this  time  the  Rogue  river  Indian  war  broke  out, 
and  James  left  his  brother's  bedside  to  participate 
as  a  volunteer  against  the  Indians,  and  was  killed 
in  the  battle  of  Grave  creek,  in  which  the  white 
troops  were  defeated  and  compelled  to  retreat. 
When  Mr.  Pearcy  had  sufficiently  recovered  to 
travel,  he  left  Umpqua  and  proceeded  on  his  way 
northward,  saddened  by  the  death  of  his  brother, 
yet  fortunate  himself  in  meeting  with  no  Indians, 
for  they  were  still  on  the  war  path. 

After  arriving  in  Portland  Mr.  Pearcy  engaged 
in  taking  contracts  for  supplying  the  government 
with  wood  and  hay.  In  that  enterprise  he  made 
money  and  remained  there  until  1859,  when  he 
was  driven  out  by  chills  and  fever.  He  then 
removed  to  The  Dalles,  and  shortly  afterward 
joined  Lieutenant  Mullan's  party  in  constructing 
the  Mullan  road  from  Walla  Walla  to  Montana, 
it  being  still  the  main  road  between  those  two 
points.  While  at  Walla  Walla,  in  1856,  he  vol- 
unteered in  a  company  to  fight  the  Indians,  but 
no  engagement  took  place.  Later  in  the  season 
the  red  men  captured  a  supply  train.  They  were 
then  followed  by  the  volunteers,  were  defeated 
in  Grande  Ronde  valley,  and  the  supplies  re- 
covered. Mr.  Pearcy  did  not  participate  in  the 
battle,  but  was  in  charge  of  the  camp  at  Walla 
Walla.  He  also  secured  a  government  claim  in 
that  locality,  but  in  the  spring  of  1861  abandoned 
his  ranch  and  went  to  the  Oro  Fino  mining  re- 
gion, that  being  the  time  of  the  great  excitement 
there.  There  were  fourteen  men  in  his  company 
and  they  each  took  out  on  an  average  ten  dollars 
per  day,  thus  meeting  with  satisfactory  success. 
Later  they  went  to  Florence,  but  found  nothing 
there  to  repay  them  for  their  trouble,  and  Mr. 
Pearcy  returned  to  Walla  Walla,  passing  on  the 
way  through  Lewiston,  which  then  consisted  only 
of  a  few  tents  and  rude  shacks.  He  spent  the 
winter  of  1861-2  at  Walla  Walla,  the  hardest  win- 
ter in  the  history  of  that  country,  snow  lying  two 
and  a  half  feet  deep  on  a  level,  and  the  mercury 
for  thirty  days  registering  twenty-six  degrees  be- 
low zero.  With  a  company  of  nine  he  occupied  a 
board  cabin  lined  with  paper,  but,  they  were 
strong  and  vigorous  young  men  and  did  not 
mind  the  cold,  enjoying  themselves  with  cards 
and  other  amusements. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


53? 


On  the  I4th  of  March,  1862.  Mr.  Pearcy,  with 
a  party  of  fourteen,  set  sail  in  a  large  bateau  for 
a  prospecting  tour  up  Snake  river.  This  was  a 
perilous  trip,  because  of  the  numerous  ice  jams, 
but  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  river  was 
so  full  of  ice  they  reached  Lewiston  safely.  They 
prospected  up  Salmon  river  twelve  miles  and 
then,  with  packs  upon  their  backs,  went  into  the 
country,  but  found  nothing  of  value.  After  this 
they  went  to  Pittsburg  Landing  on  the  Snake 
river,  twenty  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Sal- 
mon river,  where  they  hired  horses  of  the  Indians 
and  went  up  Little  Salmon  to  the  head  of  Salmon 
valley,  whence  they  started  for  Snake  river.  They 
camped  at  the  big  canyon  and  discovered  the 
Peacock  country  copper  and  gold  mine,  which 
afterward  sold  for  sixty  thousand  dollars.  That 
was  the  first  discovery  of  the  Seven  Devils.  The 
party  camped  out,  killed  mountain  sheep  to  sup- 
ply their  table  with  meat,  and  enjoyed  life  there, 
although  they  celebrated  the  Fourth  of  July  with 
snow,  six  inches  deep,  upon  the  ground.  When 
their  provisions  gave  out  they  returned  to  Lewis- 
ton  and  then  went  up  the  Clearwater  river  and 
made  a  large  drive  of  logs  for  the  agency  at  Lap- 
wai.  All  through  the  winter  Mr.  Pearcy  made 
shingles  for  the  government,  working  in  his  shirt 
sleeves,  and  with  his  partner,  Mr.  Allen,  manu- 
factured shingles  and  cord-wood  for  the  govern- 
ment. In  1866  Mr.  Allen  lost  his  life  by  drown- 
ing in  the  big  eddy  of  the  Clearwater,  but  Mr. 
Pearcy  continued  to  operate  his  sawmill,  at  the 
Lapwai  agency,  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber  for 
the  government  until  1871. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  purchased  a  fourth  in- 
terest in  the  ferries,  and  in  that  year  began  to 
operate  them.  He  made  his  headquarters  at  the 
ferry  six  miles  below  Lewiston,  there  remaining 
until  the  spring  of  1872,  when  he  commenced  the 
road  north  to  the  Palouse  country.  About  this 
time  an  ice  jam  carried  away  the  ferry  boat  at 
Lewiston.  It  drifted  a  mile  down  the  river  and 
lodged  upon  the  ice  fifteen  feet  high.  Mr.  Pearcy 
undertook  the  arduous  and  dangerous  task  of  se- 
curing the  boat,  and  brought  it  safely  back  to 
Lewiston,  after  which  he  managed  the  ferry 
across  the  Snake  river  at  this  point.  Becoming 
convinced  that  Lewiston  would  one  day  be  an 
important  commercial  center,  he  took  up  two 
government  claims  on  the  west  side  of  the  river 


about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  above  the  ferry,  made  a 
number  of  improvements  upon  the  place  and  sub- 
sequently sold  it  to  the  Vineland  Company  for 
nine  thousand  dollars.  It  is  now  subdivided  and 
has  become  very  valuable,  bringing  high  prices. 

Through  all  the  years  Mr.  Pearcy  continued 
his  connection  with  the  ferry.  In  the  early  days 
that  business  brought  high  prices,  three  dollars 
being  received  for  taking  a  team  and  wagon  over 
and  back;  a  man  on  horseback  paid  one  dollar 
for  the  round  trip;  on  foot  fifty  cents;  and  sheep 
and  hogs  were  transported  for  twenty-five  cents 
each.  Mr.  Pearcy  also  built  the  road  to  Asoten, 
putting  in  twelve  hundred  dollars  of  his  own 
money  in  the  enterprise,  which  has  proven  of 
great  practical  benefit  to  the  town.  He  has  al- 
ways taken  a  deep  and  active  interest  in  the 
development  and  growth  of  this  section  of  the 
state,  is  a  public-spirited  and  progressive  citizen, 
and  his  labors  have  been  an  important  factor  in 
the  substantial  progress  and  improvement  of 
northern  Idaho.  In  politics  he  has  been  a  Jeffer- 
sonian  Democrat  from  the  time  he  reached  ma- 
ture years. 

Mr.  Pearcy  was  married,  in  1881,  to  Miss  Jane 
Davis,  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and  they  have 
one  daughter,  Edna  G.,  who  is  now  fourteen  years 
of  age,  and  is  attending  school  in  Alameda.  Cali- 
fornia. Mr.  Pearcy  has  erected  a  good  residence 
on  the  bank  of  Snake  river,  near  the  ferry  land- 
ing, and  there  lives  in  the  enjoyment  of  peace  and 
plenty,  held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  all  as  one 
of  the  bravest  and  best  pioneers  of  Idaho. 

ROBERT  J.  ANDERSON. 

A  glance  at  the  history  of  past  centuries  will 
indicate  at  once  what  would  be  the  condition  of 
the  world  if  the  mining  interests  no  longer  had  a 
part  in  the  industrial  and  commercial  life.  Only 
a  few  centuries  ago  agriculture  was  almost  the 
only  occupation  of  man.  A  landed  proprietor 
surrounded  himself  with  his  tenants  and  his  serfs 
who  tilled  his  broad  fields,  while  he  reaped  the 
reward  of  their  labors ;  but  when  the  rich  mineral 
resources  of  the  world  were  placed  upon  the  mar- 
ket industry  found  its  way  into  new  and  broader 
fields,  minerals  were  used  in  the  production  of 
thousands  of  new  articles  of  trade  and  in  the 
production  of  hundreds  of  inventions,  and  the 
business  of  nations  was  revolutionized.  When 


538 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


considering  these  facts  we  can  in  a  measure  de- 
termine the  value  to  mankind  of  the  mining  inter- 
ests. One  who  is  now  prominently  connected 
with  the  development  of  the  rich  mineral  re- 
sources of  the  northwest  is  Mr.  Anderson,  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch,  the  promoter  and  the 
organizer  of  the  Twin  Springs  Placer  Mining 
Company. 

A  native  of  Minnesota,  Mr.  Anderson  was  born 
in  the  town  of  Eden  Prairie,  February  19,  1856, 
and  in  1894  came  to  Idaho,  since  which  time  he 
has  been  engaged  in  developing  the  great  mining 
enterprise  of  which  he  has  since  been  the  man- 
ager, and  which  he  has  brought  to  successful 
completion,  attracting  to  it  a  capital  of  a  half  a 
million  dollars,  furnished  principally  by  wealthy 
men  of  Philadelphia.  The  plant  of  the  company 
is  located  forty  miles  northeast  of  Boise,  where 
they  have  a  flume  six  feet  and  two  inches  in  the 
clear,  and  having  a  decline  of  ten  and  eight-tenths 
feet  to  the  mile.  It  carries  ten  thousand  miners' 
inches  of  water,  which,  it  is  believed,  is  the  larg- 
est water  supply  in  the  world  used  in  connection 
with  placer  mining.  The  siphon,  made  of  steel 
pipe,  is  four  feet  in  diameter  and  seventeen  hun- 
dred and  eighty  feet  in  length.  It  crosses  the 
Boise  river  on  a  single-span  bridge,  ninety  feet 
above  the  stream,  and  the  depression  in  the 
siphon  is  three  hundred  and  seventy  feet  in  depth, 
there  being  thirty-two  feet  difference  in  elevation 
between  the  intake  and  its  discharge.  This  is  the 
largest  siphon  ever  constructed,  in  diameter,  in 
length  and  in  head.  The  water  was  turned 
through  it  on  the  isth  of  August,  1898,  and  it 
worked  perfectly,  fully  meeting  the  highest  ex- 
pectation of  the  company.  The  siphon  and 
flume  are  considered  marvels  of  engineering  skill, 
and  were  plannedby  the  celebrated  engineer  John 
O.  Bouse,  of  San  Francisco.  The  company  owns 
four  thousand  acres  of  very  rich  placer,  ground, 
has  thirty-two  miles  of  the  river  bars,  thirteen 
hydraulic  giants  and  has  constructed  twenty- 
eight  miles  of  good  wagon  road.  The  water  is 
supplied  in  vast  quantities  and  every  modern  and 
improved  appliance  for  successfully  carrying  on 
the  work  is  found  in  connection  with  the  plant. 

This  is  a  vast  enterprise,  which  will  undoubt- 
edly produce  ore  to  the  value  of  many  millions  of 
dollars,  and  will  furnish  employment  to  many- 
men,  thus  greatly  contributing  to  the  wealth  and 


prosperity  of  Idaho.  When  the  siphon  was  com- 
pleted the  governor  of  the  state  drove  the  last 
rivet,  which  was  four  inches  in  length  and  made 
of  gold.  Many  prominent  citizens  were  invited 
to  attend  the  ceremony  and  the  occasion  was  made 
a  very  important  one  in  the  history  of  mining 
interests  in  the  northwest.  The  Twin  Springs 
Placer  Mining  Company  has  also  purchased  a 
large  number  of  placer  claims  in  the  Boise  Basin 
and  is  now  engaged  in  working  and  developing 
the  vast  property.  The  great  works  have  been 
completed  in  less  than  two  years  and  Mr.  Ander- 
son and  the  company  are  to  be  congratulated  on 
what  has  been  so  successfully  accomplished. 

Mr.  Anderson  has  moved  his  family  to  Boise, 
and  in  social  circles  they  occupy  a  very  prominent 
position.  He  was  married  in  1887  to  Miss  Mary 
Douglas,  of  Chicago,  and  their  children  are  Edna 
C.  and  Ruth  E.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republican, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He 
is  a  gentleman  of  marked  business  and  executive 
ability,  of  keen  foresight  and  discrimination, 
forms  his  plans  readily,  is  determined  in  their 
execution,  and  is  rarely  mistaken  in  a  matter  of 
business  policy.  He  is  a  valued  accession  to 
mining  circles  in  Idaho,  and  with  pleasure  we 
present  this  brief  record  of  his  career  to  our  read- 
ers. 

FRANCIS    MARION    DAVIS. 

The  history  of  Idaho  would  be  incomplete  if 
the  biographies  of  two  of  her  pioneers,  Francis 
M.  and  Thomas  Davis,  brothers,  and  old  resi- 
dents of  Boise  City,  were  omitted.  They  were 
always  believers  in  the  great  future  which  was  in 
store  for  the  state,  and  were  influential  factors  in 
the  development  of  its  resources.  When  death 
summoned  Francis  M.  Davis  to  lay  aside  his 
many  enterprises,  to  leave  to  other  hands  his 
uncompleted  work,  the  whole  community 
mourned;  and,  though  nine  years  have  rolled 
away,  the  memory  of  his  goodness,  his  many 
worthy  deeds  and  fine  traits  of  character,  is  un- 
dimmed  in  the  minds  of  his  numerous  friends. 

A  native  of  Warren  county,  Illinois,  born  July 
7,  1838,  Francis  M.  Davis  passed  his  boyhood  in 
the  Prairie  state,  and  gained  a  fair  education,  as 
he  made  the  best  of  his  limited  advantages.  (For 
his  ancestral  history  the  reader  is  referred  to 
the  sketch  of  his  brother,  Thomas  Davis, 
printed  elsewhere  in  this  work.)  Having  com- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


539 


pleted  his  education  in  the  schools  of  Monmouth, 
Illinois,  our  subject  determined  to  seek  his  for- 
tune in  the  west,  and  in  1863,  in  company  with 
the  brother  already  mentioned,  he  crossed  the 
plains.  They  settled  at  Boise  City,  and  were  thus 
among  the  first  of  the  permanent  citizens  of  this 
place.  For  many  years  the  brother,  George 
D.  Ellis  and  William  L.  Ritchey  (who  now  re- 
sides in  Polman.  Washington)  were  in  partner- 
ship in  the  management  and  ownership  of  a 
ranch,  and  they  planted  the  first  apple  orchard 
in  this  state.  Very  large  returns  were  had  from 
this  venture,  and  others  hastened  to  follow  the 
good  example  set,  and  thus  to-day  one  of  Idaho's 
sources  of  income  lies  in  the  fine  fruit  raised  here. 
At  length  F.  M.  Davis  sold  out  his  interest  in 
the  ranch  and  for  some  time  engaged  in  the  hard- 
ware business  in  Boise  City.  In  the  Centennial 
year  he  purchased  a  quarter  section  of  land  near 
the  city  limits  on  the  west  and  embarked  in  dairy- 
ing, which  business  he  had  formerly  followed  to 
some  extent.  He  erected  a  fine  farm-house  and 
substantial  barns  and  dairy  buildings,  and  as  long 
as  he  lived  kept  everything  about  the  place  in  ex- 
cellent condition.  As  a  just  reward  for  his  in- 
dustry and  good  management  success  crowned 
his  efforts,  and  he  was  well  off  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Davis  was  con- 
servative, and  his  allegiance  was  given  to  the 
Republican  party.  An  honored  member  of  the 
Masonic  order,  he  was  buried  under  the  auspices 
of  the  local  lodge.  In  the  Methodist  church  he 
was  a  member  and  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
religious  work  of  the  denomination.  The  date  of 
his  demise  was  March  8,  1891,  he  then  being  but 
little  past  the  prime  of  life.  His  influence  for 
good  in  this  community  has  been  far-reaching, 
and  no  better  example  of  sincere  Christian  man- 
hood can  be  found. 

In  January,  1865,  Mr.  Davis  married  Miss 
Hester  A.  Cory,  who  was  born  in  Ohio,  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Susan  (Carpenter)  Cory,  of  that 
state.  In  1864  she  came  to  Idaho  with  her 
brother,  and  here  made  the  acquaintance  of  her 
future  husband.  Two  children  blessed  the  union 
of  our  subject  and  wife.  The  son,  Charles  A.,  is 
with  his  mother  at  the  old  home,  and  the  daugh- 
ter, Laura  E.,  is  now  the  wife  of  P.  W.  Porter. 
Mrs.  Davis  has  ably  managed  the  fine  property 


which  was  left  to  her  at  her  husband's  death. 
Her  home  is  a  beautiful  one,  and  everything 
about  the  place  is  kept  in  good  order;  the 
grounds  surrounding  the  house  are  especially 
lovely,  and  reflect  much  credit  upon  the  good 
taste  of  the  owner. 

THERON  J.  SMITH. 

Theron  J.  Smith,  of  Idaho  Falls,  Idaho,  has 
influenced  the  settlement  of  more  families  in  the 
Snake  river  valley  than  any  two  or  three  other 
men.  He  has  been  a  factor  in  local  real-estate 
transactions,  and  without  doubt  has  been,  in  a 
general  way,  one  of  the  most  efficient  promoters 
of  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  Idaho  Falls  and 
the  settlement  and  development  of  its  tributary 
territory.  As  immigrant  agent  of  the  Oregon 
Short  Line  Railroad,  he  has  brought  many  ex- 
cursions to  this  part  of  the  country  from  Iowa, 
Nebraska  and  Illinois,  and  these  excursions  have 
resulted  in  a  marked  increase  of  population  at 
and  near  Idaho  Falls.  He  began  the  work  six 
years  ago,  and  an  idea  of  its  value  is  afforded  by 
the  fact  that  in  1898  fifty-eight  persons  were  set- 
tled by  him  in  Bingham  county. 

Theron  J.  Smith  was  born  in  Wayne  county, 
New  York,  July  22,  1844,  and  was  descended 
from  early  settlers  of  Dutchess  county,  New 
York,  many  of  whom  were  prominent  in  their 
time.  His  grandfather,  Samuel  Smith,  together 
with  his  brothers,  served  the  cause  of  the  colonies 
in  the  American  Revolution,  and  they  were  paid 
in  colonial  scrip,  which  was  never  redeemed,  but 
they  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  they 
had  risked  their  lives  in  a  good  and  triumphant 
cause.  Late  in  life  Samuel  Smith  represented  his 
district  in  the  assembly  of  the  state  of  New  York. 
Lewis  H.  Smith,  son  of  Samuel  Smith  and  father 
of  Theron  J.  Smith,  was  born  in  Dutchess  county, 
New  York,  and  married  one  of  the  daughters  of 
the  county,  Miss  Phoebe  Mott.  He  was  a  Qua- 
ker farmer,  a  good,  intelligent,  industrious  man, 
and  died  in  1854,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  in  Wayne 
county,  from  an  attack  of  cholera,  to  which  one 
of  his  sons  succumbed  at  the  same  time.  His 
wife  attained  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years. 
They  had  eight  children,  of  whom  five  are  living. 

Theron  J.  Smith  was  the  next  to  the  youngest 
of  this  family  of  eight,  and  was  about  ten  years 
old  when  his  father  died.  He  received  a  com- 


540 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


mon-school  and  academic  education  in  his  native 
state,  then  gave  his  attention  to  farming,  and  lo- 
cated, when  about  twenty-five,  at  Lake  City, 
Iowa,  where  he  followed  agricultural  pursuits  un- 
successfully until  1885,  when  he  sold  his  farm  and 
removed  to  Idaho  Falls,  where  he  arrived  No- 
vember 22.  It  was  a  little  railroad  town,  in 
which  he  found  a  new  home,  a  town  which  de- 
rived its  importance  from  the  railroad  and  the 
bridge  and  had  no  surrounding  settlement  that 
could  bring  much  trade  or  support.  Irrigation, 
real-estate  operations,  and  a  determined  effort  to 
bring  a  good  class  of  settlers,  changed  the  town 
into  the  commercial,  financial  and  mechanical 
center  of  a  thrifty  and  growing  agricultural  popu- 
lation. In  this  work  of  improvement  settlement 
and  development,  Mr.  Smith  has  taken  a  leading 
part.  He  induced  settlement  and  fostered  ac- 
tivity in  real  estate  and  this,  in  turn,  encouraged 
investment  along  all  industrial  lines.  He  platted 
the  Broadbeck  addition  to  Idaho  Falls  and 
placed  it  on  the  market,  and  has  handled  real- 
estate  extensively  otherwise,  on  his  own  account 
and  for  others. 

In  the  spring  of  1864,  before  Mr.  Smith  was 
twenty-one,  in  personal  response  to  the  urgent 
demand  of  the  United  States  government  for  men 
for  military  duty,  in  the  suppression  of  the  south- 
ern rebellion,  he  enlisted  in  Company  A,  One 
Hundred  and  Fortieth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infan- 
try, and  served  in  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  un- 
til he  was  discharged  on  account  of  ill  health,  in 
the  fall  of  the  same  year.  His  regiment  was  de- 
tailed to  guard  railroads,  and  in  connection  with 
that  work  had  many  exciting  encounters  with 
guerrillas.  This  warfare  was  in  many  ways  more 
harassing  and  dangerous  than  fighting  in  regu- 
lar order  of  battle.  Mr.  Smith  is  a  Grand  Army 
man  and  a  prominent  Silver-Republican.  He 
was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  and  .served  in 
that  office  with  much  credit  and  greatly  to  the 
satisfaction  of  his  fellow  townsmen,  but  he  has 
declined  all  other  offices  which  have  been  offered 
him,  in  deference  to  the  imperative  demands 
made  upon  him  by  his  private  business. 

October  13,  1868,  he  married  Miss  Sarah  E. 
Bradt,  of  Mohawk-Dutch  ancestry,  and  a  native 
of  Herkimer  county,  New  York,  daughter  of 
James  Bradt.  Her  father  lived  to  be  eighty-seven 
years  old  and  her  mother  also  attained  a  ripe  old 


age.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  have  had  six  children, 
of  whom  four  are  living.  Their  daughter,  Mary 
E.,  is  Mrs.  W.  S.  Jackson,  of  Idaho  Falls,  and 
Lewis  M.,  Elva  and  Theron  J.,  Jr.,  are  members 
of  their  father's  household.  Mrs.  Smith  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church. 

DANIEL  H.  CLYNE. 

A  captivating-  address,  a  cheerful  manner  and 
a  friendly  interest  in  those  with  whom  one  comes 
in  contact  will  not  alone  make  success  for  any 
man,  but  all  things  being  about  equal,  these  three 
things  will  give  their  possessor  supremacy  over 
any  competitors  who  do  not  possess  them  or 
possess  them  in  a  lesser  degree.  This  means 
that  some  men  are  able  to  make  many  personal 
friends,  well-wishers  and  helpers,  and  any  warm 
personal  friend  is  a  material  assistance  to  any 
man  in  any  business.  Sheriff  Clyne,  of  Bing- 
ham  county,  Idaho,  has  this  faculty  of  binding 
others  to  him,  a  faculty  which  is  none  the  less 
potent  because  it  is  exerted  unconsciously,  and 
to  the  kindly  and  helpful  interest  of  his  friends  he 
attributes  much  of  the  success  he  has  achieved. 
It  should  be  added  that  a  good  deal  has  been 
expected  of  him  and  he  has  been  equal  to  all 
demands  placed  upon  him. 

Daniel  Henry  Clyne  is  of  German  lineage  on 
the  paternal  side  and  was  born  in  Indiana,  in 
1857.  Thomas  Clyne,  his  father,  married  Miss 
Sarah  A.  Keeney,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  father  now  lives  in  Kansas.  They  had  seven 
children,  four  of  whom  are  living.  Daniel  Henry 
Clyne,  fourth  in  order  of  birth,  was  reared  in 
Nebraska  and  educated  himself  in  the  school  of 
experience.  He  began  life  as  a  cow-boy,  and 
later  embarked  in  the  stock  business  on  his  own 
account.  He  came  to  Idaho  Falls  in  1890  and 
for  a  time  was  employed  in  a  livery  stable.  Sub- 
sequently he  was  enabled  to  open  a  stable  of  his 
own,  and  by  close  attention  to  business  and  hon- 
orable and  courteous  treatment  of  all  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact,  he  gained  the  favor  of  the 
public  and  in  a  few  years  built  up  a  large  and 
profitable  trade.  Indeed,  his  success  in  this  and 
in  every  other  enterprise  with  which  he  has  had 
to  do  since  coming  to  Idaho  has  been  most  flat- 
tering. His  home  in  Idaho  Falls  is  one  of  the 
best  in  that  part  of  the  county. 

In  politics  Sheriff  Clyne  has  been  a  Republican 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


541 


even'  from  the  time  when  he  had  not  yet  attained 
sufficient  age  to  exercise  the  right  of  franchise. 
He  was  elected  town  marshal  of  Idaho  Falls  and 
was  re-elected  three  times,  filling  the  office  four 
successive  terms,  with  ability  and  discretion.  In 
1898  he  was  elected  .sheriff  of  Bingham  count}'. 
He  was  the  only  Republican  on  the  ticket,  and 
in  his  own  town  received  three  hundred  and 
eighty  votes  out  of  a  total  of  five  hundred.  After 
his  election  his  friends  in  Idaho  Falls  had  made 
and  presented  to  him  a  beautiful  gold  badge, 
thus  decorating  him  with  the  insignia  of  his  office. 
In  1 88 1  Mr.  Clyne  married  Mary  Watson,  a 
native  of  Missouri,  and  they  have  had  seven 
children:  William  H.,  Nettie  E.,  Bessie  A.,  Wes- 
ley T.,  Chase  D.,  Frederick  C.,  and  Charles  C. 

WILLIAM    N.    BUCHANAN. 

On  the  roster  of  county  officials  of  Latah 
county  appears  the  name  of  William  N.  Buchan- 
an, who  is  now  serving  as  sheriff,  and  his  fear- 
less and  prompt  discharge  of  his  public  duties  has 
gained  him  the  commendation  of  all  law-abiding 
citizens.  For  twenty-one  years  he  has  been  a 
resident  of  the  county,  and  has  therefore  wit- 
nessed the  greater  part  of  its  growth  and  develop- 
ment. Throughout  this  period  he  has  been  con- 
nected with  its  agricultural  interests,  and  is 
accounted  one  of  the  leading  farmers  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  state. 

Mr.  Buchanan  was  born  in  Newton  county, 
Missouri,  April  2,  1857,  and  is  descended  from 
Scotch  ancestors,  who  were  pioneer  settlers  of 
Indiana.  His  great-grandfather  removed  to  that 
state  at  a  very  early  period  in  its  history,  and  his 
grandfather  and  father,  each  of  whom  bore  the 
name  of  Nathan  Buchanan,  were  there  born.  The 
latter  was  a  native  of  Putnam  county,  and  was 
married  there  to  Miss  Diana  Sutherland,  a  native 
of  that  locality.  They  were  faithful  members  of 
the  Christian  church,  and  Nathan  Buchanan,  Jr., 
was  a  man  of  ability  and  influence,  having  served 
his  fellow  citizens  in  the  position  of  county 
assessor.  In  the  fall  of  1878  he  came  to  Idaho 
with  his  wife  and  six  children,  and  he  now  re- 
sides in  Moscow,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four  years. 
Three  of  their  sons  are  still  living. 

The  subject  of  this  review  is  the  eldest  of  the 
family,  and  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm  in 
Missouri,  the  family  having  removed  to  that  state 


in  his  early  childhood.  He  attended  the  public 
schools  there,  and  in  1878  came  with  his  parents 
to  Idaho.  Latah  county  and  this  section  of  the 
state  were  just  opening  up  to  civilization,  and  he 
secured  from  the  government  a  claim  seven  miles 
south  of  the  city  of  Moscow.  The  following  year 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  McKensie,  and 
then  located  upon  his  farm,  which  he  has  trans- 
formed into  a  richly  improved  and  valuable  prop- 
erty. The  home  has  been  blessed  with  four  chil- 
dren, Etta,  Hazel,  William  and  Willard.  Mr. 
Buchanan  has  been  a  practical  farmer,  has  fol- 
lowed advanced  methods,  and  through  his  indus- 
try has  succeeded  in  raising  large  crops  of  wheat, 
barley,  oats,  flax  and  fruit,  whereby  he  has  added 
largely  to  his  financial  resources. 

In  politics  he  is  a  zealous  Republican,  and  on 
that  ticket  was  elected  to  the  office  of  county 
sheriff.  This  public  trust  was  well  reposed  in 
him,  for  he  is  most  true  to  every  duty  and  obli- 
gation and  is  a  most  capable  official.  His  wife  is 
a  v/orthy  member  of  the  Christian  church,  but  he 
has  never  affiliated  with  any  organization.  He  is 
a  loyal  citizen,  a  reliable  business  man  and  stanch 
friend,  and  in  the  history  of  his  adopted  state  he 
well  deserves  representation. 

COLLINS  FERRYMAN. 

Among  the  most  prominent  and  valued  resi- 
dents of  his  section  of  the  state  is  Collins  Ferry- 
man, of  Juliaetta,  a  veteran  of  the  civil  war,  and 
a  citizen  whose  labors  in  behalf  of  the  town  of  his 
abode  have  been  most  effective  in  advancing  its 
interests.  He  was  the  pioneer  hotel  man,  as  a 
real-estate  dealer  has  handled  the  greater  part  of 
its  property,  has  done  more  than  any  other  man 
in  the  locality  to  improve  the  roads  through  the 
surrounding  country,  and  has  always  been  watch- 
ful of  the  welfare  and  progress,  doing  all  in  his 
power  to  promote  the  growth  and  prosperity  of 
the  thriving  little  place. 

A  native  of  the  Empire  state,  Collins  Ferryman 
was  born  in  Cattaraugus  county,  April  28,  1847, 
and  is  of  English  lineage.  His  grandfather  sailed 
from  England  for  the  New  World  and  was 
wrecked  off  the  coast  of  Rhode  Island,  which  led 
to  his  settlement  in  that  state.  His  son,  James 
Ferryman,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born 
near  Providence,  Rhode  Island, and  married  Miss 
Lucinda  Kerkendall,  who  was  born  near  Roches- 


542 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ter,  New  York.  In  1866  they  removed  to  Michi- 
gan, where  the  father  died  October  6,  1872,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-five  years,  his  wife  surviving  him 
until  1882,  when  she,  too,  was  called  to  the  home 
beyond,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years.  They 
were  farming  people  and  were  members  of  the 
Baptist  church,  Mr.  Ferryman  being  a  powerful 
exhorter  in  the  church. 

Our  subject  is  now  the  only  survivor  of  their 
family  of  six  children.  He  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  state,  and  after  the 
inauguration  of  the  civil  war,  he  patriotically  re- 
sponded to  his  country's  call,  enlisting  December 
22,  1863,  in  Company  M,  Fourth  New  York 
Heavy  Artillery,  when  only  sixteen  years  of  age. 
He  served  with  the  victorious  Army  of  the  Po- 
tomac under  General  Hancock,  and  participated 
in  all  the  engagements  of  the  command  until  the 
surrender  of  General  Lee.  This  included  the 
hard-fought  battle  of  the  Wilderness.  Through 
the  exposure  sustained  in  snow,  sleet  and  mud  he 
contracted  inflammatory  rheumatism  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  has  entirely  lost  the  sight  of  his 
right  eye.  He  won  for  himself  an  honorable 
military  record  and  was  discharged  on  the  I3th 
of  June,  1865,  but  for  three  years  thereafter  he 
was  in  an  invalid  condition.  When  he  had  suf- 
ficiently regained  his  health  to  engage  in  busi- 
ness, he  became  connected  with  the  lumber  trade 
in  northern  Michigan  and  later  removed  thence 
to  Missouri. 

In  the  latter  state,  on  the  4th  of  October,  1871, 
Mr.  Ferryman  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Mary  Alice  Nichols,  a  native  of  Kentucky.  He 
resided  in  Missouri  from  September,  1870,  until 
April,  1883,  when  he  crossed  the  plains  and  se- 
cured a  homestead  two  and  a  half  miles  west  of 
where  the  pleasant  town  of  Juliaetta  now  stands. 
He  obtained  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land 
from  the  government  and  erected  thereon  a  good 
residence,  but  when  Juliaetta  was  laid  out,  he 
removed  to  the  new  village  and  became  one  of 
its  most  energetic  -and  zealous  promoters.  He 
has  aided  in  promoting  all  the  enterprises  of  the 
town,  and  no  movement  for  the  public  good  has 
solicited  his  aid  in  vain.  He  is  a  most  pro- 
gressive and  public-spirited  citizen,  and  his  labors 
have  advanced  the  welfare  of  Juliaetta  to  a  great- 
er degree  than  those  of  any  other  man. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ferryman  have  reared  but  one 


child,  Willis  Arthur,  who  is  now  engaged  in  the 
grocery  business  in  Juliaetta.  Mrs.  Ferryman  is 
a  lady  of  refinement  and  ability,  and  is  now  serv- 
ing as  past  noble  grand  and  district  deputy  of 
the  Rebekah  Lodge.  Our  subject  belongs  to  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the 
Daughters  of  Rebekah,  also  the  Knights  of 
Pythias  fraternity,  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public and  the  Star  of  Bethlehem.  By  the  grand 
lodge  he  was  appointed  to  the  position  of  district 
deputy  of  the  latter.  In  politics  he  is  inde- 
pendent, supporting  the  men  whom  he  regards 
the  best  qualified  for  office,  regardless  of  party- 
ties.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  much  kindness  of 
heart,  of  generous  impulses  and  sterling  worth, 
and  his  many  admirable  qualities  have  endeared 
him  in  strong  ties  of  friendship  to  many  of  the 
best  citizens  of  his  section  of  the  state. 

FRANK  M.   HUBBARD. 

Frank  M.  Hubbard  is  numbered  among  the 
successful  farmers  of  Weiser.  He  was  born  in 
Pike  county,  Illinois,  on  the  gth  of  July,  1851, 
his  parents  being  Joseph  and  Sarah  (Venable) 
Hubbard.  His  father  was  born  in  Wisconsin, 
and  the  mother  was  a  native  of  Illinois.  They 
crossed  the  plains  with  oxen  in  1853,  being  six 
months  in  making  the  long  and  perilous  journey 
to  the  northwest.  Indians  occasioned  them  con- 
siderable annoyance,  but  they  accomplished  the 
journey  in  safety  and  located  in  Silverton,  Marion 
county,  Oregon,  where  the  father  obtained  three 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land,  which  he  suc- 
cessfully cultivated  for  forty  years.  His  life's 
labors  were  then  ended  by  death  in  1887,  when 
he  had  attained  the  age  of  seventy-five  years.  He 
was  a  very  industrious  and  energetic  farmer  and 
his  labors  brought  him  good  returns.  Both  he 
and  his  estimable  wife  were  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist church.  She  survived  him  two  years,  and 
departed  this  life  in  1889,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
four.  On  their  journey  across  the  plains  they 
brought  with  them  their  three  children,  and  five 
others  were  added  to  the  family  after  their  arrival 
in  Oregon.  Seven  of  the  number  still  survive. 

Frank  Marion  Hubbard,  the  third  in  order  of 
birth,  was  only  two  years  old  at  the  time  of  the 
emigration  of  the  family  westward.  He  acquired 
his  education  in  the  public  schools  of  the  Willa- 
mette valley,  and  in  1869  came  to  Idaho.  He  en- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


543 


gaged  in  freighting  from  Kelton,  Utah,  to  the 
city  of  Boise  and  to  Boise  basin,  and  later  turned 
his  attention  to  agricultural  pursuits,  purchasing 
four  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land  near  Wei- 
ser,  where  he  erected  a  residence,  devoting  his 
energies  to  the  development  and  cultivation  of 
the  land.  There  he  carried  on  agricultural  pur- 
suits until  1887,  when  he  sold  out.  In  1895  he 
purchased  other  lands,  and  is  now  the  owner  of 
a  valuable  tract  of  three  hundred  and  forty  acres, 
near  the  town  of  Weiser.  He  has  a  good  resi- 
dence and  fine  orchard  and  carries  on  general 
farming.  He  is  a  most  energetic  and  progress- 
ive agriculturist,  follows  advanced  methods,  and 
is  very  neat  and  thrifty  in  the  care  of  his  property. 
He  now  owns  one  of  the  fine  farms  of  the  locality 
and  has  met  with  good  success  in  its  operation. 

In  1874  Mr.  Hubbard  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Ella  Lowe,  of  Silverton,  Oregon,  and 
they  have  had  six  children,  five  sons  and  a  daugh- 
ter, namely:  Melvin  W.,  Calvin  Rosco,  Millard 
Fillmore,  Lelah  Winnefred,  Frank  M.  and  Orval 
H.  Mrs.  Hubbard  died  October  12,  1889,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-four  years.  She  was  a  faithful  and 
loving  wife  and  mother,  and  her  death  was  deeply 
deplored  by  her  many  friends  as  well  as  her  im- 
mediate family. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Hubbard  has  been  a 
life-long  Democrat,  and  on  that  ticket  was  elected 
county  assessor  in  1888.  The  following  year  he 
was  nominated  for  county  sheriff  but  was  de- 
feated by  nine  votes.  In  1893,  however,  he  was 
again  elected  county  assessor,  receiving  a  very 
large  majority, — a  fact  which  indicated  his  faith- 
fulness and  ability  while  holding  the  office  on  a 
former  occasion.  He  is  a  valued  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  Odd  Fellows'  society,  and 
commands  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  men  by  rea- 
son of  his  upright  life,  his  fidelity  to  every  tru:t 
reposed  in  him,  his  genial  manner  and  genuine 

friendliness. 

JACOB  C.  CAREER. 

The  efficient  and  capable  postmaster  of 
Grangeville,  Jacob  C.  Garber,  is  a  native  of  Rock- 
ingham  county,  Virginia,  born  near  Fort  Re- 
public, January  7,  1829.  The  family  is  of  Swiss 
origin  and  the  ancestors  of  our  subject  crossed 
the  Atlantic  to  the  New  World  prior  to  the  Revo- 
lutionary war.  They  were  long  residents  of 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  and  in  religious  faith 


were  Dunkards.  Martin  Garber,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  was  born  in  the  Old  Dominion  and 
married  Miss  Magdalen  Mohler,  a  lady  of  Ger- 
man lineage  and  a  representative  of  one  of  the 
old  Virginian  families.  Fourteen  children  were 
born  of  this  union,  of  whom  eight  sons  and  three 
daughters  grew  to  years  of  maturity.  The  father 
was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  died  of  palsy,  in 
the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  His  wife  at- 
tained a  very  advanced  age  and  finally  met  death 
by  accident,  in  the  upsetting  of  a  stage-coach  in 
which  she  was  a  passenger. 

Jacob  C.  Garber,  their  fourth  child,  was  edu- 
cated in  Virginia  and  Ohio,  the  family  having 
removed  to  the  latter  state  when  he  was  fourteen 
years  of  age.  Subsequently  he  emigrated  with 
an  older  brother  to  Iowa,  and  in  1854  he  sailed 
from  New  York  to  California,  going  by  way  of 
the  Nicaraugua  route  to  San  Francisco,  where  he 
arrived  on  the  I3th  of  August.  He  then  en- 
gaged in  mining  in  Sierra  and  Nevada  counties, 
meeting  with  good  success.  It  was  his  intention 
to  return  home  in  1857,  but,  being  taken  ill,  a 
year  had  passed  before  he  had  sufficiently  recov- 
ered to  travel,  and  by  that  time  the  expenses  of 
his  sickness  had  eaten  up  all  his  capital.  From 
Sierra  county  he  went  to  Nevada  county,  and 
with  the  assistance  of  a  friend  procured  a  claim, 
on  which  he  again  made  money  rapidly.  He  re- 
mained there  from  1858  until  1865,  and  during 
that  time  was  elected  and  served  as  county  re- 
corder of  Nevada  county,  continuing  in  the  office 
until  1868,  when  he  removed  to  Humboldt  coun- 
ty, where  he  established  a  general  merchandise 
store.  The  new  undertaking  proved  a  profitable 
one,  and  he  carried  on  business  along  that  line 
until  1885,  when  he  sold  out  and  went  to  the 
Portuguese  Flat,  in  Shasta  county.  There  he 
purchased  an  interest  in  a  mine,  but  lost  his  mon- 
ey in  that  investment,  through  the  treachery  of  a 
partner. 

Mr.  Garber  next  came  to  Camas  prairie,  Idaho, 
and  secured  a  claim  of  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
acres  of  government  land,  on  which  he  engaged 
in  raising  hay,  grain  and  cattle.  He  transformed 
it  into  a  good  farm,  and  it  is  still  in  his  posses- 
sion. In  1893,  however,  he  left  the  farm,  having 
been  elected  probate  judge  of  Idaho  county,  and 
on  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service  in  that 
capacity  he  accepted  the  position  of  bookkeeper 


5-W 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


in  the  large  wholesale  and  retail  house  of  Henry 
Wax,  of  Grangeville.  He  was  thus  employed  in 
1897,  when  President  McKinley  appointed 'him 
postmaster.  He  is  now  giving  his  entire  time 
and  attention  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  which  he 
is  discharging  in  a  most  capable  manner,  winning 
the  high  commendation  of  all  concerned.  He 
has  always  been  a  stanch  Republican  in  politics 
since  casting  his*  first  presidential  vote  for  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  in  1860. 

In  1868  Mr.  Garber  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Julia  A.  Wheeler,  in  Nevada  county,  Cali- 
fornia. She  is  a  native  of  Georgia  and  a  daugh- 
ter of  Nathan  Wheeler,  and  to  her  husband  she 
renders  able  assistance  in  the  administration  of 
the  affairs  of  the  postoffice.  Mr.  Garber  was 
formerly  a  very  active  member  of  the  Odd  Fel- 
lows society  and  has  filled  all  the  chairs  in  both 
branches  of  the  order.  He  is  a  wide-awake  and 
progressive  citizen,  giving  a  loyal  support  to  all 
measures  for  the  public  good,  and  is  a  most  trust- 
worthy officer. 

AARON   FREIDENRICH. 

Aaron  Freidenrich,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
merchants  of  Grangeville,  and  the  managing 
member  of  the  firm  of  Alexander  &  Freidenrich, 
wholesale  and  retail  dealers  in  general  merchan- 
dise, is  in  control  of  the  largest  establishment  of 
the  kind  in  the  town,  and  perhaps  no  town  of 
equal  proportion  in  the  entire  country  can  boast 
of  a  better  or  more  extensive  store.  The  success 
of  this  enterprise  is  due  to  him  whose  name  be- 
gins this  sketch,  a  most  energetic  and  progressive 
man,  whose  sound  judgment  is  supplemented  by 
industry  and  honorable  methods.  These  quali- 
ties have  brought  to  him  a  most  creditable  pros- 
perity and  have  gained  him  a  place  in  the  fore- 
most ranks  of  the  commercial  interests  of  north- 
ern Idaho. 

Mr.  Freidenrich  has  been  a  resident  of  this 
state  for  thirty-one  years.  He  was  born  in  Ger- 
many on  the  24th  of  February,  1851,  a  son  of 
Isaac  and  Caroline  (Adler)  Freidenrich.  Many 
of  the  representatives  of  the  name  were  German 
merchants,  and  in  religious  faith  the  family  were 
Hebrews.  In  the  land  of  his  nativity  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  acquired  his  education,  and  also  be- 
came familiar  with  business  methods  by  acting  as 
salesman  in  a  mercantile  establishment.  He  was 


only  seventeen  years  of  age  when  he  emigrated  to 
the  United  States,  hoping  to  better  his  financial 
condition  in  the  land  where  every  opportunity  is 
afforded  the  man  of  ability,  ambition  and  deter- 
mination. He  landed  in  New  York,  and  though 
he  had  but  little  knowledge  of  the  English  lan- 
guage he  soon  secured  a  position  in  a  wholesale 
house  in  that  city,  where  he  remained  until  1867, 
when  he  sailed  for  Portland,  Oregon.  There  he 
remained  for  twelve  months,  and  in  1868  he  took 
up  his  abode  in  Lewiston,  Idaho.  There  he  ob- 
tained a  position  in  the  store  of  Hexter  Brothers, 
with  whom  he  continued  until  1871,  at  which 
time  he  went  to  Florence  and  began  merchan- 
dising on  his  own  account.  In  1874  he  removed 
to  Warren,  where  he  conducted  a  store  until 
1879,  when  he  sold  his  business  there  and  took 
up  his  abode  in  Grangeville,  becoming  the  man- 
aging member  of  the  present  firm  of  Alexander 
&  Freidenrich.  During  his  twenty-years  con- 
nection with  the  business  interests  of  Grange- 
ville, he  has  met  with  splendid  success,  which  has 
been  well  earned  by  his  close  attention  to  his 
commercial  affairs,  his  excellent  ability  and  his 
honorable  business  methods.  The  store  which 
he  occupies  is  thirty-five  by  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  feet,  and  in  addition  the  firm  has  two 
large  warehouses  in  Grangeville.  The  bills  of 
sales  have  amounted  to  as  high  as  five  thousand 
dollars,  and  they  carry  a  stock  valued  at  eighty- 
thousand  dollars,  to  which  they  are  making  al- 
most daily  additions.  They  carry  a  full  line  of 
standard  staple  and  fancy  goods,  and  their  finely 
equipped  store  would  be  a  credit  to  a  city  of  much 
greater  size  than  Grangeville.  In  addition  to 
this  property  Mr.  Freidenrich  has  become  the 
possessor  of  a  number  of  good  farms  on  Camas 
prairie,  which  are  now  rented.  They  are  planted 
to  hay  and  grain,  and  fine  apples,  cherries,  plums 
and  prunes  are  raised  upon  them.  Thus  he  has 
judiciously  invested  his  surplus  earnings  and 
thereby  materially  increased  his  incoma. 

Mr.  Freidenrich  was  happily  married  March  4, 
1883,  to  Miss  Rosa  Stenhauser,  a  cultured  lady, 
born  in  San  Francisco,  California.  They  have 
one  son,  Melton,  who  is  now  attending  school  in 
Portland,  Oregon.  Our  subject  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  was  for  some  years 
treasurer  of  Mount  Idaho  Lodge,  No.  9,  F.  &  A. 
M.,  now  located  at  Grangeville.  He  also  be- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


545 


longs  to  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen, 
and  is  accounted  one  of  Grangeville's  best  busi- 
ness men  and  representative  citizens.  Although 
he  came  to  America  empty-handed,  he  is  now  the 
possessor  of  a  handsome  competence,  his  hopes 
having  been  more  than  realized.  His  life  demon- 
strates the  truth  of  the  saying  that  success  is  nor 
the  result  of  genius,  but  the  outcome  of  a  clear 
judgment  and  experience. 

JOHN  S.  KINKAID. 

John  S.  Kinkaid,  one  of  the  highly  respected 
farmers  of  Camas  prairie,  was  born  in  Indiana, 
September  9,  1833,  and  is  a  representative  of  an 
old  Kentucky  family.  His  grandfather,  Joseph 
Kinkaid,  was  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812,  and 
was  an  early  settler  of  Kentucky.  His  son,  An- 
drew Kinkaid,  was  born,  reared  and  educated  in 
Kentucky  and  became  a  minister  of  the  Christian 
church.  In  1841  he  removed  to  Missouri  and 
was  a  prominent  preacher  of  the  gospel  in  that 
state.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Landis,  a 
native  of  Tennessee,  who  is  still  living  and  has 
celebrated  her  ninetieth  birthday,  her  home  being 
with  a  daughter  in  Kansas.  The  father  died  in 
the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  but  his  memory  re- 
mains as  a  blessed  benediction  to  all  who  knew 
him.  Two  of  the  sons  loyally  served  their  coun- 
try in  the  Union  army  during  the  civil  war,  and 
one  of  them  lost  his  life  in  the  great  struggle  to 
maintain  the  Union.  In  the  family  were  seven 
children,  five  of  whom  yet  survive. 

Rev.  John  S.  Kinkaid  was  educated  in  Cass 
county,  Missouri,  in  a  little  log  school-house  such 
as  was  common  at  that  time.  In  his  early  youth 
he  had  accompanied  his  parents  from  Indiana  to 
that  state,  and  in  1861  went  with  them  to  Kan- 
sas, locating  in  Franklin  county.  He  had  been 
married,  however,  in  Missouri,  in  1859,  to  Miss 
Caroline  Frazier,  and  they  made  their  home  upon 
a  farm  in  Kansas  from  1861  until  1883,  when 
they  came  to  Camas  prairie  and  took  up  a  tract 
of  land,  whereon -Mr.  Kinkaid  has  since  engaged 
in  stock-raising,  making  a  specialty  of  graded 
Durham  cattle  and  graded  Percheron  horses. 
He  has  one  hundred  and  fourteen  acres  of  land 
and  a  most  hospitable  home,  the  latch-string  al- 
ways being  out  to  those  who  come  this  way. 

Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kinkaid  have  been  born 
ten  children,  all  of  whom  reached  years  of  ma- 


turity, while  four  sons  and  four  daughters  are 
yet  living,  namely:  Denver,  who  is  engaged  in 
farming  near  his  father;  Ulysses  S.,  who  is  en- 
gaged in  the  butchering  business  at  Elk  City; 
Annie,  wife  of  William  Perkins;.  Alice,  wife  of 
Robert  Farris;  Marion  and  William,  who  follow 
farming;  Maude,  who  is  engaged  in  school- 
teaching;  and  Myrtle,  wife  of  Charles  S.  Jacob- 
son.  The  parents  are  valued  members  of  the 
Christian  church,  in  which  Elder  Kinkaid  is  an 
ordained  minister.  He  is  a  man  of  broad  hu- 
manitarian principles,  a  faithful  follower  of  the 
Teacher  of  Nazareth,  and  gladly  embraces  every 
opportunity  of  proclaiming  the  gospel  of  peace 
on  earth,  good  will  to  men.  His  political  support 
is  given  the  Republican  party.  His  noble  life  is 
unclouded  by  shadow  of  wrong  or  suspicion  of 
evil,  and  all  who  know  him  have  for  him  the 
kindliest  regard. 

JOHN  LANE. 

Colonel  John  Lane,  the  senior  member  of  the 
law  firm  of  Lane  &  McDonald,  has  long  resided 
on  the  Pacific  coast,  but  has  made  his  home  in 
Lewiston  for  only  two  years.  In  that  time,  how- 
ever, he  has  gained  prestige  as  one  of  the  ablest 
members  of  the  bar  of  this  locality,  and  is  there- 
fore a  valued  addition  to  the  professional  circles 
of  the  city. 

A  native  of  the  state  of  Indiana,  Colonel  Lane 
was  born  in  Evansville,  May  17,  1837.  His  an- 
cestors were  of  Irish  and  French  stock  and  were 
early  settlers  of  North  Carolina,  where  they 
founded  the  city  of  Raleigh  one  hundred  years 
before  America  sought  her  independence  through 
the  power  of  arms.  Several  of  the  family  held 
military  commissions  under  General  Washington, 
in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  the  family  has 
always  been  celebrated  for  bravery  and  valor  in 
battle.  General  Joseph  Lane,  the  father  of  the 
Colonel,  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  December 
14,  1801,  and  became  a  brevet  major  general  in 
the  Mexican  war.  He  was  appointed  by  President 
James  K.  Polk  to  go  to  Oregon  and  organize 
the  territorial  government  there  before  the  ex- 
piration of  the  president's  term.  With  all  expedi- 
tion he  started  across  the  plains,  in  the  fall  of 
1848,  with  a  small  escort  of  the  regiment  of 
mounted  rifles.  On  the  approach  of  the  winter, 
he  turned  aside  and  passed  through  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona,  finally  reaching  San  Diego,  Cali- 


516 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


fornia,  where  he  took  a  schooner  for  Yuba 
Buena,  afterward  San  Francisco.  From  that 
point  he  proceeded  by  schooner  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia,  after  which,  with  Indians  and 
canoes,  he  proceeded  up  the  Columbia  to  Will- 
amette, and  up  that  river  to  Oregon  City,  where 
he  arrived  March  3,  1849.  He  immediately  issued 
the  proclamation  organizing  the  territory  of  Ore- 
gon. This  was  just  the  day  previous  to  the  close 
of  Mr.  Folk's  administration,  so  that  he  made 
the  long  and  perilous  journey  and  performed  his 
mission  just  in  time.  He  then  took  up  his  abode 
in  the  new  territory,  and  in  1851  was  elected  its 
delegate  to  congress.  When  Oregon  became  a 
state  he  was  its  first  United  States  senator,  and 
in  1860  he  was  a  candidate  on  the  Democratic 
ticket  for  vice-president,  Breckinridge  being  the 
nominee  for  president.  Soon  afterward  he  re- 
turned to  Roseburg,  Oregon,  where  he  retired 
from  active  life.  He  died  there  on  the  igth  of 
April,  1881,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years,  and  his 
death  was  probably  hastened  by  the  wounds 
which  he  sustained  in  the  Mexican  war  and  in 
the  Indian  wars  in  Oregon.  In  early  life  he  had 
married  Miss  Mary  Hart,  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
and  to  them  were  born  ten  children,  six  of  whom 
are  yet  living.  The  mother  died  in  1870. 

Colonel  Lane,  the  eighth  of  the  family,  ac- 
quired his  education  in  Indiana,  Kentucky  and 
Virginia,  and  in  his  twentieth  year  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  President  Pierce  a  cadet  at  large  to 
West  Point,  where  he  remained  until  March, 
1861,  when  he  resigned,  and  at  the  opening  of  the 
civil  war  entered  the  Confederate  service  as  a 
second  lieutenant.  He  was  ordnance  officer  and 
drill  master  at  Fort  Pulaski,  and  subsequently 
was  ordered  to  Virginia,  where  he  was  attached 
as  drill  master  to  a  company  of  artillery.  He  was 
on  the  staff  of  General  G.  W.  Smith  as  aid-de- 
camp and  later  was  captain  of  a  battery  of  artil- 
lery. He  participated  in  twenty-three  battles,  and 
at  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
he  held  the  rank  of  lieutenant  colonel  in  com- 
mand of  a  battalion  of  artillery.  He  was  three 
times  slightly  wounded.  His  training  at  West 
Point,  combined  with  his  devotion  to  the  cause 
he  espoused,  made  him  a  most  valued  and  brave 
representative  of  the  southern  cause. 

After  the  war  Colonel  Lane  visited  his  father 
in  Oregon,  and  was  induced  by  him  to  engage 


in  the  stock  business,  which  he  carried  on  suc- 
cessfully for  a  number  of  years  in  Douglas 
county,  Oregon.  He  also  engaged  in  mining  at 
the  Black  Sand  mines  on  the  coast,  and  took  out 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  but  it  was  such 
difficult  work  that  the  cost  of  carrying  it  on 
was  as  great  as  the  returns.  In  the  meantime, 
while  engaged  in  stock-raising,  Colonel  Lane  had 
read  law  under  the  direction  of  his  brother,  L.  F. 
Lane,  who  afterward  became  a  member  of  con- 
gress, but  before  beginning  practice  he  served  in 
public  office,  first  filling  the  position  of  assessor 
of  Coos  county.  Later  he  was  elected  and  served 
for  two  consecutive  terms  as  sheriff  of  the  county. 
In  1883,  being  in  Salem,  Oregon,  with  prisoners 
at  the  time  the  supreme  court  was  in  session,  he 
was  invited  by  one  of  the  supreme  judges  to 
take  the  examination  for  admission  to  the  bar. 
With  no  idea  of  engaging  in  practice,  he  con- 
sented, and  acquitted  himself  most  creditably, 
thus  becoming  a  member  of  the  legal  profession. 
He  then  completed  his  term  as  sheriff,  after 
which  he  took  up  the  practice  of  law  at  Roseburg 
with  his  brother,  L.  F.  Lane. 

In  1893  Colonel  Lane  went  to  Washington, 
D.  C.,  where  he  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  inaugurated,  and  was  by  him 
appointed  Indian  agent,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  until  March,  1896,  when  he  was  ordered 
to  report  to  Washington,  and  was  appointed  by 
Hoke  Smith,  secretary  of  the  interior,  to  the 
position  of  special  Indian  agent  and  afterward 
appointed  Indian  inspector.  He  capably  filled 
that  office  until  June,  1897,  when  he  retired  and 
has  since  devoted  his  energies  to  the  private 
practice  of  law.  In  the  summer  of  that  year  he 
visited  Lewiston,  and  being  greatly  pleased  with 
the  city  and  its  excellent  outlook  he  determined 
to  locate  here.  He  arrived  October  19,  1897,  and, 
on  the  hill  just  above  the  town,  the  stage  on 
which  he  was  riding  was  held  up  and  robbed. 
Opening  an  office,  he  has  within  two  years 
secured  a  large  clientage  and  has  been  connected 
with  most  of  the  important  litigation  heard  dur- 
ing this  period.  The  firm  of  Lane  &  McDonald 
take  precedence  of  many  others  of  longer  stand- 
ing, and  their  devotion  to  the  clients'  interests, 
combined  with  their  skill  in  argument,  insures 
them  a  continuance  of  the  law  business  of  Lewis- 
ton  and  the  surrounding  country. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


547 


In  1878  Mr.  Lane  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Hattie  Sherrard,  of  Coos  county,  Oregon. 
Five  children  have  been  born  to  them,  of  whom 
four  are  living:  Joseph  W.,  Roy  C.,  Winifred 
and  Lorena.  The  family  reside  in  one  of  the  nice 
homes  of  Lewiston,  and  the  Colonel  and  his  wife 
are  held  in  high  regard.  Socially  he  is  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Work- 


men. 


HARLAN  P.  USTICK,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 


The  medical  profession  in  Boise  is  ably  rep- 
resented by  Dr.  Harlan  Page  Ustick,  a  promi- 
nent homeopathic  physician,  who  was  born  in 
Fayette  county,  Ohio,  on  the  26th  of  November, 
1848.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  a  Baptist 
minister,  who,  leaving  his  home  in  France, 
crossed  the  Atlantic  to  New  York  city,  where  he 
passed  the  residue  of  his  days.  His  son,  William 
Arnold  Ustick,  the  father  of  the  Doctor,  was  born 
in  Orange  county,  New  York,  in  the  year  1800, 
and  when  seventeen  years  of  age  removed  to 
Ohio,  where  he  resided  until  he  laid  down  the 
burdens  of  life,  in  his  ninetieth  year.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Mary  Stewart,  a  native  of  Maryland, 
and  a  descendant  of  the  royal  house  of  Stuart,  of 
England.  Mr.  Ustick  resided  upon  a  farm  and 
was  accounted  one  of  the  industrious  and  prac- 
tical agriculturists  of  his  community.  In  later 
years  he  also  engaged  in  buying  and  selling  wool 
on  an  extensive  scale,  and  won  success  in  his  un- 
dertakings. For  many  years  he  was  an  elder  in 
the  Presbyterian  church,  and  his  life  was  actu- 
ated by  noble  principles  and  characterized  by- 
kindly  deeds.  Uncompromisingly  opposed  to 
oppression  of  every  form,  his  home  became  a 
station  on  the  famous  underground  railroad  in 
ante-bellum  days,  and  he  aided  many  a  poor 
negro  on  his  way  to  freedom.  He  died  in  his 
ninetieth  year,  and  his  wife  passed  away  at  the 
age  of  seventy-six.  They  were  the  parents  of 
thirteen  children,  of  whom  only  five  now  sur- 
vive. 

Dr.  Ustick,  the  youngest  of  the  family,  com- 
pleted his  literary  education  by  his  graduation  in 
Miami  University,  in  1870,  after  which  he  began 
preparation  for  the  medical  profession  as  a  stu- 
dent in  Hahnemann  College,  in  Philadelphia, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1883.  At  his  old 
Ohio  home  he  practiced  medicine  for  eight  years 
and  then  removed  to  Chicago,  whence  he  came  to 


the  Pacific  coast  in  1892,  spending  a  short  time 
in  Portland,  Oregon.  From  that  city  he  removed 
to  Boise,  where  he  opened  an  office  and  was  soon 
in  the  enjoyment  of  a  large  and  lucrative  busi- 
ness. He  makes  a  specialty  of  chronic  diseases 
and  the  treatment  of  the  eye  and  ear,  and  his 
efforts  have  been  attended  by  results  which  indi- 
cate his  superior  ability  in  the  line  of  his  chosen 
calling.  From  the  faithful  performance  of  each 
day's  duty  he  gains  inspiration  and  strength  for 
the  labors  of  the  next;  perusal  of  the  leading 
medical  journals  keeps  him  in  touch  with  the 
advancement  that  is  continually  being  made  in 
medical  circles;  and  his  capability  has  gained 
him  distinction  in  professional  circles.  He  has 
other  business  interests  in  addition  to  his  prac- 
tice, is  the  owner  of  a  fine  fruit  farm  of  eighty 
acres,  and  is  very  active  in  promoting  the  inter- 
ests of  the  horticulturists  of  the  state,  being,  at 
the  present  writing,  secretary  of  the  Fruit  Grow- 
ers' Association  of  the  state  of  Idaho. 

In  1892  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Dr. 
Ustick  and  Mrs.  Margaret  Pittenger,  who  by 
her  former  marriage  has  a  son  Fred;  the  latter 
graduated  at  the  Chicago  Homeopathic  Medical 
College  in  March,  1899.  The  Doctor  also  has 
two  sons  and  a  daughter  by  a  former  marriage, 
viz.:  Roy  P.,  Faye  S.  and  Clyde  E.  The  last 
mentioned  is  now  taking  a  professional  course 
in  electricity.  The  Doctor  and  his  estimable  wife 
are  leading  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church, 
in  which  he  is  now  serving  as  elder.  In  politics 
he  is  most  earnest  in  his  advocacy  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  and  its  principles,  and  socially  is  con- 
nected with  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the 
Woodmen  of  the  World  and  the  Pioneers  of  the 

Pacific. 

JOHN  SCALES. 

John  Scales,  a  resident  of  Wagontown,  is  a 
native  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  his  birth  having 
occurred  in  Kilrush,  county  Clare,  on  the  6th  of 
May,  1840.  At  the  time  of  the  protectorate  in 
England  members  of  the  Scales  family,  natives 
of  that  land,  went  to  Ireland  as  soldiers  of  Oliver 
Cromwell,  and  for  their  services  were  paid  in 
Irish  estates,  called  "sword-lands."  The  parents 
of  our  subject  were  Samuel  and  Rachel  Scales, 
who  were  distant  relatives.  They  came  to 
America  in  1855,  bringing  with  them  their  family 
of  five  children,  and  took  up  their  residence  in 


548 


PIISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  state  of  Maine.  The  father  died  in  1875,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-two  years,  and  the  mother 
spent  her  last  days  in  the  home  of  her  son  John, 
passing  away  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two 
years.  Four  of  the  children  yet  survive,  one 
being  a  resident  of  Maine,  one  of  Oregon,  one 
of  Silver  City  and  one  of  Wagontown,  Idaho, 
and  thus  they  are  separated  by  the  width  of  the 
continent. 

John  Scales  was  a  youth  of  fifteen  years  when 
he  accompanied'  his  parents  on  the  voyage 
across  the  briny  deep.  He  attended  school  in 
his  native  land  and  pursued  a  commercial  course 
in  Eastman's  Business  College  of  Poughkeepsie, 
New  York.  His  residence  in  Idaho  dates  from 
1868,  when  he  took  up  his  abode  in  Silver  City 
and  began  work  in  the  mines.  At  that  time 
miners  were  making  from  five  to  twenty  dollars 
per  day.  He  also  became  part  owner  of  the 
Casco  mines  near  the  De  Lamar  mines,  and  while 
milling  for  others  also  took  out  ore  from  his 
own  claims,  thus  gaining  a  good  start  in  business 
life.  He  sold  the  Casco  mine  to  William  F.  Som- 
mercamp,  who  later  sold  the  property  to  the 
De  Lamar  Company,  who  now  have  the  largest 
and  best  paying  mines  in  Owyhee  county.  At 
the  present  writing  Mr.  Scales  resides  at  Wagon- 
town,  two  miles  west  of  De  Lamar, on  the  famous 
Jordan  creek.  In  1891  he  conceived  the  idea  of 
building  a  dam  and  inpounding  the  tailings  of 
the  great  mill  of  the  De  Lamar  Mining  Com- 
pany. He  also  built  a  flume  to  convey  the 
tailings  to  his  reservoirs  and  thus  has  he  in- 
pounded  a  large  quantity  of  the  tailings,  which 
have  been  found  on  second  working  to  produce 
seven  dollars  to  the  ton.  Formerly  Mr.  Scales 
owned  a  custom  mill  at  Silver  City  for  several 
years,  had  run  ore  to  the  value  of  millions  of  dol- 
lars and  had  become  a  miner  and  mill  man.  He 
turned  his  knowledge  to  practical  account  in  the 
establishment  of  his  present  business,  and  his 
new  enterprise  will  doubtless  net  him  a  handsome 
profit,  for  the  tailings  yield  three  ounces  of  silver 
and  five  dollars  and  a  half  in  gold  to  the  ton,  and 
he  now  has  seventy  thousand  tons  of  the  tailings, 
the  gross  income  from  which  will  be  about  a 
half  million  dollars.  He  has  recently  equipped 
his  mill  to  a  capacity  of  one  hundred  tons  per 
twenty-four  hours,  and  used  the  pan-amalgama- 
tion method.  His  efforts  are  therefore  being 


crowned  with  success — a  prosperity  which  is 
justly  deserved.  In  connection  with  Mr. 
Wagoner  he  is  also  owner  of  the  Trook  and 
Jennings  mines,  one  of  the  valuable  mining  prop- 
erties of  Silver  City. 

In  1879  Mr.  Scales  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  E.  Crowell,  of  China,  Maine,  and 
they  now  have  two  sons,  Henry  C.  and  Wilbert 
G.,  both  of  whom  are  attending  school  in  Cali- 
fornia. Mrs.  Scales  is  a  cultured  and  entertaining 
lady,  presiding  with  gracious  hospitality  over  the 
commodious  residence  which  Mr.  Scales  has 
erected  at  Wagontown,  and  in  which  they  have 
resided  since  1891.  She  is  also  a  valued  member 
of  the  Baptist  church,  while  Mr.  Scales  is  a  Royal 
Arch  Mason  and  has  served  as  high  priest  of 
Cyrus  Chapter,  No.  2,  R.  A.  M.,  of  Silver  City. 
His  political  support  is  given  the  Democracy 
and  he  keeps  well  informed  on  the  issues  of  the 
day,  thus  being  able  to  intelligently  advocate  the 
principles  in  which  he  believes.  He  has  served 
for  several  terms  as  county  commissioner  and 
also  as  county  school-superintendent,  and  has 
been  a  most  capable  and  efficient  officer.  He  and 
his  family  are  very  highly  esteemed  in  the  county 
in  which  they  have  so  long  resided,  and  their 
history  is  deserving  a  prominent  place  in  this 

volume. 

A.   F.  WOHLENBERG,   M.  D. 

Dr.  Wohlenberg,  a  practicing  physician  and 
surgeon  of  Kendrick,  is  a  native  of  Lyons,  Iowa, 
born  April  27,  1862.  As  the  name  indicates,  he 
is  of  German  descent.  His  parents,  Ludwig  A. 
and  Maria  (Vollbehr)  Wohlenberg,  were  both 
natives  of  the  Fatherland  and  came  to  America 
during  their  childhood.  After  their  marriage 
they  located  on  the  farm  where  Ludwig  Wohlen- 
berg is  now  living,  retired  from  active  business 
life,  enjoying  the  handsome  competence  which 
came  to  him  as  the  result  of  arduous  toil  in 
former  years.  He  has  held  various  township 
offices,  discharging  his  duties  in  a  most  accept- 
able manner,  and  has  been  a  lifelong  member  of 
the  Lutheran  church.  The  Doctor's  mother  died 
in  1864,  when  he  was  but  two  years  old,  and  the 
father  afterward  married  again.  By  the  first  union 
there  were  two  children  and  by  the  second  four, 
and  of  the  number  four  are  yet  living. 

Dr.  Wohlenberg  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools,  and  in  his  boyhood  worked  on  a  farm 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


549 


and  clerked  in  a  store,  thus  entering  upon  his 
business  career.  Determining  to  devote  his  at- 
tention to  the  medical  profession,  he  began 
preparation  for  his  chosen  life  work  in  the  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  of  Chicago, 
from  which  he  graduated  in  1894.  He  began 
practice  in  Seattle,  Washington,  and  thence  came 
to  Kendrick,  where  he  has  since  enjoyed  a  profit- 
able and  constantly  increasing  business,  his  skill 
and  ability  winning  him  the  public  confidence 
and  likewise  the  public  patronage.  He  has  a 
comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  science  of  medi- 
cine, keeps  thoroughly  informed  concerning  all 
the  new  theories  and  discoveries  which  are  ad- 
vanced, and  shows  most  discriminating  judg- 
ment in  the  selection  of  such  of  these  as  he 
believes  will  aid  him  in  his  practice.  He  studies 
closely  the  leading  medical  journals  and  keeps 
in  close  touch  with  his  professional  brethren 
through  his  membership  connection  with  the 
State  Medical  Association  of  Idaho. 

In  1886  Dr.  Wohlenberg  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Julia  Canfield,  a  native  of  Marshall- 
town,  Iowa,  and  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Mosley  Can- 
field,  of  that  place.  The  Doctor  and  his  wife 
have  made  many  friends  in  Kendrick,  and  are 
in  every  way  worthy  the  high  esteem  in  which 
they  are  held.  He  belongs  to  the  Woodmen  of 
the  World,  is  a  member  and  trustee  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity,  but  has  neither 
time  nor  inclination  to  seek  office,  preferring  to 
devote  his  energies  to  his  professional  labors, 
whereby  he  is  gaining  a  position  of  distinction. 

WILLIAM  H.  SEBASTIAN. 

Among  the  pioneers  who  came  to  northern 
Idaho  in  an  early  day  to  secure  homes  and  open 
up  this  region  to  civilization  is  William  H.  Sebas- 
tian, now  an  enterprising  farmer  of  Camas 
prairie.  He  located  on  the  prairie  in  1871,  fought 
for  the  protection  of  the  settlers  in  the  Nez 
Perces  Indian  war,  and  has  ever  labored  for  the 
advancement  and  upbuilding  of  the  section.  He 
was  born  in  Missouri,  December  31,  1851,  but 
has  practically  spent  his  entire  life  in  the  north- 
west. His  father,  Daniel  Smith  Sebastian,  was 
born  in  Missouri,  November  21,  1819,  and  was 
there  reared  to  manhood  and  married,  and  in  1852, 
with  his  wife  and  three  children,  made  a  safe 
journey  across  the  plains  to  Oregon.  He  located 


in  Clackamas  county,  where  he  secured  a  govern- 
ment donation-claim  of  six  hundred  and  forty 
acres.  At  the  time  of  the  gold  excitement,  how- 
ever, he  went  to  Elk  City,  Idaho,  in  1861,  and 
engaged  in  mining  there  for  some  time,  after 
which  he  returned  to  his  family.  In  1871  he  took 
up  his  abode  on  Camas  prairie,  on  land  on  Three 
Mile  creek,  and  there  resided  until  1875,  when  he 
sold  out.  He  died  in  March,  1896,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-seven  years.  When  the  Nez  Perces  In- 
dians went  on  the  war-path  he  was  among  the 
volunteers  who  aided  in  defending  the  settlers 
and  their  homes.  He  was  twice  married,  his 
first  wife  dying  in  1853.  By  their  union  there 
were  four  children,  and  three  by  the  second  mar- 
riage. The  second  wife  died  in  July,  1896. 

William  H.  Sebastian  was  only  four  months 
old  when  his  parents  crossed  the  plains.  He  at- 
tended school  in  Oregon  and  in"  1871  came  with 
the  family  to  Camas  prairie.  In  1877,  when  the 
Indian  war  broke  out,  he  also  volunteered,  con- 
tinuing on  duty  until  all  danger  was  past.  Subse- 
quently he  secured  from  the  government  a  claim 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  and  in  1886  he 
further  completed  his  preparations  for  a  home  of 
his  own  by  his  marriage  to  Miss  Thamer  Mc- 
Kerlee,a  native  of  North  Carolina  and  a  daughter 
of  E.  B.  McKerlee,  who  was  also  born  in  that 
state  and  came  to  Camas  prairie  in  1883.  They 
now  have  one  daughter,  Cloah.  The  mother  is 
a  valued  member  of  the  Baptist  church  and  is  a 
most  estimable  lady.  In  his  political  affiliations 
Mr.  Sebastian  is  a  Democrat.  In  1896  he  built  a 
very  comfortable  residence,  and  there  makes  his 
home,  giving  his  time  and  attention  to  his  farm- 
ing pursuits,  in  which  he  is  meeting  with  credit- 
able success. 

i 

CHARLES  M.   HAYS. 

A  well  known  lawyer  and  pioneer  of  Idaho  is 
Charles  Marshall  Hays,  of  Boise.  Almost  his 
entire  life  has  been  passed  on  the  Pacific  coast 
and  he  has  therefore  been  a  witness  of  the  mar- 
velous development  of  this  section  of  the  coun- 
try. He  was  born  in  Saline  county,  Missouri, 
on  the  22d  of  April,  1845,  and  is  descended  from 
Irish  ancestry.  Members  of  the  family  were  early 
residents  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  and  were 
participants  in  the  struggle  that  brought  to  the 
nation  her  independence.  The  grandfather  of 


550 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


our  subject  removed  from  the  Old  Dominion 
to  Kentucky  during  the  pioneer  epoch  in  its  his- 
tory, and  there  the  birth  of  Gilmore  Hays 
occurred.  The  latter  married  Mrs.  Xevina  Knox 
Montgomery,  and  to  them  were  born  seven  chil- 
dren, of  whom  three  are  living.  In  1848  the 
father  crossed  the  plains  to  California,  in  1852 
went  to  Oregon,  and  in  1855  came  to  Idaho, 
when  it  was  still  a  part  of  the  territory  of  Wash- 
ington. He  was  the  first  recorder  of  Owyhee 
county  and  held  various  offices  of  trust  and 
honor  under  the  territorial  government.  He  was 
a  man  of  unwavering  integrity  and  ability,  and 
lived  to  be  seventy-one  years  of  age,  while  his 
wife  passed  away  at  the  age  of  thirty-five  years. 

Their  son,  Charles  Marshall  Hays,  was  edu- 
cated in  the  schools  of  California  and  Washing- 
ton. When  a  boy  he  crossed  the  p'.ains  with  his 
father,  following  the  old  emigrant  road  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Snake  river  and  passing  under 
the  shadow  of  what  is  now  known  as  War  Eagle 
mountain,  never  even  dreaming  then  that  thir- 
teen years  later  he  would  return  to  pass  a  quarter 
of  a  century  at  its  very  base.  In  the  fall  of  that 
year  he  reached  The  Dalles,  then  a  military  post, 
whence  he  proceeded  down  the  Columbia  river 
and  on  to  Portland,  where  he  spent  the  winter. 
In  the  spring  of  1853  ne  made  his  way  to  Puget 
sound,  and  in  1857  removed  to  California,  where 
he  made  his  home  until  August,  1865,  when  he 
started  for  Ruby  City,  then  the  county-seat  of 
Owyhee  county,  arriving  on  the  8th  of  Septem- 
ber. He  filled  the  office  of  deputy  county  recorder 
under  his  father  until  1866,  when  he  became 
deputy  district  clerk  under  Solomon  Hasbrouck, 
now  the  clerk  of  the  supreme  court  of  Idaho. 

In  the  fall  of  1866  Mr.  Hays  removed  from 
Ruby  City  to  Silver  City,  and  in  1868  was 
appointed  deputy  United  States  internal-revenue 
collector,  which  position  he  filled  until  the  follow- 
ing year.  In  1868  he  was  nominated  on  a 
Citizens'  ticket  for  the  office  of  recorder,  but  was 
defeated  at  the  general  election.  In  1870  Hill 
Beachy,  the  proprietor  of  the  railroad  stage  line 
from  Boise  to  Winnemucca,  Nevada,  a  distance 
of  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  miles,  appointed 
him  agent  at  Silver  City,  with  full  power  and 
authority  to  conduct  all  business  connected  with 
that  office  during  the  absence  of  the  superintend- 
ent. When  Mr.  Beachv  sold  the  line  to  the  North- 


western Stage  Company,  Mr.  Hays  was  retained 
as  agent  and  also  remained  with  that  company's 
successor,  John  Hailey,  holding  the  position  until 
1880. 

In  1871-2  he  read  law  in  the  office  of  Richard 
Z.  Johnson,  afterward  attorney-general  of  Idaho, 
and  in  1873  was  admitted  to  practice  as  an  attor- 
ney and  counsellor  at  law  and  solicitor  in 
chancery  in  all  the  courts  of  record  in  the  then 
territory  of  Idaho.  He  has  ever  acknowledged 
his  indebtedness  to  his  preceptor  for  the  kindness 
and  assistance  he  received  at  his  hands,  and  has 
ever  pointed  to  him  as  an  example  that  all  young 
lawyers  might  well  emulate.  Thus  Mr.  Hays 
entered  upon  his  career  at  the  bar,  and  by  his 
marked  ability  in  the  line  of  his  profession  has 
won  distinction  as  a  legal  practitioner.  In  1874 
he  was  nominated  by  the  Republican  party  for 
the  office  of  county  sheriff.  Having  so  recently 
begun  practice,  he  was  loath  to  accept  the  can- 
didacy, but  finally  did  so.  He  was  nominated  on 
the  first  ballot,  and  then  followed  a  hotly  con- 
tested campaign,  which  resulted  in  Mr.  Hays 
receiving  a  majority  of  two  hundred  votes,  al- 
though the  county  was  regarded  as  a  strong 
Democratic  stronghold.  He  carried  every  pre- 
cinct but  one,  a  fact  which  indicates  his  personal 
popularity  and  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by 
his  fellow  townsmen.  He  made  a  most  capable 
officer,  was  entirely  fair  and  impartial  in  per- 
forming his  duties,  and  displayed  the  utmost 
courage  in  their  discharge. 

On  one  occasion,  a  man  having  stabbed  an- 
other at  South  Mountain,  Mr.  Hays  mounted  a 
fast  horse  and  rode  the  distance  of  thirty  miles  in 
two  and  a  half  hours.  He  found  the  members 
of  the  Miners'  Union  wild  with  excitement,  wish- 
ing to  hang  the  murderer,  but  the  sheriff  resolved 
to  make  the  arrest  and  save  the  man's  life  that 
he  might  have  a  fair  trial.  He  appointed  five 
deputies,  armed  them  with  double-barreled  shot- 
guns, arrested  the  murderer  and  another  man 
who  was  implicated  in  the  affair  and  marched 
with  them  through  a  crowd  of  a  hundred  men 
who  had  been  searching  all  night  for  the  culprit 
in  order  to  lynch  him.  He  then  put  his  captives 
in  a  wagon  and  took  them  to  Silver  City,  where 
they  were  granted  a  trial  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  the  land. 

Mr.  Hays  discharged  his  duties  with  such  abil- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


551 


ity  and  fidelity  that  he  was  re-elected  in  1876, 
and  served  for  a  second  term.  In  1881  he  was 
appointed  deputy  district  attorney  for  Owyhee 
county,  which  position  he  filled  until  elected 
county  attorney  in  1882.  In  1884,  in  1886  and 
a  third  time  in  1888  he  was  re-elected,  and  in  the 
trial  of  important  cases  manifested  superior  legal 
attainments.  In  the  spring  of  1882  he  purchased 
a  half  interest  in  the  Idaho  Avalanche,  the  year 
following  became  sole  proprietor  and  then  con- 
ducted an  independent  paper,  through  the  col- 
umns of  which  he  strongly  advocated  the  mining 
interests  of  the  state.  He  was  thus  largely 
instrumental  in  sustaining  the  camps  at  Silver 
City  and  De  Lamar,  and  in  bringing  capital  to 
aid  in  the  development,  so  that  the  mines  of 
southwestern  Idaho  were  soon  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  mining  world.  It  was  through 
his  influence  that  Captain  De  Lamar  was  induced 
to  come  to  Silver  City,  and'  Mr.  Hays  acted  as 
his  attorney  until  he  sold  his  interests  to  an 
English  syndicate. 

Further  political  honors  came  to  him  in  1889, 
when  he  was  elected  to  the  constitutional  con- 
vention from  Owyhee  county,  and  in  that  assem- 
bly was  appointed  a  member  of  the  committees 
on  election  and  franchise,  on  corporation,  and  on 
revenue,  serving  as  chairman  of  the  last.  He 
was  a  very  active  and  useful  member  of  the  con- 
vention, his  knowledge  of  constitutional  law  en- 
abling him  to  aid  greatly  in  framing  the  organic 
law  of  the  state.  At  the  first  election  after  the 
admission  of  Idaho  to  the  Union  he  was  elected 
district  attorney  of  the  third  judicial  district, 
embracing  Boise,  Ada,  Washington  and  Owyhee 
counties,  and  in  1894  was  re-elected,  to  serve 
until  January  i,  1899.  During  this  time  he  prob- 
ably prosecuted  more  criminals  and  convicted 
more  than  any  other  attorney  in  Idaho.  In  the 
past  two  and  a  half  years  he  has  prosecuted  eight 
murder  cases,  securing  one  conviction  for  murder 
in  the  first  degree,  three  for  murder  in  the  second 
degree  and  four  for  manslaughter.  Perhaps  one- 
third  of  the  convicts  in  the  state  prison  are  from 
the  third  district,  yet  Mr.  Hays  has  never  been 
known  to  abuse  a  prisoner,  giving  him  every 
chance  to  introduce  evidence  and  prove  his 
innocence.  If  his  guilt  is  once  established,  how- 
ever, he  never  signs  a  petition  for  pardon,  believ- 
ing that  the  law  should  then  take  its  course. 


In  1898  he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  from 
Ada  county,  by  a  majority  of  six  hundred.  He 
was  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  general  assembly  of 
1899.  At  the  close  of  the  session  he  was  appointed 
by  the  governor  a  member  of  the  code  commis- 
sion of  Idaho,  being  the  only  Republican  ap- 
pointed on  the  commission. 

In  1868  Mr.  Hays  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Rebecca  L.  Dye,  a  cultured  young  lady, 
who  was  born  in  California,  and  is  a  daughter  of 
Job  F.  Dye,  a  native  of  Kentucky.  He  went  to 
the  Golden  state  in  1832  and  was  also  an  honored 
pioneer  of  Idaho.  Eight  children  were  born  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hays:  Helen,  wife  of  J.  H. 
Hutchinson;  C.  D.,  who  is  mining  in  Silver  City; 
Rebecca;  Rowena;  Irene;  Elma;  Mrs.  M.  M. 
Getchell,  deceased;  and  one  who  departed  this 
life  in  infancy.  The  family  occupy  a  pleasant 
home  in  Boise,  and  in  addition  to  this  property 
Mr.  Hays  is  the  owner  of  six  hundred  and  forty 
acres  of  land,  besides  stock  and  other  property, 
all  of  which  has  been  acquired  through  his  own 
efforts.  He  is  a  past  master  of  the  Masonic 
lodge  and  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  also  belongs  to 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  is  a 
lifelong  Republican.  In  all  life's  relations  he 
has  been  true  to  the  confidence  and  trust  reposed 
in  him,  and  so  intimately  has  he  been  associated 
with  the  history  of  the  state  in  various  depart- 
ments that  his  life  record  is  deserving  of  a  prom- 
inent place  in  this  volume. 

JAMES   S.   ACKER. 

James  S.  Acker,  proprietor  of  the  general  mer- 
cantile cash  store,  at  Mountain  Home,  is  one 
of  the  successful  business  men  of  the  town,  and 
his  enterprise  and  energy  have  given  him  rank 
among  the  leading  representatives  of  commercial 
interests  in  Elmore  county.  A  native  of  Ala- 
bama, he  was  born  near  Birmingham,  on  the  6th 
of  August,  1865.  His  ancestors  were  natives  of 
Holland  and  at  an  early  day  joined  a  Dutch 
colony  that  settled  in  South  Carolina.  His  father, 
Dr.  J.  W.  Acker,  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine throughout  his  business  career  and  became  a 
very  prominent  and  successful  physician,  being 
for  many  years  numbered  among  the  distin- 
guished representatives  of  the  profession  in 
Shelby  county.  William  Acker  had  removed 


552 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


at  an  early  day  from  South  Carolina,  in  which 
state  the  Ackers  were  well  known  planters  and 
owned  many  slaves.  Dr.  Acker  married  Miss 
Sarah  Caffee,  a  native  of  Alabama,  and  a  de- 
scendant of  one  of  the  old  southern  families.  Her 
people  were  connected  with  the  Baptist  church, 
while  the  Ackers  were  Methodists"  in  religious 
faith. 

James  S.  Acker  is  one  of  a  family  of  six  chil- 
dren, four  of  whom  are  yet  living.  He  spent  his 
boyhood  days  in  the  state  of  his  nativity,  attended 
school  there  and  was  later  graduated  in  the  com- 
mercial department  of  the  Kentucky  State  Uni- 
versity. He  entered  upon  his  business  career  in 
the  capacity  of  a  journalist,  writing  for  the 
Evening  Chronicle  and  the  Birmingham  Age- 
Herald;  but  circumstances  caused  him  to  enter 
other  fields  of  labor  and  he  began  merchandising, 
for  which  work  he  is  well  adapted.  He  is  a  man 
of  keen  foresight,  of  pleasant  and  agreeable  man- 
ner and  unimpeachable  integrity, — essential  qual- 
ifications in  those  who  would  win  success  in 
commercial  lines.  His  whole  career  has  been 
permeated  by  the  idea  that  debt  is  one  of  the 
curses  of  the  world,  and  that  a  nice,  clean  cash 
business,  such  as  is  conducted  by  the  railroads, 
is  best  for  the  buyer  as  well  as  for  the  seller;  it 
does  away  with  the  expense  of  bookkeeping,  of 
litigation  and  with  the  animosities  that  arise  from 
an  attempt  to  force  payment.  The  goods  can  be 
sold  cheaper  and  the  honest  customer  is  not  an- 
noyed by  the  debt  or  the  merchant  by  the  credit. 
There  would  be  no  failures  and  no  suicides  as 
the  result  of  financial  embarrassment,  and  the 
real  result  would  be  a  much  healthier  condition 
in  business  life.  Such  has  been  the  principle 
upon  which  Mr.  Acker  has  conducted  his  busi- 
ness, and  he  has  found  it  to  be  a  practical  one. 

In  1888  he  went  to  California  for  rest  and  in 
order  to  see  the  country,  and  after  spending 
some  time  in  the  Golden  state,  made  his  way  to 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
produce  business  for  a  short  time.  Subsequently 
he  became  a  traveling  salesman,  learned  much 
concerning  the  first  cost  of  the  goods  and  of  the 
conditions  of  the  retail  trade.  This  led  him  to 
engage  in  business  on  his  own  account,  and  in 
1895  he  opened  his  cash  store  on  a  corner  lot  in 
Mountain  Home,  where  his  building  is  not  ex- 
posed to  fire,  and  where  he  keeps  a  very  carefully 


selected  stock  of  general  merchandise.  By  his 
promptness  and  honorable  dealing,  combined  with 
his  earnest  efforts  to  please  his  patrons,  he  has 
secured  a  good  trade  and  won  the  good  will  and 
confidence  of  the  better  class  of  customers,  both 
in  the  town  and  surrounding  country.  He  is 
numbered  among  the  leading  merchants  at 
Mountain  Home  and  occupies  a  prominent  place 
in  commercial  circles. 

Mr.  Acker  was  married  in  1893,  the  ladv  of  his 
choice  being  Miss  Allie  S.  Smithson,  a  native  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah.  Their  marriage  has  been 
blessed  with  a  daughter,  Nydia  Marie.  Mr. 
Acker  exercises  his  right  of  franchise  in  support 
of  the  men  and  measures  of  the  Republican  party. 
His  name  is  on  the  membership  rolls  of  the  Odd 
Fellows  society,  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen,  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  the 
Home  Forum,  and  in  his  religious  views  he  is 
liberal.  He  has,  however,  the  strictest  regard  for 
the  ethics  of  life,  and  he  and  his  wife  enjoy  the 
high  regard  of  many  friends  and  receive  the 
hospitality  of  the  best  homes  in  this  section  of 
Idaho. 

CHARLES   J.    SINSEL. 

Charles  J:  Sinsel,  a  wholesale  fruit  dealer  of 
Boise  and  ex-county  treasurer  of  Ada  county, 
was  born  in  Grafton,  West  Virginia,  July  13, 
1867,  and  is  descended  from  Holland  ancestry. 
Three  brothers  of  the  Sinsel  family  came  from  the 
little  Dutch  kingdom  to  America  to  aid  Great 
Britain  in  her  subjugation  of  the  colonies,  but 
were  so  well  pleased  with  the  land  that  they 
resolved  to  make  their  home  in  the  new  republic 
and  located  in  Virginia.  They  and  their  descend- 
ants were  planters  and  were  Baptists  in  religious 
faith.  The  father  of  our  subject,  William  F. 
Sinsel,  was  born  in  Grafton,  West  Virginia,  and 
after  arriving  at  years  of  maturity  married  Miss 
Fannie  A.  Holden,  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Charles 
Holden,  a  Baptist  minister.  Through  many 
years  of  his  active  business  career  Mr.  Sinsel 
engaged  in  railroad  contracting,  but  is  now 
engaged  in  the  stock  business  in  Nebraska, 
where  he  is  living  at  the  age  of  sixty  years.  For 
a  long  period  he  has  been  a  prominent  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

Charles  J.  Sinsel  is  the  eldest  of  a  family  of 
four  sons,  all  of  whom  are  living.  In  1875  he 
went  with  his  parents  to  Central  City,  Nebraska, 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


553 


where  he  attended  school  for  a  time,  and  then 
engaged  in  teaching  in  order  to  gain  the  means 
whereby  he  might  secure  a  more  advanced  educa- 
tion. Subsequently  he  attended  the  Wesleyan 
University  of  Central  City.  He  then  spent  some 
years  traveling  for  a  wholesale  house  in  Omaha, 
and  in  1891  he  came  to  Boise,  where  for  five 
years  he  was  connected  with  the  Idaho  Saddlery 
Company.  On  the  expiration  of  that  period  he 
embarked  in  the  wholesale  fruit  business,  and 
from  the  beginning  his  trade  has  rapidly  and 
constantly  increased.  In  1897  he  shipped  two 
hundred  car-loads  to  various  markets.  His  relia- 
bility, the  excellent  line  of  fruits  which  he  carries, 
and  his  enterprising  business  methods  have 
brought  him  an  excellent  trade  and  made  him 
one  of  the  prosperous  merchants  of  the  capital 
city. 

Mr.  Sinsel  early  became  identified  with  the 
Populist  party  and  is  one  of  its  most  active  and 


enthusiastic  supporters.  In  1892  he  was  the 
nominee  of  his  party  for  state  senator,  but  was 
defeated  by  the  Republican  candidate,  Hon. 
George  Stewart.  In  1894  he  was  nominated  for 
county  treasurer,  but  again  met  defeat.  In  1896, 
however,  he  was  again  awarded  the  nomination 
for  that  office,  was  elected  and  served  his  term 
most  acceptably. 

On  the  4th  of  August,  1892,  Mr.  Sinsel  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Emma  J.  Young,  a 
native  of  Salem,  Ohio,  and  they  now  have  two 
children, — Alma  and  Frederick.  The  parents 
hold  a  membership  in  the  Baptist  church  and 
take  an  active  and  laudable  interest  in  its  work 
and  upbuilding.  Mr.  Sinsel  also  belongs  to  the 
Uniformed  Rank,  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  has 
filled  all  the  offices  in  that  order.  He  is  a  young 
man  of  marked  business  and  executive  ability  and 
Boise  numbers  him  among  her  leading  repre- 
sentatives. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


IDAHO   SINCE   1890— POLITICAL. 


LATE  in  June,  1891,  the  state  supreme  court 
rendered  a  decision  pronouncing  the  act 
of  1891,  purporting  to  create  the  counties 
of  Alta  and  Lincoln  out  of  the  counties  of 
Alturas  and  Logan,  to  be  unconstitutional,"  on 
the  ground  that  the  state  constitution  forbids 
the  division  of  a  county  and  the  attachment  of  a 
part  thereof  to  another  county  without  a  vote 
of  the  people  in  the  portion  to  be  separated. 

State  Attorney  General  Roberts  returned  the 
following  opinion  to  the  state  superintendent  of 
public  instruction:  Women  possessing  the  con- 
stitutional and  statutory  qualifications  can  vote 
at  all  school  elections;  but  to  vote  upon  the 
proposition  as  to  whether  a  special  tax  shall  be 
levied  women  must  possess,  with  male  suffragists, 
the  additional  qualification  of  being  "an  actual 
resident  free-holder  or  head  of  a  family." 

On  May  5,  1892,  the  Republicans  held  a  state 
convention  at  Pocatello,  and  a  nominating  con- 
vention in  August  following,  at  which  they  advo- 
cated the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver, 
the  creation  of  a  federal  department  of  mines 
and  mining  at  Washington,  protection  of  labor 
and  capital,  prompt  action  in  allotting  lands  in 
the  Nez  Perces  Indian  reservation,  certain 
amendments  to  the  immigration  laws,  and  hold- 
ing the  Democrats  responsible  for  the  crippling 
of  western  industries.  For  the  state  ticket  they 
nominated,  in  August,  W.  J.  McConnell  for  gov- 
ernor, Frank  B.  Willis  for  lieutenant  governor, 
James  F.  Curtis  for  secretary  of  state,  George 
M.  Parsons  for  attorney  general,  Frank  Ramsey 
for  auditor,  W.  C.  Hill  for  treasurer,  J.  S. 
Brandon  for  superintendent  of  public  instruc- 
tion, and  Willis  Sweet  for  congressman. 

During  the  same  season  the  Democrats,  also 
holding  state  conventions  in  May  and  August, 
at  Pocatello,  declared,  like  the  Republicans,  in 
favor  of  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver, 
but  unlike  them  declared  in  favor  of  several  re- 
forms which  have  ever  since  characterized  their 
party.  In  August  they  nominated  A.  J.  Crook 


for  governor,  J.  B.  Wright  for  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor, B.  F.  Chancy  for  secretary  of  state,  T.  J. 
Sutton  for  treasurer,  J.  H.  Anderson  for  auditor, 
J.  R.  Westen  for  attorney  general  and  L.  L. 
Shearer  for  superintendent  of  public  instruction. 

Meanwhile  the  Prohibitionists,  representing 
three  counties,  met  to  the  number  of  twenty-five 
and  nominated  a  full  state  ticket. 

The  entire  Republican  ticket  was  elected,  by  a 
majority  of  two  thousand  and  more. 

The  state  officers  for  the  year  1893  were:  Wil- 
liam J.  McConnell,  governor;  Frank  B.  Willis, 
lieutenant  governor;  James  F.  Curtis,  secretary 
of  state;  William  C.  Hill,  treasurer;  Frank  C. 
Ramsey,  auditor;  George  M.  Parsons,  attorney 
general;  B.  B.  Lower,  superintendent  of  public 
instruction;  Isaac  N.  Sullivan,  chief  justice;  and 
Francis  E.  English  and  Thomas  M.  Stewart, 
associate  justices. 

The  second  session  of  the  legislature,  which 
meets  each  alternate  year,  began  January  2,  1893, 
and  continued  until  the  evening  of  March  6.  The 
delays  brought  about  by  the  Democrats  and 
Populists  in  the  senate  defeated  many  important 
measures.  By  them  a  rule  of  obstruction  was 
inaugurated,  and  bills  were  held  back  until  the 
last  days  of  the  session,  when  it  became  too  late 
to'  consider  them  in  the  house.  Among  the  bills 
held  back  was  one  reducing  the  state-tax  levy 
from  eighty-five  to  sixty-five  cents  on  the  one 
hundred  dollars.  The  levy  of  eighty-five  cents 
had  already  produced  a  surplus  and  there  was  no 
law  providing  for  the  lending  of  the  funds.  An- 
other bill  failing  to  pass  was  that  which  provided 
for  a  reapportionment  of  the  representation  of  the 
state.  Much  time  was  spent'  in  an  effort  to  pass 
a  general  law  for  the  division  of  counties  and  the 
removal  of  county  seats. 

The  governor  withheld  his  signature  from  a 
bill  that  reduced  the  liquor  license  from  five  hun- 
dred dollars  a  year  in  the  large  towns  to  three 
hundred  dollars,  making  the  cost  of  license  uni- 
form in  large  and  small  towns.  The  bill  was 


554 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


passed  over  the  governor's  veto  in  the  senate,  but 
the  house  refused  to  act  with  it.  The  Coeur 
d'Alene  city  school  of  mines  bill  was  not  ap- 
proved, because  several  of  its  provisions  con- 
flicted with  the  state  constitution,  and  several 
were  of  doubtful  meaning.  The  act  authorizing 
county  commissioners  to  issue  bonds  for  the  pur- 
pose of  refunding  the  indebtedness  of  their  respec- 
tive counties  was  held  to  give  too  much  latitude  to 
the  commissioners,  and  it  was  not  signed  nor 
was  the  bill  defining  the  property  relations  of 
husband  and  wife.  Just  before  the  close  of  the 
session  an  appropriation  bill  to  cover  the  state 
expenses  for  the  years  1893-4  was  rushed  through 
the  senate,  and  the  house  was  forced  to  concur 
and  pass  it  without  amendment.  A  bill  was 
passed  enfranchising  the  Mormons  not  guilty  of 
polygamy.  Thirty  thousand  dollars  more  was 
appropriated  for  the  Idaho  exhibit  at  the  World's 
Fair  at  Chicago.  Acts  were  passed  organizing 
the  state  normal  at  Lewiston,  providing  for  the 
establishment  of  a  soldiers'  home,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  game  and  fish,  providing  for  the  de- 
struction of  coyotes,  wild-cats,  foxes,  lynxes, 
bears,  squirrels,  rabbits,  gophers,  muskrats, 
panthers  and  cougars,  defining  and  prohibiting 
certain  practices  of  the  nature  of  gambling,  pro- 
viding for  the  prevention  of  fruit-tree  pests  and 
for  their  extirpation,  and  prohibiting  employers 
from  discriminating  against  labor  organizations; 
and  congress  was  memorialized  to  pass  a  law  for 
the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver. 

In  1893  it  was  estimated  that  the  Mormon 
voters  in  the  state  reached  the  number  of  about 
three  thousand  in  Bingham  county,  seven  hun- 
dred in  Bear  Lake  county,  three  hundred  and 
fifty  in  Cassia  county,  and  eight  hundred  and 
fifty  in  Oneida  county.  To  most  of  these  the 
right  of  franchise  was  extended  during  this  year 
(1893),  by  a  modification  of  the  "test-oath"  clause 
in  the  law. 

In  August,  1894,  the  platform  adopted  by  the 
Republican  convention  at  Boise  reaffirmed  the 
doctrine  of  "protection,"  declared  for  the  free 
coinage  of  silver,  at  the  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one, 
and  advocated  the  submission  of  an  equal-suf- 
frage amendment  to  the  state  constitution ;  while 
the  Democrats,  also  at  Boise  and  in  the  same 
month,  declared  for  revenue  for  tariff  only,  and, 
like  the  Republicans,  for  the  free  coinage  of  silver 


at  the  ratio  of  sixteen  times  as  much  silver  to 
the  dollar  as  gold.  The  Populists  also  held  a 
convention,  indorsing  the  platform  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  of  1892  at  Omaha,  Nebraska.  The 
ensuing  election  gave  the  Republicans  the  usual 
majorities.  The  Populists  polled  a  vote  nearly 
as  large  as  that  of  the  Democrats  for  some  of 
the  offices  and  even  larger  for  some.  The  state 
officers  elected  were:  William  J.  McConnell, 
governor;  F.  J.  Mills,  lieutenant  governor;  I.  W. 
Garrett,  secretary  of  state;  C.  Bunting,  treasurer; 
Frank  C.  Ramsey,  auditor;  C.  A.  Foresman, 
superintendent  of  public  instruction;  A.  Case, 
adjutant  general;  George  M.  Parsons,  attorney 
general;  John  T.  Morgan,  chief  justice  of  the 
supreme  court;  and  J.  W.  Huston  and  I.  N.  Sulli- 
van, associate  justices. 

The  ensuing  legislature  met  Januarv  7,  1895, 
and  continued  in  session  until  March  9.  Among 
the  measures  passed  at  this  session  was  the  repeal 
of  the  law  passed  unanimously  at  the  preceding 
legislature  providing  that  all  obligations  should 
be  paid  in  gold  or  silver,  all  contracts  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding,  the  ground  for  repeal  be- 
ing that  the  measure  had  been  detrimental  to  the 
business  interests  of  the  state.  An  act  making  a 
new  legislative  apportionment  was  passed  pro- 
viding for  a  senator  for  every  county,  while  repre- 
sentation in  the  house  was  fixed  upon  the  basis 
of  one  representative  for  every  five  hundred  and 
thirty-six  votes  or  fraction  over  one-half  of  that 
number  cast  at  the  preceding  election.  The  new 
game  and  fish  law  abolished  the  office  of  county 
game  and  fish  warden,  specified  what  are  the 
closed  seasons  and  prohibited  the  transportation 
of  or  dealing  in  hides  of  wild  animals  and  hunting 
with  dogs.  Three  irrigation  bills  were  passed.  One 
was  the  joint  irrigation  bill,  providing  means  of 
accepting  the  gift  of  one  million  acres  of  land 
under  the  Carey  act  from  the  federal  government, 
and  two  measures  providing  for  the  organization 
of  irrigation  districts,  a  system  of  water  measure- 
ments and  the  fixing  of  water  rates  in  certain 
emergencies  by  the  district  courts.  Under  the 
new  system  it  was  proposed  to  purchase  existing 
ditches  or  construct  new  ones  by  issuing  bonds 
based  upon  the  property  of  the  district  and  taxing 
all  the  land  in  the  district  for  the  payment  of  the 
bonds. 

A  radical   change   in  the   system   of  locating 


556 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


mines  was  made  by  a  new  mining  law,  the  most 
important  feature  of  which  was  a  provision  re- 
quiring a  locator  to  sink  a  shaft  at  least  ten  feet 
within  two  months  after  location,  or  to  make 
other  cuts  equivalent. 

By  this  legislature  the  "age  of  consent"  was 
still  further  raised,  being  now  made  eighteen 
years. 

In  March  the  office  of  state  engineer  was  cre- 
ated, to  which  the  governor  appointed  Frank  B. 
Mills,  the  lieutenant  governor,  who  accordingly 
resigned  his  elective  office. 

This  legislature  abolished  the  counties  of 
Logan  and  Alturas  and  created  from  that  terri- 
tory the  county  of  Blaine,  and  also  established 
the  county  of  Lincoln  from  the  southern  portion 
of  the  new  county  of  Blaine;  repealed  the  test 
oath,  passed  a  law  requiring  marriage  licenses,  and 
memorialized  congress  to  adopt  the  free  coinage 
of  silver,  and  recommended  state  constitutional 
amendments  permitting  woman  suffrage  and  the 
election  of  a  prosecuting  attorney  in  each  county, 
instead  of  district  only,  as  previously. 

In  March  George  L.  Shoup  was  elected  again 
to  the  United  States  senate,  the  fifty-second  and 
final  ballot  being:  Shoup,  Republican,  27;  Willis 
Sweet,  also  Republican,  12;  and  A.  J.  Crook, 
Populist,  14. 

In  1895  the  state  supreme  court  decided  that 
women  were  eligible  to  practice  law,  the  statutes 
to  the  contrarynotwithstanding.  This  court  also 
affirmed  the  constitutionality  of  the  law  providing 
that  water  companies  shall  furnish  water  free  for 
fire  purposes  and  other  great  public  emergencies. 

The  state  officers  for  1896  were:  William  J. 
McConnell,  governor;  Vincent  Bierbower,  lieu- 
tenant governor;  Isaac  W.  Garrett,  secretary  of 
state;  C.  Bunting,  treasurer;  Frank  C.  Ramsey, 
auditor;  George  M.  Parsons,  attorney  general; 
A.  H.  Capwell,  adjutant  general;  C.  .A.  Fores- 
man,  superintendent  of  public  instruction;  Fred- 
erick J.  Mills,  state  engineer;  John  T.  Morgan, 
chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court;  J.  W.  Huston 
and  Isaac  N.  Sullivan,  associate  justices;  and 
Solomon  Hasbrouck,  clerk  of  the  court. 

May  16,  1896,  the  Republicans  held  a  state 
convention  at  Pocatello  and  selected  delegates  to 
the  national  convention.  It  declared  the  rein- 
statement of  silver  to  be  the  paramount  issue.  On 
August  8  the  state  central  committee  convened  at 


Boise  and  divided  into  two  factions,  each  claim- 
ing to  be  the  regular  committee  and  proceeding 
accordingly  to  fill  the  vacancies  in  their  respective 
bodies  by  special  appointments.  The  silver  Re- 
publicans met  August  17,  in  the  same  city,  and 
made  a  declaration  of  principles  similar  to  those 
of  the  May  convention,  and  in  addition  congrat- 
ulated Congressman  Wilson  "on  his  able  and 
exceptional  work"  in  congress,  and  unequivocally 
approved  the  "action  of  Senators  Teller,  Cannon 
and  Dubois  and  their  associates  who  left  the  na- 
tional convention"  at  St.  Louis,  and  also 
approved  the  nomination  of  Bryan  and  Sewall 
for  president  and  vice  president  of  the  United 
States. 

At  the  Republican  state  convention  which  met  at 
Boise  August  26,  the  following  nominations  were 
made:  For  representative  in  congress,  John  T. 
Morrison;  justice  of  the  supreme  court,  Drew  W. 
Standrod;  governor,  David  H.  Budlong;  lieu- 
tenant governor,  Vincent  Bierbower;  secretary  of 
state,  Isaac  W.  Garrett;  attorney  general,  John 
A.  Bagley;  auditor,  Elmore  A.  McKenna;  treas- 
urer, Frank  C.  Ramsey;  superintendent  of  public 
instruction,  Charles  A.  Foresman;  and  inspector 
of  mines,  Theodore  Brown. 

Being  dissatisfied  with  the  regular  nominations 
of  the  Republican  convention,  the  silver  Repub- 
licans, September  26,  named  a  ticket  headed  by 
W.  E.  Borah  for  representative  in  congress, 
Edgar  Wilson  for  justice  of  the  supreme  court, 
and  Frank  Steunenberg  for  governor.  This 
ticket  was  filed  with  the  secretary  of  state  as  the 
regular  ticket  of  a  Republican  state  convention, 
and  the  same  ticket  was  also  filed  by  petition  as 
the  "Electors'  Democratic  ticket." 

The  Democrats  and  Populists  fused  on  the 
principal  issues  of  the  day  in  naming  their  ticket, 
under  the  name  of  the  "People's  Democratic 
party."  They  agreed  that  the  succeeding  legisla- 
ture should  select  a  man  from  the  "present  Pop- 
ulist party"  for  United  States  senator.  On 
August  21  this  party  nominated  R.  P.  Quarrels 
for  supreme  justice;  Frank  Steunenberg  for  gov- 
ernor; R.  E.  McFarland  for  attorney  general; 
George  H.  Storer  for  treasurer;  and  B.  F.  Hast- 
ings for  inspector  of  mines;  while  the  Populists 
named  James  Gunn  for  representative  in  con- 
gress, C.  C.  Fuller  for  lieutenant  governor,  James 
H.  Anderson  for  auditor,  George  J.  Lewis  for 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


557 


secretary  of  state,  and  Lewis  Anderson  for 
superintendent  of  public  instruction.  On  October 
5,  George  F.  Moore  was  selected  by  the  Populist 
and  Democratic  state  committees  as  their  candi- 
date for  lieutenant  governor  in  place  of  Mr. 
Fuller,  resigned. 

In  the  exciting  election  of  November,  1896,  the 
"People's  Democratic"  ticket  was  successful, 
their  presidential  electors  polling  23,192,  against 
only  6,324  for  the  McKinley  electors.  At  the 
same  time  the  proposed  constitutional  amend- 
ments providing  for  county  attorneys  and  county 
superintendents  were  carried,  while  the  equal- 
suffrage  amendment  received  six  thousand  more 
votes  than  were  cast  against  it,  though  not  a 
majority  of  the  votes  cast  at  the  election.  The 
last  mentioned  issue,  however,  was  taken  before 
the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  December  n, 
which  decided  that  when  a  proposed  amendment 
to  the  constitution  receives  a  majority  of  the 
votes  cast  on  the  proposition  whether  or  not  it  is 
a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  at  that  election, 
the  amendment  is  carried. 

The  history  of  the  struggle  which  thus  cul- 
minated in  final  victory  for  the  advocates  of  a 
female-suffrage  amendment  to  the  state  constitu- 
tion is  interesting  to  trace. 

The  movement  first  took  definite  shape  in  the 
political  arena  at  the  Populist  state  convention 
of  1894,  where,  after  a  hard  fight,  the  passage  of 
a  favorable  resolution  was  secured.  A  similar 
resolution  was  then  passed  by  the  Republican 
state  convention.  Popular  indifference  to  the 
movement,  however,  was  widespread;  and  poli- 
ticians of  all  parties,  while  nominally  supporting 
it,  seemed  to  think  that  when  the  matter  came  to 
a  general  vote  it  would  be  swept  into  oblivion. 
The  women,  however,  kept  up  an  active  agitation, 
forming  an  association  for  that  purpose.  The 
result  was  that  the  state  legislature  passed  a  bill 
submitting  to  the  voters  of  the  state  the  question 
of  a  change  of  the  constitution  so  as  to  allow 
woman  suffrage.  Thereafter  the  battle  was  kept 
up  vigorously.  A  state  convention  was  called  in 
Boise  in  November,  1895,  to  which  eight  counties 
sent  delegates.  Another  state  convention  assem- 
bled in  the  capital  city  July  i,  1896,  at  which 


the  plan  of  campaign  was  fully  outlined.  So 
pronounced  was  the  sentiment  thereafter  aroused 
that  all  the  political  conventions  in  the  state  rec- 
ommended the  woman-suffrage  amendment  to 
favorable  consideration.  The  campaign  increased 
in  vigor  as  the  polling  day  approached,  the 
women  refraining  fr.om  taking  sides  with  either 
Republicans  or  Democrats.  The  official  count 
showed  12,126  votes  for  the  amendment  and 
6,282  against  it. 

Although  receiving  six  thousand  more  votes 
than  had  been  cast  against  it,  the  amendment  did 
not  receive  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  at  the 
election, — the  total  vote  being  29,697.  Thus 
some  doubt  remained  as  to  whether  or  not  it  had 
carried,  which  doubt  was  based  on  certain 
clauses  of  the  constitution  regulating  the  passage 
of  amendments.  This  doubt,  however,  was  finally 
dispelled,  December  n,  1896,  when  the  supreme 
court  unanimously  decided  that  the  amendment 
had  carried,  though  it  had  not  received  a  majority 
of  the  votes  cast  at  the  election.  A  majority  of 
those  cast  on  the  proposition  was  held  to  be 
sufficient. 

The  following  legislature  (1897)  elected  Henry 
Heitfield,  Populist,  United  States  senator,  over 
Frederick  T.  Dubois,  silver  Republican,  by  a  vote 
of  thirty-nine  to  thirty.  The  same  body  fixed 
the  legal  rate  of  interest  at  seven  per  cent.,  estab- 
lished a  sheep  quarantine  system,  and  provided 
for  a  state  board  of  arbitration  for  settling  labor 
troubles. 

Governors  of  Idaho.  Years. 

William  H.  Wallace 1863-4 

Caleb   Lyon 1864-6 

David  A.  Ballard 1866-7 

Samuel  Bard 1870 

Oilman  Marston 1870-1 

Alexander  Connor 1871 

Thomas  M.  Bowen 1871 

Thomas  W.  Bennett 1871-6 

Mason  Brayman .1876-80 

John  B.  Neil 1880-3 

John  N.   Irwin 1883 

William  M.  Bun 1884-5 

Edward  W.  Stevenson 1885-9 

George  L.   Shoup 1889-91 

William  J.  McConnell 1891-6 

Frank  Steunenberg 1896-1901 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


JAMES   BAXTER. 

CAPTAIN  JAMES  BAXTER,  of  Boise,  is 
a  native  of  England,  his  birth  having  oc- 
curred  in   Norwich.      His    parents   were 
Frank  and  Mary  (Gunn)  Baxter,  who  came  with 
their   family  to    the    United    States    when  the 
Captain  was  very  young.    They  resided  near  New 
York  city  for  some  years,  and  then  removed  to 
Paterson,  New  Jersey.     The  father  was  a  horti- 


JAMES    BAXTER    IN    1865. 

culturist  by  occupation  and  successfully  engaged 
in  the  cultivation  of  vegetables  and  flowers.  Soon 
after  his  arrival  in  America  he  took  steps  toward 
becoming  naturalized  and  was  recognized  as  a 
valued  and  influential  citizen.  He  served  as 
county  commissioner  in  New  Jersey  for  a  number 
of  years,  and  was  also  county  sheriff,  in  which 


positions  he  discharged  his  duties  with  signal 
ability.  After  a  residence  of  thirty  years  in 
America,  he  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight.  His 
widow  still  survives  him,  and  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
seven  years  is  living  in  Paterson,  New  Jersey, 
where  she  has  so  long  made  her  home.  She  was 
the  mother  of  thirteen  children,  seven  of  whom 
grew  to  years  of  maturity  and  are  still  living. 

In  the  public  schools  of  New  York  city  James 
Baxter  began  his  education,  which  he  continued 
in  Paterson.  Subsequently  he  attended  the 
school  of  mines  at  Columbia  College,  New  York, 
and  was  graduated  there  as  a  mining  engineer 
and  metallurgist.  He  learned  the  machinist's 
trade  with  the  Rogers  Locomotive  Company,  of 
Paterson,  New  Jersey.  In  1856  he  went  to  Chili 
and  for  three  years  was  master  mechanic  for  the 
Southern  Railroad,  of  that  country.  In  1859  he 
returned  to  the  United  States  and  purchased  a 
plantation  in  Mecklenburg  county,  North  Caro- 
lina, called  the  Jugnot,  because  of  its  gold  indi- 
cations. After  six  months  spent  in  developing 
this  and  finding  no  gold  in  paying  quantities,  he 
abandoned  it  and  went  to  Colorado,  locating  a 
mine  in  Gilpin  county,  and  was  engaged  in  erect- 
ing mills  and  other  machinery. 

But  now  the  trouble  between  the  north  and  the 
south,  occasioned  by  the  slavery  agitation, 
brought  on  the  civil  war,  and,  realizing  the  need 
of  the  Union  for  all  its  loyal  sons,  Mr.  Baxter  put 
aside  all  business  interests,  disposed  of  his  prop- 
erty and  returned  to  New  York,  where  in  August, 
1 86 1,  he  enlisted  in  Company  K,  First  New  York 
Regiment  of  Engineers.  During  his  service  he 
was  promoted  successively  to  the  ranks  of  cor- 
poral, sergeant,  second  lieutenant,  first  lieutenant 
and  captain.  He  also  served  for  some  time  on 
the  staff  of  General  Gilmore.  He  was  injured 
several  times,  the  last  time  at  Fort  Johnson, 
South  Carolina,  by  a  shell  which  broke  his  hip. 
He  was  mustered  out  near  the  Appomattox  river, 


558 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


559 


in  May,  1864,  and  went  home,  it  was  supposed  to 
die,  but  owing  to  the  aid  of  a  strong  constitution 
he  eventually  recovered  from  his  injuries,  al- 
though for  two  years  he  was  obliged  to  go  about 
on  crutches.  He  suffered  much,  but  finally  re- 
covered and  then  went  to  Colorado  again,  and  to 
the  South  and  Central  Americas,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  mining. 

In  1883  Captain  Baxter  went  to  Mexico,  where 
he  was  engaged  on  the  construction  of  smelters 
and  a  railroad.  He  first  visited  Idaho  in  1874, 
at  which  time  he  operated  extensively  in  the  At- 
lanta and  Rocky  Bar.  In  1892  he  came  to  Boise 
and  established  a  foundry  and  machine  shop 
known  as  the  Boise  Iron  and  Reduction  Works, 
in  which  he  manufactures  quartz  mills  and  all 
kinds  of  mining  machinery.  He  has  built  as 
many  as  twenty  mills,  each  one  of  which,  when 
erected  properly,  has  been  a  complete  success  and 
given  the  fullest  satisfaction  to  the  owners. 
Captain  Baxter  is  meeting  with  a  well  deserved 
prosperity  in  this  undertaking,  owing  to  his  com- 
prehensive understanding  of  the  business,  his 
thoroughness,  reliability,  and  upright  dealing. 

In  1854  Captain  Baxter  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Amanda  Langworth,  of  Paterson.  New 
Jersey,  and  they  have  had  eight  children,  of  whom 
four  are  living,  namely:  Julia,  wife  of  C.  V. 
Smith;  Fannie,  wife  of  James  Williams;  Charles 

F.  and  Carrie,  the  latter  at  home.  Captain  Baxter 
and  his  family  are  members  of  the  Baptist  church, 
and  in  Boise  they  live  in  a  pleasant  and  commo- 
dious home,  whose  hospitality  is  enjoyed  by  their 
many   friends.     The   Captain  is  a   Royal   Arch 
Mason.  He  was  made  a  Master  Mason  in  Nevada 
Lodge,  No.  4,  of  Colorado,  in  1866,  and  subse- 
quently took  the  chapter  degrees  in  Charlotte, 
North  Carolina,  in  1868.    He  was  a  charter  mem- 
ber of  Alturas  Lodge,  No.  12,  of  Idaho,  was  its 
worshipful  master  for  four  years,  and  is  now  a 
valued  member  of  both  the  blue  lodge  and  chap- 
ter of  Boise.     He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  since  1871  and  is 
post  commander  of  Phil.  Sheridan  Post,  No.  4, 

G.  A.  R.    He  is  a  progressive  and  public-spirited 
citizen  who  is  as  true  to-day  to  duty  as  when 
he  followed  the  stars  and  stripes  through  the 
great  southern  rebellion.     He  ever  supports  all 
measures  for  the  educational,  social,  material  and 
moral  advancement  of  his  city  and  state,  and  at 


all  times  has  lived  so  as  to  command  the  esteem 
of  his  fellow  men,  which  is  accorded  him  in  a 

large  degree. 

SIMON  HARRIS. 

Simon  Harris,  of  Silver  City,  is  a  native  of 
Mineral  Point,  Wisconsin,  born  April  18,  1851, 
and  is  of  English  descent,  his  parents,  Elijah  and 
Caroline  (Mitchell)  Harris,  both  being  natives  of 
England.  In  1844  the  father  crossed  the  Atlantic 
to  America  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Mineral 
Point,  where  he  was  married.  In  1852  he  crossed 
the  plains  to  California  and  was  quite  successful 
in  his  business  ventures  in  the  Golden  state. 
Several  times  he  made  the  trip  across  the  country 
to  California.  Colorado  and  Montana,  -and  in 
1872  came  to  Silver  City.  He  is  now  living  in 
Wisconsin,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years.  His 
wife  departed  this  life  in  1894,  at  the  age  of 
seventy  years.  They  were  the  parents  of  eight 
children,  four  of  whom  are  living. 

In  the  public  schools  of  his  native  town  Simon 
Harris  was  educated, and  was  reared  upon  a  farm, 
but  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life  has  engaged 
in  mining.  He  came  to  Silver  City,  October  16, 
1872,  when  a  young  man  of  twenty-one  years, 
and  engaged  in  mining  on  War  Eagle  mountain. 
He  worked  in  the  Golden  Chariot  mine  in  1873-4, 
when  it  was  one  of  the  greatest  producers  in  the 
state,  its  stock  advancing  to  twenty-two  and  even 
twenty-four  dollars  per  share.  Miners  were  paid 
by  the  foot  for  drilling  and  it  was  a  prosperous 
era  on  the  old  mountain.  Mr.  Harris  was  elected 
president  of  the  Fairview  Miners'  Union,  in 
March,  1875,  and  six  months  later  the  organiza- 
tion had  fifteen  hundred  members  in  good  stand- 
ing. The  following  year  he  filled  the  responsible 
position  of  treasurer  in  that  organization. 

He  was  married  in  Silver  City,  December  5, 
1880,  to  Mrs.  Bertha  Lewis,  of  Peru,  Illinois,  and 
a  few  weeks  afterward  they  visited  Arizona, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  and  the  old  Harris  home 
in  Wisconsin,  whence  they  returned  to  Silver 
City.  In  July,  1881,  Mr.  Harris  took  charge  of 
the  Black  Jack  Mine  for  a  short  time  and  was 
foreman  of  the  Trade  Dollar  Mine  from  1892  un- 
til August,  1893,  at  which  time  he  resigned  his 
position,  making  a  trip  to  the  east,  visiting  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition  in  Chicago  and 
many  places  of  interest  in  the  capital  city  of  the 
nation,  returning  to  Idaho  in  May,  1894. 


560 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


At  the  general  election  in  1896  Mr.  Harris  was 
chosen  a  justice  of  the  peace  of  Silver  City,  which 
position  he  has  since  acceptably  filled.  At  the 
formation  of  the  Silver  City  Miners'  Union,  in 
August,  1896,  he  was  elected  its  vice-president, 
and  in  1897  was  elected  its  recording  secretary. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  since  1872,  when  he  took  the  de- 
grees of  the  order  in  Wisconsin,  and  soon  after 
his  arrival  in  Idaho  he  transferred  his  member- 
ship to  Owyhee  Lodge,  No.  2,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  which 
organization  he  represented  in  the  grand  lodge  in 
1888.  In  November,  1875,  he  was  a  representa- 
tive  to  the  grand  lodge  of  Good  Templars  from 
Fairview,  and  he  is  also  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  having  served  as  master  of  Sil- 
ver City  Lodge,  No.  13,  F.  &  A.  M.,  in  1892,  and 
as  high  priest  of  Cyrus  Chapter,  No.  2,  R.  A.  M., 
in  1897.  He  is  also  a  member  of  Idaho  Com- 
mandery,  and  his  wife  is  a  valued  member  of  the 
Episcopal  church,  while  both  are  highly  esteemed 
residents  of  Silver  City  and  have  a  large  circle  of 

warm  friends. 

FRANK  T.    MARTIN. 

When,  in  1871,  Frank  T.  Martin  first  saw  the 
Snake  river  valley,  Idaho,  it  was  a  vast,  desolate 
and  unexplored  wilderness,  not  so  inviting  to 
settlement  as  it  might  have  been  otherwise,  be- 
cause of  its  arid,  unproductive  soil.  Mr.  Martin 
was  then  a  youth  o?  seventeen,  and  he  came  with 
thirteen  others  and  drove  seven  hundred  head  of 
cattle  across  the  plains  from  Saline  county,  Mis- 
souri. They  were  one  hundred  and  eleven  days 
on  the  way,  and  after  they  reached  the  Snake 
river  valley  the  company  separated,  some  of  its 
members  going  to  different  points  round  about, 
and  some  to  Montana.  Young  Martin  passed 
the  winter  of  1871-2  at  Helena,  Montana,  and  in 
the  spring  returned  to  the  valley  and  located  on 
the  island  eighteen  miles  above  Idaho  Falls.  At 
that  time  four  men  were  the  only  persons  on  the 
island,  which  has  now  a  population  of  fifteen 
hundred.  He  remained  in  the  valley  two  years, 
herding  cattle  for  Mr.  J.  M.  Taylor,  then  went 
to  Utah.  In  1876  he  went  back  to  his  old  home 
in  Missouri.  In  1885  he  returned  to  Idaho  Falls. 
where  he  has  since  lived  and  where  he  is  known 
as  an  enterprising  business  man  and  a  public- 
spirited  citizen.  He  conducted  a  meat  market 
and  later  a  livery  business,  and  six  years  ago  be- 


came a  dealer  in  coal,  which  he  has  since  handled 
quite  extensively.  He  is  a  member  also  of  the 
firm  of  Martin  &  Mills,  butchers,  and  wholesale 
and  retail  dealers  in  meat,  and  they  do  a  large 
trade  over  a  wide  territory.  Mr.  Martin  is  well 
known  in  business  circles  throughout  southeast- 
ern Idaho.  He  is  a  Democrat,  but  not  an  active 
politician  nor  one  who  has  an  itching  for  office, 
his  business  interests  requiring  his  entire  time 
and  attention. 

The  following  biographical  items  concerning 
Frank  T.  Martin  will  be  of  interest.  He  was 
born  in  Saline  county,  Missouri,  September  6, 
1854.  His  grandfather  Samuel  T.  Martin,  a  na- 
tive of  Virginia,  was  a  pioneer  in  Kentucky  and 
died  there  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven.  Frank  T. 
Martin's  father,  also  named  Samuel  T.  Martin, 
was  born  in  Kentucky  and  married  Miss  Annie 
E.  Jones,  daughter  of  Captain  Thomas  Jones, 
who.  in  his  young  manhood  was  an  officer  in  the 
Revolutionary  army  in  the  struggle  for  Ameri- 
can independence.  In  1849  they  removed  to 
Missouri,  where  Mr.  Martin  became  a  successful 
farmer,  and  where  he  is  yet  living,  aged  eighty 
years.  Mrs.  Martin  died  in  1866.  They  had 
twelve  children,  of  whom  Frank  T.  Martin  was 
the  eighth  born.  His  boyhood  was  passed  on 
the  farm  and  in  the  public  schools  of  Missouri, 
until,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  first  came  to 
Idaho,  as  has  been  stated.  In  August,  1880,  he 
married  Miss  Susie  Chowning,  a  native  of  Owen 
county,  Kentucky,  who  bore  him  four  children, — 
Paris,  Helen,  Eva  and  Charles, — and  she  died  in 
June,  1890.  She  was  a  true  and  faithful  wife  and 
loving  and  indulgent  mother,  being  a  woman  or 
beautiful  Christian  character,  and  her  loss  was 
keenly  felt  by  the  whole  community. 

HENRY   D.    BLATCHLEY. 

Henry  D.  Blatchley  came  to  Caldwell  when  it 
contained  but  one  building,  and  has  therefore 
witnessed  its  entire  growth  and  development.  In 
the  work  of  progress  and  advancement  he  has 
ever  borne  his  part  and  to-day  is  numbered 
among  the  pioneers  and  leading  business  men 
to  whom  the  city  is  indebted  for  its  upbuilding. 
A  spirit  of  enterprise,  so  characteristic  of  the 
west,  is  noticeable  in  all  that  he  does  and  has  been 
manifest  in  his  connection  with  Caldwell.  He 
has  ever  merited  the  confidence  and  regard  of  his 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


561 


felllow  men,  which  he  receives  in  an  unlimited 
degree,  and  in  this  volume  well  deserves  mention 
among  the  representative  merchants  of  Idaho. 

Mr.  Blatchley  is  a  native  of  Idaho,  his  birth 
having  occurred  in  Blanchester,  March  2,  1854. 
He  is  of  Welsh  lineage  and  his  ancestors  were 
among  the  early  settlers  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Ohio.  One  of  the  number,  David  Blatchley,  was 
an  officer  in  the  Colonial  army  in  the  war  of 
the  Revolution;  and  the  Comstock  family,  from 
which  our  subject  is  descended  on  the  maternal 
side,  was  also  represented  in  the  struggle  for 
American  independence.  They  settled  in  Ohio, 
and  one  of  the  towns  in  the  Buckeye  state  now 
bears  the  name  of  Comstock,  it  having  been 
founded  by  relatives  of  our  subject.  His  father, 
Daniel  W.  Blatchley,  was  born  i«  Pennsylvania 
and  was  married  there  to  Sylvia  Ann  Comstock, 
of  Scranton,  that  state,  a  daughter  of  Zebulon 
Comstock.  a  prominent  land-owner  of  Scranton, 
and  a  representative  of  an  old  Virginian  family. 
At  a  later  date  Mr.  Blatchley  removed  with  his 
family  to  Ohio,  where  for  many  years  he  suc- 
cessfully engaged  in  school-teaching.  He  de- 
parted this  life  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age, 
and  his  wife  was  called  to  her  final  rest  in  her 
sixty-eighth  year.  They  were  the  parents  of  five 
sons. 

Henry  D.  Blatchley,  the  fourth  in  order  of 
birth,  was  a  little  lad  of  four  summers  when  he 
accompanied  his  parents  on  their  removal  to 
Vandalia,  Illinois,  where  he  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated. On  completing  his  literary  course  he  be- 
came a  student  in  the  Cincinnati  Medical  Col- 
lege, and  later  learned  the  druggist's  trade,  thus 
being  well  qualified  for  an  independent  business 
career.  Coming  to  Caldwell  he  engaged  in  clerk- 
ing for  a  year  and  then  began  business  on  his 
own  account,  since  which  time  he  has  success- 
fully conducted  the  leading  drug  store  of  the 
town.  In  1894  he  erected  a  good  brick  business 
block,  twenty-five  by  one  hundred  feet,  in  which 
he  now  carries  a  large  stock  of  drugs,  paints,  oils 
and  notions.  His  business  methods  are  most 
commendable,  his  prices  reasonable,  and  by  his 
courteous  treatment  of  the  public  and  his 
straightforward  dealing  he  has  won  a  liberal  pat- 
ronage. 

In  Caldwell  he  has  also  erected  a  very  pleasant 
and  commodious  residence,  which  is  presided 


over  by  his  estimable  wife,  who  in  her  maiden- 
hood was  Miss  Carrie  S.  Gwinn.  Their  mar- 
riage was  celebrated  in  June,  1887,  and  the  lady 
is  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Robert  M.  Gwinn,  the  pio- 
neer Methodist  minister  of  Idaho.  Mr.  Blatch- 
ley is  prominent  in  fraternal  circles.  He  was  a 
charter  member  of  the  Odd  Fellows  lodge  of 
Caldwell,  its  first  presiding  officer,  and  has  filled 
all  the  chairs  in  both  the  subordinate  lodge  and 
the  encampment.  For  nine  years  he  has  been 
the  representative  to  the  grand  lodge.  He  exer- 
cises his  right  of  franchise  in  behalf  of  the  men 
and  measures  of  the  Republican  party,  but  has 
never  been  an  aspirant  for  public  office.  He  is 
a  valued  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  a 
teacher  of  ability  in  the  Sunday-school,  and  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  session.  He  is  also 
trustee  and  treasurer  of  the  Idaho  College,  and 
takes  a  deep  interest  in  its  growth  and  prosperity. 
A  loyal  citizen,  public-spirited  and  progressive,  a 
successful  merchant,  and  not  unmindful  of  the 
holier  duties  of  life  which  lead  to  man's  best  de- 
velopment, he  commands  the  respect  and  confi- 
dence of  all  whom  he  meets. 

JAMES  A.   LAUER. 

One  of  the  popular  and  enterprising  young 
merchants  of  Payette  is  James  A.  Lauer,  who  is 
numbered  among  Idaho's  native  sons,  his  birth 
having  occurred  in  Idaho  City,  on  the  26th  of 
February,  1872.  His  father,  William  Lauer,  is 
numbered  among  the  early  settlers  of  the  state, 
having  located  here  in  1861,  and  is  the  pioneer 
hardware  merchant  of  Payette.  The  subject  of. 
this  review  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  Idaho  City,  and  with  his  parents  came  to  Pay- 
ette in  1885.  Here  he  accepted  a  position  as 
clerk  in  the  general  mercantile  store  of  Mar- 
quardsen  &  Lamme,  acceptably  serving  in  that 
capacity  for  seven  years,  during  which  time  he 
mastered  the  business  in  every  detail.  Having 
gained  an  excellent  knowledge  of  the  methods  of 
commercial  life,  in  September,  1895,  he  began 
business  on  his  own  account,  opening  a  general 
mercantile  store  in  Payette.  He  carries  a  large 
and  carefully  selected  stock  of  goods,  is  a  most 
courteous  and  obliging  salesman,  and  by  means 
of  moderate  prices,  fair  dealing  and  reliability  he 
has  won  success,  his  patronage  constantly  in- 
creasing. 


562 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Mr.  Lauer  is  an  active  and  valued  member  of 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  having 
taken  the  degrees  in  Payette  Lodge,  No.  22.  He 
has  passed  all  the  chairs  in  the  lodge,  and  in 
1896  was  its  representative  in  the  grand  lodge  of 
the  state.  In  politics  he  is  a  silver-Republican, 
and  is  now  serving  as  a  member  of  the  city  coun- 
cil, so  discharging  his  duties  as  to  advance  the 
best  interests  of  the  city.  He  is  also  a  member 
and  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Payette 
Band,  a  very  creditable  musical  organization. 
He  takes  a  deep  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to 
the  material,  political  and  social  welfare  of  the 
city,  and  is  a  most  courteous  and  popular  young 
man,  having  the  warm  regard  of  a  large  circle 

of  friends. 

W.  B.  KURTZ. 

It  is  given  to  few  to  attain  prominence  in  poli- 
tics, honor  in  military  affairs  or  fame  in  literary 
life,  but  respect  and  esteem  await  every  man  who 
lives  worthily,  who  performs  the  duties  of  public 
and  private  life  faithfully  and  promptly,  and  in 
business  has  strict  regard  for  commercial  ethics. 
Such  an  one  is  W.  B.  Kurtz,  proprietor  of  the 
Weiser  flouring  mill,  which  was  built  in  1890, 
and  represents  one  of  the  leading  industrial  inter- 
ests of  the  city  in  which  it  is  located. 

Mr.  Kurtz  is  a  native  of  Berks  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, born  November  i,  1846,  and  is  of  Ger- 
man descent.  His  grandfather,  Jacob  Kurtz, 
was  born  in  Germany  and  in  his  early  boyhood 
crossed  the  Atlantic  to  America,  becoming  a  resi- 
dent of  the  Keystone  state,  where  he  was  reared 
to  manhood  and  married  Miss  Mary  Shingle,  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania.  He  fought  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary war  on  the  side  of  the  colonies,  and 
lived  to  be  seventy-seven  years  of  age.  His  son, 
John  Kurtz,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  hav- 
ing arrived  at  years  of  maturity  married  Miss 
Harriet  Gabrial,  a  lady  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry. 
They  had  five  sons  and  five  daughters,  eight  of 
whom  are  now  living.  Through  his  active  busi- 
ness career  the  father  engaged  in  the  milling 
business,  manufacturing  flour.  In  his  religious 
views  he  was  an  Episcopalian,  and  he  was  highly 
esteemed  for  his  sterling  worth  and  devotion  to 
duty. 

Mr.  Kurtz  of  this  review  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  state,  and  in  his  boy- 
hood learned  the  miller's  trade,  which  he  has  fol- 


lowed as  a,  life  work.  By  close  application  he 
soon  mastered  the  business,  and  for  four  years 
carried  on  operations  along  that  line  in  Rock 
Falls,  Illinois.  In  1878  he  came  to  Idaho,  locat- 
ing in  Boise,  where  for  fourteen  years  he  had  the 
management  of  the  Ridenbaugh  mill.  His  long 
connection  with  that  enterprise  plainly  indicates 
his  reliability  and  his  effective  service, — qualities 
which  won  him  the  entire  respect  and  confidence 
of  his  employer.  In  1890  he  came  to  Weiser 
and  in  connection  with  others  erected  the  Weiser 
flouring  mill,  of  which  he  has  since  had  charge. 
It  is  a  full  roller-process  mill  with  a  capacity  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  barrels  of  flour  per  day. 
The  main  building  is  forty  by  forty  feet,  and  in 
height  three  stories,  attic  and  basement.  The 
elevator  is  fifty  by  forty  feet  and  forty  feet  in 
height,  and  has  a  capacity  of  fifty  thousand  bush- 
els of  wheat.  There  is  also  a  brick  engine-room, 
and  the  entire  plant  is  complete  in  every  appoint- 
ment and  detail.  They  manufacture  the  Lily  of 
the  Valley  brand  of  flour,  for  which  there  is  a 
great  home  demand,  and  an  excellent  market  is 
thus  furnished  for  the  wheat  raised  in  this  local- 
ity. Mr.  Kurtz,  who  is  one  of  the  owners  as  well 
as  the  manager,  is  a  practical  miller  of  many 
years'  experience,  and  under  his  direction  the 
enterprise  has  become  a  profitable  one  and  has 
proven  of  great  importance  to  the  community. 

On  the  loth  of  July,  1887,  Mr.  Kurtz  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Lenora  B.  Babcock, 
a  native  of  Galesburg,  Illinois,  who  prior  to  her 
marriage  was  a  most  capable  and  successful 
school-teacher  of  Boise.  They  now  have  a 
daughter,  Hazel.  They  are  valued  members  of 
the  Congregational  church,  in  which  Mr.  Kurtz 
is  serving  as  trustee,  while  his  wife  is  a  teacher  in 
the  Sunday-school.  He  also  belongs  to  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights 
of  Pythias  fraternity,  and  he  and  his  wife  are 
highly  esteemed  citizens  of  Weiser. 

JAMES  FLANAGAN. 

Success  comes  not  to  the  man  who  idly  waits, 
but  to  the  faithful  toiler  whose  work  is  character- 
ized by  intelligence  and  force;  it  comes  only  to 
the  man  who  has  the  foresight  and  keenness  of 
mental  vision  to  know  when  and  where  and  how 
to  exert  his  energies,  and  thus  it  happens  that 
but  a  small  proportion  of  those  who  enter  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


563 


"world's  broad  field  of  battle"  come  off  victors 
in  the  struggle  for  wealth  and  position. 

James  Flanagan,  a  worthy  pioneer  and  suc- 
cessful business  man  of  Boise,  is  one  of  the  many 
good  citizens  that  Ireland  has  furnished  the 
United  States.  He  was  born  near  Dublin,  in 
vjuly,  1837,  a  son  of  William  and  Mary  (Burns) 
Flanagan,  also  natives  of  the  Emerald  Isle.  The 
father  died  of  cholera,  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of 
his  age,  and  his  widow  lived  to  the  advanced  age 
of  seventy-eight  years.  Both  were  devout  mem- 
bers of  the  Catholic  church.  Of  their  chil- 
dren— four  sons  and  four  daughters — five  are  still 
living. 

Their  son  James,  the  subject  of  this  review, 
received  his  education  in  his  native  country, 
where  he  remained  until  he  was  sixteen  years  of 
age.  He  then  sailed  for  America,  to  make  his 
own  way  in  the  world  and  to  enjoy  the  civil  lib- 
erty denied  to  him  in  his  own  land.  Arriving  in 
New  York  city,  he  secured  employment  and  re- 
mained there  for  a  number  of  years,  part  of  the 
time  working  as  a  brick-maker.  Later  he  re- 
moved to  Wisconsin,  where  he  engaged  in  farm- 
ing. On  the  1 8th  of  July,  1864,  he  arrived  at 
Boise,  Idaho,  where  at  first  he  worked  for  wages 
and  did  anything  that  offered  whereby  he  might 
earn  an  honest  living,  and  for  some  time  he  was 
employed  by  a  brick-maker,  who  later  failed  in 
business.  Mr.  Flanagan  then  embarked  in  the 
same  line  of  manufacture  and  for  twenty-two 
years  followed  it  successfully,  his  business  being 
so  conducted  that  it  brought  not  only  financial 
prosperity  to  him  but  also  gave  general  satisfac- 
tion to  his  patrons.  Being  a  man  of  industry  and 
•  general  reliability,  he  was  liberally  patronized  by 
the  people  of  this  vicinity,  and  many  of  the  fine 
buildings  of  Boise  stand  as  monuments  to  his 
enterprise.  During  his  career  here  he  has  ac- 
quired considerable  property,  and  at  one  time 
owned  fifteen  acres  of  land  in  what  is  now  the 
very  best  residence  portion  of  the  city.  Some  of 
this  land  he  platted  and  sold,  and  many  beautiful 
homes  have  been  built  upon  it,  but  he  still  re- 
tains enough  to  insure  him  a  good  income  and  a 
competency  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  took 
great  pleasure  and  pains  in  building  the  residence 
which  he  and  his  family  now  occupy.  It  is  mod- 
ern and  convenient,  exemplifying  the  good  taste, 
not  only  of  the  fortunate  owners  but  of  the  dec- 


ade, as  well.  Mr.  Flanagan  also  has  valuable 
mining  interests,  and  for  the  past  five  years  has 
given  much  attention  to  the  same.  Several  of 
his  excellent  quartz  claims,  in  the  Hornet  and 
Mclntire  districts,  are  situated  but  six  miles  from 
Boise. 

Mr.  Flanagan  was  happily  married,  in  1861,  to 
Miss  Catherine  Murray,  a  native  of  county  Meath, 
Ireland,  and  they  have  had  two  children,  a  son 
and  daughter.  The  son  is  deceased  and  the  lat- 
ter, Mary  Ellen,  resides  with  her  parents,  and 
with  them  holds  a  membership  in  the  Catholic 
church. 

Fraternally,  Mr.  Flanagan  is  identified  with 
the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  has 
filled  all  the  offices  in  his  lodge  and,  besides  hav- 
ing been  a  representative  to  the  grand  lodge  of 
the  state,  is  now  acting  in  the  capacity  of  deputy 
grand  master  workman.  Politically,  he  has  al- 
ways been  loyal  to  the  Democratic  party,  and  for 
three  years  he  has  represented  his  ward  in  the 
city  council  of  Boise.  For  thirty-five  years  he 
has  been  sincerely  concerned  in  even-thing  affect- 
ing the  growth  and  advancement  of  the  city,  and 
has  performed  his  full  duty  as  a  townsman  an,d 
patriot. 

JAMES  O'NEILL. 

James  O'Neill  came  to  the  northwest  from  the 
far-off  Atlantic  coast;  nor  have  his  travels  been 
limited  by  his  journey  across  the  continent,  for 
he  spent  some  time  among  the  mountains  in  the 
distant  south.  He  was  born  in  Rondout,  Xew 
York,  May  6,  1861,  his  parents  being  Patrick 
and  Hannah  (Mullroy)  O'Neill,  natives  of  Ire- 
land. Both  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  the  United 
States  in  childhood,  and  were  reared,  educated 
and  married  in  the  Empire  state.  The  father, 
who  was  a  tanner  by  trade,  died  when  our  subject 
was  only  about  five  years  old,  leaving  the  mother 
to  care  for  her  five  small  children.  She  lived  to 
be  fifty-five  years  of  age,  and  departed  this  life 
in  Jarmyn,  Pennsylvania. 

When  a  mere  lad  of  seven  summers  James 
O'Neill  began  to  earn  his  own  living  in  the  coal 
breakers  of  Pennsylvania,  receiving  forty-two 
cents  per  day  for  his  services.  His  youth  was 
one  of  hard  toil  and  his  entire  life  has  been  one 
of  diligence.  In  1879  ne  lert  tne  east  and  went 
to  the  Black  Hills,  settling  at  Lead  City,  South 
Dakota,  where  he  engaged  in  mining  for  a  year. 


564 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


He  then  went  to  Tombstone,  Arizona,  where  he 
followed  mining  for  a  short  time,  after  which  he 
made  his  way  to  the  Coeur  d'Alene  country  on 
the  discovery  of  the  rich  mineral  deposits  there. 
Later  he  was  identified  with  mining  interests  at 
Butte,  Montana,  and  thence  went  to  Rocky  Bar, 
Idaho,  continuing  his  mining  operations  until 
November  3,  1896,  when  he  was  elected  assessor 
of  Elmore  county  and  came  to  Mountain  Home. 
Acceptably  discharging  the  duties  of  that  posi- 
tion, he  won  the  public  confidence,  and  in  1898 
was  elected  sheriff  of  Elmore  county. 

While  at  Ro'cky  Bar  Mr.  O'Neill  was  united  in 
marriage,  by  Bishop  Glorieux,  to  Miss  Mary  T. 
Donnelly,  and  to  them  have  been  born  five  chil- 
dren, namely:  Anna  Josephine,  James  Albert, 
Emmett  John,  Larkin  Lucius  and  Allen  Leo. 
The  parents  are  both  members  in  good  standing 
of  the  Catholic  church,  and  Mr.  O'Neill  also  be- 
longs to  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen 
and  Modern  Woodmen  of  America.  He  is  a 
good  business  man,  an  efficient  and  faithful  officer 
and  a  popular  citizen.  The  difficulties  and  obsta- 
cles which  beset  his  path  in  youth  he  has  over- 
come by  determined  purpose,  and  his  life  demon- 
strates what  is  possible  of  accomplishment  to 
those  who  in  early  life  are  deprived  of  favorable 
privileges  and  opportunities. 

JOSEPH  C.  GROSS. 

This  well  and  favorably  known  pioneer  of  Sil- 
ver City  has  been  for  many  years  the  experienced 
and  obliging  clerk  of  the  War  Eagle  Hotel,  at 
Silver  City.  He  is  a  native  of  the  city  of  Neus- 
tadt,  province  of  Hesse-Nassau,  Germany,  born 
February  18,  1835,  was  educated  in  his  native 
land,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  came  with  an 
uncle  to  the  United  States.  For  an  occupation 
he  worked  at  the  shoemaker's  trade  for  a  time. 

On  the  22d  of  December,  1851,  in  company 
with  his  cousin,  Charles  A.  Gross,  he  started  for 
the  Golden  state,  on  the  steamer  El  Dorado. 
Landing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chagres,  at  the 
isthmus  of  Panama,  they  boated  up  that  river  to 
Gorgona  and  from  there  proceeded  overland  to 
Panama,  which  place  they  found  filled  with  men 
en  route  for  California,  many  of  whom  were  at- 
tacked with  the  fever  peculiar  to  the  isthmus,  and 
many  died.  Of  course  one  can  imagine  how 
anxious  the  living  were  to  get  away  from  that 


point.  There  was  but  one  steamer,  The  New 
World,  about  to  sail,  and  it  was  far  from  being 
adequate  for  the  transportation  of  all  who  desired 
to  embark.  Mr.  Gross  sold  his  ticket,  at  a  great 
profit,  and  took  a  situation  in  a  restaurant  there 
as  a  waiter  until  the  following  spring,  when  he 
secured  passage  -on  a  French  sailing  vessel  named 
Les  Cinq  Freres.  Shortly  after  their  departure 
from  the  port  of  Panama  the  tropical  fever  broke 
out  on  board  and  out  of  ninety  passengers  thirty- 
three  were  consigned  to  the  deep. 

After  suffering  many  hardships  the  remaining 
passengers  arrived  at  San  Francisco,  April  9, 
1852.  Mr.  Gross,  who  had  the  advantage  of  a 
considerable  degree  of  knowledge  obtained  from 
his  cousin,  who  had  previously  been  in  Califor- 
nia, immediately  engaged  in  mining,  and  fol- 
lowed it,  with  varying  success,  until  1864,  when 
he  struck  out  for  Montana;  but  when  he  reached 
Silver  City  he  met  an  old  partner  and  decided  to 
remain  here.  He  followed  mining  on  Jordan 
creek,  with  good  results,  and  in  1867,  in  company 
with  Christopher  Stender,  Jacob  Dellenbach  and 
Frank  Schuster,  purchased  the  Blue  Gulch  claim, 
for  twelve  thousand  and  five  hundred  dollars, 
and  also  the  water  rights  of  John  Sullivan,  for 
four  thousand  dollars.  In  1876  he  disposed  of 
his  interests  to  Stender  and  Dellenbach,  Schuster 
having  previously  sold  out;  and  then  he  was  en- 
gaged in  quartz-mining  until  1881,  when  he  ac- 
cepted a  position  in  the  office  of  the  War  Eagle 
Hotel,  which  he  has  since  so  satisfactorily  filled. 

In  society  relations  Mr.  Gross  is  a  prominent 
and  enthusiastic  Freemason,  a  charter  member 
of  Silver  City  Lodge,  No.  13.  He  was  made  a 
Mason  in  1870,  in  Owyhee  Lodge,  No.  5.  He 
is  a  past  master  of  the  blue  lodge,  having  served 
as  master  for  four  terms,  and  he  has  served  as 
high  priest  of  the  chapter  three  terms,  and  was 
grand  warden  of  the  grand  lodge  of  Idaho  in 
1883.  In  the  latter  body  he  has  filled  the  offices 
of  junior  and  senior  deacon.  His  lodge  in  Silver 
City  is  now  in  a  flourishing  condition. 

SUMNER  W.   DEE. 

Mr.  Dee  is  the  only  clothing  merchant  who 
deals  exclusively  in  everything  that  pertains  to 
men's  and  boys'  wearing  apparel  in  the  city  of 
Caldwell.  He  was  born  in  Holton,  Jackson 
county,  Kansas,  November  26,  1862,  and  is  a  son 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


565 


of  Chester  Dee,  of  Burlington,  Vermont,  whose 
ancestors  settled  in  Virginia  in  1620.  He  is  a 
direct  descendant  of  the  first  colonial  governor  of 
Vermont,  and  members  of  the  family  were  promi- 
nent in  the  early  history  of  the  colonies  and  in 
the  Revolutionary  war.  His  grandfather,  when 
a  boy,  saw  the  battle  at  Ticonderoga.  Mr.  Dee 
married  Miss  Elizabeth  Blake,  a  native  of  Indi- 
ana, and  of  this  union  two  children  were  born,  a 
son  and  a  daughter,  the  latter  of  whom  is  now 
Mrs.  Charles  West,  whose  husband  is  a  dry-goods 
merchant.  Mr.  Dee  was  with  General  Fremont 
during  the  ascent  of  the  latter  to  Pike's  Peak,  and 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Fifteenth  Kansas  Volun- 
teer Infantry  at  the  time  of  the  civil  war,  at  the 
conclusion  of  which  he  settled  on  a  farm  in  Iowa, 
where  he  now  resides,  with  his  w.ife,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-five  years. 

Sumner  W.  Dee  received  his  education  in  the 
public  schools  of  Brooklyn,  Iowa,  and  at  the 
Northern  Indiana  Normal  School,  at  Valparaiso, 
after  which  he  learned  the  trade  of  miller,  taught 
school  two  years  in  Iowa  and  one  in  Nebraska, 
and  for  several  years  clerked  in  stores  until  he 
obtained  a  general  knowledge  of  the  mercantile 
business,  having  been  for  eight  years  a  clerk  in 
the  large  wholesale  and  retail  establishment  of  T. 
C.  Egleston  &  Company,  at  Caldwell,  before 
opening  his  own  store.  He  now  has  a  large, 
complete  stock  of  men's  and  boys'  clothing  and 
furnishings  and  is  well  known  throughout  the 
county  as  an  honest,  capable  and  reliable  busi- 
ness man. 

In  1893  Mr.  Dee  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Isabella  W.  Bishop,  of  Chicago,  and  they 
have  two  children, — Nina  Wilma  and  Dorothy 
Elizabeth.  Mrs.  Dee  is  a  valued  worker  in  and 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  Our  sub- 
ject is  a  Republican  and  an  active  member  of  the 
I.  O.  O.  F.  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

JESSE  K.  DUBOIS,  M.  D. 

Dr.  Dubois  is  one  of  the  well  and  favorably 
known  physicians  not  only  of  Boise  but  also  of 
the  entire  state  of  Idaho.  He  is  a  native  of 
Springfield,  Illinois,  where  he  was  born  Novem- 
ber 1 6,  1848,  and  is  of  French  descent.  His 
grandfather,  -  -  Dubois,  came  to  America 
from  France  and  was  chief  of  the  staff  of  General 
William  Henry  Harrison.  Jesse  Dubois,  the 


father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Illinois  when 
that  state  was  a  territory.  He  married  Miss 
Adelia  Morris,  of  Kentucky  ancestry.  He  was  a 
prominent  lawyer  and  a  stanch  Republican,  hav- 
ing been  a  neighbor,  friend  and  co-laborer  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  other  well  knovyn  public 
men  of  that  time.  He  served  for  a  number  of 
years  as  state  auditor  of  Illinois.  Mr.  Dubois 
departed  this  life  in  1876,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six 
years,  his  wife  surviving  him  ten  years.  To  them 
were  born  three  sons  and  one  daughter,  one  of 
the  former  being  ex-United  States  Senator  Du- 
bois. 

Jesse  K.  Dubois  attended  the  public  schools 
and  later  entered  Yale  College,  at  which  he  was 
graduated  in  1872.  He  then  attended  the  medi- 
cal college  at  St.  Louis  and  was  graduated  with 
the  class  of  1875,  after  which  he  practiced  his  pro- 
fession in  Springfield  for  five  years,  and  then 
came  to  Idaho  as  the  physician  of  the  Indian 
agency  at  Fort  Hall.  In  1883  he  moved  to 
Boise,  where  he  has  since  followed  his  profession 
most  successfully,  building  up  a  large  and  re- 
munerative practice. 

In  1884  Dr.  Dubois  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Anna  Curtis,  a  daughter  of  Hon.  E.  J.  Cur- 
tis, one  of  Idaho's  most  prominent  citizens  whose 
biography  appears  in  another  portion  of  this 
work.  Of  this  union  one  daughter,  Susie,  has 
been  born. 

In  his  social  relations  Dr.  Dubois  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  was  a  Master  Ma- 
son in  the  lodge  of  which  his  father  was  a  charter 
member.  He  enjoys  the  high  esteem  of  a  wide 
circle  of  friends. 

JOSEPH   C.  STRAUGHAN. 

When  we  think  of  the  wonderful  development 
of  our  country  in  the  last  half  century  we  find 
that  it  is  largely  due  to  two  agencies, — railroad 
construction  and  civil  engineering,  and  of  both 
of  these  industries  Joseph  C.  Straughan  is  a  rep- 
resentative. The  era  of  progress  and  develop- 
ment in  the  various  sections  of  this  great  republic 
west  of  the  Atlantic  coast  has  been  almost  in- 
variably ushered  in  by  railroad  construction,  and 
the  vast  network  of  glistening  rails  that  trace 
their  parallel  course  over  mountain  and  plain  and 
through  the  fertile  valleys,  represent  more  than 
mere  corporate  enterprise  and  accomplishment, 


566 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


since  the  railroad  has  proved  the  avant  courier 
of  civilization  and  of  that  substantial  and  perma- 
nent improvement  which  has  placed  our  national 
commonwealth  upon  a  stable  foundation.  For 
many  years  Mr.  Straughan  was  connected  with 
railroad  construction  in  the  Mississippi  valley  and 
later  became  an  important  factor  in  opening  up 
the  region  of  the  northwest  to  civilization 
through  his  labors  as  United  States  surveyor- 
general  for  Idaho. 

A  native  of  Ohio,  he  was  born  in  Wooster, 
Wayne  county,  Ohio,  on  the  I5th  of  June,  1849, 
and  is  of  Welsh  and  Scotch  ancestry.  The  found- 
ers of  the  family  in  America  came  to  this  country 
with  William  Penn  and  were  members  of  the 
Society  of  Friends.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
that1  this  religious  organization  was  opposed  to 
war,  the  great-grandfather  of  our  subject  entered 
the  colonial  service  and  fought  for  the  independ- 
ence of  the  nation.  His  son,  the  grandfather  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  also  fought  in  the  war 
of  1812.  The  maternal  great-grandfather  of  Mr. 
Straughan  also  entered  the  army  and  was  the  in- 
ventor of  the  Chambers  swivel  gun,  one  of  the  first 
rapid-firing  guns  ever  made.  With  it  he  defeated 
the  British  at  Sackett's  Harbor, — a  few  colonial 
troops,  and  they  in  poor  health,  putting  to  flight 
a  large  number  of  the  English,  who  supposed,  on 
account  of  the  rapid  execution  of  the  swivel  gun, 
that  the  fort  was  attacked  by  large  numbers.  The 
inventor  of  this  gun  resided  in  Chambersburg, 
Pennsylvania,  which  place  was  founded  by  mem- 
bers of  his  family  and  named  in  honor  thereof. 
The  paternal  great-grandfather  of  our  subject 
was  an  industrious  and  influential  farmer  of  Bucks 
county,  Pennsylvania.  The  grandfather,  John 
Straughan,  was  born  in  that  county,  and  in  1803 
removed  to  Columbiana  county,  Ohio,  becoming 
one  of  the  pioneer  builders  of  that  state.  His 
son,  Jesse  R.  Straughan,  was  born  in  the  Buckeye 
state  and  became  one  of  Ohio's  most  renowned 
civil  engineers.  He  built  the  Pittsburg,  Fort 
Wayne  &  Chicago  Railroad,  the  second  road  con- 
structed west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains.  Both 
he  and  Hon.  John  Sherman,  late  secretary  of 
state,  were  employed  by  the  state  of  Ohio  and 
were  associated  in  the  construction  of  many  of 
the  public  works.  Thus  Mr.  Straughan  took  a 
very  active  part  in  improving  and  developing 
that  great  commonwealth,  and  his  labors  were  a 


benefit  to  all.  He  now  resides  in  Fort  Wayne, 
Indiana,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years.  He  mar- 
ried Caroline  J.  Chambers,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and 
a  niece  of  David  Chambers,  at  one  time  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  United  States  senate,  popu- 
larly called  "Old  Eagle  Eyes,"  because  of  the 
keenness  with  which  he  saw  into  the  topics  of  the 
times.  Her  father,  Joseph  Chambers,  was  a 
prosperous  merchant  of  Morgan  county,  Ohio. 
He  departed  this  life  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his 
age. 

Joseph  C.  Straughan,  whose  name  introduces 
this  sketch,  was  educated  in  Fort  Wayne,  Indi- 
ana, and  Delaware,  Ohio,  and  like  his  father  be- 
came a  noted  civil  engineer,  possessing  very  su- 
perior ability  in  the  line  of  his  chosen  profession. 
For  a  number  of  years  he  was  prominently  con- 
nected with  railroad-building,  and  was  engaged 
on  the  construction  of  thirteen  railroads  in  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois  and  Mississippi.  In  1885,  in 
recognition  of  his  superior  ability  as  a  civil  en- 
gineer, and  also  of  his  fidelity  to  the  Democratic 
party,  he  was  appointed  by  President  Cleveland 
as  surveyor-general  of  Idaho,  an  office  which  he 
filled  with  great  capability  and  fidelity  for  nine 
years.  His  work  here  consisted  principally  in 
directing  the  survey  of  the  public  lands  of  the 
state,  both  agricultural  and  mineral;  and  his  re- 
port on  irrigation  and  arid  lands,  made  to  the 
United  States  senate  committee  sent  to  the  west 
in  1889,  was  highly  spoken  of  as  the  best  and 
most  valuable  report  received  by  that  committee. 

In  1879  Mr.  Straughan  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Mary  V.  Shoemaker,  of  Indianapolis,  In- 
diana, and  they  had  two  children,  John  S.  and 
Virginia  C.  The  mother  died  in  Mississippi,  in 
1883,  and  three  years  later,  in  1886,  Mr.  Straug- 
han married  Miss  Alice  B.  Ramsay,  a  native  of 
Illinois  and  a  graduate  of  Jacksonville  Seminary, 
a  Presbyterian  college  of  that  city.  She  was  one 
of  the  two  lady  managers  for  Idaho  at  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago,  and  is  the 
founder  and  has  been  president  of  the  Women's 
Columbian  Club  of  Boise.  They  have  a  delight- 
ful home  in  the  capital  city  and  are  very  highly 
esteemed  by  a  host  of  friends  both  within  and 
without  Boise,  for  their  acquaintance  extends 
throughout  the  state. 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Straughan  has 
always  been  an  ardent  Democrat,  unfaltering  in 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


567 


his  support  of  the  principles  of  that  party.  As 
associate  editor  of  the  Sentinel,  in  the  campaign 
of  1884,  he  rendered  his  party  valuable  service, 
and  has  ever  done  all  in  his  power  for  its  advance- 
ment. His  labors  for  the  benefit  of  Boise  have 
proven  an  important  factor  in  its  progress.  In 
connection  with  others  he  has  made  two  addi- 
tions to  the  city,  and  at  all  times  he  gives  his  sup- 
port to  such  measures  as  tend  to  promote  the 
educational,  material,  social  and  moral  welfare  of 
the  community. 

GEORGE  SCHMADEKA. 

History  was  at  one  time  almost  entirely  a  rec- 
ord of  wars, — a  tale  of  conquest  in  which  armed 
hosts  went  forth  to  capture,  pillage  and  destroy, — 
but  with  advancing  civilization  it  has  become  a 
very  different  chronicle,  being  now  more  particu- 
larly the  story  of  the  onward  march  of  progress, 
the  upbuilding  of  towns  and  the  establishment 
of  those  enterprises  and  interests  which  contribute 
to  man's  happiness  and  welfare.  '  In  pursuing  the 
study  of  Idaho's  history  we  find  that  the  nourish- 
ing town  of  Grangeville  owes  its  existence  in  part 
to  the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch. 
He  arrived  on  Camas  prairie,  July  3,  1876,  and 
celebrated  the  centennial  of  our  national  exist- 
ence at  the  place  which  has  since  been  his  home. 
Here  he  has  kept  untarnished  his  good  name,  and 
is  accounted  one  of  the  loyal  citizens  of  his  adopt- 
ed land. 

Mr.  Schmadeka  was  born  in  Hanover,  Ger- 
many, June  25,  1830,  and  is  of  stanch  German 
lineage.  He  acquired  his  education  in  the  Fath- 
erland and  came  to  the  United  States  in  1849, 
then  in  his  nineteenth  year.  He  landed  at  New 
Orleans  to  find  himself  among  a  people  whose 
manners  and  language  were  utterly  unfamiliar  to 
him,  but  he  possessed  a  resolute  spirit  and  strong 
determination,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  had 
gained  a  start  in  business  life  here.  He  finally 
joined  a  party  emigrating  to  Missouri,  and  on 
the  way  eleven  of  the  number  died  of  cholera. 
On  arriving  in  Missouri  he  secured  employment 
at  a  dollar  per  day  and  board,  in  Lafayette 
county,  at  raising  hemp  and  also  breaking  it, 
which  is  an  arduous  task.  In  1852  he  crossed 
the  plains  to  Oregon  and  became  one  of  the  brave 
pioneers  of  that  now  prosperous  state.  That  was 
the  year  of  the  "great  emigration,"  when  many 


hundreds  of  the  emigrants  were  stricken  with  the 
dread  scourge  of  cholera,  and  the  new-made 
graves  of  the  victims  marked  the  way  across  the 
plains.  There  were  thirty  wagons  in  the  party 
with  which  Mr.  Schmadeka  traveled,  under  com- 
mand of  Rev.  Jacob  Glasbie,  a  Presbyterian  min- 
ister, but  though  the  Indians  were  frequently 
seen,  such  a  close  watch  was  kept  that  the  party- 
were  not  attacked  by  the  savages.  They  were 
also  fortunate  in  escaping  the  cholera,  only  two 
of  the  number  dying  of  the  disease.  On  the 
journey  they  passed  through  what  is  now  the 
state  of  Idaho,  on  their  way  to  the  beautiful 
Willamette  valley  in  Oregon,  and  Mr.  Schmad- 
eka located  near  Eugene,  where  he  took  up  gov- 
ernment land  and  improved  it.  He  had  brought 
with  him  a  team  of  horses  and  a  yoke  of  oxen, 
and  with  these  he  began  farming.  There  he  re- 
mained for  ten  years,  and  his  industry  and  econ- 
omy brought  him  success.  When  the  railroad 
was  being  built  through  that  section  he  was  en- 
abled to  sell  his  place  for  a  good  price,  and  in 
1862  he  came  to  Idaho,  where  for  a  number  of 
years  he  engaged  in  stock-raising. 

In  1876  Mr.  Schmadeka  came  with  his  stock  to 
pasture  them  on  Camas  prairie,  and  that  year  he 
purchased  here  a  ranch  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres,  for  nineteen  hundred  dollars.  On  a  por- 
tion of  this  has  since  been  built  the  town  of 
Grangeville.  He  with  the  neighboring  pioneers 
were  "Grangers,"  and  they  built  a  hall,  which 
was  the  first  public  building  in  Grangeville.  This 
formed  the  nucleus  around  which  the  town  was 
built  and  from  which  Grangeville  took  its  name. 
Thus  he  became  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town, 
and  he  and  his  sons  have  been  important  factors 
in  its  upbuilding.  In  the  early  days  of  its  exist- 
ence the  settlers  built  a  stockade,  within  which 
they  gathered  for  safety  during  the  Nez  Perces 
war.  In  the  pioneer  times  Mr.  Schmadeka  also 
offered  a  lot  in  exchange  for  a  wheelbarrow,  but 
the  owner  of  the  barrow  would  not  make  the 
trade.  At  all  times  our  subject  has  aided  mate- 
rially in  the  improvement  and  advancement  of 
Grangeville,  and  many  of  its  enterprises  owe  their 
existence  to  his  public  spirit.  He  donated  a  large 
lot  whereon  was  erected  a  roller-process  flouring 
mill,  and  gave  the  land  which  forms  the  sites  of 
the  Methodist  and  Episcopal  churches.  He  has 
platted  a  large  part  of  the  town;  many  of  the 


568 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


lots  have  been  sold  and  improved  by  substantial 
residences  or  other  good  buildings,  and  the  lots 
which  he  still  retains  are  enough  to  make  him  a 
rich  man.  Some  of  the  land  which  he  purchased 
for  ten  dollars  per  acre  is  now  valued,  at  a  low 
figure,  at  three  hundred  dollars.  No  movement 
or  measure  tending  to  benefit  the  moral,  intellec- 
tual, social  or  material  interests  of  Grangeville 
solicits  his  aid  in  vain,  his  support  being  cheer- 
fully given  to  all  such.  When  the  grain  industry 
of  the  valley  became  great  enough  to  require  it, 
he  bought  two  headers  and  a  threshing  machine, 
and  his  sons  and  son-in-law  did  all  the  heading 
and  threshing  in  this  locality  for  years. 

While  a  young  industrious  farmer  in  Oregon, 
Mr.  Schmadeka  became  acquainted  with  Miss 
Sophia  Maria  Gostmaer.  a  native  of  Prussia,  Ger- 
many, and  before  he  had  been  two  years  in  the 
Sunset  state  they  were  happily  married,  in  1854. 
Unto  them  have  been  born  five  sons  and  three 
daughters:  Christopher  Henry,  who  is  now  a  farm- 
er near  Grangeville ;  Caroline.wife  of  Henry  Miller, 
of  Grangeville;  William  Frederick,  a  prominent 
merchant  of  the  same  town;  George  S.,  a  farmer 
and  stock-raiser  on  Camas  prairie;  John  Wesley, 
who  also  follows  stock-raising  on  the  same  prai- 
rie; Henry,  who  died  in  February,  1898,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-four  years;  Emma  May,  at  home; 
and  Martha  Alice,  who  died  in  infancy. 

In  the  Nez  Perces  Indian  war  Mr.  Schmadeka, 
with  his  wife  and  one  child,  had  an  almost  mirac- 
ulous escape  from  death.  Just  before  the  out- 
break of  the  war  he  had  planned  to  go  with  his 
wife,  one  of  their  children  and  their  son-in-law, 
Mr.  Miller,  to  Walla  Walla.  The  day  before 
starting,  a  neighbor,  John  Chamberlain,  came  to 
them  and  asked  if  he  and  his  wife  and  child 
could  not  go  with  them.  Mr.  Schmadeka  told 
them  yes,  but  said  to  be  on  hand  promptly,  as 
they  wished  to  make  a  very  early  start;  where- 
upon the  neighbor  replied  that  if  he  was  not  there 
at  the  hour  appointed  for  Mr.  Schmadeka  to  ride 
on  and  he,  Chamberlain,  would  overtake  him. 
The  following  morning,  at  the  time  designated, 
our  subject  started.  About  half  an  hour  later  Mr. 
Chamberlain  also  started,  but  met  some  Indians, 
who  knocked  out  his  brains  with  the  butt  of  a 
musket,  took  the  child  from  its  mother's  arms, 
made  a  gash  in  its  throat  and  cut  off  the  end  of 
its  tongue.  The  mother  and  daughter  still  live 


in  Idaho.  Had  Mr.  Schmadeka's  family  started 
only  a  few  minutes  later  they  would  have  un- 
doubtedly met  the  same  fate. 

For  many  years  our  subject  has  been  an  active 
member  of  the  South  Methodist  church  and  still 
strongly  adheres  to  that  faith.  In  politics  he  has 
been  a  lifelong  Democrat,  but  has  never  sought 
office,  serving  only  as  school  trustee.  For  some 
time  he  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Grange, 
and  therein  served  as  trustee  and  chaplain.  Such 
is  the  history  of  one  whose  connection  with  Idaho 
has  been  long,  honorable  and  beneficial  to  the 
state,  and  although  he  came  to  America  empty- 
handed  he  has  by  well  directed  and  earnest  effort 
attained  a  position  among  the  substantial  citizens 
of  the  community  in  which  he  makes  his  home. 

GEORGE  H.  NORTH. 

Among  the  worthy  citizens  that  New  York  has 
furnished  to  the  state  of  Idaho  is  George  H. 
North,  the  well  known  clothing  merchant  of  Po- 
catello,  whose  enterprising,  progressive  methods 
give  character  to  the  business  life  of  the  city,  and 
whose  reputation  in  commercial  circles  is  unas- 
sailable. He  was  born  in  Springwater,  Living- 
ston county,  of  the  Empire  state,  July  14,  1858, 
a  son  of  C.  S.  and  Elvira  Thankful  (Wetmore) 
North,  who  likewise  were  natives  of  the  same 
county.  The  father  successfully  carried  on  farm- 
ing there  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  the 
fifty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  while  his  wife,  who 
still  survives,  is  now  sixty-five  years  of  age.  They 
were  the  parents  of  five  children,  but  only  two 
are  living  at  this  writing,  in  the  summer  of  1899. 

George  H.  North,  having  obtained  his  prelimi- 
nary education  in  the  common  school,  supple- 
mented it  by  a  course  in  the  Geneseo  Western 
Seminary,  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  where  he  was 
graduated  with  the  class  of  1876.  He  then 
worked  on  his  father's  farm  for  a  time,  after  which 
he  started  westward  and  accepted  a  clerkship 
with  his  uncle,  Orland  North,  in  Evanston 
Spring,  Wyoming.  He  spent  two  years  in  that 
place  and  then  began  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count in  Shoshone,  Idaho.  Subsequently  he 
came  to  Pocatello  and,  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
North  &  Church,  established  his  present  business 
in  1890.  That  partnership  was  continued  until 
January  i,  1895,  after  which-  Mr.  North  carried 
on  operations  alone  until  October  i,  1898,  when 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


569 


he  sold  a  half  interest  in  the  store  to  Richard 
Douglass  and  the  present  firm  of  North  &  Doug- 
lass was  formed.  They  have  one  of  the  finest 
stores  in  the  town,  splendidly  equipped  with 
everything  in  their  line.  They  occupy  a  modern 
brick  building  twenty-five  by  eighty  feet,  their 
salesroom  being  on  the  first  floor,  while  the 
basement  is  used  as  a  storeroom.  They  carry 
a  large  and  well  selected  stock  of  clothing  and 
men's  furnishing  goods  and  shoes,  and  from  the 
beginning  the  enterprise  has  been  a  successful 
one,  its  patronage  steadily  increasing  in  volume 
and  importance. 

On  the  ist  of  July,  1886,  Mr.  North  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Peronne  Church,  a  native  of 
Mankato,  Minnesota,  and  they  now  have  one 
child,  Carlie,  who  was  born  in  Shoshone.  Mr. 
North  became  a  member  of  Eagle  Ledge,  No. 
619,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  in  New  York,  in  1879,  and 
has  since  taken  the  Royal  Arch  degrees.  In  his 
political  views  he  is  a  Republican  and  keeps  well 
informed  on  the  issues  of  the  day,  but  has  never 
been  an  aspirant  for  office,  preferring  to  devote 
his  time  and  energies  to  his  business  interests,  in 
which  he  is  meeting  with  creditable  and  gratify- 
ing success.  Indolence  and  idleness  are  utterly 
foreign  to  his  nature,  and  his  diligence,  systemat- 
ic methods  and  reliability  have  secured  to  him 

prosperity. 

EDWARD   FANNING. 

The  career  of  this  prominent  Idaho  merchant 
illustrates  the  claim,  frequently  made,  that  a  man 
of  enterprise  will  inevitably  get  into  and  make  a 
success  of  the  business  for  which  he  has  the  most 
liking  and  aptitude,  regardless  of  discourage- 
ments and  obstacles  which  would  direct  weaker 
men  permanently  into  other  paths  of  endeavor. 

Edward  Fanning  was  born  in  county  Carlow, 
Ireland,  February  23,  1844,  a  son  of  Patrick  and 
Bridget  (Murphy)  Fanning.  His  father  was  a 
farmer,  and  both  his  parents  were  born  in  the 
Catholic  faith  and  were  reared  and  lived  and  died 
in  it, — Patrick  Fanning  passing  away  in  his 
eighty-fourth  year,  and  Bridget  Fanning  in  her 
eighty-second  year.  They  had  eight  children,  of 
whom  only  three  survive.  Edward  was  educated 
in  his  native  country  and  entered  mercantile  life 
at  the  age  of  twenty,  as  a  salesman  in  a  store. 
Three  years  later  he  came  to  the  United  States 
and  located  in  Omaha,  where  he  was  given  a  po- 


sition in  the  storeroom  of  the  railroad  company. 
In  1869  he  removed  to  Evanston,  Wyoming,  and 
was  road-master  there  and  at  Pocatello  and  Idaho 
Falls  until  1895.  He  then  gave  up  the  railroad 
position  to  become  a  member  of  the  Clark  &  Fan- 
ning Company,  merchants,  in  which  Nathan  H. 
Clark  was  his  partner.  The  concern  was  burned 
out  after  about  two  years'  successful  business,  but 
the  company  had  sufficient  insurance  on  its  plant 
and  stock  and  sufficient  capital  to  enable  it  to 
continue  business  without  embarrassment.  A 
mercantile  enterprise  which  had  been  established 
by  Messrs.  Johnson  &  Poulson  was  purchased  by 
the  Clark  &  Fanning  Company.  Mr.  Clark 
withdrew  from  the  business  and  Mr.  Johnson 
and  Mr.  Poulson  bought  an  interest  in  it,  and  it 
has  since  been  continued  under  the  old  corporate 
name.,  The  store  of  this  concern  is  centrally 
located  and  is  attractive  and  substantial.  With 
a  floor  space  twenty-five  by  one  hundred  and 
thirty  feet,  ample  room  is  afforded  to  carry  a 
large  stock  of  all  kinds  of  merchandise  required 
by  the  people  of  Idaho  Falls  and  its  tributary 
country.  This  stock  is  selected  with  that  care 
which  is  assured  only  by  long  experience  in  buy- 
ing and  selling  and  intimate  knowledge  of  trade 
and  demands.  The  building  is  a  large  brick 
structure,  owned  by  Mr.  Fanning  and  his  asso- 
ciates, and  the  store  is  so  popular  that  its  trade 
reaches  out  into  adjoining  counties.  Of  this  im- 
portant business  Mr.  Fanning  was  the  organizer 
and  is  the  directing  spirit.  He  is  a  man  of  extra- 
ordinary public  spirit  and  has  done  very  much 
toward  the  advancement  of  all  of  Idaho  Falls' 
best  interests.  As  a  Democrat,  he  has  been  three 
times  elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of 
that  town.  Socially  he  and  his  family  are  held 
in  high  esteem. 

In  1879  Mr.  Fanning  married  Miss  Catherine 
Coady,  a  native  of  Iowa.  They  were  vouch- 
safed a  happy  married  life  of  twelve  years,  and 
then  Mrs.  Fanning  died,  leaving  six  children,  in- 
cluding twins  who  were  born  just  before  her 
death.  She  was  a  loving  and  faithful  wife  and 
a  kind  and  indulgent  mother,  a  helpful  and  hon- 
ored member  of  society  and  a  devout  communi- 
cant of  the  Catholic  church, 'and  her  death  was 
deeply  regretted  by  all  who  knew  her.  The  six 
children  of  Edward  and  Catherine  (Coady)  Fan- 
ning are  Margaret,  Ann,  John  T.,  Helen,  Ed- 


570 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ward  and  Mary.  John  T.  is  employed  by  the 
Fanning  &  Clark  Company.  January  5,  1894, 
Mr.  Fanning  married  Mrs.  Agnes  Furrey,  a  na- 
tive of  Ohio,  and  a  lady  of  many  virtues  and  ac- 
complishments, who  has  been  a  lifelong  member 
of  the  Catholic  church.  The  home  of  the  family 
is  one  of  the  most  attractive  in  Idaho  Falls,  and 
their  list  of  personal  friends  is  large,  including 
the  best  people  in  southeastern  Idaho. 

NATHAN  H.   CLARK. 

Nathan  H.  Clark,  though  yet  a  young  man, 
has  had  a  busy  and  useful  career  at  Idaho  Falls, 
where  he  has  served  the  people  as  mayor  and 
member  of  the  town  council,  and  he  is  now  serv- 
ing as  prosecuting  attorney  of  Bingham  county. 
In  Idaho  Falls  he  was  for  three  years  a  prominent 
member  of  a  leading  mercantile  house,  and  here 
he  has  in  many  ways  shown  himself  to  be  a  pub- 
lic-spirited citizen,  devoted  to  worthy  local  inter- 
ests. Mr.  Clark  is  a  son  of  Hon.  Joseph  A. 
Clark,  present  mayor  of  Idaho  Falls,  and  was 
born  at  Amo,  Hendricks  county,  Indiana,  May 
n,  1869.  Much  that  is  interesting  in  the  history 
of  his  family  is  given  in  the  sketch  of  the  life  of 
Hon.  Joseph  A.  Clark,  which  has  a  place  in  this 
work. 

It  was  in  the  high  school  of  his  native  town 
that  Mr.  Clark  acquired  the  basis  of  his  very 
substantial  education.  He  read  law,  as  occasion 
permitted,  for  years,  even  during  his  three  busy 
years  as  a  member  of  the  Clark  &  Fanning  Com- 
pany, general  merchants,  of  Idaho  Falls,  when  he 
was  obliged  to  give  his  attention  to  extensive  in- 
terests, which  included  merchandising  on  an  am- 
bitious scale  and  the  erection  of  a  large  business 
block.  In  1896  he  took  a  special  course  in  the 
law  department  of  the  Michigan  State  University, 
and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  lower  courts, 
and  in  1899  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the 
federal  courts  and  the  district  and  supreme  courts 
of  Idaho.  The  law  was  his  chosen  profession, 
and  in  order  to  enter  actively  upon  its  practice  he 
put  aside  all  other  interests  requiring  his  time 
and  devoted  attention.  He  quickly  gained  a 
reputation  as  a  successful  lawyer  and  in  1898  was 
elected  prosecuting  attorney  for  Bingham 
county,  in  which  office  he  has  served  with  signal 
ability  and  credit.  His  preference  is  for  civil  and 
probate  law,  but  as  prosecuting  attorney  he  nat- 


urally has  much  to  do  with  criminal  cases,  and 
in  his  handling  and  presentation  of  them  he  has 
met  with  a  flattering  success,  which  has  given 
him  a  standing  among  the  prominent  criminal 
lawyers  of  the  state.  He  is  an  active  worker  for 
the  success  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  as  may- 
or and  councilman  and  in  other  important  posi- 
tions, official  and  otherwise,  he  has  been  a  factor 
in  the  encouragement  of  pure  politics.  He  is  the 
owner  of  valuable  town  property  and  has  a  fine 
farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  just  beyond 
the  city  limits,  where  he  has  applied  himself  to 
stock  farming  with  the  best  results. 

August  21,  1890,  Mr.  Clark  married  Miss  Lot- 
tie Bonney.  She  bore  him  a  son,  whom  they 
named  Salon  B.,  and  in  February,  1893,  Mrs. 
Clark  died  in  childbirth  and  her  new-born  infant 
died  at  the  same  time.  In  April,  1894,  Mr.  Clark- 
married  Miss  '  Evaline  Rosenberger,  and  they 
have  children  named  Lois,  Donald  and  Dorothy. 
The  last  two  mentioned  are  twins. 

WALTER  E.  PIERCE. 

Walter  E.  Pierce,  ex-mayor  of  Boise,  is  an 
energetic,  enterprising  young  business  man  who 
for  the  past  nine  years  has  been  closely  associated 
with  the  commercial,  political  and  social  activities 
of  the  city.  He  is  a  notable  example  of  the  self- 
made  man  who,  rising  above  the  difficulties  and 
drawbacks  of  early  environment,  makes  a  place 
for  himself  in  the  world  and  justly  claims  the  re- 
spect and  esteem  of  all. 

A  native  of  Bell  county,  Texas,  born  January 
9,  1860,  Mr.  Pierce  is  a  descendant  of  an  old  and 
prominent  Rhode  Island  family,  many  of  whose 
representatives  resided  in  Providence,  where  they 
were  wealthy  and  influential.  Lyman  Pierce,  an 
uncle  of  our  subject,  was  a  very  active  and  popu- 
lar Democrat,  and,  having  been  nominated  on 
that  ticket  for  the  governorship  of  Rhode  Island, 
made  a  very  strong  canvass,  but  was  not  elected. 
The  parents  of  Walter  E.  were  Charles  and  Eliza- 
beth (Harding)  Pierce,  natives  of  Providence.  In 
1854  they  removed  to  a  sheep  ranch  in  Texas, 
but  in  1860  were  obliged  to  leave  that  state  on 
account  of  the  Indians,  who  were  very  trouble- 
some. The  father  did  not  long  survive,  his  death 
taking  place  at  Baxter  Springs,  Kansas,  in  the 
fall  of  1860.  He  left  a  widow  and  six  children, 
three  of  whom  are  deceased.  The  mother,  now 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


571 


in  her  seventy-fourth  year,  is  making  her  home 
with  a  son  in  Hanford,  California.  For  a  short 
time  after  the  demise  of  Mr.  Pierce  the  family 
lived  in  southeastern  Kansas,  thence  going  to 
Vicksburg,  Mississippi,  where  they  dwelt  seven 
years,  and  subsequently  returned  to  Kansas. 

Owing  to  the  vicissitudes  through  which  his 
family  passed,  Walter  E.  Pierce  had  but  limited 
chances  for  obtaining  an  education  when  he  was 
a  lad,  and  he  is  largely  self-taught.  After  taking 
a  course  in  a  business  college  he  embarked  in 
various  enterprises.  For  a  period  he  conducted 
a  hotel  at  Rich  Hill,  Missouri;  then  he  engaged 
in  raising  sheep;  and  later  he  constructed  a  por- 
tion of  the  Kansas  City  &  Southern  Railroad  in 
Missouri,  under  contract.  For  several  years  he 
was  very  successfully  engaged  in  the  real-estate 
business  in  Richfield,  Morton  county,  Kansas. 
His  fellow  townsmen,  in  recognition  of  his  valu- 
able services  in  the  upbuilding  and  progress  of 
the  city,  elected  him  to  a  position  in  the  council, 
and  later  he  was  honored  by  being  elected  to  the 
responsible  office  of  register  of  deeds  of  the 
county.  As  a  rule  the  county  was  strongly  Re- 
publican, but  his  personal  popularity  was  such 
that  he,  though  a  candidate  of  the  Democrats, 
won  the  victory.  He  acquitted  himself  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  concerned,  but  declined  re- 
election, as  that  part  of  Kansas  was  suffering 
from  a  series  of  reverses,  and  he  believed  that  he 
could  do  better  elsewhere,  from  a  financial  point 
of  view. 

Accordingly,  in  1890,  Mr.  Pierce  came  to 
Boise,  and  since  that  time  has  been  accounted 
one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  the  city.  That 
few  have  done  more  for  the  advancement  of  the 
city  of  Boise  and  Ada  county  is  a  fact  generally 
acknowledged.  He  is  actively  engaged  in  the 
real-estate  business,  and  it  is  estimated  that  fully 
five  hundred  persons  have  settled  within  the  lim- 
its of  this  county  annually  as  the  result  of  the 
efforts  of  the  firm  of  W.  E.  Pierce  &  Company, 
consisting  of  W.  E.  Pierce,  J.  M.  Haines  and  L. 
H.  Cox,  is  the  best  known  and  most  reliable  real- 
estate  firm  in  "The  Gem  of  the  Mountains,"  and 
has  done  more  than  all  others  combined  for  the 
advancement  and  best  interests  of  the  city  and 
state.  They  have  induced  eastern  people 
and  others  to  become  permanent  citizens  here. 
Large  sums  of  eastern  capital  also  have  been  in- 


vested in  local  enterprises,  owing  to  the  zeal  and 
executive  ability  of  the  firm  and  the  personal  in- 
fluence of  Mr.  Pierce  and  his  partners.  They 
constantly  handle  property,  both  in  large  and 
small  tracts,  and  are  agents  for  outside  parties,  at 
home  and  abroad.  An  example  of  the  enterprise 
of  the  firm  is  shown  in  the  very  handsome  sou- 
venir pamphlets  which  they  publish  annually, 
illustrating  the  attractions  of  the  city  and  setting 
forth  its  numerous  advantages  as  a  place  of  resi- 
dence and  business  investment. 

In  1896  W.  E.  Pierce  was  honored  by  election 
to  the  mayoralty  of  Boise,  and  the  same  progres- 
sive spirit  and  executive  force  manifested  in  his 
business  career  marked  the  discharge  of  his  of- 
ficial duties.  Under  his  administration  many 
substantial  improvements,  accruing  greatly  to  the 
benefit  and  beauty  of  the  city,  were  instituted; 
sidewalks  were  built,  shade-trees  planted  and 
numerous  other  necessary  and  valuable  public 
works  were  inaugurated.  Mr.  Pierce  inaugurated 
the  first  street-paving,  at  the  time  he  was  mayor, 
even  though  at  that  time  it  was  accomplished  un- 
der great  difficulties  and  met  with  great  opposi- 
tion, while  now  everybody  concedes  that  it  was  the 
right  thing  to  do.  He  was  the  most  progressive 
mayor  that  Boise  ever  had,  and  under  his  man- 
agement an  immense  stride  was  taken  toward  a 
more  brilliant  future  than  was  ever  before 
thought  possible  for  her. 

The  marriage  of  W.  E.  Pierce  and  Miss 
Georgie  Mundy,  of  Keokuk,  Iowa,  was  cele- 
brated in  1882.  She  presides  with  grace  and 
dignity  over  their  beautiful  home  on  Franklin, 
near  Eleventh,  street. 

ALBERT  G.  CORDELLE. 

Among  the  wide-awake  and  enterprising  mer- 
chants of  Weiser  is  Albert  G.  Cordelle,  proprietor 
of  the  leading  furniture  store  of  the  town.  His 
entire  life  has  been  passed  in  the  northwest,  and 
he  possesses  that  spirit  of  progress  and  energy 
which  has  resulted  in  the  rapid  development  and 
upbuilding  of  this  section  of  the  country.  He 
was  born  in  Canyon  City,  Oregon,  on  the  3Oth 
of  January,  1866,  and  is  a  son  of  W.  J.  and  Jane 
Cordelle,  of  the  same  state.  He  acquired  his 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  Idaho,  and 
was  then  fitted  for  the  practical  and  responsible 
duties  of  life.  In  1886  he  entered  upon  his  busi- 


572 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ness  career  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  in  Silver  City, 
where  he  was  employed  for  some  time  by  W.  F. 
Sommercamp,  with  whom  he  came  to  Weiser  in 
1890.  Forming  a  partnership  with  his  former 
employer,  they  carried  on  business  together  for 
seven  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  period 
Mr.  Cordelle  sold  his  interest  to  Mr.  Sommer- 
camp and  opened  the  furniture  store  which  he  has 
since  conducted.  He  carries  a  full  and  complete 
line  of  furniture,  carpets,  crockery  and  house- 
furnishing  goods  and  enjoys  a  large  trade,  which 
has  come  to  him  by  reason  of  his  straightforward 
business  methods,  his  careful  management,  his 
moderate  prices,  and  his  earnest  efforts  to  please 
his  patrons. 

Mr.  Cordelle  was  married  in  1890  to  Miss  Mary 
Sommercamp,  a  sister  of  his  former  partner,  and 
they  now  have  two  children,  Howard  and  Grace. 
In  his  political  views  Mr.  Cordelle  is  a  Democrat, 
but  has  never  sought  nor  desired  the  honors  or 
emoluments  of  public  office.  He  belongs  to  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  and  occupies  a  lead- 
ing position  in  business  and  social  circles.  He  is 
still  a  young  man,  but  has  attained  most  credit- 
able and  gratifying  success,  and  the  future  holds 
out  bright  prospects  for  him. 

JAMES   F.   KANE. 

James  F.  Kane,  the  leading  grocer  of  Poca- 
tello,  Idaho,  was  born  at  Joliet,  Illinois,  April  3, 
1858,  to  Michael  and  Anna  (Smith)  Kane,  natives 
of  Ireland,  who  emigrated  to  Boston,.  Massa- 
chusetts, early  in  life  and  there  met  and  married. 
At  Joliet,  Illinois,  Michael  Kane  became  a  pros- 
perous farmer,  and  for  years  he  was  foreman  of 
the  Illinois  prison  quarries.  He  is  now,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-nine,  a  prominent  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  of  Nuckolls  county,  Nebraska.  His  wife 
died  in  her  fiftieth  year,  in  1882.  As  is  her  hus- 
band, she  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Catholic 
church.  They  had  eight  children,  of  whom  seven 
are  living. 

James  F.  Kane  was  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth. 
He  was  reared  at  Joliet  and  attended  the  public 
school  and  a  private  school  of  his  church.  He 
farmed  three  years  in  Nebraska  and  then  lived 
for  a  time  in  Iowa,  until  he  was  offered  a  position 
as  traveling  salesman  for  a  cigar  factory,  in  New 
York  city,  of  which  one  of  his  uncles  was  pro- 


prietor. He  was  successful  in  this  work,  and  was 
called  into  the  office  and  made  assistant  book- 
keeper, a  position  which  he  retained  until  the 
death  of  his  uncle  necessitated  the  termination  of 
the  business.  He  was  then  chosen  to  settle  up 
his  uncle's  estate,  which  he  did  to  the  satisfaction 
of  everyone  concerned. 

In  1890  he  came  to  Pocatello  and  for  about 
nine  months  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Oregon 
Short  Line  Railroad  Company.  For  a  time  he 
was  a  clerk  in  the  mercantile  house  of  Harkness 
&  Company,  then  in  a  small  way  he  began  busi- 
ness for  himself  on  the  east  side  of  the  town, 
handling  fruits,  vegetables,  fish  and  oysters.  He 
was  successful  in  this  venture,  and  in  about  two 
years  removed  to  the  west  side  and  embarked  in 
a  general  grocery  business  on  Cleveland  avenue. 
In  1895  he  purchased  his  present  store,  in  which 
he  materially  enlarged  his  business,  which  is  now 
the  most  important  of  its  kind  in  the  town.  His 
stock  of  merchandise  is  most  complete,  and  his 
honorable  methods  commend  his  establishment 
to  the  favor  of  all  classes  of  customers.  Heeding 
the  instructive  maxim  of  Ben  Franklin  that  "he 
who  by  the  plow  would  thrive,  himself  must 
either  hold  or  drive,"  he  has  from  the  outset  giv- 
en the  closest  personal  attention  to  his  growing 
interests,  and  to  this  fact  much  of  his  success  is 
to  be  attributed. 

He  was  married  in  1881  to  Miss  Myra  L.  Hol- 
lingsworth,  a  native  of  Boston,  Massachusetts. 
They  have  three  children,  named  Kathleen,  Myra 
and  John.  Their  home  is  a  very  cosy  and  en- 
joyable one.  They  are  hospitable  in  the  extreme, 
and  are  highly  esteemed  by  a  wide  circle  of  ac- 
quaintances. Mr.  Kane  is  a  member  of  the 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  and  of  the 
Woodmen  of  the  World. 

WILLIAM    H.    STUFFLEBEAM. 

There  is  not  a  more  popular  man  in  Idaho 
either  as  Elk  or  "landlord"  than  William  Herman 
Stufflebeam,  proprietor  of  the  Blackfoot  Hotel, 
at  Blackfoot;  there  is  not  a  man  better  liked  on 
purely  personal  grounds :  and  there  is  not  a  man 
to  whom  the  citizens  of  Idaho  would  more  con- 
fidently entrust  the  unraveling  of  a  difficult  prob- 
lem or  the  settlement  of  important  monetary  in- 
terests than  to  Mr.  Stufflebeam,  who  is  a  business 
man  of  careful  and  comprehensive  training. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


573 


William    Herman    Stufflebeam    was    born   .at 
Whitehall,  Washington  county,  New  York.    His 
paternal  great-grandfather  and  his  grandfather 
fought  together  in  the  patriot  cause  during  the 
Revolutionary  struggle,  the  former  as  captain  and 
the  latter    as  private  in    his  father's    company. 
After  peace  and  American  independence  were 
established,    these  two    patriot  soldiers    became 
prosperous    farmers    in    Hudson    county.    New 
York,  and  upon  the  death  of  the  father  the  old 
homestead  descended  to  the  son.     William   G. 
Stufflebeam,  father  of  the  subject  of  this  review, 
was  born  in  1834  and  married  Miss  Olive  Mosher, 
a  native  of  Washington  county.     He  .was  long 
superintendent  of  the  New  York  &  Lake  Cham- 
plain  Transportation  Company.    In  1883,  in  com- 
pany with  his  son,  William  Herman  Stufflebeam, 
he  came  west  on  a  prospecting  tour,  and  bought 
a  stock  ranch  twenty-five  miles  south  of  Black- 
foot.     In  1884  his  wife  and  their  other  children 
came  out  from  New  York  state  and  the  family 
was    reunited    on  this    place,  which    comprises 
twelve  hundred  acres  and  is  regarded  as  one  of 
the  fine  stock  ranches  of  Idaho.     Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Stufflebeam  had  four  children,  all  of  whom  are 
living:   William  Herman,  John  H.,  who  assisted 
his  father  in  his  stock-raising  enterprise;    Benja- 
min E.,  who  is  in  the  service  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  Company,  at  Vicksburg,  Mississip- 
pi;   and  Mary  E.,  who  married  J.  E.  Holbrook. 
and  lives  at  Greenwood,  British  Columbia. 

William  Herman  Stufflebeam  was  educated  at 
Whitehall,  New  York,  at  Greenville  Military 
Academy,  New  York,  and  at  Eastman's  Business 
College,  Poughkeepsie,  New  York.  During  the 
early  part  of  his  business  career  he  was  in  charge 
of  the  office  and  business  of  the  New  York  & 
Lake  Champlain  Transportation  Company,  at 
Troy,  New  York.  In  1883  he  built  the  Black- 
foot  Hotel,  which  he  has  managed  since,  except 
during  an  interval  of  five  years.  During  four 
years  of  the  five  referred  to,  Mr.  Stufflebeam  was 
chief  of  the  division  of  suspended  banks  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.,  and  during  the  remaining  year  of 
the  five  was  receiver  of  the  National  Bank  of 
Moscow,  Idaho.  At  present  he  is  state  land  se- 
lector for  Idaho.  He  is  an  active  Democrat,  in- 
fluential in  the  conventions  and  campaign  work 
of  his  party.  He  is  an  Elk  and  enjoys  a  wide 
acquaintance  with  the  members  of  that  order 


throughout  the  country.  In  1892  he  married 
Miss  Carrie  M.  Keith,  daughter  of  William 
Keith,  of  Whitehall,  New  York.  Mrs.  Stuffle- 
beam is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church.  Mr. 
Stufflebeam  was  reared  in  the  Presbyterian  faith. 

PETER  J.   PEFLEY. 

An  Idaho  pioneer  of  1864,  Peter  J.  Pefley,  is 
now  engaged  in  the  harness  and  saddlery  busi- 
ness in  Lewiston,  and  has  long  been  accounted 
one  of  the  representative  men  of  the  state,  for 
the  active  interest  he  has  taken  in  promoting  her 
welfare  renders  him  one  of  her  valued  citizens. 
His  childhood  days  were  spent  on  the  Atlantic 
coast.     He  was  born  in  Roanoke  county,  Vir- 
ginia, June  6,  1830,  and  traces  his  ancestry  back 
to  the  Fatherland,  whence  John  Pefley,  his  great- 
grandfather, came  to  America,  sailing  from  Bad- 
en-Baden in  1730.     He  took  up  his  residence  in 
Virginia,  and  there  occurred  the  birth  of  John 
Pefley,  the  grandfather,  who  served  as  a  lieuten- 
ant with  the  Virginia  volunteers  during  the  war 
of  the  Revolution.     He  was  a  lover  of  liberty 
and  an  opponent  of  oppression  in  every  form,  and 
on  account  of  this  liberated  his  slaves.      With 
the  Dunkard  church  he  held  membership,  and  he 
was  a  man  of  most  generous  impulses.    He  mar- 
ried Susanah  Bond,  a  native  of  his  own  county, 
and  they  became  the  parents  of  seven  children,  all 
of  whom  were  given  scriptural  names,  including 
such  as  Solomon,  Jonathan,  Jacob  and  Daniel. 
The  grandfather  lived  an  upright,  honorable  life 
and  died  in  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age,  his 
wife  being  called  to  her  final  rest  in  her  fifty- 
fifth  year.     Their  son  Jacob  Pefley,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  was  born  in  Virginia  and  married 
Miss  Mary  Myers,  also  a  native  of  the  Old  Do- 
minion.      They  were  industrious  and  respected 
farming  people,  their  well  spent  lives  winning 
them  high  regard.     The  father  died  at  the  age 
of  sixty-three,   while  the  mother  departed   this 
life  in  her  thirtieth  year,  leaving  a  family  of  five 
children. 

Peter  J.  Pefley,  the  second  in  order  of  birth,  is 
now  the  only  survivor.  He  was  educated  in  the 
Delawaretown  Academy,  learned  the  harness- 
maker's  trade  in  early  life,  and  in  1851  crossed 
the  plains  to  California,  driving  an  ox  team  in  a 
train  consisting  of  twenty-seven  wagons.  On  the 
journey  some  of  the  stock  was  stolen  by  the 


574 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Indians,  but  the  savages  did  not  attack  the  peo- 
ple, who  were  armed  and  well  prepared  to  receive 
them.  They  were  six  months  upon  the  journey, 
but  ultimately  reached  their  destination  in  safety, 
without  having  any  great  misfortune.  Mr.  Pefley 
engaged  in  farming  on  French  prairie,  near 
Salem.  He  was  married  there,  in  1855,  to  Miss 
Sarah  A.  Smith,  a  daughter  of  Daniel  Smith, 
who  with  his  family  crossed  the  plains  in  the 
same  company  with  which  Mr.  Pefley  traveled. 

In  1864  Mr.  Pefley  brought  his  family  to 
Idaho,  locating  on  the  Idaho  City  road,  about  five 
miles  from  Boise.  He  brought  with  him  from 
Oregon  about  ninety-five  head  of  cattle,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  stock  business  and  in  dairy  farming. 
Four  years  later  he  removed  to  Boise,  where  he 
opened  a  harness  and  saddlery  store,  which  he 
successfully  conducted  until  1896.  While  in 
southern  Idaho  he  also  became  the  owner  of  a 
placer-mining  claim,  operated  it  to  a  considerable 
extent  and  still  has  mining  interests  in  that  part 
of  the  state.  In  1898  he  removed  to  Lewiston, 
where  he  opened  his  present  store,  and  has  now 
built  up  a  good  trade.  In  the  manufacture  of 
harness  and  saddlery  he  displays  excellent  work- 
manship, and  his  reliable  business  methods,  rea- 
sonable prices  and  courteous  treatment  of  his 
patrons  have  secured  to  him  a  large  and  con- 
stantly increasing  business. 

While  in  Oregon  six  children  were  born  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pefley, — Pierce  J.,  Elbridge, 
Serena,  Edith.  Harlan  and  Wayne;  but  Pierce  J., 
Wayne  and  Edith  all  died  in  that  state.  Since 
coming  to  Idaho  the  family  circle  has  been  in- 
creased by  the  addition  of  five  other  children, — 
Anna  Inez,  Maude,  Claudia,  Ray  and  Wynn,  but 
Anna  Inez  and  Ray  are  now  deceased.  Maude 
and  Claudia  are  at  home,  and  Wynn  entered  his 
country's  service  and  is  now  on  active  duty  in 
Manila.  Throughout  his  entire  life  Mr.  Pefley 
has  given  an  earnest  support  to  the  principles  of 
Democracy,  and  has  been  a  recognized  leader  in 
the  ranks  of  his  party  in  Idaho.  In  1887  he  was 
elected  mayor  of  Boise,  and  in  1880  was  elected 
to  the  territorial  legislature,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  convention  which  framed  the  present  state 
constitution  of  Idaho.  Every  public  trust  re- 
posed in  him  has  been  faithfully  guarded,  and 
his  service  has  been  valuable  and  progressive. 
He  has  witnessed  almost  the  entire  growth  of 


Idaho,  and  at  all  times  has  given  his  influence 
and  co-operation  to  such  measures  as  tend  to- 
ward the  material,  social,  moral  and  intellectual 
progress  of  the  state. 

EDWIN   R.   SHERWIN. 

This  well  and  favorably  known  resident  of 
Grangeville  came  to  the  territory  of  Idaho  when 
the  flourishing  city  of  Lewiston  was  but  a  col- 
lection of  tents,  and  through  the  thirty-seven 
years  that  have  since  come  and  gone  he  has 
been  an  important  element  in  the  business  life 
of  this  section  of  the  commonwealth.  He  was 
born  in  Onondaga  county,  New  York,  January 
26,  1821,  and  is  of  English  and  German  descent. 
His  ancestors  were  early  settlers  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  the  grandfather.  Captain  Joshua  Sher- 
win, .was  a  resident  of  Hartford,  Connecticut. 
He  was  one  of  a  family  of  seven  sons,  whose 
parents  were  old-school  Presbyterians  and  gave 
to  all  of  their  children  scriptural  names. 

Joshua  Sherwin,  Jr.,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
was  born  in  the  Nutmeg  state,  and  in  New  York 
wedded  Miss  Mary  Perry.  He  was  an  indus- 
trious and  respected  farmer,  whose  life  was  well 
spent.  Both  he  and  his  wife  were  consistent 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  while 
attending  a  convention  of  the  church  in  Buffalo, 
New  York,  he  was  taken  ill  with  cholera.  For  a 
time  he  appeared  to  improve,  and  made  his  way 
to  his  home,  but  soon  after  had  a  relapse  and 
died  of  the  disease.  In  the  family  were  four  chil- 
dren, but  a  daughter  and  our  subject  are  the 
only  ones  now  living. 

The  mother  died  when  Edwin  R.  Sherwin  was 
about  six  years  of  age,  and  he  was  reared  by  his 
paternal  grandparents.  He  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools,  and  learned  the  blacksmith's 
trade,  which  he  later  followed  in  Rochester,  New 
York,  and  in  Hamilton,  Canada  West.  He  was 
married  on  the  2d  of  June,  1847,  to  Miss  Susan 
Benson,  a  daughter  of  Loyal  Benson,  a  New 
York  farmer.  They  resided  in  Hamilton  for  four 
years  and  then  returned  to  the  United  States. 
After  traveling  for  some  time  in  Illinois,  he  pur- 
chased a  farm  fifteen  miles  east  of  Belvidere, 
that  state,  and  in  connection  with  blacksmith 
work  carried  on  agricultural  pursuits  until  1861. 
He  then  entered  into  an  agreement  with  a  party 
to  cross  the  plains  to  California,  as  their  black- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


575 


smith  and  farrier,  as  they  were  taking  a  largt 
number  of  horses  with  them  and  would  need 
the  services  of  some  one  familiar  with  his  trade. 
They  made  a  successful  journey,  arriving  at  Sac- 
ramento in  September,  1861.  Although  he  had 
no  intention  of  remaining  in  the  Golden  state, 
Mr.  Sherwin  began  working  at  his  trade  there 
the  day  following  his  arrival,  and  thus  spent 
the  winter,  being  in  Sacramento  at  the  time  of 
the  great  flood.  The  same  fall  gold  was  dis- 
covered at  Florence,  Oro  Fino  and  Elk  City, 
and  in  April,  1862,  he  left  Sacramento  for  the 
gold  diggings  of  Idaho,  going  by  steamer  to 
Portland,  thence  to  The  Dalles,  where  he  ob- 
tained pack  horses  to  convey  his  goods,  while  he 
walked  from  there  to  Lewiston.  He  was  accom- 
panied by  a  Mr.  Anderson,  of  California,  and 
after  spending  a  week  at  Lewiston,  they  started 
for  Florence,  crossing  the  Craig  mountain  and 
for  the  first  time  viewing  the  beautiful  Camas 
prairie,  which,  covered  with  grass,  lay  spread  out 
before  them.  There  was,  however,  not  a  house 
'  to  be  seen  on  the  prairie.  They  continued  on 
their  way  to  the  Salmon  river,  deciding  to  go  up 
that  stream  to  Florence,  thereby  escaping  travel 
in  the  deep  snows.  At  length  they  reached  their 
destination  in  safety,  and  soon  afterward  pur- 
chased a  placer  claim  and  engaged  in  mining 
with  a  rocker,  but  this  was  Mr.  Sherwin's  first 
experience  in  that  kind  of  business  and  the  work 
went  slowly  and  did  not  prove  as  profitable  as 
he  anticipated.  That  winter  he  and  his  partner' 
built  a  little  cabin  and  continued  to  mine  until 
spring,  when  Mr.  Sherwin  went  to  Warrens  to 
take  possession  of  a  half  interest  in  a  blacksmith 
shop  he  had  purchased.  After  working  for  some 
time  with  his  partner  he  purchased  the  latter's 
interest,  and  for  some  time  made  money  rapidly, 
doing  all  the  business  in  his  line  for  the  entire 
camp  of  fifteen  hundred  people,  taking  in  as  high 
as  eighty  dollars  per  day.  But  money  made  easily 
is  easily  spent,  and  people  at  that  time  did  not 
as  carefully  save  their  earnings  as  at  the  present 
time. 

About  this  time  quartz-mining  was  instituted 
in  the  locality,  and  many  brought  their  quartz 
to  Mr.  Sherwin  to  melt  in  his  shop.  He  was  the 
first  to  do  that  kind  of  work  in  this  section  of  the 
state,  and  was  quite  extensively  engaged  in  that 
labor  for  some  time.  He  also  engaged  in  quartz- 


mining  on  his  own  account.  One  day,  while 
sitting  on  a  ridge  to  rest,  in  company  with  Jo. 
Griffith,  they  kicked  off  a  piece  of  rock  and 
found  gold  in  it.  The  next  day  they  returned 
to  the  place  and  began  a  search  for  float,  which 
they  found  two  hundred  yards  below  and  which 
had  considerable  gold  in  it.  They  trenched,  found 
the  ledge,  named  it  the  Rescue  and  located  it, 
and  it  proved  a  valuable  property,  the  ore  assay- 
ing fifty  dollars  to  the  ton.  They  took  fifty  tons 
to  the  mill,  and  after  working  the  ore  the  mill 
made  a  return  of  ten  dollars  to  the  ton.  This 
they  knew  was  an  insufficient  amount,  so  they 
took  twenty-one  tons  more  to  the  mill  and  Mr. 
Sherwin  remained  there  while  it  was  worked, — 
the  result  being  just  fifty  dollars  per  ton.  The 
mill-owners  were  nonplussed,  but  claimed  that 
the  rock  was  picked  and  they  supervised  the 
bringing  of  twenty  tons  more.  On  that  lot  the 
man  who  had  operated  the  mill  all  the  time  ran 
it  very  hard,  but  the  rock  produced  forty-eight 
dollars  per  ton,  and  there  was  in  consequence 
every  reason  to  suspect  the  mill  operator.  Mr. 
Sherwin  and  Mr.  Leland  then  declined  to  pay  a 
store  bill  which  they  owed  the  parties,  until  the 
loss  on  the  ore  was  made  good,  whereupon  thev 
were  sued  and  put  to  much  trouble,  the  parties 
getting  judgment  against  them,  and  taking  the 
mine  for  the  debt  and  costs.  They  operated  it 
for  a  time  and  took  out  eighty  thousand  dollars. 
Mr.  Leland  then  took  the  matter  on  appeal  to 
the  supreme  court  and  recovered  judgment  for 
the  mine  and  property.  A  corporation  was  then 
formed,  but  under  its  management  the  mine  was 
not  successfully  worked.  Mr.  Sherwin  sunk  ten 
thousand  dollars  in  the  operation  and  found  him- 
self again  without  money.  He  then  accepted  a 
position  from  the  government  at  Camas  and 
Lapwai,  having  charge  of  the  government  black- 
smith shops.  He  served  in  that  capacity  for  sev- 
eral years,  or  until  the  government  lowered  the 
price  of  labor. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Sherwin  had  saved  his 
money  and  sent  for  his  \yife  and  children,  who 
joined  him  in  1873.  He  went  to  the  Salmon 
river,  and  purchased  a  ranch  and  a  placer  mine. 
He  improved  the  former  property,  consisting  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  still  owns  it,  and 
has  recently  planted  a  portion  of  it  to  a  variety 
of  fruits,  including  prunes,  peaches  and  apples. 


576 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


During  the  Nez  Perces  war,  all  of  his  property 
was  destroyed  by  the  Indians,  but  he  has  since 
largely  repaired  the  ravages  and  has  an  excellent 
ranch.  He  has  developed  his  mining  claim  but 
little  as  yet,  but  the  whole  flat  is  underlaid  by  a 
river  channel,  and  there  is  an  area  one  hundred 
by  seventeen  hundred  feet  of  virgin  soil,  in  addi- 
tion to  which  he  has  a  vast  body  of  ground, 
twelve  feet  deep,  and  gold  in  all  of  it,  so  that  it  is 
a  very  valuable  unworked  property.  At  the  time 
of  the  Indian  war,  Mr.  Sherwin,  with  other  set- 
tlers, built  a  fort  for  the  protection  of  their  fam- 
ilies, and  they  were  thus  unmolested,  but  the 
Indian  depredations  began  near  them,  several 
white  men  in  the  vicinity  were  killed,  and  it  be- 
came a  time  of  great  danger  to  the  few  white 
settlers  then  in  the  county.  It  was  the  plan  of 
the  savages  to  kill  every  white  man,  but  the 
young  warriors  were  so  eager  to  begin  their  work 
of  butchery,  that  they  did  not  fully  mature  their 
plans  and  thus  frustrated  their  own  ends.  Those 
were  days  of  great  hardship  and  dangers,  and 
the  pioneers  who  were  the  advance  guard  of 
civilization  in  this  once  wild  region  certainly  are 


deserving  of  great  praise  and  gratitude. 

Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sherwin  have  been  born 
four  children:  Perry  E.;  Elbert  C.;  Frances  E., 
who  became  the  wife  of  Francis  James,  and  died 
in  1891,  leaving  three  children;  and  Carrie  E., 
who  resides  with  her  parents  and  relieves  them 
of  many  cares  in  their  declining  years.  Mrs. 
Sherwin  is  now  an  invalid,  and  the  daughter  has 
the  management  of  the  household  affairs.  One 
of  the  sons  resides  upon  and  operates  the  ranch, 
and  Mr.  Sherwin  is  therefore  living  a  retired  life 
in  his  pleasant  home  in  Grangeville.  He  is  a 
gentleman  of  much  intelligence  and  has  restored 
his  eyesight  so  that  he  can  now  read  the  news- 
papers without  glasses.  In  politics  he  was  first  a 
Whig,  but  on  the  organization  of  the  Republican 
party  joined  its  ranks,  and  has  since  been  one  of 
its  stalwart  supporters,  yet  has  never  been  an 
aspirant  for  office.  He  enjoys  the  high  esteem  of 
his  fellow  men  and  is  numbered  among  the  hon- 
ored pioneers  of  Idaho,  and  having  passed  the 
seventy-eighth  milestone  on  life's  journey,  he  is 
crowned  with  the  veneration  and  respect  which 
should  always  accompany  old  age. 


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CHAPTER  XL. 


INTERNAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 


IN  1892  twenty  thousand  dollars  was  voted  by 
congress  for  the  improvement  of  Snake  river, 
and  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the 
Boise  public  building. 

The  river  and  harbor  appropriation  bill,  passed 
by  congress  in  April,  1896,  carried  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  for  the  improvement  of  the 
Clearwater  river,  and  five  thousand  dollars  for 
the  Kootenai  between  Bonner's  ferry  and  the 
British  boundary.  The  appropriation  for  the 
Boise  public  building  was  increased  from  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  and  a  building  site  was 
selected  which  cost  seventeen  thousand  and  five 
hundred  dollars. 

Of  the  special  land  grants  to  the  state  by  the 
national  government,  aggregating  over  six  hun- 
dred thousand  acres,  only  one-sixth  remained  to 
be  settled  in  1897. 

ASSESSED   VALUATION   OF   PROPERTY. 

The  total  assessed  valuation  of  the  state  in 
1894,  exclusive  of  railroad  property,  was  $22,- 
942,910,  which  was  about  fifteen  per  cent,  less 
than  that  of  the  preceding  year.  The  railroad 
assessment  was  about  eight  million  dollars.  The 
assessment  of  the  main  lines  of  all  railroads  for 
this  year  was  fixed  at  six  thousand  and  five  hun- 
dred dollars  a  mile,  including  rolling  stock; 
branch  lines  at  five  thousand  dollars  a  mile,  and 
narrow-gauges  at  four  thousand  dollars  a  mile. 
The  assessment  on  telegraph  lines  was  at  the 
rajte  of  fifty  dollars  a  mile  for  poles  and  the  first 
wire,  and  twelve  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  mile  for 
each  additional  wire;  and  telephone  lines  at  forty - 
two  dollars  a  mile. 

The  assessment  of  the  various  counties  for 
1896,  as  reported  in  August,  amounted  to  $22,- 
608,069.25,  while  the  preceding  year  it  was 
$22,878.500.50.  For  several  years  it  had  been 
urged  upon  the  counties  to  increase  the  valuation 
of  property  and  decrease  the  tax  levy ;  but  Cassia 


county  was  the  only  county  that  had  done  this. 
The  railroad  assessment  was  continued  this  year 
the  same  as  the  preceding  year.  In  his  message 
to  the  legislature  of  1897,  the  governor  called  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  the  bonded  interest-bear- 
ing debt  of  Idaho  had  almost  doubled  since  1890, 
while  the  assessed  valuation  of  property  was 
decreasing.  Deficiency  warrants  had  been  issued 
to  the  extent  of  $44,298.50. 

The  area  of  Indian  reservation  in  the  state  is 
1,364,500  acres,  or  2,132  square  miles.  Indian 
population,  3,640,  and  decreasing,  there  being 
132  deaths  in  1897  and  only  88  births. 

BANKS. 

Idaho  has  no  state  banking  law.  Incorporated 
banking  associations  are  governed  by  genera! 
incorporation  laws.  There  is  no  restriction  as 
to  classes  or  kinds  of  banking,  except  that  a 
special  partnership  cannot  be  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  banking.  Banking  business  is  done 
by  private  parties  without  incorporation  and 
without  capital.  There  is  no  law  regarding  the 
organization  of  savings  banks,  and  there  are  no 
such  financial  institutions  in  the  state. 

On  July  14,  1896,  Idaho  had  eleven  national 
banks,  whose  combined  capital  was  $725,000. 
and  combined  resources  amounting  to  $3,187,307, 
the  loans  and  discounts  aggregating  $1,265,434. 
The  total  liabilities  were  $2,925,382,  while  the 
average  reserve  held  was  27.16  per  cent. 

During  the  year  1897  the  banks  practically 
held  their  status.  The  banking  house  of  C.  Bunt- 
ing &  Company,  in  business  at  Blackfoot  and 
Dubois,  was  closed  February  15,  under  an  attach- 
ment of  the  First  National  Bank  at  Pocatello,  of 
which  Mr.  Bunting  was  president.  The  liabilities 
were  placed  at  about  two  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. In  the  attached  bank  there  were  fifty-three 
thousand  dollars  of  the  county  funds  and  nine 
thousand  dollars  of  state  money.  The  withdrawal 
of  twenty-two  thousand  dollars  of  state  funds  was 


577 


578 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


the  immediate  cause  of  the  collapse.   The  assets, 
however,  were  said  to  be  large. 

This  year  (1897)  a  resumption  of  general  pros- 
perity was  conspicuous. 

MINERAL  PRODUCTION. 

The  Boise  assay  office  reported  that  during  the 
year  1893  the  production  of  gold  was  81,930  fine 
ounces,  valued  at  $1,693,641;  of  silver,  3,455,662 
fine  ounces,  valued  at  $4,457,823;  and  lead,  72,- 
135,781  pounds,  of  the  value  of  $2,524,753;  total, 
$8,686,217,  as  against  $7,814,015  the  preceding 
year. 

During  the  year  1894  the  secretary  of  the  in- 
terior rendered  a  decision,  in  an  appeal  from  the 
ruling  of  the  commissioner  of  the  general  land 
office,  that  "there  must  be  a  discovery  upon  each 
twenty-acre  tract  included  in  a  placer  location  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres;  and  a  location 
made  of  that  amount  of  land  upon  a  single  dis- 
covery is  made  void  except  as  to  the  twenty 
acres  immediately  surrounding  it."  The  secretary 
indirectly  laid  clown  another  rule,  namely, 
that  while  a  discovery  must  be  made  on  each 
twenty  acres,  the  work  can  all  be  done  at  one 
place. 

During  the  year  1894  the  metal  output  was: 
Gold,  111,687  fine  ounces,  valued  at  $2,308,775; 
silver,  3,774,349  fine  ounces,  valued  at  $7,188,- 
630;  lead,  $2,605,450;  total,  $9,793,080, — an  in- 
crease of  $1,108,222  over  the  preceding  year. 
Flour  gold,  found  in  great  quantities  along  Snake 
river,  began  to  attract  unusual  attention. 

In  1895  the  production  of  gold  was  125,517 
fine  ounces,  valued  at  $2,594,666;  silver,  4,033,180 
fine  ounces,  of  the  value  of  $5,214,498;  lead,  65,- 
752,037  pounds,  valued  at  $2,301,321.  Some  of 
the  largest  mines  were  shut  down  for  some  time, 
on  account  of  labor  troubles. 

The  mineral  production  of  the  state  for  the 
year  1896  was  $11,751,845,  of  which  the  gold 
production  was  $2,323,700;  silver,  $6,474,765; 
lead,  $2,953,380.  By  counties  the  gold  produc- 
tion was:  Owyhee,  $681,095;  Shoshone,  $359,- 
049;  Boise,  $325,995;  Custer,  $106,791;  Idaho, 
$155,349;  Elaine,  $66,894;  Elmore,  $63,731;  Cas- 
sia, $18,522;  Ada,  $27,349;  Bingham,  $15,528; 
Canyon,  $10,791;  Lincoln,  $17,426;  Lemhi, 
$451,411;  Oneida,  $13,844;  Nez  Perces,  $3,824; 
and  Washington,  $6,801. 


In  1897  the  gold  production  was  $2,500,000; 
silver,  $7,100,000;  lead,  $3,500,000, — an  increase 
of  over  $1,358,000  over  the  preceding  year.  Re- 
ceipts of  bullion  at  the  United  States  assay  office 
at  Boise,  $1,497,146, — an  increase  of  $128,146 
over  the  preceding  year. 

AGRICULTURAL,  ETC. 

The  appropriation  for  agricultural  education 
in  1891  made  by  the  general  government  for 
Idaho  amounted  to  $33,000,  of  which  sum 
$15,000  was  devoted  to  the  use  of  the  state  uni- 
versity at  Moscow  and  $18,000  to  experiment 
stations  in  other  parts  of  the  state. 

In  the  autumn  both  the  out-going  and  in-com- 
ing governors  called  attention  to  the  importance 
of  having  a  system  of  laws  for  the  control  of 
irrigation-canal  property  which  was  declared  sub- 
ject to  taxation  according  to  the  state  consti- 
tution. For  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  estab- 
lishment of  systems  of  irrigation,  the  topograph- 
ical division  of  the  geological  surveying  corps 
was  employed  in  1893  in  gauging  the  streams 
and  in  other  necessary  work  for  said  purpose.  Of 
the  sixteen  millions  of  acres  of  agricultural  lands 
in  Idaho,  three-fifths  is  arid. 

In  March,  1894,  the  first  session  of  the  Idaho 
commission  of  the  National  Irrigation  Congress 
was  held  at  Boise  and  organized  for  work.  In 
September  the  work  of  blasting  out  the  rock  in 
Whisky  and  Bay  Horse  rapids  in  Snake  river 
channel  was  resumed,  for  which  the  government 
had  made  an  appropriation  of  $25,000. 

In  April,  1896,  the  state  horticultural  inspector 
reported  that  about  twenty  thousand  acres  in 
Idaho  are  devoted  to  fruit  culture, — 6,695  acres 
producing  apples,  5,632  prunes,  1,838  pears, 
1,030  berries,  972  peaches,  and  526  cherries.  The 
rest  of  the  acreage  was  devoted  to  other  fruits. 
The  next  year  he  reported  that  the  common  pests 
in  the  state  are  the  San  Jose  scale,  codlin  moth, 
woolly  aphis,  green  aphis,  pear-leaf  blister  mite, 
oyster-shell  bark  louse,  apple  scab,  peach  blight 
and  "dieback." 

The  first  biennial  report  of  the  state  engineer, 
to  January  I,  1897,  estimated  the  acreage  of  the 
state  cultivated  by  irrigation  at  315,000  acres, 
and  the  total  area  under  ditch,  or  that  can  be 
covered  by  laterals  and  distributing  channels 
from  exis-canals,  at  1,250,000  acres.  The  first 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


579 


withdrawal  of  land  under  the  Carey  act  was  made 
in  January,  1897.  It  consisted  of  66,430  acres, 
on  Snake  river,  which  are  to  be  reclaimed  by 
means  of  a  canal  leading  out  of  it,  water  rates 
to  be  furnished  for  ten  dollars  an  acre  and  the 
payments  to  extend  over  a  period  of  nine  years. 
In  1897  a  large  irrigation  scheme  was  inaugu- 
rated, with  a  capital  of  one  million  dollars,  and  an 
immense  dam  was  commenced  on  Bear  river,  to 
run  a  ditch  a  hundred  miles  long  and  irrigate 
half  a  million  acres,  upon  300,000  acres  of  which 
there  are  settlers,  and  200,000  acres  of  it  is  gov- 
ernment land. 

In  1895  the  state  land  estimator  made  an  esti- 
mate of  the  timber  on  39,480  acres  in  Latah  and 
Shoshone  counties,  calculating  it  to  be  410,297,- 
ooo  feet,  divided  as  follows:  White  pine,  144,- 
219,000  feet;  yellow  pine,  25,791,000  feet;  white 
fir,  49,671,000  feet;  tamarack,  96,601,000  feet; 
and  cedar,  47,129,000  feet. 

WILD  GAME. 

The  game  law  enacted  in  the  year  1893  pro- 
vided that  no  moose,  caribou  or  elk  should  be 
killed  prior  to  September  i,  1897,  and  after  that 
only  between  September  i  and  December  31. 
The  season  for  deer,  mountain  sheep,  antelope 
and  goats  was  fixed  from  September  i  to  January 
i.  None  of  these  animals  were  allowed  to  be 
killed  for  their  hides  or  hunted  with  dogs.  The 
Mongolian  pheasant  was  not  allowed  to  be  killed 
until  August  i,  1897.  The  season  for  killing 
pheasants,  grouse,  sage  hens  and  "fool"  hens  was 
made  to  be  from  August  i  to  January  i;  for 
quail  and  prairie  chickens  from  October  15  to 
December  15;  and  for  ducks,  geese  and  swans 
from  August  15  to  April  15.  No  fish  except 
salmon,  salmon  trout  and  sturgeon  were  allowed 
to  be  taken  excepting  by  hook  and  line,  and  none 
of  any  kind  should  be  taken  in  any  way  except 
for  home  consumption  or  breeding  purposes  be- 
tween November  I  and  October  I  of  the  suc- 
ceeding year. 

It  was  ascertained  in  1895  that  Ada  county 
alone  had  paid  out  since  1878  $31,093.44  for  rab- 
bit scalps,  at  the  legal  rate  of  three  cents  a  scalp, 
— over  a  million  rabbits!  This  was  said  to  be  a 
larger  amount  than  the  aggregate  bounties  paid 
by  all  the  states  in  the  west  that  had  offered 
bounties  on  jack  rabbits.  This  amount  in  Ada 


county  was  so  large  that  the  commissioners  felt 
obliged  to  discontinue  the  bounty. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

According  to  the  school  census  of  1892  there 
were  27,740  school  children  in  the  state,  while  the 
per  capita  of  the  current  appropriation  for  school 
purposes  was  fifty  cents.  In  June  the  school 
funds  apportioned  had  increased  to  $13,674.67, — 
a  large  advance  over  the  preceding  year.  In 
1893  the  amount  of  the  school  fund  subject  to 
distribution  for  the  following  year  was  $40,000. 
The  school  population  was  31,219,  an  increase  of 
5,478  during  the  preceding  two  years.  Mormon 
children  began  to  attend  the  public  schools  this 
year,  as  the  old  prejudice  against  the  "gentiles" 
began  to  die  out.  The  state  university  at  Moscow- 
was  opened  in  October,  1892,  and  by  January 
following  there  were  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
students  enrolled,  but  only  the  west  wing  of  the 
university  building  was  erected,  at  a  cost 
°f  $34.749-  This  year  there  were  three 
agricultural  experiment  stations  in  opera- 
tion, namely,  at  Nampa,  Grangeville  and 
Idaho  Falls, — which  were  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  board  of  regents  of  the  university, 
where  also  agriculture  is  taught.  In  December, 
1893,  the  enrollment  at  this  university  was  one 
hundred  and  ninety-four.  The  chair  of  military 
instruction  was  instituted  this  year,  and  the  ex- 
terior, basement  and  first  story  of  the  main  build- 
ing were  completed,  at  a  cost  of  seventy-seven 
thousand  dollars.  In  September,  1895,  the  uni- 
versity began  its  school  year  with  an  enrollment 
of  one  hundred  and  eight,  an  increase  for  that 
month,  over  the  preceding  year.  The  next  year, 
1897,  university  tuition  was  made  free  to  resident 
pupils. 

Under  the  law  providing  for  normal  schools, 
the  state  in  1895  made  no  appropriation;  but  at 
Albion  the  citizens,  not  waiting  for  the  slow 
methods  of  the  government,  erected  a  building 
and  opened  a  flourishing  school. 

The  legislature  of  1896,  however,  provided  for 
the  building  of  state  normal  schools,  the  outlay 
for  building  and  maintenance  being  $81,521.  The 
appropriation  of  1897  for  the  schools  was  only 
$28,000, — a  difference  of  $53,521. 

The  enrollment  here  for  the  half  year  ending 
July  i,  1895,  was  eighty-three,  and  the  expenses 


580 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


$5,278.22.  In  anticipation  of  a  normal  school  at 
Lewiston,  the  people  there  laid  the  foundation 
for  a  building.  The  agricultural  college  for  the 
state  was  fixed  this  year,  1895,  at  Idaho  Falls. 
In  June,  the  next  year,  the  normal  schools  at 
Lewiston  and  Albion  were  dedicated. 

In  1896  the  number  of  school  children  in  the 
state  was  39,288,  and  of  the  semi-annual  appor- 
tionment of  the  public  money  for  school  pur- 
poses the  distribution  amounted  to  eighteen  and 
a  half  cents  per  capita  of  the  children.  In  1897 
the  superintendent  of  public  instruction  an- 
nounced, in  reference  to  the  growth  of  the 
schools,  that  while  in  1869  there  were  but  twenty- 
four  school  districts  in  the  state,  and  fifteen 
school  houses,  in  1897  there  were  six  hundred 
and  seventy-one  districts  and  six  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  school-houses.  In  1896  the  number 
of  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and  twenty- 
one  was  43,745.  During  the  years  1895-6  the 
school  census  showed  a  growth  in  population  of 
nearly  twenty-five  per  cent.  Four  hundred  and 
forty  young  Indians  were  attending  government 
schools  in  the  state,  besides  fifty-five  in  a  contract 
school  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  reservation,  for 
whom  tuition  was  paid  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred 
and  eight  dollars  a  year. 

OTHER  STATE  INSTITUTIONS. 

The  control  of  the  soldiers'  home  was  vested 
by  the  legislature  of  1893  in  a  board  of  five 
trustees,  to  consist  of  the  secretary  of  state,  com- 
mander of  the  department  of  Idaho  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  and  three  others,  two  of 
whom  were  to  ,be  members  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  and  all  to  be  appointed  by  the 
governor.  An  appropriation  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars  was  made,  to  be  secured  from  the 
sale  of  public  lands  given  to  the  state  by  the 
general  government  for  charitable  purposes  in- 
stead of  being  taken  directly  out  of  the  general 
revenue  fund, — the  amount  appropriated  to  be 
loaned  to  the  institution,  which  takes  a  lien  on 
the  land  to  secure  the  amount  advanced. 

The  soldiers'  home,  two  miles  from  Boise,  was 
completed  in  November,  1894,  the  corner-stone 
having  been  laid  May  23  previously.  It  is  built 
of  brick  and  cut  stone,  has  a  frontage  of  one 
hundred  feet,  with  a  central  tower  and  a  tower  at 
each  end,  and  the  capacity  of  the  institution  is 


sufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  sixty  beds, 
single  and  double.  The  structure  cost  $13,499. 
In  1895  the  number  of  inmates  was  twenty-seven. 

Idaho  deserves  much  credit  for  the  provisions 
made  for  her  unfortunate  wards  in  various  lines. 
The  building  of  the  asylum  for  the  insane  was 
instituted  in  1885,  on  ground  donated  by  L. 
Shilling,  about  a  half  mile  from  the  town  of 
Blackfoot,  and  the  new  institution  was  opened 
for  the  admission  of  patients  on  July  2d  of  the 
following  year.  Prior  to  this  time  this  class  of 
patients  were  cared  for  by  the  Salem  in- 
sane hospital,  in  the  state  of  Oregon,  under 
contract,  and  they  were  immediately  transferred 
to  their  new  home,  under  charge  of  Dr.  Cabaniss, 
the  first  medical  superintendent  of  the  institution. 
Of  the  number  so  transferred  there  were  twenty- 
six  male  and  ten  female  patients.  The  affairs  of 
the  institution  are  administered  by  a  board  of 
trustees. 

A  fire  occurred  on  the  morning  of  November 
24,  1889,  and  the  main  or  administration  building 
was  totally  destroyed,  together  with  the  greater 
portion  of  the  records.  At  that  time  there  were 
forty-seven  male  and  twenty  female  inmates,  and 
after  the  fire  five  men  and  two  women  were 
missing  among  the  patients.  Of  these  the  charred 
remains  of  one  man  and  one  woman  were  found 
in  the  ruins,  and  it  is  probable  that  others  of  the 
missing  number  met  the  same  fate. 

In  the  summer  of  1890  the  building  of  the 
asylum  was  commenced  in  a  new  location,  north 
of  the  old  site,  where  a  better  means  of  drainage 
was  afforded.  The  present  building  is  equipped 
with  modern  accessories  and  conveniences,  and 
the  state  has  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  asylum 
and  its  management.  The  original  grant  of  land 
has  been  added  to  from  time  to  time  by  pur- 
chase, and  it  now  comprises  2,150  acres,  of  which 
about  four  hundred  are  under  cultivation. 

In  1893  the  insane  asylum  had  ninety-eight 
inmates  at  the  beginning  of  the  year.  During  the 
summer  seasons  many  of  these  were  employed  at 
brick-making,  and  during  the  winter  at  cutting 
cord-wood.  The  medical  superintendent  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  rate  of  insanity  in 
this  state  was  less  than  half  the  rate  in  other 
states;  but  this  observation  was  made  before  the 
usual  proportion  of  patients  had  been  examined. 

In    1895  the  asylum  for  the  insane  had  one 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


581 


hundred  and  fifty-two  patients,  of  whom  fifty-six 
were  women.  In  May,  the  next  year,  the  gov- 
ernor reported  that  the  increase  in  the  number  of 
inmates  was  so  rapid  that  the  extra  accommoda- 
tions provided  for  by  the  preceding  legislature 
would  be  crowded  before  the  next  session.  The 
number,  however,  grew  only  to  one  hundred  and 


fifty-eight  in  1896.  The  next  year  there  were  one 
hundred  and  eighty-seven.  The  per  capita  cost 
of  keeping  these  patients  was  reported  this  year 
as  having  diminished  from  eighty-five  and  three- 
fourths  cents  a  day  in  1891  to  fifty-four  and  a 
half  cents  in  1896. 


CHAPTER  XL1. 


INDIVIDUAL    RECORDS. 


JAY  A.  CZIZEK. 

THIS  is  the  day  of  the  specialist.  The  men 
who  are  prominent  in  connection  with  the 
administration  of  difficult  and  peculiar 
affairs  are  men  who  have  given  their  lives  to  their 
study  and  have  an  experimental  knowledge  of 
them  in  all  their  ramifications.  The  demand  for 
the  very  best  technical  knowledge  in  the  office  led 
to  the  selection  of  Jay  A.  Czizek  for  inspector  of 
mines  for  the  state  of  Idaho,  and  his  manage- 
ment of  the  affairs  of  the  office  every  day  demon- 
strates the  wisdom  of  his  having  been  chosen. 

Jay  A.  Czizek  was  born  at  Mount  Clemens, 
Michigan,  October  8,  1864.  August  Czizek,  his 
father,  a  German  and  a  native  of  Berlin,  came 
to  the  United  States  in  his  boyhood  and  located 
in  Michigan,  where  he  informed  himself  con- 
cerning American  institutions  and  became  an 
ardent  supporter  of  the  Union  cause  when  war 
between  the  north  and  the  south  became  inevit- 
able. He  served  as  lieutenant  in  the  Twenty- 
second  Regiment  of  Michigan  Volunteer  Infantry 
from  his  enlistment,  early  in  1861,  nearly  to  the 
close  of  the  war,  and  died  in  Michigan  soon  after 
his  return  home.  His  widow,  Mrs.  Gertrude 
Czizek,  has  since  lived  at  Mount  Clemens. 

Jay  A.  Czizek  received  a  common-school  edu- 
cation, and  when  about  eighteen  years  of  age 
sought  his  fortune  in  Colorado,  and  for  about 
two  years  before  he  attained  his  majority  was 
employed  by  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  Railroad 
Company,  a  portion  of  the  time  in  charge  of 
the  commissary  and  material  departments.  In 
association  with  Thomas  H.  Wigglesworth,  one 
of  the  prominent  railroad  locating  engineers  of 
the  west,  he  prospected  for  and  settled  the  route 
in  which  the  Colorado  Midland  Railway  was 
constructed.  Since  the  completion  of  that  work 
for  the  development  of  the  new  west,  he  has  been 
engaged  in  mining  in  Colorado,  Montana  and 
Oregon,  and  during  the  last  thirteen  years  in 
Idaho.  He  developed  a  mastery  over  all  the 


details  of  mining  and  came  to  be  known  as  one 
of  the  most  scientific  miners  in  the  country.  For 
some  years  he  was  manager  in  Idaho  county  for 
two  prominent  mining  companies.  This  respon- 
sible position  he  gave  up  to  accept  the  office  of 
inspector  of  mines  for  the  state  of  Idaho,  to 
which  he  was  elected  in  1898. 

Politically  Mr.  Czizek  has  always  been  a  Dem- 
ocrat, and  he  has  taken  an  active  and  influential 
interest  in  the  practical  work  of  his  party.  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  state  Democratic  conven- 
tion which  nominated  him  by  acclamation  for  the 
office  which  he  fills  with  so  much  ability  and 
honor  and  in  which  he  was  placed  by  a  majority 
large  enough  to  amply  attest  his  personal  popu- 
larity. 

Personally  Mr.  Czizek  is  warmly  regarded 
wherever  he  is  known,  and  he  is  one  of  the 
leaders  in  public  affairs  in  Idaho.  He  is  a  prom- 
inent Elk  and  is  in  everything  a  thorough  west- 
ern man,  alive  to  the  interests  of  the  western 
country  and  with  very  clear-cut  views  as  to  how 
they  may  be  best  promoted. 

ROBERT  V.   COZIER. 

On  the  roll  of  Idaho's  statesmen  and  eminent 
representatives  of  the  bar  is  found  the  name  of 
Hon.  Robert  V.  Cozier,  who  has  left  the  impress 
of  his  individuality  upon  the  legislation  and  pub- 
lic progress.  He  is  a  man  of  strong  mentality, 
of  marked  patriotism  and  broad  humanitarian 
principles,  and  is  therefore  well  fitted  for  leader- 
ship in  the  public  movements  which  affect  the 
welfare  of  the  commonwealth.  He  is  now  accept- 
ably filling  the  position  of  United  States  attorney 
for  Idaho,  and  his  comprehensive  knowledge  of 
the  principles  of  jurisprudence  and  his  ability  in 
handling  intricate  legal  problems  make  him  a 
most  competent  official. 

Robert  V.  Cozier  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  his  birth 
having  occurred  in  the  town  of  Wapakoneta, 
October  20,  1867.  He  is  of  German  and  Irish 


582 


.  Lswre.  F'_»4.  '_a 


r 


f  T.v..;jh  ,'tt  r.iazM"' 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


583 


lineage,  but  for  several  generations  the  family 
has  been  represented  in  America.  His  father, 
Rev.  B.  F.  W.  Cozier,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania 
in  1836,  on  what  is  now  the  battlefield  of  Gettys- 
burg, and  is  a  prominent  minister  in  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  church,  having  devoted  his  entire 
life  to  preaching  the  gospel  of  peace  and 
righteousness  among  men.  In  1870  he  removed 
to  Iowa,  where  the  greater  part  of  his  ministerial 
labor  has  been  performed.  For  years  he  was  a 
presiding  elder,  connected  with  different  con- 
ferences in  that  state.  During  the  entire  civil 
war  he  served  his  country  as  chaplain  of  the 
Third  Ohio  Cavalry,  and  his  voice  and  talent 
were  used  on  the  side  of  the  Union  and  for 
"liberty  throughout  the  land  and  to  all  the  inhab- 
itants thereof."  He  carried  comfort  to  many  a 
soldier  upon  the  tented  field,  and  won  the  love 
of  many  of  his  comrades  of  the  blue.  He  is  now 
residing  in  Iowa  and  has  partially  retired  from 
active  connection  with  the  ministry,  although  his 
interest  in  the  cause  of  Christianity  grows 
greater  with  the  passing  years.  He  married 
Zelora  A.  Carter,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  to  them 
have  been  born  five  children,  all  of  whom  are 
occupying  honorable  and  useful  positions  in  life. 
Hon.  Robert  V.  Cozier  acquired  his  early  edu- 
cation in  the  public  schools  of  Iowa,  and  is  a 
graduate  of  Simpson  College,  of  Indianola, 
that  state,  completing  the  course  with  the  class 
of  1889.  Determining  to  make  the  practice  of 
law  his  life  work,  he  began  study  under  private 
instruction  in  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  and  later  at- 
tended the  Washington  Law  School,  in  St.  Louis, 
and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  supreme 
court  of  Iowa  in  1891.  Immediately  afterward  he 
came  to  Idaho,  locating  in  Blackfoot,  where  he 
engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  his  chosen  profes- 
sion until  1895,  when  he  came  to  Moscow.  He 
soon  took  rank  among  the  ablest  members  of  the 
bar  in  this  section  of  the  state.  The  judgment 
which  the  public  passed  upon  him  in  the  first 
years  of  his  practice  has  never  been  set  aside  or 
in  any  degree  modified.  It  has,  on  the  contrary, 
been  emphasized  by  his  careful  conduct  of  im- 
portant litigation,  his  candor  and  fairness  in  the 
presentation  of  cases,  his  zeal  and  earnestness 
as  an  advocate,  and  the  generous  commendation 
which  he  has  received  from  his  contemporaries, 
who  unite  in  bearing  testimony  as  to  his  high 


character  and  superior  mind.  In  1897  he  was 
admitted  to  practice  before  the  United  States 
supreme  court,  at  Washington. 

In  politics  he  has  always  been  an  ardent  advo- 
cate of  Republican  principles,  and  is  a  recognized 
leader  of  his  party  in  Idaho.  He  was  elected  to 
the  third  general  assembly  of  the  state  and  had 
the  honor  of  being  chosen  speaker  of  the  house, 
being  an  excellent  parliamentarian,  and  one 
whose  genuine  interest  and  zeal  for  the  welfare 
of  the  state  made  him  absolutely  just  in  all  his 
rulings.  While  presiding  officer,  he  was  entirely 
free  from  partisan  bias,  although  he  is  a  stalwart 
Republican,  and  on  all  proper  occasions  labors 
earnestly  to  promote  the  growth  and  insure  the 
success  of  his  party.  He  attends  all  the  Repub- 
lican conventions,  and  in  that  of  1898  had  the 
honor  of  nominating  W.  B.  Heyburn,  as  candi- 
date for  congress.  In  December,  1897,  in  recog- 
nition of  his  effective  service  in  behalf  of  the 
party,  President  McKinley  appointed  him  United 
States  attorney  for  the  state  of  Idaho,  and  to 
those  who  are  familiar  with  his  legal  ability  and 
unflagging  patriotism  it  is  unnecessary  to  state 
that  his  service  has  been  most  able  and  com- 
mendable. 

In  1893  Mr.  Cozier  led  to  the  marriage  altar 
Miss  Lena  M.  Fife,  a  native  of  Michigan,  and 
they  now  have  three  children:  Mary  Helen, 
Zelora  Edna  and  Robert  James.  The  parents 
are  valued  and  consistent  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist church  of  Moscow  and  they  have  a  nice 
residence  in  the  city  where  they  make  their  home 
and  where  their  circle  of  friends  is  almost 
coextensive  with  the  circle  of  their  acquaintances. 

CHARLES  L.  HEITMAN. 

The  influence  of  culture  and  broad  profes- 
sional and  worldly  experience  upon  a  new  com- 
munity is  visible  in  Idaho  as  the  result  of  the 
work  and  the  example  of  high-minded  men  like 
Charles  L.  Heitman  of  Rathdrum,  Kootenai 
county,  a  lawyer  who  does  honor  to  the  law, 
to  the  courts,  to  himself  and  to  the  people  among 
whom  he  lives  and  whose  interests  it  devolves 
upon  him  to  serve  from  day  to  day.  Charles  L. 
Heitman  comes  of  an  old  North  Carolina  family, 
and  is  a  son  of  Henry  N.  and  Eve  (McCrary) 
Heitman.  His  father  was  for  sixty  years  a  local 
preacher  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 


584 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


south,  and  for  twenty  years  was  clerk  of  the 
superior  court  of  Davidson  county.  He  died  at 
the  age  of  eighty-three  years,  his  wife  at  sixty- 
five,  and  they  are  buried  in  the  land  of  their 
birth  and  life.  Charles  L.  Heitman  was  educated 
at  Trinity  College,  in  Randolph  county,  North 
Carolina,  and  was  graduated  at  the  head  of  his 
class,  in  1876.  During  the  succeeding  two  years 
he  read  law  under  the  preceptorship  of  Chief 
Justice  Pearson,  at  Richmond  Hill,  North  Caro- 
lina. He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  his  native 
state  in  1878  and  practiced  his  profession  at  Lex- 
ington nine  years.  In  1890  he  went  to  Idaho 
and  located  at  Rathdrum,  which  then  had  a  his- 
tory covering  nine  years  more  or  less,  and  he 
has  attained  a  standing  at  the  bar  of  Idaho  second 
to  that  of  no  lawyer  in  the  state.  He  is  an  un- 
swerving Republican  and  takes  an  active  part  in 
the  affairs  of  his  party  in  his  county  and  state. 
but  he  does  not  seek  nor  want  office  for  himself. 
When,  in  1894,  he  was  given  the  honor  of  a 
nomination  by  his  party  for  district  judge,  he  de- 
clined, preferring  to  devote  himself  entirely  to 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  is  a  good 
public  speaker,  apt  in  illustration  and  skillful  in 
argument,  and  is  in  demand  during  political 
campaigns.  His  oratorical  triumphs  before 
judges  and  juries  are  among  the  most  important 
successes  of  their  kind  in  the  legal  annals  of  the 
state.  His  law  library  is  one  of  the  largest  and 
best  selected  west  of  Chicago. 

Mr.  Heitman  married  Miss  Stella  Smith,  of 
Rathdrum,  Idaho,  in  January,  1894,  and  has 
three  children.  He  is  a  Free  Mason  and  a  Knight 
of  Pythias. 

JOHN  U.  STUCKI. 

A  leading  representative  of  the  business,  the 
political  and  the  church  interests  of  Paris,  John 
Ulrich  Stucki  is  accounted  one  of  the  most  val- 
ued citizens  of  Bear  Lake  county.  He  has  re- 
sided in  the  town  since  1870,  has  been  identified 
with  all  its  interests  through  the  passing  years, 
and  was  honored  with  the  office  of  mayor,  being 
the  first  incumbent  in  that  position.  A  native  of 
Switzerland,  he  was  born  in  Oberneunforn,  June 
8,  1837,  and  is  of  Swiss  descent.  His  parents 
were  John  and  Elizabeth  (Sauter)  Stucki,  also 
natives  of  that  land,  where  the  father  was  a 
thrifty  farmer  and  an  influential  citizen.  Both 
he  and  his  wife  were  Protestants  in  their  religious 


faith.  Mrs.  Stucki  was  called  to  the  home  be- 
yond at  the  age  of  forty-five  years,  and  Mr. 
Stucki,  who  was  born  July  15,  1806,  died  De- 
cember 5,  1886,  in  the  eighty-first  year  of  his 
age.  In  their  family  were  thirteen  children,  nine 
of  whom  grew  to  years  of  maturity,  while  six  are 
still  living.  The  family  were  one  highly  respected 
in  the  community  where  they  made  their  home. 

In  the  schools  of  his  native  town  and  in  Andel- 
fingen,  John  Ulrich  Stucki  acquired  his  educa- 
tion, and,  his  father  desiring  to  have  him  edu- 
cated as  a  merchant  tailor,  he  apprenticed  in  and 
followed  that  business  for  about  four  years,  when, 
in  the  fall  of  1856,  in  the  city  of  Zurich,  the 
capital  of  his  native  canton,  intending  to  go  to 
Paris,  the  capital  of  France,  to  perfect  himself  in 
his  occupation  and  business,  he  heard  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ  as  revealed  through  the  Prophet 
Joseph  Smith  and  taught  by  the  elders  of  Latter 
Day  Saints,  or  Mormon  church,  which  changed 
his  course  in  life.  On  the  ist  day  of  November, 
1856,  he  was  received  as  a  member  into  said 
church.  On  the  iQth  day  of  July,  1857,  he  was 
ordained  an  elder  in  said  church  and  soon  after- 
ward began  to  preach  its  doctrines,  devoting  all 
his  time  to  the  interests  of  the  church.  In  the 
spring  of  1858  he  introduced  the  doctrines  of  his 
church,  commonly  called  Mormonism,  in  the  city 
and  canton  of  Schaffhausen,  and  organized  a 
branch  of  the  church  in  the  city  of  Schaffhausen. 
During  the  same  year  he  also  labored  several 
weeks  in  canton  Graubuendten,  but  not  with  so 
much  immediate  success. 

On  the  8th  of  August,  1859,  he  left  his  native 
country  for  the  United  States  and  Salt  Lake,  the 
headquarters  of  the  Mormon  church,  with  barely 
enough  means  to  take  him  to  his  destination. 
While  on  the  journey  he  was  married,  on  the 
i  gth  of  August,  1859,  to  Miss  Margaret  Huber,  a 
native  of  Weinfelclen,  Switzerland,  who  has  since 
been  to  him  a  faithful  and  helpful  wife  on  life's 
journey.  After  a  voyage  of  six  weeks,  in  which 
they  encountered  some  very  severe  weather, 
they  reached  New  York,  but  the  vessel,  the 
Emerald  Isle,  had  not  only  been  tossed  about 
in  severe  gales,  but  on  one  occasion  had  caught 
fire,  and  it  was  supposed  that  all  on  board  would 
be  lost,  but  eventually  the  flames  were  extin- 
guished. 

Mr.  Stucki  spent  several  months  in  New  York 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


585 


city,  and  then  by  steamer  and  by  rail  proceeded 
to  Florence,  Nebraska,  whence  he  crossed  the 
plains  to  Salt  Lake  City,  driving  a  team,  con- 
sisting- of  two  yoke .  of  oxen  and  two  yoke  of 
cows.  They  were  ten  weeks  and  three  days  in 
making  the  journey,  but  it  was  free  from  acci- 
dent, their  loss  being  only  one  of  their  cows. 
Mr.  Stucki  took  with  him  a  little  corn-plow,  a 
shovel  and  a  pitchfork,  intending  to  engage  in 
farming,  and  with  that  limited  outfit  began  the 
tilling  of  the  soil.  They  also  had  a  tent  and 
bedding.  After  a  few  days  spent  in  Salt  Lake 
City,  he  removed  to  the  Cache  valley,  where  he 
secured  ten  acres  of  land.  He  had  no  experience 
in  farming,  but  his  practical  common  sense  stood 
him  in  stead  of  training,  and  the  first  year  he 
raised  a  good  crop  of  wheat  and  stacked  it  so 
well  that  while  much  of  the  wheat  grew  in  the 
stack  that  year,  his  withstood  the  wet  weather 
excellently. 

While  residing  in  the  valley  Mr.  Stucki  served 
as  president  of  the  German  branch  of  the  church. 
In  July,  1870,  at  a  call  from  his  church,  he  came 
to  Paris,  selling  some  of  his  property,  but  still 
retaining  the  ownership  of  some  of  it  in  the 
Cache  valley.  He  removed  to  this  place  in  order 
to  assume  the  duties  of  tithing  clerk  of  the  stake, 
his  labor  being  to  take  care  and  keep  account  of 
the  tithes,  the  care  of  the  poor  and  other  needful 
church  work.  This  important  office  Mr.  Stucki 
has,  with  the  exception  of  five  years,  ever  since 
faithfully  filled,  and  he  is  recognized  as  a  very 
efficient  church  officer.  He  has  also  spent  five 
years  in  the  mission  field,  having  charge  of  the 
Swiss  and  German  mission.  Thus  he  labored  in 
Belgium,  Switzerland,  and  Germany,  and  sent 
out  many  converts  to  Utah.  He  has  held  the 
office  of  high  priest  for  many  years  and  is  presi- 
dent of  the  high  priests  of  the  stake.  During 
the  whole  of  this  time  Mr.  Stucki  has  also  suc- 
cessfully managed  his  business  interests,  carrying 
on  general  farming  and  stock-raising.  In  his 
efforts  he  has  prospered,  and  is  now  the  owner 
of  about  three  hundred  acres  of  land,  together 
with  two  good  residences,  in  Paris,  which  he 
erected  and  one  which  he  purchased. 

Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stucki  have  been  born  the 
following  children:  Charles  Thomas,  who  assists 
his  father  in  the  work  of  the  home  farm;  Caro- 
line Elizabeth,  who  died  in  her  sixth  year;  Maria 


Jane;  William  B.;  Hiram  D.,  who  died  in  in- 
fancy; Joseph  S.;  Ann;  Margaret;  Elfrieda;  F.  S.; 
Erastus;  and  Ezra  S.  They  also  had  a  little 
adopted  son,  John  Henry,  who  lived  to  be  eight 
years  of  age.  He  was  an  attractive  and  obedient 
child,  and  they  loved  him  dearly.  Mr.  Stucki  is 
also  rearing  Fritz,  the  son  of  his  niece. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Stucki  is  a  Republi- 
can, has  labored  earnestly  for  the  success  of  his 
party,  and  has  filled  a  number  of  offices,  being 
called  to  public  service  by  his  fellow  townsmen, 
who  thus  gave  evidence  of  their  appreciation  of 
his  worth  and  ability.  He  served  for  a  number 
of  years  as  justice  of  the  peace,  has  been  county 
treasurer,  county  auditor,  recorder,  was  notary 
public  for  eight  years,  with  his  commission  re- 
newed for  four  more  years,  and  was  the  first 
mayor  of  the  city  of  Paris.  In  all  these  positions 
he  has  discharged  his  duties  in  a  most  prompt 
and  creditable  manner,  and  is  accounted  one  of 
the  most  reliable  and  valued  citizens  of  his 

county. 

JOSEPH  B.  SCARBOROUGH. 

One  of  the  capable  county  commissioners  of 
Oneida  county  is  Joseph  Brook  Scarborough,  of 
Franklin.  He  was  born  in  England,  September 
ii,  1851,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Brook)  Scarborough.  When  ten  years  of  age 
he  came  with  his  mother  to  the  United  States, 
crossing  the  Atlantic  in  1861,  in  a  sailing  vessel 
which,  after  a  voyage  of  six  weeks,  reached  the 
American  port.  They  then  crossed  the  plains 
and  located  at  Lehi,  Utah,  thirty  miles  south  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  and  there  the  mother  remained 
while  the  son  went  to  Dixie,  where  he  worked  for 
a  year  on  a  farm  for  his  board  and  clothes.  In 
1863  he  came  with  the  family  to  Franklin.  The 
settlers  were  then  living  in  little  log  houses,  built 
in  the  form  of  a  hollow  square,  the  backs  of  the 
houses  forming  a  part  of  the  wall  of  the  fort. 

Mr.  Scarborough  remained  with  his  family 
until  nineteen  years  of  age,  at  which  time  he  was 
happily  married  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Foster.  He 
then  located  land  for  himself,  built  a  house  and 
began  his  domestic  life  in  Franklin.  Later  he 
became  the  owner  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  acres  of  land  a  half-mile  north  of  the  town, 
and  also  has  fifteen  acres  adjoining  the  corpora- 
tion limits,  while  in  the  town  of  Franklin,  on  the 
principal  street,  he  has  two  corner  lots,  on  which 


586 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


he  has  built  a  very  nice  brick  cottage.  He  has 
been  an  industrious  and  successful  farmer  and  his 
labors  have  been  crowned  with  success. 

Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scarborough  have  been 
born  ten  children,  eight  of  whom  are  living, 
namely:  Annie,  wife  of  Soren  Peterson,  of 
Logan;  Rhoda,  who  was  a  most  lovable  and 
beautiful  woman,  became  the  wife  of  Samuel 
Wright,  but  died  soon  after  the  birth  of  their 
child,  her  death  proving  a  great  loss  to  her  hus- 
band, family  and  friends;  Charles;  Letta,  an 
accomplished  school-teacher;  Joseph;  Teressa; 
Effa  Roy,  who  died  in  infancy;  Esrom;  Leland 
and  Relta.  They  are  all  members  of  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints.  Mr. 
Scarborough  is  very  active  in  the  church  work, 
has  been  assistant  Sunday-school  superintendent 
of  the  Oneida  stake,  and  has  served  his  church  on 
a  mission  to  Illinois  and  to  Indiana  in  1887-8. 

In  politics  he  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat, 
and  was  postmaster  for  four  years  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  President  Cleveland.  He  has  been 
a  school  trustee  for  six  years,  has  taken  a  very 
deep  and  commendable  interest  in  educational 
matters  and  was  largely  instrumental  in  securing 
the  fine  new  brick  school-house  that  now  adorns 
the  town  of  Franklin  and  is  a  credit  to  the  enter- 
prise of  its  citizens.  In  1896  his  fellow  townsmen, 
recognizing  his  worth  and  ability,  elected  him  to 
the  important  position  of  county  commissioner, 
and  so  well  did  he  discharge  his  duties  that  he 
was  re-elected  in  1898  and  is  therefore  the  present 
incumbent.  He  is  also  chairman  of  the  village 
board  of  trustees.  Mr.  Scarborough  is  a  loyal 
and  enterprising  citizen  and  a  gentleman  of  the 
highest  integrity  and  worth. 

JOHN  F.  MCLEAN. 

John  F.  McLean,  sheriff  of  Idaho  county,  is  a 
native  of  Indiana,  born  in  Lebanon,  June  22, 
1843.  The  family  is  of  Scotch  lineage  and  was 
founded  in  America  by  Samuel  McLean,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  who  crossed  the  At- 
lantic with  his  family  and  took  up  his  residence 
in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  a  miller  and  mill- 
wright by  trade,  and  after  spending  some  time 
in  the  Keystone  state,  he  went  to  Indiana,  be- 
coming one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  there.  He 
lived  to  be  eighty-four  years  of  age,  and  his  wife, 
who  was  four  years  his  junior,  passed  away  at 


the  same  age.  Their  son,  John  McLean,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania, 
September  21,  1809,  and  during  his  childhood 
accompanied  his  parents  to  Indiana,  where  he 
was  reared  to  manhood  and  married  Miss  Mary 
Miller,  a  native  of  the  latter  state.  They  had  a 
family  of  seven  children.  The  mother  died  some 
years  ago,  but  the  father  is  still  living,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-nine  years,  and  resides  on  the  rancli 
belonging  to  his  son  John  F.,  at  Mount  Idaho. 
He  has  always  been  a  man  of  the  highest  integ- 
rity of  character  and  good  influence,  and  his 
fellow  townsmen,  recognizing  his  sterling  worth, 
have  frequently  called  him  to  positions  of  public 
honor  and  trust.  For  a  number  of  years  he 
served  as  justice  of  the  peace.  By  trade  he  was 
a  miller,  following  that  occupation  throughout 
his  active  business  career.  He  has  been  a  life- 
long and  consistent  member  of  the  Christian 
church,  to  which  his  wife  also  belonged  from 
early  girlhood.  Of  their  family  of  seven  children, 
three  sons  and  two  daughters  are  yet  living. 

John  F.  McLean,  who  is  the  youngest,  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Indiana,  pursu- 
ing his  studies  in  one  of  the  primitive  log  school- 
houses  of  the  time.  He  then  learned  the  miller's 
trade  under  the  direction  of  his  father,  and  in 
1867  went  to  Oregon,  where  he  remained  for 
four  years.  He  then  returned  to  Indiana,  and 
in  1880  came  to  Idaho,  locating  at  Grangeville, 
where  for  sixteen  years  he  operated  a  flouring 
mill,  doing  a  large  and  profitable  business.  His 
honorable  methods  and  courteous  treatment  of 
his  patrons  secured  him  a  good  trade,  and  he 
continued  in  charge  of  the  mill  until  his  public 
duties  demanded  his  entire  attention.  He  was 
first  called  to  the  office  of  assessor  and  collector 
of  taxes  in  Idaho  county  and  in  1898  was  chosen 
by  popular  ballot  to  the  position  of  county  sheriff. 
in  which  capacity  he  is  now  serving,  discharging 
his  duties  in  a  most  prompt  and  able  manner.  In 
politics  he  is  a  Democrat,  and  at  the  election  he 
ran  far  ahead  of  his  ticket,  a  fact  which  indicates 
his  personal  popularity  and  the  confidence  re- 
posed in  him.  He  owns  a  splendid  farm  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  and  on  it  stands  one 
of  the  most  attractive  country  residences  in  this 
part  of  the  state.  It  commands  a  splendid  view 
of  the  surrounding  country, — the  beautiful 
Camas  prairie,  the  town  of  Grangeville  and  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


587 


distant  mountains  in  the  background, — all  form- 
ing a  picture  of  surpassing  loveliness. 

In  November,  1874,  was  celebrated  the  mar- 
riage of  Mr.  McLean  and  Miss  Sarah  T.  Kibby, 
a  native  of  Kentucky.  Their  union  has  been 
blessed  with  five  sons,  as  follows:  E  K.,  who 
is  now  serving  as  his  father's  deputy;  C.  M.,  who 
is  married  and  follows  farming;  F.  J.,  deputy  tax 
collector;  F.  H.  and  A.  E.,  at  home.  The 
mother,  who  was  a  valued  member  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  departed  this  life  in  August,  1889. 
She  was  a  loving  and  faithful  wife  and  mother,  a 
most  amiable  woman  and  a  devoted  Christian, 
and  her  loss  has  been  deeply  felt  in  church  anil 
social  circles  as  well  as  in  her  home.  Mr.  McLean 
also  belongs  to  the  same  church,  and  socially  he 
is  connected  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias  frater- 
nity and  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
having  filled  all  the  offices  in  both  societies.  He 
is  widely  known  as  a  progressive  and  valued 
citizen,  a  trustworthy  official  and  reliable  busi- 
ness man,  and  therefore  deserves  mention  among 
Idaho's  representative  residents. 

JAMES  MADDEN. 

The  broad  acres  of  Idaho  have  made  stock- 
raising  one  of  the  principal  industries  of  the  state, 
by  reason  of  the  excellent  pasturage  afforded, 
and  among  those  who  are  successfully  and  exten- 
sively engaged  in  this  business  is  James  Madden, 
of  Lewiston.  A  native  of  Ireland,  he  was  born  in 
county  Galloway,  December  18,  1855,  his  parents 
being  Patrick  and  Mary  (Kane)  Madden,  both  of 
whom  were  natives  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  where 
the  father  filled  the  responsible  position  of  super- 
intendent of  a  large  estate.  He  lived  to  the 
venerable  age  of  ninety-five  years,  and  the  mother 
passed  away  at  the  age  of  seventy-five.  They 
were  devout  members  of  the  Catholic  church  and 
were  people  of  the  highest  respectability.  In 
their  family  were  seven  children,  five  sons  and 
two  daughters,  and  with  one  exception  all  are 
yet  living. 

James  Madden,  the  fourth  in  order  of  birth, 
was  reared  and  educated  in  the  land  of  his  nativ- 
ity, and  in  1865  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  America. 
He  was  then  a  poor  young  man  without  capital, 
but  he  possessed  energy,  and  resolute  purpose, 
and  these  stood  him  in  stead  of  fortune.  He 
spent  eighteen  months  in  Massachusetts,  working 


for  twenty-nine  dollars  per  month.  He  saved  his 
money  and  when  he  went  to  San  Francisco, 
California,  he  had  three  hundred  and  twenty  dol- 
lars. He  was  forced  to  expend  this  for  board, 
however,  after  which  he  went  to  Sutler  county, 
where  he  entered  the  employ  of  John  G.  Briggs. 
Subsequently  he  rented  a  farm  and  planted  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  to  wheat,  gathering  there- 
from a  large  crop,  which  he  sold  for  a  dollar  and 
ninety-five  cents  per  bushel.  He  then  paid  twelve 
hundred  dollars  for  three  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  of  summer  fallow,  and  gave  two  dollars 
and  thirty-seven  and  one-half  cents  per  hundred 
for  seed  wheat.  That  winter  the  high  water 
destroyed  the  entire  crop  and  thus  he  lost  a!l 
that  he  had  made.  Through  the  succeeding  four 
years  he  worked  for  wages,  and  then  purchased 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  for  five 
thousand  dollars,  making  a  payment  of  one-half 
down. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Madden  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Mary  Riggs,  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky and  a  daughter  of  Sylvester  A.  Riggs,  also 
of  that  state.  They  began  their  domestic  life 
upon  the  California  farm,  and  by  their  careful 
management,  economy  and  industry  were  soon 
enabled  to  clear  it  of  all  indebtedness.  Prosperity- 
attended  their  efforts  for  a  time,  but  later  high 
water  again  destroyed  their  crops  and  washed 
off  nearly  all  of  the  top  soil.  He  then  summer- 
fallowed  it  and  raised  forty-five  bushels  of  wheat 
to  the  acre.  After  this  he  sold  the  property  for 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  just  half  of  what  it 
cost  him,  and  then  came  to  Idaho,  in  1884,  bring- 
ing with  him  five  thousand  dollars.  Here  he 
took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  govern- 
ment land,  also  a  timber  claim  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres,  and  a  homestead  of  like  amount. 
He  purchased  sixty  head  of  cattle,  but  at  the 
end  of  the  year  they  were  so  scattered  over  the 
plains  by  the  large  cattle  men  that  he  was  never 
able  to  recover  half  of  them.  He  then  sold  out 
what  he  had  left  and  purchased  six  hundred 
breeding  ewes,  at  two  dollars  and  seventy-five 
cents  each.  They  were  grade  merinos,  and  thus 
Mr.  Madden  began  the  business  in  which  he  has 
since  been  eminently  successful.  His  flocks  in- 
creased rapidly,  but  at  first  he  and  his  sons,  with 
the  assistance  of  one  hired  man,  took  care  of 
them.  Now,  however,  they  employ  nine  men  and 


588 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


have  had  as  high  as  six  thousand  sheep  at  one 
time.  He  also  has  two  thousand  five  hundred 
acres  of  land,  which  he  is  fencing  for  his  own 
stock.  He  has  erected  a  good  residence  in  Lewis- 
ton,  has  two  others  on  his  farm,  and  now  has 
about  eighty  thousand  pounds  of  wool  on  hand. 
He  also  has  two  thousand  young  lambs,  and  is 
one  of  the  heaviest  tax-payers  in  Nez  Perces 
county. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Madden  have  reared  an  indus- 
trious and  intelligent  family  of  seven  sons  and 
one  daughter, — Patrick,  who  is  associated  with 
his  father  in  business;  James,  who  is  foreman  of 
the  ranch;  Michael,  who  is  working  with  their 
men;  George,  who  is  herding  one  of  the  bands 
of  sheep;  John,  who  is  herding  the  cattle;  and 
Joseph,  Dan  and  Mary  Jane,  who  are  in  school. 
The  family  are  all  valued  members  of  the  Cath- 
olic church. 

Mr.  Madden  always  gave  his  political  support 
to  the  Democracy  until  President  Cleveland's 
second  administration,  when  he  voted  the  Repub- 
lican ticket  and  has  since  been  allied  with  that 
party.  He  has,  however,  never  sought  nor  de- 
sired office,  preferring  to  devote  his  energies  to 
his  business,  in  which  he  is  meeting  with  gratify- 
ing success.  He  has  met  many  difficulties  and 
hardships  in  life,  but  has  wrested  fortune  from 
the  hands  of  a  seemingly  adverse  fate,  and  is 
now  one  of  the  wealthiest  residents  of  Nez  Perces 
county.  This  is  due  entirely  to  his  own  well 
directed  efforts,  his  business  ability,  sound  judg- 
ment and  untiring  labor,  and  certainly  his  pros- 
perity is  well  merited. 

GEORGE  E.  GRAY. 

The  profession  of  the  law,  when  clothed  with 
its  true  dignity  and  purity,  and  strength,  must 
rank  first  among  the  callings  of  men,  for  law 
rules  the  universe.  The  work  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession is  to  formulate,  to  harmonize,  to  regulate, 
to  adjust,  to  administer  those  rules  and  principles 
that  underlie  and  permeate  all  government  and 
society  and  control  the  varied  relations  of  man. 
As  thus  viewed,  there  attaches  to  the  legal  pro- 
fession a  nobleness  that  cannot  but  be  reflected 
in  the  life  of  the  true  lawyer,  who,  conscious  of 
the  greatness  of  his  profession,  and  honest  in 
the  pursuit  of  his  purpose,  embraces  the  richness 
of  learning,  the  profoundness  of  wisdom,  the 


firmness  of  integrity  and  the  purity  of  morals, 
together  with  the  graces  of  modesty,  courtesy 
and  the  general  amenities  of  life.  The  leading 
attorney  of  Malad,  and  a  worthy  representative 
of  his  calling  is  George  E.  Gray. 

Born  in  Sparta,  Wisconsin,  July  26,  1867,  he 
is  of  Scotch,  Irish  and  German  descent.  His 
father,  P.  D.  Gray,  was  born  in  New  York  and 
when  a  young  man  removed  to  Wisconsin,  where 
he  married  Miss  Harriet  L.  Nash,  a  native  of 
Vermont.  Both  parents  are  still  living  in  Wis- 
consin and  are  well-to-do  and  respected  citizens 
of  that  state.  They  had  three  children,  George 
E.  being  the  eldest.  Having  acquired  a  good 
preliminary  education,  he  entered  the  University 
of  Wisconsin,  wherein  he  pursued  both  a  literary 
and  law  course,  graduating  in  the  law  department 
with  the  class  of  1891.  He  was  then  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  his  native  state,  and  coming  to 
Idaho  soon  afterward,  at  Boise,  he  was  admitted 
to  practice  in  the  supreme  court  of  this  state  and 
in  the  United  States  courts.  For  two  years  he 
was  a  member  of  the  bar  of  the  capital  city,  and 
in  1893  he  came  to  Malad,  where  he  entered 
almost  immediately  upon  a  large  and  constantly 
growing  practice.  Demonstrating  his  ability  in 
the  careful  manner  in  which  he  handled  the  liti- 
gated interests  entrusted  to  him,  he  naturally  won 
an  increased  clientage,  and  is  now  regarded  as 
the  leading  practitioner  at  the  bar  of  southern 
Idaho.  He  engages  in  general  practice,  but  pre- 
fers corporation  and  irrigation  law,  and  has  at- 
tained a  high  degree  of  proficiency  in  those 
branches  of  jurisprudence.  He  is  now  serving 
as  city  attorney  of  Malad,  to  which  position  he 
was  elected  on  the  Republican  ticket,  being  one 
of  the  stanch  supporters  of  the  Republican  party. 

In  1891  Mr.  Gray  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Meda  Whalen,  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  and 
they  now  have  a  very  bright  little  son,  Warren 
P.,  who  is  the  light  of  the  household.  Their 
home  is  one  of  the  pleasant  residences  of  Malad, 
and  they  hold  an  enviable  position  in  the  social 
circles  of  the  city-. 

WILLIAM  WOODWARD. 

One  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Franklin,  Oneida 
county,  Idaho,  and  a  farmer  of  the  above  state, 
William  Woodward,  was  born  on  the  4th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1833,  in  Bushey.  Hertfordshire,  England. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


589 


He  received  a  common-school  education  in  his 
native  village.  In  1845  ne  removed  to  Watford, 
and  there  he  heard  Mormpnism  by  a  blacksmith, 
Richard  B.  Margetts,  and  he  was  baptized  June 
21,  1848.  He  soon  became  anxious  to  join  his 
co-religionists  in  Salt  Lake  valley,  then  in  upper 
California. 

In  January,  1850,  Mr.  Woodward  sailed  from 
Liverpool,  England,  on  the  ship  Argo,  Captain 
Mills,  with  four  hundred  Latter  Day  Saints,  ar- 
riving at  New  Orleans,  March  8,  after  an  ocean 
passage  of  eight  weeks.  With  other  emigrants 
Mr.  Woodward  wended  his  way  to  St.  Louis,  on 
the  steamboat  Glencoe;  from  there  proceeded 
to  Council  Bluffs,  where  he  arrived  on  April  9, 
and  on  the  I3th  of  April  he  went  to  work  for 
Orson  Hyde,  at  six  dollars  per  month.  He  lived 
with  Mr.  Hyde  for  over  a  year  and  then  drove 
team  to  Salt  Lake  City,  in  Captain  Homer's 
company.  They  were  some  three  months  on  the 
way.  On  the  plains  in  that  early  day,  1851, 
thousands  of  buffalo  were  encountered  on  the 
way,  and  sometimes  in  the  distance  they  appeared 
like  a  forest  of  timber;  twenty  thousand  were 
passed  in  one  day.  The  Platte  valley  and  the 
hills  on  both  sides  of  the  river  were  covered  with 
them.  When  Fort  Laramie  was  passed,  the 
scenery  changed.  Mountains  appeared,  and 
beautiful  streams  of  pure  water  were  wending 
their  way  to  larger  streams, — the  Sweetwater 
river,  Green  river,  Harris  Fork,  Smith's  Fork, 
Black's  Fork,  Bear  and  Weber  rivers  and  other 
streams.  Buffalo  robes  at  that  early  day  could 
be  bought  for  three  dollars  and  fifty  cents, 
dressed,  ready  for  use,  and  they  were  an  excellent 
piece  of  bedding. 

He  arrived  in  Salt  Lake  City  the  latter  part  of 
September  of  that  year,  and  a  few  days  later  he 
was  working  for  R.  T.  Burton.  In  January, 
1852,  he  attended  the  University  of  Deseret,  then 
in  a  primitive  state.  Orson  Spencer  was  princi- 
pal, and  chancellor,  also  a  teacher,  and  W.  W. 
Phelps  was  his  assistant.  In  attending  this 
school  books  were  scarce,  and  Mr.  Woodward 
stood  guard  over  Mexicans  and  Indians  for  the 
money  to  buy  him  a  McGuffy's  Fifth  Reader. 
He  had  a  grammar,  and  an  arithmetic;  he  bor- 
rowed a  slate,  and  a  friend  made  him  a  tin  slate- 
pencil  holder.  Thus  equipped,  he  plodded  on  in 
his  studies.  During  winter  he  read  the  book  of 


Mormon  through  for  the  first  time.  In  April  he 
went  to  work  for  Heber  C.  Kimball. 

After  his  arrival  in  Salt  Lake  City,  Mr.  Wood- 
ward was  anxious  to  see  Brigham  Young  and 
other  prominent  Mormon  leaders;  to  say  that  he 
was  delighted  with  them,  and  their  preaching,  is 
hardly  expressing  the  feelings  he  entertained  to- 
ward these  men.  He  availed  himself  of  every 
opportunity  to  hear  them  preach,  and  was  al- 
ways pleased  to  be  in  their  company.  For  no- 
bility of  character,  for  great  motives  to  benefit 
mankind,  for  kindness  to  the  Mormon  people, 
these  leaders  were,  in  Mr.  Woodward's  eyes,  par 
excellence.  The  leading  men,  besides  Brigham 
Young,  were  Heber  C.  Kimball,  Willard  Rich- 
ards, Orson  Pratt,  Wilford  Woodruff,  George  A. 
Smith,  and  in  the  summer  of  1852  Charles  C. 
Rich,  John  Taylor,  Erastus  Snow,  Franklin  D. 
Richards,  and  Lorenzo  Snow  arrived  in  Salt 
Lake  City.  At  a  conference  held  August  28  and 
29,  missionaries  were  called  to  different  parts  of 
the  world,  and  Mr.  Woodward  was  called  to  go 
to  England,  where  he  arrived  January  4,  1853. 
He  arrived  in  London  a  short  time  after  this,  and 
labored  as  a  missionary  for  more  than  a  year  in 
that  metropolis.  He  spent  the  rest  of  his  time  in 
England  in  Kent  and  Dorsetshire  conferences, 
and  in  April,  1856,  he  again  crossed  the  sea,  with 
seven  hundred  Latter  Day  Saints,  who  were  pre- 
sided over  by  Dan  Jones.  He  arrived  in  Boston, 
left  the  good  ship  "S.  Curling,"  and  started  for 
Iowa  City,  where  he  arrived  on  June  2. 

The  year  1856  was  memorable  in  Mormon  emi- 
gration. Five  hand-cart  companies  crossed  the 
plains — Mr.  Woodward  was  attached  to  the 
fourth  company,  and  was  captain  of  the  third 
hundred.  In  the  Sweetwater  valley  snow  fell, 
and  hardships  were  endured  by  the  people  till 
they  arrived  in  Salt  Lake  valley.  Relief  trains 
with  supplies  of  food  and  clothing  were  sent  to 
the  rescue  of  the  emigrants,  and  Brigham  Young 
was  foremost  in  starting  these  expeditions.  After 
Mr.  Woodward's  arrival  in  Salt  Lake  City — after 
an  absence  of  four  years  and  nearly  two  months 
— he  went  to  work  at  anything  he  could  find  to 
do,  finally  -  teaching  school  and  "boarding 
around." 

He  was  first  married  in  1857,  and  is  the  father 
of  twenty-two  children,  eight  boys  and  fourteen 
girls, — and  thirteen  children  are  still  living. 


590 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Mr.  Woodward  came  to  Franklin  April  14, 
1860,  with  a  few  others,  and  they  were  the  first 
real  settlers  of  Idaho.  They  built  the  first  school 
house  in  the  state,  and  labored  diligently  to  make 
homes,  building  their  houses  in  a  square  fort, 
for  protection  against  Indians,  who  were  numer- 
ous at  that  time. 

Mr.  Woodward  has  been  a  lifelong  Democrat 
in  politics;  has  been  postmaster,  justice  of  the 
peace,  city  councilor,  and  once  was  elected  to  the 
legislature,  but  was  not  seated  through  two  of  his 
party  selling  out  to  the  opposition.  Mr.  Wood- 
ward is  a  farmer,  raises  some  one  hundred  tons 
of  hay  yearly,  and  in  1898  raised  over  three  thou- 
sand bushels  of  grain.  He  lives  on  his  farm  of 
ninety  acres,  has  other  lands  in  this  state  and  in 
Utah,  keeps  cows  and  other  domestic  animals, 
and  might  be  said  to  be  fairly  prosperous.  He 
is  a  devoted  Mormon  and  a  lover  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  and  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States;  is  strictly  a  temperance  man,  does 
not  use  strong  drinks,  or  tobacco,  nor  use  tea  or 
coffee.  He  believes  in  honest  government  for 
the  people,  and  is  a  full  believer  that  all  men 
should  worship  God  as  they  please,  without  mo- 
lestation. He  is  a  president  of  the  eighteenth 
quorum  of  Seventies  in  the  church,  and  a  full  be- 
liever in  the  divine  mission  of  Joseph  Smith  as  a 
prophet. 

On  his  farm  he  has  been  greatly  assisted  by  his 
family,  who  are  models  of  industry  and  thrift. 

JOB  FRANCIS  DYE. 

Among  the  figures  who  stand  prominently 
forth  on  the  pages  of  western  history  is  the  gen- 
tleman whose  name  introduces  this  review.  His 
was  a  marvelous  record  of  long  connection  with 
the  events  which  go  to  make  up  the  annals  of  the 
Pacific  coast.  He  was  one  of  those  honored 
pioneers  who  blazed  a  path  for  future  cavalcades 
to  follow;  who  bravely  turned  their  faces  from 
the  cities  of  the  east,  with  all  the  advantages  of 
wealth  and  civilization,  and  cast  their  fortunes 
with  the  western  frontier,  in  all  its  wildness  and 
primitive  modes  of  life;  who,  rather  than  enjoy 
the  comforts  of  their  former  homes,  chose  to  en- 
dure the  hardships  of  a  wider  and  freer  country ; 
and  who  made  out  of  those  very  obstacles,  which, 
to  a  weaker  class  of  men  would  have  been  stum- 
bling blocks,  the  stepping  stones  to  wealth  and 


renown, — none  of  these  great  men  are  more 
noted  for  untiring  perseverance  and  steady  prog- 
ress which  have  resulted  in  the  acquirement  of 
wealth  and  the  well  merited  esteem  of  their  fel- 
low men  than  the  gentleman  whose  name  heads 
this  memoir.  He  realized  with  great  prophetic 
foresight  the  magnitude  of  the  prospects  of  the 
west,  and  that  at  a  time  when  this  section  of  the 
country  gave  but  slight  signs  of  her  future  great- 
ness. If,  as  is  maintained,  the  history  of  a  coun- 
try is  best  told  in  the  lives  of  her  prominent  men, 
then  certainly  any  history  of  Idaho  or  the  Pacific 
coast  would  be  incomplete  without  recognition  of 
the  salient  points  of  the  life  record  of  this  man, 
who  was  for  many  years  a  most  influential  and 
respected  citizen  of  this  part  of  the  Union. 

Mr.  Dye  was  born  in  Hardin  county,  Ken- 
tucky, January  17,  1807,  and,  spending  his  boy- 
hood days  in  that  state,  started  westward  on  at- 
taining his  majority,  going  to  Arkansas  in  1828. 
That  state  was  then  an  almost  unbroken  wilder- 
ness, inhabited  only  by  Indians.  Buffalo,  deer 
and  other  wild  game  roamed  through  the  forest, 
and  the  lodges  of  the  hunter  and  trapper  were 
almost  the  only  places  of  human  abode,  except 
the  wigwams  of  the  Indians.  For  two  years  he 
remained  in  that  territory, — for  Arkansas  had  not 
then  been  admitted  to  the  Union, — and  in  1830 
went  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  joined  a  party  of 
trappers  who  were  going  to  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains to  collect  furs.  Mr.  Dye  remained  with 
them  for  two  years,  during  which  time  he  expe- 
rienced many  of  the  hardships  and  trials  of  such 
a  life.  Traveling  where  white  men  had  never 
before  been,  spending  many  a  night  by  the  camp- 
fire  in  the  forest,  there  was  nevertheless  an  ex- 
citement and  interest  about  such  a  life  that  lent 
it  great  zest.  He  became  an  expert  trapper  and 
hunter  and  also  an  expert  mountain-climber.  In 
1831  he  started  for  California  with  a  party  of 
thirty-five,  who  traveled  from  Taos,  New  Mexico, 
across  the  mountains  to  the  Golden  state,  reach- 
ing their  destination  in  January,  1832.  There 
were  immense  herds  of  cattle  and  horses  all 
through  the  country  at  that  time,  and  it  was  cus- 
tomary for  the  traveler  to  take  all  the  cattle  that 
was  needed  for  food. 

Mr.  Dye  traveled  northward  from  the  pueblo 
of  Los  Angeles  to  Santa  Barbara,  where  he 
thought  to  engage  in  otter  hunting,  and  formed 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


591 


a  partnership  with  Don  Roberto,  who,  together 
with  the  Mexican  authorities,  robbed  him  of  all 
his  money.  At  this  time  all  California  belonged 
to  Mexico,  and  was  largely  settled  by  a  wealthy 
class  of  Spaniards,  who  owned  immense  ranches, 
containing  thousands  of  acres,  each  household, 
with  their  many  slaves  and  servants,  constituting 
quite  a  little  settlement.  After  losing  his  money 
Mr.  Dye  continued  on  his  northward  way  to  San 
Louis  Obispo,  where  he  continued  in  the  fur 
business,  meeting  with  splendid  success.  Later 
he  went  to  Monterey,  where  he  married  and  es- 
tablished his  home.  He' engaged  in  the  distill- 
ing business  near  Santa  Cruz,  conducting  a  suc- 
cessful business  until  1840,  when  the  Mexicans, 
believing  that  a  revolution  was  about  to  break 
out  among  the  people,  confiscated  his  property. 
Not  daunted  by  this  adversity,  he  removed  to 
Monterey  and  engaged  in  merchandising,  again 
accumulating  quite  a  fortune.  He  received  a 
land  grant  from  the  Mexican  government  of 
twenty-six  thousand,  seven  hundred  acres,  lo- 
cated on  the  Sacramento  river  in  what  is  now 
Tehama  county,  and  including  the  site  of  the  city 
of  Red  Bluff  and  several  other  now  flourishing 
towns.  He  called  his  place  the  Antelope  Valley 
Ranch,  and  on  it  had  two  hundred  head  of  horses 
and  one  thousand  head  of  cattle.  This  property 
became  quite  valuable  in  1848,  when  gold  was 
discovered  in  California.  In  1849  he  was  still 
engaged  in  merchandising  in  Monterey,  but  af- 
terward removed  to  his  ranch,  where  he  carried 
on  stock-raising  and  mining.  In  1850  he  con- 
ducted a  mercantile  business  in  Sacramento. 

In  1863  Mr.  Dye  sold  his  ranch  and  removed 
to  Silver  City,  Idaho,  engaging  in  business  in 
Idaho  City  and  afterward  at  Silver  City,  where  he 
resided  until  1869.  He  then  went  to  Mountain 
City,  Nevada,  where  he  was  engaged  in  merchan- 
dising for  about  two  years,  when  he  went  to  Cor- 
ralitos,  California,  where  he  departed  this  life  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1883.  He  had  been  one  of  the 
first  Americans  to  locate  in  that  state,  and  was 
well  known  to  the  pioneers  of  the  Pacific  coast 
from  Mexico  to  British  Columbia.  He  soon 
learned  the  Spanish  language  and  became  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  prominent  Spanish  and 
Mexican  families  on  the  coast.  His  first  wife 
was  a  Spanish  lady  of  great  culture  and  refine- 
ment, a  relative  of  Governor  Peco.  He  was  ac- 


tive in  the  war  which  secured  California  to  the 
United  States,  was  present  at  the  raising  of  the 
Bear  flag  and  also  took  an  active  part  in  raising 
the  stars  and  stripes  in  California.  He  was  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  General  Sutler,  General 
Bidwell,  Major  Reading  and  General  Fremont, 
and  during  his  early  life  was  one  of  the  best 
known  and  most  active  citizens,  being  promi- 
nently connected  with  the  mining  interests  and 
having  gold  in  such  abundance  that  it  was  al- 
most a  waste  of  time  to  count  the  cost  of  little 
things.  He  gave  as  high  as  fifty  head  of  cattle  at 
one  time  to  feed  the  Indians,  and  no  stranger  who 
knocked  at  his  door  to  seek  food  or  shelter  was 
ever  turned  away.  Hospitality  there  reigned  su- 
preme, and  was  accompanied  by  the  sister  virtue 
of  generosity.  He  was  a  man  of  kindly  impulses, 
of  sterling  worth,  honest  in  all  his  dealings,  and 
devoted  to  his  family.  He  not  only  watched  the 
wonderful  development  that  transformed  the 
west  from  the  wilderness  to  one  of  the  richest 
sections  of  the  country,  and  brought  it  from  un- 
der the  sway  of  Mexican  rule  to  the  liberty  of  the 
American  republic,  but  aided  in  many  movements 
for  the  public  good  and  thus  enduringly  in- 
scribed his  name  on  the  pages  of  its  history. 

Four  of  his  children  survive  him:  Mrs.  John  S. 
Butler,  of  Oakland,  California;  Rebecca  L.,  who 
was  married  in  1868  to  Charles  M.  Hays,  their 
home  being  in  Boise;  and  James  and  Newton, 
now  of  Santa  Cruz  county,  California. 

HON.  JOHN  S.  BARRETT. 

The  pluckiest  men,  those  who  may  go  down 
temporarily  in  the  world's  great  battle,  but  who 
will  never  give  up  the  fight  and  are  certain  to 
overcome  all  obstacles  and  win  the  victory  soon- 
er or  later,  are  those  who  have  gone  into  the 
battle  while  yet  in  their  childhood,  and  as  boys 
have  done  the  work  of  men,  and  have  been  men 
before  their  time.  An  illustration  of  this  fact  is 
afforded  by  the  career  of  Hon.  John  S.  Barrett, 
of  Montpelier,  Idaho. 

John  S.  Barrett  was  born  in  London,  England, 
February  8,  1854.  In  1860,  when  he  was  eight 
years  old,  he  and  an  older  sister  were  sent  to  the 
United  States  with'  a  company  bound  for  Salt 
Lake  City,  Utah.  In  1864  his  father,  Henry 
Barrett,  came  over  and  made  a  home  at  Salt  Lake 
City.  He  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  an  indus- 


592 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


trious  and  reputable  citizen  and  a  member  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints.  He 
died  at  Salt  Lake  City  in  1897,  aged  eighty-four 
years.  John  S.  Barrett  had  little  opportunity  for 
schooling,  but  he  has  gained  much  knowledge  by 
the  way  he  has  gone  through  life  and  is  a  well 
informed  man,  with  special  ability  for  important 
business  affairs.  He  attended  district  school  a 
little  and  was  sent  to  a  night  school  a  while.  He 
began  his  active  life  as  a  farmer's  boy-of-all-work, 
drove  team  and  labored  in  the  harvest  field,  and 
at  length  got  a  chance  to  clerk  in  a  store,  where 
he  soon  developed  ability  to  sell  goods.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  his  real  career.  He  perse- 
vered in  it  and  prospered  in  it,  and  in  1889 
opened  a  somewhat  pretentious  store  at  Mont- 
pelier.  He  was  successful  until  the  panic  of  1893 
caught  him  unprepared  and  compelled  him  to  dis- 
continue the  enterprise.  He  was  offered  and  ac- 
cepted a  position  as  bookkeeper  in  the  store  of 
the  Co-operative  Wagon  &  Machine  Company, 
and  held  it  until  1899,  when  he  relinquished  it  to 
become  manager  of  the  Sidney  Stevens  Imple- 
ment Company,  dealers  in  all  kinds  of  farm  im- 
plements, wagons  and  carriages.  The  home 
plant  of  this  company  is  at  Ogden,  Utah,  and  it 
has  branches  at  Logan.  Utah,  and  Preston  and 
Montpelier,  Idaho,  and  many  agencies  in  differ- 
ent states.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  largest 
concerns  of  its  kind  in  Utah,  has  an  extensive 
capital  and  is  operating  successfully  on  a  mam- 
moth scale.  At  Ogden  it  has  large  shops,  where 
it  manufactures  some  of  the  products  it  handles. 
Under  Mr.  Barrett's  management  the  business  of 
the  Montpelier  branch  is  prosperous  and  steadily 
increasing,  and  his  success  is  gratifying  alike  to 
his  employers  and  to  himself. 

In  politics,  from  the  Democratic  point  of  view, 
Mr.  Barrett  has  taken  an  active  interest,  and  he 
has  several  times  been  elected  to  the  office  of 
school  trustee,  has  been  a  member  of  the  city 
council  of  Montpelier,  has  been  mayor  of  the  city 
and  in  1894  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature, 
where  he  was  influential  in  securing  the  passage 
of  the  law  under  which  the  state  supplies  text- 
books to  pupils  in  the  public  schools,  a  very  ex- 
cellent plan,  and  one  which  puts  Idaho  far  in 
advance  of  many  older  states  in  the  matter  of 
placing  education  in  the  reach  of  even  the  poor- 
est children.  He  was  also  active  in  securing  the 


passage  in  the  lower  house  of  a  bill  providing 
for  the  removal  of  the  county-seat  of  Bear  Lake 
county  from  Paris  to  Montpelier.  Though  this 
bill  failed  in  the  senate,  it  was  favored  by  a  large 
portion  of  the  population,  as  the  location  of 
Montpelier,  in  the  geographical  center  of  the 
county  and  on  the  railroad,  was  a  strong  argu- 
ment for  the  proposed  removal.  Mr.  Barrett  is 
the  owner  of  a  sawmill  at  Liberty  and  has  an 
established  insurance  business,  with  as  good  a 
line  of  companies  as  are  represented  at  Montpel- 
ier. He  is  a  Woodman  of  the  World  and  is  a 
zealous  member  of  the  'Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter  Day  Saints,  holding  the  office  of  elder  and 
working  forcefully  in  the  mutual-improvement 
society  of  the  church  which  has  been  made  a 
power  for  good. 

In  1876  Mr.  Barrett  married  Miss  Eliza  Ann 
Stewart,  a  native  of  San  Bernardino,  California, 
and  they  have  five  children:  Alfred,  Minnie,  Cyn- 
thia, Edward  and  Hannah.  The  people  of  Mont- 
pelier have  come  to  regard  Mr.  Barrett  as  one  of 
the  most  public-spirited  men  in  the  city.  He  is 
progressive  and  generously  helpful  to  every 
measure  which  in  his  judgment  tends  to  the  gen- 
eral good. 

HON.  JAMES  E.  HART. 

Faithfulness  is  the  surest  stepping-stone  to  suc- 
cess. Faithfulness  in  small  things  begets  confi- 
dence in  one's  ability  to  undertake  more  consid- 
erable tasks;  and  in  business  life,  in  professional 
life,  in  the  church  and  in  public  affairs,  faithful- 
ness and  thoroughness  have  carried  thousands 
and  are  carrying  thousands  up  from  the  day  and 
place  of  small  things  to  places  of  higher  and  still 
higher  responsibility  and  honor.  These  thoughts 
have  been  suggested  by  a  consideration  of  the 
successful  career  of  the  man  whose  name  appears 
above. 

James  E.  Hart,  clerk  of  the  district  court  and 
ex-officio  auditor  and  recorder  of  Bear  Lake 
county,  Idaho,  was  born  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
January  17,  1857,  descending  in  both  lines  from 
old  English  families.  His  parents,  James  H.  and 
Emily  (Ellingham)  Hart,  were  born  in  England 
and  married  there,  and  came  to  America  and  took 
up  their  residence  in  St.  Louis,  in  1854.  They 
had  embraced  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and  Mr.  Hart  had 
done  missionary  work  in  England  and  France 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


593 


for  seven  years,  under  President  John  Taylor. 
He  had  learned  the  use  of  the  French  language 
and  had  been  sent  to  St.  Louis  on  account  of  the 
goodly  percentage  of  French  residents  there,  and 
from  1854  to  1857  had  charge  of  a  local  branch 
of  the  church,  as  its  president.  He  organized  a 
colony  for  Utah  in  the  year  last  mentioned,  and 
was  naturally  chosen  its  captain.  It  was  joined 
by  others  until  it  became  a  large  party,  which  re- 
quired about  forty  wagons  to  cross  the  plains  to 
Utah.  Oxen  were  their  draft  animals.  Besides 
their  provisions  and  outfit,  they  had  a  number  of 
sick,  old  and  weak  people,  and  women  and  chil- 
dren. For  a  considerable  time  after  his  arrival 
in  Utah  Mr.  Hart  was  in  charge  of  a  nail  factory. 
Later  other  interests  claimed  his  attention  until 
his  final  retirement  from  active  life.  He  lives 
near  Paris,  aged  seventy-four  years,  highly  re- 
spected by  a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances.  His 
wife  died  in  1892,  aged  seventy-one  years.  They 
had  six  children,  of  whom  James  E.  Hart  was 
the  youngest,  and  is  the  only  survivor. 

Mr.  Hart  was  in  the  first  year  of  his  life  when 
his  parents  took  him  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  had 
attained  only  to  the  age  of  six  years  when  the 
family  came  to  what  is  now  Bear  Lake  county, 
Idaho.  He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  Bloomington,  Idaho,  and  at  the  University  of 
Utah,  and  was  graduated,  in  1890,  in  the  law  de- 
partment of  the  University  of  Michigan.  He 
practiced  his  profession  three  years  at  Paris  and 
at  Logan,  with  increasing  success,  and  was  then 
called  by  his  church  to  a  mission  in  the  southern 
states,  where  he  labored  successfully  for  twenty- 
seven  months  in  Tennessee  and  for  two  years  of 
that  time  was  president  of  the  East  Tennessee 
Conference,  which  embraced  forty  counties  in 
eastern  Tennessee  and  about  the  same  number  in 
western  North  Carolina.  He  directed  a  very  ex- 
tensive work  there,  which  was  signally  productive 
of  results,  and  at  its  termination  returned  to  Ida- 
ho, where  he  was  called  to  take  charge  of  the 
Bear  Lake  stake  as  the  president  of  the  Young 
Men's  Mutual  Improvement  Association, — an 
office  which  he  still  holds.  For  about  one  year  he 
was  in  the  implement  trade  at  Montpelier,  but 
gave  most  of  his  time  to  farming  and  stock-rais- 
ing. He  was  elected  to  the  thirteenth  session  of 
the  territorial  legislature  of  Idaho  and  repre- 
sented the  interests  of  his  district  ably  and  most 


conscientiously.  A  lawyer  of  praiseworthy  at- 
tainments, an  able  man  of  affairs,  a  churchman 
devoted  to  all  the  interests  of  his  church,  he  is 
peculiarly  fitted  to  fill  the  ecclesiastical  and  secu- 
lar offices  of  high  responsibility  of  which  he  is  the 
incumbent,  and  he  is  discharging  his  duties  with 
success. 

July  28,  1881,  President  Hart  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Elmira  Beirdneau,  of  Ken- 
tucky ancestry,  and  a  native  of  Logan,  Utah. 
They  have  three  daughters  and  two  sons:  El- 
mira E.,  Ermie  B.,  Alta  A.,  James  B.  and  Clifford 
E.  The  family  home  of  the  Harts  is  one  of  the 
cosiest  and  most  hospitable  in  the  county. 

HENRY  H.  HOFF. 

The  German  character  has  impressed  itself 
upon  our  American  progress  by  the  inculcation 
of  lessons  of  thrift,  industry  and  respect  for  the 
law.  It  has  made  itself  felt  in  the  development 
of  our  public  educational  system.  In  the  pos- 
session of  a  goodly  number  of  citizens  of  German 
parentage  Idaho  is  fortunate.  One  of  its  lead- 
ing representative  German-American  citizens  is 
Henry  Herman  Hoff,  of  Montpelier. 

Henry  Herman  Hoff  was  born  in  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  March  16,  1849,  a  son  of  John  G. 
and  Catharine  (Pfitzenmaier)  Hoff,  who  were 
born  in  Wurtemberg,  Germany,  in  1814,  were 
married  in  the  Fatherland,  and  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1835.  Mr.  Hoff  became  a  wholesale 
boot  and  shoe  merchant  at  Philadelphia,  where 
he  died  in  1891,  aged  seventy-seven.  Mrs.  Hoff 
died  in  1861,  aged  forty-seven.  They  had  seven 
sons  and  two  daughters,  of  whom  only  four  are 
living.  Henry  Herman  Hoff,  the  sixth  son  in 
order  of  nativity,  attended  the  public  schools  of 
Philadelphia  until  he  was  twelve  years  old,  and 
then  took  up  the  battle  for  bread  on  his  own  ac- 
count. He  spent  six  years  in  acquiring  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  butcher's  trade  and  business,  in  which 
he  has  been  employed  almost  continuously  since, 
latterly  as  the  proprietor  of  extensive  interests  in 
that  line.  He  was  at  Chicago  four  years,  until 
after  the  great  fire  of  1871,  of  which  he  has  a 
vivid  recollection;  at  San  Francisco,  California, 
four  months  and  then  went  to  Salt  Lake  City, 
where  he  met  two  of  his  brothers,  whom  he  had 
not  seen  for  thirteen  years.  After  an  interval  in 
which  he  hauled  ore  for  smelters  and  was  em- 


594 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ployed  by  a  railroad  company,  he  filled  out  the 
balance  of  a  year  at  Salt  Lake  City  as  manager 
of  the  wholesale  slaughter-house  of  B.  A.  Stevens. 
He  spent  the  ensuing  fifteen  months  at  Evans- 
ton,  Wyoming,  then  went  to  Pleasant  Grove, 
Utah,  where,  on  March  8,  1875,  he  married  Miss 
Harriet  Bacon,  a  native  of  that  place,  born  De- 
cember 22,  1856,  a  daughter  of  Chauncey  Bacon. 
During  the  first  year  of  his  married  life  he  lived 
at  Salt  Lake  City.  He  then  went  back  to  Evans- 
ton,  Wyoming,  and  for  four  years  was  employed 
by  Crawford,  Thompson  &  Company,  the  firm 
with  which  he  had  been  at  the  time  of  his  previous 
residence  there,  and  for  another  year  by  Jay 
McDonald.  He  then  removed  to  Georgetown, 
Idaho,  where  he  took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  land.  He  has  since  added  to  his  landed 
possessions  until  he  has  at  this  time  four  hundred 
acres,  on  which  he  pastures  his  stock  and  raises 
hay  and  grain.  He  is  a  breeder,  on  an  extensive 
scale,  of  Cotswold  sheep,  Clydesdale  horses,  Dur- 
ham cattle  and  Berkshire  hogs,  and  has  a  large, 
well  equipped  meat  market  at  Montpelier.  He 
is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  having  been  the  pio- 
neer meat-market  proprietor  of  Bear  Lake 
county.  His  lifelong  experience  renders  him  an 
expert  in  every  detail  of  this  business,  and  he  is 
known  as  a  bright,  active  and  capable  business 
man. 

A  Democrat  who  has  always  voted  his  party 
ticket  and  worked  for  the  triumph  of  the  Demo- 
cratic principles,  Mr.  Hoff  has  attained  much  in- 
fluence in  political  circles  and  has  been  entrusted 
with  work  of  great  public  importance.  In  Feb- 
rUary,  1893,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Mc- 
Connell  a  member  of  the  second  board  of  regents 
of  the  University  of  the  State  of  Idaho.  He  en- 
tered upon  the  work  of  the  position  with  char- 
acteristic promptness  and  thoroughness  and 
brought  to  bear  upon  it  all  his  trained  business 
ability.  When  he  became  a  member  of  the  board 
of  regents,  only  the  west  wing  of  the  university 
building  had  been  erected,  and  during  his  term 
of  service  the  main  building  and  east  wing  have 
been  built.  The  structure  is  a  credit  to  the  state 
and  to  those  who  had  the  supervision  of  its  erec- 
tion. He  has  since  been  appointed  by  Governor 
Steunenberg  a  member  of  the  board  of  the  State 
Normal  School  at  Albion.  An  Odd  Fellow  of 
many  years'  membership,  Mr.  Hoff  has  passed  the 


chairs  of  both  the  subordinate  lodge  and  the  en- 
campment, has  represented  his  lodge  in  the  grand 
lodge  and  has  the  honor  of  having  been  grand 
patriarch  of  the  order  in  the  state.  For  nine 
years  he  was  secretary  of  his  lodge.  He  is  a 
Woodman  of  the  World,  and  for  three  years  has 
been  secretary  of  his  lodge  of  that  order.  Mr. 
Hoff  and  his  family  are  members  of  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  in  which  he 
holds  the  office  of  elder.  Public-spirited  to  a 
marked  degree,  he  has  done  very  much  toward 
the  propagation  of  religion  and  education 
throughout  the  county  and  state,  and  has  assisted 
by  every  means  at  his  command  every  movement 
having  for  its  object  the  enhancement  of  the  hap- 
piness and  prosperity  of  any  considerable  num- 
ber of  his  fellow  citizens.  There  have  been  born 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hoff  six  children,  named  as  fol- 
lows: Beatrice  H.,  H.  Herman,  Edward  C.,  Ern- 
est P.,  Myrtle  Desant  and  Frank  Emanuel. 

MOSES  ALEXANDER. 

The  sturdy  German  element  in  our  national 
commonwealth  has  been  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant in  furthering  the  substantial  and  normal  ad- 
vancement of  the  country,  for  this  is  an  element 
signally  appreciative  of  practical  values  and  also 
of  the  higher  intellectuality  which  transcends  all 
provincial  confines.  Well  may  any  person  take 
pride  in  tracing  his  lineage  to  such  a  source. 
Moses  Alexander  is  one  of  the  worthy  sons  that 
the  Fatherland  has  furnished  to  America,  and 
Boise  now  numbers  him  among  her  leading  mer- 
chants, while  in  the  office  of  mayor  he  is  capably 
handling  the  reins  of  city  government. 

He  was  born  in  Obrigheim,  Germany,  on  the 
I3th  of  November,  1853,  an(l  acquired  his  educa- 
tion in  his  native  country.  He  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1867,  and  after  spending  one 
year  in  New  York  city,  went  to  Chillicothe,  Mis- 
souri, where  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk  in  the 
store  of  Jacob  Berg  &  Company  until  1873,  when 
he  became  a  partner  in  the  enterprise,  the  firm 
name,  however,  being  changed  at  that  time  to 
Wallbrunn,  Alexander  &  Company.  He  was 
thus  engaged  in  business  until  February,  1891, 
and  on  the  I4th  of  July,  of  the  same  year,  he 
opened  a  store  in  Boise,  where  he  has  since  car- 
ried on  operations  as  a  dealer  in  men's  clothing 
and  furnishing  goods.  His  establishment  is  lo- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


595 


cated  at  the  corner  of  Seventh  and  Main  streets, 
and  he  has  a  large  and  well  selected  stock,  which 
enables  him  to  retain  an  extensive  patronage. 
His  business  methods  are  commendable,  and  suc- 
cess has  crowned  his  enterprising  efforts. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Alexander  has  taken  quite 
an  active  interest  in  political  affairs,  giving  his 
support  to  the  Democratic  party  on  questions  of 
national  importance.  In  1886  he  was  elected  to 
represent  the  second  ward  of  Chillicothe,  Mis- 
souri, in  the  city  council,  and  the  following  year 
was  elected  mayor  of  that  city  on  the  non-par- 
tisan citizens'  ticket.  In  1897  he  was  elected 
mayor  of  Boise  on  the  Citizens'  Silver-Improve- 
ment ticket,  by  a  plurality  of  more  than  three 
hundred.  He  has  been  a  progressive  mayor,  and 
during  his  administration  many  important  im- 
provements have  been  inaugurated  and  carried 
forward  to  successful  completion.  He  ever  places 
principle  before  party,  and  the  general  good  be- 
fore self-aggrandizement,  and  his  public  service 
has  been  that  of  a  trustworthy  and  practical  busi- 
ness man. 

On  the  5th  of  November,  1876,  was  celebrated 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  Alexander  and  Miss  Helen 
Keastner,  the  wedding  taking  place  in  St.  Joseph, 
Missouri.  The  lady  is  a  native  of  Crimmitzschau, 
Saxony,  and  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  Ameri- 
ca in  1868.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alexander  have 
been  born  three  daughters  and  a  son.  Mr.  Alex- 
ander is  a  member  of  Chillicothe  Lodge,  No.  333, 
F.  &  A.  M.,  and  is  a  man  of  social  qualities.  His 
genuine  worth  and  freedom  from  all  ostentation 
have  won  recognition  in  the  friendly  regard 
which  is  so  uniformly  extended  him. 

HON.  TANNES  E.  MILLER. 

Many  interesting  stories  might  be  told  by  the 
early  pioneers  of  Idaho,  but  it  is  not  likely  there 
are  many  men  living  in  the  state  who  could  tell 
more  stories,  or  stories  of  greater  interest,  than 
Senator  Tannes  E.  Miller,  and  Senator  Miller  can 
go  back  of  the  pioneer  days  in  Idaho  and  tell 
tales  of  the  building  and  sailing  of  ships  in  Wis- 
consin and  of  pioneer  life  among  the  Indians. 

Senator  Miller  is  one  of  Idaho's  most  useful 
citizens  and  one  .of  Latah  county's  most  promi- 
nent pioneers  and  most  successful  farmers.  He 
has  a  model  farm,  which  is  located  two  miles  east 
of  Genesee.  It  is  not  only  a  very  productive 


farm,  but  a  very  beautiful  homestead,  for  Senator 
Miller  is  a  man  of  refined  taste,  who  be- 
lieves there  is  nothing  too  good  for  his  family. 

Tannes  E.  Miller  was  born  in  Norway,  August 
6,  1840,  eldest  child  of  Tabias  and  Christine  (Elle) 
Miller,  and  came  to  America  with  his  parents 
and  brothers  and  sisters  in  1849,  and  located  in 
Wisconsin.  His  father  had  been  a  sea  captain, 
but  took  up  the  life  of  a  farmer  and  made  a  suc- 
cess of  it.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miller  were  of  the  Luth- 
eran faith.  Mr.  Miller  died  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
two,  his  wife  at  the  age  of  sixty-three.  Mrs. 
Miller  died  only  a  year  later  than  her  husband. 
They  had  eight  sons  and  a  daughter,  five  of  whom 
are  living. 

When  the  Millers  arrived  in  Wisconsin  the  fu- 
ture senator  was  nine  years  old.  For  a  boy  of 
his  age  he  was  quite  well  educated,  for  his  father 
had  taken  him  to  sea  with  him  and  had  taught 
him  with  much  system  and  thoroughness.  Those 
were  pioneer  days  in  that  part  of  Wisconsin  in 
which  the  Millers  had  found  a  home,  and  the  boy 
was  busy,  and  educational  facilities  were  meager, 
and  he  attended  school  but  twenty-one  days  in 
Wisconsin.  But  he  studied  at  home,  read  when 
he  had  time,  kept  his  eyes  open  wherever  he  went, 
and  grew  to  manhood  intelligent,  alert  and  well 
informed. 

He  lived  the  life  of  a  farmer  boy  and  youth, 
attaining  his  majority  in  1861,  a  few  months  after 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  of  the  states.  He  early 
formed  a  determination  to  enlist  for  soldier's  duty 
in  the  Union  cause,  and  September  6,  1862,  he 
joined  Company  D,  Sixty-seventh  Illinois  Volun- 
teer Infantry,  with  which  he  served  three  months. 
In  1863  he  enlisted  in  the  First  Wisconsin  Heavy 
Artillery.  He  was  in  the  memorable  battle  of 
Missionary  Ridge,  in  which  the  federal  troops 
covered  themselves  with  so  much  glory,  and  later 
was  on  several  detached  services  as  bugler  and 
clerk,  etc.  He  was  on  General  Stoneman's  staff 
and  later  was  chief  bugler  to  General  Steadman. 
He  was  once  appointed  by  his  lieutenant  colonel 
for  drum  major  of  the  regiment,  but  his  captain 
refused  to  transfer  him  because  he  was  the  only 
company  bugler,  so  he  could  not  accept  the  pro- 
motion. He  was  honorably  discharged  from  the 
service  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  September  6. 
1865,  just  three  years  to  the  day  after  his  first  en- 
listment. 


596 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Returning  to  Wisconsin,  he  gave  himself  up  to 
the  acquisition  of  the  trade  of  ship-builder.  He 
began  at  rough  work  and  finished  in  the  draught- 
ing department.  But  by  the  marriage  of  the  son, 
his  father  gave  him  a  small  farm  and  it  was  so 
located  and  situated  that  it  demanded  his  time 
and  attention,  and  this  event  changed  his  plans. 
After  a  few  years  he  sold  that  property  and 
bought  another  farm,  in  Waupaca  county,  on 
which  he  lived  four  years,  then  took  charge  of  his 
father's  farm  until,  April  9,  1878,  he  started  for 
Idaho.  He  made  this  journey  via  San  Francisco 
and  by  ship  to  Portland,  Oregon.  Thence  he 
made  his  way  to  Lewiston,  and  May  6  following 
his  departure  from  Wisconsin  located  on  the 
farm  which  has  since  been  his  home.  He  pre- 
empted a  claim  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
and  an  eighty-acre  timber-culture  claim.  He 
came  to  the  place  with  a  wife  and  eight  children 
and  a  cash  capital  of  twenty-five  dollars, — all  the 
money  he  had  left  after  paying  the  ordinary  ex- 
penses of  the  journey  for  ten  persons.  But  he 
faced  the  future  bravely,  and  his  ability  was  rec- 
ognized by  his  pioneer  neighbors.  On  the  day 
of  his  arrival  he  was  chosen  superintendent  of 
the  construction  of  a  fort  for  the  protection  of  the 
settlers  from  the  Indians,  who  were  quite  numer- 
ous and  whose  friendship  was  not  to  be  relied  on 
implicitly.  Less  than  two  months  after  he  came 
to  Idaho  he  was  the  prime  mover  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  as  good  a  Fourth  of  July  celebration  as 
the  few  settlers  could  put  up.  It  was  not  numer- 
ously attended,  but  the  entire  population  was 
present  and  it  was  very  patriotic. 

Senator  Miller  was  formerly,  for  years,  a  Re- 
publican, but  is  now  a  Populist  of  very  inde- 
pendent thought,  studying  all  economic  problems 
for  himself  and  favoring  that  only  which  he 
deems  best  for  the  country.  His  interest  in 
public  education  has  been  deep  and  abiding,  and 
he  has  served  his  school  district  for  twenty  years 
as  a  trustee.  He  was  elected  to  the  state  senate 
in  1894,  and  served  on  several  important  com- 
mittees and  was  prominent  in  championing  the 
location  that  was  adopted  for  the  Idaho  State 
University.  When  his  fellow  senators  found  that 
he  could  not  be  led  and  was  fearless  and  aggres- 
sive, he  exerted  a  strong  and  valuable  influence. 
Senator  Miller  raises  a  variety  of  crops  on  his 
farm.  The  principal  one  is  wheat.  He  has 


planted  many  kinds  of  fruit  trees,  shade  trees 
and  flowers,  which  combine  to  render  the  place 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  this  part  of  the 
state.  The  home  life  of  the  family  has  always 
been  happy  in  the  extreme.  Mr.  Miller  was 
married  April  7,  1866,  to  Miss  Anna  Halverson. 
Several  of  their  children  are  now  settled  in  life. 
The  eldest  daughter  married  in  1885  and  died  in 
1889,  leaving  a  son  and  a  daughter,  and  the 
former  is  now  a  member  of  the  household  of 
his  grandfather  Miller  and  the  latter  has  a  home 
with  her  paternal  grandfather.  Roderick  C, 
Alfred  and  Leo  Miller,  three  of  Senator  Miller's 
sons,  are  farmers  on  the  Nez  Perces  reservation. 
Rachel  Christine,  Frederick  and  Charlotte  are 
members  of  their  parents'  household.  The  Millers 
are  talented  as  musicians  and  artists,  the  Senator 
himself  being  a  proficient  player  on  eight  instru- 
ments, and  a  painter  of  no  mean  ability.  His 
children  have  inherited  his  genius,  and  the  walls 
of  the  Miller  home  are  hung  with  paintings  made 
by  different  members  of  the  family,  many  of  these 
productions  being  artistic  and  elegant.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Miller  were  formerly  Lutherans,  but  the 
family  are  communicants  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church,  in  which  Senator  Miller  is  record- 
ing steward  and  of  which  he  a  generous  sup- 
porter. 

CHRISTIAN   WALLANTINE. 

Christian  Wallantine,  one  of  the  prominent 
farmers  and  old  residents  of  Paris,  Idaho,  is  a 
native  of  Denmark,  having  been  born  on  the 
little  island  of  Barnholm,  in  the  Baltic  sea,  off 
the  Danish  coast,  October  21,  1841.  He  is  a 
descendant  of  German  ancestry  on  his  father's 
side,  representing  in  this  line  very  old  Teutonic 
stock.  His  parents  were  Wallantine  and  Augel 
Margaret  (Kofoot)  Wallentinesen,  who,  having 
become  converts  to  the  faith  of  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints,  decided 
to  cross  the  ocean  and  live  out  the  remainder 
of  their  days  in  Utah,  where  it  was  promised 
the  temple  of  this  church  should  be  erected.  They 
came  in  1853-4,  and  were  quite  a  year  in  making 
the  voyage  across  the  sea  arid  the  long  and 
tedious  journey  across  the  plains.  They  were 
able  to  employ  only  the  most  primitive  means, 
and  they  had  no  team  swifter  or  better  than 
oxen,  which  the  men  and  big  boys  took  turns 
at  driving,  and  which,  with  the  plodding  patience 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


597 


of  their  kind,  came  with  them  at  last  to  their  jour- 
ney's end.  The  parents  brought  with  them  their 
three  sons;  and  Christian,  the  second  born,  was 
then  thirteen  years  old;  and  he  has  a  vivid  recol- 
lection of  their  hardships,  their  hopes  and  fears, 
their  mishaps,  their  perils,  seen  and  unseen,  and 
their  long,  tense  struggle  against  wind  and 
weather,  miasma  and  ever  increasing  weariness, 
and  of  the  great  thankfulness  that  filled  their 
hearts  when  at  last  the  family  stood  unbroken 
in  the  paved  streets  of  Salt  Lake  City.  He 
could  never  forget  that  day,  though  he  should 
live  to  die  with  the  world. 

His  father  took  up  government  land  at  Brig- 
ham  City,  Utah,  and  became  a  successful  farmer, 
a  prominent  citizen  and  one  of  the  lights  of  his 
church,  of  which  when  he  died,  aged  sixty-five, 
he  had  been  for  many  years  a  priest  and  high 
priest.  His  wife  died  a  year  or  so  later,  at  about  the 
same  age.  Their  eldest  son,  August,  is  the  bishop 
of  the  fourth  ward  of  Brigham  City.  Their 
youngest  son,  Charles,  is  a  farmer  and  lives  near 
Rexburg,  Fremont  county,  Idaho. 

Facilities  for  public  education  near  the  early 
home  of  the  Wallentinsens,  on  the  little  Danish 
island,  were  very  poor;  and  though  Christian  at- 
tended such  schools  as  there  were  until  he  was 
nearly  ten  years  old  he  is  almost  entirely  self- 
educated.  From  childhood  he  helped  his  parents 
until  he  attained  the  age  of  eighteen.  Then  he 
set  up  in  the  world  for  himself,  working  on  a 
farm  for  wages,  and  a  year  later  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  Caldwell,  a  native  of  Scotland.  They 
came  to  Paris,  now  in  Bear  Lake  county,  in  1864, 
among  the  very  first  settlers  at  the  place.  He 
was  then  twenty-three  years  old.  He  located  on 
property  which  he  still  occupies,  and  has  the  his- 
torical distinction  of  having  erected  upon  it  the 
first  frame  house  in  Bear  Lake  valley.  His  little 
claim  has  grown,  however,  until  it  is  a  farm  of 
four  hundred  acres,  and  Mr.  Wallantine  raises 
some  grain,  a  great  deal  of  timothy  hay  and  many 
fine  Durham  cattle  and  Clydesdale  horses,  as 
well  as  cattle  and  horses  of  crossed  breeds. 

When,  in  common  with  other  thinking  men 
of  his  faith,  Mr.  Wallantine  began  to  see  that 
politics  would  inevitably  have  an  irresistible 
influence  on  Mormon  affairs,  he  began  to  cast 
about  for  a  political  anchorage,  and  rested  at 
last  within  the  haven  of  Democracy.  A  man  of 


good  ability  and  of  undoubted  integrity,  he  came 
in  time  to  find  various  public  offices  seeking  him, 
and  as  his  party  was  strong  enough  to  elect  him 
to  them  he  served  successively  in  the  offices  of 
constable,  school  trustee,  under-sheriff,  sheriff, 
county  commissioner  and  representative  in  the 
Idaho  legislature,  to  which  he  was  elected  in 
1896;  and  in  1898  he  was  re-elected  for  a  second 
term,  and  was  the  only  member  succeeding  him- 
self in  that  year.  He  has  taken  part  in  the  most 
important  work  of  the  sessions  to  which  he  was 
sent,  always  intelligently,  influentially  and  with  a 
keen  appreciation  of  his  responsibilities.  It  was 
he  who  formulated  the  bill  equalizing  property 
valuation  in  the  several  counties  of  the  state  so 
that  the  burden  of  taxation  might  rest  upon  all 
the  citizens  of  the  state  in  equal  measure  accord- 
ing to  their  financial  ability.  In  the  discharge 
of  duty,  public  or  private,  he  is  prompt,  thor- 
ough and  utterly  fearless,  and  his  interest  in 
everything  that  affects  the  welfare  of  the  people 
is  so  great  and  his  impulses  are  so  generous  that 
he  is  a  leader  among  the  public-spirited  citizens 
of  Bear  Lake  county. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wallantine  have  had  eleven  chil- 
dren, of  whom  nine  are  living,  as  follows:  Chris- 
tian William  is  married  and  lives  near  his  father ; 
Charles  A.  assists  his  father  in  carrying  on  his 
farm  and  is  the  owner  of  a  ranch  near  by; 
Thomas  Caldwell  is  married  and  lives  at  Dingle, 
where  he  owns  a  farm;  Annie  is  married  to 
Robert  Kelsey;  Robert  W.  is  also  married  and 
lives  on  his  own  farm,  not  far  from  his  father's; 
Clara,  Elizabeth,  Mabel  and  Ray  are  members 
of  their  father's  household. 

JOHN  W.  BRIGHAM. 

A  large  and  well  improved  ranch  eight  and  a 
half  miles  southeast  of  the  city  of  Moscow,  in 
Latah  county,  is  owned  by  John  Warren  Brig- 
ham,  who  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  enter- 
prising and  progressive  agriculturists  of  this  part 
of  the  state.  His  business  ability,  untiring  indus- 
try and  capable  management  have  been  the  chief 
elements  in  his  success  and  have  gained  him  a 
position  among  the  substantial  residents  of  the 
county. 

Mr.  Brigham  is  a  native  of  California,  his  birth 
having  occurred  in  Placer  county,  on  the  22d  of 
March,  1857.  On  the  paternal  side  he  is  of  Eng- 


598 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


lish  and  Welsh  lineage,  and  on  the  maternal  side 
of  English  and  Dutch  descent.  The  original 
American  ancestors  of  the  Brigham  family  left 
the  "merrie  isle"  to  become  residents  of  New 
England,  and  his  great-grandfather  fought  in  the 
Revolutionary  war,  participating  in  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill.  He  was  a  resident  of  Massachusetts, 
and  was  a  shoemaker  by  occupation.  The  grand- 
father, Curtis  Brigham,  was  born  in  Massachu- 
setts and  became  a  Baptist  minister.  With  his 
family  he  removed  to  Michigan  in  an  early  day, 
locating  in  Plainwell,  Allegan  county,  where  he 
entered  the  government  land  that  now  lies  within 
the  corporation  limits  of  that  city.  He  improved 
his  property  and  there  made  his  home  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  when  he  was  eighty  years 
of  age,  his  wife  surviving  until  she  had  passed 
the  eighty-fourth  milestone  on  life's  journey. 
They  were  members  of  the  Baptist  church,  and 
were  people  of  sterling  worth. 

Curtis  Brigham,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
ten  years  of  age  when  the  family  settled  in  Michi- 
gan, and  was  therefore  reared  amid  the  wild 
scenes  of  the  frontier.  He  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  and  in  the  academy  of  the  town 
and  was  a  man  of  much  intelligence  and  broad 
general  information.  In  his  religious  views  he 
might  have  been  termed  a  liberal  Baptist.  He 
married  Miss  Esther  Metcalf,  a  native  of  Ohio, 
and  in  1854  went  to  California  by  way  of  the 
isthmus  of  Panama.  Two  years  later  his  wife  and 
two  young  sons  joined  him  in  the  Golden  state, 
and  in  order  to  support  his  family  he  devoted  his 
energies  to  farming  in  the  San  Joaquin  valley, 
where  he  owned  a  large  ranch  and  was  also  ex- 
tensively engaged  as  an  apiarist.  In  1875  he 
came  to  Latah  county,  Idaho,  where  he  died  in 
the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  his  wife  passing 
away  in  her  fifty-fourth  year.  Their  Christian 
piety  was  manifest  in  their  upright  .lives,  and 
they  were  faithful  laborers  in  the  Master's  vine- 
yard. The  father  was  the  founder  of  the  first 
Baptist  church  in  Plainwell,  Michigan,  and  it 
grew  to  be  a  very  large  and  influential  organiza- 
tion. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brigham  had  a  family  of  six 
children,  five  of  whom  are  living. 

John  Warren  Brigham,  the  third  in  order  of 
birth,  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Cali- 
fornia and  came  to  his  present  home  in  Latah 
county  in  1878.  This  was  then  a  new  and  unde- 


veloped district,  and  he  secured  both  a  pre-emp- 
tion and  homestead  claim  from  the  government. 
With  characteristic  energy  and  determination  he 
began  transforming  the  raw  land  into  rich  and 
fertile  fields,  and  now  has  one  of  the  fine  farming 
properties  in  this  section  of  the  state.  The  im- 
provements include  a  good  residence  and  barn, 
an  excellent  fish  pond,  and  orchards  covering 
sixty-five  acres.  He  raises  nearly  all  kinds  of 
fruit,  grain,  vegetables  and  stock,  uses  improved 
machinery  in  the  cultivation  of  the  fields,  and 
follows  the  most  advanced  and  progressive  meth- 
ods in  all  departments  of  his  farm  work.  Through 
his  well  directed  labors  he  has  attained  a  position 
among  the  substantial  farmers  of  Idaho,  and  his 
success  is  the  just  reward  of  his  efforts. 

For  a  number  of  years  Mr.  Brigham  lived 
alone  upon  his  ranch,  but  in  1893  he  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Nellie  Wilson,  a  native  of 
Nebraska  and  a  daughter  of  William  Wilson, 
now  of  Latah  county,  Idaho.  They  now  have 
two  interesting  little  children:  John  Wilson  and 
Verna  Esther.  The  parents  are  valued  members 
of  the  United  Brethren  church,  and  in  political 
faith  Mr.  Brigham  is  a  Republican.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  fifteenth  territorial  council,  the 
state  convention  which  framed  the  present  con- 
stitution of  Idaho,  was  a  member  of  the  first 
state  senate,  and  at  the  present  writing,  1899, 
also  occupies  a  seat  in  the  upper  house  of  the 
general  assembly.  He  is  a  man  of  ideas,  viewing 
broadly  and  in  an  unprejudiced  manner  the  ques- 
tions that  come  up  for  consideration,  and  having 
at  heart  the  best  interest  of  his  fellow  men  and 
the  state  of  his  adoption.  He  considers  carefully- 
all  issues,  and  his  mature  judgment  has  had  a 
marked  and  beneficial  influence  upon  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  commonwealth.  During  campaigns 
he  has  labored  earnestly  for  the  success  of  his 
party,  delivering  many  addresses  in  support  of 
its  principles  and  is  a  recognized  leader  in  its 
ranks.  His  career,  both  public  and  private,  is 
irreproachable,  and  such  men  are  an  honor  to 
Idaho. 

WILLIAM  F.  HERRINGTON. 

The  medical  profession  would  seem  to  afford 
a  better  business  training  than  any  other  of  the 
learned  professions.  At  least,  of  the  lawyers  and 
clergymen  who  turn  their  attention  to  the  busi- 
ness very  many  of  them  fail.  Very  few  physicians 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


599 


do,  and  in  almost  any  community  the  successful 
physician  develops,  without  apparent  effort,  into 
the  successful  man  of  affairs.  One  of  the  many 
medical  men  who  are  making  noteworthy  careers 
as  business  men  is  the  gentleman  whose  name  is 
the  title  of  this  article. 

Dr.  William  F.  Herrington  was  born  in  Jeffer- 
son county,  Missouri,  September  12,  1861,  a  son 
of  S.  G.  and  Jane  (Beeler)  Herrington.  His 
father  was  born  in  Missouri  also,  in  1841,  and  is 
now  a  well-to-do  farmer  in  the  southern  part  of 
that  state.  His  mother,  a  native  of  Tennessee, 
died  in  Missouri,  when  only  twenty-four  years 
of  age. 

After  gaining  a  practical  education  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Salem,  Missouri,  and  spending  sev- 
eral years  in  business  pursuits,  young  Herrington 
began  the  study  of  medicine,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four,  under  the  preceptorship  of  Dr.  L.  B. 
Laws,  of  Houston,  Missouri.  Later  he  took  a 
course  of  professional  lectures  at  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  and  was  graduated  in  1889  from  the 
American  Medical  College,  of  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine. 
He  practiced  his  profession  one  year  in  Missouri 
and  one  year  in  the  state  of  Washington,  and  in 
1891  took  up  his  residence  at  Wallace,  Idaho, 
where  he  was  in  successful  practice  until  1895 
and  was  attending  physician  at  Providence  Hos- 
pital from  July,  1891,  to  October,  1894.  Since 
1895  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  real-estate 
and  insurance  business,  and  he  is  now  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  Herrington  &  Rossi  (William  F. 
Herrington  and  Herman  J.  Rossi),  which  does 
the  leading  real-estate  business  of  Shoshone 
county  and  represents  forty-three  strong  insur- 
ance companies. 

In  1885  Dr.  Herrington  married  Miss  Mary 
Coats,  of  Missouri,  and  they  have  four  children, 
named  Grover,  Bessie,  Maude  and  Edna.  Dr. 
Herrington  is  an  influential  Democrat,  active  and 
popular  in  political  circles  throughout  the  state. 
He  is  a  Mason,  an  Elk  and  an  Odd  Fellow.  As 
a  citizen  he  is  always  reliably  public-spirited  and 

helpful. 

JOHN  J.  BINGMAN. 

For  twenty-two  years  this  gentleman  has  car- 
ried on  agricultural  pursuits  on  Camas  prairie 
and  is  now  the  owner  of  one  of  the  finest  farms 
that  adorn  this  section  of  the  state.  He  was 


born  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1853,  a  son  of  Jacob 
and  Mary  Louisa  (Swarts)  Bingman,  also  natives 
of  the  Keystone  state.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
and  a  charcoal  burner,  and  at  the  time  of  the  civil 
war  he  enlisted  in  his  country's  service  as  a  de- 
fender of  the  Union.  He  was  a  drum  major  and 
belonged  to  Company  E,  Fifty-third  Pennsylva- 
nia Volunteer  Infantry,  with  which  he  served  un- 
til injured,  when  he  was  honorably  discharged. 
He  lived  to  be  seventy-five  years  of  age, 
and  died  in  1882,  his  wife  passing  away 
when  seventy-four  years  of  age.  They  were 
the  parents  of  fourteen  children,  and  their 
three  eldest  sons,  James,  George  and  Charles, 
entered  the  Union  army.  .James  laid  down  his 
life  on  the  altar  of  his  country.  He  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  after  suffering  all  the  hardships 
and  privations  of  life  in  Andersonville,  he  passed 
away.  Ten  of  the  family  still  survive. 

Mr.  Bingman  of  this  review  was  educated  .in 
the  public  schools  of  his  native  state,  and  since 
ten  years  of  age  has  not  only  earned  his  own 
living  but  gave  his  wages  to  his  father  until  he 
had  attained  his  majority.  Leaving  the  Keystone 
state,  he  then  went  to  Michigan,  where  he  was 
employed  as  a  farm  hand  until  1877,  when,  hop- 
ing to  take  advantage  of  the  government's  offer 
of  land,  he  came  to  Idaho  and  entered  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  on  Camas  prairie,  one  of 
the  richest  agricultural  districts  in  the  entire 
northwest.  The  farm  is  conveniently  and  pleas- 
antly located  four  miles  north  of  Grangeville  and 
thereon  he  has  built  a  good  house  and  barn  and 
made  other  substantial  improvements.  Some  of 
the  land  has  been  transformed  into  rich  fields, 
giving  evidence  of  abundant  harvests,  and  the 
other  is  used  as  pasture  lands  for  his  cattle, 
horses  and  hogs.  Both  as  a  general  grain 
farmer  and  stock-raiser  he  has  met  with  good 
success,  being  a  very  industrious,  energetic  man, 
— which  qualities  are  the  elements  of  prosperity. 

In  1883  Mr.  Bingman  returned  east,  and  on 
the  I4th  of  February,  1888,  married  Miss  Rose 
G.  White,  by  whom  he  has  one  child,  May  Alice. 
They  have  since  resided  on  the  farm  and  are 
widely  and  favorably  known  in  the  community. 
Mr.  Bingman  exercises  his  right  of  franchise  in 
support  of  the  men  and  measures  of  the  Democ- 
racy. He  was  a  participant  in  the  Nez  Perces 
war,  and  did  duty  at  Mount  Idaho  and  the 


coo 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Grangeville  stockade,  and  was  also  at  the  battle 
of  Clearwater.  The  days  of  Indian  hostilities 
being  past,  he  has  since  zealously  labored  to  pro- 
mote all  interests  calculated  to  benefit  the  com- 
munity, and  his  public  spirit  would  make  him  a 
valued  citizen  in  any  community. 

L.  C.  EASTMAN. 

The  quality  of  a  man's  manhood  has  every- 
thing, to  do  with  not  only  the  degree  but  with 
the  quality  of  his  success.  In  point  of  magni- 
tude a  man's  success  may  be  great,  but  it  may  be 
of  a  character  pitifully  weak,  if  not  dangerous  to 
the  public  weal.  The  solid,  substantial,  honest 
and  admirable  success  which  brings  a  man  not 
only  money  but  the  respect  of  his  fellow  men  is 
the  kind  of  success  that  has  crowned  the  endeav- 
ors of  the  man  whose  name  appears  as  the  title 
of  this  article. 

L.  C.  Eastman,  postmaster  at  Soda  Springs, 
Idaho,  and  pioneer  and  leading  druggist  of  that 
city,  was  born  at  Oskaloosa,  Iowa,  August  22, 
1855,  a  son  of  Hon.  Enoch  and  Caroline  (Green- 
ough)  Eastman.  The  founder  of  this  family  of 
Eastman  in  America  was  Jeremiah  Eastman,  an 
English  gentleman  who  had  a  fine  place  near 
some  of  the  landed  property  of  the  king  of  Eng- 
land. Frequently,  it  is  related,  he  was  annoyed 
by  the  sheep  belonging  to  His  Majesty  breaking 
into  his  grounds  and  injuring  them.  Remon- 
strance was  vain.  One  day  the  animals  invaded 
Mr.  Eastman's  garden  and  destroyed  it,  and  in 
driving  them  out,  not  any  too  gently  perhaps,  the 
wronged  subject  shot  one  of  them,  greatly  to  the 
displeasure  of  those  who  were  presumed  to  have 
them  in  charge  and  to  His  Majesty's  personal 
displeasure  also,  it  appears  likely,  for  he  was 
menaced  with  such  serious  trouble  and  personal 
danger  because  of  this  trivial  occurrence,  that 
he  was  obliged  to  seek  safety  beyond  the  borders 
of  his  native  land.  With  his  two  sons  he  escaped 
to  New  England,  embarking  from  Liverpool,  and 
settled  in  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  where  his 
wife  joined  him  not  long  afterward.  He  and  his 
descendants  were  active  in  making  our  early  his- 
tory. Some  of  them  did  patriotic  service  for  the 
cause  of  the  colonies  in  the  seven-years  fight  for 
American  independence,  and  John  Eastman,  L. 
C.  Eastman's  paternal  grandfather,  served  his 
country  in  the  war  of  1812-14,  and  Mr.  Eastman 


has  this  ancestor's  honorable  discharge  from  the 
United  States  army.  He  lived  to  a  good  old 
age  and  died  respected  and  regretted. 

Hon.  Enoch  Eastman,  L.  C.  Eastman's  father, 
was  born  in  Epsom,  New  Hampshire,  and  mar- 
ried Miss  Caroline  Greenough  in  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania.  He  became  a  lawyer  and  removed 
to  Iowa,  where  he  practiced  his  profession  and 
became  a  prominent  citizen  and  leading  Republi- 
can. He  long  represented  his  county  in  the  Iowa 
legislature  and  was  lieutenant  governor  of  that 
state.  He  died  in  Iowa,  in  1885.  His  wife  died 
in  1861,  aged  forty-four  years.  They  had  eight 
children,  of  whom  four  are  living  and  of  whom 
four  died  in  infancy  or  early  childhood. 

L.  C.  Eastman  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  Iowa,  and  at  sixteen  years  of  age  faced 
the  world  with  a  demand  for  a  living,  which  he 
was  quite  willing  to  earn.  He  found  employment 
as  an  assistant  on  the  survey  of  the  Iowa  Central 
Railroad,  and  in  1882  went  west  as  far  as  Colo- 
rado, where  he  engaged  in  quartz-mining  with 
little  success  and  in  the  drug  trade  at  the  same 
time  with  more  satisfactory  results.  His  partner 
in  the  drug  business  was  N.  J.  Brown,  M.  D., 
and  their  store  was  at  Kiowa,  Colorado.  In  1884 
he  came  to  Soda  Springs  and  opened  the  pioneer 
pharmacy  in  the  town.  He  has  been  quite  suc- 
cessful in  this  enterprise  and  has  a  large  estab- 
lishment, in  which  he  carries  a  full  line  of  drugs 
and  medicines,  paints,  oils  and  stationery.  His 
trade  is  large  and  constantly  growing  and  ex- 
tending over  a  wider  area,  and  he  is  so  popular 
personally  that,  notwithstanding  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican, he  was  appointed  postmaster  at  Soda 
Springs  under  President  Cleveland's  first  admin- 
istration. In  1897  he  was  again  appointed  to  the 
same  office,  under  President  McKinley's  admin- 
istration. The  people  of  Soda  Springs  have 
implicit  confidence  in  him  as  a  business  man  and 
know  him  as  a  thoroughly  public-spirited  citizen, 
who  has  the  important  interests  of  the  town  close 
to  his  heart  and  is  always  ready  to  promote  them, 
financially  or  otherwise,  to  the  extent  of  his 
ability.  He  has  erected  and  fitted  up  one  of  the 
pleasantest  and  most  comfortable  homes  in  the 
city.  He  was  married,  in  October,  1885,  to  Miss 
Caroline  Dorrien,  a  native  of  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  by  four 
children:  Elbert  W.,  Loretta,  Marguerite  and 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


601 


Richard  Gorton,  the  latter  having  been  named 
in  honor  of  Mr.  Eastman's  neighbor  and  personal 
friend,  the  late  Hon.  George  W.  Gorton,  one  of 
whose  sons  bears  the  name  of  Eastman. 

PETER  J.  HOLOHAN. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  appears  above 
claims  distinction  as  having  been  one  of  the  first 
settlers  at  Wallace,  Idaho,  and  as  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Holohan  &  McKinlay,  dealers  in 
tobacco  and  cigars,  he  is  recognized  as  one  of 
the  prominent  business  men  of  that  city.  He  is  a 
native  of  Hardin  county,  Kentucky,  and  is  a  son 
of  Michael  and  Ann  (Welsh)  Holohan,  natives  of 
Ireland,  who  came  early  in  life  to  the  United 
States  and  met  and  married  here,  settling  in  Ken- 
tucky about  1850.  Michael  Holohan  died  in 
Idaho,  in  1880,  aged  about  fifty  years,  and  his 
widow,  now  about  sixty-two  years  old,  is  living 
at  Wallace.  They  had  eight  children,  of  whom 
six  are  now  living,  and  of  whom  Peter  J.  Holohan 
was  the  second  in  order  of  nativity. 

At  nine  years  of  age  Peter  J.  Holohan  accom- 
panied his  parents  and  brothers  and  sisters  from 
Kentucky  to  Iowa,  where  the  family  lived  until 
1878.  He  then  went  to  Oregon,  but  remained 
only  a  short  time  before  settling  with  his  father's 
family  on  Camas  prairie,  in  Idaho  (now  in  Idaho 
county),  where  he  lived  until  1885,  five  years 
after  his  father's  death,  and  then  came  to  Wal- 
lace, where  he  was  one  of  the  first  settlers. 

Mr.  Holohan's  first  enterprise  after  taking  up 
his  residence  at  Wallace  was  in  packing  mer- 
chandise to  the  various  mining  camps  round 
about,  where  it  met  with  ready  sale.  Later  he 
engaged  in  real-estate  operations  and  thus  ac- 
quired considerable  property,  notably  an  interest 
in  the  Holohan  &  McKinlay  block  at  Wallace, 
occupied  partially  by  the  tobacco  and  cigar  estab- 
lishment of  Holohan  &  McKinlay.  He  has  mined 
with  some  success,  too,  and  has  conducted  all  of 
the  enterprises  with  which  he  has  had  to  do  with 
so  much  energy  and  good  judgment  that  he  ranks 
as  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  the  city. 

Personally  Mr.  Holohan  is  very  popular,  and 
he  has  a  large  acquaintance,  which  is  constantly 
augmented  by  his  membership  of  the  Benevolem 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  by  his  activity 
as  a  Democrat,  for  he  is  a  Democrat  of  the  kind 
that  is  bred  in  "Old  Kentucky"  and  has  been 


chairman  of  the  Democratic  county  central  com- 
mittee of  Shoshone  county,  and  is  influential  in 
all  important  and  local  councils  of  his  party.  He 
was  married  in  1881  to  Miss  Mildred  Sebastian, 
a  native  of  Oregon,  and  they  have  two  children 
named  Denis  and  Guy. 

ALBERT  SMALL. 

Albert  Small,  the  senior  member  of  the  firm 
of  Small  &  Emery,  prominent  wholesale  dealers 
in  and  manufacturers  of  lumber,  and  proprietors 
of  the  Lewiston  Lumber  Mills,  is  a  native  of  the 
province  of  New  Brunswick,  born  September  30, 
1841,  and  is  of  English  and  Scotch  ancestry.  His 
great-grandfather  Small  was  a  sea  captain  who 
emigrated  to  the  state  of  Maine,  where  for  mam 
years  he  made  his  home  and  headquarters.  He 
attained  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven  years, 
while  his  wife,  who  bore  the  maiden  name  of 
Mitchell,  reached  the  remarkable  age  of  ninety- 
seven.  They  were  the  parents  of  six  sons  and 
seven  daughters,  and  the  first  member  of  the 
family  to  pass  away  was  fifty-two  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  his  death.  One  of  the  number,  Daniel 
Small,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  New 
Brunswick,  and  having  arrived  at  years  of  matur- 
ity married  Lavina  Monroe,  by  whom  he  had 
nine  children,  Albert  being  the  third  in  order  of 
birth.  The  father  passed  away  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
two  years,  and  the  mother  died  about  the  same 
time,  at  the  age  of  sixty  years.  They  were  indus- 
trious farming  people,  and  were  members  of  the 
Baptist  church. 

During  his  early  boyhood  Albert  Small  accom- 
panied his  parents  on  their  removal  to  the  Pine 
Tree  state,  and  he  is  indebted  to  the  public-school 
system  of  Maine  for  the  educational  privileges  he 
received.  He  had  just  reached  his  twentieth  year, 
when  the  great  civil  war  was  at  its  height,  and 
in  response  to  the  president's  call  for  volunteers 
he  enlisted  in  the  First  Maine  Cavalry  and  served 
with  the  glorious  Army  of  the  Potomac  until  the 
close  of  hostilities.  He  witnessed  one  hundred 
and  three  engagements,  great  and  small,  and 
never  was  injured  in  the  slightest  way,  nor  was 
he  off  duty  for  a  single  day  on  account  of  illness. 
He  was  seventeen  months  at  General  J.  Irvin 
Craig's  headquarters,  in  the  provost  marshal's 
office,  and  the  remainder  of  the  time  at  the  head- 
quarters of  General  C.  H.  Smith,  who  was  com- 


602 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


mander  of  the  Third  Brigade  in  their  division.  In 
1862  he  was  sent  to  General  Meade's  headquar- 
ters and  was  with  him  up  to  and  through  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  and  also  saw  the  great  de- 
feat and  slaughter  of  the  Union  forces  at  Fred- 
ericksburg.  On  the  27th  of  May,  1865,  he 
received  an  honorable  discharge,  at  Petersburg, 
Virginia. 

In  August  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Small  went 
to  Montana,  where  he  remained  for  nine  years. 
He  was  engaged  in  mining  and  in  various  other 
pursuits,  spending  a  considerable  portion  of  that 
time  in  Helena,  in  charge  of  a  freighting  busi- 
ness. On  leaving  that  city  he  went  to  Walla 
Walla,  where  for  twelve  years  he  was  actively  en- 
gaged in  business  pursuits,  and  then  went  to  the 
Coeur  d'Alene  district,  where  he  built  a  sawmill 
and  furnished  the  mines  in  that  country  with 
much  of  the  lumber  they  used.  For  twelve  years 
he  was  successfully  conducting  that  enterprise 
and  then  came  to  Lewiston,  in  1897.  Here  he 
formed  the  firm  of  Small  &  Emery,  which  is  now 
doing  a  very  extensive  and  profitable  wholesale 
business.  They  are  proprietors  of  the  Lewiston 
Lumber  Mills,  and  are  doing  a  large  business  in 
the  manufacture  and  sale  of  lumber,  posts,  shin- 
gles, lath,  sash,  doors,  moldings  and  casings. 
They  also  put  up  wood  and  pack  ice,  and  their 
annual  sales  have  reached  a  large  amount.  The 
firm  enjoy  a  most  enviable  reputation  in  com- 
mercial circles,  for  the  partners  are  men  of  recog- 
nized business  ability  and  unquestioned  integrity. 
They  manufacture  their  lumber  from  logs  which 
come  from  the  Palouse  country  and  also  from 
the  large  white-pine  forests  on  the  Clearwater 
river,  and  these  are  brought  down  the  stream  in 
rafts.  The  mill  has  a  capacity  of  twenty-five 
thousand  feet  of  lumber  in  ten  hours.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  work  of  the  sawmill  and  factory,  they 
deal  in  all  kinds  of  building  materials.,  and  Mr. 
Small  also  has  a  number  of  valuable  mining  inter- 
ests in  Idaho  and  British  Columbia. 

In  1880  Mr.  Small  married  Miss  Annie  Welsh, 
a  native  of  Canada,  and  to  them  have  been  born 
four  children :  Albert,  who  is  associated  with  his 
father  in  business;-  Melville;  and  Rodney  and 
Nora,  who  are  in  school. 

In  politics  Mr.  Small  is  a  stalwart  Republican, 
but  has  never  sought  nor  desired  political  office 
for  himself.  His  name  is  on  the  membership  roll 


of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and 
he  has  filled  all  the  chairs  in  the  local  lodge, 
while  in  his  life  he  exemplifies  the  noble  and 
beneficent  principles  of  the  fraternity.  He  is 
widely  known  in  northern  Idaho  and  has  a  host 
of  warm  friends,  who  esteem  him  for  the  posses- 
sion of  those  sterling  traits  of  character  which  in 
every  land  and  every  clime  command  respect. 

WILLIAM  BUDGE. 

Bishop  Budge,  of  Paris,  state  senator  repre- 
senting Bear  Lake  county,  Idaho,  one  of  the 
most  widely  known  and  influential  men  in  the 
state  as  a  citizen  and  as  a  Republican,  and  a 
power  for  good  through  his  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter 
Day  Saints  in  his  stake  and  throughout  Idaho, 
is  a  native  of  Lanark,  Lanarkshire,  Scotland,  and 
a  son  of  William  and  Mary  (Scott)  Budge,  born 
May  i,  1828.  His  father  was  of  Highland  Scotch 
ancestry  and  was  born  in  Edinburg.  His  mother 
came  of  the  Scotts  of  Douglas  Castle,  Scotland. 
They  were  of  the  highest  respectability,  of  good 
social  status  and  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
church.  Bishop  Budge's  father  died  in  the  sixty- 
third  year  of  his  life,  and  his  mother  at  the  age 
of  forty-seven.  They  had  eight  children,  of  whom 
Senator  Budge  was  the  second  born.  He  at- 
tended school  in  Scotland,  but  the  education  he 
gained  in  that  way  was  so  meager  that  he  may 
truly  be  said  to  be  a  man  self-educated,  as  he  is 
undoubtedly  self-made  in  the  best  and  most  cred- 
itable sense  of  the  term.  At  twenty  he  was  con- 
verted to  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Latter  Day  Saints  and,  almost  immediately  be- 
came one  of  its  missionaries  and  labored  in  its 
behalf,  in  England,  Scotland,  Switzerland  and 
Germany,  with  such  great  success  that  he  sent 
many  hundreds  of  converts  to  the  headquarters 
of  the  church  in  America,  and  he  was  for  some 
years  second  counselor  of  the  president  of  the 
church  in  Europe.  Much  of  this  work  he  accom- 
plished before  he  was  thirty.  In  1860,  when  he 
was  thirty-two,  he  brought  about  six  hundred 
men,  women  and  children  to  America  on  the 
sailing  vessel  William  Tapscott.  Their  destination 
was  Salt  Lake  City.  They  arrived  at  New  York 
in  July  and  were  there  joined  by  other  converts, 
making  a  devoted  band  which,  as  its  captain. 
Bishop  Budge  led  in  a  long  journey  across  the 


/ 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


603 


plains.  Seventy-two  ox  wagons  were  required. 
A  few  of  the  company  died  en  route,  and  Bishop 
Budge  lost  his  own  little  child  by  death  on  the 
plains.  Once  when  they  were  encamped  they 
were  visited  by  a  large  party  of  Indians,  whom 
they  fed  and  who  departed  without  molesting 
them  in  any  way.  The  overland  journey  con- 
sumed three  months,  and  the  party  reached  Salt 
Lake  City  on  October  5,  1860.  Upon  their 
arrival  the  church  made  provisions  for  those  who 
were  needy,  and  the  others  soon  secured  work 
here  and  there,  or  engaged  in  business  if  they 
had  the  means,  and  became  permanent  settlers. 
As  for  William  Budge,  he  located  at  Farmington, 
Idaho,  and  while  he  did  not  abate  his  work  for 
the  church,  labored  for  his  material  support  at 
whatever  his  hands  found  to  do.  After  a  time 
he  was  ordained  a  bishop  of  the  church,  and 
removed  to  Cache  valley,  where  he  engaged  in 
farming  and  was  for  six  years  county  assessor 
and  collector  of  taxes.  Later  he  was  sent  abroad 
as  president  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter  Day  Saints  in  Europe  and  fulfilled  the 
responsibilities  of  that  high  office  with  signal 
ability  for  some  years.  In  1870  he  came  to  Paris, 
Idaho,  as  bishop  of  the  church  in  Bear  Lake 
county  and  became  prominent  in  the  affairs  of 
the  church  in  Idaho.  This  office  also  he  has  filled 
with  marked  ability,  and  under  his  management 
the  church  has  had  a  steady  and  substantial 
growth.  A  splendid  tabernacle  has  been  built  at 
Paris  by  the  Bear  Lake  Stake,  at  a  cost  of  forty- 
seven  thousand  dollars,  which  is  much  the  finest 
house  of  worship  in  the  state  of  Idaho.  A  large 
building  is  being  erected  for  a  pretentious  educa- 
tional institution  under  the  church  auspices,  at 
which  it  is  intended  to  fit  students  for  college. 
These  extensive  building  operations  have  been 
carried  on  under  the  Bishop's  general  super- 
vision, which  has  provided  for  the  payment  of  all 
expenses  as  they  have  become  due  and  has  not 
created  any  debt,  direct  or  indirect. 

For  many  years  the  Latter  Day  Saints  took 
little  interest  in  politics,  but  about  the  time  of 
the  admission  of  Utah  to  statehood  they  began 
to  side  with  different  parties  in  different  localities 
as  they  believed  their  church  and  personal  inter- 
ests dictated.  Bishop  Budge  inclined  to  the  Re- 
publican view  of  public  questions  and  affiliated 
with  that  party.  He  was  twice  sent  to  the  na- 


tional capital  to  exert  his  influence  with  congress- 
men in  the  interests  of  his  people,  and  was  twice 
elected  to  the  Idaho  territorial  legislature  from 
Bear  Lake  county  and  made  a  favorable  reputa- 
tion for  himself  with  the  public  men  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact.  In  1898  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Idaho  state  senate,  in  which  body 
he  has  served  with  ability,  dignity  and  true  de- 
votion to  the  best  interests  of  his  constituency. 

When  Bishop  Budge  came  to  the  territory  now 
known  as  Bear  Lake  county,  it  was  a  poor  coun- 
try, sparsely  settled  and  offering  little  encourage- 
ment to  investment  or  enterprise.  His  life  and 
that  of  his  associates  was  in  a  sense  the  life  of  the 
pioneer.  In  all  the  trials  through  which  the 
people  have  passed,  Bishop  Budge  has  stood  by 
them  manfully  and  has  used  his  great  ability  and 
personal  influence  to  silence  opposition  and  re- 
move obstacles.  He  has  devoted  so  much  of  his 
time  and  labor  to  the  church  that  he  has  been 
debarred  from  prospering  financially  as  he  might 
have  done  otherwise,  and  he  has  not  acquired  a 
large  amount  of  property,  but  he  has  a  pleasant 
home  at  Paris  and  a  good  ranch  upon  which  he 
farms  and  raises  stock  successfully,  and  he  is 
slowly  but  surely  laying  the  foundation  for  a 
comfortable  competence.  He  was  married  in 
1856  to  Miss  Julia  Stratford,  a  native  of  England. 
Five  of  their  children  have  grown  to  maturity: 
Julia,  who  married  Charles  W.  Nibley;  Annie, 
who  is  postmistress  at  Paris;  Mary,  who  married 
H.  Smith  Wooley;  Jesse,  now  a  student  in  the 
law  department  of  the  University  of  the  State  of 
Michigan;  and  Rose,  who  married  Joseph  R 

Shepherd. 

HENRY  DUNN. 

There  was  a  romantic  side  to  early  western 
history,  romantic  in  the  reading,  and  romantic 
and  perilous  in  the  living,  which  will  always  have 
a  place  in  American  literature.  The  men  who 
participated  in  it  were  of  the  quality  of  manhood 
of  which  good  soldiers  are  made,  with  a  dash  of 
the  explorer,  the  adventurer  and  the  pioneer. 
They  were  the  avant  heralds  of  advancing  civil- 
ization, and  when  civilization  came  they  were 
quick  to  avail  themselves  of  the  advantages  it 
offered,  and  were  more  far-seeing  than  some 
other  men  when  it  came  to  penetrating  the  future 
and  sizing  up  its  possibilities  and  probabilities. 
Such  a  pioneer  was  Henry  Dunn,  of  Blackfoot, 


G04 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


who  came  to  the  west  at  the  very  dawn  of  its 
civilization  and  has  made  a  place  for  himself  and 
for  his  posterity  in  a  country  which  has  a  glorious 
future  and  a  destiny  ever  onward. 

Henry  Dunn,  one  of  the  pioneer  stock  men  of 
Bingliam  county,  came  to  Idaho  in  1864.  He 
was  born  in  Liverpool,  England,  December  9, 
1840,  a  son  of  James  and  Mary  (Spinsby)  Dunn, 
and  is  descended  from  a  long  line  of  English 
ancestors.  When  he  was  seven  years  old  his 
parents  emigrated  to  Canada.  There  his  mother 
died  at  the  age  of  seventy-four,  in  1893,  and  his 
father,  in  the  eighty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  in  1894. 
They  were  educated  and  of  more  than  ordinary 
ability  and  were  lifelong  members  of  the  Epis- 
copal church.  Mr.  Dunn  was  a  successful  farm- 
er, and  his  sons  were  brought  up  with  a  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  the  ancient  and  honorable 
pursuit  to  which  he  devoted  his  life.  Of  the  four 
sons  and  five  daughters  of  James  and  Mary 
(Spinsby)  Dunn,  all  but  one  are  living.  Henry, 
the  eldest  child,  was  educated  in  Canada  so  far 
as  facilities  permitted,  and  by  reading  and  ob- 
serving has  come  to  be  thoroughly  informed  on 
all  subjects  of  interest  to  intelligent  American 
citizens.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1857 
and  located  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  where  he 
obtained  employment  as  an  omnibus  driver.  After 
a  year  he  was  employed  on  the  old  North  Mis- 
souri Railroad.  In  the  spring  of  1861  he  helped 
to  stock  the  stage  road  from  St.  Joseph,  Missouri, 
to  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  and  after  that  he  drove 
stage  for  the  noted  Ben  Halliday  until  the  spring 
of  1864.  He  then  came  to  Snake  river,  Idaho, 
and  operated  the  Conner,  Richards  &  Massey 
ferry,  eight  miles  above  Idaho  Falls.  The  Mon- 
tana gold  excitement  was  then  at  its  height,  and 
Mr.  Dunn  ferried  many  of  the  miners  and  pros- 
pectors who  flocked  to  Alder  Gulch.  Later  he 
ran  a  trading  post,  thirty  miles  north  of  Soda 
Springs,  where  he  built  a  bridge  of  logs,  which 
did  much  to  facilitate  travel  past  that  point.  In 
1866  he  came  to  what  is  now  known  as  Lincoln 
valley  and  engaged  in  stock-raising.  Thence  he 
removed  to  Snake  river,  and  in  1875  he  came  to 
Blackfoot,  where  he  has  one  thousand  acres  of 
land  and  keeps  five  hundred  fine  Durham  cattle. 
He  has  imported  many  fine  animals,  and  in  so 
doing  has  benefited  not  himself  alone  but  this 
part  of  the  state.  He  raises  large  quantities  of 


the  best  alfalfa  hay,  which  he  -uses  for  winter 
feeding. 

Mr.  Dunn  has  been  a  Democrat  since  before  he 
was  old  enough  to  vote,  but  has  never  sought 
nor  accepted  office,  preferring  to  give  all  his  time 
and  energy  to  his  private  affairs.  He  has  always 
been  a  willing  and  effective  worker  and  has  richly 
earned  the  success  that  has  crowned  his  efforts. 
He  stands  high  as  a  citizen  and  as  a  business  man 
whose  word  is  always  good,  and  to  him  is  ac- 
corded the  honor  that  belongs  to  the  pioneer. 
His  early  life  in  the  west  was  an  adventurous 
one  and  such  as  is  sought  only  by  men  of  daring 
arid  of  enterprise,  and  the  stories  he  could  tell  of 
the  days  of  stages,  log  bridges  and  ferries  would 
make  a  book  of  unusual  interest. 

Mr.  Dunn  was  married,  in  1870,  to  Mary  Jane 
Higham,  a  native  of  New  Orleans,  Louisiana, 
and  their  union  has  been  blessed  by  the  advent  of 
five  children,- — Ettie  (Mrs.  David  A.  Johnson); 
Elizabeth  (Mrs.  R.  M.  Shannon);  George,  who 
assists  his  father  in  the  management  of  his  affairs; 
Margaret  May,  a  member  of  her  father's  house- 
hold; and  another  not  named  here. 

CHARLES  HOFF. 

The  sturdy  German  element  in  our  national 
commonwealth  has  been  one  of  the  most  import- 
ant in  furthering  the  substantial  and  normal  ad- 
vancement of  the  country,  for  it  is  an  element 
which  takes  practical  values  into  account,  and 
one  of  higher  intellectuality  which  appreciates 
educational  advantages  and  applies  classical  and 
special  knowledge  to  the  common  affairs  of  life. 
Idaho  has  no  citizens  more  patriotic  than  those 
of  German-American  birth,  nor  has  it  a  citizen 
whose  influence  is  better  directed  than  that  of 
one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Montpelier  whose 
useful  career  is  here  outlined. 

Charles  Hoff  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, October  19,  1851,  a  son  of  John  G.  and 
Catharine  (Pfitzenmaier)  Hoff  and  a  brother  of 
Henry  Herman  Hoff,  to  a  sketch  of  whose  life, 
which  appears  in  this  volume,  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred for  much  of  interest  concerning  the  Hoff 
family  history.  Charles  was  the  seventh  son  in 
order  of  birth  in  a  family  of  nine.  By  circum- 
stances affecting  the  fortunes  of  his  family  he  was 
prevented  from  attending  school  after  he  was 
ten  years  old.  Previous  to  that  time,  however,  he 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


605 


was  a  student  in  the  public  schools  of  Philadel- 
phia, and,  possessing  an  active,  receptive  and 
retentive  mind,  he  there  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
present  wide  range  of  useful  information,  most 
of  which  he  obtained  in  the  hard  but  thorough 
school  of  experience.  When  he  was  eleven  years 
old  he  drove  an  ox  team  across  the  plains  from 
Omaha,  Nebraska,  to  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah.  In 
the  spring  of  1862,  accompanying  an  elder 
brother,  he  left  Philadelphia  and  went  by  rail 
to  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  and  thence  up  the  Mis- 
souri river  to  Omaha,  where  he  found  fifty-two 
wagons  in  a  train,  carrying  freight  and  a  con- 
siderable number  of  emigrants. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Salt  Lake  City  he 
secured  employment  in  a  bakery.  Later  he 
worked  on  a  farm  at  Pleasant  Grove,  Utah,  was 
clerk  in  a  store  and  was  employed  in  railway  con- 
struction. After  he  had  seen  the  golden  spike 
driven  which  celebrated  the  connection  of  the 
Union  Pacific  and  Southern  Pacific  lines,  he 
worked  at  mining,  for  wages,  in  American  Fork 
canyon,  until  1874,  when  he  came  to  a  favorable 
location  within  the  present  limits  of  Bear  Lake 
county,  Idaho,  and  took  up  two  hundred  and 
eighty  acres  of  government  land.  He  improved, 
cultivated  and  built  upon  this  property,  followed 
agriculture,  with  success,  and  in  1897  sold  it,  for 
three  thousand  and  one  hundred  dollars  cash  in 
hand,  and  removed  to  Montpelier. 

Upon  his  arrival  here  Mr.  Hoff  purchased 
town  property  and  engaged  in  the  hotel  and 
livery  business.  He  disposed  of  his  hotel  interest 
at  the  end  of  a  year,  and  has  since  carried  on 
a  good  livery  business,  in  connection  with  dray- 
ing,  general  teaming  and  a  trade  in  coal.  He  is 
an  alert,  energetic,  honorable  and  magnetic  man, 
who  draws  custom  by  his  methods  and  personal 
influence,  and  retains  it  by  the  fidelity  with  which 
he  makes  the  interests  of  each  individual  patron 
his  own. 

A  Democrat  in  politics,  he  is  active  and  influ- 
ential. He  was  county  commissioner  of  Bear 
Lake  county,  has  been  a  school  trustee  for  seven 
years,  and  was  prominent  in  connection  with  the 
erection  of  the  school  buildings  at  Georgetown, 
and  otherwise  helpful  in  educational  matters,  and 
at  this  time  is  a  member  of  the  town  council  of 
the  city  of  Montpelier.  He  is  an  elder  in  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  of 


which  his  family  also  are  all  members.  He  was 
happily  married,  in  1873,  to  Miss  Celestia  A. 
Bacon,  sister  of  Mrs.  Henry  Herman  Hoff,  and 
they  have  had  two  sons,  who  are  dead,  and  eight 
daughters,  named  Catharine  Celestia,  Harriet 
Edith,  Grace  Elizabeth,  Nina,  Mary,  Ruby.  Shir- 
ley and  Genevieve.  Harriet  E.  became  the  wife 
of  Riley  Barkdull. 

LORENZO  L.  HATCH. 

A  prominent  representative  of  the  Church  of 
Latter  Day  Saints  is  Lorenzo  Lafayette  Hatch, 
who  is  now  bishop  of  the  Franklin  ward  in  the 
Oneida  stake  of  Zion  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and  who  makes  his 
home  in  the  pretty  little  town  of  Franklin.  He 
was  born  in  Lehi,  Utah,  December  25,  1851,  and 
is  of  English  lineage,  his  ancestors  having  been 
among  the  early  settlers  of  Vermont.  They  were 
participants  in  the  events  which  form  the  early 
history  of  this  country,  and  representatives  of  the 
name  loyally  served  in  the  Revolutionary  war. 
The  grandfather,  Hezekiah  Hatch,  was  born  in 
Vermont,  and  was  among  the  first  to  become  a 
member  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter 
Day  Saints  when  that  organization  was  first  es- 
tablished. From  his  native  state  of  Vermont  he 
removed  to  Nauvoo,  Illinois,  where  he  died  at  a 
ripe  old  age.  Lorenzo  Hill  Hatch,  father  of  our 
subject,  was  born  in  the  Green  Mountain  state,  and 
with  his  father  went  to  Nauvoo  when  fourteen 
years  of  age.  There  he  became  an  active  member 
of  the  church  and  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  the 
eastern  states,  the  object  of  his  journey  being  to 
work  for  the  nomination  of  the  prophet,  Joseph 
Smith,  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the 
United  States.  In  1850  he  crossed  the  plains 
with  oxen  to  Utah.  He  had  been  married  when 
twenty  years  of  age,  and  his  wife  died  at  Council 
Bluffs  while  on  the  way  to  the  west.  At  Salt  Lake 
Mr.  Hatch  became  a  farmer  and  carpenter  and 
built  a  gristmill  at  Lehi,  one  of  the  first  mills  in 
that  section  of  the  country.  Soon  after  its  com- 
pletion it  was  burned  down,  probably  by  the  In- 
dians, but  he  rebuilt  it  and  carried  on  business 
there  for  some  time.  He  was  married  in  Salt 
Lake  City,  in  1850,  to  Sylvia  Eastman,  a  native 
of  Vermont,  and  in  1864  he  came  to  Franklin, 
sent  by  the  church  as  presiding  bishop  of  the 
ward,  in  which  honorable  office  he  capably  served 


606 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


until  1877,  when  he  removed  to  St.  George,  Utah. 
Subsequently  he  went  to  Woodruff,  Arizona, 
where  he  formed  a  settlement  of  the  church  and 
was  counselor  to  the  president  of  the  stake.  He 
has  been  a  patriarch  for  twenty  years  and  is  very 
prominent  in  the  society.  There  were  in  all 
twenty-two  children  born  to  him,  and  he  has  one 
hundred  grandchildren  and  two  great-grandchil- 
dren. He  is  now  seventy-four  years  of  age,  and 
is  still  hale  and  hearty. 

Bishop  Hatch  of  this  review  is  the  eldest  of 
the  family.  He  acquired  the  greater  part  of  his 
education  in  Franklin,  one  of  his  teachers  being 
the  pioneer  educator,  William  Woodward.  He 
attended  school  for  about  three  months  each  year, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  time  worked  hard  on 
the  farm,  since  which  time  he  has  carried  on  agri- 
cultural pursuits  as  a  life  work.  He  has  a  valu- 
able tract  of  land,  comprising  one  hundred  acres, 
which  he  has  acquired  through  his  own  well 
directed  and  energetic  efforts,  and  is  now  en- 
gaged in  raising  grain,  hay  and  stock,  making  a 
specialty  of  the  sheep  and  wool-growing  indus- 
try. He  arid  his  company  have  six  thousand 
head  of  sheep,  and  the  gross  income  from  the 
flock  in  1898  was  over  eleven  thousand  dollars. 
Mr.  Hatch  has  a  large  and  commodious  resi- 
dence, surrounded  by  a  beautiful  grove  of  large 
trees  of  his  own  planting,  and  the  neat  and 
thrifty  appearance  of  his  place  indicates  the  care- 
ful supervision  of  the  owner. 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Hatch  is  a  Re- 
publican. He  embraced  the  religious  belief  of 
his  fathers,  and  is  a  highly  valued  member  of 
the  church.  Upon  the  departure  of  his  father 
from  Franklin,  in  1877,  he  was  ordained  bishop, 
and  has  since  creditably  and  satisfactorily  served 
in  that  capacity.  From  1884  until  1886  he  was  on 
a  mission  in  Great  Britain,  where  he  did  all  in 
his  power  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  church 
of  whose  principles  he  is  a  worthy  exponent. 

Bishop  Hatch  was  happily  married,  in  1873, 
to  Miss  Annie  Scarborough,  a  native  of  Eng- 
land, and  their  union  has  been  blessed  with  ten 
children,  of  whom  nine  are  living,  the  entire  num- 
ber oeing  as  follows :  Lorenzo  Fayette ;  Delia  Sa- 
vonia ;  Ina  Elizabeth ;  Ruth  Blanche ;  Artie  Brooks, 
who  died  in  infancy;  Hezekiah  James;  Unita, 
Leah,  Aura  and  Catherine.  The  eldest  son  is  a 
graduate  of  the  Brigham  Young  College,  at 


Logan,  and  in  1896,  when  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  went  on  a  mission  to  the  Samoa  islands,  but 
after  six  months  spent  in  the  work  he  lost  his 
voice,  and  is  now  aiding  his  father  in  the  care 
of  the  sheep,  hoping  to  regain  his  health  through 
outdoor  life  and  exercise.  In  addition  to  the 
children  mentioned,  there  is  also  another  child 
who  is  a  member  of  the  Hatch  household,  an 
infant  boy  having  been  left  on  the  door-step  at 
one  time,  and  this  child  they  are  now  rearing  as 
their  own.  The  Bishop's  family  is  one  of  prom- 
inence in  the  community  and  their  friends  are 
many.  In  his  political  views  Mr.  Hatch  is  a 
Republican,  and  he  is  now  serving  as  postmaster 
of  Franklin.  His  daughter  Delia  is  acting  as  his 
deputy,  and  she  is  also  the  telegraph  operator 
at  this  point,  the  Deseret  telegraph  line  having 
been  built  by  the  church  to  Franklin. 

GEORGE  D.  CAMPBELL. 

Much  might  be  written  of  the  substantial  qual- 
ity of  the  Canadian  character  and  the  progressive 
spirit  which  has  been  manifested  by  Canadians 
•  who  have  located  in  the  United  States,  but  ex- 
amples which  prove  all  that  might  be  advanced 
in  this  direction  are  so  numerous  and  conspicu- 
ous everywhere  that  comment  along  this  line 
would  appear  to  be  almost  superfluous. 

George  D.  Campbell,  one  of  the  most  prom- 
inent citizens,  land-owners  and  capitalists  of 
Spaulding,  Idaho,  is  a  native  of  Grandville,  Can- 
ada, and  was  born  November  12,  1867.  He  is 
descended  from  Scotch  ancestry  of  great  his- 
torical note.  His  father,  James  Campbell,  mar- 
ried Mary  Bevin,  a  native  of  his  own  county. 
They  had  six  children,  all  of  whom  are  living  in 
the  United  States.  They  were  persons  of  high 
character  and  intelligence  and  were  lifelong  mem- 
bers of  the  Episcopal  church.  James  Campbell 
died  February  21,  1899,  aged  eighty-five  years, 
and  his  wife  is  living,  in  her  seventy-sixth  year. 
George  D.  Campbell  was  the  fifth  child  of  this 
worthy  couple.  He  was  educated  in  Canada  and 
in  Wisconsin  and  early  turned  his  attention  to 
hotel-keeping.  He  was  married  January  3,  1894, 
at  Missoula,  Montana,  to  Miss  Mary  Christine 
Williams,  a  native  of  British  Columbia,  daughter 
of  Edward  Williams  and  granddaughter  of  Angus 
McDonald,  post  trader  and  shareholder  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  one  of  the  earliest 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


607 


settlers  in  Montana.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Campb'ell  came 
to  Idaho  soon  after  their  marriage,  and  in  1895 
became  possessed  of  twenty-seven  acres  of  land 
in  the  center  of  Spaulding,  including  the  entire 
business  portion  of  the  town.  On  this  property 
they  have  erected  seven  store  and  business  build- 
ings and  the  Spaulding  hotel,  a  three-story  frame 
structure  containing  forty  rooms,  which  is  the 
only  hotel  in  the  town  and  is  in  every  way  ade- 
quate to  demands  upon  it.  The  hotel  and  the 
seven  other  buildings  are  all  leased  to  desirable 
tenants,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Campbell  have  rooms 
at  the  hotel.  Besides  this  property,  they  own 
fifty-five  acres  of  choice  land  outside  the  town. 

Mr.  Campbell  is  a  Republican  and  a  Woodman 
of  the  World.  He  is  an  honorable  man  of  much 
public  spirit  and  is  highly  esteemed  by  all  who 

know  him. 

ISAAC  C.  HATTABAUGH. 

Prominent  in  the  field  of  politics  and  in  busi- 
ness circles,  Isaac  C.  Hattabaugh  has  left  the 
impress  of  his  individuality  upon  the  public  life 
of  Latah  county,  and  is  to-day  numbered  among 
the  leading  and  influential  citizens  of  Moscow.  A 
native  of  Indiana,  he  was  born  in  Salem,  that 
state,  December  24,  1851.  His  grandfather, 
Jacob  Hattabaugh,  was  born  in  Germany,  and 
crossing  the  Atlantic  to  America  settled  in  Vir- 
ginia, whence  he  afterward  removed  to  Pennsyl- 
vania and  from  there  to  Indiana.  He  was  a  man 
of  ability  and  an  influential  pioneer  settler  of 
southern  Indiana.  His  son,  George  W.  Hatta- 
baugh, the  father  of  our  subject,  was  a  native  of 
the  Hoosier  state,  and  there  married  Sarah 
Boling,  who  was  born  in  North  Carolina  and 
was  a  daughter  of  Randolph  and  Jane  (Graves) 
Boling.  By  occupation  Mr.  Hattabaugh  was  a 
farmer,  following  that  pursuit  throughout  his 
active  business  life.  His  wife  was  a  member  of 
the  Christian  church.  He  was  never  identified 
with  any  church.  He  was  born  in  1822  and  died 
in  1898,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years,  and  his 
wife  passed  away  in  1892,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
eight.  They  were  the  parents  of  seven  children, 
four  of  whom  are  still  living  in  Indiana  and 
Illinois. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  his 
father's  farm,  where  he  early  became  familiar 
with  all  the  duties  and  labors  that  fall  to  the  lot 
of  the  agriculturist.  He  acquired  his  education 


in  the  public  schools  of  Kossuth  and  Plattsburg, 
and  when  nineteen  years  of  age  left  home,  going 
to  Indianapolis,  where  he  taught  school  and  later 
engaged  in  bridge-building  and  contracting.  He 
was  also  for  some  years  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  drain  tile  near  Jamestown,  Indiana,  and 
in  1878  he  resolved  to  try  his  fortune  in  the  far 
west.  Accordingly  he  took  up  his  residence  in 
Lewiston,  Idaho,  pre-empted  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land,  and  then  engaged  in  con- 
tracting and  building.  He  also  was  interested 
in  a  sash  and  door  manufactory  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  was  thus  very  active  in  promoting  the 
industrial  interests  of  the  community  in  which 
he  resided.  He  is  a  man  of  excellent  business 
and  executive  ability,  and  his  capable  manage- 
ment and  industry  brought  to  him  a  deserved 
success. 

Mr.  Hattabaugh  also  early  became  recognized 
as  a  leading  factor  in  Democratic  circles,  giving 
an  active  support  to  the  men  and  measures  of 
the  party.  He  received  the  appointment  of  deputy 
auditor  of  his  county  and  afterward  was  elected 
auditor  of  Nez  Perces  county,  which  then  in- 
cluded all  of  Latah  county.  In  1889  he  came 
to  Moscow  to  reside  and  here  served  as  deputy 
court  clerk.  He  also  established  an  ab- 
stract office  and  in  that  year  the  Commercial 
Bank  was  organized,  with  a  capital  stock  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  he  was  elected  president  of 
the  new  institution,  over  which  he  presided  until 
1895.  Under  his  capable  management  the  bank 
prospered  and  became  very  popular,  doing  a 
large  business,  but  in  1895,  when  the  great 
financial  panic  came,  they  had  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  dollars  loaned  out  and  were  un- 
able to  get  the  money.  Therefore,  like  many 
other  banks  and  business  enterprises,  they  were 
forced  into  bankruptcy.  Mr.  Hattabaugh  was 
appointed  trustee  to  close  up  the  business  of  the 
bank,  but  the  entire  wheat  crop  of  the  country 
was  destroyed  by  heavy  rains  that  year  and  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  was  all  that  could  be  collected, 
so  that  the  loss  sustained  by  the  bank  was  one 
hundred  and  five  thousand  dollars.  Since  that 
time  Mr.  Hattabaugh  has  been  with  the  Elder 
Brothers,  dealers  in  farm  machinery,  this  being 
the  largest  house  of  the  kind  south  of  Spokane. 

In  1892  Mr.  Hattabaugh  was  chosen  by  his 
party  as  the  candidate  for  county  treasurer.  The 


608 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


campaign  was  a  very  spirited  one  and  he 
made  a  splendid  canvass,  receiving  a  majority 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  votes,  when  the 
usual  Republican  majority  was  from  five  to 
seven  hundred.  He  has  also  held  the  office  of 
regent  of  the  State  University,  to  which  he  was 
appointed  by  Governor  McConnell,  and  had  the 
honor  of  being  president  of  the  board  for  two 
years.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  affairs  of 
the  university  and  labored  most  effectively  and 
earnestly  for  its  welfare.  He  is  at  all  times  a 
progressive  and  loyal  citizen  and  withholds  his 
support  from  no  measure  which  he  believes  will 
advance  the  general  good.  He  was  six  years  a 
member  of  the  Moscow  school  board  of  trustees, 
during  which  time  he  was  treasurer  of  the  board, 
and  when  the  bank  failed,  wherein  the  funds  were 
deposited,  he  made  it  good  by  deeding  the  school 
board  one  brick  building  in  Moscow  and  his  for- 
mer residence  in  Lewiston.  This  sacrifice  was 
in  the  interest  of  education. 

Before  leaving  Indiana  Mr.  Hattabaugh  was 
married,  December  16,  1875,  to  Miss  Allie  Miller, 
daughter  of  Eli  Miller,  of  Indiana,  and  now  the 
only  survivor  of  her  father's  family.  Unto  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hattabaugh  have  been  born  two  chil- 
dren, a  son  and  daughter,  M.  Reese  and  Nona, 
both  now  students  in  the  State  University.  The 
family  have  a  pleasant  home  in  Moscow  and  the 
members  of  the  household  hold  high  rank  in 
social  circles.  Our  subject  is  a  very  zealous  and 
enthusiastic  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  his  wife  is  an  active  member  of  the  Order  of 
the  Eastern  Star,  while  she  and  her  daughter 
both  belong  to  the  Order  of  Rebekah,  Miss  Nona 
being  secretary  of  the  latter  lodge  in  Moscow. 
Mr.  Hattabaugh  was  made  a  Master  Mason  in 
Middlefork  Lodge,  No.  304,  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Mid- 
dlefork,  Indiana,  March  6,  1875,  and  dimitted 
therefrom  in  1879  to  become  a  member  of  Nez 
Perces  Lodge,  No.  10,  of  Lewiston.  He  took  a 
very  active  part  in  its  work,  filled  all  of  the  offices 
and  served  as  master  for  two  years.  On  remov- 
ing to  Moscow,  he  dimitted  from  the  lodge  in 
Lewiston,  in  1890,  and  is  now  affiliated  with 
Paradise  Lodge,  No.  17,  of  which  he  had  the 
honor  of  being  chosen  master  in  1891.  He  was 
made  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  in  Lewiston  Chapter, 
No.  4,  R.  A.  M.,  October  24,  1885,  and  in 
1889  he  dimitted  to  Moscow  Chapter  No. 


7.  He  was  created  a  Knight  Templar  in 
Moscow  Commandery  in  1892,  is  now  its  emi- 
nent commander,  and  has  attained  the  fourteenth 
degree  of  the  Scottish  rite.  He  is  well  versed  in 
the  ritual  and  the  work  of  the  order,  and  by  rea- 
son of  his  proficiency  was  appointed  deputy  grand 
master  in  1887,  and  in  1892  was  honored  by  elec- 
tion to  the  office  of  most  worshipful  grand  master 
of  the  grand  lodge  of  Idaho.  He  is  a  worthy  ex- 
emplar of  the  beneficent  and  ennobling  teachings 
of  the  fraternity  and  as  a  man  and  Mason  stands 
very  high  in  the  public  regard. 

MARCUS  A.  MEANS. 

The  successful  career  of  Marcus  Asbury 
Means,  of  Genesee,  is  an  illustration  of  the  trite 
saying  that  brains  and  perseverance  will  make 
their  way  against  all  obstacles.  Yet  it  is  the 
multiplication  of  this  illustration  in  all  parts  of 
our  country  that  makes  America  one  of  the  great 
powers  of  the  earth.  Mr.  Means  may  be  said  to 
have  been  a  child  of  war.  He  was  born  at  Sea- 
brook,  Illinois,  October  16,  1862,  while  his  father 
was  fighting  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  on 
southern  battlefields,  a  service  in  which  he 
yielded  up  his  life  in  defense  of  his  country.  Mr. 
Means  is  of  Scotch-English  ancestry.  His 
grandfather,  Collin  Means,  from  England,  set- 
tled in  Virginia  and  was  the  progenitor  of  the 
family  in  the  United  States.  He  removed  to  Mc- 
Lean county,  Illinois,  in  1829,  and  his  son,  Jo- 
seph Kefer  Means,  was  born  in  Virginia  and 
reared  in  Illinois, — a  good  combination  for  the 
promotion  of  patriotism.  Joseph  K.  Means 
married  Matilda  Rankin,  also  of  Scotch-English 
descent.  When  the  civil  war  came  he  was  well 
established  in  life  and  had  an  interesting  family. 
He  enlisted  in  Company  F,  One  Hundred  and 
Sixteenth  Illinois  Volunteers,  September  6,  1862, 
and  he  died,  of  a  disease  contracted  in  the  service, 
at  Walnut  Hill,  Mississippi,  January  15,  1863. 
It  is  indeed  glorious  for  a  man  to  die  for  the  land 
he  loves,  but  the  mourning  of  those  he  leaves  be- 
hind is  long,  and  often  without  much  comfort. 
Alta,  one  of  Mr.  Means'  sisters,  is  the  wife  of 
W.  L.  Brown,  a  talented  lawyer  of  Salt  Lake 
City,  Utah.  Marcus  Asbury  Means  is  the  only 
survivor  of  his  immediate  family. 

Mr.  Means  was  educated  at  Normal,  Illinois, 
and  in  1878  went  to  San  Jose,  California.     He 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


609 


was  employed  there  about  two  years  and  then 
went  to  Portland,  Oregon.  During  the  succeed- 
ing two  years  he  was  a  member  of  a  surveying 
party  operating  on  the  line  of  the  Northern  Pa- 
cific Railroad.  Coming  to  Idaho  in  1895,  he 
entered  upon  his  successful  mercantile  career  in 
a  little  store  eighteen  by  thirty  feet  in  size.  It 
was  a  small  beginning,  but  it  foreshadowed  im- 
portant things.  Since  that  time  this  store  has 
been  twice  enlarged  and  Mr.  Means  occupies  ex- 
tensive warehouses  and  a  branch  store,  the  latter 
located  at  Oro  Fino,  Idaho.  He  handles  all 
kinds  of  merchandise  demanded  in  a  first-class 
farming  and  mining  community,  and  has  a  large 
and  increasing  trade.  He  has  acquired  con- 
siderable real-estate. 

Mr.  Means  was  married  September  i,  1889,  to 
Catherine  Hayes,  daughter  of  James  Hayes,  of 
Lewiston,  and  a  native  of  that  city,  and  she  has 
borne  him  a  daughter,  named  Marguerite.  Mrs. 
Means  is  prominent  in  all  good  work  in  her  com- 
munity. Mr.  Means  is  a  successful  and  public- 
spirited  man  and  is  in  every  way  deserving  of  the 
high  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  his  fellow 

citizens. 

LEON  MISSLIN. 

The  career  of  any  pioneer  is  interesting.  An 
account  of  that  of  Leon  Misslin  will  be  found 
especially  so  to  the  many  who  know  and  respect 
him  for  his  many  good  qualities  of  head  and 
heart.  He  came  into  the  "wilds  of  Idaho"  eight 
years  before  the  government  surveyed  the  land, 
and  as  a  pioneer  had  many  thrilling  experiences 
and  encountered  numerous  hardships  and  over- 
came many  obstacles.  The  story  of  his  struggles 
and  triumphs,  could  it  be  given  in  full,  would 
be  of  the  greatest  interest. 

Leon  Misslin  was  born  at  Xantes,  Loire, 
France,  a  son  of  J.  A.  and  Mary  (Ortteschurd) 
Misslin,  and  came  with  his  parents  and  his  seven 
brothers  and  sisters  to  the  United  States  in  1855. 
The  family  lived  at  Racine,  Wisconsin,  until 
1861,  when  they  went\o  Minnesota,  where  Mr. 
Misslin  achieved  success  as  a  farmer  and  there 
died,  aged  seventy,  in  1869.  His  wife  survives 
him  and  has  attained  the  advanced  age  of  ninety- 
two  years.  Of  their  eight  children,  seven  are 
living. 

Leon  Misslin,  who,  in  the  sequence  of  birth, 
was  the  fourth  child  of  J.  A.  and  Mary  Misslin, 


received  a  common-school  education  in  Wiscon- 
sin, and  took  up  the  battle  of  life  for  himself  at 
the  age  of  fifteen.  He  devoted  three  years  to 
hard  work  in  a  blacksmith  shop,  becoming  a 
thorough  master  of  the  blacksmith's  trade,  and 
in  1863  he  entered  the  United  States  service  as 
a  blacksmith  in  connection  with  military  opera- 
tions, and  was  with  the  army  in  Arkansas.  After 
the  war  was  ended  he  went  to  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah,  and  thence  to  Idaho.  About  this  time  he 
was  employed  by  Ben  Halliday  to  keep  some  of 
his  stages  in  repair  and  to  do  other  blacksmithing 
necessary  to  his  extensive  business.  Soon  after 
his  arrival  in  Idaho  Mr.  Misslin  bought  a  bunch 
of  cattle  and  brought  them  to  his  present  loca- 
tion, where,  after  the  land  was  surveyed,  in  1873, 
he  acquired  a  half-section,  well  suited  to  stock- 
raising.  He  has  since  added  to  his  landed  pos- 
sessions until  he  is  the  owner  of  four  hundred 
and  eighty  acres.  He  was  very  successful  as  a 
stockman  and  for  a  considerable  period,  down  to 
1897,  when  they  sold  out,  he  and  his  brother  con- 
trolled the  cattle  business  in  this  locality,  some- 
times having  on  their  ranges  at  one  time  as  many 
as  six  hundred  head.  After  they  retired  from 
cattle-raising  they  invested  in  Cotswold  sheep, 
and  for  some  time  past  they  have  owned  an  aver- 
age of  two  thousand  head. 

Politically  Mr.  Misslin  is  a  Republican.  He 
was  reared  in  the  Catholic  faith.  As  a  business 
man  he  is  progressive  and  enterprising,  shrewd 
and  scrupulously  honest.  His  standing  in  the 
business  community  is  deservedly  high,  and  he 
is  uniformly  regarded  as  a  useful  and  influential 
citizen. 

Mr.  Misslin  was  married,  in  1888,  to  Miss  Jen- 
nie L.  Heaton,  a  native  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
who  is  descended  from  English  ancestry.  They 
have  two  daughters,  named  Isabel  and  Anna. 

GEORGE  DABNEY  ELLIS. 

One  of  the  founders  of  Boise  City  and  one  of 
the  most  active  spirits  in  the  upbuilding  and 
progress  of  this  thriving  place  during  the  past 
quarter  of  a  century  has  been  George  D.  Ellis,  a 
pioneer  of  Idaho,  whither  he  came  in  1863.  He 
is  and  has  been  the  president  of  the  Capital  State 
Bank  of  Boise  City  for  several  years ;  is  a  stock- 
holder and  general  manager  and  treasurer  of  the 
electric  street-car  line  of  this  place  and  is  a  stock- 


610 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


holder  and  a  director  of  the  Artesian  Hot  &  Cold 
Water  Company,  besides  having  materially  aided 
and  fostered  many  other  local  enterprises  calcu- 
lated to  benefit  the  city.  He  is  a  man  of  great 
public  spirit,  ever  ready  to  do  all  in  his  power 
to  promote  the  well-being  of  his  brother  men; 
and  herein  lies  one  of  the  secrets  of  his  popularity. 

By  birth  George  D.  Ellis  is  a  Virginian,  and 
comes  from  one  of  the  honored  old  families  of 
that  state.  His  father,  Thomas  Ellis,  married  a 
lady  of  the  same  state,  Miss  Polly  Ballard,  and 
ten  children  were  born  to  them,  five  of  the  num- 
ber still  living.  Thomas  Ellis,  who  was  a  soldier 
of  the  war  of  1812,  lived  to  be  seventy-seven  years 
of  age,  and  his  wife  departed  this  life  when  in 
her  seventieth  year. 

George  D.  Ellis  was  born  in  Albemarle  county, 
Virginia,  April  10,  1837,  and  received  a  common- 
school  education.  At  nineteen  he  left  home  to 
make  his  own  way  in  the  world,  and  in  1856  he 
went  to  Kansas.  Until  1860  he  lived  in  Paola, 
and  consequently  was  a  witness  of  some  of  the 
thrilling  events  of  that  troublous  period  in  the 
annals  of  "bleeding"  Kansas.  The  "border  ruf- 
fianism" of  that  region  and  the  unscrupulous 
methods  of  local  pro-slavery  politicians  made  a 
good  Republican  of  him,  and  from  that  time  to 
the  present  he  has  never  wavered  in  his  allegiance 
to  the  party.  From  Kansas  he  went  to  Col- 
orado, where  he  engaged  in  mining  in  the  vicinity 
of  Gregory  and  met  with  a  fair  measure  of  suc- 
cess. At  the  end  of  three  years  he  came  with 
a  mule  team  to  Idaho  City,  and  having  obtained 
a  claim  he  and  his  companions  engaged  in  min- 
ing and  took  out  about  ten  dollars  a  day  apiece. 
For  several  years  thereafter  he  was  connected 
with  agricultural  enterprises  and  also  engaged  in 
contracting  and  building,  for  he  had  learned  the 
carpenter's  trade  years  before.  For  ten  years, 
also,  he  freighted  from  Kelton  to  Boise  City  and 
other  points.  At  Boise  City  he  took  up  one 
hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land,  and  in  partner- 
ship with  T.  Davis  planted  the  first  apple  orchard 
in  the  territory.  Later,  he  sold  the  farm  to  Mr. 
Davis,  and  purchased  three  hundred  acres  north- 
west and  outside  the  boundary  of  Boise  City.  On 
this  property  he  erected  a  comfortable  house  and 
made  other  improvements,  and  as  he  went  there 
to  dwell  in  1876  the  place  has  been  called  the 
Centennial  Ranch.  The  farm  is  a  valuable  one, 


producing  grain,  timothy,  etc.,  and  is  one  of  the 
best  managed  homesteads  in  this  section  of  the 
state. 

In  the  Methodist  denomination  Mr.  Ellis  has 
been  a  power  in  Idaho,  using  his  means  and  in- 
fluence liberally  toward  the  upbuilding  and 
spreading  of  Christianity.  He  was  given  the 
contract  for  the  building  of  the  large,  substantial 
brick  church  at  Boise  City,  and  for  twenty  years 
he  was  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school.  He 
is  a  man  of  undoubted  integrity  and  uprightness, 
and  no  citizen  here  is  held  in  higher  esteem. 

In  1873  Mr-  Elhs  married  Miss  Telitha  Staf- 
ford, a  native  of  Illinois.  This  worthy  couple, 
having  no  children  of  their  own,  took  into  their 
hearts  and  home  two  boys  and  two  girls,  and 
reared  them  to  manhood  and  womanhood.  They 
are  all  respected  and  useful  citizens,  and  look 
upon  their  devoted  foster  parents  with  the  love 
and  veneration  which  is  their  just  due.  Olive 
Ellis  West  is  the  wife  of  C.  H.  Packingham,  and 
the  other  daughter  is  now  Mrs.  E.  W.  Brown. 
William  Stafford  is  a  well-to-do  and  successful 
farmer,  and  Robert  Jago,  the  youngest  of .  the 
children  of  Mr.  Ellis,  is  still  attending  school. 

GEORGE  W.  MILLS. 

A  self-made  man  who  has  not  despised  the 
day  of  small  things,  and  who  has  used  obstacles 
as  stepping-stones  to  higher  successes,  has  a  right 
to  regard  his  advancement  with  pride.  It  is 
comparatively  easy  for  a  man  of  reasonably  good 
ability  to  achieve  a  business  success  on  capital 
borrowed  or  inherited,  but  it  requires  real  force 
of  character  to  earn  the  capital  by  hard,  persistent 
work,  and  save  it  and  invest  it  successfully. 

George  W.  Mills,  who  enjoys  the  distinction  of 
being  one  of  the  leading  butchers  of  southeastern 
Idaho,  was  born  in  Franklin  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, September  13,  1854,  a  son  of  John  and 
Amy  (Clymens)  Mills,  and  is  descended  from 
Scotch  ancestry,  inheriting  many  of  the  sterling 
qualities  of  that  sturdy  people.  His  father,  John 
Mills,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  died  there 
in  his  fifty-fourth  year.  His  widow  lived  to  be 
seventy-seven  years  old.  They  were  lifelong 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  were  of 
the  most  admirable  character,  industrious,  eco- 
nomical, philanthropic  and  helpful  to  every 
worthy  movement  having  the  public  good  for  its 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


611 


object.  They  had  five  sons  and  three  daughters, 
and  five  of  the  eight  are  living  at  this  time.  After 
gaining  a  primary  education  in  the  public  schools 
near  his  Pennsylvania  home,  George  W.  Mills 
began  in  1867,  when  he  was  thirteen,  to  earn  his 
own  living.  For  twenty-seven  years  he  worked 
for  others,  without  getting  on  financially  to  any 
satisfactory  extent.  He  came  to  Idaho  Falls  in 
1885  and  was  first  employed  at  carpenter's  trade. 
Later  he  did  about  any  honest  work  his  hands 
found  to  do  and  that  any  one  would  pay  him 
for  doing,  until  1894,  when  he  opened  a  meat- 
market  at  Idaho  Falls.  Since  then  there  has 
been  developed  from  this  central  plant  a  large 
and  growing  trade  in  meats  and  allied  products, 
which  trade  extends  in  every  direction  through- 
out a  large  territory.  Some  time  since  Frank  T. 
Martin  acquired  an  interest  in  the  business,  and 
it  has  since  been  conducted  under  the  style  of 
Martin  &  Mills.  Mr.  Mills  has  a  farm  of  eighty 
acres  and  several  pieces  of  valuable  town  prop- 
erty, including  a  pleasant  and  convenient  home. 
In  1894  Mr.  Mills  married  Miss  Emma  Yoe, 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  they  have  two 
children,  named  John  and  Myrtle.  Mrs.  Mills  is 
a  devout  and  helpful  member  of  the  Baptist 
church.  Mr.  Mills  is  a  Republican,  but  is  too 
busy  to  take  an  active  part  in  politics.  He  is  an 
Odd  Fellow  and  has  from  time  to  time  been 
identified  with  other  organizations.  His  stand- 
ing in  business  circles  is  deservedly  high. 

SAMUEL  J.  LANGDON. 

Samuel  J.  Langdon,  one  of  the  highly  esteemed 
pioneer  farmers  of  Latah  county,  is  a  native  of 
Ohio,  having  been  born  at  Granville,  Licking 
county,  May  4,  1829.  He  is  of  Scotch-Irish  line- 
age, and  his  ancestors  were  early  settlers  of  Con- 
necticut and  participants  in  the  Revolutionary 
war  and  in  the  events  which  go  to  form  the  colo- 
nial history  of  the  country.  The  family  is  noted 
for  a  patriotic  spirit,  and  one  of  the  Langdons 
served  as  commander  of  the  colonial  forces  at  the 
battle  of  Ticonderoga.  Jesse  Langdon,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  born  and  reared 
in  Connecticut  and  there  married  Miss  Jewett, 
with  whom  he  later  removed  to  Berkshire,  Mas- 
sachusetts, where  he  followed  the  occupation  of 
farming.  They  were  members  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church,  and  both  attained  to  a  ripe  old  age. 


In  their  family  were  seven  children:  Hiram,  An- 
son,  Richardson,  James  J.,  Albert,  Betsy  and 
Eunice  H. 

James  J.  Langdon,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
was  born  on  the  .old  family  homestead  in  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1795,  and  when  a  young  man  re- 
moved to  Licking  county,  Ohio,  where  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Mary  White,  a  daughter  of  Cap- 
tain Samuel  White,  who  was  a  prominent  citizen 
of  Licking  county,  and  who  won  his  title  by  com- 
manding a  company  of  the  state  militia.  The 
maternal  great-grandfather  of  our  subject, 
Thomas  Philipps,  was  a  native  of  Wales,  and 
leaving  that  little  rock-ribbed  country,  in  1787, 
he  crossed  the  water  to  Philadelphia.  His  son, 
John  H.  Philipps,  was  a  member  of  the  staff  of 
General  Anthony  Wayne  during  the  Indian  wars, 
and  after  the  establishment  of  the  republic  he 
removed  to  Licking  county,  Ohio,  where  he 
owned  a  large  tract  of  land  at  Granville.  Samuel 
White  married  Martha  Philipps,  the  daughter  of 
Thomas  Philipps,  and  in  1810  went  from  Penn- 
sylvania to  Granville,  Ohio,  casting  in  his  lot 
with  the  pioneers  of  that  section  of  the  state. 
Their  daughter  Mary  became  the  wife  of  James 
J.  Langdon,  and  the  mother  of  him  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch.  After  their  marriage  Mr. 
Langdon  carried  on  a  coopering  establishment  in 
Ohio  until  1840,  when  he  removed  with  his  fam- 
ily to  southeastern  Missouri.  Five  years  later 
he  returned  to  Newark,  Ohio,  and  from  there 
emigrated  to  McLean  county,  Illinois,  where  his 
death  occurred  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 
His  wife  survived  him  ten  years  and  died  in  her 
seventieth  year.  They  had  a  family  of  six  chil- 
dren: Martha,  Mary,  Samuel  J.,  Albert  E.,  Eliza- 
beth D.,  and  Ellen  E.  Martha,  Mary  and  Eliza- 
beth have  passed  away.  Albert  E.  is  now  a  resi- 
dent of  Illinois,  and  Ellen  is  now  Mrs.  Calkins,  a 
widow,  residing  with  her  brother,  the  subject  of 
this  review. 

Samuel  J.  Langdon  was  educated  in  Newark, 
Ohio,  and  began  life  on  his  own  account  as  a 
farmer.  He  was  married  on  the  26th  of  July, 
1853,  to  Miss  Martha  Virginia  Willson,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Ison  Willson,  a  pioneer  of  the  Buckeye 
state.  In  August,  1862,  in  answer  to  President 
Lincoln's  call  for  volunteers,  Mr.  Langdon 
offered  his  services  to  the  government  and  was 
assigned  to  duty  with  Company  G,  Ninety-fourth 


612 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Illinois  Infantry.  He  served  in  southwestern 
Missouri,  Arkansas  and  at  Vicksburg,  and  par- 
ticipated in  nine  battles  and  sieges,  together  with 
many  skirmishes,  the  principal  engagements  in 
which  he  participated  being  at  Prairie  Grove, 
Vicksburg,  Fort  Morgan  and  Spanish  Fort.  He 
was  very  fortunate  in  that  he  was  never  wounded 
by  an  enemy's  ball,  and  after  loyally  and  faith- 
fully serving  the  Union  until  the  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities he  returned  home  with  a  most  creditable 
military  record.  He  entered  the  service  as  a  pri- 
vate, but  after  six  months  was  made  corporal  and 
when  a  year  had  passed  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  sergeant. 

Returning  to  his  home  in  Illinois,  Mr.  Lang- 
don  there  carried  on  agricultural  pursuits  until 
1866,  when  he  removed  to  Crawford  county, 
Kansas.  In  1874  he  crossed  the  plains  with  a 
team  of  horses  and  a  team  of  cows.  Mrs.  Lang- 
don  and  one  of  their  daughters  had  died  in  Kan- 
sas, in  1872,  which  was  a  most  severe  blow  to  the 
husband  and  father.  On  starting  westward  he 
left  his  other  children  in  Kansas  and  came  to 
the  Pacific  slope  in  search  of  a  better  location. 
It  was  his  first  intention  to  go  to  New  Mexico, 
but  the  Indians  were  so  hostile  that  he  stopped  at 
Salt  Lake  and  spent  the  winter  in  Grass  valley, 
there  remaining  for  a  year  and  a  half,  engaged  in 
stock-raising.  From  that  point  he  wrote  to  his 
children  to  join  him,  and  when  they  were  re- 
united they  continued  their  travels  to  the  north- 
west. They  spent  a  winter  in  the  Walla  Walla 
country,  and  in  1877  came  to  their  present  loca- 
tion, Mr.  Langdon  taking  up  a  claim  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres.  Here  he  with  partners  en- 
gaged in  the  sawmill  business  and  manufactured 
most  of  the  lumber  used  in  the  early  building  of 
Moscow.  He  continued  milling  and  lumbering 
until  1888,  and  during  a  part  of  that  time  resided 
in  Moscow,  where  he  served  as  deputy  assessor 
of  the  county  and  later  was  elected  assessor.  He 
also  filled  the  office  of  deputy  sheriff  for  two 
terms,  and  that  of  sheriff  for  one  term,  and  was 
a  member  of  the  territorial  legislature  in  1880, 
having  also  served  four  terms  in  the  legislature 
of  Kansas.  In  the  meantime  he  gave  the  land 
on  which  he  'first  settled  to  his  daughter,  while 
his  present  home  place,  comprising  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty  acr°s,  is  pleasantly  located  eight 
miles  south  of  Moscow  on  the  Potlatch  creek. 


There  he  is  passing  the  evening  of  a  well  spent 
life,  superintending  his  farm  and  raising  large 
quantities  of-  wheat  and  other  cereals,  also  fine 
fruits,  unsurpassed  for  excellence  in  any  fruit 
district  of  the  Union.  His  business  affairs  have 
been  capably  managed,  and  his  diligence  and  en- 
terprise have  brought  to  him  a  handsome  compe- 
tence. 

When  the  Republican  party  was  formed  Mr. 
Langdon  became  one  of  its  stanch  supporters 
and  continued  to  affiliate  therewith  until  Presi- 
dent Grant's  second  administration,  when,  be- 
coming dissatisfied  with  the  policy  of  the  party, 
he  joined  the  Democracy.  He  followed  its  ban- 
ner until  President  Cleveland's  second  adminis- 
tration, and  then  became  a  Populist,  but  is  now 
independent,  supporting  the  men  and  measures 
that  he  believes  best  fitted  to  promote  the  general 
good.  Socially  he  is  a  representative  of  the  An- 
cient Order  of  Pyramids,  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
and  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  has 
served  on  the  staff  of  two  of  the  national  com- 
manders of  the  last  named  organization.  He 
has  ever  been  as  loyal  and  true  to  his  country 
as  when  he  followed  the  starry  banner  in  the 

south. 

WILLIAM  E.  HEARD. 

William  E.  Heard,  clerk  of  the  district  court 
of  the  fourth  judicial  district  of  Idaho,  and  ex- 
officio  auditor  and  recorder  in  and  for  Elaine 
county,  Idaho,  is  a  native  of  Missouri.  He  was 
born  May  21,  1865,  in  a  part  of  Benton  county 
which  has  since  been  set  off  to  form  Hickory 
county,  where  John  Heard,  his  grandfather,  set- 
tled in  1832  and  died  in  1864.  John  Heard  was 
a  typical  southern  gentleman,  born  in  the  south 
in  1796.  He  lived  in  the  south  until  about  1830, 
when  he  moved  to  Benton  county,  Missouri,  be- 
coming one  of  its  first  settlers.  Earl  Heard,  son 
of  John  Heard  and  father  of  William  E.  Heard, 
was  born  in  Hickory  county,  Missouri,  May  8, 
1837.  He  has  been  a  successful  farmer  and  is  a 
decided  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Mission- 
ary Baptist  church.  He  married  Mary  Miller, 
also  a  native  of  Hickory  county,  Missouri,  and  a 
member  of  the  same  church,  and  they  are  both 
living,  contented  and  respected,  in  their  native 
county. 

Reared  on  his  father's  farm,  William  E.  Heard 
attended  the  public  schools  near  his  birthplace 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


613 


in  Missouri  and  later  was  a  student  at  the  Mis- 
sionary Baptist  Institute  at  Macedonia,  Missouri. 
For  five  years  after  his  graduation  he  divided  his 
time  between  working  on  the  farm  and  teaching 
school.  He  came  to  Hailey,  Idaho,  in  1890,  and 
for  four  years  afterward  taught  near  that  place. 
In  1894  he  was  elected  probate  judge  of  Logan 
county,  Idaho,  but  not  long  afterward  Logan 
county  was  legislated  out  of  existence  as  a  civil 
division  of  the  state,  and  Mr.  Heard  found  him- 
self in  the  anomalous  position  of  an  officer  with- 
out an  office  and  again  gave  his  attention  to 
"teaching  the  young  idea  how  to  shoot."  In 
1896  he  was  nominated  on  the  Populist  ticket  for 
the  office  of  assessor  and  ex-officio  tax  collector 
of  Elaine  county,  and  was  elected  by  a  majority 
of  three  hundred  and  seventy-six,  and  in  1898. 
again  on  the  Populist  ticket,  he  was  elected  clerk 
of  the  district  court  of  the  fourth  judicial  district 
of  Idaho  and  ex-officio  auditor  and  recorder  of 
Elaine  county,  by  a  majority  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-three.  His  election  to  the  last  mentioned 
office  was  regarded  as  a  pleasing  demonstration 
of  his  personal  popularity  and  the  fealty  of  his 
friends. 

August  i,  1886,  Mr.  Heard  married  Miss  Ad- 
die  M.  Bartsche,  and  they  have  two  sons,  Har- 
mon C.,  born  July  2,  1889,  and  Herman  C.,  born 
August  15,  1892.  Mrs.  Heard  is  the  only  child 
of  George  and  Clarrissa.  Bartsche,  and  was  born 
in  Hickory  county,  Missouri,  where  her  parents 
settled  in  1841,  though  they  now  live  at  Hailey, 
members  of  their  daughter's  household. 

Mr.  Heard  is  a  member  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  of  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America,  and  he  and  Mrs.  Heard  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  to 
all  the  interests  of  which  they  give  most  generous 
support.  Mr.  Heard  is  a  public-spirited  citizen 
who  has  at  heart  the  progress  and  prosperity  of 
the  town  of  his  adoption  and  who  gives  his  help- 
ful encouragement  to  every  movement  having  for 
its  object  the  enhancement  of  the  welfare  of  its 
people  or  any  considerable  class  of  them. 

GEORGE  F.  MOORE. 

The  professional  politician,  clamorous,  aggres- 
sive and  spectacular,  may  appear  more  often  in 
public  and  in  the  public  print  that  the  quiet,  un- 
assuming, judicious  business  man  who  takes  a 


patriotic  interest  in  politics  because  of  the  effect 
of  politics  on  the  prosperity  of  the  people,  but  he 
is  usually  not  so  potent  a  factor  in  political  move- 
ment and  his  influence  is  not  so  lasting,  because 
it  is  likely  to  be  exerted  spasmodically,  when  the 
politician  has  in  view  some  alluring  official  re- 
ward for  political  service,  and  it  loses  part  of  its 
effect  upon  the  public  because  the  public  is  al- 
ways a  little  in  doubt  as  to  its  disinterestedness. 
Yet  the  able  man  of  affairs  who  does  not  seek 
office  is  often  taken  from  his  desk  and  given  im- 
portant public  responsibilities  because  the  people 
know  that  he  will  discharge  them  with  an  eye 
single  to  the  public'good.  One  of  the  most  con- 
spicuous examples  of  this  kind  in  Idaho  was  in 
the  election  of  Hon.  George  F.  Moore  to  the 
office  of  lieutenant  governor  in  1896. 

George  F.  Moore  was  born  in  Lewisburg, 
Preble  county  Ohio,  March  9,  1861,  a  son  of 
Newton  and  Belle  L.  (Fall)  Moore,  natives  of 
Ohio.  The  family  removed  to  Kansas  in  1868 
and  thence  to  Colorado  in  1877.  Newton  G. 
Moore  died  ten  years  after  that,  aged  about  fifty- 
two.  His  widow  lives  at  Wallace,  Idaho.  Hon. 
George  F.  Moore  gained  a  common-school  edu- 
cation in  Kansas,  and  after  the  family  went  to 
Colorado  helped  his  father  in  a  freighting  enter- 
prise in  which  he  was  engaged  there  for  a  time. 
Later  he  mined  and  devoted  himself  to  different 
enterprises  with  good  success  until  1891,  when 
he  came  to  Wallace  and  established  a  business 
in  the  furniture  line,  which  he  has  built  up  to 
such  a  notable  success  that  he  now  has  the  larg- 
est store  and  the  largest  stock  of  household  gbods 
in  the  city. 

For  the  last  twelve  years  Mr.  Moore  has  been 
an  earnest  supporter  of  the  principles  of  the  Peo- 
ple's party  and  his  intelligent  efforts  for  its  suc- 
cess have  not  been  without  recognized  results. 
In  1896  he  was  elected  lieutenant  governor  of 
Idaho  on  the  People's-Democratic  ticket,  by  a 
plurality  of  five  thousand  five  hundred  votes,  and 
filled  that  important  office  in  1897-8.  Through 
his  political  prominence  and  through  his  mem- 
bership in  the  orders  of  the  Free  Masons, 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  Modern  Woodmen  of  the 
World  and  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  he  has  gained 
a  wide  acquaintance  with  the  leaders  of  thought 
and  action  throughout  Idaho  and  adjoining 
states,  and  his  heartv  interest  in  the  welfare  of 


614 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Idaho  and  her  people  has  made  him  very  popu- 
lar wherever  he  is  known. 

JUDGE  EDGAR  C.  STEELE. 

Edgar  Clarence  Steele  occupies  as  enviable  a 
position  in  the  public  esteem  as  the  most  ambi- 
tious could  desire  or  as  any  of  our  prominent 
men  have  achieved.  To  the  citizens  of  Moscow 
and  the  second  judicial  district  he  can  only  be 
known  as  being  a  reputable,  prominent  man  and 
an  honest,  able  and  efficient  officer.  At  the  bar 
he  manifests  all  the  qualities  of  the  successful 
lawyer,  and  on  the  bench  he  displays  a  rare  com- 
bination of  talent,  learning,  -tact,  patience  and 
industry.  The  successful  lawyer  and  the  com- 
petent judge  must  be  a  man  of  well  balanced 
intellect,  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  law  and 
practice,  of  comprehensive  general  information, 
possessed  of  an  analytical  mind  and  a  self-control 
that  will  enable  him  to  lose  his  individuality,  his 
personal  feelings,  his  prejudices  and  the  peculiari- 
ties of  disposition,  in  the  dignity,  impartiality  and 
equity  of  the  office  to  which  life,  property,  right 
and  liberty  must  look  for  protection.  All  these 
qualities  Judge  Steele  displays. 

A  native  of  Indiana,  he  was  born  November 
15,  1857,  his-  parents  being  Samuel  A.  and  Mary 
Amnie  (Beem)  Steele.  The  father  was  born  in 
Indiana  about  1830,  has  followed  farming  and 
stock-raising  throughout  his  entire  business 
career,  and  is  now  living  in  Romona,  Indiana. 
His  wife  also  is  a  native  of  the  Hoosier  state,  and 
is  still  living.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  our 
subject  was  Samuel  Steele,  a  native  of  Ireland, 
who  on  coming  to  the  United  States  located  in 
Maryland.  Subsequently  he  removed  to  the 
blue-grass  region  of  Kentucky,  and  thence  to  In- 
diana, where  he  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-two 
years. 

Judge  Steele  is  a  graduate  of  the  high  school  of 
Spencer,  Indiana,  and  also  pursued  his  studies  in 
the  State  University,  at  Bloomington,  Indiana. 
Determining  to  engage  in  the  practice  of  law  as 
a  life  work,  he  spent  two  years  in  the  Indiana 
Law  School,  at  Indianapolis,  where  he  was  grad- 
uated with  the  class  of  1879.  He  practiced  law 
in  that  state  until  the  fall  of  1889,  and  for  four 
years  was  in  partnership  with  James  H.  Jordan, 
who  is  now  a  member  of  the  supreme  bench  of 
that  state.  In  1889  Judge  Steele  was  appointed 


law  examiner  of  the  general  land-office  at  Wash- 
ington, and  served  until  January,  1893,  when  he 
resigned  and  came  to  Idaho,  having  in  the  mean- 
time formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  Willis 
Sweet,  of  Moscow.  That  relationship  was  main- 
tained until  1898,  when  Judge  Steele  was  elevated 
to  the  bench. 

The  Judge  is  a  stalwart  Republican  in  his  po- 
litical views,  and  in  August,  1898,  he  was  nomi- 
nated for  judicial  honors  in  the  second  district, 
being  elected  by  a  plurality  of  eight  hundred. 
He  has  proved  a  most  competent  officer,  strictly 
fair  and  impartial,  weighing  the  evidence  care- 
fully and  framing  his  decisions  with  due  regard 
to  the  law  and  to  precedent.  He  is  proving  him- 
self to  be  one  of  the  best  district  judges  of  the 
state,  and  his  judicial  actions  are  in  entire  har- 
mony with  the  opinions  of  the  leading  members 
of  the  bar. 

In  November,  1889,  in  Logan,  Ohio,  Judge 
Steele  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Jessie  L. 
White,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  their  pleasant  home 
is  a  popular  resort  with  Moscow's  best  citizens. 
In  his  social  relations  the  Judge  is  a  Mason,  and 
in  professional  and  political  circles  he  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  leading  men  of  his  adopted  state. 

ALEXANDER  STALKER. 

In  the  days  of  the  early  development  of  south- 
eastern Idaho  Alexander  Stalker  came  to  the 
state,  and  is  therefore  numbered  among  its  pio- 
neer settlers,  but  he  has  not  only  witnessed  the 
changes  that  have  since  occurred,  for  in  all  that 
has  tended  to  the  development,  progress  and  ad- 
vancement of  the  section  he  has  ever  borne  his 
part,  and  may  therefore  well  be  called  one  of  the 
founders  of  his  county  and  town.  In  later  years 
he  has  been  somewhat  prominent  in  political  af- 
fairs, and  at  all  times  he  has  been  a  loyal  citizen, 
deeply  interested  in  everything  pertaining  to  the 
welfare  of  the  community. 

A  native  of  bonnie  Scotland,  Mr.  Stalker  was 
born  November  21,  1829,  and  is  of  Scotch  lin- 
eage, his  parents,  Robert  and  Janet  (Tansh) 
Stalker,  having  also  been  natives  of  that  land. 
They  were  married  in  Scotland  and  six  children 
were  born  to  them  there.  Their  son  Alexander 
preceded  them  to  America,  in  1848,  and  three 
years  later  the  father,  mother  and  three  children, 
also  crossed  the  Atlantic,  taking  up  their  abode 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


615 


on  the  boundary  line  between  Monroe  and  Or- 
leans counties,  New  York,  about  twenty  miles 
from  Rochester.  There  the  father  engaged  in 
farming,  but  in  Scotland  he  had  been  a  mer- 
chant. After  a  time  he  returned  to  Scotland, 
disposed  of  his  houses  and  other  property  there, 
and  again  became  a  resident  of  New  York, 
whence  he  subsequently  removed  to  Kansas. 
His  wife  and  sons  took  passage  on  the  Northern 
Indiana,  and  when  crossing  the  lake  the  ship 
took  fire  and  was  burned  to  the  water's  edge, 
but  the  passengers  were  saved.  Mr.  Stalker  and 
his  family  located  near  Fort  Scott,  Kansas,  where 
he  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years,  the  mother 
surviving  twenty  years  and  passing  away  in 
1895,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six. 

Alexander  Stalker  acquired  a  good  English 
education,  attending  the  public  schools  of  Scot- 
land until  fourteen  years  of  age.  He  afterward 
learned  the  cabinet-maker's  and  ship-builder's 
trades,  and  after  coming  to  America  located  in 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  where  he  engaged  in  boat- 
building. He  also  followed  the  same  business  in 
Kentucky.  In  Scotland,  when  but  eighteen 
years  of  age,  he  was  converted  to  the  faith  of  the 
Latter  Day  Saints,  and  in  1850  he  crossed  the 
plains  to  Utah,  driving  a  team  for  a  Mr.  Johnson, 
who  died  at  Fort  Kearney,  while  en  route  to  the 
west.  Mr.  Stalker  continued  on  to  Salt  Lake 
City,  and  there  worked  in  a  sawmill  for  Dr.  Rich- 
ards, who  was  one  of  President  Brigham  Young's 
first  counselors.  Subsequently  he  engaged  in 
erecting  houses  and  was  also  employed  on  the 
construction  of  the  state  house  at  Fillmore. 
Later  he  worked  in  a  cabinet  shop,  until  the 
spring  of  1853,  and  in  the  meantime,  in  1851,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Ortencia  H.  Smith,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Warren  Smith,  who  was  killed  in  Missouri 
by  a  mob. 

Having  promised  his  father  and  the  family 
that  he  would  visit  them  when  they  came  to 
America,  Mr.  Stalker  returned  to  the  east  in  1853 
and  remained  with  his  relatives  until  March  4, 
1854,  when  he  started  with  a  two-horse  team 
from  New  York.  He  had  a  light  wagon,  con- 
taining a  few  dishes  and  needful  articles,  and 
alone  he  made  the  perilous  journey  across  the 
country.  When  he  reached  Shell  creek  he 
camped  near  a  company  of  California  emigrants, 
who  invited  him  to  join  their  party  and  to  turn 


his  horses  out  with  theirs,  but  he  declined  the  in- 
vitation and  tied  his  horses  to  either  end  of  a 
long  rope,  which  he  then  fastened,  near  the  mid- 
dle, to  a  stake.  He  then  lay  down  to  rest  at  the 
stake  for  the  night,  and  in  the  darkness,  several 
times  hearing  noises,  he  pulled  his  horses  up  to 
him  by  means  of  the  rope  and  so  kept  them  in 
safety.  In  the  morning  it  was  found  that  the 
Indians  had  stolen  all  the  horses  belonging  to 
the  California  emigrants.  When  he  arrived  at 
Coup  Fork  many  teams  were  there  to  be  ferried 
across  and  the  ferryman  was  charging  five  dollars 
a  team.  Mr.  Stalker  did  not  have  the  money, 
but  he  learned  that  if  he  went  farther  up  the 
stream  he  could  ford,  and  consequently  drove 
about  twenty  miles  to  a  place  where  a  few.  tracks 
turned  into  the  water.  He  unhooked  one  of  his 
horses  and  rode  in  to  look  for  a  crossing,  but 
had  only  proceeded  a  short  distance  when  his 
horse  sank  and  with  difficulty  was  extricated. 
He  then  decided  that  if  he  drove  up  the  stream  in 
a  diagonal  way  he  could  reach  the  opposite  bank, 
and  so  hitching  his  horses  he  made  the  trial  and 
was  nearly  across  when  one  of  the  horses  fell 
struggling  in  the  quicksand.  Mr.  Stalker  then 
jumped  in,  unhitched  the  horses  and  got  them 
out  to  the  bank,  but  looking  up  the  river  he  saw 
a  large  company  of  Indians  in  war  paint.  Know- 
ing something  of  their  habits  he  decided  instant- 
ly that  his  best  course  was  to  put  on  a  bold  front, 
so  he  motioned  to  the  Indians  to  come  and  help 
him  get  the  wagon  out.  They  had  a  long  rope, 
and  with  their  aid  the  wagon  was  secured,  after 
which  he  gave  them  each  a  cracker  from  his 
scanty  store  and  proceeded  on  his  way  unmo- 
lested by  the  Indians,  who  were  in  search  of  an- 
other party  of  red  men.  Mr.  Stalker's  method 
was  to  travel  most  of  the  day,  but  before  dark  he 
would  stop,  build  a  fire  and  prepare  his  supper, 
after  which  he  would  move  on  a  mile  or  two  and 
spend  the  night  in  as  sheltered  a  place  as  he 
could  find.  At  length  he  completed  the  journey 
in  safety,  and  in  the  fall  he  located  at  American 
Forks,  about  thirty  miles  from  Salt  Lake,  where 
he  followed  farming  and  also  worked  at  his  trade. 
In  1852  he  was  in  the  Indian  fight  in  Skull  valley, 
where  twelve  Indians  were  killed,  and  partici- 
pated in  other  engagements  with  the  red  men  in 
the  early  history  of  the  country. 

In  the  spring  of  1860  Mr.  Stalker  left  American 


C16 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Forks,  and  on  the  I4th  of  April  arrived  in  the 
Cache  valley,  being  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Idaho.  That  district,  however,  was  then  thought 
to  be  a  part  of  Utah.  About  fifty  families  came 
first  and  built  their  log  houses  in  the  form  of  a 
hollow  square,  the  rear  of  the  houses  forming  a 
part  of  the  fort.  Openings  were  made  at  each 
corner  of  the  square  and  for  three  years  a  guard 
was  maintained  at  each  place  both  night  and  day. 
The  settlers  also  made  a  ditch  to  convey  water  to 
their  land,  and  in  this  way  they  made  the  desert 
a  favored  garden  spot  in  ^he  midst  of  which  a 
beautiful  town,  with  numerous  pleasant  homes, 
has  been  built.  By  his  thrift  and  industry  Mr. 
Stalker  has  prospered.  He  became  the  pioneer 
small-fruit  grower  of  the  valley,  first  cultivating 
blackberries,  raspberries,  gooseberries  and  cur- 
rants, and  successfully  demonstrating  the  adapt- 
ability of  the  soil  for  horticultural  purposes.  He 
has  since  planted  a  fine  orchard  of  apple,  pear  and 
plum  trees.  He  became  the  owner  of  two  hun- 
dred acres  of  land,  but  has  since  sold  a  portion  of 
it,  retaining  possession  of  a  valuable  tract  of 
eighty  acres.  He  also  has  a  good  residence  in 
Franklin. 

The  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stalker  was  blessed 
with  fourteen  children,  eleven  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing, namely,  Alexander;  Amanda;  Janet,  wife  of 
Louis  Hook;  Warren;  Wallace;  Ortencia  Anna; 
James;  Alvira,  wife  of  John  D.  Ellis;  Sardinus 
S.;  Willard;  Theresa  D.,  a  teacher;  Alma  S  ; 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  Ambrose  Shorten,  and  Joseph, 
who  is  still  with  his  parents.  The  family  is  one 
highly  respected  in  the  community. 

Mr.  Stalker  is  a  stalwart  Republican,  and  on 
that  ticket  was  elected  to  the  eighth  session  of 
the  territorial  legislature.  He  was  also  journal 
clerk  for  the  session  of  forty  days,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  Idaho  territorial  council.  When 
elected  to  the  latter  office  his  connection  with  the 
Latter  Day  Saints  was  terminated.  Since  then 
he  has  not  been  a  church  member,  but  retains 
his  faith  in  Christ,  and  adheres  in  a  degree  to  the 
belief  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  in  which  he 

was  reared. 

CLINTON  T.   STRANAHAN. 

Important  official  work  has  been  done  in  Nez 
Perces  county  by  Clinton  T.  Stranahan,  now  fill- 
ing the  office  of  United  States  Indian  agent  at 
Spaulding,  and  it  was  because  of  his  faithfulness 


in  smaller  things  that  he  was  entrusted  with  these 
broader  responsibilities,  which  he  is  discharging 
in  a  truly  patriotic  spirit. 

Clinton  T.  Stranahan  was  born  in  Clayton, 
Contra  Costa  county,  California,  in  March,  1859, 
and  is  descended  from  Irish  ancestry.  His  fore- 
fathers settled  early  in  the  state  of  New  York, 
and  there  his  father,  Ebenezer  Stranahan,  was 
born.  In  1852  Ebenezer  Stranahan  went  to 
California.  He  engaged  in  mining  in  Tuolumne 
county  and  met  with  much  success.  In  1858  he 
went  back  to  New  York  and  married  Miss  Ellen 
Terry.  He  returned  to  California  with  his  wife 
and  settled  in  Contra  Costa  county,  where  he 
died  as  the  result  of  an  accident,  in  the  forty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age.  His  wife  survives  him, 
aged  sixty.  She  is  a  devout  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  church,  with  which  her  husband 
was  connected  during  his  life. 

Ebenezer  and  Ellen  (Terry)  Stranahan  had  six 
children,  of  whom  Clinton  T.  was  the  first  born, 
and  four  of  whom  are  living.  Clinton  T.  Strana- 
han was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Oak- 
land, California,  and  came  to  Moscow,  Idaho,  in 
the  spring  of  1878.  He  took  up  and  improved 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  government  land 
near  where  the  city  of  Juliaetta  has  since  grown 
up.  Later  he  acquired  a  forty-acre  fruit  farm 
just  at  the  border  of  the  city  of  Lewiston,  which 
he  has  planted  and  cultivated  with  such  care  and 
skill  that  it  is  universally  conceded  to  be  one  of 
the  best  fruit  farms  in  the  state.  On  this  prop- 
erty Mr.  Stranahan  has  built  and  furnished  a  de- 
lightful home,  which  is  admired  by  all  who  see 
it  and  in  which  a  hearty  hospitality  abounds. 
Mrs.  Stranahan  was  Miss  May  Bostwick,  and  is 
a  native  of  Gallatin  valley,  Montana.  They  were 
married  December  23,  1884,  and  have  a  son 
named  Clyde  and  a  daughter  named  Thora.  Mrs. 
Stranahan  is  a  communicant  of  the  Episcopal 
church. 

Politically  Mr.  Stranahan  has  always  been  an 
active  and  influential  Republican.  He  has 
worked  ardently  for  the  success  of  the  principles 
that  party  advocates.  He  has  looked  after  the 
local  advancement  of  Republican  interests  and 
has  attended  the  state  and  county  conventions  of 
his  party.  He  has  done  this  from  principle  and 
with  a  desire  to  do  his  full  duty  as  a  citizen.  He 
has  not  been  an  office-seeker,  and  if  he  has  held 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


617 


official  positions  it  has  been  because  he  was  the 
man  for  them,  logically  and  by  reason  of  his 
manifest  fitness  for  them,  and  because  he  was 
urged  to  accept  them  by  others,  who  desired  to 
see  them  administered  honestly  and  economi- 
cally. He  was  deputy  assessor  of  Nez  Perces 
county  four  years,  was  under  sheriff  two  years, 
was  United  States  deputy  marshal,  under  United 
States  Marshal  Joseph  Pinkham,  four  years,  has 
served  as  chairman  of  the  Republican  central 
committee  of  Nez  Perces  county,  and  was  ap- 
pointed United  States  Indian  agent  by  President 
McKinley,  in  June,  1899,  and  given  charge  of  the 
Nez  Perces  agency  at  Spaulding,  Idaho.  To  the 
duties  of  this  office  and  to  his  personal  affairs,  he 
gives  his  whole  attention;  and  whatever  gratifi- 
cation other  successes  may  have  brought  him,  his 
chief  pride  is  in  the  knowledge  that  he  has 
brought  a  valuable  and  beautiful  agricultural 
property  out  of  a  wilderness  of  sage-brush,  and 
has  been  potent  in  demonstrating  the  capabilities 
of  this  part  of  the  state  for  profitable  cultivation 
and  its  advantages  for  labor  and  investment. 

WILLIAM  SEVERN. 

An  interesting  book  might  be  written  about 
the  early  settlement  of  Montpelier,  Idaho,  to 
which  no  one  could  contribute  a  more  edifying 
chapter  of  personal  experiences  than  the  man 
whose  name  appears  above,4  and  some  account 
of  his  venturesome,  busy,  useful  and  successful 
career  is  necessary  to  the  completeness  of  this 
work. 

William  Severn  was  born  in  Hucknell,  in  Not- 
tinghamshire, England,  October  4,  1836,  of  an 
ancestry  English  in  all  known  lines  of  descent. 
His  parents  were  Enoch  and  Ann  (Allen)  Severn. 
They  were  married  in  England  and  were  there 
converted  to  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints.  Somewhat  more 
than  ten  years  ago  they  came  to  Montpelier, 
where  their  son  William  had  come  as  a  pioneer 
and  had  become  a  prominent  citizen,  and  there 
Mr.  Severn  died  in  1890,  his  wife  having  passed 
away  a  few  years  earlier.  They  had  five  children, 
of  whom  three  are  living.  William  the  eldest 
was  educated  in  England  and  learned  and  worked 
at  the  trade  of  weaving  ladies'  hose.  In  1856  he 
sailed  for  America,  on  board  the  ship  Orrison. 
and  was  married  on  the  voyage  to  Miss  Mary 


Astel.  They  were  both  between  nineteen  and 
twenty  years  old  at  the  time.  From  New  York 
they  made  their  way  to  Iowa  City,  Iowa,  en  route 
for  Utah.  At  Iowa  City  they  joined  a  party, 
numbering  six  hundred,  which  on  the  1st  of 
August,  1856,  set  out  over  the  old  trail,  moving 
their  property  by  means  of  hand-carts.  It  was  a 
long,  tedious  journey,  and  there  were  some  who 
never  reached  the  end  of  it.  The  snow  fell  long 
before  they  reached  Salt  Lake  City,  and  they 
were  short  of  provisions  and  found  it  almost  im- 
possible At  times  to  make  any  headway.  But 
two  hundred  teams  were  sent  to  their  relief  from 
Salt  Lake  City,  and  met  them  still  four  hundred 
miles  away  from  their  journey's  end.  Without 
assistance  the  suffering  of  the  emigrants  would 
very  likely  have  been  something  awful.  They 
did  not  arrive  in  Salt  Lake  City  until  December 
i,  four  months  after  they  had  left  Iowa  City. 
Mr.  Severn  secured  employment  at  sawing  wood 
for  the  territorial  legislature.  In  the  spring  of 
1857  a  farmer  outside  of  the  city  employed  him 
and  paid  him  from  one-half  to  two  dollars  a  day. 
Under  other  circumstances  he  and  his  wife  might 
have  lived  comfortably  on  what  he  was  able  to 
earn,  but  the  isolation  of  the  Mormon  capital 
from  eastern  and  western  markets,  and  the  almost 
total  lack  of  transportation  facilities  in  either  di- 
rection, tended  to  raise  prices  on  about  every 
necessity  to  a  point  that  made  some  of  them 
unattainable  to  many  persons.  Sugar  and  butter 
readily  brought  fifty  cents  a  pound,  and  flour  was 
six  dollars  a  hundred  pounds,  and  hard  to  get  at 
that  price.  Mr.  Severn  relates  that  he  went  sev- 
eral miles  to  buy  five  to  six  pounds  of  flour  at  a 
time.  The  young  couple  saw  hard  times,  with 
little  prospect  of  relief,  but  they  were  no  worse 
off  than  thousands  of  others,  and  made  the  best 
they  could  of  all  the  disadvantages  at  which  they 
were  placed.  They  returned  to  Salt  Lake  City, 
and  went  thence  to  Cache  valley,  where  they 
arrived  in  the  spring  of  1861.  From  there  they 
came  to  the  site  of  Montpelier  in  the  spring  of 
1864  and  joined  the  band  of  emigrants  sent  to 
settle  Bear  Lake  valley,  under  authority  of  Brig- 
ham  Young,  president  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints.  The  colonists 
called  the  place  Clover  Creek,  but  the  name  of 
Montpelier  was  given  it  by  President  Young,  in 
honor  of  Montpelier,  Vermont,  which  was  the 


618 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


place  of  his  birth.  Each  of  the  pioneers  of  Mont- 
pelier  had  allotted  to  him  one  acre  and  a  quarter 
in  the  town  and  twenty  acres  of  hay  land  and 
twenty  acres  of  grain  land.  This  allotment, 
where  land  was  so  plentiful  and  cheap,  was 
thought  to  be  wise,  as  it  kept  the  pioneers  closer 
together,  for  mutual  protection,  than  they  proba- 
bly would  have  remained  had  they  been  left  to 
their  more  ambitious  choice.  Later  Mr.  Severn 
took  up  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  and  still  later 
a  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  government  land, 
and  he  is  now  the  owner  of  three  hundred  acres, 
raises  cattle,  hay  and  grain  extensively  and  is 
one  of  the  most  successful  farmers  in  the  vicinity 
of  Montpelier. 

Air.  Severn  tells  many  interesting  details  of  the 
pioneer  days  at  Montpelier.  For  a  time  after 
their  arrival  he  and  his  wife  slept  in  their  wagon. 
In  the  absence  of  anything  better  to  do  service 
as  a  stove,  Mrs.  Severn  did  their  baking  in  a 
kettle.  Before  the  snow  came  Mr.  Severn  had 
provided  a  little  log  house,  with  a  piece  of  cloth 
for  a  door  and  a  smaller  one  for  a  window.  Hay 
was  spread  .on  the  floor  as  a  carpet  to  protect 
their  feet  from  the  bare  ground,  which,  as  may  be 
supposed,  was  not  at  all  times  agreeable  to  the 
touch.  Later  the  settlers  joined  hands  and  whip- 
sawed  lumber  out  of  which  floors  were  laid  in  the 
cabins.  Early  frosts  cut  off  young  crops,  and 
those  about  ready  to  garner  were  destroyed  year 
after  year,  for  half  a  dozen  years,  by  crickets  and 
grasshoppers,  which  were  so  voracious  that  they 
actually  ate  window  curtains  and  any  other  arti- 
cle of  cloth  or  paper  they  could  get  at.  Less 
resolute  people,  less  faithful  and  devoted  people, 
might  have  faltered  in  the  face  of  all  these  calami- 
ties, but  not  the  colonists  at  Montpelier.  They 
worked  and  prayed  and  fought  and  waited  for 
success,  and  it  came  in  plentiful  measure.  The 
wilderness  was  made  to  "blossom  as  the  rose,"  a. 
thrifty  town  sprang  up  about  them,  and  they  were 
its  most  honored  and  most  prosperous  citizens. 

For  ten  years  of  his  later  life,  until  after  Mrs. 
Severn's  death,  which  occurred  August  6,  1898, 
Mr.  Severn  kept  hotel.  Mrs.  Severn  was  one  of 
the  "mothers"  of  the  town,  a  woman  loved  by 
all  who  knew  her,  and  her  removal  was  deeply 
regretted.  Following  are  the  names  of  her  chil- 
dren, all  living  at  or  near  Montpelier,  some  of 
them  yet  members  of  their  father's  household: 


Mary  (Mrs.  Joseph  Robertson),  William,  Thom- 
as, Elizabeth,  Harry  H.,  and  Daniel  E.  July  n, 
1899,  Mr.  Severn  married  Miss  Mary  Cornwallis, 
an  active  member  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Latter  Day  Saints.  Mr.  Severn  is  a  stanch 
Democrat,  but  is  not  an  office-seeker  nor  a  prac- 
tical politician;  but  he  is  a  helpful  citizen  of  lib- 
eral views,  and  has  a  reputation  for  sterling  man- 
hood that  makes  him  popular  with  all  who  know 

him. 

CALEB   S.   STONE,   M.   D. 

Dr.  Stone  has  left  the  ranks  of  the  many  to 
stand  among  the  more  successful  few  in  a  profes- 
sion where  advancement  depends  solely  upon  in- 
dividual merit.  In  other  walks  of  life,  especially 
in  commercial  circles,  one  may  enter  upon  a 
business  already  established  and  carry  it  on  from 
the  point  where  others  laid  it  down,  but  the  phy- 
sician must  rely  solely  upon  his  knowledge  and 
ability,  and  these  must  be  acquired  through  close 
and  earnest  application.  That  Dr.  Stone,  of 
Wallace,  is  numbered  among  the  leading  physi- 
cians and  surgeons  of  his  section  of  the  state,  is 
therefore  evidence  of  his  power  in  his  chosen  call- 
ing. 

A  native  of  Missouri,  he  was  born  May  10, 
1859,  his  parents  being  Robert  Harris  and  Eliza 
(Rodes)  Stone,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of 
Kentucky,  and  are  now  deceased.  The  father 
died  in  Missouri,  in  -1881,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five 
years,  and  the  mother  in  Texas,  when  about 
thirty-five  years  of  age.  Mr.  Stone  engaged  in 
merchandising  throughout  his  business  career. 
The  Doctor  obtained  his  preliminary  education 
in  the  common  schools  of  his  native  state,  and 
supplemented  it  by  study  in  an  academy  for  boys 
at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  and  in  Woodlawn 
Seminary,  at  St.  Charles,  Missouri.  He  began 
the  study  of  medicine  in  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  and  in  1879  he  went 
to  Leadville,  Colorado,  where  he  remained  until 
1 88 1  acting  as  bookkeeper  for  the  Chrysolite 
Mining  Company.  In  1882  he  returned  to 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  where  he  resumed  the 
study  of  medicine,  and  in' 1883  was  graduated  in 
the  Louisville  Medical  College. 

Immediately  afterward  Dr.  Stone  began  the 
practice  of  his  chosen  profession  in  Colorado, 
where  he  continued  for  five  years,  meeting  with 
excellent  success  in  his  undertakings.  Having 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


619 


in  that  time  accumulated  considerable  capital,  he 
was  enabled  to  spend  the  two  succeeding  years 
in  travel,  and  in  1889  he  came  to  Idaho,  locating 
in  Burke,  Shoshone  county,  where  he  acted  as 
surgeon  for  the  Tiger,  Poorman  and  other  min- 
ing companies.  In  1891  he  took  up  his  abode  in 
Wallace  and  was  at  once  appointed  surgeon  for 
the  Northern  Pacific  and  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
ways. In  1891  he  was  appointed  attending  sur- 
geon for  the  Providence  Hospital,  at  Wallace, 
and  is  now  county  health  officer  also.  He  has  a 
broad  and  accurate  knowledge  of  medical  princi- 
ples, is  very  skillful  in  diagnosing  a  case  and  in 
applying  his  knowledge  in  the  manner  best  cal- 
culated to  relieve  suffering.  His  ability  has  won 
him  rank  among  the  leading  physicians  of  Idaho, 
and  he  is  a  valued  member  of  the  Idaho  State 
Medical  Society,  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion and  the  American  Association  of  Railway 
Surgeons. 

On  Christmas  day  of  1896  Dr.  Stone  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  Ervin,  of  Fay- 
ette,  Missouri,  and  they  have  one  of  the  finest 
homes  in  Wallace.  It  is  not  only  beautiful  in 
appearance,  but  is  celebrated  for  its  hospitality, 
which  is  generously  extended  to  their  many 
friends.  They  are  the  parents  of  a  little  son, 
whose  birth  occurred  July  14,  1899.  In  politics 
the  Doctor  is  a  Democrat  of  the  old  school.  A 
gentleman  of  courteous  address  and  general  man- 
ner, he  is  a  favorite  with  all  classes  and  is  ac- 
counted one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Wallace. 

JACOB  JONES. 

Jacob  Jones,  a  pioneer  property-owner,  mer- 
chant, farmer,  blacksmith  and  hotel-keeper  at 
Montpelier,  Idaho,  and  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent citizens  of  the  town,  was  born  in  Brecon- 
shire,  South  Wales,  May  14,  1825.  His  parents 
were  descended  from  old  Welsh  families  and  his 
father  was  a  Methodist,  and  his  mother  was  a 
Presbyterian.  Of  their  ten  children  he  was  the 
youngest.  He  was  educated  and  entered  upon 
the  active  struggle  of  life  in  his  native  land  and 
there  married  Miss  Anne  Collier  on  the  Saturday 
before  Christmas,  1852.  As  early  as  1846  he 
had  been  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and  he  had 
done  much  missionary  work  in  its  behalf,  as  a 
result  of  which  manv  hundreds  have  embraced 


the  faith.     His  wife  had  also  been  for  some  years 
a  convert.     In  the  spring  of   1853  only  a  few 
months  after  their  marriage,  they  set  out  for  the 
United  States,  on  board  the  sailing  ship  Interna- 
tional, from  Liverpool.     There  were  six  hundred 
passengers,    and    the    voyage    consumed    eight 
weeks,    at    the    end    of    which    time    they   very 
gladly  disembarked  at  New  Orleans,  Louisiana. 
Mr.  Jones  and  his  brother,  Henry,  went  to  Fill- 
more,  Missouri,  where  the  brothers  engaged  for 
a  time  in  contracting  and  building.     From  there 
Mr.  Jones  went  with  his  family  to  Nebraska  City, 
Nebraska,  where  they  lived  eight  years.     In  the 
spring  of  1863  they  removed  to  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah,    where    Mr.  Jones    opened  a    blacksmith 
shop,  having  mastered  the  trade  in  Wales  and 
being  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  work  in  all 
its  details.     At  that  time  the  war  had  brought 
iron  up  to  a  high  price,  and  Salt  Lake  City  was 
isolated  from  the  older  civilization  of  the  coun- 
try to  a  greater  extent  than  it  is  now,  and  black- 
smith's     iron      cost      Mr.      Jones      twenty-five 
cents   a  pound.       To  pay  these  prices   he  was 
obliged  to  charge  good  prices  for  his  work,  and 
he  made  money.       In  1864  President  Brigham 
Young,  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter 
Day  Saints,  called  for  volunteers  to  go  to  live  in 
Bear   Lake  vallev,   now  in   Bear   Lake  county, 
Idaho,  with  a  view  of  settling  the  country  and 
spreading  the  gospel.     As  a  volunteer,  Mr.  Jones 
came  to  the  valley  thirty-five  years  ago,  in  1864, 
when  there  was  not  a  house  in  the  valley,  from 
river  head  to  river  mouth.     The  next  year  (1865) 
he  brought  out  his  family.       During  the  first 
summer  they  lived  in  the  willows  and  slept  in 
their  wagon,  and  in  the  fall,  in  preparation  for 
the  rigors  of  winter,  they  erected   a  small  log 
cabin.     Every  season  for  six  years  all  that  they 
attempted  to    raise  was    destroyed  by    crickets, 
grasshoppers  or  early  frosts.     These  troubles  and 
the  unfriendly  attitude  of  the  Indians  rendered 
the  prospect  for  the  devoted  settlers  very  dark 
indeed.     They  were  ordered  away  by  the  Sho- 
shone Indians,  and  when  they  did  not  go  Chief 
Washakee  went  to  Salt  Lake  City  and  conferred 
with  President  Young  about  the  matter.     Brig- 
ham  Young  believed  it  was  cheaper  to  feed  In- 
dians than  to  fight  them,  and  had  confidence  in 
their  friendship  if  it  could  be  gained.     He  feasted 
Washakee  and  impressed   him   so   favorably  in 


620 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


every  way  that  the  settlers  were  permitted  to  re- 
main without  molestation.  The  pioneers  adopted 
a  friendly  and  conciliatory  policy  in  dealing  with 
the  Indians,  and  rarely  had  serious  trouble  with 
them.  Once  Pocatello,  the  Bannack  chief,  came 
to  the  settlement  with  his  braves  and  treated  the 
whites  with  much  insolence.  Some  of  the  In- 
dians demanded  beef  and  flour,  which  were  scarce 
articles  there  at  the  time,  and  some  of  them 
amused  themselves  and  their  companions  by 
standing  on  the  settlers'  beds  and  otherwise  ren- 
dering themselves  offensive  and  ridiculous.  Two 
men  were  dispatched  secretly  to  Cache  valley  for 
help,  and  the  next  day  there  were  fifty  minute- 
men  in  hand,  and  Pocatello  and  his  followers 
withdrew  with  as  good  grace  as  possible  and 
never  troubled  the  settlers  afterward.  There  was 
no  mill  anywhere  near,  and  grain  was  ground  in 
coffee-mills,  and  the  pioneers  had  no  base  of  sup- 
plies nearer  than  Cache  valley.  But,  strange  as 
it  may  appear  at  first  thought,  Mr.  Jones  was 
actually  prospering  in  a  financial  way.  He  had 
established  a  blacksmith  shop  and  was  getting  as 
much  as  six  dollars  for  shoeing  a  span  of  horses 
and  was  being  paid  for  other  work  at  propor- 
tionate prices.  There  was  much  emigration 
through  the  valley  and  much  packing  of  mer- 
chandise. The  objective  points  were  Boise  City 
and  the  mining  camps  and  settlements  in  Mon- 
tana. There  were  many  horses  to  be  shod  and 
many  wagons  to  be  repaired,  and  this  steady 
stream  of  overland  travel  made  much  other 
profitable  work  for  Mr.  Jones.  He  saw  a  train  of 
eighty  wagons,  loaded  with  whisky  and  each 
drawn  by  six  yokes  of  cattle,  pass  his  shop  en 
route  for  Montana  mining  camps,  and  at  other 
times  evidences  of  enterprises  in  the  pursuit  of 
the  "almighty  dollar"  which  were  scarcely  less 
remarkable  and  suggestive.  When  he  had  saved 
up  some  capital  he  built  a  big  frame  .house  and 
occupied  it  as  a  residence  and  hotel.  He  planted 
trees  about  it  and  made  it  as  comfortable  and 
inviting  as  possible,  and  here  he  set  a  good  table 
and  gave  every  one  a  hearty  welcome  and  a 
cheery  good-bye,  as  a  result  of  which  he  pros- 
pered beyond  his  most  sanguine  calculations.  The 
house  was  kept  open  as  a  hotel  until  1897,  and 
since  then  Mr.  Jones  has  entertained  only  favored 
old  customers  and  personal  friends. 

As  Mr.  Jones  made  money,  he  sought  good 


investment  for  some  of  it  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity. He  and  Edward  Burgoyne  acquired  the  land 
on  which  the  new  town  of  Montpelier  has  grown 
up.  They  have  built  many  houses  and  sold 
many  lots  and  are  still  the  largest  owners  of 
property  there.  From  time  to  time  Mr.  Jones 
has  bought  other  property,  when  he  has  been 
able  to  do  so  on  advantageous  terms.  In  this 
way  and  by  other  purchases  he  became  the 
owner  of  much  valuable  farm  land,  and  upon  the 
marriage  of  one  of  his  sons  it  is  his  rule  to  give 
him  a  good  farm.  He  abandoned  blacksmithing 
after  having  carried  on  the  business  with  success 
about  fifteen  years,  and  in  1897,  when  he  ceased 
keeping  hotel,  he  retired  from  active  life,  well 
off  in  this  world's  goods,  rich  in  the  good  will 
of  his  fellow  citizens  and  with  abundant  self- 
approval  of  all  methods  by  which  he  has  pros- 
pered. With  a  partner,  he  built  the  roller-process 
flouring  mill  which  became  so  great  a  factor  in 
the  prosperity  of  the  town  and  its  tributary  terri- 
tory, but  later  disposed  of  his  interest  in  it. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones  have  had  twelve  children, 
of  whom  nine  are  living:  Nessi  A.,  who  is  Mrs. 
C.  Webster;  Lilian  E.,  who  married  John 
Stevens;  Thomas  W.,  who  is  a  merchant  at 
Montpelier;  Franklin,  who  is  a  dealer  in  meat 
in  Montpelier ;  Jacob,  who  is  a  successful  rancher 
near  Montpelier;  Nellie  S.,  who  is  the  wife  of 
Thomas  Glen,  a  lawyer  of  Montpelier;  May, 
who  is  Mrs.  Clem  Oakley,  of  Montpelier;  John 
H.,  who  is  now  married;  and  Daisy,  who  is  a 
member  of  her  father's  household. 

ALFRED  BUDGE. 

Alfred  Budge,  prosecuting  attorney  of  Bear 
Lake  county,  was  born  in  Providence,  Utah,  on 
the  24th  of  February,  1868,  of  Scotch-English 
and  Welsh  ancestry.  For  full  details  in  regard  to 
his  lineage  and  the  immediate  family  history, 
we  refer  the  reader  to  the  sketch  of  the  life  of  his 
father,  Hon.  William  Budge,  appearing  else- 
where in  this  volume.  Alfred  Budge  received  his 
preliminary  education  in  the  academy  at  Provo, 
Utah,  and  later  matriculated  in  the  law  depart- 
ment of  the  famous  University  of  Michigan  at 
Ann  Arbor,  where  he  was  duly  graduated  as  a 
member  of  the  law  class  of  1891.  He  was  at 
once  admitted  to  practice,  and  he  began  the  work 
of  his  profession  in  July,  1892,  at  his  home  in 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  W.  Bigham. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


621 


Paris,  Idaho,  where  he  has  since  continued  in  the 
active  practice  of  law. 

In  his  political  adherency  Mr.  Budge  is  a 
stanch  advocate  of  the  Republican  party,  and,  as 
such,  was  elected  district  attorney  of  the  fifth  ju- 
dicial district  of  the  state,  in  which  office  he 
served,  with  great  acceptability,  for  a  period  of 
four  years,  his  term  expiring  January  15,  1899. 
In  the  meanwhile,  in  November,  1898,  he  had 
been  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  Bear  Lake 
county,  of  which  important  office  he  is  the  pres- 
ent incumbent,  discharging  its  duties  with 
marked  ability  and  resourcefulness. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  while  the  political 
complexion  of  the  county  is  Democratic  by  a 
majority  of  about  two-thirds  of  its  voters,  both 
Mr.  Budge  and  his  father  were  candidates  on  the 
Republican  ticket, — the  one  for  prosecuting  at- 
torney and  the  other  for  state  senator,- — and  both 
were  elected.  They  were  the  only  Republicans 
elected,  and  had  made  no  personal  efforts  in  the 
way  of  electioneering.  Such  facts  are  significant, 
standing  in  evidence  of  the  popular  recognition 
of  their  fitness  for  official  position,  and  also  indi- 
cating the  great  personal  popularity  in  which 
they  are  held  in  the  county  in  which  they  have 
both  so  long  resided. 

Mr.  Budge  is  now  also  a  member  of  the  Paris 
city  council.  He  was  born  a  member  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and 
has  rendered  his  church  eminent  service  as  a 
traveling  elder.  He  acquired  the  German  lan- 
guage and  for  two  and  one-half  years  traveled 
and  preached  in  Switzerland  and  in  Germany. 
His  labors  abroad  were  well  received,  and  he  ef- 
fected several  organizations  of  his  church.  He 
also  visited  and  spent  some  time  in  England  and 
France  and  has  visited  nearly  all  sections  of  his 
native  land. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  1894,  Mr.  Budge  was  hap- 
pily married  to  Miss  Ella  Hoge,  the  daughter  of 
Walter  Hoge,  a  respected  pioneer  citizen  of 
Paris.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  two 
sons, — Alfred  Hoge  and  Drew  William  Stanrod. 
They  have  a  delightful  home  on  a  hillside  over- 
looking the  valley.  Mr.  Budge  has  also  a  ranch 
and  is  a  stockholder  in  a  large  roller-process 
flouring  mill,  recently  built  in  the  city.  There  is 
a  large  local  demand  for  the  flour,  and  the  prod- 
uct of  the  mill  is  also  shipped  to  other  towns. 


Mr.  Budge  is  polished  in  manner,  a  gentleman 
of  much  natural  and  acquired  ability,  and  he  and 
his  family  are  very  highly  esteemed,  having  a 
wide  circle  of  friends. 

SAMUEL  W.  BIGHAM. 

Samuel  W.  Bigham,  one  of  the  most  successful 
and  best  known  farmers  of  the  Potlatch  country, 
living  on  American  Ridge,  four  miles  southwest 
of  the  picturesque  and  prosperous  town  of  Ken- 
clrick,  came  to  this  locality  in  1881  and  took  up 
government  land,  which  he  has  transformed  into 
one  of  the  most  desirable  farms  in  this  section  of 
Idaho.  He  was  born  in  Canada,  July  24,  1842, 
and  is  of  Irish  descent,  his  grandfather,  Andrew 
Bigham,  having  emigrated  from  the  Emerald 
Isle  to  Canada  at  an  early  day.  His  son  Thomas 
Bigham,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in 
what  was  then  the  town  of  York,  but  is  now  the 
city  of  Toronto,  and  having  arrived  at  years  of 
maturity  married  Miss  Jane  Davidson,  a  native 
of  Ireland.  In  1855  ne  removed  with  his  family 
to  Illinois,  became  a  naturalized  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  when  the  great  civil  war  was 
inaugurated  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Union, 
enlisting  in  Company  G,  Fifty-eighth  Illinois  In- 
fantry. When  hostilities  had  ceased  he  returned 
to  his  Illinois  home,  where  he  remained  until  the 
fall  of  1866,  when  he  moved  to  MarySville,  Mar- 
shall county,  Kansas,  where  he  remained  until 
the  fall  of  1888,  when  he  came  to  Idaho,  locating 
in  Moscow.  There  he  passed  the  remainder  of 
a  well  spent  life,  and  he  was  called  to  his  final 
rest  September  15,  1897,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three  years.  He'  was  a  man  of  much  energy  and 
industry,  of  sterling  worth  of  character,  a  valued 
member  of  the  Baptist  church  and  a  good  and 
worthy  citizen,  enjoying  the  esteem  of  all  who 
knew  him.  His  good  wife  is  still  living,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-six  years.  Through  the  long  period 
of  their  married  life  she  was  to  him  a  faithful 
wife  and  helpmeet,  and  to  her  nine  children  she 
proved  a  devoted  mother.  "  Five  sons  and  one 
daughter  are  still  living. 

Samuel  W.  Bigham,  the  sixth  of  the  family, 
was  educated  in  Ogle  county,  Illinois,  and  reared 
at  his  father's  home  there.  On  the  3Oth  of  Oc- 
tober, 1861,  stirred  with  the  spirit  of  patriotism, 
he  offered  his  services  to  the  government,  join- 
ing the  same  company  of  which  his  father  was  a 


622 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


member.  One  of  his  brothers,  Jonathan  Big- 
ham,  belonged  to  the  Ninety-second  Illinois  In- 
fantry, so  that  the  family  was  well  represented  in 
the  struggle  to  preserve  the  Union.  He  was 
only  nineteen  years  of  age  when  he  volunteered, 
but  the  veterans  many  years  his  senior  displayed 
no  greater  loyalty  or  bravery  than  he.  He  served 
in  the  western  army  under  Generals  Grant  and 
Sherman  and  participated  in  nine  hard-fought 
battles, — from  Pittsburg  Landing  to  Nashville, 
Tennessee.  At  the  battle  of  Pleasant  Hill,  Lou- 
isiana, he  was  wounded  in  the  face,  the  ball  enter- 
ing his  mouth  and  breaking  his  jaw.  As  soon 
as  he  recovered  he  rejoined  his  regiment  and 
continued  with  that  command  until  February  7, 
1865,  when  he  received  an  honorable  discharge. 
He  then  laid  down  his  gun  to  again  take  his  place 
behind  the  plow.  He  had  rendered  his  country 
valuable  service,  and  every  loyal  soldier  of  the 
Union  certainly  deserves  the  heartfelt  praise  of 
the  nation. 

In  1881  Mr.  Bigham  came  to  Idaho,  locating 
a  claim  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  under  the 
soldier's  homestead  act.  By  his  industry  and 
earnest  effort  he  has  made  this  one  of  the  most 
desirable  farms  in  the  county  and  he  is  accounted 
one  of  the  leading  and  progressive  agriculturists. 
By  additional  purchase  he  has  added  to  his  prop- 
erty until  his  landed  possession  now  aggregates 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  much  of  which 
is  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  He  has  a 
fine  orchard  of  fifteen  acres,  planted  to  apples, 
pears,  peaches,  plums  and  small  fruits.  He  has 
also  put  out  a  fine  grove  of  walnut  trees,  and 
this  is  used  as  picnic  grounds  by  his  family, 
friends  and  neighbors.  He  has  piped  water  from 
a  spring  in  his  outdoor  cellar  to  a  forty-acre  pas- 
ture, that  his  horses,  cattle  and  hogs  may  have 
plenty  of  pure  water.  He  raises  grain,  hay  and 
fine  stock,  and  feeds  most  of  his  farm  products 
to  the  stock.  His  pleasant,  and  substantial  resi- 
dence is  supplemented  by  a  large  barn  of  recent 
construction  and  all  other  necessary  outbuild- 
ings, and  no  accessory  of  the  model  farm  is  lack- 
ing. There  is  also  a  blacksmith  and  repair  shop, 
and  his  mechanical  ingenuity  enables  him  to 
keep  in  repair  all  of  his  own  farm  implements. 
He  is  most  industrious  and  energetic,  and  his 
labors  are  certainly  deserving  of  the  success  with 
which  they  have  been  crowned. 


Another  and  most  attractive  element  of  the 
Bigham  home  is  the  generous  hospitality  which 
there  reigns  supreme.  Our  subject  and  his  wife 
are  most  generous,  kind-hearted  people,  and 
have  the  warm  regard  of  a  very  extensive  circle 
of  friends.  This  worthy  couple  were  married  in 
1889,  the  lady  having  been  in  her  maidenhood 
Miss  Christine  Anna  Ktioni.  She  was  born  in 
Switzerland,  and  came  to  America  when  two 
years  old.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  a 
son  and  daughter, — Zella  and  Walter  S. 

Mr.  Bigham  is  a  valued  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity  and  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic.  In  politics  he  is  a  stalwart  Repub- 
lican, and  is  a  public-spirited,  progressive  citizen, 
giving  his  loyal  support  to  all  measures  for  the 
general  good,  and  manifesting  the  same  fidelity 
to  his  duties  of  citizenship  as  when  he  followed 
the  nation's  starry  banner  upon  southern  battle- 
fields. 

V.  W.  SANDER. 

Success  is  not  always  the  result  of  fortunate 
circumstances,  but  is  the  outcome  of  labor  and 
business  ability,  and  the  one  who  achieves  suc- 
cess along  industrial  or  commercial  lines  must  be 
possessed  of  energy,  strong  determination  and 
executive  force.  Such  are  the  qualities  which 
have  won  for  Mr.  Sander  a  leading  position 
among  the  merchants  of  Idaho  and  gained  for 
him  the  presidency  of  the  Idaho  Mercantile  Com- 
pany, Limited,  of  Coeur  d'Alene. 

A  native  of  Germany,  he  was  born  February 
4,  1857,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry  and  Henrietta 
(Othmer)  Sander,  also  natives  of  the  same  coun- 
try. In  1860  they  came  with  their  family  to  the 
New  World,  taking  up  their  residence  in  Musca- 
tine,  Iowa,  where  the  parents  died.  The  subject 
of  this  review  was  only  three  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  the  emigration  to  America.  He  was 
reared  in  Muscatine  and  acquired  his  education 
in  the  common  and  high  schools  of  that  city, 
after  which  he  entered  upon  his  business  career 
as  a  clerk,  spending  three  years  as  a  salesman  in 
the  dry-goods  store  of  General  Gordon,  of  that 
city.  In  1877  he  made  his  way  westward  to  Cali- 
fornia, where  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a 
general  store  for  two  years,  and  in  1879  he  re- 
moved to  the  territory  of  Washington,  where  he 
secured  a  ranch,  upon  which  he  made  his  home 
until  the  following  year.  In  1880  he  came  to 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


623 


what  is  now  the  city  of  Coeur  d'Alene,  Idaho,  and 
for  several  years  was  associated  in  business  with 
George  B.  Wonnacott.  In  1883  he  began  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account,  opening  a  general 
merchandising  establishment,  and  on  the  1st  of 
March,  1895,  was  instrumental  in  organizing  the 
Idaho  Mercantile  Company,  Limited,  of  which 
he  was  elected  president.  It  was  capitalized  for 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  from  the  beginning 
the  new  enterprise  has  been  attended  with  a 
marked  degree  of  success.  They  carry  the  largest 
stock  in  this  section  of  the  state  and  their  goods 
are  of  the  best  possible  selection  to  meet  the 
varied  demands  of  the  trade  of  this  region.  In 
1891  the  large  brick  block  in  which  the  business 
is  conducted  was  completed.  It  is  fifty  by  one 
one  hundred  feet,  and  is  two  stories  in  height 
with  basement. 

In  1886  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Sander  and  Miss  Lulu  Lohmann,  of  Burlington, 
Iowa,  and  they  now  have  an  interesting  family  of 
four  children:  William  E.,  Henrietta  C,  Dor- 
othy L.  and  Carolton  A.  In  his  social  relations 
Mr.  Sander  is  a  Knight  of  Pythias,  and  in  politics 
is  a  Republican.  He  keeps  well  informed  on  the 
issues  of  the  day,  yet  is  not  an  office-seeker,  pre- 
ferring to  devote  his  time  and  energies  to  his 
business  interests.  His  keen  discrimination  in 
commercial  matters,  his  courteous  treatment  and 
honorable  dealing  have  secured  to  him  a  liberal 
patronage,  and  his  straightforward  business 
methods  have  gained  him  the  commendation  and 
confidence  of  the  general  public. 

JOHN    C.    BRADY. 

The  profession  of  teaching  is  one  which  de- 
velops a  man  symmetrically,  affords  him  oppor- 
tunity for  study  and  thought  and  fits  him  for 
the  higher  duties  of  citizenship  in  a  manner 
thoroughly  logical  and  rational.  The  successful 
teacher  is  a  lover  of  popular  enlightenment,  and 
to  be  that  he  must  be  himself  enlightened  and 
patriotic.  When  teachers  come  to  public  office 


they  bring  to  the  service  of  the  public  a  broad- 
minded  grasp  of  affairs  and  a  capacity  for  work 
which  make  them  useful,  influential  and  re- 
spected. 

John  C.  Brady  was  born  in  Cedar  county, 
Iowa,  May  19,  1863,  a  son  of  Hugh  and  Mary 
(McClintock)  Brady,  who  are  living  in  Keokuk 
county,  Iowa,  respected  by  all  who  know  them, 
and  prosperous  in  temporal  affairs. 

Mr.  Brady  attended  the  public  schools  near  his 
home  and  was  graduated  from  the  Northern  In- 
diana Normal  School,  at  Valparaiso,  in  1884. 
From  that  time  until  in  1898  he  was  teaching 
school  almost  continuously,  in  Iowa,  Montana 
and  Idaho.  He  came  to  Rathdrum,  Kootenai 
county,  Idaho,  in  1894,  was  for  four  years  princi- 
pal of  the  schools  of  that  town  and  came  to  be 
known  as  one  of  the  most  devoted  and  successful 
educators  in  the  state. 

In  November,  1898,  he  was,  as  a  Democrat, 
elected  to  the  office  of  judge  of  probate  of 
Kootenai  county,  an  office  which  he  is  adminis- 
tering with  much  ability  and  good  judgment  and 
with  the  approbation  of  the  general  public,  with- 
out regard  to  political  alliances.  He  was  called 
to  the  position  by  a  majority  large  enough  to 
attest  great  personal  popularity,  for  he  is  excep- 
tionally progressive  and  public-spirited  and  has 
a  wide  personal  acquaintance.  He  has  fraternal 
relations  with  the  orders  of  Red  Men,  Knights  of 
Pythias  and  Knights  of  the  Maccabees.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1899,  he  purchased,  and  has  since  been  the 
editor  and  publisher  of,  the  Silver  Blade,  a  six- 
column  folio  newspaper,  which  was  established 
at  Rathdrum  in  1895  and  is  the  only  Democratic 
paper  in  Kootenai  county.  This  journal  under 
Mr.  Brady's  management  has  been  greatly  im- 
proved; it  has  a  circulation  of  one  thousand  and 
a  recognized  influence  throughout  the  prosperous 
and  rapidly  developing  field  it  occupies. 

In  1893  Mr.  Brady  married  Miss  Nettie  Pine, 
a  native  of  Illinois,  who  died  April  15,  1899, 
leaving  two  children,  Arva  and  Elmer. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 


THE  CHURCH   OF  JESUS   CHRIST   OF   LATTER   DAY   SAINTS   IN   IDAHO. 


THE  following  record  is  contributed  by  one 
who  stands  high   in  the  councils   of  the 
church  and  in  the  civic  affairs  of  the  state, 
and  the  article  merits  a  place  in  this  history,  as 
representing   an   element   which   has   a   distinct 
place  in  the  annals  of  Idaho  and  which  is  con- 
tributing to  her  welfare  and  stable  prosperity : 

The  remarkable  journey  of  the  Mormon  people  from 
the  borders  of  civilization  to  the  wilds  of  the  western 
wilderness,  in  1847,  is  now  a  matter  of  history.  The 
pioneer  camp  of  that  exodus  comprised  one  hundred 
and  forty-three  souls,  and  was  led  by  Brigham  Young, 
the  president  of  the  church,  and  afterward  governor 
of  Utah.  This  advance  colony  reached  Salt  Lake  City 
on  the  24th  day  of  July,  1847.  Almost  immediately  after 
planting  crops  sufficient  for  bread-stuff  for  these  col- 
onizers, Brigham  Young  fitted  out  several  companies, 
under  the  supervision  of  men  of  indomitable  courage, 
to  explore  the  contiguous  territory,  in  order  to  provide 
for  the  establishment  of  the  immense  immigration  of 
the  main  body  of  the  church,  which,  in  the  few  years 
following,  found  its  way  to  Utah.  One  of  these  com- 
panies went  south  to  Provo  valley,  and  another  went 
to  Davis  county,  on  the  north,  settling  what  are  now 
known  as  Kaysville  and  Centerville.  Soon  after  this 
another  colony  settled  in  Ogden  valley,  and  this  was 
followed  by  the  settlement  of  Brigham  City,  in  1850. 

The  inviting  and  fertile  valleys  of  the  north  soon 
led  to  the  establishment  of  thrifty  settlements  in  Cache 
valley — now  known  as  "the  granary  of  Utah."  Logan, 
the  county-seat  of  Cache,  was  located  by  Peter  Man- 
ghan  in  the  spring  of  1859.  Reaching  out  on  the  north, 
Franklin-was  located.  This  was  the  first  town  in  Idaho 
to  be  settled  by  the  Mormon  people,  although  then 
supposed  to  be  a  part  of  Utah.  Malad  was  settled  by 
Henry  Peck,  Benjamin  Thomas  and  others,  in  1863, 
and  in  1866  an  addition  was  made  to  ttoe  population 
by  an  influx  of  Josephites.  Bear  Lake  valley,  then 
called  Richland  county,  and  subsequently  part  of  Onei- 
da  county,  was  settled  in  1863  by  Apostle  Charles  C. 
Rich.  Cassia  county — at  the  time  of  its  settlement 
being  part  of  Oneida  and  Owyhee  counties — was  set- 
tled in  1875,  Albion — now  the  county-seat — being  the 
first  town  settled,  followed  soon  after  by  Oakley.  Tre- 
mont  county  was  settled  in  1883,  Rexburg  being  the 
first  town  located,  although  there  were  seven  families 
at  what  is  now  known  as  Parker,  and  a  few  at  Menan 
and  Idaho  Falls.  The  pioneers  of  Fremont  county 
were  Thomas  E.  Ricks,  Francis  Gunnell,  James  M. 

624 


Cook,  T.  E.  Ricks,  Jr.,  Joseph  Ricks,  Brigham  Ricks, 
Heber  Ricks,  Fred  Smith,  Leonard  Jones,  Dan  Wal- 
ters, Edmund  Paul,  and  a  number  of  others,  all  from 
Cache  county. 

It  should  be  here  remarked  that  the  Mormons  were 
the  very  first  bona-fide  settlers  of  Idaho.  In  1855  a 
colony  was  called  by  Brigham  Young  to  settle  what 
is  now  known  as  Lemhi  county — Lemhi  being  the 
name  of  one  of  the  prophets  in  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
They  cultivated  a  rich  body  of  land  there,  but  the 
Indians  were  very  hostile,  and  massacred  some  of  the 
colony,  besides  destroying  much  of  their  property  and 
stealing  their  cattle.  Finally,  Brigham  Young  called 
them  in,  and  no  further  settlement  of  that  part  of 
Idaho  took  place  till  mining  discoveries  opened  up 
the  country,  in  1866. 

After  the  establishment  of  Franklin  by  the  Mormon 
people,  settlements  sprang  up  all  around,  until  now 
the  Mormon  population  of  Idaho  numbers  in  the 
neighborhood  of  thirty-three  thousand,  distributed  in 
what  are  generally  known  as  the  six  Mormon  counties, 
as  follows:  Bear  Lake,  Bingham,  Bannock.  Cassia, 
Fremont  and  Oneida.  The  condition  of  the  Mormon 
people  is  prosperous,  and  is  characterized  by  industry, 
frugality  and  thrift. 

We  have  thus  shown  the  first  settlement  of  the 
Mormon  people  in  Idaho.  The  genius  of  the  Mormon 
religion  appeals  to  all  who  investigate  it,  as  being  not 
only  adapted  to  the  spiritual  advancement  of  mankind, 
but  as  especially  looking  to  his  temporal  welfare.  In 
the  establishment  of  these  colonies,  the  betterment  of 
the  condition  of  the  Mormon  people  and  their  inde- 
pendence have  been  the  important  objects  to  accom- 
plish, as  well  as  the  keeping  of  the  people  together  in 
one  body  for  the  attainment  of  their  spiritual  desires; 
so  that  the  salvation  embodied  in  the  Mormon  religion 
not  only  pertains  to  the  life  beyond,  but  also  has  a 
most  important  bearing  on  the  improvement  of  their 
temporal  condition.  It  is  a  practical  religion  in  every 
sense  of  the  word. 

The  Mormon  people  have  been  and  are,  in  very 
deed,  the  pioneers  and  colonizers  of  this  western  coun- 
try, but  the  hardships,  the  sufferings  and  the  vicissi- 
tudes they  have  undergone  have,  in  many  respects, 
been  almost  beyond  human  endurance.  Only  through 
the  aid  and  the  protection  of  the  Divine  Power  have 
they  been  enabled  to  endure  the  sufferings  attendant 
upon  the  early  settlement  of  what  are  now  the  prettiest, 
the  richest  and  the  most  promising  valleys  of  Idaho. 
Bear  Lake  county  can  very  truly  be  cited  as  an  instance 
of  the  hardships  and  sufferings  undergone.  Thirty- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


G25 


three  years  ago,  when  Charles  C.  Rich  and  his  band 
of  pioneers  entered  this  valley,  it  was  most  forbidding 
and  uninviting.  The  valley  has  an  altitude  of  five  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  feet,  and  the  early  and  late  frosts, 
and  the  long  winters,  with  their  heavy  snowfalls,  made 
it  seem  impossible  to  bring  the  valley  to  a  condition 
where  farming  would  be  profitable  and  the  locality  a 
desirable  place  to  live  in.  The  change  which  has  come 
over  this  valley  seems  more  like  a  transformation  than 
a  reality.  The  finest  and  choicest  of  cereals  are  now 
raised  here,  as  also  apples,  pears,  plums,  cherries, 
strawberries,  and  all  the  smaller  fruits,  while  thrifty 
settlements  have  sprung  up  as  if  by  magic.  There  was 
no  railroad  in  the  early  days  of  its  settlement,  and 
when  the  inclemency  of  the  weather  and  the  grasshop- 
pers destroyed  the  crops,  bread-stuffs  and  the  other 
necessaries  of  life  had  to  be  freighted  from  Cache  val- 
ley through  the  mountains,  over  roads  which  were 
rough  and  almost  impassable.  Charles  C.  Rich,  through 
all  these  discomfitures  and  hardships,  together  with 
his  band  of  pioneers,  labored  for  the  development  of 
the  country.  He  died  at  his  home  in  Paris,  in  1882. 

The  evidences  of  the  primitive  condition  of  affairs 
are  giving  way  to  modern  improvements.  The  old 
log  school-house  and  place  of  worship  have  given  way 
to  the  brick  school-house  and  the  stone  church.  Paris, 
the  county-seat  of  Bear  Lake,  as  is  the  case  with  all 
the  other  Mormon  settlements,  has  been  almost  entirely 
rebuilt  during  the  last  fifteen  years,  and  boasts,  among 
its  many  modern  buildings,  the  largest  and  most  costly 
place  of  worship  in  the  state  of  Idaho,  known  to  the 
Mormon  people  as  their  Stake  Tabernacle — being  con- 
structed entirely  of  fine  building  rock.  It  also  pos- 
sesses a  Mormon  church  academy  of  cut  rock  and 
brick,  three  stories  high,  with  a  large  tower,  valued 
at  forty-five  thousand  dollars. 

When  the  Mormon  colonists  stretched  out  on  the 
north,  miles  and  miles  from  Salt  Lake  City,  they  had 
no  other  thought  but  that  they  were  in  the  then  terri- 
tory of  Utah.  Their  interests  were  in  common,  and 
they  paid  tribute  to  that  territory  and  assisted  in  the 
choosing  of  her  officials.  When  a  government  survey 
of  the  west  was  made  in  1872,  a  line  was  run  by  the 
surveyors  between  Utah  and  Idaho,  and  the  Mormon 
people  in  the  extreme  northern  settlements  found 
themselves  in  Idaho, — in  what  was  then  known  as 
Oneida  county,  which  at  that  time  embraced  the  pres- 
ent counties  of  Bear  Lake,  Oneida,  Bannock,  Bing- 
ham,  Fremont  and  part  of  Cassia.  The  Mormon  set- 
tlers, being  chiefly  from  Utah,  and  understanding  they 
were  part  and  portion  of  that  territory,  had  never  taken 
much  part  in  national  politics — in  fact,  but  very  little. 
This  is  easily  explained  by  the  fact  that  when  they 
reached  Utah  in  1847  they  were  over  one  thousand 
miles  from  civilization,  and  being  so  isolated  for  years, 
during  the  settlement  of  Utah,  they  had  no  occasion 
to  bother  much  with  politics.  They  were  ever  loyal, 
however,  to  the  flag,  and  maintained,  even  from  the 
first,  a  devotion  to  the  institutions  of  our  country. 
When  the  fact  was  determined  that  the  Mormon  set- 


tlers in  the  southeastern  part  of  our  state  were  in 
Idaho,  and  not  in  Utah  as  they  supposed,  they  began 
to  interest  themselves  in  the  politics  of  the  territory, 
realizing  that  their  taxes  would  be  paid  into  its  treas- 
ury and  disbursed  by  its  officials,  and  not  in  Utah 
any  more;  and  that  from  henceforth  their  interests 
would  be  allied  with  Idaho. 

Just  prior  to  this  time  the  Republican  party,  in 
national  convention  assembled,  in  1876,  displayed  a 
hostile  feeling  against  the  Mormon  church,  by  making 
the  following  declaration  in  its  platform: 

"The  constitution  confers  upon  congress  sovereign 
power  over  the  territories  of  the  United  States  for 
their  government;  and  in  the  exercise  of  this  power  it 
is  the  right  and  duty  of  congress  to  prohibit  and  extir- 
pate, in  the  territories,  that  relic  of  barbarism — polig- 
amy;  and  we  demand  such  legislation  as  shall  secure 
this  end  and  the  supremacy  of  American  institutions 
in  all  the  territories."  (Adopted  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
June  14,  1876.) 

This  declaration  affected  the  Mormon  people  so 
intensely  that,  as  a  matter  of  self-protection,  they 
affiliated  with  the  Democratic  party,  realizing  that  this 
party  had  not,  in  any  of  its  platforms  or  at  any  of  its 
conventions,  displayed  such  unfriendliness;  for  it  should 
be  remembered  that  the  Mormon  people,  who  had 
taught  the  rightfulness  of  polygamy  and  practiced  it — 
always,  however,  to  a  limited  extent — without  any 
legal  objection,  considered  that  they  were  acting  under 
the  provisions  of 'the  constitution  relating  to  religious 
liberty.  Consequently,  when  the  Mormon  settlers 
found  themselves  in  Idaho  they  were  almost  as  a  body 
with  the  Democrats,  and  as  such  affiliated  with  that 
party  in  territorial  and  congressional  matters.  The 
Mormon  vote  being  quite  heavy,  it  was  natural  to 
suppose  that  it  would  be  felt  in  the  elections  that 
occurred  from  the  time  of  their  joining  hands  with  the 
Democratic  party.  This  was  in  very  deed  the  case. 
Their  vote  insured  Democratic  success  in  every  polit- 
ical battle  fought.  With  such  unanimity  did  the  Mor- 
mon people  support  their  party  ticket,  that  in  some 
counties,  where  hundreds  of  votes  were  rolled  up,  but 
two  or  three  Republican  ballots  were  found.  This  solid 
voting  naturally  brought  forth  a  vigorous  outcry  from 
the  Republican  party,  and  so  profitably  did  they  wage 
their  fight  that  it  became  of  national  notoriety.  Fred 
T.  Dubois,  who  was  then  United  States  marshal,  was 
the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  Republican  party  in 
Idaho,  and  he  used  this  anti-Mormon  cry  to  good 
advantage;  although  we  are  pleased  to  state  that  he 
was  one  of  the  first  public  men  who  afterward  openly 
professed  his  belief  in  the  sincere  acceptance  of  the 
manifesto  by  the  Mormon  people.  The  Democrats 
were  everywhere  twitted  for  securing  an  election  with 
the  suffrages  of  the  Mormon  people,  and  to  such  an 
extent  was  this  campaign  of  abuse  and  hatred  carried 
on,  that  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party  became 
ashamed  of  themselves,  and  at  a  Democratic  conven- 
tion held,  at  which  a  candidate  for  delegate  to  con- 
gress was  to  be  nominated,  they  displayed  their  ingrati- 


G2G 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


tude  and  cowardice  by  denying  seats  to  the  Mormon 
representatives.  This  was  the  signal  for  what  proved 
to  be  a  dividing  line  between  them  and  the  Mormon 
people,  so  far  as  party  politics  in  Idaho  were  concerned. 
The  Democrats  threw  down  the  gauntlet;  the  Mor- 
mons took  it  up  and  at  once  prepared  to  defend  them- 
selves. Their  first  move  was  to  band  themselves  into 
an  independent  party,  under  obligations  to  no  man 
or  clique.  In  this  capacity  they  went  to  the  polls, 
throwing  their  strength  in  a  direction  which  seemed 
to  them  the  best.  Fred  T.  Dubois  was  elected  to  con- 
gress on  an  out-and-out  anti-Mormon  issue,  as  a  result 
of  the  feeling  which  had  grown  up  so  suddenly  against 
our  people.  This  condition,  however,  soon  terminated. 
As  neither  of  the  political  parties  was  the  gainer  by 
the  independent  action  of  the  Mormon  people,  at  least 
to  any  profitable  and  permanent  degree,  they  united 
against  them,  and  at  the  thirteenth  territorial  session 
the  legislature  disfranchised  the  Mormon  people  by 
enacting  an  infamous  test-oath,  directed  especially 
against  the  Mormons  because  of  their  religious  belief, 
and  known  everywhere  as  the  "Mormon  iron-clad 
oath."  This  oath  read  as  follows: 

I  do  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  am  a  male  citizen  of 
the  United  States  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  (21)  years, 

(or  will  be)  the day 18 (naming  date 

of  next  succeeding  election) ;  that  I  have  (or  will 
have)  actually  resided  in  this  territory  for  four  (4) 
months,  and  in  this  county  for  thirty  (30)  days  next 
preceding  the  day  of  the  next  ensuing  election;  (in 
case  of  any  election  requiring  a  different  time  of  resi- 
dence, so  make  it)  that  I  have  never  been  convicted 
of  treason,  felony  or  bribery;  that  I  am  not  now  regis- 
tered, or  entitled  to  vote,  at  any  oilier  place  in  this 
territory;  and  I  do  further  swear  that  I  am  not  a 
bigamist  or  polygamist;  that  I  am  not  a  member  of 
any  order,  organization,  or  association  which  teaches, 
advises,  counsels  or  encourages  its  members,  devotees, 
or  any  other  person  to  commit  the  crime  of  bigamy 
or  polygamy,  or  any  other  crime  defined  by  law,  as  a 
duty  arising  or  resulting  from  membership  in  such 
order,  organization  or  association,  or  which  practices 
bigamy  or  polygamy,  or  plural  or  celestial  marriage, 
as  a  doctrinal  rite  of  such  organization;  that  I  do  not, 
and  will  not.  publicly  or  privately,  or  in  any  manner 
whatever,  teach,  advise,  counsel,  or  encourage,  any 
person  to  commit  the  crime  of  bigamy  or  polygamy, 
or  any  other  crime  defined  by  law,  either  as  a  religious 
duty  or  otherwise;  that  I  do  regard  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  laws  thereof,  and  of  this 
territory,  as  interpreted  by  the  courts,  as  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land,  the  teachings  of  any  order,  organiza- 
tion or  association  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding; 
(when  made  before  a  judge  of  election,  add' "and  I  have 
not  previously  voted  at  this  election,")  so  help  me  God. 


of- 


Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this- 


-Register  of- 


-Precinct, 


-day 


-County,  Idaho  Territory. 


Under  the  provisions  of  the  foregoing  inimical  and 
unjust  legislation,  a  member  of  the.  Mormon  church, 
whether  he  believed  in  polygamy  or  not,  could  not 
only  not  hold  office  in  the  territory,  but  he  could  not 
even  vote.  Even  members  of  the  Mormon  church  were 
denied  the  right  to  act  as  school  trustees.  When  the 


time  came  for  statehood,  to  further  the  interests  of 
which  the  Mormon  people  worked  and  labored  hard, 
their  political  enemies  desired  to  perpetuate  the  political 
bondage  they  were  in  by  incorporating  in  the  enabling 
act  a  test-oath  similar  to  the  one  heretofore  incorpor- 
ated in  this  article.  It  was  left  for  the  legislators  of 
the  first  state  session  to  out-Herod  Herod  by  going 
further  than  the  constitution  dared  do,  by  punishing  the 
Mormon  people  for  what  they  had  done  during  the 
terms  of  their  lives  before,  as  fully  shown  in  the  pro- 
visions of  the  following  test-oath: 

I  do  swear,  or  affirm,  that  I  am  a  male  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  (or  will 

be)   the  day  of —  — ,  A.  D.   18 ,   (naming  date 

of  next  succeeding  election) ;  that  I  have  (or  will  have) 
actually  resided  in  this  state  for  six  months  and  in  the 
county  for  thirty  days  next  preceding  the  next  ensuing 
election.  (In  case  of  any  election  requiring  a  different 
time  of  residence,  so  make  it.)  That  I  have  never  been 
convicted  of  treason,  felony,  embezzlement  of  public 
funds,  bartering  or  selling  or  offering  to  barter  or  sell 
my  vote,  or  purchasing  or  offering  to  purchase  the  vote 
of  another,  or  other  infamous  crime,  without  there- 
after being  restored  to  the  right  of  citizenship;  that 
since  the  first  day  of  January,  A.  D.  1888,  and  since 
I  have  been  eighteen  years  of  age,  I  have  not  been 
a  bigamist  or  polygamist,  or  have  lived  in  what  is 
known  as  patriarchal,  plural  or  celestial  marriage,  or 
in  violation  of  any  law  of  this  state,  or  of  the  United 
States,  forbidding  any  such  crime;  and  I  have  not 
during  said  time,  taught,  advised,  counseled,  aided  or 
encouraged  any  person  to  enter  into  bigamy,  polygamy, 
or  such  patriarchal,  plural  or  celestial  marriage,  or  to 
live  in  violation  of  any  such  law,  or  to  commit  any  such 
crime.  Nor  have  I  been  a  member  of.  or  contributed 
to  the  support,  aid  or  encouragement  of  any  order, 
organization,  association,  corporation  or  society  which, 
through  its  recognized  teachers,  printed  or  published 
creed,  or  other  doctrinal  works,  or  in  any  other  man- 
ner, teaches  or  has  taught,  advises  or  has  advised, 
counsels,  encourages  or  aids,  or  has  counseled,  encour- 
aged or  aided,  any  person  to  enter  into  bigamy,  polyg- 
amy, or  such  patriarchal  or  plural  marriage,  or  which 
teaches  or  has  taught,  advises  or  has  advised,  that  the 
laws  of  this  state  or  of  the  territory  of  Idaho,  or  of 
the  United  States,  applicable  to  said  territory  prescrib- 
ing rules  of  civil  conduct,  are  not  the  supreme  law. 

That  I  will  not  commit  any  act  in  violation  of  the 
provisions  in  this  oath  contained;  that  I  am  not  now 
registered  or  entitled  to  vote  at  any  other  place  in  this 
state;  that  I  do  regard  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  laws  thereof,  and  the  constitution  of 
this  state,  and  the  laws  thereof,  as  interpreted  by  the 
courts,  as  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  the  teachings 
of  any  order,  organization  or  association  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding.  When  made  before  a  judge  of 
election,  add:  "And  I  have  not  previously  voted  at  this 
election."  So  help  me  God. 

The  next  session  of  the  legislature,  irrespective  of 
political  party,  acting  on  instructions  embodied  in 
Governor  McConnell's  message  to  them,  passed  a  bill 
eliminating  from  the  elector's  oath  all  its  unjust  and 
retroactive  provisions,  which  bill  was  promptly  signed 
by  Governor  McConnell  February  23,  1893. 

During  all  the  time  of  their  disfranchisement,  the 
Mormon  people,  as  a  church,  had  been  contending  in 
the  courts  for  their  religious  freedom  and  what  they 
considered  to  be  their  political  rights  and  privileges 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


627 


under  the  constitution  of  the  land.  Eventually  the 
supreme  court  of  the  United  States  decided  against 
the  church,  so  far  as  its  practice  of  polygamy  was 
concerned,  and  the  Mormon  people  submitted  to  its 
rulings.  The  manifesto  by  President  Woodruff  fol- 
lowed, and  was  accepted  by  the  people  in  one  of  the 
largest  conferences  ever  held,  and  plural  marriages 
from  that  time  ceased.  A  feeling  of  confidence  and 
good  will  among  the  political  parties  to  the  Mormon 
people  followed,  and  they  divided  up  on  national  party 
lines,  taking  such  an  interest  in  election  matter  as  to 
leave  no  room  for  doubt  of  their  sincerity  in  abiding 
the  changed  condition.  When  the  third  session  of  the 
Idaho  state  legislature  sat,  this  feeling  of  friendship 
was  manifested  in  the  passing  of  a  bill  entirely  remov- 
ing all  strictures  and  reference  to  the  Mormon  church 
and  its  religion,  as  is  seen  by  the  amended  oath  itself 
as  follows: 

I  do  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I   am  a  male  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  or 

will   be  the day  of  .   A.   D.    189— — , 

(naming  date  of  next  succeeding  election)  that  I  have 
(or  will  have)  actually  resided  in  this  state  for  six 
months  and  in  the  county  for  thirty  days  next  pre- 
ceding the  next  ensuing  election,  (in  case  of  any  elec- 
tion requiring  a  different  time  of  residence  so  make  it) ; 
that  I  have  never  been  convicted  of  treason,  felony, 
embezzlement  of  public  funds,  bartering  or  selling  or 
offering  to  barter  or  sell  my  vote,  or  purchasing  or 


offering  to  purchase  the  vote  of  another,  or  other 
infamous  crime,  without  thereafter  being  restored  to 
the  rights  of  citizenship;  that  I  will  not  commit  any 
act  in  violation  of  the  provisions  in  this  oath  con- 
tained; that  I  am  not  now  registered,  or  entitled  to 
vote,  at  any  other  place  in  this  state;  that  I  do  regard 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  laws 
thereof,  and  the  constitution  of  this  state  and  the  laws 
thereof,  as  interpreted  by  the  courts,  as  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land;  (when  made  before  a  judge  of  elec- 
tion add:  "And  I  have  not  previously  voted  at  this 
election:")  so  help  me  God. 

This  is  the  only  elector's  oath  now  on  the  statute 
book,  and  as  a  result  the  Mormon  people  not  only  vote 
at  all  elections,  but  hold  federal,  legislative,  state, 
county,  and  other  offices  generally. 

Notwithstanding  the  antagonism  manifested  by  a 
certain  local  paper  in  Utah,  which  has  recommended 
extreme  and  cruel  measures  for  the  breaking  up  of 
polygamous  families  established  long  before  there  was 
any  law  against  its  practice,  the  object  sought  by  the 
law  is  being  accomplished  in  a  more  humane  manner, 
for  there  being  no  further  plural  marriages,  polygamy 
is  naturally  dying  out.  In  Bear  Lake  county,  for 
instance,  the  strongest  Mormon  county  in  the  state. — 
the  number  of  polygamists  at  the  time  the  manifesto 
was  formulated  was  seventy-four,  whereas  now  there 
are  only  forty-eight,  and  undoubtedly  a  much  smaller 
percentage  remains  in  the  other  counties. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


FRANK   SIGEL   DIETRICH. 

THE  day  of  the  lawyer  who  depended  upon 
inspiration,  and  whose  chief  preparation 
for  forensic  victory  was  the  acquisition  of 
alcoholic  stimulants,  is  past.  The  lawyer  of 
to-day  depends  not  alone  upon  inspiration,  but 
also  upon  hard  work  in  preparing  his  cases  for 
trial,  and  upon  their  careful  presentation  and 
handling  in  the  courts.  Usually  he  has  to  con- 
vince hard-headed  business  men  of  the  merits  of 
his  case,  which  involves  nothing  of  sentiment  or 
of  sensationalism  and  much  of  pecuniary  interest 
and  of  commercial  right  and  wrong,  pure  and 
simple.  He  goes  before  a  judge  and  jury  cool, 
collected,  alert,  bristling  with  business,  equipped 
with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  principles  and 
decisions  applicable  to  his  case,  ready  for  emer- 
gencies, and  with  the  persuasive  oratory  of  reason 
and  precedent  clearly  expressed  and  logically 
arrayed,  but  having  little  need  for  mere  theatrical 
display.  Thus  equipped,  thus  discharging  his 
duty  to  his  client,  to  the  court,  and  to  himself, 
he  wins  upon  the  law  and  the  evidence,  ably 
interpreting  the  one  and  bringing  out  the  full 
force  of  the  other.  Such  a  modern,  successful 
lawyer  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  concerning 
whose  life  we  have  gathered  the  following  facts. 
Frank  Sigel  Dietrich  was  born  near  Ottawa, 
Kansas,  January  23,  1863,  and  came  of  German 
ancestry.  Both  his  father  and  his  mother  were 
born  near  Frankfort,  in  Germany,  .where  they 
spent  the  early  portion  of  their  lives,  but,  imbued 
with  that  strong  desire  for  personal  liberty  and 
personal  rights  characterizing  so  many  Germans, 
they  emigrated  to  America  in  1855.  For  two 
years  they  lived  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  but  still 
desiring  greater  freedom,  and  being  touched  by 
the  stirring  drama  then  being  enacted  upon  the 
border  territory,  they  moved  further  west,  set- 
tling at  Ohio  City,  Kansas,  where,  as  a  pioneer, 
Jacob  Dietrich,  the  father,  began  to  till  the  soil, 
an  occupation  for  which  he  was  little  fitted  either 


by  training  or  experience,  but  of  which  he  made  a 
success. 

Kansas  was  then  passing  through  a  critical 
period  in  her  history.  As  an  abolitionist  and  as 
a  Union  man,  after  the  question  of  disrupting  or 
supporting  the  Union  of  the  states  became  an 
issue,  Mr.  Dietrich  passed  through  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  those  years  in  "bleeding  Kansas,"  living 
as  he  did  on  the  very  scene  of  the  careers  of 
Quantrell  and  John  Brown,  not  without  great 
personal  danger,  until  his  death  in  September, 
1863,  when  his  son,  Frank  Sigel  Dietrich,  who 
had  been  named  in  honor  of  the  German  patriot 
Franz  Sigel,  prominent  as  a  general  in  the  civil 
war,  was  only  eight  months  old.  He  left  a  widow 
and,  besides  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  two  chil- 
dren, John  Dietrich,  now  superintendent  of  the 
public  schools  of  Colorado  Springs,  Colorado, 
and  Charles  F.  Dietrich,  still  residing  near  the 
old  homestead  and  employed  as  a  traveling  sales- 
man. Mrs.  Dietrich  remarried,  becoming  the 
wife  of  Jacob  Puderbaugh,  and  by  that  marriage 
had  one  child,  a  daughter,  Addie,  who,  as  the 
wife  of  George  M.  Hill,  resides  at  Arkansas  City, 
Kansas. 

Such  education  as  was  obtainable  in  the  com- 
mon schools  during  the  winter  months,  the  boy 
Frank  acquired,  working  upon  the  farm  during 
the  summer,  and  then,  through  the  sacrifices  of 
his  devoted  mother,  the  second  time  a  widow, 
and  through  his  own  industry,  he  was  fitted  for 
college  in  the  academic  department  of  Ottawa 
University,  and  took  the  classical  course  at 
Brown  University,  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
graduating  with  honors  in  the  class  of  1887.  Two 
years  thereafter  he  passed  at  the  Ottawa  Uni- 
versity, as  instructor  of  history  and  political 
economy.  In  July,  1891,  he  came  to  Idaho  to 
practice  his  chosen  profession,  and  in  January, 
1892,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  courts  of 
that  state  and  of  the  United  States.  He  has  since 
carried  on  his  work  with  such  success  as  has 


688 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


629 


brought  to  him  what  is  doubtless  one  of  the  best 
practices  in  the  state,  the  law  firm  of  Dietrich, 
Chalmers  &  Stevens,  of  which  he  is  the  head, 
maintaining  offices  both  at  Blackfoot,  where  Mr. 
Dietrich  formerly  resided,  and  at  Pocatello,  his 
present  residence.  In  January,  1899,  he  was  ap- 
pointed attorney  for  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Rail- 
road Company,  with  jurisdiction  over  Idaho  and 
Wyoming,  which  position  he  now  holds. 

Mr.  Dietrich  has  always  been  a  Republican, 
participating  actively  as  a  citizen  in  politics, 
never,  however,  being  a  candidate  for  office  until 
the  fall  of  1898,  when  he  was  put  forward  by  the 
"silver"  wing  of  the  Republican  party  as  a  candi- 
date for  the  office  of  district  judge,  and,  though 
running  ahead  of  his  ticket,  yet,  because  of  the 
almost  equal  division  of  the  Republican  strength 
on  the  "silver"'  issue,  he  failed  of  election,  the 
vote  he  received  giving  ample  evidence  of  the 
public  confidence  reposed  in  him. 

September  2j,  1893,  he  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Martha  Behle,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  William 
H.  Behle,  now  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  to  them 
has  been  born  one  child,  a  daughter,  named 
Margaret  Kathryn,  now  aged  two  years.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Dietrich  are  both  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist church,  taking  an  active  part  in  the  social 
and  religious  life  of  the  community  in  which  they 
live.  While  in  college  Mr.  Dietrich  was  a  mem- 
ber of  both  the  Delta  Upsilon  and  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  societies  and  he  has  since  become  also 
an  Oddfellow  and  a  Mason. 

WILLIAM  W.  WOODS. 

Idaho  is  fortunate  in  having  an  able  bar.  The 
importance  of  the  legal  business  growing  out  of 
mining  enterprises  early  drew  to  the  state  lawyers 
of  ability  and  experience  in  large  affairs  and  liti- 
gation involving  big  sums  and  values.  As  a 
result,  there  is  at  every  important  business  center 
of  the  state  legal  talent  which  would  do  credit 
to  Chicago  or  New  York.  Major  William  W. 
Woods,  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  Idaho, 
was  born  in  Burlington,  Iowa,  January  24,  1841, 
a  son  of  James  W.  and  Catharine  (Wells)  Woods. 
His  father  was  a  successful  lawyer,  and  was  born 
in  New  Hampshire  in  1810,  settled  in  Iowa  in 
1836  and  died  at  Waverly,  Iowa,  in  1880.  His 
mother  was  born  in  New  York  in  1825  and  died 
at  Burlington,  Iowa,  in  1864. 


Major  Woods  received  an  academical  educa- 
tion at  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa,  and  at  nineteen 
began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  and  under 
the  preceptorship  of  J.  C.  &  B.  J.  Hall,  of  Bur- 
lington, Iowa.  He  was  called  from  his  legal 
studies  by  the  demand  for  soldiers  to  protect  our 
national  interests  in  the  civil  war,  and  in  August, 
1861,  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  L,  Fourth 
Iowa  Volunteer  Cavalry,  with  which  he  served 
until  September,  1865,  when  he  was  mustered 
out,  with  the  rank  of  major,  after  having  made 
an  admirable  record  as  a  soldier.  He  resumed 
the  study  of  law,  and  in  June,  1866,  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  at  Burlington,  Iowa.  He  began  the 
practice  of  his  profession  immediately  thereafter 
at  Sidney,  Fremont  county,  Iowa,  and  remained 
there  four  years.  He  then  took  up  his  residence 
and  practice  at  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  where  for 
two  years  he  had  Robert  Percival  as  a  law  part- 
ner. In  February,  1872,  he  went  to  Salt  Lake 
City,  Utah,  and  there  gained  a  high  standing  at 
the  bar,  and  remained  there  until  1887.  He  first 
came  to  Coeur  d'Alene  region  in  1884,  but  not 
to  remain,  and  it  was  not  until  1888  that  he  lo- 
cated with  his  family  at  Murray,  then  the  seat 
of  justice  of  Shoshone  county.  Since  1890  he 
has  lived  at  Wallace.  Major  Woods  has  given 
attention  to  general  practice,  but  has  devoted 
himself  especially,  and  with  much  success,  to 
litigation  growing  out  of  mining  business.  He 
has  taken  a  high  place  at  the  bar  wherever  he 
has  practiced,  by  reason  of  the  fidelity  with  which 
he  serves  his  clients  and  the  honorable  and 
straightforward  methods  of  his  practice. 

Politically  Major  Wood  is  a  Democrat,  but  he 
has  never  cared  for  office  for  himself,  preferring 
to  devote  himself  entirely  to  his  profession.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  in 
1890,  and  a  presidential  elector  in  1896.  He  is  a 
Mason,  an  Elk  and  an  active  member  of  Tecum- 
seh  Post,  No.  22,  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  at  Wallace.  He  was  married  in  1874, 
in  Salt  Lake  City,  to  Mrs.  M.  C.  Dunford,  a 
native  of  Utah. 

GEORGE  GUMBERT.  . 

The  proprietor  of  the  city  meat  market  and 
the  pioneer  butcher  of  Boise,  where  he  has  been 
in  business  since  1864,  is  George  Gumbert,  who 
is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  his  birth  having 


630 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


taken  place  in  Pittsburg  on  June  n,  1835.  Of 
German  extraction,  his  ancestors  were  early  set- 
tlers of  Pennsylvania  and  his  great-grandfather, 

— Gumbert,  fought  in  the  colonial  army  during 
the  Revolutionary  war.  His  paternal  grandfather 
was  a  farmer  in  Westmoreland  county.  His 
father,  George  Gumbert,  was  born  in  Pittsburg, 
where  he  followed  the  meat  business  nearly  all 
his  life,  having  attained  the  advanced  age  of 
ninety  years.  He  was  in  politics  first  a  Whig, 
later  joining  the  Republican  party  upon  its  or- 
ganization. He  married  Miss  Amelia  Turner, 
who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  both  of  them 
were  members  of  the  Baptist  church.  They  be- 
came the  parents  of  nine  children,  of  whom 
three,  sons  and  a  daughter  are  now  living. 

George  Gumbert,  the  immediate  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
Pittsburg  and  in  1850,  when  but  fifteen  years 
old,  he  crossed  the  plains  to  California,  later 
removing  to  Nevada  and  engaging  in  the  butcher 
business  at  Virginia  City.  He  volunteered  in 
the  war  against  the  Piutes,  furnishing  his  own 
horse  and  complete  outfit,  and  assisted  in  driving 
the  Indians  back  to  the  reservation.  In  1863  he 
came  to  Boise,  which  at  that  time  consisted  of  a 
few  canvas  tents,  and  opened  a  meat  market  in 
a  shanty,  where  he  continued  until  1876,  and 
then  returned  to  Virginia  City,  remaining  there 
two  years.  Once  more  coming  to  Boise,  he 
again  started  a  meat  market,  which  he  has  con- 
ducted ever  since,  and  by  his  thoroughly  reliable 
and  honorable  business  methods  has  secured  the 
good  will  and  patronage  of  a  large  number  of 
his  fellow  citizens.  His  market  is  located  on 
Main  street,  in  the  business  part  of'  the  city, 
which  is  now  handsomely  built  up  and  in  a 
flourishing  condition. 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Gumbert  is  a 
stanch  Democrat,  and,  without  any  solicitation 
on  his  part,  he  was  nominated  by  his  party  for 
one  of  the  county  commissioners.  Such  was  his 
popularity  that  he  ran  far  ahead  of  his  ticket,  and 
he  is  now  serving  his  county  in  a  business-like 
and  efficient  manner. 

Mr.  Gumbert  was  united  in  marriage  in  1865 
to  Miss  Mary  C.  Turner,  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
and  one  daughter  was  born  to  them.  She  is  now 
Mrs.  L.  Peflev.  Socially  Mr.  Gumbert  is  an 
active  member  of  the  uniformed  rank  of  the 


Knights  of  Pythias,  and  holds  the  office  of  treas- 
urer of  his  lodge. 

JOSEPH    BUCKLE. 

Joseph  Buckle  represents  all  that  is  best  in 
German-American  blood,  which  in  war  and 
peace,  in  all  stages  of  the  history  of  the  United 
States,  has  fought  for  and  encouraged  the  causes 
of  liberty,  public  education  and  good  govern- 
ment. He  was  a  pioneer  in  Kootenai  county, 
Idaho,  and  has  become  a  popular  and  influential 
citizen  because  he  possesses  those  qualities  of 
head  and  heart  which  make  men  useful  and 
patriotic. 

Joseph  Buckle,  assessor  and  tax  collector  of 
Kootenai  county,  Idaho,  was  born  in  Stark 
county,  Ohio,  April  3,  1857,  a  son  of  Anthony 
and  Mary  (Datyler)  Buckle,  natives  of  Germany, 
who  were  brought  to  the  United  States  in  child- 
hood and  married  and  lived  out  their  days  and 
died  in  their  son's  native  county. 

The  future  Kootenai  county  official  gained  a 
primary  education  in  the  district  schools  near  his 
home  and,  in  1877,  when  he  was  about  twenty 
years  old,  he  went  to  California  and  farmed  suc- 
cessfully in  that  state  until  1882.  He  came  to 
Kootenai  county  in  the  year  last  mentioned  and 
was  engaged  in  farming  until  1897,  when  he  was 
appointed  deputy  sheriff,  which  position  he  held 
until  January,  1899,  when  he  resigned  it  to  as- 
sume the  duties  of  assessor  and  tax  collector  of 
Kootenai  county,  an  office  to  which  he  was 
elected  November,  1898,  upon  a  fusion  ticket  of 
Populists,  silver  Republicans  and  Democrats,  by 
a  majority  of  four  hundred  and  eighty-two.  This 
important  office,  in  which  all  the  taxable  property 
of  the  county  is  involved,  and  which  comes  nearer 
to  the  private  interests  of  the  whole  people  of 
the  county  than  any  other,  is  administered  by  Mr. 
Buckle  in  a  thoroughly  business-like  manner, 
and  with  that  conscientious  regard  for  the  rights 
of  the  property  owners  which  has  made  him  very 
popular  with  his  fellow  citizens  of  all  classes.  He 
has  an  able  deputy  in  the  person  of  H.  J.  Bosth- 
wick. 

Mr.  Buckle  is  a  member  of  Panhandle  Lodge 
of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  of  Rathdrum.  He 
married  Miss  Mary  Casey,  a  native  of  Wisconsin, 
in  1892,  and  they  have  three  daughters,  named 
Agnes,  Lilian  and  Florence.  He  has  demon- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


631 


strated  his  public  spirit  in  many  ways  and  is  re- 
garded as  one  of  Rathdrum's  most  useful  and 
progressive  citizens. 

CHARLES  D.  ARMSTRONG. 

In  a  record  of  those  who  have  been  promi- 
nently identified  with  the  development  and 
progress  of  Latah  county  it  is  imperative  that 
definite  consideration  be  granted  to  the  subject 
of  this  review,  for  not  only  is  he  a  prominent 
representative  of  the  agricultural  interests  of.  this 
favored  section,  but  has  the  distinction  of  being 
one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  golden  west,  with 
whose  fortunes  he  has  been  identified  for  fully 
forty  years,  concerned  with  varied  industrial  pur- 
suits and  so  ordering  his  life  as  to  gain  and 
retain  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  fellow 
men. 

Charles  Dexter  Armstrong  is  a  native  of  the 
old  Buckeye  state,  having  been  born  in  Knox 
county,  Ohio,  on  the  22d  of  January,  1834,  and 
being  a  representative  of  sterling  old  southern 
families.  His  father,  John  Armstrong,  was  born 
in  Owen  county,  Kentucky,  and  did  valiant 
service  as  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  being  a 
member  of  an  Ohio  regiment.  As  a  young  man 
he  married  Miss  Melinda  Hinton,  a  native  of  the 
state  of  Maryland,  and  soon  after  their  marriage 
they  removed  to  Ohio,  where  they  established 
their  home  and  reared  a  family  of  eleven  chil- 
dren. They  were  members  of  the  Methodist 
church  and  were  conscientious  and  upright  in 
all  the  relations  of  life.  The  mother  departed 
this  life  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  her  age,  and 
the  father  lived  to  attain  the  venerable  age  of 
ninety  years.  Of  the  immediate  family  only  four 
are  living  at  the  present  time,  so  far  as  known 
to  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Charles  D.  was 
the  youngest  of  the  children,  and  his  educational 
training  was  secured  in  the  primitive  log  school- 
house  in  the  vicinity  of  his  home,  in  Knox 
county,  and  this  rudimentary  institution  he  was 
enabled  to  attend  only  during  the  winter  months, 
as  the  boys  in  the  pioneer  settlements  had  to 
assist  in  the  development  and  cultivation  of  the 
farms,  in  which  line  our  subject  recalls  the  fact 
that  he  contributed  his  due  quota  of  hard  work. 
He  assumed  the  individual  responsibilities  of 
life  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  and  in  1859, 
when  he  had  attained  the  age  of  twenty-five 


years,  he  determined  to  try  his  fortunes  in  the  far 
west.  He  accordingly  made  the  long,  weary  and 
dangerous  journey  across  the  plains  and  over  the 
mountains  to  the  golden  state  of  California.  The 
party  of  which  he  was  a  member  comprised 
eleven  families,  and  the  little  band  of  emigrants 
plodded  its  way  across  the  continent  with  ox 
teams.  After  reaching  his  destination  Mr.  Arm- 
strong was  for  some  time  engaged  in  mining  in 
Eldorado  and  Nevada  counties,  California,  in 
which  operations  he  met  with  only  modest  suc- 
cess. 

In  the  year  1882  Mr.  Armstrong  started  for 
the  Camas  prairie  of  Idaho,  but  became  im- 
pressed with  the  attractions  and  prospects  of  the 
northern  section  of  the  state  and  determined  to 
locate  in  what  is  now  Latah  county.  Accord- 
ingly, in  1883,  he  established  himself  upon  his 
present  fine  farm,  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres, 
which  he  secured  from  the  government,  and  here, 
by  industry  and  discriminating  effort,  he  has  de- 
veloped one  of  the  most  valuable  farming  prop- 
erties in  this  section  of  the  Gem  state. 

At  Virginia  City,  Nevada,  in  the  year  1867,  was 
celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Armstrong  and 
Miss  Mary  E.  Johnson,  who  was  born  in  Polk 
county,  Oregon,  the  daughter  of  Nelson  Johnson, 
an  Oregon  pioneer  of  1847.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Arm- 
strong had  nine  children  at  the  time  of  their 
removal  to  Idaho,  and  since  that  time  seven 
more  have  been  added  to  the  family  circle.  It  is  a 
fact  worthy  of  note  that  of  this  large  family  all 
are  living  with  the  exception  of  one,  the  youngest 
child  being  four  years  of  age  and  the  oldest 
thirty-one.  Of  the  children  we  offer  the  following 
brief  record:  John  Nelson;  Melinda,  who  died  in 
her  seventeenth  year;  Maud  Alice,  now  Mrs. 
Chas.  A.  Edwards ;  Ida  May,  the  wife  of  Newton 
Lile;  Charles  Hinton,  who  was  a  bright  student 
in  the  University  of  Idaho,  enlisted  in  the  ranks 
at  the  time  of  the  inauguration  of  the  Spanish- 
American  war  and  is  now  serving  his  country  as 
first  sergeant  of  his  company,  in  the  Philippine 
islands ;  Walter  Benton  ;  Rosalind  ;  Joshua  Will- 
iam ;  Edwin  Forrest ;  Elmer  James ;  Mabel  Flor- 
ence ;  George  Wallace ;  Albert  Dexter ;  Percy 
Newton;  Clyde  D.;  and  Sallie  Hazel.  The 
parents  have  every  reason  to  be  proud  of  their 
children,  all  of  whom  are  bright,  intelligent  and 
good-looking,  representing  the  best  type  of 


632 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


American  youth.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Armstrong  are 
both  in  excellent  health,  are  of  genial  nature,  and, 
blessed  with  the  goodly  gifts  of  temporal  fortune 
and  with  the  filial  devotion  of  their  children,  they 
may  well  feel  that  their  lines  have  fallen  in  pleas- 
ant places. 

Mr.  Armstrong  is  a  man  of  strong  mentality 
and  has  taken  a  very  lively  interest  in  the  cause 
of  education  and  in  all  other  objects  which  tend 
to  further  the  advancement  and  well-being  of  his 
county  and  state.  He  has  served  as  a  school 
trustee  for  many  years,  and  has  been  indefati- 
gable in  his  efforts  to  afford  the  best  possible 
educational  advantages  to  his  own  and  his  neigh- 
bors' children.  In  his  political  adherency  he  has 
been  a  lifelong  Democrat,  and  he  is  known  as  a 
man  of  unbending  integrity  and  sterling  worth. 
The  family  enjoy  a  marked  popularity  in  the 
community  where  they  have  lived  since  coming 
to  Idaho,  and  this  tribute  is  well  merited. 

EDWIN  F.  GUYON,  M.  D. 

Edwin  F.  Guyon,  M.  D.,  who  has  become 
known  as  county  physician  of  Bear  Lake  county, 
Idaho,  assistant  surgeon  for  the  Oregon  Short 
Line,  member  of  Idaho  and  Oregon  State  Med- 
ical Associations  and  of  the  American  National 
Medical  Association,  and  as  author  of  the  law  to 
prohibit  illegal  medical  practice  in  Idaho  and  co- 
author with  Dr.  C.  J.  Smith  of  the  law  to  prevent 
illegal  medical  practice  in  Oregon,  is  one  of  the 
leading  physicians  in  Idaho  and  is  doing  much 
to  elevate  his  profession  and  augment  its  useful- 
ness throughout  the  northwest.  Dr.  Guyon  be- 
gan the  practice  of  medicine  in  Pendleton  City, 
Oregon,  in  1891,  and  continued  it  there  success- 
fully for  five  years,  when  his  health  began  to  fail 
and  he  sought  a  higher  altitude  and  a  dryer  at- 
mosphere at  Montpelier.  The  colder  climate 
agreed  with  him,  and  he  regained  his  -health,  and 
by  the  time  he  had  done  so  he  had  built  up  a 
large  and  rapidly  growing  practice,  in  which  he 
has  been  successful  professionally  as  well  as 
financially. 

Dr.  Guyon  was  born  at  New  Orleans,  Lou- 
isiana, November  7, 1853,  of  Huguenot  ancestors, 
on  his  father's  side,  who  came  early  in  our  history 
from  France  and  settled  in  New  York  and  New 
Jersey.  John  Guyon,  his  father,  was  born  in 
Jersey  City,  New  Jersey,  and  married  Miss 


Emily  Shattuck,  a  native  of  St.  Louis,  but  a 
descendant  of  an  old  Virginia  family,  her  mother 
having  been  prominent  at  Richmond,  socially 
and  otherwise.  John  Guyon,  who  was  a  con- 
tractor, built  many  wharves  in  the  south  and  died 
there,  of  yellow  fever,  when  Dr.  Guyon  was  a 
child.  His  widow,  who  married  again,  died  in 
California,  in  the  forty-ninth  year  of  her  age. 

Mrs.  Guyon  went  to  California  in  1856,  with 
her  second  husband,  and  Edwin  F.  was  a  mem- 
ber-of  the  moving  household.  The  journey  was 
made  by  the  way  of  the  isthmus  of  Panama.  Dr. 
Guyon  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
California  and  Oregon  and  at  Whitman  College, 
Washington,  'and  was  graduated  from  the  med- 
ical department  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  in  1891. 

Politically  Dr.  Guyon  is  a  Democrat,  and- he 
wields  no  uncertain  influence  in  party  affairs  in 
the  county  and  state.  He  is  a  prominent  Odd 
Fellow,  having  passed  all  the  chairs  in  the  subor- 
dinate lodge  and  in  the  encampment,  and  he  is  a 
member  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  As  a 
citizen  he  is  public-spirited  and  progressive  and 
takes  an  active  and  helpful  interest  in  all  meas- 
ures for  the  public  good.  He  was  married,  in 
1879,  to  Miss  Maggie  Jones,  a  native  of  Missouri, 
and  they  have  a  son  named  La  Fayette  and  a 
daughter  named  Maud.  Mrs.  Guyon  is  a  Baptist. 
The  Doctor  was  brought  up  in  the  Methodistic 

faith. 

LORENZO   R.  THOMAS. 

There  are  some  men  in  every  community  who 
appear  to  have  been  born  to  succeed,  but  their 
success  is  not  by  any  means  a  matter  of  chance. 
They  are  born  with  those  qualities  of  mind  and 
heart  which,  if  cultivated  and  applied  to  the 
affairs  of  life,  will  produce  success  as  surely  as 
wheat  well  sowed  and  fertilized  will  produce  its 
kind.  Men  who  make  vigorous  and  judicious  use 
of  these  talents  are  the  successful  ones. 

Lorenzo  R.  Thomas,  one  of  the  enterprising 
men  of  Idaho  who  has  continually  advanced  in 
the  affairs  of  life,  was  born  in  Hanley,  Stafford- 
shire, England,  May  31,  1870,  and  is  of  Welsh 
ancestry.  His  father,  James  Thomas,  was  mar- 
ried in  Wales  to  Elizabeth  Richardson,  and  after- 
ward removed  to  England,  whence  they  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1873,  bringing  with  them 
their  daughter  and  son.  The  family  located  in 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


633 


Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  and  there  Mr.  Thomas 
engaged  in  the  same  business  that  he  had  fol- 
lowed in  England,  that  of  merchant  tailoring. 
In  1877  they  removed  to  Logan,  Utah,  and  in 
1882  took  up  their  abode  at  Idaho  Falls,  where 
Mr.  Thomas  is  now  carrying  on  an  extensive 
business  as  a  dealer  in  clothing  and  men's  fur- 
nishing goods.  He  is  now  in  his  fifty-second 
year  and  is  a  respected  bishop  of  the  Church  of 
Latter  Day  Saints. 

In  Idaho  Falls  Lorenzo  R.  Thomas  early 
learned  the  basic  principles  of  successful  mer- 
chandising. He  acquired  also  a  good  practical 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  Logan,  Utah. 
His  abilities  were  early  recognized  and  he  was 
given  the  management  of  the  mercantile  business 
of  the  Zion  Co-operative  Mercantile  Institution, 
at  Rexburg,  Idaho,  and  controlled  that  important 
interest  two  years  and  a  half.  While  a  resident 
of  Rexburg  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  third 
Idaho  state  legislature  and  served  in  that  body 
with  great  ability  and  credit.  Upon  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term  in  the  general  assembly  he  re- 
signed his  position  with  the  mercantile  company 
to  accept  the  appointment  as  deputy  state  treas- 
urer of  Idaho,  in  which  capacity  he  had  charge 
of  the  state  treasurer's  office  under  Hon.  Charles 
Bunting,  and  during  a  portion  of  the  term  of 
Hon.  George  H.  Storer.  These  officials  had  such 
faith  and  confidence  in  the  honesty  and  integrity 
of  Mr.  Thomas  that  he  handled  the  state  funds 
without  bonds.  Mr.  Thomas  resigned  his  posi- 
tion and  returned  to  his  home  at  Rexburg,  but 
was  soon  afterward  appointed  United  States  com- 
missioner, which  position  he  held  from  April, 
1897,  until  October  of  the  same  year,  when  he 
was  appointed  by  President  McKinley  register  of 
the  United  States  land  office,  at  Blackfoot.  The 
success  which  has  attended  Mr.  Thomas'  efforts 
from  boyhood  has  been  somewhat  remarkable, 
and  the  more  so  because  it  has  been  won  entirely 
through  honest  effort — the  result  of  his  diligence, 
capable  management  and  straightforward  deal- 
ing. 

On  the  6th  of  January,  1892,  Mr.  Thomas  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Lillian  Elliott,  a 
native  of  England.  Her  father  died  in  that  coun- 
try, and  in  1887  her  mother,  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Elliott,  with  her  family  of  four  sons  and  four 
daughters,  came  to  the  United  States,  and  settled 


in  Rexburg,  Fremont  county,  Idaho,  where  Mrs. 
Elliott  now  resides.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  have 
three  children:  Grace  Lavinie,  Willis  Shoup 
and  Lawrence  Myrddin.  The  elder  son  was 
named  in  honor  of  Congressman  Willis  Sweet 
and  United  States  Senator  Shoup,  who  are  among 
Mr.  Thomas'  warmest  friends.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Thomas  are  zealous  members  of  the  Churqh  of 
Latter  Day  Saints,  in  the  interest  of  which  he 
has  long  been  an  active  worker.  He  traveled  for 
three  years  in  England  and  Wales  as  one  of  its 
missionaries  and  his  labors  were  crowned  with 
abundant  success.  In  politics  he  has  long  been 
an  active  Republican,  and  was  treasurer  of  the 
Republican  state  central  committee  in  the  cam- 
paign of  1896.  By  his  honorable  methods  and 
courteous  manners  he  has  made  many  personal 
friends  throughout  the  state,  and  he  is  universally 
regarded  as  a  model  official. 

ALEXANDER   I.  WATSON. 

A  third  of  a  century  has  passed  since  Alex- 
ander Irwin  Watson,  of  Grangeville,  took  up  his 
abode  in  this  section  of  Idaho,  and  for  thirty- 
seven  years  he  has  been  a  resident  of  the  state. 
He  was  born  in  Darke  county,  Ohio,  June  2, 
1830,  a  representative  of  one  of  the  pioneer  fam- 
ilies there.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  a  native 
of  Ireland,  and  on  leavi'ng  that  country  crossed 
the  ocean  to  America.  He  became  an  industrious 
farmer  of  Darke  county,  and  served  his  adopted 
country  as  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  was 
almost  one  hundred  years  of  age  at  the  time  of 
his  death.  His  son,  Robert  Watson,  the  father 
of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
married  Miss  Nancy  Stanford,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, by  whom  he  had  six  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters, our  subject  being  now  the  only  survivor  of 
the  family.  Late  in  life  the  parents  removed 
to  Indiana,  where  the  father  died  at  the  age  of 
sixty-five  years,  and  the  mother  at  the  age  of 
fifty-five. 

Mr.  Watson  of  this  review  was  reared  on  his 
father's  farm  and  was  educated  in  the  little  log 
school-house  in  that  then  new  country.  He 
began  life  on  his  own  account  as  a  school-teacher 
and  farmer,  and  in  1858,  hoping  to  better  his 
financial  condition  on  the  Pacific  coast,  he 
crossed  the  plains  with  oxen  to  California  and 
engaged  in  placer  mining  on  the  American  river, 


63-4 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


in  Placer  county.  After  remaining  there  for 
about  eighteen  months  and  not  meeting  with  the 
success  that  he  had  anticipated,  he  removed  to 
San  Joaquin  county,  where  he  purchased  a  band 
of  sheep  and  engaged  in  sheep-raising.  He  pros- 
pered in  that  industry,  but  at  the  time  of  the 
gold  excitement  in  Idaho  he  sold  out  and  made 
his  way  to  the  Salmon  river  country,  where  he 
secured  a  good  claim  and  met  with  gratifying 
success  in  his  mining  ventures.  Later  he  came 
to  Camas  prairie  and  obtained  a  farm,  which  was 
located  eight  miles  west  of  Grangeville,  operating 
that  land  until  1885,  when  he  sold  out  and  took 
up  his  abode  on  his  present  farm,  two  miles  south 
of  Grangeville.  He  owns  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  rich  land,  lying  at  the  base  of  the  foot- 
hills and  overlooking  the  town  of  Grangeville 
and  the  entire  Camas  prairie.  There  he  and  his 
wife  have  a  pleasant  home  of  their  own  and  are 
spending  the  evening  of  their  life  in  peace  and 
contentment. 

In  1849  Mr.  Watson  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Maria  E.  Shaul,  a  native  of  Indiana,  and 
to  them  were  born  two  daughters,  but  one  was 
taken  from  them  by  death.  The  other,  Mallinda 
Alice,  became  the  wife  of  Cyrus  Overman  and 
resides  on  Camas  prairie.  Mrs.  Watson  is  a 
valued  member  of  the  Methodist  church  and  is  a 
most  estimable  lady. 

Mr.  Watson  has  always  given  his  political  sup- 
port to  the  Democracy  and  keeps  well  informed 
on  the  issues  of  the  day,  but  has  never  sought 
office,  holding  no  public  positions  save  that  of 
school  trustee.  The  cause  of  education  has  ever 
found  in  him  a  warm  friend,  and  he  does  all  in 
his  power  to  promote  its  interests.  His  life  has 
been  one  of  industry  and  integrity  and  he  justly 
merits  the  esteem  and  confidence  accorded  him 
by  the  residents  of  Idaho  county. 

STEPHEN  KELSEY. 

Few  men  are  more  familiar  with  the  pioneer 
history  of  this  section  of  the  great  republic  than 
Stephen  Kelsey,  who  before  the  days  when  the 
emigrants  flocked  to  the  gold-fields  of  California 
crossed  the  plains  to  Utah  in  company  with  the 
colony  which  went  with  President  Brigham 
Young  to  Utah.  They  made  their  way  over  the 
hot  and  arid  plains  and  through  the  mountain 
passes  until  they  reached  the  Salt  Lake  country 


on  the  22d  of  July,  1847,  and  on  the  24th  of  the 
same  month  they  arrived  on  the  present  site  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  so  that  that  date  has  since  been 
celebrated  as  pioneer  day.  Mr.  Kelsey  was  then 
but  seventeen  years  of  age.  He  was  born  in  north- 
eastern Ohio,  December  23,  1830,  his  parents 
being  Stephen  and  Rachel  (Allen)  Kelsey,  rep- 
resentatives of  industrious  and  well-to-do  Ohio 
families.  The  father  was  twice  married,  and  by 
his  first  union  had  five  children.  By  the  second 
marriage  there  were  six  children,  five  daughters 
and  our  subject. 

Stephen  Kelsey  attended  school  in  Ohio  and 
when  seventeen  years  of  age  volunteered  to  go 
with  Brigham  Young  to  the  far  west,  his  duty 
being  to  drive  a  team  of  horses  belonging  to 
the  train.  There  were  one  hundred  and  forty 
men  and  three  women  in  that  resolute  company 
of  pioneers  who  first  braved  the  dangers  of  the 
long  journey  across  the  plains.  They  were  in 
constant  danger  of  Indian  attack,  and  had  some 
thrilling  adventures  with  the  red  men,  who  fre- 
quently stole  their  horses.  There  were  great 
herds  of  buffalo  upon  the  plains,  so  numerous 
that  some  of  the  party  would  have  to  ride  ahead 
and  open  a  track  among  the  animals  in  order 
that  the  train  could  pass  through.  When  they 
first  arrived  at  the  place  designated  for  their  set- 
tlement the  ground  was  very  hard  to  a  depth  of 
two  feet  or  more,  and  their  first  work  was  to 
build  a  dam  across  City  creek  in  order  to  turn 
the  water  over  the  land  and  soak  it  until  it  could 
be  plowed.  This  work  was  accomplished  and 
potatoes  were  planted,  but  it  was  then  so  late  in 
the  season  that  the  tubers  only  grew  to  the  size 
of  marbles.  The  pioneers  made  adobe  brick  and 
built  a  fort  to  protect  themselves  from  the  In- 
dians; other  companies  followed  later  in  that 
year,  about  two  thousand  people  arriving  in  the 
Salt  Lake  district.  The  first  three  pioneer  women 
were  Brigham  Young's  wife,  Clara  Decker, 
Heber  C.  Kimball's  wife,  and  the  wife  of  Lorenzo 
Young,  a  brother  of  Brigham  Young. 

After  Mr.  Kelsey  arrived  in  Salt  Lake  City  he 
was  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and  the  same  season 
he  volunteered  to  return  to  the  states  with  Brig- 
ham  Young  to  assist  other  emigrants  across  the 
plains  the  following  spring.  After  his  return  to 
Utah  he  engaged  in  farming,  and  in  1850  made 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


635 


a  trip  to  the  gold-mining-  districts  of  California, 
where  he  washed  out  in  two  months,  with  a  little 
rocker,  about  five  hundred  dollars  worth  of  gold- 
dust.  This  was  at  Weavertown.  On  his  way 
back  to  Salt  Lake  City,  however,  the  party  with 
which  he  traveled  was  attacked  by  Indians,  and 
for  four  hours  they  fought  desperately  for  their 
lives.  They  barely  escaped,  and  in  the  encounter 
lost  many  of  their  horses.  In  the  fall  of  1850  Mr. 
Kelsey  settled  with  his  uncle,  Daniel  Allen, 
twelve  miles  south  of 'Salt  Lake  City  and  there 
he  married  Lydia  Snyder,  who  has  since  been  to 
him  a  faithful  companion  and  helpmeet,  sharing 
with  him  in  all  the  joys  and  sorrows,  the  adver- 
sity and  prosperity  of  life.  She  has  been  one  of 
the  brave  pioneer  women  of  Utah  and  Idaho  and 
has  greatly  aided  her  husband  in  making  a  home. 

In  1864  a  company  was  formed  to  come  to 
what  is  now  Bear  Lake  county,  Idaho,  then  sup- 
posed to  be  a  part  of  Utah.  General  Charles 
Coulsen  Rich  was  the  president  of  the  company, 
his  sterling  character  making  him  a  brave  and 
trusted  leader.  Mr.  Kelsey  and  his  wife  volun- 
teered to  go,  and  others  of  the  company  were 
Hezekiah  Duffie,  Joel  Ricks,  Thomas  Sleight 
and  Joseph  Rich,  the  last  named  now  the  judge 
of  the  district  court.  They  settled  at  Paris,  but 
most  of  the  first  company  of  emigrants  are  now 
deceased.  They  were  allotted  land  and  began 
farming,  but  it  was  a  very  hard  country  to  settle 
and  they  endured  many  hardships  and  met  many 
difficulties  during  the  first  few  years.  Grass- 
hoppers and  frosts  injured  their  crops,  but 
through  all  President  Rich's  faith  never  faltered, 
and  he  encouraged  his  people  to  persevere  in 
their  labors  until  ultimately  their  labors  were 
bountifully  rewarded  and  the  country  was  made 
to  blossom  as  the  rose.  When  the  land  was  sur- 
veyed, the  settlers  entered  their  farms  from  the 
government,  and  to-day  Mr.  Kelsey  is  the  owner 
of  a  valuable  property  of  one  hundred  acres,  on 
which  he  raises  hay,  grain  and  stock,  and  also 
has  a  pleasant  residence  in  Paris. 

Unto  our  subject  and  his  wife  have  been  born 
twelve  children,  eleven  of  whom  are  living,  name- 
ly :  Electa  Abigal,  now  the  wife  of  Frederick 
Slight;  Lydia,  wife  of  Samuel  Payne;  Sylvia,  wife 
of  John  Skinner;  Alice,  wife  of  Samuel  Nate; 
Mary,  wife  of  Edward  Johnson;  Bess,  wife  of  C. 
Chapman;  Yiena;  Minerva;  Zina;  Robert;  and 


Easton.  The  family  are  all  well-to-do  and  com- 
fortably situated  in  life.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kelsey 
are  respected  members  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints  and  he  has  been  an 
active  worker  in  the  church,  serving  as  elder, 
while  at  the  present  time  he  is  acting  high  priest. 
He  well  deserves  mention  among  the  honored 
pioneers,  and  deserves  great  credit  for  what  he 
has  done  in  the  way  of  opening  up  the  great 
northwest  to  the  influences  of  civilization  and 
advancement.  Gladly  do  we  inscribe  his  name 
on  the  pages  of  Idaho's  history,  for  he  is  ac- 
counted one  of  her  leading  citizens. 

HON.  JOHN    L.   UNDERWOOD. 

Hon.  John  L.  Underwood,  postmaster  at 
Montpelier,  Idaho,  successful  business  man, 
prominent  citizen,  veteran  of  the  civil  war  and 
influential  Republican,  is  widely  and  favorably 
known  throughout  the  state.  He  was  born  in 
Broome  county,  New  York,  January  15,  1832,  of 
parents  who  traced  their  ancestry  to  good  Eng- 
lish families.  Jonas  Underwood,  his  grandfather, 
was  a  native  of  Fishkill,  New  York,  and  held  a 
commission  in  the  Revolutionary  army.  He  died 
at  Deposit,  New  York,  in  his  eightieth  year.  Hi* 
wife,  who  was  of  the  New  York  family  of  Pine, 
survived  him  only  a  few  days.  Philip  Under- 
wood, son  of  Jonas  and  father  of  John  L.  Under- 
wood, was  born  in  Deposit,  New  York,  in  1803, 
and  married  Angeline  Peters.  In  1855  he  located, 
with  his  wife  and  family,  near  Polo,  in  Ogle 
county,  Illinois,  where  he  bought  a  farm  and 
lived  to  attain  the  ripe  old  age  of  seventy-seven 
years.  His  wife  died,  at  about  the  same  age,  a 
few  years  later.  They  were  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  in  which  he  v'as  a 
local  preacher  and  evangelist.  They  had  eight 
children,  of  whom  seven  are  living.  John  L.  Un- 
derwood, the  second  of  the  eight  in  order  of 
birth,  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  the 
state  of  New  York.  In  July,  1861,  he  enlisted  in 
Company  H.,  Fourteenth  Regiment  Iowa  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  to  do  his  part  in  putting  down 
the  slave-holders'  rebellion,  and  was  mustered 
into  service  November  6,  following.  He  served 
in  the  command  of  General  U.  S.  Grant  and  par- 
ticipated in  the  fighting  at  Fort  Henry,  Fort 
Donelson,  Pittsburg  Landing  and  intermediate 
points  and  in  the  Red  river  campaign.  At  Shiloh 


C36 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


he  was  wounded  by  the  bursting  of  a  shell,  and 
was  made  a  prisoner  of  war  by  the  Confederates, 
being  held  at  Tuscaloosa,  Alabama,  six  months, 
when  he  was  paroled.  At  the  expiration  of  his 
term  of  enlistment,  late  in  1864,  he  was  honorably 
discharged  from  service. 

In  1865  Mr.  Underwood  went  to  Montana, 
and  engaged  in  freighting  between  Helena  and 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah.  In  1866  he  settled  down 
in  Montana  as  a  stockman.  In  1875  he  disposed 
of  his  local  interests  and  began  driving  and  ship- 
ping cattle  east  from  Montana  and  Idaho.  Con- 
tinuing this  enterprise,  he  located  at  Paris,  Bear 
Lake  county,  Idaho,  in  1879.  He  operated  there 
and  at  Soda  Springs  until  1885,  when  he  came 
to  Montpelier  and,  still  pushing  his  business  of 
sending  cattle  east,  he  opened  a  meat  market. 

Almost  from  the  day  of  his  advent  in  Idaho,  he 
has  been  known  as  an  active  Republican  who 
knew  how  to  deal  telling  blows  in  behalf  of  his 
party.  He  became  popular  personally,  as  the 
people  came  to  know  him,  and  it  was  inevitable 
that  he  should  be  singled  out  for  public  service. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion that  framed  the  constitution  of  the  state, 
and  was  elected  to  the  first  Idaho  state  senate, 
and  re-elected. to  succeed  himself.  As  a  senator 
he  endeared  himself  to  the  people  by  his  cham- 
pionship of  the  bill  to  organize  the  State  National 
Guard  and  the  bill  providing  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Soldiers'  Home  at  Boise.  Later  he 
served  two  terms  as  United  States  commissioner. 
At  Montpelier  he  has  been  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  has  ably  filled  the  office  of  postmaster,  al- 
most continuously  since  his  first  appointment, 
during  President  Cleveland's  first  administra- 
tion, under  the  administrations  of  Cleveland, 
Harrison  and  McKinley.  He  was  reappointed 
early  in  President  Cleveland's  second  term  of 
office,  but  declined  the  position,  though  he  se- 
cured it  for  his  brother-in-law,  Marcus  Whitman, 
and  he  has  the  distinction  of  having  been  the 
second  postmaster  appointed  under  President 
McKinley.  Mrs.  Underwood  is  his  deputy,  and 
the  consensus  of  opinion  among  Montpelier  folk 
is  that  they  have  a  post-office  which  is  in  every 
way  a  model. 

Mr.  Underwood  is  prominent  among  Idaho 
Odd  Fellows  and  Mrs.  Underwood  is  a  member 
of  the  Women's  auxiliary  order  of  the  Daughters 


of  Rebekah,  of  which  she  is  past  presiding  officer. 
He  was  a  charter  member  and  first  commander 
of  W.  H.  L.  Wallace  Post  of  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  and  is  widely  known  and  influential 
in  Grand  Army  circles  throughout  the  state.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Underwood  are  very  active  and  useful 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Mont- 
pelier, and  he  has  served  the  organization  in  the 
capacity  of  trustee,  an  office  which  Mrs.  Under- 
wood holds  at  this  time.  Mrs.  Underwood  was 
Miss  Lizzie  M.  WhitmaVi,  daughter  of  E.  C. 
Whitman,  of  Como,  Whiteside  county,  Illinois, 
and  a  distant  relative  of  Rev.  Marcus  Whitman, 
the  lamented  missionary,  who  was  killed  by  the 
Indians,  in  Oregon,  in  1847.  They  have  had 
four  children,  of  whom  two  daughters,  Florence 
and  Esther,  are  living. 

HON.   FREDRICK   H.   TURNER. 

Hon.  Fredrick  Hugh  Turner,  merchant, 
Idaho  Falls,  and  grand  master  of  the  grand  lodge 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  of 
Idaho,  has  represented  his  district  ably  in  the 
state  senate,  and  is  in  all  respects  one  of  the 
leading  business  men  and  most  distinguished 
citizens  of  southeastern  Idaho. 

Mr.  Turner  was  born  at  Jonesville,  Wisconsin, 
October  31,  1858,  a  son  of  John  and  Margaret 
(Jehn)  Turner.  His  father  was  an  English  bar- 
rister, born  in  London,  who  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1838,  and  located  as  a  pioneer  in  Rock 
county,  Wisconsin,  where  he  became  a  prominent 
farmer  and  land-owner  and  there  died  in  1885, 
aged  eighty-four  years.  He  was  an  influential 
Republican  and  was  one  of  the  county  commis- 
sioners of  Rock  county,  Wisconsin,  and  held 
other  important  local  offices.  Fredrick  Hugh 
Turner's  mother,  Margaret  Jehn,  was  a  native  of 
Wales.  She  died  in  Rock  county,  Wisconsin,  in 
1891,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three  years.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Turner  were  members  of  the  Episcopal 
church  and  were  of  the  most  exalted  personal 
character.  They  had  eight  children,  of  whom 
Fredrick  Hugh  Turner  was  the  fifth  in  the  order 
of  birth.  He  was  educated  at  Milton  Academy, 
Wisconsin,  and  at  the  Wisconsin  State  Normal 
School,  at  Whitewater,  and  for  ten  years  devoted 
himself  to  the  work  of  a  teacher.  He  taught  two 
years  in  Wisconsin  and  eight  years  afterward  in 
Idaho,  where  he  was  for  some  years  principal  of 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


637 


the  schools  at  Soda  Springs.  In  1890  he  opened 
a  large  general  store  at  Idaho  Falls  and  has  had 
great  success  as  a  merchant,  drawing  the  trade 
from  all  the  country  round  about  and  from  many 
distant  points. 

He  is  widely  known  as  a  stanch  and  active 
Republican  and  on  the  ticket  of  his  party  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Idaho  state  senate  in 
1896.  He  gained  much  influence  on  the  floor  of 
the  senate  and  did  effective  work  on  a  number 
of  important  senatorial  committees,  in  all  ways 
acquitting  himself  so  admirably  as  a  representa- 
tive of  the  people  that  his  service  was  highly 
appreciated  by  the  best  citizens,  without  regard 
to  party  affiliations. 

The  high  honor  to  which  Mr.  Turner  has  risen 
in  Odd  Fellowship  he  has  attained  because  of 
his  complete  knowledge  of  the  work  of  the  order 
and  his  great  proficiency  in  it  and  because  of 
his  ardent  devotion  to  the  order  in  all  interests. 
He  has  filled  all  the  chairs  in  both  branches  of 
the  order,  is  past  deputy  grand  master  of  the 
grand  lodge  of  the  state,  and  in  1899  was  chosen 
grand  master  of  the  grand  lodge.  He  was  in- 
fluential in  holding  the  location  of  the  Indepen- 
dent Order  of  Odd  Fellows'  Orphans'  Home  at 
Idaho  Falls,  and  he  was  active  in  the  super- 
vision of  its  construction  from  the  moving  of 
the  first  shovel  of  earth  until  the  building  stood 
complete,  a  fine  three-story  and  basement  brown 
sandstone  structure,  forty  by  fifty  feet,  and  he  is 
one  of  the  board  of  trustees  which  has  its  interests 
in  charge.  The  object  which  Mr.  Turner  and 
his  associates  had  in  view  in  erecting  the  Odd 
Fellows'  Orphans'  Home  was  to  provide  a  com- 
fortable home  for  orphan  children  of  worthy  Odd 
Fellows  who  might  leave  them  unprovided  for 
financially,  and  this  object  is  being  carried  out 
in  a  way  that  reflects  credit  on  all  connected. 

October  31,  1881,  Mr.  Turner  married  Miss 
Harriet  Elizabeth  Sanderson,  daughter  of  John 
Sanderson,  a  native  of  New  York,  she  herself 
being  a  native  of  Kansas.  They  have  four  chil- 
dren, named  Dotta,  Fredrick  G.,  Walter  H.  and 

Adelbert  C. 

EDWARD  BURGOYNE. 

Edward  Burgoyne  is  one  of  the  leading  busi- 
ness men  and  the  leading  merchant  of  Mont- 
pelier,  Idaho,  and  was  one  'of  the  fifteen  heads 
of  families  who  came  to  the  spot  in  the  spring 


of  1864,  volunteers  in  response  to  the  call  of  the 
authorities  of  their  church,  to  settle  Bear  Lake 
valley  and  spread  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints.  He 
was  born  in  South  Wales,  February  22,  1835,  a 
son  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  (Strong)  Burgoyne, 
who  were  natives  of  Wales  and  lifelong  Episco- 
palians. Thomas  Burgoyne  was  a  prosperous 
blacksmith.  He  died  in  1845,  his  wife  two  years 
earlier,  and  Edward  Burgoyne  was  doubly  or- 
phaned at  the  tender  age  of  ten  years.  He  was 
educated  in  Wales  and  there  learned  and  worked 
at  the  trade  of  a  weaver  of  cloth  until  1861,  when 
with  his  wife,  who  was  Miss  Mary  Eeynon,  he 
came  to  the  United  States.  The  young  couple 
were  converts  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter  Day  Saints,  and  their  destination  was 
Utah.  They  landed  at  New  York,  after  a  rough 
voyage  of  twenty-seven  days  on  board  a  sailing 
vessel,  and  came  west  to  Omaha,  Nebraska,  and 
thence  to  Cache  valley,  where  Mr.  Burgoyne 
began  weaving  cloth.  He  set  up  and  operated 
the  first  carding  machine  and  lo'om  in  that  part 
of  the  country,  and  devoted  himself  to  wool- 
carding  in  the  summer  and  to  the  manufacture  of 
cloth  in  the  winter,  making  kersey  for  men's 
wear  and  linsey  for  women's  wear.  He  was  thus 
employed  until  he  came  with  the  colony  of  fifteen 
and  their  families  to  Bear  Lake  valley.  They 
arrived  in  1864,  and  Mr.  Burgoyne  built  a  willow 
shanty,  and  with  his  family  occupied  it  until  fall, 
when  he  erected  as  good  a  log  house  as  he  could. 
This  he  improved  from  time  to  time  and  lived 
in  it  until  1881.  He  suffered  the  privations  and 
dangers  which  made  the  early  life  of  that  little 
colony  in  that  new,  cold,  pest-infested  and  Indian- 
menaced  land  almost  tragic,  endured  everything 
resignedly,  and  worked  untiringly,  and  at  length 
reaped  the  reward  of  well  doing.  He  acquired 
much  real  property,  including  farm  lands  and  an 
interest  in  the  town  site  of  Montpelier,  where  he 
has  been  concerned  in  the  erection  of  many 
houses  and  the  sale  of  many  lots,  and  is  one  of 
the  most  extensive  owners  of  town  property.  He 
began  merchandising  in  1880,  and  in  1881  built 
his  present  residence,  which  is  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  comfortable  in  Montpelier.  His  first 
store  was  a  little  room,  sixteen  by  sixteen  feet, 
and  he  bought  his  first  stock  of  goods  in  Salt 
Lake  City.  By  close  attention  to  business,  and 


638 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


by  honesty  and  liberality  toward  all,  he  has  built 
up  an  extensive  trade,  which  is  now  both  whole- 
sale and  retail,  his  rapidly  growing  business  re- 
quiring a  large  two-story  building  which  he  has 
erected  expressly  for  its  accommodation. 

Mr.  Burgoyne  is  a  useful  and  influential  citizen 
whose  public  spirit  has  never  been  found  wanting. 
There  has  been  no  worthy  public  interest  to 
which  he  has  not  lent  his  aid,  both  moral  and 
financial.  He  has  been  especially  efficient  in 
building  up  the  interests  at  Montpelier  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints.  In 
Wales,  before  he  came  to  America,  he  did  much 
effective  missionary  work,  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  for  the  extension  of  the  Mormon  faith. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burgoyne  have  had  six  children. 
Of  these  three  are  living  and  are  all  residents 
of  Montpelier, — Edward  Lorenzo,  Sarah  Jane 
(Mrs.  Milford  Williams),  and  Martha  Ellen  (Mrs. 
Fred.  Cruickshank). 

JOHN  C.  CALLAHAN. 

In  any  community,  east  or  west,  the  man  who 
is  for  any  considerable  time  kept  in  public  office 
is  one  who  has  proven  himself  zealous  and  effi- 
cient in  the  discharge  of  duties  devolving  upon 
him  in  official  position.  It  is  the  old  story,  many 
times  repeated,  of  "faithfulness  in  small  things." 
These  reflections  have  been  encouraged  by  con- 
templation of  the  successful  career  of  one  of  the 
prominent  officials  of  Kootenai  county  and  the 
first  judicial  district  of  Idaho. 

John  C.  Callahan  was  born  in  Massachusetts, 
January  28,  1859,  a  son  of  John  and  Hannah 
(Tuohey)  Callahan,  natives  of  Ireland,  who  came 
to  the  United  States,  he  at  twenty-one,  she  at 
seven,  and  were  married  in  Massachusetts  and 
lived  there  until  1861,  when  they  removed  to 
Iowa.  There  they  remained  for  thirty  years. 

Mr.  Callahan  received  a  common-sehool  edu- 
cation in  Iowa,  and  in  1881  engaged  in  the  hotel 
business  in  that  state.  He  continued  it  in  Minne- 
sota and  in  Montana,  where  he  lived  for  seven 
years.  In  1891  he  came  to  Bonner's  Ferry, 
Idaho,  bringing  with  him  his  wife  and  son.  He 
was  employed  in  different  ways  until  1896,  by 
which  time  he  had  become  so  well  known  and 
popular  as  a  citizen  that  he  was  elected  assessor 
and  collector  of  taxes  of  Kootenai  county,  on 
the  silver  Republican  ticket,  by  a  majority  of 


eighty-two,  and  in  1898,  upon  a  Democratic, 
silver  Republican,  Populist  fusion  ticket,  he  was 
elected  clerk  of  the  district  court  of  the  first 
judicial  district  of  Idaho,  by  a  majority  of  four 
hundred  and  eighty.  Until  1896  he  was  a  Re- 
publican "of  the  straight  sect,"  but  at  that  time 
he  became  a  silver  Republican,  in  deference  to 
what  he  believed  to  be  the  best  interests  of  the 
state.  A  man  of  liberal  information  and  of  broad 
and  generous  views,  he  is  regarded  as  a  citizen 
of  great  public  spirit  and  usefulness.  He  was 
made  a  Knight  of  Pythias  in  Acme  Lodge,  No. 
10,  of  Miles  City,  Montana.  In  1881  he  married 
Miss  Carrie  Soules,  a  native  of  Elgin,  Illinois, 
and  they  have  a  son  named  Fred  L. 

SAMUEL  J.  RICH. 

A  representative  of  the  legal  fraternity  and  a 
well-known  business  man  of  Idaho  Falls,  Samuel 
J.  Rich  has  spent  his  entire  life  in  the  west 
and  is  thoroughly  identified  with  its  interests  and 
progress.  He  was  born  in  Centerville,  Davis 
county,  Utah,  May  i,  1860,  his  parents  being 
Charles  C.  and  Emeline  (Grover)  Rich,  natives 
of  Kentucky  and  New  York,  respectively,  and 
pioneers  of  Utah  of  the  year  1847.  In  1864  they 
removed  from  Utah  to  Bear  Lake  county,  Idaho, 
Mr.  Rich  being  the  pioneer  and  first  white  set- 
tler in  Bear  Lake  valley. 

In  the  common  schools  of  Bear  Lake  county, 
Idaho,  Samuel  J.  Rich  acquired  his  preliminary 
education,  which  was  supplemented  by  a  two- 
years  college  course  in  Psovo  City,  Utah.  On 
completing  his  literary  education  he  took  up  the 
study  of  law,  in  1886,  and  after  familiarizing  him- 
self with  many  of  the  principles  of  jurisprudence 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1889.  The  following 
year  he  was  appointed  county  attorney  of  Bear 
Lake  county,  serving  until  1893,  and  at  the  same 
time  was  identified  with  the  industrial  interests 
of  that  locality.  In  connection  with  others  of  the 
family  he  built  the  first  roller  mill  in  Bear  Lake 
county,  and  was  the  general  manager  of  the  en- 
terprise until  his  removal  from  the  county,  in 
1893.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  took  up  his 
residence  in  Cache  county,  Utah,  and  was  elected 
county  attorney  in  1894,  serving  two  years. 

In  January,  1899,  Mr.  Rich  came  to  Idaho,  lo- 
cating at  Blackfoot,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  law  until  March,  when  he  was  ap- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


639 


pointed  receiver  for  the  Idaho  Canal  Company, 
with  headquarters  at  Idaho  Falls.  He  is  also  the 
owner  of  a  large  ranch  on  Snake  river  in  Bing- 
ham  county,  and  is  engaged  in  the  cattle  business 
and  is  also  engaged  in  mining,  having  mining 
interests  in  both  Utah  and  Idaho.  He  is  a  man 
of  marked  executive  force,  of  sound  judgment 
and  indefatigable  energy,  and  carries  forward  to 
successful  completion  whatever  he  undertakes. 
In  this  connection  it  should  be  mentioned  that 
the  canal  system  of  the  Idaho  Canal  Company 
is  the  most  extensive  in  the  state,  and  probably 
in  the  entire  west,  there  being  more  than  one 
hundred  miles  of  canal,  constructed  at  a  cost  of 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

In  April,  1884,  Mr.  Rich  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Anna  Page,  of  Payson,  Utah,  the 
wedding  being  celebrated  in  Salt  Lake  City. 
They  now  have  an  interesting  family  of  six  chil- 
dren, namely:  S.  Grover, Page, Wanita,  H.Walker 
Smith,  Roscoe  Clarence  and  Irene.  In  his  po- 
litical views  Mr.  Rich  has  always  been  an  ardent 
Democrat  and  has  figured  conspicuously  in 
Idaho  and  Utah  politics,  exerting  a  wide  influ- 
ence in  state  politics.  He  is  a  successful  lawyer 
of  pronounced  ability,  and  the  important  nature 
of  the  legal  business  entrusted  to  his  care  indi- 
cates his  talent  and  his  success. 

CALVIN  R.  WHITE. 

Calvin  R.  White,  one  of  the  best  known  pio- 
neers of  Idaho,  now  residing  in  Boise,  was  born 
near  Boston,  Massachusetts,  July  27,  1836,  his 
parents  being  Samuel  B.  and  Sarah  (Richardson) 
White,  natives  of  the  Bay  state.  The  father  was 
for  many  years  connected  with  the  Boston  & 
Lowell  Railway,  and  died  in  the  city  of  Boston 
when  about  seventy-six  years  of  age.  He  was  a 
son  of  Samuel  White,  also  a  native  of  Massa- 
chusetts, in  which  state  his  death  occurred  when 
he  had  passed  the  psalmist's  span  of  life  of  three- 
score years  and  ten.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
died  in  Winchester,  Massachusetts,  in  1880,  when 
about  seventy-four  years  of  age. 

In  the  public  schools  of  South  Woburn, 
Winchester  and  Boston  Calvin  R.  White  ac- 
quired his  early  education,  which  was  supple- 
mented by  a  course  in  the  Warren  Academy,  at 
Woburn,  Massachusetts.  At  the  age  of  thirteen 
he  went  to  sea,  and  spent  fourteen  years  before 


the  mast,  being  in  command  of  a  vessel  during 
one-half  of  that  period.  He  made  seven  trips  to 
Calcutta  and  visited  many  other  foreign  ports, 
thus  gaining  a  broad  knowledge  of  the  various 
countries  and  their  peoples.  On  quitting  the  sea 
he  located  at  San  Francisco,  where  he  spent  the 
winter  of  1862-3.  an(l  tnen  came  across  the  coun- 
try to  the  territory  of  Idaho.  For  four  years  he 
resided  in  Centerville  and  in  Placerville,  and  then 
removed  to  Garden  Valley,  where  he  remained  . 
about  seven  years.  At  the  first  two  places  he 
was  engaged  in  placer  mining  and  at  the  last 
named  place  carried  on  agricultural  pursuits. 
Subsequently  he  removed  to  Jerusalem,  four 
miles  above  Horseshoe  Bend,  and  while  living 
there  he  was  elected  to  the  territorial  legislature, 
becoming  a  member  of  the  sixth  session,  as  a 
representative  of  Boise  county,  when  that  county- 
sent  eight  members  to  the  assembly.  In  1875  he 
removed  to  Indian  valley,  in  what  was  then  Ada 
county,  but  is  now  a  part  of  Washington  county. 
There  he  carried  on  farming  and  stock-raising, 
making  his  home  at  that  place  for  two  years, 
when  he  removed  to  what  was  then  known  as 
Little  Salmon  valley,  in  Idaho  county,  now 
Washington  county.  Since  1879  the  place  has 
been  known  as  Meadows  and  a  postoffice  was 
located  there.  For  nearly  twenty  years  Mr. 
White  efficiently  served  as  postmaster,  and  in 
addition  to  his  duties  he  carried  on  farming  and 
stock-raising  and  engaged  in  the  hotel  business. 
He  conducted  his  hostelry  until  December,  1898, 
and  his  hotel  was  one  of  the  best  known  in  that 
section  of  Idaho,  for  hospitality  there  reigned 
supreme,  and  the  genial  landlord  was  very  popu- 
lar with  his  guests.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1898, 
however,  he  severed  all  business  connections  with 
Meadows  and  removed  to  Boise,  where  he  has 
since  made  his  home. 

In  1864  Mr.  White  was  united  in  marriage,  at 
La  Grande,  Oregon,  to  Miss  Lydia  Hopper,  a 
native  of  Illinois.  She  died  in  1889,  leaving 
eight  children,  and  at  Weiser,  in  1893,  Mr.  White 
was  again  married,  his  second  union  being  with 
Miss  Lucy  Hall,  a  native  of  Belfast,  Maine. 

In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat  and  cast  his  presi- 
dential vote  for  William  Jennings  Bryan  in  1896. 
Socially  he  is  connected  with  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  having  become  a  member 
of  the  order  in  Centerville  thirty-one  years  ago. 


640 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


He  is  now  past  grand  and  is  one  of  the 
exemplary  representatives  of  the  fraternity.  His 
sterling  worth,  his  upright  life  and  his  fidelity  to 
principle  commend  him  to  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  all,  and  as  a  worthy  pioneer  of  Idaho 
he  well  deserves  mention  in  this  volume. 

JOHN  M.  CROOKS. 

John  M.  Crooks,  now  deceased,  was  numbered 
among  the  Idaho  pioneers  of  1862  and  was  at  one 
time  the  owner  of  the  land  upon  which  the  town 
of  Grangeville  is  now  located.  He  was  born  in 
Indiana,  June  28,  1820,  and  was  of  Irish  and 
German  lineage.  He  married  Martha  Pea,  a 
native  of  Virginia,  and  in  1852  they  crossed  the 
plains  to  Oregon,  accompanied  by  their  five  chil- 
dren. One  child  was  added  to  the  number  dur- 
ing the  journey.  For  many  long  weeks  they 
were  upon  the  way,  traveling  across  the  arid 
sands  or  through  the  mountain  passes,  but  at 
length  they  safely  reached  their  destination  and 
settled  in  the  Willamette  valley,  near  Corvallis, 
where  Mr.  Crooks  secured  a  donation  claim  of 
six  hundred  and  forty  acres.  In  1856  he  removed 
to  The  Dalles,  where  he  engaged  in  farming  un- 
til 1862.  He  then  drove  his  stock  to  the  Camas 
prairie,  Idaho,  and  conducted  meat-markets 
at  Florence  and  Warren.  In  1865  he  removed 
his  family  to  the  prairie,  obtaining  five  hundred 
and  eighty  acres  of  land,  which  included  the 
present  site  of  Grangeville.  There  was  a  small 
log  house  upon  the  place,  and  there  he  took  up 
his  abode.  He  continued  his  stock-raising  and 
was  very  successful  in  his  business  undertak- 
ings. He  was  also  prominently  identified  with 
the  progress  and  development  of  the  locality. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Grange,  and 
in  1876  aided  in  building  the  Grange  Hall,  from 
which  the  town  took  its  name.  He  was  very 
generous  in  his  efforts  to  promote  the  growth  of 
the  village  and  gave  lots  to  all  who  would  build 
thereon.  In  1868  he  erected  a  good  residence 
for  his  family,  and  there  spent  his  remaining 
days.  He  was  always  friendly  with  the  Indians 
and  they  with  him,  and  when  the  Nez  Perces  In- 
dian war  broke  out  they  made  a  compact  that 
they  would  not  molest  one  the  other,  and  to  its 
terms  they  adhered. 

Mr.  Crooks  died  in  1884,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
four  years.  He  was  a  noted  frontiersman  of  Ore- 


gon and  Idaho  and  an  honored  pioneer  who  ma- 
terially aided  in  the  general  progress  and  growth. 
He  left  a  widow  and  eight  children  to  mourn  his 
loss,  and  six  of  the  children  are  now  living,  name- 
ly, J.  W.,  who  is  engaged  in  farming  at  White 
Bird ;  Isabelle,  wife  of  C.  W.  Pierson,  resides  at 
White  Bird;  J.  B.,  a  mine  owner  residing  in 
Grangeville;  Charles  V.,  a  physician,  who  is  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Waterloo, 
Nebraska;  Alice,  wife  of  P.  C.  Sherwin,  who  re- 
sides on  Salmon  river;  and  Emma,  wife  of 
Charles  Bentz,  a  resident  of  White  Bird. 

Mr.  Crooks,  the  father  of  this  family,  platted 
the  town  of  Grangeville  and  for  some  time  con- 
ducted the  stage  line  between  Grangeville  and 
Lewiston.  He  also  embarked  in  various  busi- 
ness enterprises,  which  proved  of  public  as  well 
as  individual  benefit.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
when  his  estate  was  settled  up,  blocks  of  sixteen 
lots  were  sold  for  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
dollars,  and  these  have  since  sold  for  four  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  thus  the  estate  was  found  to  be 
bankrupt.  His  wife  died  in  1897,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-five  years. 

Their  son,  J.  B.  Crooks,  who  has  kindly  fur- 
nished us  with  the  history  of  his  honored  father, 
was  born  near  Corvallis,  Oregon,  November  n, 
1854,  and  with  the  family  came  to  Camas  prairie 
in  1865.  He  has  been  engaged  in  the  stock  busi- 
ness and  is  now  operating  quartz  mines  at  War- 
ren. He  has  made  quartz  locations  south  of  the 
great  descent  on  Buffalo  Hump  and  is  the  owner 
of  a  ten-acre  block  of  land  in  Grangeville.  In 
business  circles  he  occupies  a  leading  position, 
and  he  possesses  the  essential  qualifications  of  a 
successful  career, — enterprise,  perseverance  and 
diligence.  He  is  well  known  throughout  Idaho 
county  and  is  a  worthy  representative  of  one  of 
the  pioneer  families. 

HON.  GEORGE  W.  GORTON. 

The  late  Hon.  George  W.  Gorton  filled  a  place 
in  the  business  and  social  circles  of  Soda  Springs, 
and  in  fact  of  the  entire  state  of  Idaho,  which  will 
be  vacant  as  long  as  his  friends  and  admirers  sur- 
vive, for  he  was  a  man  of  mocked  individuality,  a 
magnetic  man  who  drew  men  to  him  and  bound 
them  with  bonds  of  strongest  friendship,  and  a 
helpful  man  who  was  always  assisting  others  over 
rough  places,  and  those  who  knew  him  believed 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


6-41 


that  there  was  no  man  like  him.  Mr.  Gorton 
was  born  at  Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  March  3, 
1846,  a  son  of  Job  P.  and  Deborah  (Sweet)  Gor- 
ton. His  ancestors  were  English,  and  the  pro- 
genitors of  his  families  of  Gorton  and  Sweet  lo- 
cated early  in  Rhode  Island,  and  some  of  their  de- 
scendants participated  in  the  Revolutionary  strug- 
gle of  the  American  colonies.  His  father  and 
mother  were  born  in  Rhode  Island  and  found  a 
new  home  in  Pennsylvania  soon  after  their  mar- 
riage. They  had  four  children,  and  Mrs. 
Gorton  died  in  giving  birth  to  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  George  W.  Gorton  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  Scranton,  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  only  seventeen  years  old  in  1863,  when  the 
fortunes  of  the  Union  cause,  in  the- great  strug- 
gle for  northern  and  southern  supremacy,  were 
darker  than  at  any  other  time  during  the  war,  but 
realizing  how  sorely  our  nation  needed  men  who 
were  willing  to  risk  their  lives  in  defense,  and 
inspired  somewhat,  perhaps,  by  the  memory  of 
his  Revolutionary  forefathers,  he  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany K.  Eleventh  Regiment  of  Pennsylvania 
Cavalry.  His  term  of  service  was  from  June  17, 
1863,  to  August  17,  1865,  when  he  was  honor- 
ably discharged  and  made  the  recipient  of  a  rec- 
ommendation by  superior  officers,  in  testimony 
to  his  gallant  conduct  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion. 

Not  long  after  the  close  of  the  war,  fresh  from 
his  service  at  the  front,  Mr.  Gorton  came  west, 
and  for  a  time  was  associated,  as  superintendent 
of  salt  works  and  in  other  confidential  relations, 
with  Governor  White,  of  Montana,  who  had  no 
thought  at  that  time  of  the  high  position  to  which 
he  was  destined  to  be  called.  This  connection 
continued  for  five  years,  and  for  two  years  after 
its  termination  Mr.  Gorton  lived  at  Malad  City, 
Idaho.  After  busying  himself  in  various  ways 
in  the  interval,  he  came  to  Soda  Springs  in  Janu- 
ary, 1878.  Not  long  afterward  he  was  appointed 
receiver  of  the  firm  of  H.  Moore  &  Company,  a 
mercantile  concern  then  in  liquidation,  and 
bought  its  stock  of  goods  and  entered  upon  a 
prosperous  career  as  a  merchant,  which  was  ter- 
minated only  by  his  death,  January  6,  1899.  His 
widow  and  son  continue  the  business,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  extensive  of  its  kind  in  the  town. 
During  his  more  than  twenty  years'  residence  in 
southeastern  Idaho,  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  its 


development  and  prosperity,  which  he  encour- 
aged generously  in  all  ways  at  his  command. 
He  was  an  influential  Republican  and  served  his 
fellow  citizens  as  county  commissioner,  county 
treasurer  and  county  assessor  of  Bannock  coun- 
ty, and  as  representative  of  the  county  m  the  ter- 
ritorial legislature.  He  was.  a  prominent  Odd 
Fellow  and  comrade  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  and  had  a  wide  acquaintance  with  rep- 
resentative men  throughout  the  state,  being  most 
highly  esteemed  by  those  who  knew  him.  When 
his  party  took  a  position  on  the  financial  ques- 
tion which  he  could  not  indorse,  he  embraced 
what  he  thought  was  the  best  side  of  the  question 
for  the  people  of  his  county  and  state,  and  as  an 
avowed  bimetallist  was  a  leader  among  leaders 
as  a  silver-Republican.  To  this  position  he  ad- 
hered as  long  as  he  lived.  When  he  died  the- 
people  of  the  entire  state  felt  that  they  had  lost 
one  of  their  ablest  and  noblest  citizens.  He  was 
buried  by  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, and  his  brethren  in  the  order  deplored  his 
death  and  were  proud  to  show  every  respect  to 
his  memory. 

Mr.  Gorton  left  a  fine  home  and  a  comfortable 
competence  to  his  family.  He  was  married,  No- 
vember 3,  1877,  to  Miss  Leah  Waylett,  daughter 
of  William  Waylett,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  and 
a  native  of  that  city.  They  had  eleven  children, 
five  daughters  and  six  sons.  The  daughters  all 
died  of  diphtheria.  The  sons  survive.  Henry 
C.,  the  eldest,  is  associated  with  his  mother  in 
the  management  of  their  store.  The  others  are 
named  George  W.,  Jr.;  Shoup:  Dubois;  Jay  P., 
and  Eastman  K.  Shoup  and  Dubois  are  twins, 
and  were  named  in  honor  of  Senators  George  L. 
Shoup  and  F.  T.  Dubois,  who  were  Mr.  Gorton's 
strong  personal  friends.  Eastman  was  named  in 
honor  of  L.  C.  Eastman,  Mr.  Gorton's  neighbor, 
who  returned  the  compliment  Mr.  Gorton  paid 
him  by  naming  one  of  his  sons  Gorton. 

WILLIAM  CHESTER. 

The  substantial  rewards  that  come  to  the  able 
and  upright  man  as  the  result  of  well-doing, 
small  as  they  may  be  in  comparison  with  the  for- 
tunes and  apparent  honors  won  by  questionable 
methods,  bring  with  them  a  sense  of  satisfaction 
to  which  the  sharp  financier  and  the  corrupt  poli- 
tician live  and  die  as  strangers.  A  man  who 


642 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


wisely  and  honestly  adjudicated  the  small  misun- 
derstandings of  his  fellow  citizens  for  sixteen 
years,  and  who  has  the  respect  of  all  those  for  or 
against  whom  he  has  decided,  as  has  Justice 
Chester,  of  Soda  Springs,  Idaho,  has  a  greater 
reward  than  the  perjured  judge  who  ends  his 
days  in  a  bitter  struggle  to  enjoy  thousands  ob- 
tained by  oppression,  injustice  and  a  systematic 
affront  to  the  law  he  has  falsely  sworn  to  uphold. 

William  Chester,  who  is  a  member  of  the 
board  of  county  commissioners,  has  been  for  six- 
teen years  justice  of  the  peace  at  Soda  Springs, 
and  is  well  and  favorably  known  throughout  east- 
ern Idaho.  He  is  a  native  of  Lincolnshire.  Eng- 
land, and  was  born  May  3,  1843.  His  father, 
Thomas  Chester,  died  when  William  was  only  a 
year  old,  and  the  baby  was  taken  into  the  home 
of  his  grandfather,  John  Chester.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  a  plain,  practical  way,  worked  on  the 
farm  and  learned  the  machinist's  trade.  He  came 
to  America  in  1873,  with  the  expectation  of  hav- 
ing employment  in  machine  shops  at  Lockport. 
New  York,  but  the  panic  of  that  year  prevented 
the  realization  of  this  hope,  and  Mr.  Chester  came 
west  as  far  as  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  and  from 
there,  in  the  winter  of  1873-4,  he  came  to  Utah. 
He  did  not  find  employment  at  his  trade,  but 
found  other  work  at  which  he  busied  himself 
until,  in  the  spring  of  1874,  he  located  at  Soda 
Springs  and  took  up  a  farm  of  two  hundred  acres, 
which,  when  the  town  had  been  surveyed,  ad- 
joined the  town  site.  This  property  he  improved 
and  put  under  cultivation,  and  it  is  now  one  of 
the  good  farms  of  this  part  of  the  country. 

In  political  affiliations  Mr.  Chester  is  a  Demo- 
crat. He  was  postmaster  at  Soda  Springs  eight 
years,  in  the  administrations  of  Presidents  Cleve- 
land and  Harrison,  has  been  elected  eight  times 
to  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace,  and  was  in 
1898  elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  county 
commissioners  of  Bannock  county,  which  impor- 
tant office  he  is  now  filling  with  great  fidelity  and 
ability,  and  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  fellow 
citizens,  without  regard  to  politics.  He  has  in 
all  relations  of  life  made  an  excellent  reputation 
as  a  reliable  and  worthy  citizen,  and  he  is  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows.  He  is  patriotically  and  helpfully 
public-spirited  and  has  the  weal  of  his  town  and 
county  close  to  his  heart. 


Mr.  Chester  was  married,  in  1866,  to  Miss  Su- 
sannah Popple,  a  native  of  Gainsborough,  Eng- 
land, and  she  and  their  three  sons  born  in  Eng- 
land came  with  him.  These  sons  were  named 
Joseph  Thomas,  William  H.  and  Charles  Ed- 
ward. Five  more  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Chester  in  the  United  States:  Lucy,  who 
married  Lorenzo  Marriott;  Fred;  Hattie;  Colin 
and  James.  Mrs.  Chester  died  in  1892,  and  her 
loss  was  deeply  regretted  by  all  who  knew  her. 

HENRY  G.  WESTON. 

The  number  of  veterans  of  the  Mexican  war  is 
fast  diminishing,  as  one  by  one  they  respond  to 
the  roll-call  above,  but  some  are  still  left  to  tell 
the  tale  of  how  the  gallant  sons  of  the  nation 
marched  into  the  land  of  Montezuma  and  won 
victory  after  victory  over  the  opposing  forces. 
Among  this  number  is  Henry  G.  Weston,  who 
with  an  Iowa  regiment  marched  to  the  front. 
Since  that  time  he  has  seen  the  nation  engaged 
in  two  other  conflicts  in  which  liberty,  freedom 
and  the  right  have  again  triumphed  and  through 
which  the  powers  of  the  world  have  been  forced 
to  accord  America  a  leading  place  among  the 
governments  of  civilization.  Mr.  Weston  has 
watched  with  deep  interest  the  progress  of  events 
which  form  our  national  history,  and  at  all  times 
has  been  imbued  with  a  spirit  of  patriotism  and 
loyalty. 

Mr.  Weston,  who  is  now  engaged  in  farming 
in  the  Salubria  valley  of  Idaho,  was  born  in 
Skaneateles,  New  York,  on  the  2ist  of  July,  1827, 
and  is  of  English,  Scotch  and  Irish  lineage,  his 
ancestors  having  been  early  settlers  of  New 
Hampshire.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  a  sol- 
dier in  the  war  of  1812.  Josiah  Weston,  father 
of  our  subject,  was  born  in  New  Hampshire,  mar- 
ried Miss  Harriet  P.  Webster,  and  in  1830  re- 
moved with  his  family  to  Lorain  county,  Ohio, 
where  he  followed  the  trade  of  a  stone  mason  and 
also  engaged  in  farming.  He  died  in  the  fifty- 
second  year  of  his  age,  and  his  wife  died  at  the 
age  of  eighty-two,  at  which  time  she  was  an  in- 
mate of  the  home  of  her  son  in  the  Salubria  val- 
ley. In  religious  faith  they  were  Universalists. 
They  had  a  family  of  ten  children,  but  only  three 
are  now  living,  one  being  a  resident  of  California, 
while  another  resides  at  Willow  Creek,  Idaho. 
Henry  G.  Weston  was  only  three  years  old 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


643 


when  the  family  went  to  Ohio,  and  eight  years 
afterward  he  accompanied  his  parents  on  their  re- 
moval to  Illinois.  In  the  public  schools  of  those 
states  he  acquired  his  education,  remaining  under 
the  parental  roof  and  assisting  in  the  work  of  the 
home  farm  until  eighteen  years  of  age,  when  he 
began  to  learn  the  trade  of  wagon  and  carriage 
making.  He  was  thus  engaged  when,  on  the 
27th  of  July,  1847,  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years, 
he  enlisted  for  service  in  a  volunteer  company 
commanded  by  Captain  Wyat  B.  Stapp.  He 
went  to  the  front  and  was  on  duty  until  the  close 
of  hostilities,  being  stationed  at  Vera  Cruz  at  the 
time  the  city  of  Mexico  was  captured  and  the 
war  was  ended. 

Returning  then  to  his  home,  Mr.  Weston  con- 
tinued his  residence  in  Illinois  until  1863,  when 
he  crossed  the  plains  to  Nevada,  accompanied 
by  his  wife  and  four  children.  On  the  3Oth  of 
September,  1850,  he  had  married  Mrs.  Annis  S. 
Adams,  who  by  her  former  marriage  had  one 
child,  and  by  Mr.  Weston  had  six  children.  One 
daughter,  Catherine,  died  in  the  eighth  year  of 
her  age,  and  the  others  are  Harriet,  who  became 
the  wife  of  Frank  Janes,  now  the  postmaster  of 
Salubria ;  Charles,  who  is  assisting  his  father  in 
the  operation  of  the  home  farm;  Julia,  wife  of 
Joseph  Hutchins ;  Douglass,  who  is  married  and 
has  a  good  farm  near  his  father;  and  James,  who 
is  engaged  in  mining. 

Mr.  Weston  engaged  in  farming  in  Nevada 
until  1879,  when  he  sold  his  property  there  and 
removed  to  the  Salubria  valley,  where  he  secured 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land.  He  has 
since  been  numbered  among  the  successful  farm- 
ers of  the  valley,  has  placed  his  land  under  a  high 
state  of  cultivation,  and  well  tilled  fields  now  yield 
to  him  a  golden  tribute  in  return  for  the  care  and 
labor  he  bestows  upon  them.  Although  he  has 
passed  the  psalmist's  span  of  three-score  years 
and  ten,  he  is  still  active  and  vigorous,  and  does 
no  little  part  of  the  farm  work.  His  wife  also  is 
living,  and  for  almost  a  half  century  they  have 
traveled  life's  journey  together,  sharing  with 
each  other  the  joys  and  sorrows,  and  adversity 
and  prosperity  which  checker  the  careers  of  all. 
They  have  many  warm  friends  in  this  community, 
who  wish  for  them  many  years  of  happiness  yet 
to  come. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Weston  has  always 


been  a  stanch  Democrat,  and  socially  he  is  con- 
nected with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows. Since  the  days  when  he  followed  the  starry 
banner  through  the  valleys  and  over  the  moun- 
tains of  Mexico  he  has  been  a  loyal  and  progres- 
sive citizen,  and  gives  an  earnest  support  to  all 
measures  which  he  believes  are  for  the  public 
good. 

CLAYTON  A.  HOOVER.  M.  D. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that,  wherever  his  lot 
may  be  cast,  the  up-to-date  physician  is  a  suc- 
cessful man  also  outside  of  his  profession,  and 
becomes  a  leader  in  the  affairs  of  his  town.  This 
has  been  proven  true  many  times,  and  the  career 
of  Dr.  Clayton  A.  Hoover,  of  Montpelier,  Idaho, 
is  another  conspicuous  testimony  to  the  same  ef- 
fect. 

Dr.  Hoover  located  at  Montpelier  in  1882  and 
is  the  pioneer  regular  practicing  physician  of 
southeast  Idaho.  He  is  a  native  of  Washington, 
D.  C.,  and  was  born  February  25,  1853,  a  son  of 
William  and  Elizabeth  (Hough)  Hoover.  In  the 
paternal  line  he  is  descended  from  a  German  an- 
cestor, three  of  whose  sons  came  to  America  in 
1784  and  located  one  in  Virginia,  one  in  Mary- 
land and  one  in  Pennsylvania.  Peter  Hoover, 
grandfather  of  the  Doctor,  early  in  life  settled  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  and  his  son,  William 
Hoover,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  born  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  in  1800.  Dr. 
Hoover's  mother,  Elizabeth,  nee  Hough,  also  of 
German  ancestry,  was  born  in  Waterford,  Vir- 
ginia. 

William  and  Elizabeth  (Hough)  Hoover  lo- 
cated in  Washington,  D.  C.,  after  their  marriage. 
The  mother  was  a  Quaker  and  they  ranked  with 
the  prominent  people  of  the  city.  Mr.  Hoover 
died  in  1882,  and  Mrs.  Hoover  in  1880.  They 
had  seven  sons  and  four  daughters,  of  whom  only 
five  are  living  at  this  time.  Of  their  eleven  chil- 
dren, Clayton  A.  was  the  ninth  in  sequence  of 
nativity.  He  was  educated  at  the  Columbian 
University  and  was  graduated  in  its  medical 
department  in  1875.  Since  then  he  has  taken 
several  post-graduate  courses,  in  New  York  city, 
and  by  study,  reading  and  conference  with  prom- 
inent brother  physicians  has  kept  abreast  of  the 
times  in  a  profession  which  during  the  years  of 
his  practice  has  perhaps  advanced  more  rapidly 
and  more  radically  than  any  other.  He  is  a 


644 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


member  of  the  American  Medical  Association 
and  was  one  of  the  founders  and  is  an  ex-presi- 
dent of  the  Idaho  State  Medical  Association. 
From  1883  to  1897  he  was  the  local  surgeon  for 
the  Union  Pacific  Railway  Company.  He  is 
widely  and  favorably  known  personally,  and  his 
large  and  constantly  growing  practice  extends 
seventy-five  to  one  hundred  miles  into  Montpel- 
ier's  tributary  territory.  He  established  the  pio- 
neer drug  store  at  Montpelier,  ran  it  successfully 
for  a  time,  then  sold  it,  and  it  was  finally  closed. 
He  began  his  present  drug  business  in  1892,  and 
has  managed  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  it 
increasingly  important  and  profitable. 

He  has  contributed  to  the  visible  wealth  of  his 
town  by  erecting  a  sightly  stone  store  building 
and  a  fine  residence  near  by.  Eight  miles  from 
Montpelier  he  has  a  large  ranch,  on  which  he 
carries  on  farming  operations,  successfully  rais- 
ing hay  principally,  but  giving  some  attention 
also  to  other  crops.  He  is  public-spirited  as  a 
citizen  and  takes  a  helpful  interest  in  all  impor- 
tant affairs  of  the  town.  He  is  a  past  master  of 
King  Solomon  Lodge,  No.  27,  Ancient  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons;  was  a  charter  member  of 
Idanha,  Montpelier,  Lodge,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
and  is  still  an  active  worker  for  the  order;  and 
he  is  also  a  member  of  the  Woodmen  of  the 
World.  Politically  he  is  a  Republican  and  a  bi- 
metallist. 

In  1875  Dr.  Hoover  married  Miss  Johanna  E. 
Claxton,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  who  died  in  1886, 
after  having  borne  two  sons, — Edward  C.  and 
Alfred  M.  The  elder  son  is  making  a  reputation 
for  himself  as  an  accountant  in  the  state  of  Wash- 
ington ;  and  the  younger  is  now  at  school.  July 
17>  '895,  Dr.  Hoover  married  his  present  wife, 
who  was  Miss  Bessie  R.  Brown,  a  native  of  Bear 
Lake  county,  Idaho,  and  educated  in  the  normal 
department  of  the  State  University  of  Utah,  where 
she  was  graduated,  and  they  have  two  children, 
named  Stewart  Whiting  and  Phvllis. 

BISHOP  WILFORD  W.  CLARK. 
Wilford  Woodruff  Clark,  bishop  of  the  Mont- 
pelier ward  in  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Lat- 
ter Day  Saints,  has  risen  by  successive  steps  from 
deacon  to  elder,  from  elder  to  one  of  the  seventy, 
thence  to  the  office  of  high  priest  and  finally  to 
that  of  bishop.  As  a  member  of  the  seventy  he 


performed  a  mission  in  the  south,  principally  in 
North  Carolina,  where  he  met  with  great  success 
in  establishing  churches.  In  civil  life  he  is 
known  as  Hon.  Wilford  Woodruff  Clark.  He 
was  elected,  as  a  Republican,  to  the  third  Idaho 
state  legislature,  of  which  he  was  an  active  and 
useful  member.  He  introduced  the  bill  giving 
the  state  legislature  its  present  membership:  one 
senator  from  each  county  and  representatives  ac- 
cording to  population,  and  was  influential  in  se- 
curing the  passage  of  the  bill  which  gave  the 
franchise  to  women. 

Bishop  Clark  was  born  at  Farmingtgn,  Davis 
county,  Utah,  February  2,  1863.  His  forefathers 
were  among  the  first  settlers  of  our  American 
colonies  and  were  prominent  in  fighting  the  fight 
of  liberty  and  in  making  our  primitive  national 
history.  Ezra  T.  Clark,  his  father,  was  born  No- 
vember 25,  1823,  in  Illinois,  where  Bishop  Clark's 
grandfather  was  a  pioneer,  and  married  Mary 
Stevenson,  who  had  the  unique  distinction  of  hav- 
ing been  born  on  the  rock  of  Gibraltar,  in  1825. 
They  were  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints  early  in  the 
history  of  the  church  in  Iowa,  and  in  1848  crossed 
the  plains  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  were  among  the 
earliest  emigrants  who  braved  the  dangers  of  that 
long  and  perilous  journey.  In  1849  they  located 
at  Farmington,  Davis  county,  Utah,  on  a  farm 
which  Mr.  Clark  made  one  of  the  best  in  the 
vicinity  and  on  which  he  yet  lives.  He  has  been 
an  active  and  efficient  member  of  his  church,  and 
has  faithfully  and  successfully  performed  several 
important  missions  in  its  behalf,  in  the  United 
States  and  in  Europe,  and  now  has  the  great 
honor  of  being  one  of  its  patriarchs.  The  wife 
of  his  youth  has  been  spared  to  him  and  they  are 
living  out  their  days  calmly,  peacefully,  without 
regrets  and  with  the  hope  that  is  given  to  those 
who  labor  for  their  fellows  and  trust  to  God  for 
their  ultimate  reward. 

Bishop  Clark  was  educated  at  Salt  Lake  City 
Deseret  University,  now  the  Utah  University, 
and  at  Brigham  Young  Academy,  at  Provo, 
Utah,  and  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising, 
which  he  has  continued  to  the  present  time,  with 
increasing  success.1  At  Montpelier  he  has  a  farm 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  acres,  and  with 
his  father  and  brother,  he  owns  a  ranch  of  twelve 
hundred  acres  at  Georgetown,  Bear  Lake  county, 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


645 


Idaho,  where  they  have  a  herd  of  cattle  and  also 
a  herd  of  horses.  They  began  to  import  Short- 
horn cattle  about  thirty  years  ago,  as  a  means  to 
the  improvement  of  their  own  stock,  and  as  a  re- 
sult they  have  been  instrumental  in  improving  to 
a  degree  the  stock  of  the  whole  county.  They  are 
breeding  a  fine  grade  of  horses,  and  are  among 
the  most  successful  farmers  in  their  part  of  the 
state. 

July  22,  1885,  Bishop  Clark  married  Miss  Pa- 
melia  Dunn,  a  native  of  Plain  City,  Utah,  and  a 
daughter  of  John  Dunn,  a  prominent  citizen  of 
that  town.  They  have  had  eight  children:  Wil- 
ford  Woodruff,  Jr.;  William  O.;  Vera  Pamelia; 
Royal  D.;  Ernest,  deceased;  Elmer  R.;  Homer, 
and  Howard,  twins,  born  on  their  mother's  thir- 
ty-fifth birthday. 

JAMES  WITT. 

Since  1861  Mr.  Witt  has  been  a  resident  of 
Idaho,  and  is  now  a  representative  of  the  agricul- 
tural and  stock-raising  interests  of  the  state.  He 
was  born  in  Tennessee,  July  7,  1837.  His  great- 
grandfather, Caleb  Witt,  was  a  native  of  Eng- 
land, and  became  the  founder  of  the  family  in 
America.  He  located  in  the  south  and  after  a 
time  removed  to  Tennessee,  where  he  reared  his 
family  and  made  his  home  until  his  death.  His 
son,  James  Witt,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject, 
was  born  in  Tennessee  and  loyally  served  his 
country  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  married  a  Miss 
Hann,  a  lady  of  German  extraction,  and  their 
son,  Caleb  Witt,  was  a  native  of  Jefferson  county, 
Tennessee,  where  four  generations  of  the  family 
were  born.  He  married  Miss  Margaret  K. 
O'Marcus,  a  native  of  Anderson  county,  Tennes- 
see, and  two  children  were  born  to  them,  a  son 
and  daughter.  The  father  died  in  1882,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-seven  years,  and  the  mother  passed 
away  in  1856,  at  the  age  of  forty-six.  They  were 
Baptists  in  religious  faith,  and  were  people  of  the 
highest  worth  and  integrity.  . 

James  Witt,  whose  name  introduces  this  re- 
view, is  now  the  only  surviving  member  of  the 
family.  He  obtained  his  education  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  and  by  reading  while  in  the  moun- 
tains. In  1859  he  started  with  his  father  to  cross 
the  plains  to  Pike's  Peak,  but  on  the  Platte  river 
they  met  a  pleasant  party  en  route  for  Oregon 
and  joined  them  on  their  trip.  At  length  they 
reached  Portland,  spent  the  winter  there,  and  in 


the  spring  of  1860  our  subject  went  up  the  Co- 
lumbia river,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  ten 
miles  above  the  mouth  of  Snake  river.  He  then 
returned  to  Wallula,  and  engaged  in  freighting, 
with  bull  teams,  to  Walla  Walla.  In  the  late 
fall  he  made  his  way  to  the  Cascades,  where  he 
spent  the  winter-  months  with  his  father,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1861  they  went  to  Greer's  ferry, 
on  the  Oro  Fino  road,  on  the  Clearwater  river, 
there  remaining  until  the  spring  of  1862,  when 
they  went  to  Elk  City.  They  purchased  three 
claims  on  Buffalo  Hill,  one  mile  west  of  Elk  City, 
and  then  joined  with  others  in  digging  a  ditch 
which  supplied  water  to  six  or  eight  companies. 
As  they  went  forward  into  the  hill  they  required 
more  water,  and  in  1872  Mr.  Witt  and  his  father 
purchased  the  whole  claim.  Half  a  million  dol- 
lars were  taken  out  of  that  hill,  which  is  now 
owned  by  a  company  in  Butte,  Montana,  of  which 
Mr.  Leggat  is  a  prominent  member.  This  was 
what  was  called  a  "wages  camp,"  that  is  to  say 
the  miners  made  fair  wages,  some  taking  away 
with  them  from  two  to  ten  thousand  dollars. 

In  1876  Mr.  Witt's  father  took  up  lands  on 
Camas  prairie,  and  in  1880,  wishing  to  be  near 
his  father  in  his  declining  years,  our  subject  also 
went  there,  acquiring  lands  and  engaging  in 
stock-raising.  He  and  his  nephew,  J.  B.  Sloan, 
have  nine  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  and 
are  raising  hogs  on  a  very  extensive  scale,  ship- 
ping large  numbers  each  year.  His  life  has  been 
one  of  activity,  in  which  he  has  met  many  diffi- 
culties, but  these  he  has  overcome  by  determined 
purpose,  and  has  risen  to  a  position  among  the 
substantial  citizens  of  his  adopted  county. 

In  1874  Mr.  Witt  became  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  taking  the  degrees  of  the  blue 
lodge  in  Mount  Idaho  Lodge,  No.  9,  F.  &  A.  M. 
He  traveled  from  Elk  City  to  Mount  Idaho  for 
that  purpose,  and  though  the  trip  cost  him  sev- 
enty-five dollars  he  has  always  considered  it  a 
good  investment.  He  at  once  became  a  student 
of  the  tenets  of  the  order,  and  has  ever  endeav- 
ored to  conform  his  life  to  the  ennobling  princi- 
ples, so  that,  being  a  good  Mason,  he  is  a  good 
citizen.  He  is  a  most  active  worker  in  the  order, 
has  filled  nearly  all  the  offices  of  the  lodge,  and 
has  been  past  master  for  a  number  of  terms.  The 
Mount  Idaho  Lodge  was  removed  to  Grange- 
ville,  where  it  is  now  located,  numbering  among 


646 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


its  members  many  of  the  best  citizens  of  the  town. 
In  politics  Mr.  Witt  has  always  been  a  Democrat, 
and  while  not  a  politician  in  the  sense  of  an  office- 
seeker,  he  has  served  for  several  terms  as  county 
commissioner,  in  a  most  capable  and  commend- 
able manner.  He  is  quite  widely  known  through- 
out the  state,  and  well  deserves  mention  among 
the  honored  pioneers. 

JOHN   B.  THATCHER. 

John  B.  Thatcher,  assessor  and  tax  collector 
of  Bannock  county,  and  the  owner  of  a  valuable 
ranch  on  Bear  river,  where  he  carries  on  general 
farming  and  stock-raising,  was  born  in  Clark 
county,  Ohio,  October  22,  1834,  being  of  English 
and  German  descent.  At  an  early  epoch  in  the 
history  of  Virginia,  his  ancestors,  having  braved 
the  perils  incident  to  ocean  voyages  at  that  day, 
took  up  their  residence  in  the  Old  Dominion,  and 
representatives  of  the  family  fought  for  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  nation  in  the  Revolutionary  war. 
The  parents  of  our  subject,  Hezekiah  and  Alley 
(Kitchen)  Thatcher,  were  both  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  father  was  an  industrious  and  sub- 
stantial farmer.  He  lived  to  be  sixty-nine  years 
of  age,  and  his  wife  passed  away  at  the  age  of 
eighty-two  years.  They  were  members  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and 
were  people  of  the  highest  integrity  of  character. 
In  their  family  were  thirteen  children,  eight  of 
whom  reached  years  of  maturity,  while  five  are 
still  living. 

John  B.  Thatcher  was  the  fourth  child  and  is 
now  the  eldest  surviving  member  of  the  family. 
He  was  reared  and  educated  in  Illinois  and  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  and  afterward  engaged  in 
mining  in  El  Dorado  county,  California.  On  the 
1st  of  January,  1858,  he  returned  to  Salt  Lake 
City.  In  1860  he  went  to  Logan,  Utah,  where 
he  engaged  in  clerking  in  the  Mercantile  House, 
being  there  employed  for  fifteen  years.  In  the 
fall  of  1881  he  came  to  Idaho  and  purchased  three 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  upon  which  he 
has  since  made  his  home.  He  has  devoted  his 
energies  to  general  farming  and  stock-raising, 
and  his  diligence,  practical  methods  and  energy 
have  brought  to  him  success.  As  his  financial 
resources  have  increased  he  has  extended  the 
boundaries  of  his  ranch  until  it  now  comprises  six 
hundred  acres, — a  valuable  property,  on  which  he 


raises  hay,  grain  and  stock.  Upon  his  place  are 
found  all  the  modern  improvements  and  acces- 
sories of  the  model  farm,  and  the  neat  and  thrifty 
appearance  of  the  place  well  indicates  the  care- 
ful supervision  of  the  owner. 

In  addition  to  his  business  cares  Mr.  Thatcher 
is  ably  discharging  his  public  duties  and  is  a  most 
trustworthy  official.  In  politics  he  has  been  a 
lifelong  Democrat,  and  on  that  ticket  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  territorial  legislature  in  1882. 
On  the  8th  of  November,  1896,  he  was  elected 
assessor  and  tax  collector,  and  in  November, 
1898,  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  Idaho 
general  assembly,  where  he  has  ably  represented 
his  district  and  labored  earnestly  for  the  best  in- 
terests of  his  constituents.  He  has  long  been  a 
close  student  of  political  questions,  of  the  needs 
and  demands  of  the  public,  and  has  taken  his 
place  among  the  foremost  legislators  of  Idaho. 

On  the  gth  of  March,  1858,  was  celebrated  the 
marriage  of  Mr.  Thatcher  and  Miss  Rachel  H. 
Davis,  a  native  of  Ohio.  Their  union  has  been 
blessed  with  six  sons  and  two  daughters,  namely : 
John  B.,  a  farmer  of  Wyoming;  Milton  H.;  Na- 
than D.;  Lulu,  now  the  wife  of  Frank  Thirkill; 
Lettie,  at  home;  Howard  E.;  Gilbert,  who  is 
his  father's  deputy;  and  Henry  K.,  who  com- 
pletes the  family.  The  mother  was  killed  in  an 
accident,  in  January,  1882.  She  was  a  most  es- 
timable lady,  held  in  high  regard  by  all  who  knew 
her,  and  her  death  occasioned  great  sadness  in 
the  community  as  well  as  in  her  own  home.  Like 
her  husband,  she  belonged  to  the  Church  of  Lat- 
ter Day  Saints.  Mr.  Thatcher  has  the  esteem 
and  unlimited  confidence  of  the  citizens  of  his 
county,  and  is  well  known  as  a  man  of  sound 
judgment  and  sterling  rectitude  of  character. 

JOHN   B.   GOODE. 

The  readjustment  of  the  national  affairs  after 
the  civil  war  led  to  conditions  under  which  the 
people  of  the  north  and  the  people  of  the  south 
began  to  mingle,  and  became  acquainted  and 
ratified  the  feeling  of  mutual  admiration  which 
their  prowess  during  the  four  years'  struggle  had 
compelled  for  foemen  who  wore  the  gray  and  foe- 
men  who  wore  the  blue.  Men  of  the  north  took 
part  in  the  southern  business  and  politics;  men 
of  the  south  began  to  have  a  hand  in  the  national 
and  local  affairs  at  the  north.  A  paternal  senti- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


647 


ment  has  resulted  which  has  buried  old  animosi- 
ties and  raised  numerous  mutual  interests,  and 
to-day  east,  west,  south,  southwest  and  north- 
west, southern  men  and  northern  men  are  work- 
ing hand  in  hand  for  the  greater  prosperity 
and  the  gradual  but  certain  attainment  of  the 
splendid  destiny  of  the  American  people.  Idaho 
is  not  without  its  prominent  men  of  southern 
birth  and  education,  and  one  of  the  most  highly 
regarded  of  these  is  John  B.  Goode,  of  Coeur 
d'Alene. 

John  B.  Goode  was  born  in  Bedford  county, 
Virginia,  August  18,  1864,  a  son  of  John  Goode, 
long  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  Old 
Dominion,  and  conspicuous  in  national  politics 
since  the  days  before  the  war.  This  distinguished 
son  of  Virginia  was  born  in  May,  1829,  and  be- 
came an  able  and  successful  lawyer  and  a  factor 
in  the  state  affairs.  A  Democrat  of  Democrats 
and  a  patriotic  lover  of  the  south  and  all  its  insti- 
tutions, he  early  identified  himself  with  the  public 
questions  which  were  engaging  the  best  talent  of 
the  country  previous  to  the  war  of  1861-5,  and  as 
a  member  of  the  Virginia  legislature  and  as  an 
advocate  of  the  southern  cause,  he  became 
prominent  and  influential  among  his  fellow  citi- 
zens. He  was  a  member  of  the  secession  con- 
vention at  Richmond,  and  later  a  member  of  the 
Confederate  congress.  During  the  war  he  served 
with  the  rank  of  colonel,  on  the  staff  of  General 
Early  and  that  of  General  Breckenridge.  After 
the  war,  with  influence  unabated,  he  was  sent  to 
the  national  congress  four  times  as  the  represen- 
tative of  the  second  congressional  district  of  Vir- 
ginia. President  Cleveland,  in  his  first  term,  ap- 
pointed him  solicitor  general  for  the  United 
States  and  later  a  member  of  the  Chilian  claims 
commission.  He  now  lives  in  Bedford  county, 
Virginia,  and  enjoys  the  distinction,  besides  his 
political  honors,  of  being  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  successful  lawyers  in  the  state.  His  wife 
was  Miss  Sallie  Urquhart,  a  native  of  Southamp- 
ton county,  Virginia,  who  died  in  Norfolk,  Vir- 
ginia, in  1890. 

John  B.  Goode  received  his  education  in  the 
schools  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  and  by  private  tu- 
tors until  the  fall  of  1880,  when,  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen years,  he  entered  Washington  and  Lee  Uni- 
versity at  Lexington,  Virginia,  where  he  re- 
mained as  a  student  for  two  vears. 


After  leaving  college  he  was  engaged  for  a 
time  in  business  in  Norfolk,  Virginia,  and  upon 
work  connected  with  the  United  States  coast  and 
geodetic  survey.  In  1885  he  entered  the  law  de- 
partment of  the  Columbian  University,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1887.  During  the  en- 
suing two  years  he  was  an  assistant  in  the  depart- 
ment of  justice  of  the  United  States  and  was  en- 
gaged in  the  defense  of  the  United  States  in  the 
settlement  of  the  French  spoliation  claims.  In 
the  fall  of  1890  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in 
the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States.  Having 
some  time  before  resigned  his  connection  with 
the  department  of  justice,  in  the  fall  of  1890  he  re- 
turned to  Virginia  and  entered  actively  into  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  During  Mr.  Goode's 
residence  in  Virginia  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  State  Bar  Association  and  served  upon 
several  of  the  important  committees  of  the  asso- 
ciation. In  May,  1895,  he  was  appointed  by 
President  Cleveland  chairman  of  the  United 
States  Mineral  Land  Commission  for  the  Coeur 
d'Alene  land  district,  Idaho,  and  took  up  his 
residence  at  Coeur  d'Alene  City.  After  retiring 
from  the  Mineral  Land  Commission  he  began  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Idaho,  and  has  also 
become  largely  interested  in  developing  the  min- 
ing resources  of  the  state,  and  has  become  widely 
known  in  connection  with  the  mining  interests 
of  the  northwest. 

His  opinion  of  mining  investments  is  regarded 
as  valuable  and  is  received  with  entire  confidence, 
and  he  has  been  instrumental  in  bringing  much 
eastern  capital  to  Idaho  for  the  development  of 
local  mining  enterprises.  He  has  evinced  a  help- 
ful interest  in  educational  matters  in  Idaho,  and 
is  known  as  an  influential  advocate  of  popular 
education.  In  June,  1897,  he  delivered  the  uni- 
versity oration  at  the  Idaho  State  University,  at 
Moscow,  speaking  on  the  subject:  "Citizenship, 
Its  Privileges  and  Responsibilities  in  the  Re- 
public." In  February,  1899,  he  was  appointed 
by  the  governor  a  member  of  the  board  of  re- 
gents of  the  University  of  the  State  of  Idaho.  In 
1898  he  was,  as  a  Democrat,  elected  county  attor- 
ney for  Kootenai  county,  an  office  which  he  is 
filling  with  an  ability  and  success  that  have  won 
him  the  admiration  of  his  fellow  citizens  of  all 
shades  of  political  belief. 

In  October,  1888,  Mr.  Goode  married  Leila  S. 


648 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Symington,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland.  They  have 
four  children:  Leila  S.;  John,  Jr.;  Clare  Ran- 
dolph and  Stuart  Symington. 

JOEL  B.  HARPER. 

History  has  long  since  placed  on  its  pages  the 
names  of  those  who,  coming  to  the  Atlantic 
coast,  planted  colonies  in  the  New  World  and 
opened  up  that  section  of  the  country  to  civiliza- 
tion. As  the  years  passed,  and  the  population  of 
that  region  rapidly  increased,  brave  pioneers 
made  their  way  into  the  wild  districts  farther 
west.  The  names  of  Daniel  Boone  and  Simon 
Kenton  were  enduringly  inscribed  upon  the  rec- 
ords of  Kentucky,  that  of  John  Jacob  Astor 
upon  the  history  of  Michigan  and  other  states  of 
the  upper  Mississippi  valley.  Later  Kit  Carson 
and  John  C.  Fremont  made  their  way  into  the 
mountainous  districts  west  of  the  "father  of  wat- 
ers," and  subsequently  the  explorers  penetrated 
into  the  vast  wildnesses  of  the  Pacific  slope. 
The  development  of  the  northwest,  however,  is 
comparatively  "recent,  but  when  time  shall  have 
made  the  era  of  progress  here  a  part  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  past,  the  names  of  men  no  less  brave 
and  resolute  than  those  who  came  to  the  shores 
of  New  England  or  made  their  way  into  the  Mis- 
sissippi valley  will  be  found  illuminating  the  an- 
nals of  this  section  of  the  Union,  and  on  the  list 
will  be  found  that  of  Joel  Beauford  Harper,  who 
is  numbered  among  the  early  settlers  of  both 
California  and  Idaho. 

Mr.  Harper  was  born  in  Georgetown,  Scott 
county,  Kentucky,  October  15,  1837.  His  lath- 
er, Benjamin  Harper,  was  a  native  of  Delaware, 
and  was  of  English  descent.  In  1821  he  removed 
to  Kentucky  and  was  married  there  to  Miss  Han- 
nah Moore.  They  were  people  of  the  highest 
respectability,  were  representatives  of  the  indus- 
trious farming  class,  and  continued  their  resi- 
dence in  that  state  until  called  to  the  home  be- 
yond. The  father  lived  to  be  eighty-five  years  of 
age,  and  the  mother  passed  away  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four.  In  his  native  state  Joel  B.  Harper 
acquired  his  education,  and  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen crossed  the  plains  to  the  Pacific  coast  with 
five  young  men.  They  traveled  with  various 
companies  and  had  much  trouble  with  the  In- 
dians. They  were  first  attacked  in  Thousand 
Springs  valley,  on  the  sublet  cut-off.  They 


fought  all -day  and  succeeded  in  driving  the  In- 
dians off,  but  were  attacked  the  next  day  at  the 
head  of  the  Humboldt  river,  killing  several  of  the 
Indians,  while  two  of  their  own  number  were 
wounded.  Such  was  the  daring  of  the  Indians 
that  they  had  five  fights  in  a  distance  of  three 
hundred  miles.  All  the  time  the  red  men  were 
on  the  war-path,  but  the  emigrants  were  well 
armed  and  defeated  the  Indians  in  every  skir- 
mish, else  they  would  have  been  completely  mas- 
sacred by  the  wily  foe. 

The  party  with  which  Mr.  Harper  traveled  ar- 
rived in  California  July  i,  1853,  and  he  began 
work  in  the  American  valley.  He  engaged  in 
mining,  in  operating  a  sawmill  and  in  carrying  on 
the  butchering  business.  He  followed  mining 
there  for  five  years,  and  ran  the  first  tunnel  in  the 
rock  to  turn  the  river  in  an  old  channel.  In  the 
operation  of  his  claim  he  was  very  successful,  he 
and  his  partner,  Tim  Shannon,  taking  out.  from 
three  to  four  hundred  dollars  per  day.  In  1858 
he  sold  his  interest  in  order  to  go  to  the  Eraser 
river,  where  gold  had  recently  been  discovered. 
He  fitted  out  a  boat  with  supplies  and  started  it 
up  the  river,  but  it  was  capsized,  and  three  men 
and  three  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  supplies  were 
lost.  Mr.  Harper  then  returned  to  Puget  sound 
and  crossed  to  Pendleton,  Oregon,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  carpenter  work  for  ten  months,  receiv- 
ing excellent  wages  for  his  services.  He  next 
went  to  Dayton,  Oregon,  and  established  a  sash 
and  door  factory,  but  it  did  not  prove  a  paying 
investment,  and  he  afterward  clerked  in  stores 
in  Dayton  and  in  Baker  City. 

In  May,  1863,  Mr.  Harper  arrived  in  Idaho 
City,  Idaho,  then  known  as  Bannock,  where  he 
engaged  in  mining.  He  paid  three  thousand  dol- 
lars for  two  claims  and  took  out  on  an  average  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  day  to  each 
rocker,  getting  out  ten  thousand  dollars  in  all, 
but  seven  thousand  dollars  was  stolen  from  him. 
In  1865  he  removed  to  Silver  City,  where  he  re- 
mained fifteen  years.  He  operated  a  sawmill, 
built  the  Owyhee  county  court-house  and  jail, 
together  with  many  other  buildings,  and  was 
prominently  connected  with  the  development  and 
improvement  of  that  section  of  the  state.  In 
1882  he  came  to  the  Wood  river  valley  and. set- 
tled at  Ketchum,  on  a  government  claim  of 
eighty-seven  and  one-half  acres,  upon  which  he 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


649 


erected  a  commodious  and  pleasant  home, — 
which  stands  as  a  monument  of  his  own  handi- 
work. He  improved  the  farm  by  piping  water 
from  a  spring  on  the  hillside,  and  the  house  is 
thus  continually  supplied  with  cool  and  pure 
water.  On  the  place  he  has  both  a  blacksmith 
and  carpenter  shop,  his  superior  mechanical  skill 
enabling  him  to  make  anything  in  wood,  iron  or 
steel.  He  can  make  a  good  edged  tool,  and  has 
upon  his  place  everything  in  that  line  necessary 
in  his  work,  taking  a  commendable  pride  in  keep- 
ing everything  about  his  place  in  first-class  order. 
In  1883  he  erected  a  saw-mill  and  built  a  chute, 
at  a  cost  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  in  which  to 
bring  logs  from  the  mountain  to  the  mill.  He  is 
accounted  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and  pro- 
gressive business  men  of  this  section  of  Elaine 
county,  and  is  meeting  with  well  deserved  suc- 
cess in  his  undertakings. 

On  the  i/th  of  November,  1867,  Mr.  Harper 
was  united  in  marriage,  in  Nevada,  near  the  Cali- 
fornia line,  to  Miss  Edna  E.  Lanbeth,  a  daughter 
of  Aaron  Lanbeth,  of  Davis  county,  North  Caro- 
lina. She  crossed  the  plains  to  California  in 
1859,  across  the  southern  Butterfield  route,  and 
was  the  second  woman  to  traverse  that  route  to 
San  Francisco.  She  accompanied  Mr.  Harper  in 
all  his  pioneer  travels  on  the  Pacific  coast  and 
indeed  was  to  him  a  faithful  companion  and  help- 
meet. They  were  comfortably  situated  in 
the  pleasant  home  in  Ketchum,  in  the  enjoyment 
of  the  high  esteem  of  many  friends  in  that  com- 
munity, but  within  the  present  year,  1899,  the 
devoted  and  cherished  wife  has  been  called  into 
eternal  rest,  leaving  to  her  sorrowing  husband 
the  benediction  of  a  faithful  and  beautiful  life. 

Mr.  Harper  has  been  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  since  1857,  when  he  joined  Plumas 
Lodge,  No.  60,  F.  &  A.  M..  of  Plumas,  Califor- 
nia. He  has  taken  a  very  active  interest  in  the 
work  of  the  fraternity,  has  filled  all  the  offices  of 
the  lodge,  and  is  now  past  master.  In  politics 
he  has  been  a  Democrat  since  casting  his  first 
vote,  and  is  a  reliable  citizen  who  supports  all 
measures  which  he  believes  will  prove  of  public 
benefit.  He  has  a  wide  acquaintance,  and  by  all 
who  know  him  is  held  in  high  regard,  for  his  life 
has  been  well  spent.  He  has  never  indulged  in 
drinking  or  gambling,  as  have  many  of  the  pio- 
neers in  the  new  mining  regions,  but  has  lived 


an  honorable  and  upright  life,  and  his  example  is 
in  many  respects  well  worthy  of  emulation. 

NICHOLAS  BROCKE. 

Nicholas  Brocke,  one  of  the  prominent  farm- 
ers and  fruit-growers  of  the  Potlatch  country,  is 
pleasantly  located  three  and  a  half  miles  west  of 
Kendrick.  He  was  born  in  Michigan,  July  24, 
1855,  a  son  of  John  and  Christine  (Webber) 
Brocke,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of  Germany, 
whence  they  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  the  United 
States  in  1849.  They  were  then  single,  their 
marriage  being  celebrated  in  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land. Mr.  Brocke  spent  three  years  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company 
and  three  years  in  the  Lake  Superior  copper 
mines,  and  then  emigrated  to  Iowa.  In  1858  he 
went  to  northwestern  Nebraska,  and  in  1877  be- 
came a  resident  of  South  Dakota,  where  he  indus- 
triously and  energetically  carried  on  farming 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  when  he  was  in 
his  sixty-fifth  year.  His  wife  still  survives  him, 
and  is  now  in  her  sixty-eighth  year.  They  had 
five  children,  four  of  whom  are  living. 

The  second  child,  Nicholas  Brocke,  was  reared 
in  his  parents'  home,  obtained  his  education  in 
the  public  schools  and  accompanied  his  parents 
on  their  various  removals  until  after  their  arrival 
in  Nebraska.  In  that  state  he  was  married,  in 
1877,  to  Miss  Annie  Geiser,  a  native  of  St.  Louis, 
Missouri.  They  came  to  Idaho  and  located  on 
a  farm  nine  miles  south  of  Moscow,  Mr.  Brocke 
improving  his  property  and  making  his  home 
thereon  until  1888,  when  he  sold  his  farm  and 
came  to  his  present  location.  In  June  of  that 
year  he  entered  a  claim  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres,  which  he  has  transformed  into  a  very  de- 
sirable and  valuable  farm.  The  buildings  upon 
the  place  stand  as  monuments  to  his  enterprise, 
and  the  neat  appearance  of  everything  indicates 
the  careful  supervision  of  a  practical  and  progres- 
sive owner.  He  has  a  good  residence,  large 
barns  and  all  the  appliances  for  successful  farm- 
ing. He  has  secured  a  pumping  outfit  which 
conveys  water  to  his  residence  and  all  over  the 
farm  wherever  wanted,  and  thus  the  fields  are 
well  irrigated.  He  raises  both  grain  and  fruit, 
and  his  harvest  and  fruit  crops  well  attest  the 
business  ability  of  Mr.  Brocke,  who  is  most  ener- 
getic and  resolute  in  carrying  on  his  work. 


650 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Unto  our  subject  and  his  wife  have  been  born 
eight  children,  namely:  John,  Frank,  Ettie, 
Carrie,  Amelia,  Joseph,  Charles  and  Nicholas. 
The  parents  and  children  are  valued  members  of 
the  Catholic  church,  and  Mr.  Brocke  belongs  to 
the  Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  and  to  the 
Woodmen  of  the  World.  In  his  political  connec- 
tions he  is  a  stalwart  Democrat,  and  has  been 
school  trustee  and  highway  commissioner,  filling 
both  offices  with  ability  and  fidelity.  To  all  the 
duties  of  citizenship  he  is  true,  and  is  ever  reliable 
in  all  life's  relations.  The  success  he  has  achieved 
is  the  result  of  his  own  well  directed  efforts,  and 
he  may  justly  be  called  a  self-made  man. 

HENRY  K.  HARTLEY. 

The  middle  portion  of  the  nineteenth  century 
might  properly  be  termed  the  age  of  utility, 
especially  in  the  northwest.  This  vast  region  was 
then  being  opened  up  to  civilization,  and  the 
honored  pioneers  who  found  homes  in  this  rich 
but  undeveloped  region  were  men  who  had  to 
contend  with  the  trials  and  difficulties  of  frontier 
life.  Theirs  were  lives  of  toil.  They  were  en- 
deavoring to  make  homes  to  cultivate  farms, 
establish  stock  ranches,  develop  mineral  re- 
sources, found  business  enterprises,  and  from 
early  manhood  to  old  age. their  lot  was  generally 
one  of  labor;  but  their  importance  to  the  com- 
munity cannot  be  overestimated,  and  the  com- 
forts and  luxuries  to-day  enjoyed  by  the  younger 
generation  are  largely  due  to  the  brave  band  of 
pioneer  men  and  women  who  came  to  the  north- 
west during  its  primitive  condition.  It  is  also 
encouraging  and  interesting  to  note  that  many 
who  came  here  empty-handed  have  worked  their 
way  upward  to  positions  of  affluence;  that  as  the 
years  have  passed  and  the  country  improved 
prosperity  has  attended  their  efforts  and  wealth 
rewarded  their  earnest  endeavors. 

To  this  class  of  honored  men  belongs  Henry 
K.  Hartley,  who  has  been  a  resident  of  Idaho 
since  1864,  his  home  being  in  Caldwell,  Canyon 
county.  He  was  born  in  Grearville,  Illinois, 
March  15,  1833,  and  is  of  English  lineage,  the 
original  American  ancestors  having  settled  in 
the  south,  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  war,  in 
which  they  participated,  thus  aiding  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  republic.  James  Hartley,  father 
of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Augusta,  Georgia, 


and  married  a  Miss  Walker,  also  a  native  of  that 
state.  They  became  the  parents  of  thirteen  chil- 
dren, and  eleven  of  the  number  grew  to  mature 
years,  were  married  and  had  homes  of  their  own. 
Only  four,  however,  still  survive. 

Mr.  Hartley  of  this  review  is  the  youngest. 
When  four  years  of  age  he  accompanied  his 
parents  on  their  removal  to  Missouri  and  was 
reared  to  manhood  in  that  state  on  his  father's 
farm.  It  was  then  a  frontier  region,  and  his 
educational  privileges  were  accordingly  limited, 
the  time  of  his  attendance  at  school  probably  not 
exceeding  sixty  days  in  the  aggregate.  In  the 
school  of  experience,  through  observation  and 
with  the  aid  of  a  retentive  memory,  however,  he 
has  gained  a  broad  and  practical  general  knowl- 
edge. He  is  eminently  self-educated  and  self- 
made  financially  and  deserves  great  credit  for 
what  he  has  accomplished  in  life.  In  1848  he 
crossed  the  plains  to  Albuquerque,  New  Mexico, 
but  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  returned  to 
his  home  in  Missouri.  In  1850,  when  but  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  he  crossed  the  plains  with  his 
brother  to  California,  and  during  the  long  and 
tedious  journey  the  party  with  which  they  trav- 
eled was  frequently  attacked  by  Indians,  but 
never  lost  a  man.  They  found  and  buried  on  the 
way  three  white  men,  who  had  been  killed  and 
scalped  by  the  same  band  whom  they  were  pur- 
suing until  they  escaped  among  the  mountains 
near  the  Humboldt  river.  Mr.  Hartley  and  his 
brother  started  with  five  yoke  of  oxen,  but  all 
save  two  died  on  the  way.  Ultimately  they  ex- 
changed their  oxen  and  wagon  for  two  horses, 
and  on  them  started  across  the  mountains  by  way 
of  the  Georgetown  cut-off,  which  was  then  a 
new  trail.  They  had  scarcely  any  provisions, 
only  a  little  flour  and  coffee,  and  they  suffered 
many  hardships  and  trials,  but  eventually  arrived 
at  Georgetown,  September  7,  1850,  having  left 
home  on  the  loth  of  April  previously. 

Mr.  Hartley  and  his  brother  followed  placer- 
mining  on  the  tributaries  of  the  American  river 
and  met  with  fair  success.  The  brother  then 
returned  but  he  remained  two  years  longer, 
prospecting  in  different  camps  on  the  North 
Yuba  river,  near  Downieville.  At  one  of  these 
he  took  out  six  thousand  dollars  in  a  day!  He 
both  made  and  lost  money  in  his  different  mining 
ventures,  and  when  he  returned  to  Missouri  he 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


651 


had  but  little.  He  made  the  trip  home  in  order 
to  see  his  aged  father,  who  died  soon  after  his 
arrival,  on  the  loth  of  October,  1855,  when 
eighty  years  of  age.  In  the  spring  of  1856  Mr. 
Hartley  went  to  Kansas  City  and  became  a 
wagon  master,  taking  charge  of  wagon  trains 
going  west.  He  received  at  first  seventy-five  dol- 
lars per  month,  which  sum  was  afterward  in- 
creased to  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars 
per  month.  Each  year  he  made  two  trips  from 
Westport  to  Fort  Laramie,  Salt  Lake  and  other 
western  points  in  the  mountains. 

In  the  spring  of  1857  the  expedition  was  sent 
out  by  the  government  under  command  of  Gen- 
eral Albert  Sidney  Johnston.  The  Mormons  had 
committed  serious  depredations  on  emigrant 
trains,  and  it  was  felt  to  be  necessary  to  send  this 
expedition  against  them.  There  were  about 
twenty-two  hundred  soldiers,  rank  and  file,  and 
four  hundred  teamsters,  of  whom  Mr.  Hartley 
was  one.  The  last  ten  days  before  going  into 
camp  their  progress  was  greatly  impeded  by  deep 
snows  and  their  supplies  ran  short.  The  Mor- 
mons harassed  them  and  destroyed  the  supply 
train,  provisions,  wagon  and  ox  yokes,  so  that 
they  were  compelled  to  subsist  until  spring  on 
one-third  rations.  It  was  expected  that  they 
would  have  to  fight  the  Mormons,  and  while  in 
camp  General  Johnston  enlisted  and  drilled  the 
teamsters,  forming  them  into  four  companies  of 
one  hundred  each.  One  of  these  companies 
elected  Mr.  Hartley  as  their  captain.  The  higher 
offices  in  the  battalion  were  filled  by  members  of 
the  regular  army,  Bernard  E.  Bee  receiving  the 
appointment  to  the  command  of  the  new  bat- 
talion. He  was  a  captain  in  the  regular  army 
and  was  afterward  killed  at  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  while  serving  in  the  Confederate  army 
in  the  civil  war.  The  troops  under  command  of 
General  Johnston  marched  into  Salt  Lake  City, 
Mr.  Hartley's  and  another  company  being  in 
the  advance.  It  was  fully  expected  that  a  warm 
reception  would  be  given  them,  but  the  Mor- 
mons had  nearly  all  fled  the  town,  and  they  met 
no  opposition.  They  went  into  camp  on  the 
Jordan  river  and  a  week  later  marched  thirty 
miles  south  and  built  Fort  Douglas.  Subsequent- 
ly the  new  battalion  was  ordered  back  to  Leaven- 
worth,  Kansas,  where  the  men  were  discharged 
and  paid  off. 


Captain  Hartley  then  began  buying  and  selling 
cattle  and  mules  to  emigrants  and  to  the  govern- 
ment, and  later  purchased  land  in  Jackson 
county,  Missouri,  where  he  engaged  in  farming 
until  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war.  He  was  then 
in  southwestern  Missouri.  Four  of  his  brothers 
joined  the  Union  army  and  he  and  three  other 
brothers  joined  the  Confederate  army,  believing 
that  the  south  was  in  the  right. 

The  Captain  was  appointed  to  a  position  on 
the  staff  of  Colonel  Cofferin,  who  was  killed  in 
their  first  engagement,  and  then  our  subject  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  colonel,  serving  under 
General  Price.  His  regiment  belonged  to  the 
Eighth  Division,  commanded  by  General  Rains. 
From  Springfield  they  marched  to  Lexington, 
had  a  skirmish  with  the  troops  of  General  Lane 
on  Drywood  river,  and  afterward  engaged  Gen- 
eral Mulligan's  forces  at  Lexington.  They  drove 
the  federal  forces  into  their  fortifications,  the 
fight  lasting  from  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning 
until  dark.  For  eight  days  the  fight  continued, 
and  then  in  the  early  morning  they  attacked  the 
enemy  in  their  works,  entering  upon  a  hard- 
fought  siege,  which  continued  for  three  days 
and  two  nights,  during  which  they  were  con- 
stantly in  line  of  battle,  fighting  all  the  time. 
General  Mulligan  then  surrendered  twenty-four 
hundred  men,  with  all  their  guns  and  ammuni- 
tion. 

Colonel  Hartley  then  went  with  his  command 
on  a  forced  march  to  Ocola,  where  they  were  in 
quarters  for  ten  days,  and  thence  retreated  before 
the  Union  forces  to  Pea  Ridge,  Arkansas,  where 
a  hard-fought  battle  occurred.  Soon  after  this, 
in  April,  1862,  he  was  permitted  to  make  a  trip 
after  recruits  and  used  the  opportunity  to  take 
his  wife  from  that  country  to  a  place  of  safety. 
He  was  accompanied  by  his  adjutant  and  jour- 
neyed in  safety  to  Sarcoxie,  Missouri,  but  was 
captured  there  and  sent  as  a  prisoner  of  war  to 
Springfield,  Missouri,  where  he  was  held  for  four- 
teen months.  He,  however,  received  very  courte- 
ous and  lenient  treatment,  and,  giving  his  word 
of  honor,  he  was  allowed  to  go  all  over  the  town 
at  his  own  pleasure.  At  length  he  was  paroled 
and  some  time  later  was  permitted  to  cross  the 
plains  to  Oregon  with  the  understanding  that  he 
would  in  no  way  take  part  in  the  struggle  again 
or  seek  to. advance  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy. 


652 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


On  the  1 7th  of  December,  1861,  Colonel  Hart- 
ley had  married  Miss  Sarah  J.  Painter,  and  with 
his  young  wife  and  little  son,  Charles  Price,  then 
two  years  old,  made  his  way  to  Idaho.  For  a 
time  he  followed  teaming  and  freighting  in  the 
Boise  basin  and  then  spent  three  years  in  Cali- 
fornia, after  which  he  returned  to  the  Boise  basin 
and  near  Caldwell  engaged  in  farming  and  stock- 
raising.  He  possesses  great  energy  and  executive 
ability  and  as  the  result  of  his  untiring  effort  and 
good  management  prospered  from  year  to  year. 
In  1891  he  sold  his  stock  -and  ranch  and  came 
to  Caldwell,  purchasing  a  residence  in  which  he 
has  since  made  his  home.  In  this  city  he  has 
carried  on  the  livery  business  as  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Campbell  &  Hartley.  They  have  large 
barns,  a  number  of  fine  carriages  and  buggies 
and  always  keep  on  hand  good  horses.  They 
are  the  leading  livery  men  of  the  town  and  enjoy 
a  large  patronage,  which  they  well  deserve. 

In  1888  Colonel  Hartley  was  called  upon  to 
mourn  the  loss  of  his  estimable  wife,  who  died  on 
the  I2th  of  March.  She  was  a  member  of  the 
Christian  church,  a  loyal  friend,  a  faithful  and 
loving  wife  and  mother,  and  her  death  occasioned 
deep  regret  throughout  the  entire  community. 
The  eldest  son  of  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Hartley  is 
now  engaged  in  farming  and  in  the  nursery  busi- 
ness eight  miles  from  Caldwell.  The  other  chil- 
dren are  all  natives  of  Idaho,  namely:  Florence 
L.,  who  is  now  in  the  post-office  of  Caldwell; 
Cory,  who  died  in  her  sixth  year;  one  who  died 
in  infancy;  Alice,  a  most  cultured  and  amiable 
young  lady  who  died  in  her  twenty-second  year; 
Annabelle  and  Henry,  at  home. 

The  Colonel  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  since  the  winter  of  1848,  hav- 
ing been  made  a  Mason  in  Jackson  county,  Mis- 
souri, in  Shawnee  Lodge,  No.  10,  A.  F.  &  A.  M., 
of  New  Santa  Fe.  In  politics  he  is  a  stanch 
Democrat,  and  was  elected  to  represent  his  dis- 
trict in  the  ninth  and  eleventh  sessions  of  the 
general  assembly  of  Idaho,  where  he  served  with 
marked  ability  and  fidelity.  He  was  also  one  of 
the  commissioners  of  Ada  county,  when  Canyon 
county  was  embraced  within  its  borders.  In 
1895  he  was  appointed  by  President  Cleveland 
postmaster  of  Caldwell,  entering  upon  the  duties 
of  the  office  on  the  6th  of  February  of  that  year. 
He  removed  the  office  to  a  good  brick  building, 


fitted  it  up  with  the  most  modern  equipments 
and  made  it  one  of  the  most  creditable  institu- 
tions in  the  town.  In  the  administration  of  his 
duties  he  was  most  prompt,  courteous  and  effi- 
cient and  was  widely  acknowledged  to  be  a  most 
worthy  representative  of  the  government.  Indo- 
lence and  idleness  have  ever  been  utterly  foreign 
to  his  nature,  and  whether  in  public  office  or  in 
private  business  life  he  manifests  great  activity 
and  energy, — qualities  which  have  made  him  one 
of  the  prosperous  residents  of  Canyon  county. 

LEE  R.  CARLTON. 

Lee  R.  Carlton,  the  proprietor  of  the  Maple 
Crest  fruit  farm,  one  of  the  finest  fruit  farms  in 
the  rich  Potlatch  country  of  Idaho,  is  a  native  of 
Richland  county,  Ohio,  his  birth  having  there  oc- 
curred on  the  1 8th  of  October,  1848.  The  family 
is  of  English  origin  and  the  first  American  ances- 
tors were  early  settlers  of  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania. Representatives  of  the  name  also 
became  pioneer  settlers  of  Richland  county, 
Ohio.  James  Carlton,  the  grandfather,  was  born 
in  that  county  and  was  a  farmer  and  stock-raiser. 
He  was  a  Presbyterian  in  religious  faith  and 
lived  to  be  eighty  years  of  age.  His  son,  James 
Carlton,  father  of  our  subject,  was  also  born 
in  Richland  county,  and  was  a  prominent  railroad 
contractor  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years.  At  the 
time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1867,  when 
he  had  reached  the  age  of  sixty-five  years,  he  was 
master  of  transportation  on  the  Pittsburg,  Fort 
Wayne  &  Chicago  Railroad.  His  wife,  who  bore 
the  maiden  name  of  Cornelia  Lowdon,  was  a 
native  of  Ohio  and  was  descended  from  an  old 
American  family.  She  died  two  years  previously 
to  the  death  of  her  husband.  Of  their  four  chil- 
dren two  are  yet  living. 

Mr.  Carlton  acquired  his  education  in  Mans- 
field, Ohio,  and  early  in  life  became  familiar  with 
the  duties  and  labors  that  fall  to  the  lot  of  the 
agriculturist,  assisting  his  father  in  the  work  of 
field  and  meadow  on  the  home  farm.  When 
only  fifteen  years  of  age  he  began  railroading, 
and  was  thus  employed  for  a  number  of  years, 
after  which  he  went  to  Colorado,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  taking  contracts  for  supplying  logs  to 
sawmills.  Seventeen  years  ago  he  came  to  his 
present  home,  four  and  a  half  miles  southeast  of 
Kendrick,  and  took  up  a  quarter-section  of  gov- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


653 


ernment  land.  There  were  then  but  two  resi- 
dences between  his  home  and  the  city  of  Moscow, 
and  no  one  dreamed  there  was  to  be  a  future 
Kendrick.  On  American  ridge  there  were  but 
six  settlers,  and  the  work  of  improvement  and 
progress  in  this  locality  was  still  to  come.  Here 
by  his  industry  and  energy  Mr.  Carlton  has  made 
a  valuable  fruit  farm,  having  one  of  the  best 
properties  of  any  horticulturist  in  this  section  of 
the  state.  He  has  sixty  acres  planted  to  the  best 
varieties  of  winter  apples,  and  raises  very  choice 
fruit,  which  brings  one  dollar  per  box  on  the 
market,  his  ten-year-old  trees  averaging  about 
eight  boxes  each.  He  also  has  six  acres  planted 
to  Italian  prunes,  six  acres  in  Bartlett  pears, 
three  acres  in  cherries  and  two  acres  planted  to  a 
variety  of  fruits.  He  has  shipped  the  products 
of  his  orchard  to  Boston,  New  York,  Chicago 
and  St.  Paul,  but  much  of  it  goes  to  Montana 
and  British  Columbia.  He  ships  nothing  but  the 
best,  and  his  fruit  has  become  justly  celebrated, 
so  that  there  is  now  a  large  demand  for  it,  and 
his  business  has  accordingly  been  in  a  prosperous 
condition.  He  has  made  a  close  study  of  horti- 
culture, and  he  was  formerly  vice-president  of 
the  Horticultural  Society,  which  no  longer  main- 
tains its  organization,  and  he  was  also  inspector 
of  fruit  for  this  association,  his  opinion  on  the 
subject  of  fruits  being  widely  received  as 
authority. 

Mr.  Carlton  was  married  in  1878,  Miss  Olie  J. 
Pumphrey  becoming  his  wife.  She  is  a  native 
of  Platte  county,  Missouri,  and  a  daughter  of 
James  and  Sarah  A.  Pumphrey.  They  have 
three  children,  Norma,  Fern  and  Allen.  Mr. 
Carlton  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World, 
and  gives  his  political  support  to  the  men  and 
measures  of  the  Democracy.  In  his  chosen  field 
of  endeavor  he  is  meeting  with  excellent  success, 
and  has  done  much  to  demonstrate  the  practica- 
bility of  fine  fruit-raising  possibilities  in  this  part 

of  Idaho. 

HON.  FRANK  R.  GOODING. 

A  gentleman  to  whom  public  attention  has 
been  directed  by  reason  of  his  prominence  in 
connection  with  the  sheep-raising  industry  of  the 
state  and  his  leadership  in  political  affairs,  is 
Frank  R.  Gooding,  now  an  influential  member 
of  the  state  senate  of  Idaho.  His  service  is  char- 


acterized by  a  deep  patriotism  and  fidelity  to  the 
general  good  and  his  devotion  is  all  the  more  to 
be  commended  from  the  fact  that  he  is  of  foreign 
birth,  though  of  that  nativity  which  ever  begets 
the  stanchest  patriotism  and  the  utmost  integrity 
of  character.  He  has  passed  the  greater  portion 
of  his  life  in  the  United  States  and  is  as  thor- 
oughly American  in  spirit  and  devotion  as  any 
child  ever  born  beneath  the  protecting  flag  of 
the  stars  and  stripes.  He  has  ever  been  an 
active  and  zealous  worker  in  the  cause  of  the 
Republican  party  and  has  taken  a  prominent 
place  in  the  deliberations  and  councils  of  the 
Idaho  contingent  of  the  great  political  organiza- 
tion, which  has  ever  stood  for  liberty,  protection 
to  American  industries,  reform  and  progress,  and 
is  now  endeavoring  to  extend  the  spirit  of 
righteous  freedom  to  the  lands  hitherto  in  the 
darkness  of  monarchial  bondage. 

Frank  R.  Gooding  is  a  native  of  England,  born 
October  16,  1859,  and  is  a  son  of  John  and 
Elizabeth  (Galbraith)  Gooding.  In  1868,  when 
eight  years  of  age,  he  accompanied  his  parents 
.to  America,  a  location  being  made  in  Van  Btiren 
county,  Michigan,  where  he  attended  the  public 
schools,  gaining  a  good  practical  knowledge  of 
the  English  branches  of  learning,  whereby  he 
was  fitted  for  life's  practical  duties.  In  1877  he 
left  the  Mississippi  valley  for  the  far  west  and 
for  four  years  was  engaged  in  farming  in  Cali- 
fornia. On  the  expiration  of  that  period  he  came 
to  Idaho,  in  1881,  and  located  at  Ketchum,  then 
one  of  the  thriving  mining  towns  of  the  com- 
monwealth. There  for  seven  years  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  Philadelphia  Mining  &  Smelting 
Company,  furnishing,  under  contract,  to  that  cor- 
poration much  of  the  wood  and  charcoal  con- 
sumed in  the  operations  of  the  smelting  works, 
also  had  charge  of  much  of  the  outside  work  of 
the  company  for  four  years.  In  1888  he  began 
devoting  his  attention  to  sheep-raising — one  of 
the  leading  and  important  industries  of  Idaho — 
and  has  since  carried  on  business  in  that  line  on 
an  extensive  scale.  He  has  given  careful  study 
and  consideration  to  the  subject  of  caring  for 
sheep  in  the  best  manner,  and  is  now  regarded  as 
the  most  successful  sheep-raiser  in  the  state.  In 
1893  the  Idaho  Wool  Growers'  Association  was 
organized,  and  since  that  time  Mr.  Gooding  has 
been  three  times  elected  its  president.  His  opin- 


654 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ions  on  anything  connected  with  the  subject  are 
received  as  authority,  and  he  has  undoubtedly 
done  much  to  advance  the  interests  of  those 
engaged  in  the  industry  in  Idaho. 

As  before  stated,  Mr.  Gooding  is  a  stanch 
Republican,  having  supported  the  men  and  meas- 
ures of  the  party  since  casting  his  first  presiden- 
tial vote  for  General  James  A.  Garfield  in  1880, 
while  residing  in  California.  He  has  since  labored 
to  secure  the  adoption  of  Republican  principles 
and  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  party.  He 
has  been  chairman  of  the  Lincoln  County  Repub- 
lican central  committee  and  is  one  of  the  well 
known  Republican  leaders  in  the  state.  In  1898 
he  was  elected  to  represent  Lincoln  county  in 
the  fifth  session  of  the  state  senate  and  took  an 
important  part  in  the  legislative  work.  He  was 
elected  president  pro  tern,  of  the  senate,  and  later 
was  paid  a  high  compliment  by  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor Hutchinson,  president  of  the  senate,  who 
expressed  himself  as  particularly  pleased  with  the 
kindness  that  had  been  shown  him  by  Mr.  Good- 
ing- 

In  1880  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Gooding  and  Miss  Amanda  J.  Thomas,  of  Cali- 
fornia. Prominent  in  social  circles,  they  enjoy 
the  hospitality  of  many  of  the  best  homes  of  the 
state,  and  their  many  admirable  qualities  have 
gained  them  a  large  number  of  warm  friends. 
Mr.  Gooding  is  enrolled  among  the  members  of 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  .Fellows,  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  fraternity  and  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks.  He  maintains  his 
home  at  Gooding  Station  near  his  extensive 
sheep  ranch,  but,  occasioned  by  his  official  duties, 
now  spends  much  of  his  time  in  the  capital.  As 
a  business  man  and  citizen  he  ranks  deservedly 
high.  Such  men  are  the  glory  and  the  strength 
of  the  nation. 

OSSIAN  J.  WEST,  M.  D. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  but  few  of  the  more  in- 
fluential men  of  Idaho  were  born  in  the  new 
west  and  fewer  still  within  the  limits  of  the  state. 
There  are  some,  however,  who  are  identified  with 
this  part  of  our  country  by  birth,  by  education 
and  by  lifelong  residence.  Dr.  Ossian  J.  West, 
government  physician  and  surgeon  at  the  Nez 
Perces  Indian  Agency  at  Spaulding,  is  a  son  of 
the  Rev.  W.  F.  and  Jane  (Whipple)  West,  and 


was  born  in  Oregon,  August  24,  1866.  His  father, 
born  in  England,  received  a  theological  educa- 
tion in  his  native  country  and  was  ordained  a 
minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  He 
became  a  preacher  of  persuasive  eloquence  and  a 
writer  of  forceful  ability,  devoting  his  whole  life 
to  the  work  of  the  church  and  to  work  for  his 
fellow  men.  He  lived  to  be  seventy-eight  years 
old  and  died  at  Santa  Barbara,  California,  in 
1898,  having  preached  and  written  and  labored 
without  ceasing  almost  to  the  day  of  his  death. 
He  was  married,  in  Pennsylvania,  to  Miss  Jane 
Whipple,  a  native  of  that  state.  They  crossed 
the  plains  to  Oregon  in  1851,  and  while  they 
were  making  this  arduous  and  dangerous  journey 
their  first  child  was  born,  at  Fort  Boise,  then  a 
trading  point  near  the  mouth  of  the  Boise  river. 
They  located  a  little  above  Salem,  Oregon,  on  a 
donation  claim  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres. 
There  they  lived  through  the  pioneer  period  of 
that  part  of  the  country  and  improved  their  land 
and  added  to  it  until  it  included  a  thousand  acres, 
the  tract  being  yet  owned  in  their  family.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  West  were  widely  noted  for  their  hos- 
pitality, and  it  would  appear  that  this  family  of 
Wests  is  well  grounded  in  the  opinion  that  it  is 
"more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  Their 
generosity  is  one  of  their  most  conspicuous 
traits.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  West  entertained  all  who 
came,  strangers  and  friends  alike,  and  sent  all 
away  satisfied  and,  if  need  be,  helped.  Mrs. 
West  died  in  1878.  Of  their  six  children  all  but 
Dr.  West  are  well-to-do  Oregon  farmers. 

Dr.  Ossian  J.  West  was  educated  at  the  Willam- 
ette University  and  was  graduated  from  the  med- 
ical department  of  that  institution  in  1889,  with 
honors.  For  a  year  thereafter  he  practiced  his 
profession  in  the  Portland  Hospital.  Then  he 
passed  two  years  more  in  private  practice  at  St. 
Helens,  and  was  appointed  government  physician 
and  surgeon  at  the  Fort  Lapwai  Industrial 
School  by  President  Harrison.  By  President 
Cleveland  he  was  reappointed,  to  succeed  him- 
self, and  again  by  President  McKinley  His 
service  at  the  agency  extended  through  eight 
years.  During  the  greater  part  of  this  time  he 
was  associated  with  General  McConville,  and  a 
warm  friendship  grew  up  between  the  two 
men.  When  General  McConville  was  called 
away  to  participate  in  the  Spanish  war,  Dr. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


655 


West    had    charge    of    the    school    until    June, 
1899. 

Dr.  West  has  a  wide  reputation  for  professional 
ability  and  integrity.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Idaho  State  Medical  Association  and  has  pre- 
pared papers  of  value  on  subjects  of  interest  to 
the  medical  fraternity,  some  of  which  have  been 
read  before  this  and  other  associations  of  physi- 
cians and  surgeons.  He  is  a  Republican  who 
sticks  to  his  political  principles  and  a  public- 
spirited  man  who  is  ever  ready  to  assist  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  interests  of  any  community 
with  which  his  lot  may  be  cast. 

HENRY  F.  SAMUELS. 

There  is  coming  to  the  front  of  Idaho  a  class 
of  lawyers  of  the  younger  generation  who  are 
making  their  mark  in  no  uncertain  way  and  will 
be  worthy  successors  to  some  of  the  older  mem- 
bers of  the  bar  when  their  time  for  retirement 
shall  come.  One  of  the  best  and  most  prominent 
of  these  is  Prosecuting  Attorney  Samuels,  of 
Shoshone  county,  some  account  of  whose  busy 
and  successful  career  to  the  present  time  it  is 
purposed  to  introduce  here. 

Henry  F.  Samuels  was  born  in  Mississippi, 
April  4,  1869,  a  son  of  Captain  Floyd  and  Isabella 
(Jenkins)  Samuels.  His  father  was  captain, 
1861-5,  of  Company  E,  Twelfth  Kentucky  Cav- 
alry, United  States  Army,  and  had  a  brother  in 
another  Kentucky  regiment  in  the  Confederate 
service.  He  now  lives  in  Indiana,  and  his  wife 
died  there  in  1873. 

Mr.  Samuels  spent  the  days  of  his  childhood 
and  youth  in  Indiana.  He  acquired  his  primary 
edtication  in  the  public  schools,  and  after  leaving 
the  public  schools,  he  boarded  at  home  and 
walked  five  miles  every  morning  and  night  to 
attend  the  high  school  at  Leavenworth,  being 
unable  financially  to  pay  his  board.  At  the  age 
of  seventeen  he  went  to  Ulysses,  Nebraska, 
where  he  completed  his  high-school  course  in 
1889.  In  the  summer  of  that  year  he  began  the 
study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Waldo  Brothers,  at 
Ulysses,  Nebraska,  and  was  under  the  preceptor- 
ship  of  these  able  lawyers  for  nearly  a  year.  After 
having  studied  in  the  law  department  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan  for  some  time,  he  returned 
to  Leavenworth,  Indiana,  where  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar. 


In  1892  Mr.  Samuels  came  to  Idaho,  and  prac- 
ticed his  profession  at  Grangeville  until  1895, 
when  he  removed  to  Wallace,  where  he  has  met 
with  much  success  and  won  a  high  position 
among  the  younger  members  of  the  bar.  He  was 
elected,  in  1898,  prosecuting  attorney  of  Sho- 
shone county,  by  a  majority  of  eighty-four,  and 
is  filling  that  office  with  much  zeal  and  abil- 
ity. He  is  a  member  of  the  sons  of  Veterans 
and  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World,  and  is  chan- 
cellor commander  of  Wallace  Lodge,  No.  9, 
Knights  of  Pythias. 

In  1892  Mr.  Samuels  married  Miss  Ionia 
Snyder,  a  native  of  Indiana,  and  they  have  a 
child,  Amzel,  which  makes  a  happy  little  family. 

Mr.  Samuels  has  overcome  the  poverty  of  his 
youth,  which  is  a  certificate  of  labor  well  per- 
formed, and  it  is  the  same  firmness  and  persever- 
ance of  character  which  he  exhibited  while  get- 
ting his  education,  allowing  no  obstacle  to  turn 
him  from  his  true  course,  that  is  now  pushing 
him  to  the  front  and  making  him  a  leader  in  his 
profession. 

WILLIAM  E.  WILSON. 

Not  many  of  the  successful  men  of  the  west 
are  "to  the  manner  born,"  fewer  still  were  born 
in  the  state  in  which  their  successes  have  been 
achieved.  William  E.  Wilson  is  a  conspicuous 
member  of  this  class,  the  product  of  one  western 
state,  the  progressive  citizen  of  another, — and 
some  account  of  his  career  forms  a  necessary  part 
of  the  work  of  the  plan  and  scope  of  this. 

William  E.  Wilson  was  born  in  the  state  of 
Oregon,  December  29,  1862,  a  son  of  James  and 
Nancy  Wilson,  who  were  among  the  pioneers  of 
Idaho  and  who  are  referred  to  more  at  length 
elsewhere  in  this  volume.  It  was  in  1863  that 
Mr.  Wilson  first  saw  Idaho.  He  was  brought,  a 
child  of  less  than  twelve  months,  to  the  state  that 
year.  When  he  was  old  enough  he  attended  the 
public  schools  in  Boise  valley  and  thus  gained  a 
foundation  for  a  very  substantial  business  educa- 
tion which  he  has  since  acquired,  largely  by  ob- 
servation and  by  reading  and  study  in  odd 
moments.  Until  1894  he  lived  at  Mountain 
Home  and  since  then  he  has  lived  on  his  ranch 
on  Bennett's  creek,  fifteen  miles  from  that  place. 
For  twelve  years  he  was  manager  of  the  stock 
business  of  James  Wilson  &  Sons,  in  Elmore 


656 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


county.  His  ranch,  which  embraces  four  hun- 
dred acres  of  fine  grazing  land,  affords  unsur- 
passed facilities  for  successful  stock-raising,  in 
which  Mr.  Wilson  is  engaged  quite  extensively. 

Mr.  Wilson  married  Miss  Anna  Daniels,  De- 
cember 22,  1886.  Mrs.  Wilson  was  born  in  Jack- 
son county,  Iowa,  August  31,  1867,  and  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  her  native  state 
and  at  the  state  normal  school  at  Kirksville,  Mis- 
souri. She  taught  school  in  Missouri  for  one 
year  after  her  graduation.  Her  parents  died  in 
1879,  and  in  1884  she  came  to  Idaho,  bringing 
with  her  Thomas  Daniels,  her  brother,  then  only 
seven  years  of  age.  In  1884-5  sne  taught  suc- 
cessfully in  Elmore  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wil- 
son have  had  four  children :  James,  Ida,  Maggie 
(who  died  March  17,  1899,  just  past  her  fifth 
birthday),  and  Lloyd. 

Everything  that  conduces  to  the  welfare  of  his 
town,  county  and  state  receives  Mr.  Wilson's 
unqualified  support.  He  is  an  influential  Demo- 
crat and  is  widely  popular  as  a  Mason  and  a 
Knight  of  Pythias. 

JESSE  W.  RANDALL. 

A  leading  representative  of  the  agricultural  in- 
terests of  Latah  county  is  Jesse  W.  Randall,  who 
owns  and  operates  a  fine  farm  pleasantly  situated 
nine  miles  southeast  of  Moscow.  He  is  most 
practical  and  yet  progressive,  and  his  untiring 
industry  and  capable  management  have  brought 
him  a  handsome  competence.  He  was  born  in 
Wisconsin,  October  3,  1855,  and  is  of  Scotch 
descent,  his  paternal  great-grandfather  having 
emigrated  from  Scotland  when  this  country  was 
still  a  British  possession.  He  settled  in  New 
York  colony,  and  when  the  attempt  was  made  to 
throw  off  the  yoke  of  British  tyranny  he  joined 
the  American  army  and  valiantly  aided  in  the 
struggle  for  independence.  The  grandfather, 
John  Randall,  was  born  in  the  Empire  state  and 
married  Emily  Wasson,  also  a  native  of  New 
York.  By  trade  he  was  a  blacksmith.  With  his 
wife  and  six  children  he  removed  to  Illinois  in 
1847,  locating  in  Boone  county,  where  he  died  at 
the  age  of  sixty  years,  his  wife  surviving  him 
until  she  had  passed  the  eightieth  milestone  on 
the  journey  of  life.  They  were  earnest  Christian 
people,  and  their  rectitude  of  character  won  them 
high  regard. 


Almeron  Randall,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
was  born  in  New  York,  in  1827,  and  married 
Miss  Mary  Ann  Wright,  a  native  of  Maine,  by 
whom  he  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  eight 
of  whom  are  yet  living.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
and  also  a  contractor  and  builder.  He  served 
his  fellow  townsmen  in  the  office  of  county  com- 
missioner and  was  a  reliable  and  trustworthy  citi- 
zen. He  and  his  wife  were  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist church,  and  he  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight 
years,  while  her  death  occurred  in  her  sixty-sixth 
year. 

Jesse  W.  Randall,  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth  in 
their  family,  was  a  youth  of  fourteen  when  the 
parents  removed  from  Illinois  to  Missouri. 
There  he  remained  three  years,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1872  made  the  overland  trip  to  Oregon,  locat- 
ing in  Douglas  county,  where  he  worked  as  a 
farm  hand  for  six  years.  He  was  married  in  the 
Sunset  state,  in  1877,  to  Miss  Frances  Suther- 
land, a  native  of  Douglas  county,  and  a  daughter 
of  Fendel  Sutherland,  an  Oregon  pioneer  of 
1848.  Soon  after  their  marriage  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Randall  came  to  their  present  home  in  Latah 
county,  whither  his  brother,  John  E.  Randall, 
had  preceded  them.  He  told  them  of  the  rich 
and  fertile  land  to  be  procured  from  the  govern- 
ment in  what  was  then  Nez  Perces  county,  and 
making  his  way  to  this  section  of  the  state  our 
subject  obtained  both  a  pre-emption  and  a  home- 
stead claim,  which  he  has  transformed  into  a 
fine  farm.  As  time  has  passed  he  has  also  pur- 
chased other  property  until  his  landed  posses- 
sions now  aggregate  seven  hundred  acres,  all 
in  one  body.  He  has  upon  the  place  a  com- 
modious frame  residence,  large  barn  and  all  the 
accessories  and  conveniences  of  the  model  farm 
of  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  He 
has  three  hundred  acres  planted  to  wheat,  and 
the  alluvial  soil  has  yielded  as  high  as  fifty-five 
bushels  to  the  acre.  He  also  raises  other  grain, 
vegetables  and  fruit  and  has  a  good  orchard,  in 
which  he  is  cultivating  man}'  varieties  of  fruit, 
principally  for  the  consumption  of  his  family. 
He  also  raises  some  high-grade  sheep,  cattle  and 
Percheron  horses,  and  introduced  into  the  county 
some  Norman-Percheron  horses,  thereby  improv- 
ing his  own  and  his  neighbors'  horses.  He  is  a 
very  industrious  man,  and  though  he  employs 
others  to  aid  in  the  operation  of  his  farm,  he  also 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


657 


works  with  them,  and  the  present  fine  condition 
of  the  place  is  largely  due  to  his  personal  labors. 

Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Randall  have  been  born 
seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  living:  Ernest, 
John,  Rena,  Edith  Pearl  and  -  — .  The  two 
eldest  sons  assist  their  father  in  the  operation  of 
the  farm.  Ernest  is  a  graduate  of  the  high  school 
of  Moscow  and  carried  off  the  honors  of  the 
class  of  1898.  The  mother  of  this  family  holds 
membership  in  the  Christian  church. 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Randall  is  a 
Republican  and  keeps  well  informed  on  the  issues 
of  the  day,  but  has  no  time  or  inclination  for 
public  office,  preferring  to  devote  his  attention 
to  his  business  interests,  in  which  he  is  meeting 
with  gratifying  success.  He  and  his  family  are 
very  highly  spoken  of  by  all  who  know  them, 
and  their  record  is  deserving  of  a  prominent  place 
in  the  annals  of  Latah  county. 

CHARLES  BOMBERG. 

Idaho  owes  much  to  her  sturdy  German  and 
German-American  population,  whose  thrift  and 
industry  have  made  success  in  every  field  of  en- 
deavor. Prominent  among  the  business  men  of 
Genesee  is  Charles  Bomberg,  raiser  and  buyer 
of  cattle  and  a  butcher  and  dealer  in  meat.  Mr. 
Bomberg  is  of  German  parentage.  He  was  born 
in  Huron  county,  Michigan,  May  25,  1862.  His 
father,  also  named  Charles,  was  born  in  Germany 
and  came  to  America  with  his  parents  in  his 
childhood.  He  grew  to  manhood  and  established 
himself  in  Michigan,  and  there  married  Miss 
Kate  Weaver,  a  native  of  Huron  county,  and 
also  of  German  ancestry.  They  reared  to  useful- 
ness and  honor  a  family  of  nine  children,  and  are 
living  out  their  declining  years  at  their  old  home 
in  Michigan,  happy  and  respected.  They  are 
members  of  the  Lutheran  church. 

Mr.  Bomberg  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm 
and  did  his  part  of  the  work  after  he  was  old 
enough  and  as  long  as  he  remained  at  home.  He 
gained  a  practical  education  in  the  public  schools 
and  had  some  business  experience  before  he  left 
Michigan.  In  1884  he  went  to  Dakota,  and  from 
Dakota  he  went  to  Washington,  from  Washing- 
ton he  came  to  Idaho,  in  1888,  accompanied  by 
his  present  partner,  and  the  two  opened  a  modest 
meat  market  to  cater  the  trade  of  the  then  infant 
town  of  Genesee.  The  growth  of  the  town  was 


no  more  rapid  than  the  growth  of  their  enterprise, 
which  has  always  kept  pace  with  every  new  de- 
mand upon  it.  As  at  first  Mr.  Bomberg's  con- 
cern has  the  entire  trade  of  the  city.  Mr.  Bom- 
berg and  his  partner  own  five  hundred  and  fifty- 
two  acres  of  land  adjacent  to  Genesee,  on  which 
they  raise  as  much  of  the  stock  they  kill  as  is 
possible.  But  the  supply  thus  obtained  is  small 
in  proportion  to  their  needs,  and  they  have  estab- 
lished a  market  for  cattle  which  brings  to  Gene- 
see  a  large  part  of  the  stock  raised  in  the  city's 
tributary  territory.  They  have  erected  fine  resi- 
dences and  other  necessary  buildings  on  the  land 
mentioned,  and  have  put  up  a  large  market  build- 
ing, which  is  as  well  adapted  to  the  purposes  for 
which  it  was  planned  as  any  similar  establishment 
in  the  state. 

Mr.  Bomberg  is  a  Knight  of  Pythias  and  was 
made  a  Master  Mason  in  Unity  Lodge,  No.  32, 
of  Genesee,  and  of  this  he  is  treasurer.  In  politics 
he  is  a  Republican,  but  he  is  too  busy  and  too 
little  inclined  to  public  affairs  to  give  much  more 
time  to  political  matters  than  is  necessary  to  meet 
the  responsibilities  of  citizenship.  He  is  popular 
in  business  circles,  a  successful  man  who  counts 
his  friends  by  the  hundred,  and  is  generously 
helpful  to  all  public  interests.  He  is,  as  yet,  a  sin- 
gle man,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  there  is  a 
very  interesting  phase  of  his  life  yet  to  be  en- 
tered upon  and  yet  to  be  written  of. 

JOHN  KRALL. 

Few  lives  have  been  more  active  or  more  thor- 
oughly filled  with  incidents  of  interest  and  of 
unusual  nature  than  has  that  of  John  Krall,  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  Idaho,  and  for  about  thirty-five 
years  a  resident  in  the  vicinity  of  Boise  City. 
Now  a  wealthy  man,  he  is  indebted  to  himself 
alone  for  his  fortune,  for  he  started  out  in  youth  to 
fight  the  battle  of  life,  a  poor  boy,  and  by  the 
exercise  of  industry  and  perseverance,  in  the  face 
of  great  difficulties,  he  came  off  victor  over  all. 

Mr.  Krall  is  a  native  of  Germany,  born  Decem- 
ber 10,  1835,  his  parents  and  ancestors  likewise 
being  of  German  birth.  His  father  owned  a  flour- 
ing mill  and  the  lad  early  learned  the  business. 
When  he  had  mastered  the  branches  of  learning 
taught  in  the  government  schools  he  went  to 
England,  and  there,  at  sixteen,  took  up  the  study 
of  the  English  language  and  customs,  while  he 


658 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


worked  as  a  baker  and  confectioner.  Desiring 
to  see  something  of  the  world,  and  well  equipped 
to  earn  a  living,  as  he  was  familiar  with  two 
languages  and  had  mastered  two  trades,  he 
shipped  aboard  a  vessel  and  in  the  next  few  years 
sailed  to  various  parts  of  the  world.  Once,  when 
sailing  around  Cape  Horn,  he  was  shipwrecked, 
and  the  disabled  vessel  was  towed  to  Valparaiso 
by  an  English  man-of-war.  From  that  city  Mr. 
Krall  went  to  Honolulu,  and  thence  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, where  he  remained  until  1856.  He  then 
went  to  Oregon  and  Washington,  and  rented  a 
mill  at  Dallas,  Oregon,  arid  also  carried  on  busi- 
ness near  Salem  until  1859.  The  following  two 
years  he  passed  at  Vancouver,  in  Washington. 

In  1861  Mr.  Krall  came  to  Idaho,  and  for  some 
time  he  was  more  or  less  interested  in  mining  at 
various  places.  He  took  out  seven  thousand  dol- 
lars' worth  of  precious  minerals  in  six  weeks  at 
Florence,  and  supposing  that  he  had  nearly 
exhausted  the  resources  of  the  claim  he  sold  it 
for  a  thousand  dollars,  but  subsequently  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars  or  more  were  made  from 
this  property.  During  the  winter  of  1861-2  Mr. 
Krall  lived  in  Lewiston,  and  in  the  spring  opened 
a  bakery.  He  sold  bread  at  fifty  cents  a  loaf,  as 
flour  and  other  materials  were  extremely  high- 
priced.  In  the  autumn  of  1862  he  located  in 
Placerville,  Idaho.  In  1864  he  sold  out  and 
opened  a  bakery  in  Boise  City,  continuing  in 
this  enterprise  until  his  store  was  destroyed  by 
fire,  in  1870,  his  loss  at  that  time  amounting  to 
about  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  year  after 
that  unfortunate  occurrence  Mr.  Krall  bought 
four  hundred  acres  of  land  from  the  United 
States  government  and  planted  eighty  acres  with 
different  kinds  of  fruit  trees.  He  has  made  a 
specialty  of  raising  fruit  and  has  been  exception- 
ally successful.  His  farm  extended  to  the  original 
limits  of  Boise  City,  and  when  the  town  devel- 
oped Mr.  Krall  platted  a  portion  of  his  orchard 
and  sold  the  lots  to  citizens.  As  he  made  a  point 
that  no  buildings  should  be  erected  save  good 
and  substantial  ones,  the  result  is  that  this  sec- 
tion of  the  city  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
desirable  as  a  place  of  residence  in  Boise.  Still 
actively  concerned  in  fruit-growing  and  other 
business  enterprises,  Mr.  Krall  is  as  industrious 
and  busy  now  as  he  has  been  in  the  past.  Until 
of  late  he  has  been  connected  with  the  Demo- 


cratic party,  but  is  now  independent.  Socially  he 
is  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen. 

In  1865  Mr.  Krall  married  Miss  Barbara 
Queen,  who  died  in  1883,  and  left  two  children. 
The  daughter  is  the  wife  of  W.  Scott  Neal,  a 
well  known  business  man  of  this  city,  and  the 
son,  John,  Jr.,  is  also  a  citizen  of  this  place.  In 
1885  Mr.  Krall,  Sr.,  married  Miss  Eva  Ayers, 
daughter  of  Peter  and  Mary  (Dausch)  Ayers. 
The  former  was  born  in  Wisconsin  and  the  latter 
in  New  York  state,  and  both  are  now  deceased. 
Mrs.  Krall  was  born  in  Denver,  Colorado,  June 
20,  1859.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
church.  The  three  sons  born  of  this  union  are 
named  respectively  Frank  E.,  Albert  R.  and 
Louis  V.  The  family  is  one  of  prominence  in 
the  community,  the  members  of  the  household 
occupying  a  high  position  in  social  circles.  In 
business  and  social  life  Mr.  Krall  commands  the 
respect  of  all,  for  his  reputation  is  above  ques- 
tion, his  word  being  as  good  as  any  bond  that 
was  ever  solemnized  by  signature  or  seal.  His 
labors  in  the  development  of  the  natural  re- 
sources of  the  state  have  been  of  great  benefit 
to  the  city,  and  his  public-spirited  interest  in  all 
measures  pertaining  to  the  general  good  has  been 
a  potent  factor  in  promoting  educational,  moral 
and  material  welfare. 

WILLIAM  J.  McCLURE. 

To  the  pioneer  rightfully  belong  the  honors  of 
the  land  which  he  finds  out  and  enriches  and 
beautifies.  The  sturdy  manhood  which  animates 
the  pioneer  is  the  kind  that  is  required  in  the 
administration  of  the  laws  which  have  been  made 
operative  over  his  territory  chiefly  by  his  enter- 
prise and  devotion  to  the  course  of  civilization. 
The  makers  of  the  new  country  should  be,  and 
if  they  want  to  be  usually  are,  the  governors. 

William  J.  McClure  was  born  in  Canada,  in 
1843,  a  son  of  Theophilus  and  Maria  (McCrack- 
en)  McClure.  His  parents,  of  Scotch-Irish  de- 
scent, were  natives  of  Ireland.  They  came  to 
Canada  about  sixty  years  ago  and  lived  out  their 
lives  there.  Mr.  McClure  gained  a  scanty  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools  in  the  vicinity  of  his 
boyhood  home.  As  he  grew  up  he  began  a  career 
as  sailor  on  the  great  lakes,  which  occupation  he 
followed  for  some  years.  It  was  an  adventurous 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


659 


life,  quite  to  his  liking  in  many  ways,  and 
afforded  him  an  experience  which  has  availed 
him  well  in  more  recent  years.  In  1871  he  went 
to  Texas  and  from  there  came  to  Idaho,  in  1879, 
locating  within  the  present  limits  of  Kootenai 
county,  where  he  has  since  lived.  He  helped  to 
organize  the  county  and  has  been  prominent  in 
its  affairs  from  that  time  down  to  the  present,  as 
a  leading  citizen  and  influential  Democrat.  In 
1884  he  was  elected  assessor  and  tax  collector  for 
Kootenai  county,  and  in  1886  was  appointed  re- 
ceiver of  the  United  States  land  office  at  Coeur 
d'Alene,  serving  in  that  capacity  for  four  years, 
under  the  administration  of  President  Cleveland. 
In  1890  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  Kootenai  coun- 
ty. In  1893  he  was  appointed  deputy  collector 
of  customs  at  Bonner's  Ferry,  Idaho,  which  office 
he  resigned,  December  I,  1898,  to  enter  upon 
that  of  treasurer  of  Kootenai  county,  of  which 
position  he  is  the  present  incumbent  and  the 
duties  of  which  he  performs  in  a  manner  that  has 
won  the  approbation  of  observant  citizens  of  all 
shades  of  political  belief.  For  twenty-three  years 
Mr.  McClure  has  been  a  Freemason,  and  he  is 
widely  known  in  the  fraternity  throughout  the 
west.  His  position  upon  all  questions  of  public 
moment  has  been  such  as  to  give  him  an  enviable 
reputation  for  public  spirit,  and  his  citizenship  is 
of  the  highest  order.  He  married  Mrs.  Mamie 
Kercheval,  of  Coeur  d'Alene,  in  1895. 

'Mr.  McClure  was  a  pioneer  in  Kootenai  coun- 
ty, and  in  his  earlier  life  in  Idaho  experienced  all 
the  trials  and  hardships  incident  to  life  in  a  re- 
mote and  undeveloped  country.  He  had  known 
before  that  time  how  to  "rough  it,"  however, — 
first  on  the  great  lakes  separating  his  native 
Canada  from  "the  states,"  next  in  Texas  among 
the  cowboys,  "greasers"  and  Indians  of  a  period 
that  has  closed,  and  still  later  in  a  long,  weary 
journey  by  wagon  from  Texas  to  Idaho,  a  de- 
tailed account  of  which  would  make  a  book 
voluminous,  interesting  and  edifying. 

JOSEPH  H.  HUTCHINSON. 
Joseph  H.  Hutchinson,  lieutenant  governor  of 
Idaho,  is  one  of  the  distinguished  young  men 
of  the  west  who  by  reason  of  his  marked  individu- 
ality, strong  mentality,  honorable  purpose 
and  laudable  ambition  has  risen  to  a  po- 
sition of  eminence.  A  native  of  this  sec- 


tion of  the  country,  his  interests  are  close- 
ly allied  with  those  of  the  northwest,  and  he  is 
deeply  interested  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  ad- 
vancement, growth  and  prosperity  of  the  "Gem 
of  the  Mountains."  He  was  elected  to  his  present 
office  in  1898,— an  honor  well  merited  and 
worthily  worn. 

Mr.  Hutchinson,  who  for  some  years  has  been 
a  resident  of  Silver  City,  was  born  in  Central 
City,  Colorado,  on  the  2ist  of  May,  1864.  He  is 
a  son  of  James  Hutchinson,  superintendent  of  the 
Trade  Dollar  Mining  &  Milling  Company,  and 
one  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  state.  When 
sixteen  years  of  age  Joseph  H.  Hutchinson  re- 
moved to  Denver,  Colorado,  and  attended  the 
high  school  of  that  city,  during  which  time  he 
was  twice  honored  by  election  to  the  presidency 
of  the  Lyceum,  and  in  1883  he  won  the  Wood- 
burn  medal  for  oratory.  The  elemental  strength 
of  his  character  was  also  shown  forth  by  his 
actions  during  this  period,  for  desiring  to  acquire 
a  good  education  and  at  the  same  time  finding  it 
necessary  to  provide  in  a  measure  for  his  own 
livelihood,  he  acted  as  janitor  of  the  Twenty- 
second  avenue  primary  school  and  as  route  car- 
rier on  the  Rocky  Mountain  News  and  Denver 
Times,  while  pursuing  his  high-school  course. 
His  enterprise  and  energy  found  recognition  in 
business  circles,  and  in  1890  he  was  elected  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  the  Colorado  Mining  Stock 
Exchange  and  later  was  made  its  secretary  and 
treasurer,  but  left  that  position  to  become  his 
father's  assistant  in  business  in  Idaho.  The  Colo- 
rado Springs  Mining  Stock  Association  making 
him  a  handsome  offer  to  preside  over  the  board  in 
1896,  he  returned  and  handled  their  stock 
through  the  Cripple  Creek  stock  boom,  but  again 
came  to  Idaho  January  i,  1897,  and  accepted  the 
position  of  foreman  of  the  Trade  Dollar  Consoli- 
dated Mining  Company.  In  that  capacity  he  has 
rendered  his  father  very  efficient  aid,  and  is  an 
able  representative  of  the  mining  interests  of  the 
state.  His  diligence,  resolution  and  executive 
power  would  make  him  successful  in  almost  any 
line  of  business,  and  prosperity  will  undoubtedly 
mark  his  future  career. 

Mr.  Hutchinson  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Helen  Hays,  a  native  of  Silver  City,  and  a 
daughter  of  Hon.  Charles  M.  Hays,  district  attor- 
ney and  a  prominent  pioneer  of  Idaho,  now  re- 


660 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


siding  in  Boise.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hutchinson  have 
many  warm  friends  in  the  community  in  which 
they  reside.  In  his  political  affiliations  Mr. 
Hutchinson  has  been  a  lifelong  Republican,  but 
differs  with  his  party  on  the  great  financial  ques- 
tion, to  which  he  has  given  close,  earnest  and 
systematic  study.  He  has  the  honor  of  being 
secretary  of  the  first  silver  club  formed  in  the 
United  States;  was  also  secretary  of  the  first 
national  bimetallic  convention,  held  in  Chicago  in 
1893,  an<l  secretary  of  the  Bimetallist  Union, 
formed  at  Salt  Lake  City,  in  1895.  All  unsolic- 
ited by  him  came  the  nomination  for  lieutenant 
governor  in  1898,  he  being  chosen  as  the  candi- 
date of  the  silver  Republican  and  Democratic 
parties.  His  patriotic  devotion  to  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  state,  his  business  ability,  calm 
judgment  and  thorough  trustworthiness  all  ren- 
der him  well  qualified  for  the  office,  and  his 
course  has  awakened  commendation  throughout 

the  state. 

WALTER  HOGE. 

Walter  Hoge  is  one  of  the  most  prominent 
representatives  of  the  industrial  interests  of 
southeastern  Idaho.  He  makes  his  home  in 
Paris,  where  he  is  connected  with  the  lumber 
business,  both  manufacturing  and  selling  lumber. 
The  volume  of  his  trade  enables  him  to  furnish 
employment  to  a  large  force  of  workmen  and 
thus  he  adds  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the 
community  and  to  the  welfare  of  the  town. 

Mr.  Hoge  was  born  on  the  i8th  of  November, 
1844,  and  is  of  English  lineage.  His  parents, 
Walter  and  Elizabeth  Hoge,  were  also  natives  of 
the  same  land,  and  the  father  supported  his  fam- 
ily by  working  at  the  blacksmith's  trade.  In  his 
religious  belief  he  was  a  Presbyterian,  and  died 
in  that  faith  in  1866,  when  sixty-six  years  of  age. 
His  wife  long  survived  him  and  departed  this 
life  in  1882,  when  eighty-three  years  of -age.  They 
were  the  parents  of  eleven  children,  but  only 
four  are  yet  living. 

Mr.  Hoge,  of  this  review,  the  youngest  of  the 
family,  accompanied  his  parents  on  their  removal 
to  Scotland  in  his  early  boyhood  and  was  there 
educated.  He  served  for  four  years  as  an  appren- 
tice to  the  butcher's  trade  and  followed  that  busi- 
ness until  his  emigration  to  America  in  1862. 
Having  come  to  the  New  World  he  took  up  his 
abode  on  Vancouver's  Island  and  began  work  in 


the  mines  of  British  Columbia,  but  at  the  time 
of  the  Cariboo  excitement  he  went  to  that  dis- 
trict, where  he  was  paid  ten  dollars  per  day  for 
his  labors.  In  1864  he  went  to  Portland,  Oregon, 
and  from  there  to  Walla  Walla,  where  he  worked 
at  his  trade  for  sixty  dollars  per  month  until  the 
spring  of  1864,  when  he  removed  to  the  Kootenai 
country,  carrying  on  the  butchering  business 
there  on  his  own  account  and  meeting  with  fair 
success.  Subsequently  he  engaged  in  mining  at 
Alder  Gulch,  now  Silver  City,  Montana,  and  at 
Helena,  and  on  returning  to  Idaho  settled  at 
Salmon  City.  His  partner,  Godfrey  Knight,  was 
one  of  the  discoverers  of  Leesburg,  and  Mr. 
Hoge  lost  considerable  money  in  his  mining  ven- 
tures there.  Leaving  that  place  he  came  to  the 
Cache  valley  to  spend  the  winter  and  during  that 
season  embraced  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  to  which  he  has 
since  faithfully  adhered. 

For  two  years  Mr.  Hoge  engaged  in  teaching 
school  in  Utah,  and  in  1870  came  to  Bear  Lake 
county,  locating  in  Paris,  where  for  some  time  he 
had  the  contract  for  carrying  the  mail  and  also 
ran  a  stage  route  between  Evanston  and  Cariboo, 
a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  forty-five  miles. 
Success  attended  his  efforts  in  that  direction  and 
his  capital  was  thereby  materially  increased. 
When  called  to  public  office  he  abandoned  the 
stage  route  and  for  some  time  devoted  his  ener- 
gies to  public  service.  He  is  a  stanch  supporter 
of  the  Republican  party,  well  versed  on  the  issues 
of  the  day.  Many  years  ago  he  was  appointed 
deputy  district  clerk  of  the  third  judicial  district 
and  later  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  the  county,  in 
which  office  he  was  continued,  by  re-election, 
from  1882  until  1888,  discharging  his  duties  with 
marked  promptness,  fearlessness  and  fidelity.  In 
1884,  seing  the  need  of  a  sawmill  in  this  locality, 
he  erected  a  steam  mill  with  a  capacity  of  ten 
thousand  feet  of  lumber  per  day,  and  also  built 
a  sawmill,  operated  by  water  power,  the  latter 
having  a  capacity  of  eight  thousand  feet  of  lum- 
ber per  day.  In  addition  he  also  owns  and  ope- 
rates a  planing-mill  and  a  shingle  mill.  He  saws 
yellow  and  white  pine,  getting  his  timber  from 
the  mountain  side,  and  employs  from  twenty  to 
thirty  men.  He  has  a  good  local  demand  for 
the  products  of  his  mills,  and  also  ships  to  differ- 
ent towns  in  Idaho.  In  addition  he  owns  a  fine 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


661 


ranch  and  raises  excellent  Durham  cattle,  and  has 
greatly  improved  the  grade  of  cattle  raised  in 
this  locality. 

In  1876  Mr.  Hoge  erected  a  one-story  cottage, 
but  afterward  remodeled  it,  making  it  a  two- 
story  residence  with  a  mansard  roof, — an  attract- 
ive home,  pleasantly  furnished,  and  surrounded 
by  beautiful  shade-trees. 

He  was  happily  married,  in  1869,  to  Miss 
Amelia  Smith,  a  native  of  England,  and  to  them 
have  been  born  five  children,  three  daughters 
and  two  sons,  namely:  Rhoda,  at  home;  Ella, 
wife  of  Alfred  Budge  ;  Lizzie  ;  Walter  Smith  and 
William  Smith.  Mr.  Hoge  and  his  family  are 
valued  members  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Latter  Day  Saints  and  he  served  on  a  mission 
to  England,  where  for  a  year  he  was  in  the  emi- 
gration office  in  Liverpool,  during  which  time  he 
sent  fifteen  hundred  people  to  Utah.  That  year 
he  was  ordained  high  priest,  and  for  twenty-five 
years  has  been  the  first  counselor  to  the  bishop  of 
the  second  ward  of  Paris.  He  is  a  citizen  of  the 
highest  probity  of  character,  is  a  reliable  and  suc- 
cessful business  man,  and  is  greatly  esteemed 
throughout  the  community. 

JAMES  HUTCHINSON. 

Many  theories  h^ve  been  advanced  as  to  the 
best  method  of  winning  success,  but  the  only 
safe,  sure  way  to  gain  it  is  by  close  application, 
perseverance  and  careful  consideration  of  the 
business  problems  that  are  continually  arising. 
Investigation  will  show  that  the  majority  of  men 
who  have  started  out  in  life  with_  little  or  no 
capital  and  have  won  a  competency  if  not  wealth, 
have  to  attribute  their  prosperity  to  just  such 
causes,  and  it  is  those  elements  which  have  made 
Mr.  Hutchinson  one  of  the  leading  business  men 
of  his  state.  He  is  now  superintendent  of  the 
Trade  Dollar  Consolidated  Mining  Company,  at 
Silver  City,  and  is  numbered  among  the  repre- 
sentative residents  of  that  place. 

A  native  of  Yorkshire,  England,  he  was  born 
November  17,  1837,  his  parents  being  Joseph  and 
Eleanor  (Spencley)  Hutchinson,  both  of  whom 
were  natives  of  the  same  county,  where  their 
ancestors  had  lived  for  many  generations.  The 
father  was  a  miner  and  shepherd,  and  with  his 
wife  and  eight  children  he  crossed  the  Atlantic 
and  took  up  his  residence  in  Iowa.  The  voyage 


was  made  in  1848,  on  a  sailing  vessel,  which 
dropped  anchor  in  the  harbor  of  New  York  nine 
weeks  after  leaving  the  European  port.  Locating 
in  Dubuque,  Iowa,  the  mother  there  died  in  1851, 
at  the  age  of  forty-one  years,  being  stricken  with 
cholera.  The  father  began  working  in  a  smelter 
and  eventually  became  possessed  of  a  large  farm 
in  Iowa.  Later  he  removed  to  Wisconsin,  where 
his  death  occurred  in  his  eighty-second  year. 
Seven  of  his  children  are  yet  living,  four  of  the 
number  being  residents  of  Wisconsin,  while  one 
is  in  Klondyke,  another  in  California,  and  James 
in  Silver  City,  Idaho. 

The  last  named  was  reared  on  his  father's 
farm  and  assisted  in  the  labors  of  the  fields.  He 
also  worked  in  the  mines  and  in  his  father's 
smelter,  and  was  thus  in  a  measure  prepared  for 
his  present  important  position.  He  was  married 
January  25,  1863,  to  Miss  Susan  O'Neil,  of  Wis- 
consin, and  the  following  day  started  with  his 
bride  for  Colorado.  The  Indians  were  on  the 
war-path,  but  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hutchinson  crossed 
the  plains  in  safety,  traveling  by  stage  most  of 
the  way.  They  arrived  at  Central  City,  on  the 
1 2th  of  June,  1863,  and  Mr.  .Hutchinson  took 
charge  of  the  celebrated  Gregory  lode,  the  first 
mine  discovered  west  of  the  Missouri  river  and 
east  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  He  was  its,super- 
intendent  for  twenty  years,  throughout  which 
time  it  proved  a  paying  investment.  He  was 
also  superintendent  of  the  famous  Robinson  and 
Aspen  mines,  and  was  appointed  state  inspector 
of  mines  for  Colorado,  by  Governor  Cooper,  in 
1889. 

Later  Mr.  Hutchinson  accepted  the  superinten- 
clency  of  the  mines  of  the  Manhattan  Company, 
in  Montana,  and  sold  the  property  for  them.  He 
arrived  at  Silver  City  on  the  6th  of  December, 
1893,  and  took  charge  of  the  works  of  the  Trade 
Dollar  Mining  &  Milling  Company  on  the  i7th 
of  January,  1894,  since  which  time  the  business 
has  paid  regular  dividends  and  the  mines  have 
become  one  of  the  most  valuable  properties  of 
the  kind  in  the  northwest.  In  1897,  with  a  ten- 
stamp  mill,  the  net  profits  were  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars. 

In  1889  Mr.  Hutchinson  was  called  upon  to 
mourn  the  death  of  his  wife,  who  had  been  most 
faithful  and  devoted  to  him  and  her  family  and 
who  was  a  member  of  the  Catholic  church.  Thev 


G62 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


had  a  family  of  six  children :  Joseph  H.,  Mary 
E.,  Margaret  A.,  Nellie  A.,  Charles  J.  and  Eleanor 
A.  The  older  daughters  are  keeping  house  in 
Denver,  where  they  occupy  a  nice  residence,  and 
the  younger  children  are  attending  school  there. 
Socially  Mr.  Hutchinson  is  a  Knight  Templar 
Mason.  He  was  raised  to  the  degree  of  Master 
Mason  in  St.  Louis  City  Lodge,  No.  6,  A.  F.  & 
A.  M.,  in  1865,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  tem- 
ple of  the  Mystic  Shrine  in  Boise.  He  is  a  gentle- 
man of  lifelong  mining  experience,  of  the  highest 
probity  of  character  and  has  always  enjoyed  the 
esteem  of  those  who  have  known  him,  wherever 
he  has  resided. 

CHARLES  W.  BERRYMAN. 

Charles  W.  Berryman,  a  prominent  citizen  of 
Blackfoot,  Idaho,  a  member  of  the  well  known 
firm  of  Berryman  &  Rogers,  stock-raisers  and 
dealers  and  loaners  of  money  and  dealers  in 
county  and  city  bonds,  is  a  native  of  Wisconsin, 
having  been  born  at  Hazel  Green,  October  10, 
1843,  of  English  ancestry.  His  parents,  Richard 
and  Martha  (Williams)  Berryman,  were  born  in 
Cromwell,  England.  They  came  to  the  United 
States  and  in  1840  located  in  Grant  county,  Wis- 
consin. There  Mr.  Berryman  became  a  farmer 
and  lead-miner.  He  died  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
three,  in  1877,  his  wife  having  passed  away  many 
years  earlier,  in  her  forty-seventh  year.  They 
were  devout  and  active  members  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church,  in  whose  interests  Mrs. 
Berryman  was  a  tireless  worker,  while  Mr.  Ber- 
ryman performed  the  varied  functions  of  trustee, 
class-leader  and  Sunday-school  superintendent. 
They  had  eight  children,  of  whom  six  are  living. 

Until  he  was  nineteen  years  old,  Charles  W. 
Berryman  remained  at  home,  attending  school 
and  devoting  himself  to  the  work  of  the  farm. 
In  1862  he  joined  a  large  band  of  western-bound 
emigrants  and  went  overland  to  Oregon.  In- 
dians were  numerous  and  aggressive  in  those 
days,  and  the  emigrants,  a  large  party,  consoli- 
dated their  one  hundred  and  sixty  wagons  and 
many  horses  in  one  big  caravan  and  banded  to- 
gether for  mutual  protection.  There  were  so 
many  of  them  and  they  were  so  well  armed  and 
so  determined  and  presented  such  a  warlike  ap- 
pearance that  they  had  little  difficulty  with  the 
"Bedouins  of  the  Plains."  But  the  Indians  were 


watchful  for  opportunities,  ready  to  attack  any 
straggling  member  of  the  party  who  was  delayed 
or  went  too  far  ahead.  At  Green  river,  on  Land- 
er's cut-off,  two  of  the  wagons  which  had  fallen 
behind  were  surrounded  and  attacked  by  the  red- 
skins. There  were  only  two  men  with  them. 
One  of  these,  one  Campbell,  was  killed.  The 
other  man  escaped.  The  wagons  were  plun- 
dered and  burned  before  Mr.  Berryman's  party 
could  get  back  to  the  place,  and  the. Indians  es- 
caped unpunished.  The  "train"  left  Wisconsin 
May  4,  1862,  and  arrived  at  Powder  river  Sep- 
tember 7,  this  journey  having  consumed  four 
months  and  three  days.  Mr.  Berryman  engaged 
in  mining  but  was  not  successful,  and  he  went 
with  the  Jesse  Stanford  outfit  to  Boise  basin, 
Idaho,  and  was  among  the  first  to  arrive  there. 
Here,  too,  fortune  turned  her  back  on  him,  and 
he  engaged  in  packing  supplies  for  miners  from 
Umatilla,  Oregon,  to  Boise  basin.  He  was  suc- 
cessful in  this  enterprise,  and  in  1864  was  the 
owner  of  a  pack  train  of  thirty-seven  mules  and 
such  accessories  to  the  business  as  were  necessary 
for  use  in  connection  with  them.  During  that 
year  that  whole  train  was  stolen  by  Indians  at  a 
point  on  the  Snake  river,  and  Mr.  Berryman 
never  afterward  saw  hoof  or  tail  of  one  of  the 
animals.  He  was  ruined,  J>ut  went,  bravely, 
hopefully  and  full  of  days'  work,  back  to  Boise 
basin,  and  in  the  placer  mines  made  another 
stake.  In  1865  he  went  to  Virginia  City,  Mon- 
tana, where  he  bought  two  mining  claims,  a 
"number  one"  and  a  "number  two,"  of  Fair- 
weather,  for,  two  thousand  dollars.  There  he 
made  more  money,  and  in  1869  he  returned, 
comfortably  fixed,  to  his  old  home  and  friends 
in  Wisconsin.  In  the  spring  of  1870  he  went 
back  to  Montana,  and,  with  a  view  to  again  en- 
gaging in  packing,  formed  a  partnership  with 
George  B.  Rogers,  which  association,  in  various 
enterprises,  has  existed  continuously  since.  They 
began  operations  between  Corinne,  Utah,  and 
different  mining  camps  in  Montana,  and  prose- 
cuted this  business  successfully  and  with  profit 
for  about  ten  years.  They  ceased  giving  it  their 
personal  attention  in  the  spring  of  1880  and  took 
the  "Custer  contract"  to  build  a  large  quartz  mill 
and  smelter,  for  the  performance  of  which  they 
were  paid  five  thousand  dollars.  In  1883  they 
sold  their  teams  to  the  Idaho  Forwarding  Com- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


663 


pany,  and  turned  their  attention  to  ranching, 
purchasing  property  on  the  north  side  of  Snake 
river,  where  they  have  since  been  extensive  horse 
and  cattle  breeders  and  dealers.  They  now  own 
more  than  three  thousand  acres  of  land,  on  which 
they  raise  hay  and  grain  on  which  to  feed  their 
stock.  They  import  horses  from  England,  and 
an  important  result  of  their  enterprise  in  this 
way  has  been  the  improvement  not  only  of  their 
own  stock  but  that  throughout  eastern  Idaho. 
As  cattle-breeders  they  have  introduced  enough 
Durham  and  Hereford  blood  to  produce  a  grade 
of  beef  cattle  that  is  unsurpassed  anywhere.  They 
are  the  richest  stock  breeders  and  dealers  in 
Bingham  county,  and  their  operations  are  more 
extensive  than  those  of  any  other  firm,  and  no 
one  has  done  more  than  Messrs.  Berryman  and 
Rogers  to  give  Idaho  supremacy  in  this  profita- 
ble industry.  They  have  a  mercantile  business 
at  Park  City  and  have  built  several  of  the  best 
blocks  in  Blackfoot. 

Mr.  Berryman  has  also  built  and  fitted  up  a 
delightful  home  in  Blackfoot.  He  was  married 
in  June,  1875,  to  Miss  Mary  N.  Toombs,  a  native 
of  London,  England,  and  a  daughter  of  James 
Toombs,  now  of  Ogden,  Utah.  Their  children 
are  Elva,  Harry,  Frank,  Flora  and  Edith.  A 
lifelong  Republican,  Mr.  Berryman  takes  an  ac- 
tive interest  in  public  affairs.  He  has  twice  been 
elected  chairman  of  the  board  of  county  commis- 
sioners of  Bingham  county,  and  has  served  his 
fellow  citizens  in  other  responsible  positions. 

WILLIAM  KILDE. 

No  element  in  the  complex  personnel  of  our 
national  commonwealth  has  had  a  more  vitalizing 
and  permeating  influence  than  that  contributed 
by  the  hardy  sons  of  the  Norseland.  From  the 
fair  shores  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  with  their 
beautiful  fjords  and  quaint  cities,  have  come  to 
the  United  States  men  and  women  of  sturdy 
integrity,  alert  mentality  and  unflagging  indus- 
try, and  these  have  furnished  to  our  country  a 
most  valuable  order  of  citizenship.  In  the  early 
settlement  of  Latah  county,  Idaho,  there  came  to 
this  part  of  the  territory  a  number  of  the  am- 
bitious and  industrious  sons  of  Norway,  who 
sought  to  here  "establish  homes  for  themselves 
and  their  families  and  to  attain  a  due  measure  of 
success  by  honest  toil  and  endeavor.  They  se- 


cured tracts  of  government  land,  and  set  vigor- 
ously at  work  to  develop  and  improve  the  same. 
The  results  have  been  alike  creditable  to  them 
and  of  distinct  value  to  this  section  of  the  Gem 
state,  which  they  have  honored  by  their  presence 
and  labors.  Of  this  number  is  William  Kilde, 
who  is  known  as  a  man  of  unimpeachable  integ- 
rity and  as  one  of  the  prosperous  and  representa- 
tive farmers  of  the  county. 

William  Kilde  comes  from  a  long  line  of  sturdy- 
Norwegian  ancestors,  his  birth  having  occurred 
in  the  far  distant  land  of  the  north  on  the  23d  of 
November,  •  1848.  His  family  were  Lutherans 
in  their  religious  faith,  and  his  father  was  an 
officer  in  the  army  of  Norway,  being  a  farmer 
by  occupation  and  standing  as  a  representative 
of  one  of  the  worthy  families  of  that  country. 
He  attained  the  venerable  age  of  ninety-five 
years,  and  his  estimable  and  devoted  wife  passed 
away  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years.  They  became 
the  parents  of  ten  children,  of  which  number 
eight  are  still  living,  the  subject  of  this  review 
having  been  the  youngest  in  the  family. 

William  Kilde  received  his  educational  dis- 
cipline in  his  native  land,  and  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen years  severed  the  tender  ties  which  bound 
him  to  the  home  and  friends  of  his  childhood 
and  came  to  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose 
of  making  a  home  for  himself  in  the  "land  of 
the  free."  That  the  young  emigrant  was  animated 
by  a  courageous  spirit  may  readily  be  understood 
when  we  revert  to  the  fact  that  when  he  arrived 
in  this  distant  land  he  was  ignorant  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country  and  was  without  financial 
reinforcement.  He  was,  however,  amply  fortified 
by  marked  intelligence,  a  large,  strong  and 
healthy  body,  and  by  habits  of  industry, — these 
have  been  the  forces  by  which  he  has  wrought  out 
for  himself  a  gratifying  and  worthy  success  in 
temporal  affairs,  and  his  life  has  been  so  ordered 
that  in  his  adopted  country  he  has  won  and 
retained  the  respect  and  esteem  of  all  with  whom 
he  has  come  in  contact.  No  one  can  look  without 
admiration  upon  a  success  and  prestige  thus  won 
by  the  emigrant  lad  who  faced  the  problem  of  life 
and  its  duties  without  flinching. 

Mr.  Kilde  located  at  first  in  Wisconsin,  where 
he  found  employment  at  farm  work.  He  was 
economical  in  his  habits,  saved  his  wages  and 
ever  had  in  mind  his  cherished  ambition  of  own- 


664 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ing  a  home  of  his  own.  He  was  eventually  able 
to  realize  his  aim,  for  he  became  the  owner  of  a 
farm  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  in  La- 
Crosse  county,  Wisconsin. 

In  1869  occurred  an  important  event  in  the  life 
of  Mr.  Kilde,  for  he  was  then  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Carrie  Paulson,  who  like  himself  was 
born  in  Norway,  the  daughter  of  Gilbert  and  Ann 
Paulson,  whom,  as  a  child,  she  accompanied  on 
their  emigration  to  the  United  States.  Our  sub- 
ject and  his  wife  continued  to  reside  in  Wiscon- 
sin for  several  years  after  their  marriage,  and 
there  two  children  were  born  to  them, — Annie 
M.  and  Lena  A.  After  their  removal  to  Idaho 
other  children  came  to  brighten  the  family 
circle,  namely:  Henry,  Mary,  John,  Gilbert,  Paul, 
(who  died  in  infancy),  Matilda,  and  Paul,  (2d). 
Mrs.  Kilde's  mother  is  still  living,  having  attained 
the  venerable  age  of  eighty-six  years. 

In  the  year  1878  Mr.  Kilde  removed  with  his 
family  to  Idaho,  and  they  took  up  their  abode  on 
their  present  farm,  in  what  is  now  Latah  county, 
the  original  tract  comprising  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  government  land.  Here  our  sub- 
ject built  a  little  log  house,  having  completed 
this  work  while  his  wife,  with  her  two  little 
daughters,  was  coming  to  him  from  Portland, 
Oregon.  While  Mrs.  Kilde  was  in  the  city  men- 
tioned, however,  she  was  called  upon  to  bear  a 
burden  of  great  grief  and  care,  for  the  little 
daughter  Annie  there  died,  from  an  attack  of 
diphtheria.  She  continued  her  saddened  journey 
and  in  due  time  reached  the  little  home  prepared 
by  her  husband.  v 

As  prosperity  attended  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Kilde 
he  added  to  his  landed  possessions,  until  he  now 
has  a  valuable  and  highly  productive  farm  of  two 
hundred  and  forty  acres,  well  improved.  For  a 
number  of  years  the  family  continued  to  reside  in 
the  primitive  house  of  logs,  but  they  have  now  a 
commodious  and  attractive  farm  residence,  sup- 
plied with  all  necessary  conveniences,  while  a 
large  barn  has  also  been  erected.  The  stock  on 
the  place,  as  well  as  the  fertile  fields,  shows  the 
care  and  attention  of  the  discriminating  pro- 
prietor. Mr.  Kilde  raises  all  kinds  of  crops,  in- 
cluding vegetables  and  fruits,  but  makes  the  cul- 
tivation of  wheat  his  principal  line,  having  se- 
cured as  high  a  yield  of  this  cereal  as  forty-five 
bushels  to  the  acre. 


In  politics  Mr.  Kilde  is  a  Republican,  and  he 
has  served  as  a  trustee  of  his  school  district  for  a 
number  of  years,  doing  all  in  his  power  to  pro- 
mote the  legitimate  interests  of  this  section  of  the 
state.  He  is  a  man  of  strong  physique  and  the 
fine  climate  of  Idaho  promotes  continued  good 
health  to  him  and  his  family. 

Living  goodly  lives,  industrious  in  habits, 
kindly  in  all  their  relations  with  their  fellow  men, 
they  enjoy  the  cordial  esteem  and  good  will  of  a 
large  circle  of  friends  and  acquaintances,  and  the 
success  which  has  been  achieved  has  been  won 
by  none  but  worthy  means. 

GILBERT  G.  WRIGHT. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  business  men  of 
Idaho  Falls  is  Gilbert  G.  Wright,  manager  of  the 
Co-operative  Wagon  &  Machine  Company  and 
of  the  Idaho  Falls  Milling  Company.  Mr. 
Wright  is  a  native  of  Ogden,  Utah,  and  was  born 
September  28,  1867.  His  father,  Gilbert  J. 
Wright,  was  born  in  England  and  came  to  New 
York,  whence  he  removed  to  Ogden,  Utah, 
where  he  married  Miss  Annie  Odell,  also  of  Eng- 
lish birth.  He  became  a  successful  hardware 
merchant,  and  late  in  life  he  retired  to  Idaho 
Falls,  where  he  and  his  wife  are  now  living.  The 
family  are  devoted  members  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints. 

Gilbert  G.  Wright,  the  eldest  of  their  seven 
children,  attended  the  public  schools  of  Ogden 
until  he  was  sixteen  years  old,  and  then  entered 
the  employ  of  the  Co-operative  Wagon  &  Ma- 
chine Company,  with  the  important  interests  of 
which  he  has  since  become  prominently  identi- 
fied. After  five  years'  experience  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  corporation  at  Ogden,  he  was,  in 
1889,  sent  to  Idaho  Falls  to  open  a  branch  estab- 
lishment at  this  place.  The  company  has  its 
headquarters  at  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  and  there, 
and  through  its  several  branch  stores,  it  does  a 
wholesale  business  in  vehicles,  agricultural  imple- 
ments and  stoves.  Some  idea  of  the  magnitude 
of  its  transactions  may  be  gained  from  the  fact 
that  it  is  capitalized  at  three  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars. 

Mr.  Wright  started  in  business  at  Idaho  Falls 
somewhat  modestly.  His  sales  for  the  first  year 
aggregated  thirty-six  thousand  dollars,  which 
was  certainly  a  good  beginning.  Notwithstand- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


665 


ing  the  country  has  since  passed  through  a  long 
period  of  severe  financial  depression,  Mr.  Wright 
has  pushed  this  enterprise  to  the  front  with  great 
certainty  and  great  rapidity.  In  1898  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Idaho  Falls  branch  of  the  Co-opera- 
tive Wagon  &  Machine  Company  amounted  to 
four  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars.  Some 
of  this  great  success  is  due  to  the  rapid  settlement 
and  development  of  the  country;  but  it  is  all  due 
in  a  large  measure  to  the  wise  and  energetic  pol- 
icy of  Mr.  Wright,  who  has  been  indefatigable  in 
pushing  the  enterprise  in  all  departments  and  ex- 
tending its  operations  in  all  lines  and  in  every  di- 
rection, and  who  is  regarded  as  a  man  of  remark- 
able foresight  and  talent  for  handling  extensive 
interests. 

The  concern  at  Idaho  Falls  occupies  a  stone 
building  with  an  area  ninety  by  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  feet,  besides  four  hundred  square 
feet  of  yard  room,  employs  twenty-seven  men, 
and  ships  goods  to  points  within  an  average  limit 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  all  directions 
from  its  center  of  operations. 

Mr.  Wright  was  also  the  builder  of,  and  owns 
a  controlling  interest  in,  the  large  roller-process 
steam  and  water  power  flouring  mill  at  Idaho 
Falls,  which  has  a  capacity  of  two  hundred  bar- 
rel? a  day.  He  is  also  the  owner  of  considerable 
farm  land  and  of  a  great  deal  of  town  property, 
including  a  large  and  well  appointed  residence, 
one  of  the  finest  and  most  attractive  in  the  city. 
His  character  as  a  business  man  is  one  of  which 
many  men  of  more  pretensions  might  be  proud, 
for  it  comprehends  every  good  quality  which 
makes  for  the  best  and  highest  reputation,  and  is 
illumined  by  successes  which  are  important 
among  the  conspicuous  successes  which  have 
marked  the  development  of  Idaho. 

In  April,  1890,  Mr.  Wright  was  happily  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Tillie  Bailey,  a  native  of  Ogden, 
Utah,  and  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Bailey,  a  highly 
respected  citizen  of  that  city.  They  have  a  son 
and  a  daughter,  named  Gilbert  O.  and  Florence 
A.  Wright. 

Closely  as  is  Mr.  Wright  bound  down  by  the 
imperative  demands  of  the  great  and  growing  in- 
terests which  by  tireless  energy  he  has  built  up 
and  which  with  consummate  sagacity  he  is  direct- 
ing to  the  certain  achievement  of  still  greater 
success,  he  finds  time  to  discharge  the  political 


duties  of  the  patriotic  citizen,  for  he  holds  that 
every  man  should  be  a  practical  politician  to  the 
extent  of  doing  his  part  toward  securing  good 
laws  and  their  honest  administration;  and  as  a 
Republican  he  interests  himself  actively  in  all  af- 
fairs of  public  moment.  He  was  elected  county- 
treasurer  of  Bingham  county  and  served  his  fel- 
low citizens  faithfully  in  that  capacity.  He  was 
also  for  four  years  a  member  of  the  common 
council  of  Idaho  Falls,  and  in  office  and  out  of 
office  he  has,  by  every  means  at  his  command, 
done  all  that  was  possible  for  him  to  do  to  foster 
and  advance  the  best  interests  of  Idaho  Falls, 
Bingham  county,  and  the  state  of  Idaho. 

THOMAS  CRANE. 

The  manifestation  of  superior  business  talent 
at  an  early  age  is  always  a  good  sign.  It  usually 
marks  a  young  man  who  will  care  less  for  pleas- 
ure than  work,  who  will  keep  trying  and  will  try 
intelligently,  and  who  is  pretty  apt  to  come  out 
strong  financially  sooner  or  later.  The  career  of 
the  late  Thomas  Crane,  of  Soda  Springs,  Idaho, 
was  an  illustration  of  these  claims.  He  began 
early  and  endeavored  always;  he  despised  not 
the  day  of  small  things,  and  he  died  successful 
and  honored. 

Thomas  Crane  was  born  in  Canada,  July  4, 
1843,  and  died  at  Soda  Springs,  Idaho,  May  15, 
1896.  His  parents,  who  were  natives  of  New 
Jersey,  had  taken  up  farming  in  Canada.  His 
father,  Isaac  Crane,  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  and 
the  widowed  mother  removed  with  her  children 
to  Michigan,  where  she  died  in  1899,  aged  eighty- 
six.  Of  their  family  of  nine  children  Thomas 
was  the  sixth  in  order  of  birth.  He  attended  the 
public  schools  near  his  home  in  Canada  and  made 
good  progress  with  his  books.  When  but  a  boy 
of  seventeen,  he  demonstrated  his  possession  of 
extraordinary  business  talent  by  establishing  a 
match  factory,  in  which  he  employed  several  men. 
Information  is  wanting  as  to  how  this  enterprise 
terminated,  but  it  is  safe  to  state  that  it  was  not 
a  failure.  After  some  years  of  business  expe- 
rience as  traveler  for  a  wholesale  drug  house,  in 
Canada,  he  went  to  Oregon  in  1863,  being  then 
only  twenty  years  old.  For  some  years  he  mined 
in  that  state  and  in  British  Columbia,  with  the 
fluctuating  fortune  peculiar  to  mining,  making 
money  and  sinking  it  and  making  more  and  sink- 


666 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


ing  that.  Then  he  made  some  money  in  the 
Carriboo  mines,  and  not  taking  another  chance  of 
sinking  it,  bought,  with  part  of  it,  a  stock  of  gen- 
eral merchandise  at  Soda  Springs.  When  he 
opened  his  store  he  had  no  idea  of  remaining  at 
Soda  Springs  longer  than  might  be  necessary  to 
sell  his  stock,  but  he  made  money  and  his  honor- 
able methods  pleased  his  patrons  and  laid  a  safe 
foundation  for  greater  operations,  and  he  staid 
and  became  the  largest  merchant  and  wealthiest 
man  in  the  place,  with  money  invested  in  bank 
stock,  and  other  money  which  he  profitably 
loaned.  In  1885  he  built  a  good  store  building, 
in  which  his  mercantile  business  is  continued 
successfully  by  his  widow,  and  later  he  bought  a 
fine  residence,  which  has  since  been  the  family 
home. 

Mr.  Crane  was  early  married,  and  his  wife 
died,  leaving  him  one  son,  Eugene  Crane,  now  a 
resident  of  Detroit,  Michigan.  In  August,  1871, 
he  married  Miss  Flora  Goodwin.  They  had 
eight  children,  five  of  whom  are  living:  Bert, 
Elliott,  Albert  J.,  Robert  Roy  and  Elva  Teck. 
The  youngest  of  the  family,  Flora  Cuba,  who 
was  but  three  months  old  when  Mr.  Crane  died, 
died  in  1898,  only  about  two  years  later,  and  the 
family  feel  a  sense  of  double  bereavement.  Mr. 
Crane  gave  close  attention  to  his  business  and 
took  little  active  interest  in  politics,  but  at  all 
times  did  everything  in  his  power  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  his  adopted  town  and  its  people.  His 
loss  to  the  community  is  one  not  easily  repaired. 

Mr.  Crane  was  a  member  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  in  Canada.  In  the  man- 
agement of  his  estate  and  mercantile  business, 
Mrs.  Crane  has  developed  unusual  business  abil- 
ity. She  is  bending  all  her  energies  to  the  suc- 
cessful realization  of  her  late  husband's  plans  and 
to  the  education  and  establishment  of  her  chil- 
dren in  life. 

ALEXANDER  D.  McKINLAY. 

The  west  is  peopled  with  brave  men,  as  men's 
bravery  is  measured,  but  it  has  some  notable  citi- 
zens whose  experiences  extend  back  into  the  days 
of  constant  adventure  and  ever  present  peril. 
Could  the  exploits  and  dangers  of  such  men  of 
the  west  be  written  down  and  put  into  book  form, 
they  would  form  a  series  of  narratives  of  more 
absorbing  interest  than  the  most  exciting  ro- 


mances of  western  life  and  adventure  that  have 
ever  been  penned.  A  fair  representation  of  this 
class  is  Alexander  D.  McKinlay.  He  is  a  son  of 
Henry  and  Barbara  Clarke  McKinlay,  natives  of 
Scotland,  and  was  born  in  Clayton  county,  Iowa, 
February  20,  1853.  His  father  was  born  in  Edin- 
burg  in  1823,  and  died  in  Clayton  county,  Iowa, 
in  1872.  His  mother,  who  was  born  in  Sollen,  in 
1815,  lives  on  the  old  family  homestead  in  Iowa. 
They  came  to  America  and  to  Iowa  in  1847  an(^ 
became  successful  farmers,  highly  respected  by 
reason  of  their  high  character  and  upright  lives. 
Of  their  nine  children,  Alexander  D.  McKinlay 
was  the  fifth  child  in  order  of  birth.  He  was 
reared  to  help  at  the  work  of  the  farm,  and  for  a 
time  attended  school  in  a  primitive  log  school 
house,  and  remained  in  Iowa  until  1877,  when,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-four,  he  emigrated  to  Idaho 
and  located  in  Idaho  county,  where  he  lived  until 
1885.  He  farmed  until  1882  with  sufficient  suc- 
cess to  acquire  some  capital  and  commercial 
standing,  and  then  bought  thirteen  hundred  head 
of  cattle  and  drove  them  over  the  old  Mullan  road 
to  Montana,  where  he  turned  them  over  to  Jack 
DeMar.  In  1884  he  bought  a  drove  of  cattle  and 
took  them  some  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  to 
Eagle  City,  Shoshone  county,  and  sold  them  to 
Moffit  and  Bender.  He  removed  to  Wallace  in 
1885  and  with  the  profits  of  these  and  other  en- 
terprises engaged  in  business  in  that  city,  where 
he  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Holohan  &  Mc- 
Kinlay, dealers  in  tobacco  and  cigars  and  the 
owner  of  considerable  real  estate,  including  an 
interest  in  the  Holohan  &  McKinlay  block. 

Politically  Mr.  McKinlay  was  an  ardent  Re- 
publican until  1892.  He  then  saw  reason  to  es- 
pouse the  Populistic  cause  and  did  so.  In  1880-81 
he  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  of  Idaho 
county;  in  1894  and  1896  was  elected 
justice  of  the  peace  at  Wallace,  and,  in  1898, 
judge  of  the  probate  court  of  Shoshone  county. 
In  the  spring  of  1896  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  city  council  of  Wallace,  and  in  1898  he 
was  re-elected  to  the  same  office.  He  has  al- 
ways been  a  public-spirited  citizen  of  much  in- 
fluence. As  an  instance  of  his  work  for  the  pub- 
lic good  it  may  be  stated  that  he  went,  in  1885, 
to  Murray,  then  the  county-seat  of  Shoshone 
county,  and  prevailed  upon  the  county  commis- 
sioners to  create  a  road  district  of  the  part  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


667 


old  Mullan  road  and  along  the  side  of  the  South 
Fork  river  in  Shoshone  county.  Upon  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  district  he  was,  in  recognition  of 
his  efforts  in  its  behalf,  appointed  supervisor  over 
it.  Mr.  McKinlay  is  an  Elk,  a  Knight  of  Labor 
and  a  member  of  the  order  of  Maccabees. 

There  is  one  chapter  of  Mr.  McKinlay's  life 
which  is  of  especial  interest  and  which  deserves 
to  have  more  space  than  can  be  allotted  to  it. 
That  is  the  narrative  of  his  experiences  as  a  sol- 
dier in  the  Nez  Perces  Indian  war  of  1877  and  in 
the  Bannack  Indian  war  of  1878.     He  is  a  fear- 
less man  who  has  demonstrated  that  he  will  most 
cheerfully  risk  his  life  in  any  cause  to  which  he 
may  devote  himself,  however  hazardous  it  may 
be.       During  the  Bannack  war  a  wagon  was 
loaded  at  Lewiston,  Idaho,  under  the  direction  of 
the  late  lamented  Major  McConville,  with  guns 
and  ammunition,  which  it  was  desired  to  convey 
to    Grangeville,  a    somewhat    distant  point    of 
strategic  importance.     There  was  much  proba- 
bility that  the  Indians  would  attempt  to  capture 
this  valuable  freight,  and  the  driving  of  the  teams 
attached    to  the    wagons  was    not  a  job  to   be 
sought  by  a  man  who  valued  his  life  above  his 
duty.     Mr.  McKinlay  volunteered  for  this  service 
and  was  gladly  entrusted  with  it  by  Major  Mc- 
Conville, who  knew  very  well  the  character  of 
the  man  he  was  dealing  with.     Four  large  cans 
of  coal  oil  were  placed  in  the  wagon  where  they 
could  all  be  set  on  fire  immediately  if  the  wagon 
should  be  surrounded  by  Indians  and  its  capture 
should  appear  inevitable.  Their  ignition  would  ex- 
plode the  ammunition  and  destroy  the  wagon  and 
every  living  thing  in  it  or  near  it,  including  Mr. 
McKinlay,  of  course,  and  the  teams.     With  a  full 
understanding  of  the  perilous  duty  he  assumed, 
Mr.  McKinlay  set  out  at  ten  o'clock  at  night 
with  his  dangerous  cargo  and  was  probably  saved 
from  terminating  the  adventure  with  a  fatal  ex- 
plosion by  the  timely  appearance  of  a  guard  of 
eight  men  at  Spring  Ranch,  twenty  miles  out  of 
Lewiston,   who    protected    him    during    the    re- 
mainder of  the  journey  to  Grangeville.     Such  a 
service  is  sufficient  to  stamp  Mr.  McKinlay  as  a 
man  of  the  most  desperate  courage  and  of  the 
highest  order  of  patriotism.     The  exploit  of  Hob- 
son  and  his  comrades  in  peril  during  the  recent 
Spanish  war  did  not  call  for  more  moral  and 
physical  courage. 


Mr.  McKinlay  was  married  in  Iowa,  in  1876, 
to  Miss  Ellen  Holohan,  who  bore  him  six  chil- 
dren, and  died  April  6,  1887,  at  Cotton  wood, 
Idaho.  Their  children  were  named  Glenn  P., 
Mary  and  John  (twins),  Harry,  Maud  and  Katie. 
John  and  Katie  are  dead.  Harry  is  a  member  of 
Company  A,  Idaho  Volunteers,  and  is  now 
serving  his  country  at  the  peril  of  his  life  in 
the  Philippine  war.  Glenn  P.,  after  a  three-years 
course  at  the  Idaho  State  University,  at  Moscow, 
is  laying  plans  for  future  successes.  Maud  is  a 
member  of  the  father's  household.  In  1894  Mr. 
McKinlay  took  for  his  second  wife  Mary  Bohn, 
who  has  borne  him  two  children,  Hazel,  who  is 
dead,  and  Vivian  Edward. 

WILLIAM  KIRKPATRICK. 

Wherever  his  lot  may  be  cast  in  the  north,  the 
intelligent,  progressive  southerner  finds  a  wel- 
come and  makes  many  friends.  If  he  fought  on 
"the  other  side"  in  our  great  civil  war,  he  is 
everywhere  regarded  more  highly  than  the 
southern  union  man  or  the  southern  non- 
combatant.  He  is  made  to  feel  at  home  by 
Grand  Army  men  and  is  quickly  on  fraternal 
terms  with  those  whom  once  he  faced  on  the  field 
of  battle. 

William  Kirkpatrick  is  one  of  the  prominent 
pioneer  farmers  of  Blackfoot,  Idaho,  where  he 
located  in  1873,  on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres, 
west  of  the  town  site,  which  property  he  still 
owns.  The  county  was  then  unsurveyed  and 
had  few  inhabitants  except  Indians,  with  whom 
the  whites  at  times  had  misunderstandings  but 
managed  to  evade  actual  warfare.  Mr.  Kirkpat- 
rick improved  his  property,  cultivated  it  profita- 
bly and  gave  much  attention  to  stock-raising. 
He  has  a  fine  water-right  and  is  enabled  to  raise 
large  quantities  of  alfalfa  hay,  upon  which  he 
feeds  his  stock  in  winter.  He  has  become  an 
influential  citizen  and  is  a  Democrat  of  the  deep- 
est dye,  declaring  his  intention  to  vote  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket  as  long  as  he  lives.  His  ideals  of 
military  genius  and  statesmanship  are  Robert  E. 
Lee  and  Grover  Cleveland.  He  is  active  in  par- 
tisan work  and  in  the  conventions  of  his  party. 
In  1878  he  did  faithful  and  efficient  service  to  his 
fellow  citizens  as  deputy  sheriff,  and  in  that  ca- 
pacity won  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  reliable 
and  fearless  public  officer. 


668 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Mr.  Kirkpatrick  is  a  southerner,  having  been 
born  in  Greenbrier  county,  Virginia  (now  West 
Virginia),  December  3,  1842,  and  was  descended 
from  English  ancestors  who  settled  early  in  the 
Old  Dominion,  where  several  generations  of  his 
family  were  born.  His  father,  George  Kirkpat- 
rick, a  native  of  Virginia,  married  Miss  Malinda 
Dean.  They  were  religious  from  childhood  and 
active  and  useful  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  of  which  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  was  an  elder. 
Mrs.  Kirkpatrick  died  in  the  forty-third  year  of 
her  life  and  her  husband  survives  her,  aged 
eighty-three.  They  had  ten  children,  eight  of 
whom  are  living. 

William  Kirkpatrick,  third  child  of  George 
and  Malinda  (Dean)  Kirkpatrick,  was  educated 
in  Virginia,  and  when  the  anti-slavery  agitation 
culminated  in  the  war  between  the  states,  he  es- 
poused the  cause  of  the  south,  enlisting  in  Com- 
pany E,  twenty-sixth  Virginia  Battalion,  which 
for  a  time  was  attached  to  the  Western  Army  and 
did  scout  and  guard  duty  in  West  Virginia. 
Later  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  took  part  in  some  of  the 
hard-fought  battles  of  the  great  struggle.  He 
was  in  the  fighting  at  Winchester,  Cedar  Creek, 
Cold  Harbor,  Culpeper  Court  House,  White  Sul- 
phur Springs,  Charleston,  Hawk's  Nest  and  at 
various  other  points.  In  one  of  these  engage- 
ments he  was  shot  in  the  right  shoulder,  but 
though  his  wound  was  painful,  he  bore  up  bravely 
and  never  left  his  company.  At  Cold  Harbor, 
one  of  the  most  terrific  engagements  of  the  war, 
his  hearing  was  impaired  by  the  incessant  con- 
cussions of  heavy  cannonading.  At  the  time  of 
the  surrender  of  General  Lee,  the  Twenty-sixth 
Battalion  was  in  its  home  state,  and  it  disbanded 
and  its  members  went  to  their  homes  without 
either  discharge  or  parole. 

For  a  time  after  the  war  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  was 
overseer  of  a  large  stock  farm  in  West  Virginia, 
owned  by  a  prominent  citizen  of  that  state.  From 
there  he  came  to  Idaho,  in  1873,  as  has  been 
stated,  to  engage  in  stock-raising  on  his  own  ac- 
count. After  spending  two  years  here  as  a  single 
man,  he  married  Miss  Ann  Geret,  a  native  of 
England.  They  have  six  children:  John,  Ed- 
ward, William,  George  Cleveland,  James  and 
Millie. 

Mr.  Kirkpatrick  is  a  genial,  whole-souled  man 
who  makes  friends  wherever  he  goes,  and  his 


home  is  one  of  the  most  hospitable  at  Black- 
foot. 

THOMAS  G.  LOWE. 

Thomas  Galloway  Lowe,  who  follows  farming 
near  the  town  of  Franklin,  is  a  son  of  Thomas 
and  Eliza  (Galloway)  Lowe,  who  were  natives  of 
Scotland.  Reared  and  married  in  that  country, 
three  children  were  there  born  to  them,  after 
which  they  sailed  with  their  family  for  America, 
in  1853.  They  landed  in  New  York  and  made 
a  location  in  the  east,  but  by  various  removals 
gradually  made  their  way  westward,  and  in  the 
interim  six  more  children  were  added  to  the  fam- 
ily. In  1 86 1  they  started  to  cross  the  plains  with 
an  old  yoke  of  oxen,  bringing  with  them  their 
nine  children.  They  traveled  from  spring  until 
fall,  but  eventually  reached  their  destination  in 
safety,  and  Mr.  Lowe,  who  was  a  carpenter  by 
trade,  at  once  secured  work  on  a  grist  mill.  He 
remained  at  East  Weaver,  Utah,  until  the  spring 
of  1863,  when  with  his  wife  and  children,  now  ten 
in  number,  he  came  to  Oneida  county,  Idaho, 
and  settled  upon  unsurveyed  lands.  There  he 
made  his  home  until  1886,  when  he  was  called  to 
his  final  rest,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years.  His 
wife  survives  him  and  now  resides  on  the  old 
homestead,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  her  age, 
a  much  respected  old  lady,  numbered  among  the 
brave  pioneer  women  of  the  state.  She  was  the 
faithful  and  loving  mother  of  sixteen  children, 
fourteen  of  whom  are  living. 

Thomas  G.  Lowe,  the  eldest  child,  was  born  in 
Scotland,  April  n,  1851,  and  was  only  two  years 
old  at  the  time  of  the  emigration  of  the  family  to 
America.  He  obtained  the  greater  part  of  his 
education  in  a  private  school  in  Franklin,  Idaho, 
under  the  instruction  of  President  Woodward. 
He  learned  the  carpenter's  trade  with  his  father, 
and  worked  on  the  building  of  the  Logan  Temple 
for  three  and  a  half  years.  In  1875  he  was  sent 
by  his  church  on  a  mission  to  Europe,  where  he 
labored  very  successfully  in  Scotland  and  Eng- 
land for  two  years,  bringing  with  him  on  his  re- 
turn trip  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  converts  to 
the  Mormon  faith,  the  voyage  being  made  on  the 
ship  Wyoming. 

After  his  return  Mr.  Lowe  was  called  by  Presi- 
dent Taylor  to  superintend  the  building  of  the 
Paris  stake  tabernacle,  and  carried  it  forward  to 
successful  completion,  it  being  by  far  the  best 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


669 


house  of  worship  in  the  state.  After  spending 
two  years  in  that  work  he  returned  to  Franklin 
and  engaged  in  merchandising,  securing  a  very 
liberal  patronage  and  prospering  in  his  under- 
takings. However,  he  sold  out  to  engage  in  the 
sheep  industry,  in  which  he  has  also  met  with  ex- 
cellent success.  He  has  on  hand  most  of  the 
time  as  high  as  forty-three  hundred  head  of 
sheep,  and  his  lambs  in  the  season  of  1898-9 
brought  him  four  thousand  dollars.  He  has 
sheds  in  which  he  protects  his  sheep  in  the  winter 
and  thus  has  fine  lambs  for  the  early  market,  at 
which  time  they  bring  the  highest  price. 

In  1872  Mr.  Lowe  was  happily  married  to  Miss 
Elizabeth  A.  M.  Pernell,  a  native  of  St.  Louis, 
and  their  children  are  as  follows:  Louisa, 
Thomas  M.,  James  S.,  Euphana,  Nora,  Refuge, 


Marvelous,  Era  and  Silver.    The  eldest  daughter 
is  now  the  wife  of  Thomas  J.  Poulter. 

In  politics  Mr.  Lowe  is  a  Democrat.  He  takes 
a  deep  interest  in  educational  matters  and  has  ef- 
ficiently served  as  school  trustee  of  his  district. 
In  the  church  he  is  an  active  worker,  has  been 
president  of  the  elders'  quorum  and  president  of 
the  Young  Men's  Mutual  Improvement  Associa- 
tion. He  is  also  president  of  the  teachers'  quo- 
rum, and  in  all  such  positions  has  shown  himself 
to  be  the  right  man  in  the  right  place.  In  busi- 
ness affairs  he  is  industrious,  diligent  and  capable, 
has  met  with  success  in  every  undertaking,  and  is 
a  credit  to  the  town  in  which  he  was  reared  and 
educated,  fully  deserving  the  prosperity  that  has 
come  to  him  and  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  is 
held. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 


BEAR  LAKE  COUNTY. 


BEAR  LAKE  county  is  the  smallest  in  Ida- 
ho, yet  one  of  the  richest,  and  one  of  the 
very  few  counties  comparatively  free  from 
public  indebtedness.  The  natural  wealth  of  the 
little  domain  is  about  as  happily  diversified  as  its 
residents  could  wish.  It  has  mountains  on  either 
side  rich  in  minerals,  timber  and  building  stone, 
which  have  recently  been  developed  to  a  greater 
extent  than  during  all  the  years  of  its  settlement. 
The  county  was  settled  by  Mormons  in  the 
year  1863,  and  for  a  number  of  years  afterward 
their  residence  continued  under  circumstances 
of  the  most  forbidding  and  discouraging  nature. 
The  county  is  perhaps  the  highest  altitude  that 
is  cultivated  successfully  in  the  world,  the  altitude 
being  about  six  thousand  feet,  and  the  early  set- 
tlers, being  unaccustomed  to  the  frosts  and  the 
storms  of  these  high  altitudes  and  the  different 
methods  of  raising  crops  by  irrigation,  were  for 
several  years  compelled  to  haul  their  flour  and 
other  necessaries  over  the  rugged  mountains 
from  Cache  valley,  Utah,  a  distance  of  seventy- 
five  miles,  the  roads  being  mere  trails,  rocky, 
sidling,  and  without  bridges  over  the  wild,  swift 
mountain  streams.  To  settle  such  a  county,  none 
but  the  strongest  and  most  determined  could  ac- 
complish; so  bleak  and  sterile  was  the  country 
that  the  shade  and  fruit  trees  first  planted  re- 
fused to  grow.  All  this  is  changed  by  the  labor 
and  perseverance  of  this  people,  and  their  learn- 
ing how  to  cultivate  by  irrigation,  and  to  secure 
those  seeds,  trees  and  shrubs  which  are  accli- 
mated to  these  high  altitudes.  By  this  means  the 
county  is  now  abundantly  fruitful  in  grain,  hay 
and  vegetables  of  almost  every  kind.  It  appears 
to  be  the  home  of  all  kinds  of  small  fruit,  and 
apples,  pears,  plums,  cherries,  prunes,  etc.,  are 
becoming  plentiful,  while  watermelons,  squash, 
corn,  tomatoes  and  other  of  the  tender  fruits  are 
raised  by  many. 

Along  the  mountainous  surface  of  the  county 
is  a  heavy  growth  of  pine  timber,  into  which 


numerous  sawmills  annually  make  inroads  with- 
out seriously  diminishing  the  supply. 

The  stock  business  is  one  of  the  principal  in- 
dustries, and  one  of  the  main  resources  of  the 
county.  The  grazing  facilities  are  excellent,  and 
the  hay-producing  area  is  very  large ;  much  of  it 
is  overflowed  by  the  waters  of  Bear  river  each 
spring,  and  this  not  only  serves  the  purpose  of 
irrigation,  but  also  very  materially  increases  the 
productiveness  of  the  soil.  Without  this  heavy 
hay  crop,  stock-raising  could  not  be  very  well 
carried  on,  as  the  winters  are  very  severe  from 
early  in  January  to  the  middle  of  March. 

Cheese-making  has  come  to  be  quite  an  in- 
dustry in  Bear  Lake,  and  during  the  summer  sea- 
son of  1897  it  was  estimated  that  the  cheese  fac- 
tories of  Bear  Lake  county — of  which  there  are 
seventeen — turned  out  ten  tons  of  cheese  each 
week,  almost  every  pound  of  which  found  its  way 
into  Nebraska,  Wyoming,  Utah,  Montana  and 
Colorado  markets. 

A  short  distance  from  Montpelier,  near  what  is 
known  as  the  old  Lander  emigrant  road,  are  lo- 
cated the  Oneida  salt  works.  There  are  several 
springs,  and  no  pumping  is  required,  the  water 
being  run  through  wooden  pipes  into  large  gal- 
vanized-iron  pans,  in  which  the  salt  is  made  by 
boiling  the  water.  The  water  is  as  cold  as  ordi- 
nary spring  water,  and  is  perfectly  clear,  showing 
how  completely  the  saline  matter  is  held  in  solu- 
tion. The  salt  is  shoveled  out  once  in  thirty 
minutes,  and  after  draining  twenty-five  hours,  is 
thence  thrown  into  the  drying-house,  there  to 
remain  until  sacked  and  ready  for  shipment.  The 
supply  of  water  gives  four  thousand  five  hundred 
pounds  of  salt  per  day,  and  the  owners  market  it 
at  five  cents  per  pound.  An  analysis  made  by 
Dr.  Piggott,  of  Baltimore,  shows  a  higher  per- 
centage of  pure  salt  than  the  celebrated  Ononda- 
ga  brand  of  Syracuse,  while  neither  Liverpool, 
Turk's  Island  nor  Saginaw  salt  approaches  it  in 
purity,  or  is  as  white,  clear  or  soluble  in  liquids. 


670 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


G71 


The  product  for  1897  was  about  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  pounds. 

It  has  only  been  but  recently  that  the  fame  of 
the  hot  springs  has  been  published  abroad.  All 
through  the  beautiful  Bear  Lake  valley  mineral 
springs  are  plentiful.  The  most  important,  how- 
ever, are  the  Bear  Lake  Hot  Springs,  situated  on 
the  shores  of  Bear  Lake.  Here  a  stream  of  min- 
eral water  comes  pouring  from  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  nearly  boiling  hot,  furnishing  water 
sufficient  for  two  splendid  plunge  baths.  The 
curative  qualities  of  the  waters  of  these  springs 
are  marvelous.  For  rheumatic  complaints,  skin 
diseases,  catarrh  and  kindred  ailments,  they  are 
unexcelled.  The  waters  have  never  been  fully 
analyzed,  but  sulphur,  mercury  and  niter  exist  in 
quantities  sufficient  to  make  the  waters  the  best 
natural  medical  bath  known.  Montpelier,  on  the 
Oregon  Short  Line,  is  the  most  convenient  rail- 
road point.  Hunting,  fishing  and  bathing  are 
all  combined  with  this  resort,  and  there  is  a  good 
family  hotel. 

Within  a  radius  of  two  or  three  miles  there  are 
a  group  of  mineral  springs,  near  Soda  Springs, 
which  are  considered  most  remarkable,  because 
of  their  waters  ranging  from  almost  ice-cold  to 
warm,  containing  magnesia,  soda,  iron,  sulphur 
and  various  other  constituents  in  such  propor- 
tions as  to  have  a  great  power  on  disease,  and 
some  of  them  being  so  highly  charged  with  car- 
bonic acid  and  other  gases  as  to  prove  a  most 
pleasing  beverage.  Over  one  million  bottles  of 
the  famous  "Idanha"  mineral  water  are  put  up 
every  year.  This  water  is  bottled  out  of  the 
spring  called  Idanha  (the  Indian  name  for  Ida- 
ho). The  water  from  this  spring  is  most  palat- 
able and  has  a  delightfully  refreshing  and  invig- 
orating effect.  During  one  single  month  the 
Oregon  Short  Line  shipped  over  one  hundred 
tons  of  this  bottled  elixir  from  Soda  Springs 
station. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  these  springs  there  are 
extinct  volcanoes,  geyser  cones,  sulphur  moun- 
tains, a  boiling  lake  of  the  same  material,  some 
wonderful  caves,  superb  fishing  and  hunting,  the 
Blackfoot  and  Portneuf  furnishing  the  trout  and 
the  mountains  bear  and  elk.  Four  miles  south- 
west is  Swan  Lake,  one  of  the  loveliest  natural 
gems  set  in  the  Wasatch  range.  It  reclines  in 
an  oval  basin,  whose  rim  is  ten  feet  above  the 


surrounding  country.  The  shores  are  densely 
covered  with  trees,  shrubs  and  luxuriant  under- 
growth. The  outlet  is  a  series  of  small,  moss- 
covered  basins,  symmetrically  arranged,  the  clear 
water  overflowing  the  bank,  trickling  into  the 
nearest  emerald  tub,  then  successively  into  others, 
until  it  forms  a  sparkling  stream,  emptying  into 
the  Bear  river  in  the  valley  below.  The  lake  is 
said  to  be  bottomless,  no  sounding  having  as  yet 
determined  its  depth.  Near  this  lake  of  beautiful 
fresh  water  is  the  singular  sulphur  lake,  out  of 
whose  center  liquid  sulphur  incessantly  boils  and 
coats  the  shores  with  thick  deposits. 

But  the  most  famous  of  all  the  lakes  is  the 
Bear  Lake,  from  which  the  county  is  named. 
This  body  of  fresh  water  is  twenty  miles  long  by 
eight  miles  wide,  reaching  from  St.  Charles  (a 
prosperous,  cleanly  city  eight  miles  south  of 
Paris,  to  Lake  Town,  in  Rich  county,  Utah)  its 
elevation  is  five  thousand  nine  hundred  feet,  and 
it  abounds  in  fish  of  various  kinds,  such  as  sev- 
eral kinds  of  trout  (salmon,  silver  and  speckled), 
and  mullet,  white  fish  and  chub.  Utah's  state 
game  and  fish  warden  has  deposited  a  large 
amount  of  black  bass  in  this  lake,  and  Idaho's 
executive  has  arranged  for  their  protection  and 
care. 

The  lake  is  fed  by  several  mountain  streams, 
and  these  also  abound  in  fish,  mostly  mountain 
brook  trout.  It  has  an  outlet,  emptying  into 
Bear  river,  in  the  north.  The  shores  of  the  lake 
are  sandy  and  gravelly,  affording  a  clean  and  easy 
approach.  The  water  is  shallow  for  a  distance  of 
about  one  hundred  yards,  when  it  gradually  deep- 
ens to  an  extent  not  as  yet  determined.  A  little 
north  of  Garden  City,  Utah,  a  sounding  line  ran 
out  nine  hundred  feet,  but  no  bottom  was 
touched.  The  water  is  very  clear,  affording  a 
view  of  the  bottom  at  a  depth  of  ten  to  fifteen 
feet.  It  is  a  splendid  bathing  resort,  and  the 
inhabitants,  living  on  its  shores,  delight  in  its 
exercise,  as  well  as  the  many  hundreds  who  visit 
the  lake  in  the  summer  from  Idaho,  Wyoming, 
Utah  and  other  distant  localities.  The  Oregon 
Short  Line  skirts  the  northern  shore. 

Movements  made  in  mining  circles  in  Bear 
Lake  county  during  the  last  two  years  compel 
one  to  believe  that  this  county  will  yet  rank  as 
one  of  the  foremost  mineral  producers  of  the 
state.  This  is  made  especially  the  more  forcible 


(572 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


on  account  of  the  wonderful  developments  made 
in  the  Humming  Bird  property,  recently  bonded 
by  Colonel  Shaughnessey  of  Salt  Lake  City  and 
others.  The  mine  is  located  about  five  miles 
from  Paris,  up  Paris  canyon. 

The  Blackstone  mine,  near  St.  Charles,  eight 
miles  south  of  Paris,  is  another  excellent  piece 
of  mining  property,  well  supplied  with  a  quartz- 
crushing  mill  and  all  other  necessary  machinery. 
This  property,  with  fourteen  others,  is  owned  by 
the  Dodge  Company,  of  Salt  Lake.  It  produces 
a  low-grade  galena  ore,  running  about  seventy- 
five  per  cent  lead  and  a  few  dollars  in  silver  and 
gold. 

The  Norman  copper  mines  are  being  worked, 
and  are  showing  up  brighter  all  the  time. 

The  public  schools  of  Bear  Lake  county  take 
high  rank.  New  school  furniture  and  apparatus 
is  to  be  found  in  every  school  district,  and  over 
half  of  the  school  districts  have  now  new  and 
commodious  school-houses.  "Examinations  have 
been  frequent,  so  as  to  prevent  any  individual 
teaching  school  who  could  not  come  up  to  the 

required  standard. 

PARIS. 

Paris,  the  county-seat  of  Bear  Lake  county,  is 
situated  ten  miles  southwest  of  Montpelier,  which 
is  its  nearest  railroad  station.  The  altitude  is 
about  six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and  the 
climate  and  natural  advantages  are  all  that  could 
be  desired.  Paris  is  an  incorporated  city,  con- 
taining about  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants,  and 
was  founded  in  the  fall  of  1863  by  Apostle  C.  C. 
Rich,  who  brought  with  him  a  company  of  Latter 
Day  Saints  to  possess  the  land  and  make  a  set- 
tlement. Among  the  first  residents  were  Robert 
H.  Williams,  Hezekiah  Duffie,  John  Mann, 
Thomas  Sleght,  John  and  George  Humphreys 
and  Joseph  Rich,  the  last  named  now  judge  of 
the  district  court.  They  were  a  brave-  and  faith- 
ful band  of  pioneers,  who  endured  many  hard- 
ships and  privations  in  order  to  make  homes  in 
this  new  district,  and  Paris  now  stands  as  a  mon- 
ument to  their  fortitude  and  enterprise.  It  con- 
tains many  nice  homes,  beautiful  shade  trees,  fine 
gardens,  and  is  surrounded  by  richly  cultivated 
farms  and  well-kept  stock  ranches.  Farming 
and  stock-raising  constitute  the  chief  occupations 
of  the  settlers  of  this  locality,  and  many  of  the 
agriculturists  reside  in  Paris,  and  own  and  culti- 


vate lands  near  by.  In  1897  the  place  was  incor- 
porated as  a  village,  with  a  board  of  trustees,  and 
in  April,  1898,  the  first  city  board  was  elected, 
consisting  of  John  U.  Stucki,  mayor;  J.  R.  Shep- 
herd, Arthur  Budge,  Walter  Hoge,  Thomas 
Menson,  Wilfred  Rich,  A.  F.  Seegmiller,  Chris- 
tian Fuller  and  Charles  Inness,  all  representative 
men.  The  city  is  out  of  debt.  It  has  a  large 
brick  district  school  building,  and  the  stake 
academy,  which  is  a  large  brick  structure, 
is  now  being  completed  and  occupies  a 
splendid  site,  which  was  donated  for  the 
purpose  by  Mayor  Stucki.  The  grounds  include 
four  acres,  and  the  building  overlooks  Paris  and 
the  entire  valley.  The  Latter  Day  Saints  have 
also  erected  a  large  stake  tabernacle,  of  red  and 
white  stone,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  twenty-five 
hundred.  It  was  built  at  a  cost  of  fifty  thousand 
dollars  and  is  by  far  the  finest  church  edifice  in 
the  state.  There  are  also  two  ward  frame  meet- 
ing-houses, owned  by  the  same  church,  for  use 
on  more  common  occasions.  The  Presbyterian 
people  also  have  a  nice  little  church  edifice  and  a 
resident  minister.  The  business  of  the  town  is 
done  in  two  large  general  mercantile  stores,  a 
drug  store,  two  meat  markets,  two  blacksmith 
shops,  a  harness  shop  and  a  creamery.  The  last 
is  a  new  industry,  owned  by  a  stock  company  of 
the  citizens,  and  the  factory  has  a  capacity  for 
utilizing  six  hundred  cans  of  milk  per  day.  In 
the  county  there  are  also  a  number  of  cheese 
factories.  The  residents  of  Paris  are  nearly  all 
Latter  Day  Saints,  and  are  an  honest,  temperate, 
thrifty  people,  who  have  founded  and  maintain 
an  attractive  little  city. 

MONTPELIER. 

Montpelier  is  a  city  of  sixteen  hundred  inhabi- 
tants, situated  in  Bear  Lake  valley,  Bear  Lake 
county,  Idaho,  on  the  Oregon  Short  Line  Rail- 
road, ninety-nine  miles  east  of  Pocatello,  and  it 
is  nearly  six  thousand  feet  above  sea  level.  It 
was  first  settled  in  April,  1864,  by  fifteen  men  and 
their  families,  members  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  who  in  answer  to 
the  call  of  the  church  volunteered  to  go  out  and 
settle  the  valley.  Of  those  first  fifteen  brave  and 
faithful  pioneers  the  following  are  still  living  in 
the  town,  honored  for  what  they  have  done :  John 
Bunney,  Christian  Hoganson,  William  Severns, 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


673 


John  Cozzens  and  William  Ervin.  Jacob  Jones 
and  Edward  Burgoyne  are  credited  with  having 
arrived  about  the  same  time.  Charles  H.  Bridges 
is  also  one  of  the  very  early  settlers  of  the  town. 
Most  of  these  gentlemen  have  raised  large  and 
respected  families,  most  of  whom  have  settled  in 
the  town  and  surrounding  country.  The  wives 
of  most  of  these  pioneers  who  braved  with  them 
all  the  early  trials  and  dangers  are  still  spared  to 
them. 

The  first  settlers  called  the  place  Clover  Creek 
and  Belmont,  but  later  President  Brigham 
Young  visited  them  and  gave  the  town  its  pres- 
ent name,  Montpelier,  that  being  the  name  of  the 
town  in  Vermont  in  which  he  was  born.  The 
first  settlers  lived  in  dug-outs  covered  with  brush, 
some  by  day  in  the  willows,  sleeping  in  their 
wagons.  As  soon  as  they  could,  they  built  log 
houses,  and,  not  having  lumber,  spread  hay  on 
the  earth  floor  and  hung  up  a  cloth  for  a  door 
and  covered  the  window  in  the  same  way.  Later 
they  whip-sawed  lumber  for  floors,  etc.,  and 
made  themselves  more  comfortable.  Part  of  the 
time  a  large  coffee-mill  was  used  to  grind  the 
grain,  and  they  had  to  go  with  oxen  seventy-five 
miles  for  their  supplies,  and  the  mail  during  the 
long  months  of  winter  was  brought  in  by  men  on 
snow-shoes.  Each  settler  was  allotted  an  acre 
and  a  quarter  in  the  town,  and  out  of  the  town 
twenty  acres  of  grain  land  and  twenty  acres  for 
hay.  These  small  allotments  were  made  so  that 
they  could  live  close  together  for  mutual  protec- 
tion. 

During  several  of  the  first  years  of  the  settle- 
ment there  were  destructive  early  frosts,  and  the 
crickets  and  grasshoppers  came  down  on  the  pio- 
neers in  great  numbers  and  completely  destroyed 
all  that  they  tried  to  raise,  and  at  times  it  looked 
very  dark  for  the  brave  little  colony.  Not  a  few 
of  the  men  had  pulled  hand-carts  across  the 
plains  and  suffered  many  hardships  for  their 
church,  but  they  had  courage  and  a  great  faith 
that  never  faltered,  and  they  endured  and  perse- 
vered, and  one  outcome  of  their  stability  is  the 
growing  business  town  of  Montpelier.  The  lit- 
tle huts  and  log  houses  have  been  replaced  by 
fine  commodious  houses,  and  the  founders  of  the 
town  are  now  living  in  peace,  comfort  and  con- 


tentment, still  true  to  the  faith  that  inspired  them 
in  those  days  of  peril  and  privation. 

The  railroad  was  completed  in  1884.  Repair 
shops  were  established  at  Montpelier  and  the 
town  was  made  a  division  terminus  and  grew  to- 
ward the  depot  and  naturally  became  a  distribut- 
ing point  for  all  the  country  north  within  a  dis- 
tance of  one  hundred  miles  and  south  for  sixty 
miles  or  more.  At  this  time  its  post-office  dis- 
tributes mail  for  twenty-seven  post-offices,  sev- 
enty million  pounds  of  freight  are  annually  re- 
ceived at  the  station,  and  large  numbers  of  sheep 
and  cattle  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  wool 
are  shipped  from  it,  and  it  is  believed  that  fully 
twelve  thousand  people  procure  their  supplies  at 
this  point.  The  town  has  six  general  merchan- 
dise stores.  It  has  three  large  hardware  and  im- 
plement houses  and  the  only  banking  house  in 
the  county.  This  bank,  known  as  the  Bank  of 
Montpelier,  under  the  able  and  courteous  man- 
agement of  Mr.  G.  C.  Gray,  its  cashier,  is  doing  a 
large  general  banking  business.  On  the  I3th  of 
August,  1893,  its  officers  were  "held  up"  and  the 
bank  was  robbed  of  more  than  seven  thousand 
dollars,  by  cow-boys.  None  of  the  money  was 
ever  recovered,  but  one  of  the  robbers  is  now 
serving  a  thirty-five-year  sentence  in  the  state 
penitentiary.  The  plate-glass  surrounding  the 
counting-room  of  the  bank  is  now  fortified  with 
plates  of  steel.  Montpelier  is  the  only  telegraph 
town  in  the  county  with  the  exception  of  Paris. 
It  has  two  large  school  houses  and  four  church 
edifices, — those  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints,  the 
Presbyterians,  the  Catholics  and  the  Episcopal- 
ians. It  has  one  live  newspaper,  the  Examiner. 
The  town  is  located  in  a  rich  farming  valley  forty 
miles  long  and  eight  miles  wide,  occupying  more 
than  one-fourth  of  the  territory  of  Bear  Lake 
county,  which  contains  one  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  square  miles.  The  town  was  in- 
corporated a  village  in  1801,  and  as  a  city  in  1894. 
A  very  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
town  and  county  are  members  of  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints.  They  and  the 
"Gentile"  portion  of  the  inhabitants  live  on  the 
best  of  terms,  and  the  great  majority  of  both 
classes  are  industrious,  trustworthy  and  pro- 
gressive citizens. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 


PRESBYTERIANISM  IN  IDAHO— THE  FORT  HALL  CANAL-PERTINENT  INFORMATION 

ON  VARIOUS  SUBJECTS. 


*PRESBYTERIANISM  IN  IDAHO. 

THE  history  of  Presbyterianism  in  Idaho  em- 
braces three  separate  histories :  that  of  the 
work  among  the  Nez  Perces,  that  of  the 
work  among  the  whites  in  the  Panhandle,  and  that 
of  the  work  in  the  southern  section  of  the  state. 

The  work  among  the  Nez  Perces  had  its  begin- 
ning in  1836,  when  Rev.  Henry  H.  Spalding,  the 
friend  and  companion  of  Marcus  Whitman,  es- 
tablished a  mission  station  at  Lapwai  on  the 
Clearwater,  twelve  miles  above  the  present  city 
of  Lewiston.  When  the  Whitmans  were  massa- 
cred in  1847  Mr.  Spalding  and  his  wife  were  also 
marked  as  victims,  and  though  they  escaped  with 
their  lives  they  were  shut  out  from  work  in  that 
field  until  1871.  In  that  year  Mr.  Spalding  was 
allowed  to  return  and  spent  three  busy  years 
among  the  people  from  whom  he  had  been  sep- 
arated for  almost  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The 
seed  sown  with  weeping  so  long  before  had  not 
perished,  and  he  was  permitted  to  gather  in  his 
sheaves  with  rejoicing.  During  the  last  three 
years  of  his  life  he  was  permitted  to  baptize  six 
hundred  and  ninety-four  Indian  converts. 

One  year  before  he  died  two  women  of  heroic 
spirit,  educated,  consecrated,  and  in  every  way 
fitted,  came  to  his  help.  They  were  the  Misses 
Susan  and  Kate  McBeth,  whose  names  are  now 
household  words  in  Presbyterian  homes.  Miss 
Susan  had  worked  among  the  Choctaws  until  the 
civil  war  compelled  her  withdrawal,  and  then  she 
served  as  a  nurse  in  the  army  hospitals  in  St. 
Louis  until  the  close  of  the  war.  Shattered  in 
health  though  she  was,  when  she  heard  of  the 
need  of  the  Nez  Perces  she  offered  her  services 
to  the  Presbyterian  board  and  went  out,  accompa- 
nied by  her/'sister-todie,"  her  friends  said,  to  give 
twenty  years  of  splendid  service  as  her  Master 
ordered  it.  She  had  said,  "I  will  go  to  the  Nez 

*  This  sketch  was  prepared  by  Rev.  Elmer  E.  Fife, 
the  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  of  Boise. 


Perces:  with  such  work  to  do  for  Christ  I  can 
rise  to  life  again."  She  continued  an  invalid, 
but  who  in  health  could  have  accomplished  more 
than  she? 

Both  sisters  went  to  work  with  a  will,  Miss 
Kate  to  teach  the  women  and  the  children,  and 
Miss  Susan  to  teach  the  men  and  train  up  an  in- 
telligent and  consecrated  native  ministry.  So 
great  was  her  success  that  she  has  been  called 
"a  living  theological  seminary."  Her  scholar- 
ship attracted  the  attention  of  Professor  Joseph 
Henry,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  while  her 
personal  character,  and  the  efficiency  of  her  la- 
bors secured  for  her  the  warm  friendship  of  such 
men  as  Dr.  Dorchester  and  General  O.  O.  How- 
ard. She  died  in  1893  and  her  work  has  since 
been  carried  on  by  her  sister  and  others.  The 
extent  of  the  success  of  this  work  is  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  at  the  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Walla  Walla  at  Moscow,  April  6,  of  this  present 
year,  there  were  in  attendance  eighteen  Indian 
delegates. 

The  Presbytery  of  Idaho  was  organized  in 
1880.  It  embraced  the  entire  territory  of  Idaho, 
together  with  the  eastern  portions  of  Washing- 
ton and  Oregon.  It  was  divided  in  1883,  and  the 
region  lying  "east  and  south  of  the  eastern  and 
southern  boundary  of  Idaho  county,  Idaho  terri- 
tory," was  organized  under  the  name  of  the 
''Wood  River  Presbytery."  The  remaining  por- 
tion continued  to  be  Idaho  Presbytery  until  1891, 
when  a  second  division  was  made  and  it  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  present  presbyteries  of  Walla 
Walla  and  Spokane.  (I  regret  that  I  do  not 
have  the  data  for  a  detailed  sketch  of  the  organi- 
zation and  later  history  of  the  Idaho  congrega- 
tions of  these  presbyteries.) 

The  first  Presbyterian  sermon  within  the  limits 
of  the  Wood  River  Presbytery  was  preached  at 
Boise  City  by  Rev.  H.  W.  Stratton,  the  synodical 
missionary  of  the  Synod  of  the  Columbia.  He 


674 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


675 


organized  the  first  Presbyterian  church  at  that 
place,  with  sixteen  members,  February  4,  1878. 
It  was  organized  in  the  Methodist  church,  held 
its  services  for  a  time  in  the  Baptist  church,  and 
built  its  own  place  of  worship  in  1879. 

Rev.  E.  Pratt  began  work  in  Ketchum,  Hailey 
and  Bellevue  in  1882.  A  little  later,  churches 
were  organized  at  Hailey  and  Bellevue.  The 
church  of  Caldwell  is  the  monument  to  the  ener- 
gy of  a  few  Presbyterian  ladies  who  wished  to 
have  a  church  and  a  pastor.  As  there  were  no 
men  there  at  that  time  who  wished  to  unite  with 
them  in  organizing  a  church  they  formed  a 
"Presbyterian  Church  Society."  They  made 
some  money,  secured  the  promise  of  more,  and 
then  wrote  to  the  board  of  home  missions  telling 
what  they  had  done,  and  stating  what  help  they 
needed.  The  help  was  heartily  given,  and,  some 
men  having  been  found  in  the  meantime  who 
were  ready  to  go  into  a  Presbyterian  church,  it 
was  organized  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Barton,  in  1888, 
with  Rev.  W.  J.  Boone  as  the  first  pastor.  From 
Boise  City  and  Caldwell  as  centers  the  work  has 
extended  until  there  are  now  a  number  of  other 
very  promising  congregations. 

Wood  River  Presbytery  was  divided  in  1893, 
and  the  churches  above  mentioned  were  grouped 
together  in  "Boise  Presbytery."  The  eastern 
section  of  the  state  was  organized  as  "Kendall 
Presbytery,"  taking  the  name  in  honor  of  that 
fine  old  hero  of  Presbyterian  missions,  Rev. 
Henry  Kendall,  D.  D.  Montpelier  was  the  first 
station  occupied,  ground  for  a  chapel  having 
been  purchased  there  in  1883  by  Rev.  D.  J.  Mc- 
Millan, who  became  later  one  of  the  correspond- 
ing secretaries  of  the  home  mission  board.  Miss 
Florence  E.  Baker  opened  a  mission  school  at 
that  place  in  the  spring  of  1884,  teaching  in  a 
little  log  cabin  until  the  chapel  was  completed. 
Rev.  R.  P.  Boyd  began  work  at  Paris,  the  county- 
seat  of  Bear  Lake  county,  in  March,  1885,  being 
the  first  minister  of  any  evangelical  denomination 
to  make  that  county  his  place  of  residence.  He 
is  still  faithfully  at  work.  Since  then  many  other 
points  have  been  occupied,  and  chapels  and  mis- 
sion schools  have  been  built.  As  that  part  of  the 
state  is  largely  Mormon,  the  character  of  the 
work  undertaken  has  been  determined  by  that 
fact. 

The  College  of  Idaho,  a  school  under  Presby- 


terian auspices,  that  at  present  has  the  grade  of 
an  academy,  was  opened  at  Caldwell  in  October, 
1891.  It  has  made  a  steady,  healthy  growth  un- 
der the  management  of  its  president,  Rev.  W.  J. 
Boone,  and  is  attended  by  a  fine  body  of  students 
who  are  old  enough  to  know  why  they  are  going 
to  school  and  eager  to  make  the  most  of  their 
opportunities.  Eastern  friends  are  manifesting 
increased  interest  in  it,  and  generous  donations 
have  recently  been  made  that  will  greatly  in- 
crease its  efficiency. 

The  work  of  our  synodical  Sunday-school 
missionaries  is  of  prime  importance.  They  or- 
ganize schools  where  there  are  none,  and  en- 
deavor to  keep  them  alive  and  at  work.  In  some 
places  these  schools  have  been  of  direct  benefit  to 
Presbyterianism,  but  its  fundamental  purpose  is 
to  better  the  religious  condition  of  the  state 
without  regard  to  denomination.  In  addition  to 
this  they  give  such  assistance  as  lies  in  their 
power  to  the  smaller  congregations,  and  also  to 
evangelistic  work  in  unoccupied  fields.  Rev.  J. 
H.  Barton  is  the  missionary  for  Boise  and  Ken- 
dall Presbyteries,  and  Rev.  Matthew  G.  Mann 
in  the  Panhandle. 

The  general  oversight  of  mission  congrega- 
tions is  intrusted  to  the  synodical  missionary, 
while  they  are  under  the  immediate  care  of  a 
Presbyterial  Home  Mission  Committee.  Rev. 
S.  E.  Wishard,  D.  D.,  is  the  synodical  missionary 
for  the  southern  part  of  the  state,  and  Rev.  T.  M. 
Gunn,  D.  D.,  for  the  northern  part.  The  outlook 
for  Presbyterianism  in  this  state  was  never 
brighter. 

THE  FORT  HALL  CANAL. 

During  the  year  1896  the  federal  government 
let  a  contract  for  the  construction  of  an  immense 
irrigation  canal  in  the  Fort  Hall  reservation,  pre- 
paratory to  the  allotment  of  land  in  severally  to 
the  Indians.  This  reservation  extends  for  twen- 
ty-five miles  in  every  direction  from  Poqatello, 
and  contains  over  a  million  and  a  half  acres  in 
Bannock,  Bingham  and  Oneida  counties,  the 
greater  part  being  in  Bannock  county.  Of  this 
land  about  four  hundred  thousand  acres  are  as 
fine  agricultural  lands  as  can  be  found  in  any 
region,  and  of  this  amount  fully  three  hundred 
thousand  acres  are  in  Bannock  county  and  adja- 
cent to  the  city  of  Pocatello.  It  is  magnificent 
sage-brush  land  and  easily  watered. 


676 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


The  section  of  the  canal  first  to  be  completed 
ends  at  Ross  fork,  twelve  miles  above  Pocatello, 
thus  arranging  that  the  Indians  should  take  their 
allotments  above  that  point  and  leaving  the 
thousands  of  acres  near  Pocatello  for  white  set- 
tlers, as  soon  as  a  treaty  for  their  purchase  can 
be  made  by  the  government.  The  canal  heads 
in  Snake  river  above  Basalt  and  runs  south  to 
the  Blackfoot  river,  crossing  it  by  a  flume. 
Thence  it  continues  in  a  southeasterly  direction 
along  the  foot-hills  to  Ross  Fork  creek,  which 
will  be  the  terminus  for  the  present;  but  as  soon 
as  there  is  a  demand  for  the  water  along  the  foot- 
hills to  Port  Neuf,  about  five  miles  above  Poca- 
tello, the  canal  will  be  extended  to  that  point, 
thus  watering  the  great  plains  east  of  the  city. 
When  completed  the  canal  will  have  a  total 
length  of  fifty-five  miles. 

The  reservation  is  now  occupied  by  about 
fourteen  hundred  Shoshone  and  Bannack  In- 
dians, and  besides  the  agricultural  lands  men- 
tioned it  also  contains  a  number  of  ranges  of 
mountains  rich  in  valuable  minerals,  as  noted 
elsewhere.  The  establishment  of  this  great 
water-way  will  render  inhabitable  land  enough 
for  thousands  of  homes,  which  will  contribute 
to  the  prosperity  of  Pocatello  and  Bannock 
county. 

PERTINENT    INFORMATION    ON    VARIOUS 
SUBJECTS. 

It  will  probably  be  a  surprise,  to  persons  who 
have  not  had  an  opportunity  for  personal  investi- 
gation, to  learn  that  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
state  of  Idaho  may  be  found  the  largest  body  of 
white  and  yellow  pine,  fir,  tamarack  and  cedar 
timber  now  left  standing  in  the  United  States. 
About  six  million  acres  of  this  timber  is  grow- 
ing on  the  head-waters  of  the  Payette,  Weiser 
and  Boise  rivers  and  their  tributaries  in  southern 
Idaho,  the  largest  body  being  on  the  Payette 
river  and  amounting  to  about  one  million  acres. 
This  estimate  is  made  from  actual  surveys  by  the 
United  States  government,  which  may  be  verified 
by  reference  to  the  report  of  ex-Governor  Shoup, 
now  United  States  senator  from  Idaho,  who,  in 
his  report  to  the  secretary  of  the  interior,  places 
the  timber  acreage  of  the  state  at  ten  million 
acres. 

The  United  States  still  owns  within  the  bor- 


ders of  Idaho  eight  million  acres  of  land,  which 
is  open  to  settlement  under  the  homestead,  tim- 
ber-culture and  the  desert-land  acts.  These 
lands  in  many  cases  are  as  good  as  can  be  found 
in  the  state, — only  awaiting  facilities  for  irriga- 
tion, when  they  will  be  rapidly  taken  up.  New 
systems  of  irrigation  are  being  constantly 
opened.  By  the  Carey  law,  enacted  by  congress 
in  1894,  the  state  of  Idaho  gets  one  million  acres 
of  this  land  upon  very  easy  terms,  and  it  is  ex- 
pected that  aggressive  work  will  soon  be  done 
toward  taking  advantage  of  the  munificent  gift 
of  congress,  and  the  lands  will  be  sold  to  actual 
settlers  at  a  nominal  price,  to  encourage  immi- 
gration. 

The  population  of  Idaho  in  1870  was  14,999. 
In  1880,  32,610,  of  whom  29,013  were  white  and 
3,507  were  colored;  22,636  American-born  and 
9,974  foreign  born;  21,818  males  and  10,792  fe- 
males. In  1890  the  population  was  84,385,  being 
four-tenths  of  one  to  the  square  mile.  That  year 
the  vote  for  governor  was  10,262  Republican  and 
7,948  Democrat.  The  net  territorial  debt  was 
$200,855;  taxable  property,  $56,000,000.  There 
were  eighteen  counties  and  two  hundred  and 
sixty-one  post-offices,  eight  hundred  and  forty- 
four  miles  of  railroad;  annual  product  of  manu- 
factories, $1,200,000;  number  of  public  schools, 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five;  number  of  school 
children,  ten  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty- 
three;  number  of  newspapers,  thirty-eight.  The 
population  of  Boise  was  about  four  thousand; 
Pocatello,  two  thousand  and  five  hundred; 
Hailey,  two  thousand;  Lewiston,  one  thousand 
and  six  hundred;  Bellevue,  fifteen  hundred; 
Ketchum,  fifteen  hundred;  Moscow,  fifteen  hun- 
dred; Wardner,  fifteen  hundred;  Shoshone, 
twelve  hundred;  and  Wallace,  twelve  hundred. 

The  most  remarkable  group  of  mineral  springs 
in  America  are  the  Soda  Springs,  of  Bingham 
county,  in  eastern  Idaho.  They  are  situated  in  a 
romantic  valley,  5,779  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  surrounded  by  lofty  snow-clad  mountains, 
and  easily  reached  from  the  east  or  west  by  the 
Oregon  Short  Line.  Within  a  radius  of  two  or 
three  miles  are  scores  of  large  springs,  the  waters 
ranging  from  almost  ice-cold  to  warm,  contain- 
ing magnesia,  soda,  iron,  sulphur  and  various 
other  constituents,  in  such  proportions  as  to 
have  a  great  power  on  disease,  and  some  of  them 


.a 

H 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


677 


being  so  highly  charged  with  carbonic  acid  and 
other  gases  as  to  prove  a  most  pleasing  beverage. 
The  waters  are  a  superb  tonic,  and  are  effecting 
remarkable  cures  of  skin  and  blood  diseases, 
dyspepsia,  rheumatism,  and  many  other  ills  our 
flesh  is  heir  to. 

Westward  from  Soda  Springs,  the  Oregon 
Short  Line  route  lies  for  forty  miles  amid  some 
of  the  most  interesting,  pleasing  and  picturesque 
scenery  in  all  nature.  In  winding  its  way  down 
out  of  the  confines  of  the  rugged  Wahsatch 
mountains  to  the  great  Snake  river  valley,  it  fol- 
lows Port  Neuf  river.  Giant  cones  and  craters  of 
extinct  volcanoes,  yawning  chasms,  extending 
into  the  earth's  depths,  dark  caves  and  caverns, 
lofty  palisades,  all  relics  of  the  volcanic  age,  vie 
with  the  gentler  phases  of  an  exquisitely  beauti- 
ful valley  panorama  to  fill  the  tourist's  eye.  The 
river,  sinuous  as  a  serpent's  trail,  is  often  broken 
by  the  loveliest  cataracts.  The  valley  is  alter- 
nately a  solid  bed  of  highly  colored  wild  flowers, 
a  luxuriantly  grassed  meadow  and  well  tilled 
fields.  Midway  between  Soda  Springs  and  Poca- 
tello,  a  fine  group  of  hot  sulphur  springs  burst 
from  the  rocks  at  the  water's  edge.  Here,  almost 
anywhere,  the  angler  can  land  a  basket  of  trout 
in  a  few  hours,  within  a  few  feet  of  the  railway 
track,  or  the  sportsman  can  bag  his  dozen  ducks 
or  geese  in  an  equally  short  period.  At  Pocatello, 
a  junction  pojnt  of  the  Oregon  Short  Line,  are 
fine  hotel  accommodations,  and  this  is  an  excel- 
lent rendezvous  for  the  tourist. 

North  of  Shoshone  about  fifty  miles,  the  Wood 
river  branch  of  the  Oregon  Short  Line  fairly  en- 
ters the  great  Wood  river  region.  Hailey  and 
Ketchum,  located  in  the  heart  of  this  region, 
probably  arrive  as  near  to  all  the  requirements 
of  the  tourist  and  health-seeker  as  any  of  the 
resorts  located  on  the  banks  of  the  Wood  river; 
Hailey  at  an  altitude  of  five  thousand  two  hun- 
dred feet,  and  Ketchum  about  five  hundred  feet 
higher. 

Hailey  Hot  Springs,  located  in  full  view  of 
the  town,  are  only  a  mile  and  a  half  distant. 
The  ride  or  walk  thither  is  very  pleasant,  leading 
through  a  picturesque  little  valley,  and  the  loca- 
tion, in  a  lovely  glen  in  sight  of  several  rich 
mines,  is  very  pleasing.  Large  volumes  of  water, 
of  a  temperature  of  one  hundred  and  forty-four 


degrees  and  containing  sulphate  of  soda,  iron, 
magnesia,  sulphur  and  other  desirable  ingredi- 
ents, are  emitted  from  scores  of  springs.  Four 
commodious  rock-walled  and  cemented  swim- 
ming baths  and  many  solid  porcelain  tub  baths 
are  provided.  These  are  all  supplied  with  ele- 
gantly appointed  dressing  rooms,  lighted  by 
electricity,  and  under  the  same  roof  as  the 
luxuriously  furnished  chambers.  Many  patients 
have  gone  to  these  with  chronic  cases,  believed  to 
be  hopeless,  of  neuralgia,  paralysis,  dyspepsia, 
inflammatory  or  mercurial  rheumatism,  and  other 
complaints  for  which  the  Arkansas  springs  are 
considered  a  specific,  and  after  a  few  months  of 
bathing  and  drinking  have  left  completely  re- 
stored. 

The  famous  springs  at  Boise,  and  the  magnifi- 
cent natatorium,  are  known  all  over  the  United 
States.  Beautiful  for  situation,  located  only  one 
mile  up  Warm  Springs  avenue,  connected  with  all 
parts  of  the  city  by  elegant  electric  car  lines, 
architecturally  a  perfect  gem,  designed  after  some 
Turkish  building  of  ancient  fame,  with  its  diving 
plunge  for  bathers  one  hundred  and  twenty-two 
feet  long  and  sixty  feet  wide,  cement  bottom,  and 
ranging  in  depth  on  a  gradual  slope  from  three  to 
fourteen  feet;  with  its  sixty  retiring  rooms  for 
bathers;  its  spacious  drawing  rooms  for  ladies 
and  gentlemen ;  its  balcony  overlooking  the  bath- 
ing plunge,  where  the  visitor  can  see  the  sportive 
bathers  darting  merrily  through  the  life-saving 
and  healing  waters,  under  the  glare  of  the  electric 
lights;  its  elegant  parlors  for  private  parties;  its 
pleasant  smoking  and  reading  rooms;  its  large 
billiard  room  and  music  hall;  a  splendidly 
equipped  dining  hall  on  the  third  floor,  where  the 
visitor  can  be  regaled  with  all  the  delicacies  of 
the  season;  with  grounds  handsomely  laid  out, 
where  the  visitor  can  wander  at  will  through 
sylvan  retreats;  and,  added  to  all  this,  the 
medicinal  and  healing  virtues  of  the  waters,  being 
a  specific  for  digestive  and  liver  troubles  of  every 
kind,  rheumatism,  dyspepsia,  gout,  ulcers  of.  the 
stomach,  and  all  skin  diseases,  the  natatorium 
may  be  called  a  realization  of  Ponce  de  Leon's 
fountain  of  life  and  pleasure. 

The  United  States  Geological  Survey  in  1871 
gave  the  temperature  of  the  various  thermal 
springs  as  follows: 


678 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Temperature. 

Snake  river,  three  miles  below  Salt  river 144 

Snake    river,    below   the   lower   canyon 

Lincoln   valley,   near   Fort   Hall 87 

Steamboat  Spring,   Bear  river  bend 88 

Near   Fishing  Flats,  north  of  Snake  river 164 

Commencing  in  1866  annual  geological  reports 
were  made  under  the  auspices  of  the  general 
government.  F.  V.  Hayden  was  the  chief  of  the 
survey  for  the  first  years. 

Of  marble  there  is  a  good  quality  in  Cassia 
county,  quarried  for  the  market.  The  value  of  all 
marketed  in  the  state  in  1891  had  the  value  of 
$3,000;  in  1892,  $2,250;  and  in  1893,  $5,500. 
The  newly  discovered  deposit  near  Paris  is  of 
large  extent,  varying  in  quality  in  different  local- 
ities and  also  in  color.  The  colors  are  jet  black, 
black  with  streaks  of  white,  black  and  red,  black 
and  gold,  and  dark  blue  with  gold  markings. 
In  one  place  a  vein  of  onyx  twenty  feet  wide 
runs  through  the  mass.  Blocks  of  a  desirable 
size  may  be  obtained  apparently  without  flaw. 
Abundant  water  power  is  at  hand,  and  efforts  are 
in  progress  to  develop  the  property.  Of  sand- 
stone there  were  $16,060  worth  marketed  near 
Boise  in  1896,  which  was  an  increase  over  that 
of  the  preceding  year.  Most  of  the  limestone 
marketed  in  1896  was  quarried  in  Kootenai 
county,  the  total  amount  for  the  state  being  re- 
ported at  $5,610  in  value.  Practically  all  the 
limestone  quarried  was  burnt  into  lime. 

The  relative  areas  of  Idaho  mining  lands,  agri- 
cultural lands,  grazing  land,  etc.,  cannot  be  ex- 
actly given.  Various  estimates  have  been  made 
by  public  officials;  but  the  following  is  as  nearly 
correct  as  we  can  ascertain  at  present: 

Acres. 

Total   area  of  the   state 55,000,000 

Mountainous    17,400,000 

Agricultural     '. 15,000,000 

Grazing    15,000,000 

Forest    (accessible)    7,000,000 

Lakes   600,000 

In  describing  Idaho  as  she  appeared  at  the 
World's  Fair,  an  enthusiastic  writer  declared  as 
follows:  "The  hearts  of  Idaho's  mountains, 
trembling  at  the  miner's  stroke,  yield  up  the 
precious  metals;  her  valleys  quiver  with  the  lisp- 
ing grasses,  and  her  gardens  glow  with  flowers 
and  fruit.  Steadily  she  strides  on,  and  if  there 
is  a  floral  heaven  on  earth,  it  is  Boise  City,  her 


beautiful  capital.  No  state  has  made  a  more 
decided  impression  on  the  public  than  Idaho. 
To  a  vast  majority  of  Americans  it  is  an  undis- 
covered country.  Little  wonder,  then,  that  they 
are  amazed,  when  confronted  with  such  a  display 
of  wonderful  resources ;  such  a  demonstration  of 
crude  strength  and  noble  possibilities,  as  they 
see  illustrated  in  the  Idaho  building,  and  in  its 
various  exhibits  in  all  parts  of  the  fair." 

The  great  seal  of  the  state  of  Idaho,  depicted 
in  vignette  at  the  opening  of  this  volume,  was 
adopted  March  14,  1891. 

In  1883-4  occurred  the  Coeur  d'Alene  stam- 
pede, when  five  thousand  gold-hunters  crossed 
the  terrible  snows  of  the  mountains. 

The  Idaho  wool  clip  in  1895  amounted  to 
nearly  eight  million  pounds,  an  increase  of  a 
million  pounds  over  the  preceding  year.  In  1894 
there  were  in  the  state  575,178  sheep,  valued  at 
a  dollar  each;  in  1895,  717,339,  of  about  the  same 
value. 

Professor  L.  H.  Bailey,  of  Cornell  University, 
the  most  eminent  pomologist  of  this  country, 
says  of  Idaho  fruits  in  his  Annals  of  Horticulture: 
"The  region  of  large  fruits  seems  to  begin  with 
Idaho  and  to  include  Oregon,  Washington  and 
California.  The  displays  of  apples  shown  from 
the  northwestern  states — Idaho,  Oregon  and 
Washington — were  characterized  by  fruit  of  enor- 
mous size,  high  color  and  remarkable  freedom 
from  scab.  To  the  eastern  man  the  most  inter- 
esting variety  from  these  states  was  the  yellow 
Newtown  pippin,  which  is  the  leading  apple  over 
a  great  territory  there,  and  which  is  twice  as 
large  as  the  same  apple  grown  in  the  Hudson 
river  valley.  There  is  a  conspicuous  difference 
in  specimens  of  the  same  variety  when  grown 
with  or  without  irrigation.  The  irrigated  apples 
are  said  to  be  larger  than  the  others,  higher  col- 
ored, better  keepers,  and  to  have  superior  flavor." 

From  the  market  report  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune  of  October  8,  1897,  is  quoted  the  fol- 
lowing: 

"A  consignment  of  seven  or  eight  cars  of  fruit 
from  Idaho  attracted  considerable  attention  on 
South  Water  street  yesterday,  being  the  largest 
lot  to  arrive  from  that  section  recently.  Apples 
and  plums  constituted  the  bulk  of  the  shipment. 
Varieties  of  the  former  were  pippins,  Jonathans 
and  bellflowers.  These  came  in  fifty-pound 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


679 


boxes,  and  are  by  far  the  finest-looking  fruit  on 
the  street.  A  peculiarity  of  the  Idaho  apples  is 
that  they  are  absolutely  without  blemish,  such  as 
gnarls  or  worms.  In  form  and  color  the  fruit  is 
perfect. 

"The  eyes  of  the  receiving  interest  are  being 
opened  to  the  fact  that  if  Idaho  continues  to  do 
as  well  as  it  is  now  doing  the  state  will  be  a 


formidable  rival  to  California  as  a  raiser  and 
shipper  of  high-grade  fruits.  While  the  Idaho 
season  is  a  little  later  than  California,  being 
further  north,  anything  that  will  grow  in  Cali- 
fornia may  be  raised  in  Idaho.  Freight  to  the 
Chicago  market  is  less  than  from  California,  and 
time  en  route  nearly  two  days  quicker." 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 


INDIVIDUAL   RECORDS. 


CHARLES  C.  RICH. 


A  PIONEER  of  Utah,  California  and  Idaho, 
Charles  C.  Rich  figured  prominently  in 
the  early  development  of  these  states,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  furthering  the  welfare  and 
promoting  the  progress  of  the  commonwealths. 
He  was  also  a  most  able  exponent  of  the  faith  of 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day 
Saints,  and  with  a  colony  of  believers  he 
founded  the  beautiful  and  thriving  little  city 
of  Paris,  the  county  of  Bear  Lake,  Idaho,  and 
the  Mormon  colonies  of  southeastern  Idaho. 

A  native  of  Kentucky,  Mr.  Rich  was  born  in 
Campbell  county,  in  1809,  and  was  of  English 
and  Irish  ancestry.  His  parents  removed  to  In- 
diana during  his  youth  and  there  he  was  edu- 
cated. In  1829  they  went  to  Illinois,  becoming 
pioneer  settlers  of  that  state,  and  in  April,  1832, 
Charles  C.  Rich  embraced  the  faith  and  was 
baptized  into  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Lat- 
ter Day  Saints,  becoming  one  of  its  most  faithful 
and  prominent  adherents.  In  1839  he  went  to 
Nauvoo,  Illinois,  where  he  remained  until  1846, 
and  while  there  he  was  elected  an  adjutant  gen- 
eral in  the  Mormon  forces,  a  part  of  the  Illinois 
militia.  A  little  later,  however,  the  regiment 
was  disbanded  by  the  governor  of  the  state.  At 
that  time  Mr.  Rich  had  been  ordained  a  high 
priest  of  the  church.  In  the  fall  of  1846,  in  the 
general  Mormon  exodus,  he  removed  to  Pisgah, 
Iowa,  and  was  first  counselor  to  President 
Huntingdon,  and  on  the  death  of  the  president 
he  succeeded  to  the  office  thus  left  vacant.  In 
March,  1847,  he  with  a  party  went  to  what  is  now 
Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  where  they  made  prepara- 
tion for  a  journey  to  the  Rocky  mountains.  Mr. 
Rich  was  selected  captain  of  a  wagon  train  of 
one  hundred  wagons  and  was  also  president  of 
the  emigrants.  They  started  on  their  long  and 
perilous  journey  on  the  I4th  of  June,  1847,  ar>d 
after  proceeding  some  distance  experienced  con- 
siderable trouble  with  the  Indians.  All  of  the 


women  aided  in  the  way  of  driving  teams  and 
otherwise,  and  rendered  such  assistance  as  they 
could  in  other  directions.  They  traveled  five, 
ten  and  sometimes  fifteen  miles  a  day.  Thou- 
sands of  Indians  were  around  them  and  fre- 
quently stole  from  them,  but  on  the  2d  of  Octo- 
ber, 1847,  they  reached  their  destination,  having 
spent  three  months  and  eighteen  days  upon  the 
way.  When  they  arrived  a  settlement  had 
started;  an  adobe  fort  was  built  shortly  after 
their  arrival  at  what  is  now  the  beautiful  and 
populous  city  of  Salt  Lake.  Great  credit  is  due 
to  these  brave  and  faithful  pioneers  who  thus 
led  the  way  and  laid  the  foundation  of  a  fine  city 
and  great  state. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  Mr.  Rich  was  elected 
first  counselor  to  the  first  president  of  the  Salt 
Lake  stake,  and  in  1848  he  was  honored  with 
the  presidency,  as  his  predecessor  had  become 
too  feeble  to  longer  fill  the  office.  On  the  I2th 
of  March  following,  he  was  ordained  one  of  the 
twelve  apostles,  and  in  the  fall  of  1849  was  sent 
on  a  mission  to  California  to  establish  a  settle- 
ment of  members  of  the  church  at  San  Bernar- 
dino. He  purchased  the  Lugo  ranch,  a  large 
Mexican  grant  of  land,  and  became  the  founder 
of  the  town  and  county  of  San  Bernardino.  In 
1850  he  returned  to  Salt  Lake  and  took  five 
hundred  families  to  that  delightful  district  of  the 
Golden  state.  He  had  the  management  of  the 
colony  for  six  years  and  spent  most  of  the  time 
there,  although  he  traveled  back  and  forth  be- 
tween San  Bernardino  and  Salt  Lake  frequently. 
He  made  his  home  in  the  former  place,  however, 
and  three  of  his  wives  were  there  living.  In  1857 
they  returned  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  Mr.  Rich 
secured  a  farm  of  two  hundred  acres  of  choice 
land  twelve  miles  to  the  north.  When  General 
Johnston,  with  the  United  States  troops,  came  to 
attack  them,  they  expected  that  the  town  would 
be  destroyed  and  organized  an  army  to  protect 
themselves,  Mr.  Rich  being  elected  a  colonel  in 


680 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


681 


the  Utah  forces.  They  fixed  their  homes  to  fire 
them  if  it  became  necessary,  and  a  guard  was 
left  for  that  purpose,  but  the  women  and  children 
were  all  removed  to  Provo.  The  government 
forces,  however,  did  not  disturb  the  homes  and 
the  owners  returned  in  July,  1858. 

In  1860  Mr.  Rich  was  sent  on  a  mission  to 
Europe  and  was  president  of  the  organization 
of  the  church  in  that  country  for  about  two  and 
a  half  years,  having  his  headquarters  at  Liver- 
pool. He  also  visited  Ireland,  Scotland,  Sweden, 
Norway,  Germany  and  France,  and  came  back 
to  this  country  in  1862,  bringing  with  him  n  large 
company  of  emigrant  converts  to  the  faith.  He 
remained  in  Salt  Lake  until  September,  1863, 
and  was  then  called  to  look  up  a  location  for 
a  new  settlement  of  his  people  and  came  to  what 
is  now  Bear  Lake  county,  Idaho.  That  fall 
thirty  families  from  the  Cache  valley  established 
a  settlement  at  what  is  now  the  thriving  city  of 
Paris,  and  Mr.  Rich  became  the  leading  spirit 
in  the  enterprise.  They  built  log  cabins  and 
spent  a  long  and  hard  winter.  Brigham  Young 
visited  the  country  the  following  June  and  trav- 
eled through  the  valley,  giving  names  to  the 
towns.  Many  indeed  were  the  discouraging  feat- 
ures which  met  the  pioneers  in  their  attempt  to 
form  a  settlement.  Frosts  and  grasshoppers  de- 
stroyed what  they  planted,  and  times  looked  dark 
indeed,  but  President  Rich  imbued  them  with  cour- 
age, saying  that  he  had  come  to  settle  and  was 
going  to  stay,  and  that  brighter  days  would  yet 
dawn  upon  them.  This  prediction  proved  true, 
and  to  his  courage  and  faith  is  largely  due  the 
fact  that  the  region  has  been  transformed  into 
thrifty  farms,  pleasant  homes  and  enterprising 
villages.  When  the  settlement  was  made  it  was 
supposed  to  be  in  Utah,  and  Mr.  Rich  frequently 
represented  the  district  in  the  Utah  legislature. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  framing  the  laws  of 
the  state,  and  no  one  could  exhibit  more  devo- 
tion to  the  well-being  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of 
the  county  than  he.  He  proved  himself  to  be 
one  of  the  bravest  and  grandest  of  men,  respected 
the  rights  of  all,  was  the  friend  of  the  poor  and 
was  beloved  by  all. 

When  the  land  came  into  market  Mr.  Rich 
secured  a  half-section  of  it,  and  his  numerous 
sons  also  secured  government  claims,  making  for 
themselves  good  homes.  For  many  years  it  was 


the  belief  and  practice  of  his  church  to  marry 
a  plurality  of  wives  and  raise  large  families  for 
the  kingdom  of  the  saints  in  heaven.  Acting  upon 
that  faith  Mr.  Rich  was  six  times  married.  On 
the  nth  of  February,  1837,  Sarah  D.  Pea  became 
his  wife;  January  3,  1845,  Eliza  Ann  Graves; 
January  6,  1845,  Mary  Ann  Phelps;  January  15, 
1845,  Sarah  Peck;  February  2,  1846,  Emeline 
Grover;  and  in  March,  1847,  Harriet  Sargent. 
With  him  these  wives  and  his  father  and  mother, 
Joseph  Rich  and  Nancy  (O'Neal)  Rich,  crossed 
the  plains.  These  women  were  all  faithful  help- 
meets to  him  and  conscientious  adherents  of  the 
church,  and  five  of  them  bore  him  six  sons  each, 
and  twenty-two  daughters  were  born  to  him, 
making  fifty-two  children  in  all.  The  family  have 
all  adhered  to  the  church.  Three  of  his  widows 
still  survive  and  are  comfortably  provided  for. 
One  of  them,  Mary  Ann  Rich,  possesses  a  most 
remarkable  memory  for  events  and  dates  and  has 
furnished  most  of  the  material  for  this  sketch  of 
her  honored  husband.  Twenty-two  of  the  sons 
and  ten  of  the  daughters  still  survive,  namely: 
Mrs.  Sarah  Jane  Miller,  now  a  widow;  Joseph 
C.,  now  judge  of  the  fifth  judicial  district  of 
Idaho;  Hiram  S.,  of  St.  Charles,  Idaho;  Mary, 
wife  of  Joseph  Linford;  Franklin  D.,  of  Paris: 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  Milando  Pratt;  Mary  Ann, 
wife  of  Dr.  Francis  Pomeroy;  Frances,  wife  of 
James  Collins,  of  Paris;  Adelbert,  of  Canada; 
Caroline,  wife  of  Bishop  Humphreys,  of  Paris; 
William  L.,  also  of  Paris;  David  P.,  of  Rexburg, 
Idaho;  Nancy,  widow  of  Vincent  Pugmire  and 
a  resident  of  St.  Charles;  Minerva,  wife  of  H.  S. 
Wooley;  Benjamin  E.,  of  Rexburg;  Amasa  M.,  a 
farmer  and  stock-raiser  of  Paris;  George  Abel, 
of  Paris;  Landon  J.,  who  resides  in  Rich,  on 
Snake  river;  Martha  Caroline,  wife  of  Samuel 
Parish,  of  Centerville;  Fred  C.,  of  Salt  Lake 
City;  Samuel  J.,  an  attorney  at  Idaho  Falls; 
Heber  C.,  a  resident  of  Rich;  Harley  T.;  Ezra  C., 
a  physician  at  Ogden,  Utah;  Joel,  of  Paris;  Wil- 
ford,  a  ranchman  at  Paris;  Morgan  J.;  Edward 
I.,  a  physician;  Walter  P.,  a  resident  of  Paris; 
George  Q.,  an  attorney  of  Logan,  Utah;  Alvin, 
of  Paris;  Drusilla,  wife  of  Attorney  William 
Streeper,  of  Centerville.  President  Rich  died  No- 
vember 17,  1883,  at  the  age  of  over  seventy-four 
years.  He  was  a  man  of  marked  ability,  well 
fitted  for  leadership,  and  largely  promoted  the 


682 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


interests  of  this  section  of  the  state.  At  Paris 
he  built  the  first  sawmill  and  first  gristmill  and  in 
otner  ways  promoted  the  enterprises  and  aided 
in  the  development  of  the  locality.  His  name  is 
inseparably  connected  with  its  history  and  well 
deserves  a  place  in  this  volume.  He  was  always 
regarded  as  a  wise  counselor  by  his  people  and 
neither  Mormon,  Jew  nor  Gentile  questioned  his 
honesty  or  the  right  and  justice  of  his  decisions. 
His  name  is  held  in  honor  and  esteem  by  every 
one  who  knew  him. 

ALICE  A.  THEWS. 

The  lady  whose  name  introduces  this  sketch 
needs  no  introduction  to  the  residents  of  south- 
eastern Idaho,  for  she  is  well  known  in  this  sec- 
tion of  the  state,  and  also  in  the  capital  city  of 
Boise,  where  she  has  many  friends.  Her  superior 
culture  and  ability  have  won  public  recognition 
through  the  honors  that  have  been  bestowed 
upon  her  by  means  of  the  public  franchise,  and 
she  is  now  capably  filling  the  office  of  county 
treasurer  of  Oneida  county,  making  her  home  in 
Malad. 

Miss  Thews  is  a  native  of  Rock  Island  county, 
Illinois,  and  is  a  daughter  of  William  and  Char- 
lotte (Innes)  Thews,  both  of  whom  were  born  in 
England,  the  former  of  Irish  parents.  They 
were  married  in  that  county,  and  in  1850  emi- 
grated to  America,  locating  in  Illinois,  whence 
they  removed  to  Boise,  Idaho,  in  1869,  at  which 
time  the  now  beautiful  capital  was  a  small  vil- 
lage giving  little  promise  of  the  changes  which 
the  future  was  to  bring  to  it.  The  father  was  a 
stone  mason  by  trade,  and  had  a  small  quarry  in 
Boise.  In  1891  his  life  labors  were  ended,  and 
he  passed  away  at  the  age  of  seventy-one  years. 
His  good  wife  still  survives  him,  and  is  now  in 
the  eightieth  year  of  her  age.  They  were  the 
parents  of  seven  children,  but  the  eldest  son, 
Thomas  L,  volunteered  in  the  service  of  his  coun- 
try during  the  civil  war,  and  was  killed  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Trevilian's  Station.  Only  three  of  the 
children  are  now  living:  Mrs.  H.  C.  Branstetter, 
of  Boise;  William  B.,  formerly  auditor  of  Oneida 
county  and  now  a  resident  of  Pocatello;  and 
Alice  A. 

The  family  are  Episcopalians  in  religious  faith 
and  Miss  Thews  was  educated  in  an  Episcopalian 
school,  in  Boise.  After  completing  her  course 


she  engaged  in  teaching  school  for  six  years. in 
Boise  and  in  Silver  City,  and  fourteen  years  ago 
she  came  to  Malad,  where  she  has  since  made 
her  home.  For  eight  years  she  served  as  post- 
mistress, under  the  administrations  of  Presidents 
Cleveland  and  Harrison,  and  discharged  her  du- 
ties in  a  most  creditable  and  satisfactory  manner. 
In  1898  she  was  elected  treasurer  of  the  county, 
receiving  a  very  large  majority,  which  indicated 
her  high  standing  in  the  community  and  the  con- 
fidence reposed  in  her.  She  is  a  lady  of  superior 
intelligence  and  ability,  of  marked  executive 
force  and  keen  business  judgment,  and  her  ad- 
ministration of  the  affairs  of  the  office  has  won 
her  high  praise.  She  is  now  not  only  performing 
the  services  in  connection  with  the  county  ex- 
chequer, but  is  also  the  owner  of  a  hotel  in 
Malad,  which  receives  a  liberal  patronage  on  ac- 
count of  the  excellent  manner  in  which  it  is 
conducted.  Miss  Thews  deserves  great  credit  for 
what  she  has  accomplished.  Her  ability  is  of  a 
high  order  and  her  true  womanliness  and  worth 
have  gained  her  the  respect  of  all  with  whom 
public  life  has  brought  her  in  contact  aivd  the 
friendship  of  those  whom  she  has  met  in  social 

circles. 

HON.  PHILETUS  AVERITT. 

In  the  Weekly  Capital,  published  in  Boise, 
June  17,  1899,  appeared  the  following  sketch  of 
him  whose  name  introduces  this  article. 

"Hon.  Philetus  Averitt  was  born  in  Mayfield, 
Kentucky,  thirty-one  years  ago.  He  was  educated 
at  Bethel  College  and  Cumberland  University, 
and  practiced  law  in  his  native  town  for  one 
year.  Six  years  ago  he  came  to  St.  Anthony, 
Idaho,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. In  a  few  years  he  has  built  up  a  first- 
class  practice,  and  is  recognized  as  an  able  and 
painstaking  member  of  the  legal  profession.  In 
1896  Mr.  Averitt  gave  his  splendid  abilities  to 
the  organization  of  the  Democratic  party  of  Fre- 
mont county,  and  was  made  chairman  of  the 
county  committee.  By  his  careful  and  able  man- 
agement of  the  county  campaign  every  man  on 
the  Democratic  ticket  was  elected. 

"In  1898  Mr.  Averitt  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  house  of  representatives  from  Fremont  coun- 
ty, and  early  in  the  session  was  made  the  leader 
of  the  Democratic  and  silver-Republican  majority 
in  that  body.  This  leadership  was  maintained  by 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


683 


Mr.  Averitt  throughout  the  session,  in  face  of 
strong  opposition  from  brilliant  and  aspiring 
young  men.  He  managed  the  campaign  of  L.  C. 
Rice  for  state  treasurer,  nominating  him  in  the 
state  convention  in  a  remarkably  able  speech. 
The  magnificent  results  for  Democracy  in  Fre- 
mont county  at  the  last  election  are  largely  due 
to  the  untiring  energy  and  wise  counsel  of  Mr. 
Averitt.  He  organized  victory  in  every  precinct, 
and  made  a  vigorous  and  successful  campaign. 
When  it  is  known  that  the  silver  Republican  and 
Populist  forces  fused  in  the  county  matters  there, 
the  victory  organized  by  Mr.  Averitt  will  be 
more  fully  appreciated.  When  the  state  code- 
commission  was  organized  Governor  Steunen- 
berg  appointed  Mr.  Averitt  a  member  of  the 
commission.  This  was  a  just  recognition  of  the 
legal  abilities  of  one  of  Idaho's  best  lawyers,  and 
time  will  record  the  verdict  that  the  appointment 
was  in  every  respect  one  most  worthy. 

"Mr.  Averitt  has  a  fine  legal  mind  well  stored 
with  legal  foundation  principles,  and  his  work  on 
the  commission  will  prove  very  satisfactory.  To 
a  well  stored  mind  he  adds  indefatigable  industry 
and  an  indomitable  will.  Mr.  Averitt  is  a  shrewd 
politician,  is  a  good  judge  of  men,  has  organizing 
qualities  of  a  high  order,  and  in  the  field  of 
politics  has  few  equals  in  the  west.  His  star  is 
rising  in  the  western  sky  and  is  destined  to  grow 
brighter  with  the  years." 

MATTHEW  H.  WILLIAMS. 

Matthew  H.  Williams  is  an  Idaho  pioneer 
whose  residence  dates  back  to  1863,  and  he  is  a 
prominent  citizen  of  Bellevue,  Elaine  county. 
He  was  born  in  Vermont,  September  20,  1840. 
His  father,  John  Williams,  a  native  of  New  Jer- 
sey, did  soldier's  duty  in  the  war  of  1812-14.  He 
married  Magdalene  Shuffelt,  a  native  of  New 
York  and  a  descendant  of  an  old  Dutch  family 
of  that  state.  They  had  twelve  children,  eight  of 
whom  grew  to  maturity,  and  five  of  whom  are 
living.  John  Williams  and  his  wife  were  Episco- 
palians and  were  people  of  social  prominence. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  she  at  fifty- 
three. 

Matthew  H.  Williams,  their  youngest  child, 
passed  his  childhood  on  his  father's  farm  and 
attended  the  public  schools.  In  1857  tne  subject 
of  this  review  went  to  Minnesota,  where  he  was 


occupied  for  a  time  at  such  employment  as  was 
open  to  him,  and,  having  acquired  a  limited  cap- 
ital, he  engaged  in  fur  trading  with  the  Indians 
and  others,  in  which  he  continued  until  1863, 
when  his  business  was  interrupted  by  the  Indian 
outbreak.  In  company  with  four  others  he 
started  across  the  country  for  Idaho.  Their  party 
was  gradually  enlarged  by  the  accession  of  other 
parties  at  different  points  on  the  plains,  and  they 
had  several  exciting  experiences  with  Indians. 
When  they  reached  the  Platte,  Mr.  Haskins,  one 
of  their  number,  was  shot,  and  Dan  Noble,  an- 
other, was  killed  while  doing  guard  duty  in  the 
Sweetwater  country.  At  Spring  Butte  several 
spirited  skirmishes  occurred  and  the  party  was 
beleaguered  by  savages  for  two  days. 

Mr.  Williams  located  at  Boise,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  that  town,  and  there  purchased  lots  and 
erected  several  log  cabins  on  them.  He  did 
placer-mining  to  some  extent  and  took  out  sev- 
eral thousand  dollars  in  Boise  basin.  He  pros- 
pected from  Atlanta  to  the  gold  belt,  and  located 
the  Big  Camas  mine  No.  i,  and  he  and  Ross 
Smith  and  Tom  Ford  wintered  there  and  ran  a 
tunnel  and  took  out  ore  and  had  it  on  the  dump 
in  the  spring.  In  1882  they  sold  it,  and  as  his 
share  Mr.  Williams  realized  thirty  thousand  dol- 
lars. In  1884  he  sold  Camas  No.  2  for  eleven 
thousand  dollars.  It  has  been  worked  extensive- 
ly and  has  proven  a  rich  producer.  In  1889  Mr. 
Williams  sold  the  Golden  Star  mine,  in  the  same 
vicinity,  for  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  He  makes 
mining  his  whole  business  and  has  several  valu- 
able claims  adjoining  the  Tip  Top  mine,  on  the 
same  belt,  and  has  become  known  as  one  of  the 
lucky  prospectors  and  miners  of  his  state. 

Mr.  Williams  was  married  in  1882  to  Miss 
Luella  Reed,  a  native  of  Kentucky  and  a  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  B.  Reed,  who  came  to  the  territory 
in  1877  and  died  at  Ballantine  in  1895.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Williams  have  had  five  children:  Edith, 
Elmer,  Edwin,  Edna  and  Ramond  H. 

Mr.  Williams  is  a  large  owner  of  Bellevue  prop- 
erty. He  drove  the  first  stake  in  the  town,  and 
built  his  house  in  1882.  He  was  made  a  Master 
Mason,  at  Rocky  Bar,  in  1872,  and  is  past  master 
of  his  lodge.  He  is  an  attendant  and  liberal 
supporter  of  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Belle- 
vue, of  which  Mrs.  Williams  is  a  member.  Polit- 
ically he  is  a  Republican.  He  is  a  man  of  influ- 


684 


HISTORY   OF  IDAHO. 


ence  in  town  and  county  affairs,  and  was  county 
commissioner  of  Elaine  county  and  did  excellent 
service  as  a  school  trustee  of  Bellevue,  his  interest 
in  education  being  steadfast  and  helpful. 

The  life  of  Mr.  Williams  has  been  one  of  hard- 
ship and,  until  within  a  comparatively  recent 
time,  one  of  danger.  There  was  always  danger 
from  Indians;  much  of  the  time  there  was  danger 
from  white  men,  who  did  not  value  human  life 
very  highly  if  money  could  be  gained  by  sacrific- 
ing life.  Many  interesting  stories  of  his  adven- 
tures on  the  plains  and  in  camp  might  be  told. 
One  will  perhaps  suffice  to  indicate  his  quality  as 
a  man  and  the  perils  by  which  he  was  beset. 
Once  he  and  William  H.  Spencer  were  sleeping 
on  the  divide  between  South  Boise  and  Salmon 
rivers.  In  the  early  morning  Mr.  Williams  felt 
an  arrow  strike  his  blanket  and  knew  they  were 
attacked  by  Indians.  He  told  his  partner  to  roll 
to  a  safe  place  down  the  bank.  Half  dazed  from 
having  been  suddenly  aroused,  Spencer  sprang 
to  a  sitting  posture  and  instantly  received  an 
arrow  in  his  breast,  right  under  the  collar  bone. 
The  two  men  rolled  over  the  bank  and  Mr. 
Williams  pulled  the  arrow  out  of  his  companion. 
It  was  so  firmly  imbedded  in  his  flesh  and  mus- 
cles that  it  was  necessary  for  Mr.  Williams  to 
put  his  foot  on  Spencer's  shoulder  and  pull  hard 
to  get  it  out.  It  was  a  painful  operation,  but 
heroic  measures  were  necessary,  for  the  arrow 
point  was  of  hoop  iron  secured  to  the  shaft  with 
the  sinews  of  a  deer  and  had  it  remained  until 
Mr.  Spencer's  blood  softened  the  sinews  blood- 
poisoning  would  have  ensued.  They  secured 
their  horses,  which  were  picketed  near  by,  and, 
without  waiting  for  saddles  or  outfit,  made  off 
rapidly.  At  Boise  river,  which  they  reached 
about  ten  o'clock  that  morning,  they  halted. 
While  Mr.  Williams  sought  to  alleviate  his  com- 
panion's suffering  by  pouring  cold  water  on  his 
wound,  two  Indians  who  had  followed  them,  rode 
up  an  attacked  them.  They  fought  with  despera- 
tion and  shot  both  Indians  and  then  both  of  their 
horses  as  a  precaution  against  their  returning  to 
their  other  pursuers  and  thus  apprising  them  of 
the  fate  of  their  riders.  Then  they  made  their 
way  to  a  ranch  sixteen  miles  above  Rocky  Bar, 
where  a  doctor's  services  were  secured  and  Mr. 
Spencer  was  put  in  a  way  to  recovery. 

Mr.  Williams  is  accorded  the  honor  of  a  pio- 


neer and  by  all  citizens  of  Bellevue  is  given  due 
consideration  as  one  of  those  who  risked  their 
lives  to  make  the  way  easy  for  those  who  might 
come  after  them.  He  is  widely  and  popularly 
acquainted,  and  there  are  thousands  who  would 
read  a  detailed  account  of  his  adventuresome 
career  with  great  interest. 

EDMUND  BUCKLEY. 

The  pioneer  in  the  woolen  industry  in  Idaho  is 
Edmund  Buckley,  an  enterprising  and  progres- 
sive business  man  who  is  now  carrying 
on  operations  in  the  line  of  woolen  man- 
ufactures near  the  town  of  Franklin.  A 
native  of  Yorkshire,  England,  he  was  born 
April  25,  1839,  of  English  parentage,  and 
was  educated  in  the  land  of  his  birth,  where 
he  remained  until  1863,  when  he  sailed  for 
America,  Utah  being  his  destination.  In  1856 
he  had  been  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  Latter 
Day  Saints,  and  taking  passage  on  the  Atlantic, 
a  sailing  vessel,  he  arrived  at  New  York  after  a 
voyage  of  seven  weeks.  In  England  he  had  mar- 
ried Miss  Alice  Green,  and  he  brought  with  him 
his  wife  and  their  first  child.  They  crossed  the 
plains  with  ox  teams  to  Utah,  and  while  en  route 
a  young  lady  in  their  party  was  killed  by  light- 
ning, near  Fort  Laramie. 

After  reaching  the  end  of  their  journey  Mr. 
Buckley  conducted  a  carding  mill,  making  rolls 
in  the  old  way.  The  following  season  he  came  to 
the  Cache  valley,  settling  at  High  creek,  where 
he  made  rolls  for  W.  D.  Hendricks.  Subse- 
quently he  went  to  Brigham  City,  where  he 
operated  the  woolen  factory  for  a  few  years  and 
then  went  to  Logan  to  establish  a  factory  there, 
but  the  new  enterprise  fell  through  and  he  came 
to  Franklin,  where  with  six  others  he  formed  a 
company  and  obtained  a  roll  mill.  Business  was 
begun  on  the  site  of  his  present  factory  in  1878, 
and  was  conducted  by  Mr.  Buckley  for  three 
years,  when  the  plant  was  sold  to  the  Franklin 
Co-operative  Company.  At  that  time  our  sub- 
ject went  to  the  east  with  S.  R.  Parkinson  and 
purchased  the  machinery  for  the  present  woolen 
mill,  and  in  1897  he  bought  out  the  other  part- 
ners and  has  since  successfully  conducted  the 
enterprise  alone.  He  manufactures  blankets, 
yarns,  linseys,  flannels  and  hosiery  and  also 
makes  wool  batting,  scours  blankets  and  cleans 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


685 


cloth,  carrying  on  a  general  woolen  business  with 
the  farmers  and  turning  out  an  excellent  quality 
of  goods  made  of  pure  wool.  The  mill  has  a 
capacity  of  thirty  thousand  pounds  of  wool  per 
annum,  and  is  a  valuable  accession  to  the  indus- 
trial interests  of  this  section  of  the  state. 

Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Buckley  have  been  born 
five  children,  as  follows:  Edmund;  John;  Joseph; 
Mary  Ann,  now  the  wife  of  George  Housley; 
and  Eliza  Ann,  wife  of  Joseph  Hulse.  The  fol- 
lowing children  have  also  been  born  to  Mr. 
Buckley:  Hugh  Gould,  James  Waterhouse, 
Hiram  Smith,  George  Albert,  Laura  Jane,  Zina 
and  James.  Mr.  Buckley,  his  wife  and  children 
are  all  members  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Latter  Day  Saints.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
high  council  of  the  stake,  is  a  high  priest,  and 
has  held  various  positions  of  trust  in  the  church, 
both  in  England  and  in  this  country.  In  politics 
he  is  an  independent  Democrat,  but  has  never 
been  an  office  seeker,  preferring  to  devote  his 
time  and  energies  to  his  business  interests,  in 
which  he  is  meeting  with  creditable  success. 

THE  FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK  OF  CALDWELL. 

This  reliable  banking  institution  was  organized 
in  1887  by  Howard  Sebree,  of  Caldwell,  and  B.  F. 
White,  of  Dillon,  Montana.  These  two  gentle- 
men are  also  the  organizers  and  owners  of  the 
First  National  Bank  at  Dillon,  Mr.  White  being 
president  of  the  latter  institution,  while  Howard 
Sebree  is  at  the  head  of  the  Caldwell  bank.  The 
partnership  of  these  gentlemen  has  continued 
through  many  years  and  the  banks  with  which 
they  are  connected  are  among  the  strongest  in 
the  west.  The  First  National  Bank  of  Caldwell, 
on  its  organization,  was  capitalized  for  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars.  In  1892  it  was  made  a  national 
bank  and  in  1898  it  had  a  surplus  of  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars.  From  the  beginning  the  enter- 
prise has  proved  a  profitable  one,  paying  good 
dividends.  The  deposits  on  September  7,  1899, 
amounted  to  $726,576.49,  and  the  volume  of  the 
business  daily  transacted  over  its  counters 
amounts  to  twenty  thousand  dollars.  Its  patrons 
reside  throughout  eastern  Oregon  and  as  far 
east  as  Shoshone,  and  include  many  extensive 
cattle  dealers  and  mine-owners,  as  well  as  the 
merchants  and  other  business  men  of  Caldwell. 
The  bank,  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Sebree, 


has  followed  a  safe,  conservative  and  honorable 
policy  that  has  commended  it  to  the  confidence 
and  support  of  the  public,  and  its  success  is  well 
merited.  The  president  is  an  excellent  financier, 
a  man  of  sound  judgment  and  excellent  ability, 
and  is  widely  honored  for  his  sterling  worth  and 
fidelity  to  duty. 

HENRY  C.  DIPPEL. 

Our  German  citizens  of  American  birth  are 
among  our  best  citizens.  Most  of  them  are  in- 
dustrious, frugal,  enterprising,  progressive  and 
strictly  up  to  date.  There  is  a  strain  of  blood, 
perhaps  something  in  the  atmosphere  in  which 
they  were  born,  which  makes  them  good  pio- 
neers. They  have  an  unerring  scent  for  localities 
for  profitable  investments  and  improvements. 
Following  is  one  of  the  many  life  stories  which 
go  to  prove  all  this: 

Henry  Clarence  Dippel,  a  prominent  pioneer 
farmer  and  fruit-grower  of  Blackfoot,  Idaho,  is 
a  native  son  of  California,  having  been  born  at 
Lincoln,  Placer  county,  October  26,  1859.  His 
father  and  mother,  Philip  and  Elizabeth  (Smith) 
Dippel,  were  both  born  in  Germany  and,  when 
children,  came  with  their  parents  to  Philadelphia, 
where  they  grew  to  maturity  and  were  married. 
In  1848  they  went  to  Mexico  and  thence  came 
by  the  coast  route  to  California.  Mr.  Dippel  was 
employed  at  his  trade  as  carpenter,  and  later, 
during  the  pioneer  days  in  the  Golden  state,  in 
running  a  pack  train,  an  enterprise  which  was 
not  without  excitement  and  profit.  He  lived  out 
the  balance  of  his  life-time  in  Placer  county, 
California,  and  died  there  in  1898,  aged  seventy- 
three.  His  wife  survives  him,  aged  seventy-four. 
After  his  early  experiences  he  settled  down  to 
farm  life  and  was  so  successful  that  he  left  a 
considerable  estate,  which  is  now  owned  by  his 
heirs.  He  was  long  a  member  of  the  German 
Lutheran  church,  with  which  his  wife  is  still 
identified. 

Henry  Clarence  Dippel  was  the  fourth  in  order 
of  birth  of  the  children  of  Philip  and  Elizabeth 
Dippel.  He  was  brought  up  on  a  farm  and  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  California  and 
at  Atkinson  Business  College,  from  which  insti- 
tution he  was  graduated  in  1878.  After  that  he 
came  almost  immediately  to  Blackfoot,  Idaho. 
The  railroad  was  then  under  construction 


686 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


through  this  part  of  the  state,  and  its  terminus 
had  moved  on  to  Idaho  Falls.  He  sought  out  a 
favorable  point,  located  on  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  of  land,  improved  it,  and  sold  it 
well  in  1887.  He  then  bought  his  present  fifty- 
acre  farm  adjoining  the  town  of  Blackfoot,  where 
he  has  a  fine  home.  His  buildings  are  all  large 
and  convenient,  he  has  the  best  water  privileges, 
and,  all  in  all,  he  is  as  comfortably  situated  as  any 
one  need  care  to  be.  To  Mr.  Dippel  belongs  the 
distinction  of  having  been  the  first  in  this  part 
of  the  state  to  grow  small  fruits  for  market,  and 
he  is  among  Idaho's  foremost  successful  horti- 
cultural farmers.  His  principal  products  in  this 
line  are  strawberries,  which  he  ships  to  Montana, 
where  they  find  a  ready  and  profitable  sale. 

Mr.  Dippel  is  a  Democrat,  but  not  a  practical 
politician.  His  farm  interests  are  so  extensive 
that  he  has  no  time  to  seek  offices  and  very  little 
in  which  to  assist  others  into  them.  He  was 
married  in  1880  to  Miss  Luella  May  Parsons,  a 
native  of  Illinois,  and  they  have  five  children, 
named  as  follows:  Harold,  Daisy,  Guy,  Luella 
and  Ralph. 

HON.  GEORGE  W.  DAGGETT. 

In  the  following  paragraphs  will  be  given  the 
history  of  the  busy  and  useful  career  of  a  dis- 
tinguished resident  of  Genesee,  Idaho,  who  as 
pioneer,  as  citizen,  as  legislator  and  as  a  soldier, 
has  done  his  duty  without  fear  and  without  re- 
proach, with  an  eye  single  to  the  greatest  good 
to  the  greatest  number.  His  life  is  one  which 
has  in  it  many  lessons  for  those  who  would  do 
well  and  persevere  in  well  doing. 

George  W.  Daggett,  one  of  the  most  prom- 
inent citizens  of  Genesee,  Idaho,  was  born  in 
Illinois,  August  19,  1840,  and  is  descended  from 
an  old  Vermont  family.  His  grandfather,  Asel 
Daggett,  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812-14  and 
fought  under  Commander  Perry  and  participated 
in  his  historic  victory.  After  the  war  he  re- 
turned to  Vermont,  where  he  lived  until  his 
death,  in  1862,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine  years. 
His  son,  Asel  A.  Daggett,  father  of  George  W. 
Daggett,  was  born  in  Vermont  and  married  Miss 
Eliza  White,  at  Woonsocket  Falls,  Rhode  Island, 
in  1838,  and  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  state 
of  Illinois.  For  some  years  he  was  warden  of 
the  Illinois  state  penitentiary,  at  Joliet.  In  1847 


he  moved  to  Wisconsin  and  located  in  Grant 
county,  where  his  wife  died  in  1852  and  where 
he  lived  to  the  venerable  age  of  eighty-two  years. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daggett  were  devout  and  active 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and 
were  held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  all  who  knew 
them.  They  had  ten  children,  five  of  whom  are 
living. 

George  W.  Daggett  was  their  fifth  child  in 
order  of  birth.  He  grew  up  on  the  farm,  working 
hard  in  spring,  summer  and  fall  and  attending 
school  three  months  during  the  winter,  in  a  little 
log  school-house,  until  he  was  fourteen.  He  was 
a  robust  boy  and  willing  worker,  and  after  that 
time  was  in  such  demand  for  the  farm  work  and 
as  an  aid  in  the  support  of  the  family  that  he 
was  entirely  debarred  from  attending  school.  But 
he  liked  books  and  had  a  way  of  learning  some- 
thing from  about  everything  he  saw,  and  he  be- 
came a  well  informed  man  notwithstanding  his 
limited  educational  advantages. 

The  civil  war  had  begun  when,  in  August, 
1861,  he  attained  his  majority.  August  27,  eight 
days  after  his  birthday,  he  enlisted  in  Company 
I,  Tenth  Regiment  Wisconsin  Volunteer  In- 
fantry. His  first  service  was  in  the  west,  under 
General  Mitchell.  Later  he  was  in  the  command 
of  General  W.  T.  Sherman.  He  participated  in 
twenty-seven  battles  and  skirmishes.  The 
first  engagement  in  which  he  took  part  was  at 
Perryville,  Kentucky.  Then  followed  the  en- 
gagements at  Stone  River,  Chickamauga,  Look- 
out Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge.  He  went 
with  Sherman  to  the  relief  of  Knoxville,  and 
was  in  all  the  battles  from  Chattanooga  to  the 
capture  of  Atlanta,  then  participated  in  Sher- 
man's memorable  march  to  the  sea  and 
was  in  the  fighting  at  Savannah  and  at 
Goldsborough  and  was  one  of  the  veterans 
who  participated  in  the  grand  review  at 
Washington,  after  the  war  was  over.  In 
the  engagement  at  Chickamauga  he  was  shot 
through  the  arm  and  in  the  side,  but  though  his 
wounds  were  very  painful  they  were  not  danger- 
ous, and  he  did  not  leave  the  field,  and  though  he 
was  many  times  after  that  in  the  thickest  of  the 
fight,  with  men  falling  all  around  him,  he  never 
afterward  suffered  so  much  as  an  abrasion  of  the 
skin.  He  was  promoted  to  be  orderly  sergeant 
of  his  company.  He  re-enlisted  as  a  private  in 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


687 


Company  K,  Fourty-fourth  Regiment  Wisconsin 
Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was  promoted  to  be  or- 
derly sergeant  of  that  company  also.  He  had 
served  to  the  very  end  of  the  struggle.  His 
service  had  been  arduous  and  exacting  and  he 
had  been  every  inch  a  soldier.  He  was  honor- 
ably discharged  and  returned  to  Wisconsin  and 
settled  down  to  the  peaceful  life  of  a  farmer. 

Mr.  Daggett  remained  in  Wisconsin  for  three 
years  after  his  return  from  the  army  and  then 
moved  to  Nebraska  and  took  up  a  homestead, 
improved  it  until  1876,  when  he  went  to  Cali- 
fornia and  thence  to  Oregon.  He  passed  the 
winter  of  1876-7  at  Lake  View,  Oregon,  and  in 
the  following  spring  came  to  Idaho  and  pre- 
empted a  claim  on  Little  Potlatch,  five  miles 
north  of  the  site  of  Genesee,  in  Nez  Perces  coun- 
ty. This  he  improved  into  a  fine  stock  and  dairy 
farm  and  he  has  added  to  it  from  time  to  time 
until  he  now  has  four  hundred  acres,  constituting 
one  of  the  finest  farms  in  this  splendid  farming 
district.  He  has  a  town  home  in  Genesee,  where 
he  is  spending  the  evening  of  a  busy  and  success- 
ful life. 

Mr.  Daggett  was  married,  in  1865,  to  Mrs. 
Mary  E.  Clowse,  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  who 
has  divided  with  him  the  honors  of  their  useful 
life  as  pioneers  and  in  the  period  of  Idaho's  won- 
derful development.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daggett  have 
had  two  children,  both  of  whom  died  young.  By 
her  first  marriage  Mrs.  Daggett  (then  Mrs. 
Clowse)  had  two  daughters,  Edith  E.,  who  mar- 
ried Alexander  Matthews,  and  Ella  E.,  who  mar- 
ried John  Matthews,  brother  of  Alexander. 

A  lifelong  Republican,  devoted  to  the  princi- 
ples of  his  party,  Mr.  Daggett  has  always  sup- 
ported its  measures,  national  and  local,  energet- 
ically and  unselfishly,  with  no  hope  of  personal 
reward  and  with  no  wish  for  political  preferment. 
However,  his  fellow  citizens  of  Latah  county 
elected  him  to  represent  them  in  the  Idaho  state 
legislature,  an  office  which  he  has  filled  to  the 
satisfaction  of  his  constituents,  regardless  of 
party  affiliation.  He  was  one  of  the  committee 
of  five  appointed  by  the  speaker  of  the  house  to 
investigate  the  revisions  of  the  state  laws,  and 
determine  their  constitutionality.  He  also  formu- 
lated and  introduced  a  bill  looking  to  the  more 
perfect  regulation  of  the  liquor  traffic,  which 
provided  that  a  license  must  in  any  case  be  taken 


out  for  a  full  year  and  if  a  liquor  dealer  should 
violate  its  provisions  the  license  should  be  re- 
voked and,  upon  conviction,  he  should  forfeit 
the  fee  for  its  unexpired  term.  The  bill  was 
widely  conceded  to  be  one  of  the  best  bills  intro- 
duced during  that  session.  Mr.  Daggett  is  a 
zealous  and  active  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic  and  is  the  present  commander  of 
his  post  and  chaplain  of  the  state  organization  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  He  is  public- 
spirited  to  a  degree  that  makes  him  a  very  help- 
ful citizen  and  he  is  held  in  the  highest  esteem 
by  his  fellow  citizens  of  all  classes  and  of  all 
shades  of  political  and  religious  belief. 

ISAAC  W.  PFOST. 

The  Virginians  have  given  to  nearly  every 
state  in  the  union  much  of  the  good  blood  and 
good  citizenship,  for,  wherever  his  lot  is  cast, 
the  Virginian  is  patriotic  and  does  honor  to  his 
environments.  Idaho  has  many  well  known  citi- 
zens of  Virginian  birth,  but  not  one  who  is  more 
highly  regarded  for  inteerity  and  perseverance 
and  all  the  other  qualities  which  make  for  real 
success  than  Isaac  W.  Pfost,  of  Boise,  who,  hav- 
ing been  born  in  Virginia  prior  to  its  division,  is 
literally  a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion. 

Isaac  W.  Pfost,  proprietor  of  the  Bancroft  Hotel, 
Boise,  Idaho,  was  born  in  Jackson  county,  Vir- 
ginia, January  21,  1846,  a  son  of  Abraham  and 
Elizabeth  (Rader)  Pfost.  His  father  and  mother 
were  likewise  natives  of  Virginia.  Abraham 
Pfost  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-two.  Their  son, 
Isaac  W.  Pfost,  was  reared  and  educated  in  the 
county  of  his  nativity.  In  the  fall  of  1865,  when 
he  was  nineteen  years  old,  he  went  to  Cooper 
county,  Missouri.  A  year  later  he  went  to  Bates 
county,  in  the  same  state,  where  for  two  years 
he  was  engaged  in  farming.  He  then  removed 
to  Henry  county,  Missouri,  where  he  became  the 
owner  of  a  farm,  which  he  operated  successfully 
until  1876,  when  he  sold  it  and  engaged  in  the 
grocery  business  at  Montrose,  Missouri,  in  which 
enterprise  he  prospered  until,  out  of  the  kindness 
of  his  heart  and  with  the  motive  of  helping 
others,  he  became  security  on  financial  paper 
which  he  was  forced  to  redeem  and  which  caused 
him  to  lose  nearly  everything  he  had  accumu- 
lated. He  managed  to  pay  all  his  obligations, 
however,  and  then,  declining  proffered  assistance 


688 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


to  engage  in  business  again  at  Montrose,  he 
thanked  his  well-meaning  friends  and  announced 
that  he  had  taken  the  advice  of  Horace  Greeley 
as  his  guide,  and  was  determined  to  "go  west 
and  grow  up  with  the  country."  Accordingly, 
in  the  spring  of  1878,  he  crossed  the  plains  with  a 
team  and  arrived  at  Boise  July  16.  Until  1883 
he  was  engaged  in  freighting  between  Kelton, 
Utah,  and  Boise.  He  drove  a  twelve-horse,  four- 
wagon  team  and  often  transferred  more  than 
twelve  tons  of  freight  at  a  time.  In  1883  he 
located  on  a  farm  ten  miles  from  Boise,  and  lived 
in  that  vicinity  until  the  fall  of  1898.  As  a 
farmer  he  ranked  with  the  most  progressive  and 
successful  in  Ada  county,  improving  his  place 
constantly  and  adopting  the  most  advanced 
methods  in  every  department  of  his  work.  In 
1898  he  sold  his  farm  for  a  good  price,  and,  mov- 
ing to  Boise,  he  purchased  the  Bancroft  Hotel 
with  its  fixtures,  furniture  and  stock.  This  hotel 
has  a  history  which  dates  back  to  1893.  It  is  a 
history  of  success,  to  which  Mr.  Pfost  is  adding 
with  every  passing  month.  The  Bancroft  Hotel 
is  a  three-story  brick  structure,  containing  forty 
rooms,  and  its  conveniences  are  modern  and 
complete.  Mr.  Pfost,  who  is  a  Mason,  an  Odd 
Fellow,  a  Pioneer  of  the  West,  a  Good  Templar 
and  an  influential  Democrat,  is  keeping  an  up-to- 
date  hotel,  and  through  his  numerous  fraternal 
connections  and  wide  acquaintance  is  drawing 
to  it  an  extensive  patronage,  and  it  is  deservedly 
popular  with  the  traveling  public. 

December  13,  1866,  Mr.  Pfost  married  M,iss 
Margaret  Koontz,  who  died  in  Ada  county, 
Idaho,  December  27,  1885,  leaving  seven  chil- 
dren: Mary  (now  Mrs.  S.  M.  Burns),  John  A., 
James  E.,  Effie  (now  Mrs.  Boyd  Burns),  Otis, 
Charles  L.,  and  Daisy.  Mr.  Pfost's  second  mar- 
riage was  with  Mrs.  Rebecca  (Curl)  Brown  and 
was  celebrated  December  4,  1890.  Mrs.  Pfost 
died  May  30,  1891,  and  February  7,  1892,  Mr. 
Pfost  married  Mrs.  Mary  Pullman,  a  native  of 
Iowa  and  a  daughter  of  Hugh  and  Amanda 
Baker,  prominent  among  the  wealthy  citizens  of 
Appanoose  county.  By  her  former  marriage 
Mrs.  Pfost  has  one  son,  Carl  D.  Pullman,  whose 
father,  Edward  Pullman,  a  druggist  at  Center- 
ville,  died  January  16,  1890,  when  Carl  was 
only  six  days  old.  By  his  present  marriage  Mr. 
Pfost  has  three  children:  Merle,  Robert  and 


Montie  D.  Mrs.  Pfost  first  came  to  Idaho  in 
1885.  Here  she  taught  school  three  terms  and 
then  returned  to  Iowa,  where  she  lived  until  she 
came  back  to  Idaho  in  1891.  She  is  a  member 
of  the  Odd  Fellows  auxiliary  order,  the  Daugh- 
ters of  Rebekah,  and  is  interested  in  all  the  good 
work  carried  on  under  its  auspices  and  in  all  of 
the  local  work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
of  which  she  and  her  husband  are  members. 

ASBURY   B.    CROCHERON. 

Asbury  B.  Crocheron  has  spent  almost  his 
entire  life  in  Owyhee  county  and  is  now  a  lead- 
ing resident  of  Silver  City.  His  prominence  in 
this  locality  is  indicated  by  his  long  retention  in 
public  office,  and  at  the  present  writing,  1899, 
he  is  filling  the  office  of  county  sheriff.  A  native 
of  Oregon,  he  was  born  in  Eugene,  that  state, 
on  the  25th  of  October,  1860.  The  family  is  of 
French  origin  and  was  founded  in  America  at 
a  very  early  period  in  the  colonial  history  of  the 
country.  A  settlement  was  made  in  New  York, 
and  when  British  oppression  forced  the  colonies 
into  insurrection,  the  great-grandfather  of  our 
subject  entered  the  service  and,  with  the  rank  of 
captain,  participated  in  the  struggle  for  freedom. 
J.  H.  Crocheron,  the  father  of  the  sheriff,  was 
born  in  New  York  city,  and  when  gold  was 
discovered  in  California  made  his  way  to  the 
Pacific  slope.  Subsequently  he  removed  to  Ore- 
gon, where  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Mary  J.  Crow,  and  in  1864  he  brought  his  family 
to  Idaho,  locating  in  Idaho  City,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  mining  for  about  three  years.  In  1867 
he  came  to  Silver  City,  and  in  1872  turned  his 
attention  to  farming,  his  home  being  on  Sinker 
creek.  There  he  has  since  carried  on  agricul- 
tural pursuits,  and,  although  now  seventy-two 
years  of  age,  still  superintends  the  operation  of 
his  land.  His  wife  also  is  living,  and  they  have 
three  sons  and  two  daughters,  the  family  circle 
yet  unbroken  by  the  hand  of  death. 

Asbury  B.  Crocheron,  the  eldest  child,  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Silver  City,  and 
for  many  years  has  been  engaged  in  the  stock 
business  with  his  father,  acquiring  a  wide  reputa- 
tion as  one  of  the  best  riders  and  "ropers"  in  the 
county.  He  is  an  excellent  judge  of  stock  and 
his  efforts  in  the  line  of  this  industry  have  been 
crowned  with  a  high  degree  of  success.  His 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


689 


time  of  late  years,  however,  has  been  divided  be- 
tween his  private  interests  and  his  public  service. 
He  allied  himself  with  the  Republican  party  on 
attaining  his  majority  and  supported  its  men  and 
measures  until  1896,  when,  differing  radically  in 
regard  to  the  money  plank  of  the  national  plat- 
form, he  has  since  been  a  silver  Republican.  His 
fitness  for  public  office  has  several  times  led  to 
his  selection  for  important  service  in  the  inter- 
ests of  his  fellow  citizens,  his  duties  being  in 
connection  with  the  offices  of  county  assessor 
and  tax-collector,  to  which  he  was  elected  in 
1890.  So  capably  and  acceptably  did  he  serve 
during  that  term  that  he  was  re-elected  without 
opposition  in  1894,  and  filled  the  position  until 
1896,  when  he  was  elected  county  sheriff.  Over 
his  public  record  there  falls  no  shadow  of  wrong 
or  suspicion  of  evil,  and  men  of  all  parties  speak 
of  him  in  the  most  commendatory  terms. 

On  the  i4th  of  October,  1897,  Mr.  Crocheron 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Mrs.  Millie  Walston, 
nee  Stanford,  a  niece  of  Senator  Stanford,  of 
California,  now  deceased.  They  now  have  one 
son,  and  their  hospitable  home  in  Silver  City  is 
a  favorite  resort  with  their  many  friends.  Mr. 
Crocheron  is  past  noble  grand  of  Silver  City 
Lodge,  No.  2,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and  is  prominent  in 
the  fraternity,  having  the  warm  regard  of  the 
brethren.  Such  in  brief  is  the  life  history  of  one 
whose  career  has  been  one  of  close  connection 
with  the  interests  of  Owyhee  county,  and  as  a 
representative  citizen  of  Idaho  he  well  deserves 
mention  in  this  volume. 

DAN  FEOUR. 

Among  the  sons  of  the  Pine  Tree  state  who 
have  found  homes  in  the  northwest  and  whose 
history  forms  an  integral  part  of  the  record  of 
the  development  of  the  rich  mining  interests  of 
southern  Idaho  is  Dan  Feour.  He  was  born  in 
Aroostook  county,  Maine,  June  9,  1850,  a  son 
of  William  and  Catherine  Feour.  His  father  was 
born  in  Ireland,  and  when  a  young  man  came 
to  the  United  States.  He  died  in  the  fifty-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  and  his  wife  departed  this  life 
at  the  age  of  forty-four  years.  They  were  the 
parents  of  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  yet 
living. 

Dan  Feour  was  reared  to  manhood  in  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  and  acquired  a  good  practical 


education  in  the  public  schools  of  that  city.  He 
then  learned  the  machinist's  trade,  and  for  some 
time  worked  in  the  Grover  &  Baker  sewing  ma- 
chine factory.  In  1865  he  cast  in  his  lot  with 
the  settlers  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  has  borne 
no  unimportant  part  in  the  development  of  this 
section  of  the  country.  By  way  of  the  isthmus 
of  Panama  he  made  his  way  to  California  and 
there  engaged  in  mining  until  1869,  when  he 
went  to  White  Pine,  Nevada,  and  thence  to  the 
Squaw  creek,  Washington,  and  Victoria,  British 
Columbia,  attracted  by  the  discovery  of  gold  at 
those  places. 

In  1875  Mr.  Feour  arrived  in  Owyhee  county, 
where  he  has  since  engaged  in  mining,  meeting 
with  excellent  success  in  his  undertakings.  He 
has  also  prospected  in  other  parts  of  the  state, 
and  prosperity  has  attended  his  labors.  In  1879 
he  sold  the  St.  John  mine  to  the  Henrietta  Com- 
pany; in  1894  the  Colorado  group  of  three  claims 
to  the  Trade  Dollar  Mining  &  Milling  Company; 
and  in  1895  the  Comstock  to  the  Florida  Moun- 
tain Company.  The  following  year  he  negotia- 
ted the  deal  whereby  the  Humboldt  group, 
owned  by  John  Feour  and  Taylor  Gearhart,  was 
sold  to  the  Florida  Mountain  Company.  On  all 
these  transactions  our  subject  has  realized  a  good 
profit  and  has  thus  won  a  handsome  competency. 
He  still  has  other  valuable  mining  interests,  and 
has  a  firm  belief  and  faith  in  the  richness  of  min- 
eral deposits  to  be  found  in  the  mountains  of 
Owyhee  county.  Many  of  the  mines  in  which  he 
has  prospected  have  already  yielded  good  re- 
turns, and  there  is  no  doubt  that  others  are  rich 
in  ore. 

In  1895  Mr.  Feour  married  Miss  Sallie  Cat- 
low,  of  Silver  City,  daughter  of  John  Catlow, 
who  came  to  this  country  from  England,  being 
one  of  the  California  pioneers  of  1852,  and  of 
Silver  City  in  1864.  In  partnership  with  Colonel 
Dewey  he  opened  the  celebrated  Black  Jack 
mine,  and  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Smith, 
Mann  &  Catlow,  of  San  Francisco,  where  they 
conducted  a  large  butchering  business.  They 
were  also  owners  of  large  cattle  ranches  in  the 
Stein  mountain  country,  where  Mr.  Catlow  still 
resides.  He  was  also  at  one  time  a  partner  of 
James  G.  Fair,  of  California  fame.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Feour  have  one  daughter,  Marion. 

In  his  social  relations  the  subject  of  this  review 


(590 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


is  an  Odd  Fellow,  and  in  political  faith  is  a  Re- 
publican, but  has  no  time  for  political  work,  his 
energies  being  demanded  in  his  mining  interests. 
By  his  activity  along  this  line  he  has  largely  aided 
in  the  development  of  the  state  and  has  advanced 
its  welfare,  for  its  prosperity  and  growth  have,  in 
a  great  measure,  come  as  the  result  of  the  dis- 
covery and  utilization  of  the  rich  mineral  de- 
posits that  nature  has  so  bountifully  bestowed 
upon  the  "Gem  of  the  Mountains." 

ISAAC  R.  SMITH. 

Isaac  Roston  Smith,  the  managing  partner  of 
the  firm  of  Smith  Brothers,  prominent  merchants 
and  millers  of  Salubria,  and  president  of  the 
Washington  County  Fair  Association,  was  born 
in  Morrow  county,  Ohio,  March  n,  1859,  h'3 
ancestors,  who  were  English,  having  been  early 
settlers  in  Berks  county,  Pennsylvania.  His 
grandfather,  William  Smith,  was  born  in  Berks 
county  and  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Speck.  They 
settled  in  Guernsey  county  and  in  1842  removed 
to  Morrow  county,  Ohio,  where  he  remained  un- 
til his  death,  in  1883,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four 
years.  His  wife  passed  away  in  1898,  aged 
eighty-five  years.  Twelve  children  were  born  to 
this  worthy  couple,  one  of  whom  was  the  father 
of  our  subject,  Finley  McGrew  Smith,  whose 
birth  took  place  in  Guernsey  county,  Ohio,  on 
February  II,  1836.  He  served  in  the  Union 
army  during  the  civil  war  as  a  member  of  the 
Third  Ohio  Cavalry.  His  wife  was  Miss  Pamelia 
Sutton,  a  native  of  Washington  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  of  the  six  children  born  to  them  five 
are  now  living. 

Isaac  R.  Smith  is  the  second  son  in  the  order 
of  birth,  and  accompanied  his  parents  to  Kansas 
in  1866,  where  he  received  his  education  in  the 
public  schools  and  began  life  as  a  farmer,  but 
when  seventeen  years  old  he  embarked  in  the 
mercantile  business,  in  which  he  has  since  con- 
tinued. In  1891  he  came  with  his  brother  to 
Salubria  and  they  founded  the  business  in  which 
they  have  continued  so  successfully.  In  1898 
they  built  their  flouring  mill,  which  is  equipped 
with  the  plane-sifter  system  and  full  roller 
process,  which  is  the  latest  improvement,  and 
the  mill  has  a  capacity  of  sixty  barrels  of  flour  a 
day.  The  firm  also  have  the  leading  general 
store  of  the  town,  a  branch  store  at  Warren, 


where  they  supply  a  large  mining  trade,  and  they 
also  have  a  sawmill  and  manufacture  lumber  quite 
extensively.  They  are  popular,  energetic  and 
liberal  men,  taking  an  active  part  in  any  enter- 
prise that  will  advance  the  welfare  of  the  town, 
and  they  enjoy  the  good  will  and  high  esteem  of 
all  with  whom  they  come  in  contact,  either  in  a 
business  or  social  way.  In  politics  Mr.  Smith  is 
a  stanch  Republican  and  a  strong  supporter  of 
the  principles  of  that  party. 

HENRY  PECK. 

The  first  settler  of  the  city  of  Malad  was  Henry 
Peck,  who,  in  the  year  1864,  came  to  Oneida 
county  and  established  his  home  upon  the  pres- 
ent site  of  the  county-seat.  For  many  years  he 
was  prominently  identified  with  the  development 
and  progress  of  the  county,  and  his  name  is  in- 
separably associated  with  the  advancement  which 
has  wrought  a  great  transformation  here,  making 
the  once  wild  region  a  fertile  section  of  fine  farms 
and  pleasant  homes. 

Mr.  Peck  was  born  in  Greene  county,  New- 
York,  February  26,  1823,  and  was  a  representa- 
tive of  one  of  the  old  families  of  the  Empire  state, 
his  parents  being  Charles  and  Sarah  (Gosley) 
Peck.  He  was  reared  to  manhood  in  New  York, 
and  having  arrived  at  years  of  maturity  was  there 
married,  in  October,  1845,  to  Miss  Julia  E. 
North,  a  native  of  Connecticut  and  a  daughter  of 
Jonathan  and  Rachel  (Bissell)  North.  Seven 
children  were  born  to  them  ere  they  removed 
from  New  York  to  Nebraska,  in  the  year  1857. 
For  six  years  Henry  Peck  engaged  in  farming  in 
that  state  and  then  went  with  his  family  to  Farm- 
ington,  Utah,  whence  he  came  to  Malad  the  fol- 
lowing year.  This  country  had  not  then  been 
surveyed,  and  he  secured  a  squatter's  claim  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  upon  which  he  built 
a  little  log  cabin,  becoming  the  pioneer  settler  of 
the  town.  From  that  time  until  his  death,  he 
was  an  active  factor  in  the  movements  which 
have  led  to  the  upbuilding  and  improvement  of 
this  section  of  the  state. 

When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peck  came  to  Idaho  they 
brought  with  them  their  family  of  ten  children, 
the  record  of  whom  is  as  follows:  Dwight,  a 
resident  of  Lost  River;  Frederick,  who  is  living 
at  Ross  Fork;  Leonard,  of  Challis;  Sarah,  now 
the  wife  of  Stanton  G.  Fisher,  who  for  several 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


691 


years  was  Indian  agent  at  Spaulding,  but  is  now 
a  resident  of  Mount  Idaho;  Howard,  of  Malad; 
Julia  E.,  now  Mrs.  Wisley;  Amelia  E.,  twin  sis- 
ter of  Julia  and  the  wife  of  William  B.  Thews; 
Mrs.  Mary  Scott,  now  a  widow;  Emily,  wife  of 
William  E.  Wass,  of  Butte,  Montana:  and 
Charles,  who  is  engaged  in  farming  and  stock- 
raising,  his  home  being  in  Malad. 

A  large  part  of  the  county-seat  of  Oneida 
county  has  been  built  upon  the  land  which  Henry 
Peck  claimed  upon  coming  to  this  state,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  builders  of  Malad  and  one  of  its 
most  industrious  and  enterprising  citizens.  The 
family  still  own  the  old  log  house  in  which  they 
first  lived,  but  in  1875  the  father  erected  a  large 
frame  residence,  in  which  they  conducted  a  hotel 
for  a  number  of  years.  Malad  was  the  county- 
seat  of  Oneida  county  when  it  embraced  all  of 
southeastern  Idaho,  and  the  sessions  of  the  courts 
brought  many  people  to  the  town,  including 
prominent  early  settlers,  who  were  entertained 
at  the  Peck  Hotel.  Thus  the  family  gained  a 
wide  acquaintance  throughout  this  section  of  the 
state,  and  their  sterling  worth  won  for  them  high 
regard.  As  time  passed,  the  farm  was  enlarged 
and  it  now  comprises  two  hundred  acres  of  valu- 
able land  adjoining  Malad  on  the  west.  It  is 
operated  by  Howard  and  Charles  Peck,  who  are 
very  successful  agriculturists. 

Mr.  Peck,  the  father,  was  a  prominent  and  in- 
fluential citizen,  frequently  honored  by  public 
office.  He  served  in  the  territorial  legislature 
and  was  probate  judge,  both  in  Nebraska  and  in 
Oneida  county.  In  politics  he  was  a  lifelong 
Democrat,  and  in  the  discharge  of  his  official 
duties  he  manifested  a  marked  loyalty  to  the 
public  trust.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints  and  was 
twice  on  a  mission  to  the  eastern  section  of  this 
country,  and  also  went  to  Canada  in  the  service 
of  the  church.  He  died  July  22,  1889,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-six  years,  respected  by  all  who  knew 
him.  His  property  was  left  to  his  widow  during 
her  lifetime  and  is  then  to  go  to  the  children. 
It  is  now  being  managed  by  Howard  and  Charles, 
two  of  her  sons.  The  former  is  the  eldest  of  the 
sons  now  in  Malad.  He  was  married  December 
7,  1880,  to  Miss  Jane  Woozley,  and  they  have 
five  sons.  On  the  3d  of  January,  1889,  Charles 
Peck  married  Miss  Ann  Bywater,  and  they,  too, 


have  five  children.  The  family  is  one  of  promi- 
nence in  the  community  and  Mrs.  Julia  Peck  is 
one  of  the  brave  pioneer  women  who  took  a  no 
less  important,  though  more  quiet,  part  in  the 
development  and  advancement  of  the  state 
through  the  pioneer  epoch  in  its  history. 

LYTTLETON   PRICE. 

Michigan  has  contributed  its  full  share  toward 
the  intellectual  progress -of  the  new  west.  As 
many  Michigan  men  are  to  be  found  in  places  of 
trust  and  responsibility,  in  the  learned  profes- 
sions and  in  the  higher  circles  of  business,  in  the 
Rockies  and  beyond  them,  as  men  from  any  state 
in  the  Union.  Lyttleton  Price,  who  is  part  owner 
and  manager  of  the  Red  Cloud  and  Solace  groups 
of  mines,  is  a  prominent  Idaho  lawyer  and  poli- 
tician, a  resident  of  Hailey  and  a  native  of  Ma- 
comb  county,  Michigan.  He  was  born  twenty 
miles  northeast  of  Detroit,  May  4,  1848,  a  son  of 
David  and  Elvira  (Momford)  Price.  In  both 
lines  of  descent  he  is  of  English  blood.  Both 
families  turned  out  heroes  in  the  Revolutionary 
war.  One  of  these  was  Captain  Peter  Price. 
Another  was  Captain  Simons,  the  maternal 
grandfather  of  Mr.  Price's  mother.  Both  were 
from  Maryland,  and  the  records  of  their  valor  are 
to  be  found  among  the  archives  of  that  state. 
Mr.  Price's  grandfathers  both  lived  in  Rush,  New 
York,  twenty  miles  from  the  city  of  Rochester, 
and  there  his  parents  were  born  and  were  mar- 
ried. His  father  was  a  merchant,  farmer  and 
miller,  a  man  of  extensive  enterprises  for  his  time 
and  generation.  In  religion  he  was  a  Universal- 
ist;  his  wife  was  a  Methodist.  They  removed  to 
Michigan  in  1835  and  were  among  the  pioneers 
in  their  part  of  the  state.  Mrs.  Price  died  in  1881, 
aged  seventy-one  years.  Mr.  Price  is  still  liv- 
ing at  the  old  family  home  in  Michigan,  now 
eighty-nine  years  old.  They  had  two  daughters, 
and  a  son  whose  successful  career  will  now  be 
considered  somewhat  at  length. 

Lyttleton  Price  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  near  his  boyhood  home  and  at  Ypsilanti 
Seminary.  While  still  quite  young  he  went  to 
San  Francisco,  California,  this  being  in  the  year 
1869.  He  entered  upon  the  study  of  law,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1872.  He  practiced  in 
California  four  years,  with  growing  success,  and 
then  went  to  Arizona,  where  he  was  United 


692 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


States  attorney  under  General  John  C.  Fremont, 
who  was  governor  of  that  territory,  1880-83. 
When  he  gave  up  that  responsible  office,  which 
had  been  by  no  means  insignificant  in  its  de- 
mands upon  his  resources,  and  the  duties  and  re- 
quirements of  which  he  had  met  with  the  great- 
est satisfaction  to  the  judiciary  of  the  territory,  he 
came  to  Hailey,  where  he  has  since  practiced  his 
profession  and  given  attention  to  his  mining  in- 
terests. As  a  lawyer  he  has  taken  high  rank  in 
Idaho  and  has  built  up  a  practice  which  extends 
into  nearby  states. 

He  is  influential  in  the  councils  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  and  for  the  past  three  years  has  been 
one  of  the  most  prominent  silver  Republicans  in 
Idaho.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  St.  Louis  con- 
vention of  1896  and  was  one  of  the  delegates  who 
walked  out  because  of  the  attitude  assumed  by 
the  controllers  of  the  convention  toward  the  sil- 
ver question.  Since  then  he  has  never  retreated 
from  the  stand  then  taken,  and  he  has  frequently 
been  chosen  chairman  of  the  state  conventions 
of  politicians  of  his  way  of  thinking. 

Mr.  Price  was  first  married  in  1875.  By  that 
marriage  he  has  a  son,  Lyttleton  Price,  Jr.. 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  now  attending  the 
Golden  School  of  Mines  in  Colorado.  In  1891 
he  married  Miss  Florence  Hunt,  a  lady  of  refine- 
ment, culture  and  religious  conviction,  who  is.  an 
active  and  influential  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church.  They  have  an  interesting  lit- 
tle daughter  named  Catharine.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Price  have  a  beautiful  home  in  Hailey,  which  is 
in  every'  respect  all  that  the  term  can  imply  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances.  They  have  a 
wide  and  constantly  enlarging  circle  of  acquaint- 
ance and  are  universally  admired  for  their  many 
good  qualities  of  mind  and  heart.  They  are  in- 
fluential members  of  the  community  and  their 
influence  is  a  good  and  helpful  one. 

R.   F.    BULLER, 

In  modern  ages^and  to  a  large  extent  in  the 
past,  banks  have  constituted  a  vital  part  of  or- 
ganized society,  and  governments,  both  mon- 
archical and  popular,  have  depended  upon  them 
for  material  aid  in  times  of  depression  and 
trouble.  Their  influence  has  extended  over  the 
entire  world  and  their  prosperity  has  been  the 
barometer  which  has  unfalteringly  indicated  the 


financial  status  of  all  nations.  Of  this  important 
branch  of  business  R.  F.  Buller  is  a  worthy  rep- 
resentative. In  April,  1892,  he  came  to  Hailey, 
and  is  now  president  of  the  First  National  Bank, 
which  has  become  one  of  the  leading  and  reliable 
financial  concerns  in  southern  Idaho. 

Mr.  Buller  is  a  native  of  Coburg,  Canada,  his 
birth  having  there  occurred  March  10,  1840.  He 
is  of  English  descent,  and  his  father,  Charles  G. 
Buller,  a  native  of  England,  emigrated  to  Can- 
ada in  1830.  He  was  married  in  Coburg  to  Miss 
Frances  Boucher.  He  had  been  educated,  in 
Oxford  College,  for  the  Episcopal  ministry,  but 
preferred  agricultural  pursuits  to  the  calling  for 
which  his  parents  intended  him,  and  throughout 
his  business  career  carried  on  farming.  His 
was  an  honorable  and  successful  life,  and  his 
death  occurred  in  "1897,  when  he  had  attained  the 
ripe  old  age  of  ninety-six  years.  His  wife  passed 
away  in  1898,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years. 
They  had  nine  children,  five  of  whom  are  living. 

R.  F.  Buller,  the  eldest  son,  having  acquired  a 
good  preliminary  education,  pursued  a  commer- 
cial course  in  Oberlin,  Ohio,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1864,  after  which  he  took  up  the  study  of 
law  in  the  law  department  of  the  Michigan  State 
University,  at  Ann  Arbor.  He  was  there  gradu- 
ated in  1866,  and  for  twenty-four  years  thereafter 
successfully  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession in  Missouri.  He  spent  sixteen  years  in 
Carthage,  that  state,  and  became  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  and  able  members  of  the  bar,  hav- 
ing a  large  clientage,  whereby  he  was  connected 
with  most  of  the  important  litigation  tried  in  the 
courts  of  his  district.  He  was  also  a  member  of 
the  Missouri  state  legislature  in  1870  and  was  a 
man  of  prominence  in  public  life.  As  his  finan- 
cial resources  increased,  as  the  result  of  his  large 
law  practice,  he  made  judicious  and  extensive  in- 
vestments in  real  estate,  and  also  became  a  stock- 
holder in  various  banks  in  Missouri,  acquiring 
a  wide  and  profitable  banking  experience.  In 
April,  1892,  he  came  to  Hailey  and  has  since 
been  connected  with  the  financial  interests  of  this 
city.  He  erected  one  of  the  good  residences  of 
the  town  and  the  company  of  which  he  is  presi- 
dent also  built  the  commodious  bank  building 
which  they  occupy.  As  the  head  of  the  First 
National  Bank  Mr.  Buller  has  become  widely 
known  in  Hailey  and  throughout  the  surround- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


693 


ing  country.  His  business  methods  are  conserv- 
ative, sound  and  trustworthy,  and  his  capable 
management  has  made  the  First  National  Bank 
one  of  the  most  reliable  financial  establishments 
in  this  part  of  the  state.  He  also  has  a  large  and 
valuable  ranch,  of  two  thousand  acres,  fourteen 
miles  below  Hailey.  There  is  an  abundance  of 
good  water  on  the  place,  and  he  is  extensively 
engaged  in  raising  grain  and  Hereford  and 
short-horn  cattle  and  also  sheep.  The  income 
from  the  ranch  is  not  inconsiderable,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  that  property  Mr.  Buller  has  extensive 
realty  holdings  in  California,  South  Dakota,  Mis- 
souri and  Iowa. 

In  1880  Mr.  Buller  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Rosa  Osburn,  a  native  of  Indiana,  and  they 
have  a  son,  Charles,  who  is  now  attending  school 
in  Minnesota.  The  parents  are  members  of  the 
Episcopal  church,  in  which  our  subject  is  now 
serving  as  vestryman.  In  politics  he  has  been  a 
lifelong  Republican,  and,  keeping  well  informed 
on  the  issues  of  the  day,  gives  a  loyal  support  to 
the  party,  but  has  never  been  an  aspirant  for  of- 
fice, preferring  to  devote  his  time  and  energies 
to  his  business  interests,  in  which  he  has  met 
with  excellent  success.  He  has  by  ceaseless  toil 
and  endeavor  attained  marked  prosperity  in 
business  affairs,  has  gained  the  respect  and  con- 
fidence of  men,  and  is  recognized  as  one  of  the 
distinctively  representative  citizens  of  Hailey. 

JOSEPH  C.  RICH. 

Judge  Joseph  C.  Rich,  eldest  son  of  Hon. 
Charles  C.  Rich,  a  sketch  of  whom  appears  else- 
where in  this  history,  was  born  in  Nauvoo,  Han- 
cock county,  Illinois,  January  16,  1841.  His 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Sarah  D.  Pea, — good 
stock  all  around, — his  ancestors  being  of  that 
hardy  pioneer  school  who  have  subdued  the  wilds 
of  the  middle  and  western  states  and  made  pos- 
sible the  grandeur  of  those  noble  common- 
wealths. 

When  but  a  boy  of  five  years  he,  in  connection 
with  his  parents  and  several  thousand  others,  was 
driven  from  the  city  of  his  birth  by  mobocratic 
persecution,  and  commenced  that  historic  jour- 
ney, the  Mormon  exodus  toward  the  setting  sun, 
which  has  since  resulted  in  the  settlement  and 
the  development  of  our  great  "Inter-Mountain 
Empire."  He  wintered  in  1846-7  at  Mount 


Pisgah,  then  a  portion  of  the  wilderness  of  Iowa. 
At  this  place  nearly  one-third  of  that  camp  died 
during  the  winter,  through  sickness  brought  on 
by  exposure  and  want.  •  The  well  peopled  grave- 
yard found  there  by  the  permanent  settlers  who 
subsequently  settled  that  region,  attests  suf- 
ficiently that  fact. 

As  soon  as  grass  could  grow  in  the  spring  of 
1847  the  journey  westward  was  resumed  and  con- 
tinued throughout  the  summer  until  one  thou- 
sand four  hundred  miles — long,  lonesome  and 
weary  ones — brought  them,  on  the  2d  day  of 
October,  1847,  to  the  then  parched  and  desolate 
valley  of  the  Salt  Lake.  This  journey  was  made 
by  ox  and  cow  teams,  manipulated  by  men,  boys 
and  women,  through  a  country  thickly  peopled 
by  hostile  Indians,  through  countless  multitudes 
of  buffalo,  which  frequently  stampeded  the  teams 
and  were  so  numerous  that  at  times  the  train  was 
compelled  to  camp,  corral  the  cattle  within  the 
enclosures  of  their  wagons  and  wait  for  hour? 
and  sometimes  days  for  the  immense  buffalo 
herds  to  pass.  On  one  of  these  occasions  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  came  nearly  losing  his  life 
by  a  frightened  ox  jumping  over  a  wagon, 
alighting  on  top  of  him.  Mr.  Rich  says  now, 
contemplating  the  number  of  those  noble  animals 
he  remembers  seeing  in  the  Platte  valley  alone, 
he  cannot  realize  the  fact  that  they  are  now  al- 
most an  extinct  race.  He  says  this  wanton,  use- 
less and  cruel  extermination  of  these  noble  ani- 
mals is  a  disgrace  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  sport,  so- 
called,  and  to  the  government  which  permitted  it. 

His  arrival  in  the  Salt  Lake  valley  had  been 
preceded  by  the  original  pioneer  band  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  men  and  three  women  and 
some  companies,  and  all  went  to  work  and  built 
a  fort,  consisting  of  log  and  adobe  houses,  en- 
closing a  square  of  ten  acres.  Four  gates,  one 
on  each  side,  were  so  constructed  that  all  the 
stock  of  the  colony  could  be  driven  in  at  night, 
the  gates  securely  fastened,  and  by  regular  details 
of  guards  night  and  day,  as  security  against  In- 
dian attacks,  the  first  home  and  settlements  of 
the  Rocky  mountain  region  began.  The  spot, 
geographically,  at  that  time,  was  Mexican  soil, 
notwithstanding  which  the  stars  and  stripes  wen- 
floated  to  the  breeze, — a  provincial  government 
under  the  constitution  of  the  LTnited  States  was 
organized.  The  ending  of  the  war  with  Mexico 


694 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


and  the  treaty  of  Guadaloupe-Hidalgo  culmin- 
ated in  the  creation  by  congress  of  the  territory  of 
Utah,  which  supplanted  the  provincial  govern- 
ment previously  formed. 

Mr.  Rich  attended  such  primitive  schools  as 
then  existed,  learned  to  read  and  write,  and 
graduated  in  all  the  lore  of  Webster's  Elementary 
Spelling  Book,  the  only  school  library  then 
deemed  necessary,  and  the  only  one  to  be  had. 
While  his  opportunities  to  obtain  even  the  rudi- 
ments of  an  education  were  of  the  rudest  and 
most  meager  kind,  he  prides  himself  on  the  fact 
that  none  of  the  schools  of  his  day  produced  a 
single  "dude." 

In  1855  he  accompanied  his  father  to  San  Ber- 
nardino, California,  then  a  Mexican  grant  which 
his  father  and  Amasa  M.  Lyman  had  purchased 
under  the  direction  of  the  Mormon  authorities. 
While  -here  he  studied  surveying  and  was  em- 
ployed a  considerable  part  of  his  time  in  assisting 
in  the  survey  of  that  ranch  into  lots  and  tracts 
for  farming  purposes.  The  grant  was  twenty 
miles  square  and  embraced  nearly  the  whole  of 
San  Bernardino  county,  California;  and  is  now 
probably  one  of  the  richest  and  most  productive 
parts  of  the  whole  state.  He  returned  to  Salt 
Lake  City  in  1857  and  worked  on  his  father's 
farm. 

In  1860,  with  his  father,  he  performed  a  mis- 
sion as  a  Mormon  elder  to  Great  Britain,  visiting 
England  and  Wales  and  remained  abroad  until 
the  fall  of  1863,  when  he  returned  to  his  home  in 
Salt  Lake.  He  was  one  of  the  youngest  elders 
ever  sent  abroad.  During  the  fall  of  this  year 
his  father  was  directed  by  Brigham  Young  to 
summon  volunteers  and  effect  at  that  time  set- 
tlements in  Bear  Lake  valley,  now  the  southeast- 
ern county  of  the  state  of  Idaho,  and  in  Septem- 
ber of  that  year,  with  a  company  of  fifty  horse- 
men and  teams  the  valley  was  visited,  -the  town 
of  Paris,  now  the  county-seat  of  Bear  Lake  coun- 
ty, was  founded  and  from  this  beginning  com- 
menced the  settlement  of  southeastern  Idaho. 

Mr.  Rich  accompanied  the  settlers  in  1863  and 
for  the  next  few  years  put  in  his  time  surveying 
the  towns  and  villages  and  farming  lands,  from 
Evanston,  Wyoming,  to  Soda  Springs,  the 
United  States  surveys  not  having  then  been 
made. 

The  early  settlers  of  this  section  had  much  to 


contend  with.  Hostile  Indians  had  to  be  watched 
continually,  the  horses  and  cattle  were  herded  by 
armed  men,  the  frosts  of  the  high  elevation — six 
thousand  feet — killed  the  crops,  and  it  was  only 
by  great  suffering,  deprivation  and  the  sternest 
persistence  of  the  settlers  in  remaining,  that  the 
region  was  peopled  and  the  difficulties  overcome. 
Now  the  valleys  teem  with  happy  homes,  grist 
and  sawmills,  trades  and  business  of  all  kinds, 
public  schools  second  to  none,  colleges,  railroads, 
telegraphs  and  telephones,  canals,  and  steamers 
on  our  lakes,  and  a  population  of  tens  of  thou- 
sands. Such  have  been  the  results  of  the  pluck, 
energy,  sufferings  and  successful  efforts  of  the 
early  settlers  of  southeastern  Idaho.  Of  this 
kind  of  material  nations  are  made  possible  and 
none  are  entitled  to  more  credit  than  the  forerun- 
ners of  American  civilization  in  the  Rocky 
mountain  states  and  territories. 

Hang  a  garland  on  the  grave 

Of  every  pioneer; 
We  owe  to  them  our  happy  homes, 

Our  comfort  and  our  cheer. 

In  1886  Mr.  Rich  married  Ann  Eliza  Hunter, 
a  daughter  of  Bishop  Edward  Hunter,  of  Salt 
Lake  City,  a  name  almost  as  widely  known  in 
Utah  as  that  of  Brigham  Young.  They  have 
living  three  girls  and  three  boys, — Edward  C., 
Susaan  J.,  Sarah  L.,  Libbey,  Joseph  C.  and  Stand- 
ley  H.  They  live  on  the  shore  of  Bear  lake  and 
have  natural  white-sulphur  hot  springs  at  their 
home,  which  are  frequented  for  bathing  purposes 
by  hundreds,  on  account  of  the  health-giving, 
medicinal  qualities  of  the  waters. 

Mr.  Rich  has  since  manhood  been  actively  en- 
gaged in  politics,  is  a  stanch,  unflinching  Demo- 
crat, and  his  abilities  as  a  leader  have  been  rec- 
ognized by  his  party  in  the  state.  He  has  been 
elected  to  almost  every  office  in  his  county  and 
district.  Twice  he  represented  Bear  Lake  county 
as  a  representative  to  the  territorial  legislature; 
presided  over  the  Democratic  state  convention  in 
1894;  was  elected  to.  and  attended  as  delegate 
the  Chicago  convention  in  1896,  casting  his  vote 
and  that  of  the  state  for  William  Jennings  Bryan 
for  president;  was  elected  state  senator  in  1896, 
on  an  anti-Dubois  platform,  was  the  chairman  of 
the  Democratic  legislative  caucus,  and  did  more, 
perhaps,  than  any  other  man  in  the  state  to  carry 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


695 


out  the  fusion  contract  between  the  Democrats 
and  the  Populists.  In  this  contest  the  honor  of 
the  Democratic  party  of  the  state  was  involved, 
and  to  the  efforts  and  successful  generalship  of 
Judge  Rich  and  his  associates  may  be  attributed 
the  success  of  that  campaign.  Mr.  Rich  believed 
that  the  Democratic  party  had  entered  into  and 
made  an  honest  compact  with  the  Populist  party, 
and  that  for  his  party  to  retain  its  honor  and  re- 
main a  worthy  power  in  the  state  the  terms  of 
that  compact  must  be  faithfully  maintained, — and 
they  were. 

As  a  forcible,  fluent  and  impressive  speaker  and 
debater  he  stands  with  the  first  of  his  party; 
fearless,  keen-witted,  quick  and  able  in  debate 
and  repartee,  well  informed  on  all  public  ques- 
tions, sarcastic  when  necessary,  unusually  fair  to 
an  opponent, — these  qualities  have  made  him  one 
of  the  ablest  men  in  the  state  in  his  championship 
of  the  cause  of  Democracy.  In  the  struggle  of 
the  women  for  female  suffrage,  he  championed 
their  cause  and  did  all  he  could  to  give  them  the 
standing  they  have  in  the  statutes  of  the  state  to- 
day. 

He  fought  bitterly  the  disfranchisement  of  the 
Mormon  people  in  the  territory  of  Idaho,  claim- 
ing the  constitutional  right  of  every  religious 
class  to  participate  in  the  affairs  of  state,  denied 
the  right  of  government  to  interfere  or  punish 
conscionable  affairs,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to 
resign  his  membership  in  the  Mormon  church 
rather  than  subject  himself  to  disfranchisement. 
He  continued  his  fight  against  creed  discrimina- 
tion until  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  and  un- 
constitutional statute  and  the  rehabilitation  of 
the  franchise  of  the  people.  In  this  matter  he 
fought  both  Democrats  and  Republicans  alike, 
both  parties  having  participated  in  the  crime. 

In  1898  a  fusion  on  the  state  and  congressional 
ticket  for  the  state  of  Idaho  was  effected  between 
the  Democrats  and  silver-Republicans  as  against 
the  Populists  on  one  side  and  the  straight  Re- 
publicans on  the  other, —  a  three-cornered  politi- 
cal fight.  The  fusion  as  between  the  first  parties 
did  not  extend  to  the  county  and  district  offices. 
A  judge  was  to  be  elected  for  the  fifth  judicial 
district,  comprising  nearly  one-third  of  the  coun- 
ties of  the  state, — Oneida,  Bannock,  Bingham, 
Fremont,  Lemhi  and  Bear  Lake  counties.  The 
silver-Republicans  issued  an  invitation  for  the 


Democrats  to  go  into  joint  convention,  to  nomi- 
nate a  judge,  which  invitation  was  accepted  by 
the  Democrats.  When  it  was  subsequently  pri- 
vately ascertained  that  Mr.  Rich  would  have  an 
undoubted  majority  on  joint  ballot  for  the  nomi- 
nation, the  silver-Republicans  refused  to  honor 
their  own  call,  and  the  result  was  separate  con- 
ventions of  the  two  parties  on  the  judgeship 
nomination.  The  Democrats  nominated  Judge 
Rich;  the  silver-Republicans,  F.  S.  Dietrich;  the 
straight  Republicans,  John  A.  Bagley;  and  the 
Populists,  Sample  H.  Orr,  Judge  Rich  was 
elected  by  a  clear  plurality  over  all  of  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  twenty-four  votes.  His 
term  of  office  expires  in  January,  1904.  That  he 
makes  a  fair,  able,  earnest  and  just  judge  is  con- 
ceded by  all,  and  the  people  feel  that  in  confiding 
to  him  the  interest  of  their  lives  and  property  they 
have  made  no  mistake. 

HON.  JAMES  j.  MCDONALD. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  one  of  the  leading 
general  contractors  of  Idaho  and  a  man  of  public 
spirit,  is  a  native  of  Ireland,  his  birth  having  oc- 
curred in  the  city  of  Dublin,  July  12,  1862.  In 
his  native  city  he  acquired  a  liberal  education, 
and  in  1880  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  lo- 
cating in  Denver,  Colorado,  where  he  remained 
for  two  years.  From  1882  to  1890  he  was  en- 
gaged in  railway  construction,  in  several  states, 
and  during  the  last  named  year  came  to  Idaho, 
settling  at  Nampa,  where  he  has  since  resided. 

During  his  residence  in  this  state  Mr.  McDon- 
ald has  been  engaged  in  mining,  irrigation  and 
railway  construction,  under  contract,  the  latest 
contract  for  the  latter  species  of  work  being  made 
for  the  grading  of  the  Boise,  Nampa  &  Owyhee 
Railroad. 

But  his  value  to  the  community  is  not  confined 
to  the  directing  of  manual  labor,  for  his  intellec- 
tual heritage  and  attainments  have  led  him  to 
take  an  efficient  part  in  the  public  welfare.  Po- 
litically he  is  a  Republican,  and  he  is  always 
active  in  supporting  the  principles  and  interests 
of  that  party.  In  the  autumn  of  1898  he  was 
elected  to  represent  Canyon  county  in  the  state 
senate  of  the  fifth  session  of  the  Idaho  legisla- 
ture. While  a  member  of  that  body  he  was  chair- 
man of  the  railroad  and  transportation  commit- 
tee and  a  member  of  the  committee  on  engrossed 


696 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


bills  and  corporations.  He  was  one  of  the  lead- 
ing members  of  the  senate,  taking  an  active  and 
influential  part. 

Fraternally  Mr.  McDonald  is  a  member  of  the 
I.  O.  O.  F.  and  of  the  B.  P.  O.  E.,  and  he  is  also 
a  member  of  the  Commercial  Club  of  Nampa. 
In  all  his  business  and  social  relations  he  is  an 
influential  leader. 

In  1890,  in  Boise,  Mr.  McDonald  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Florence  DeMeyer,  a  native 
of  Fulton,  Kentucky. 

JAMES  H.  HARTE. 

A  well  known  real-estate  and  insurance  agent 
of  Coeur  d'Alene,  Idaho,  is  James  H.  Harte,  who 
was  born  in  Connecticut,  near  the  city  of  Hart- 
ford, July  25,  1854,  his  parents  being  Walter  and 
Elizabeth  (Gibson)  Harte,  both  of  whom  were 
natives  of  Connecticut,  in  which  state  the  father 
died  when  about  fifty-five  years  of  age,  while  the 
mother  still  makes  her  home  there. 

Mr.  Harte  of  this  review  pursued  his  education 
in  the  public  schools  of  Plainville,  and  Hartford, 
Connecticut.  He  then  entered  upon  his  business 
career  as  a  clerk  in  a  dry-goods  store  in  Hart- 
ford, where  he  remained  for  four  years,  after 
which  he  conducted  operations  along  the  same 
line  until  1878.  He  then  enlisted  in  the  regular 
army  as  a  member  of  Company  C,  Second 
United  States  Infantry,  and  after  serving  for  five 
years  was  honorably  discharged,  November  8, 
1883,  at  Fort  Spokane,  having  in  the  meantime 
attained  the  rank  of  first  sergeant. 

After  leaving  the  army  Mr.  Harte  served  for 
three  years  as  bookkeeper  for  the  post  trader  at 
Fort  Spokane  and  then  came  to  Coeur  d'Alene, 
in  the  winter  of  1886.  For  one  year  he  was  en- 
gaged in  general  merchandising  in  this  town,  and 
since  the  spring  of  1888  has  been  engaged  in  the 
real-estate  and  insurance  business. 

In  1885  was  celebrated  his  marriage  to  Miss 
Amelia  R.  Brooks,  a  native  of  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  they  have  one  child,  Margaret.  In 
his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Harte  is  a  Republican 
and  keeps  well  informed  on  the  issues  of  the  day, 
thus  being  qualified  to  give  an  intelligent  support 
to  the  party  of  his  choice.  He  was  made  a 
Knight  of  Pythias  in  May,  1890,  at  the  institu- 
tion of  the  lodge  at  Coeur  d'Alene,  and  was  its 
first  chancellor  commander.  In  June,  1892,  at 


the  institution  of  the  grand  lodge  of  Idaho,  at 
Moscow,  he  was  elected  grand  keeper  of  the  rec- 
ords and  seals,  which  position  he  has  since  ac- 
ceptably filled.  He  takes  an  active  part  in  all  the 
work  and  interests  of  the  order  and  is  a  gentle- 
man of  pleasing  address  and  manner  who  wins 
friends  wherever  he  goes  and  always  commands 
the  respect  of  those  with  whom  he  is  brought  in 
contact. 

JOSEPH   A.   CLARK. 

The  Idaho  canal  is  fed  by  Snake  river,  ten 
miles  above  Idaho  Falls.  It  has  three  headgates, 
is  fort}7  feet  wide  and  thirty-five  miles  long  and 
irrigates  one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land,  the 
country  which  it  waters  being  largely  settled  by 
prosperous  farmers  who  raise  hay  and  grain  in 
large  quantities.  The  productiveness  of  this 
stretch  of  country  and  the  prosperity  which  flows 
from  it  are  made  possible  by  this  great  inland  im- 
provement, and  the  canal  was  made  possible 
largely  through  the  personal  efforts  of  Joseph  A. 
Clark,  who  advocated  it,  promoted  it  and  was 
chiefly  instrumental  in  raising  the  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  required  for  its  con- 
struction. 

Joseph  A.  Clark,  mayor  of  Idaho  Falls,  Idaho, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina,  December  26,  1837, 
and  is  descended  from  Irish  ancestors  who  set- 
tled early  in  the  south.  His  great-grandfather, 
William  Clark,  fought  under  General  Nathaniel 
Greene  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  died  in 
North  Carolina  at  the  age  of  eighty.  His  son, 
Dugan  Clark,  grandfather  of  Joseph  A.  Clark, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina  and  became  a  Qua- 
ker minister.  His  son  William  Clark,  second, 
father  of  Joseph  A.  Clark,  was  born  in  Greens- 
borough,  North  Carolina,  and  there  married  a 
North  Carolina  girl,  named  Lois  Worth,  a 
daughter  of  David  Worth.  William  Clark,  sec- 
ond, was  a  merchant,  and  spent  most  of  his  days 
in  the  south,  but  late  in  life  he  came  north  to  In- 
diana, where  he  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-five.  He 
inherited  slaves,  but  was  so  thoroughly  opposed 
to  slavery  that  he  freed  them.  When  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery  threatened  to  disrupt  the  nation  he 
was  a  Union  man.  His  wife  died  in  1895,  aged 
eighty.  They  had  twelve  children,  of  whom 
eleven  are  living.  The  one  who  is  deceased  died 
as  the  result  of  an  injury. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


697 


Joseph  A.  Clark,  third  child  of  William  and 
Lois  (Worth)  Clark,  was  graduated  from  Earl- 
ham  College,  Indiana,  in  1862,  and  has  passed 
the  busy  years  of  his  life  as  a  civil  engineer.  He 
came  to  Idaho  Falls  in  1885,  accompanied  by  his 
wife  and  six  children.  The  town  was  then  in- 
significant, and  its  tributary  territory  was  scarce- 
ly susceptible  to  profitable  cultivation.  He  saw 
the  need  of  irrigation  and,  as  has  been  stated,  was 
prominent  in  projecting  and  pushing  the  Idaho 
canal  to  completion.  His  trained  skill  and  long 
experience  as  an  engineer  were  brought  to  bear 
on  the  problem  which  confronted  the  settlers  and 
retarded  the  development  of  the  country,  and  his 
enthusiasm  and  business  ability  were  potent  fac- 
tors in  the  success  of  the  enterprise. 

In  1866  Mr.  Clark  married  Miss  Eunice  Had- 
ley,  a  native  of  Hadlev,  Indiana,  a  town  named  in 
honor  of  her  father,  Nathan  Hadley,  who  was  a 
pioneer  on  its  site.  Their  children  are  Nathan 
H.  (see  biographical  sketch);  William,  a  farmer; 
Worth,  a  lawyer,  of  the  firm  of  Holden  &  Clark ; 
Mary,  wife  of  W.  H.  Holden ;  and  Barzillai  and 
Chase,  who  are  being  educated.  Mr.  Clark  is  an 
influential  Democrat. 

SAMUEL  R.   PARKINSON. 

The  name  of  this  gentleman  is  so  inseparably 
connected  with  the  history  of  Franklin,  its  up- 
building and  its  progress  along  commercial,  edu- 
cational and  church  lines,  that  no  history  of  the 
southeastern  section  of  the  state  would  be  com- 
plete without  the  record  of  his  useful  career.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  to  locate  in  Franklin  and  is 
numbered  among  its  honored  pioneers.  A  native 
of  England,  he  was  born  in  Barrowford,  Lan- 
castershire,  April  12,  1831,  a  son  of  William  and 
Charlotte  (Rose)  Parkinson,  who  were  likewise 
natives  of  that  country.  He  was  only  six  months 
old  when  his  father  died,  and  two  years  later  his 
mother  married  Edward  Berry,  a  gentleman  who 
was  very  fond  of  travel  and  who  took  his  wife  and 
stepson  to  many  foreign  ports,  including  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Africa,  thence  to  Sydney, 
Australia,  to  New  Zealand,  to  Valparaiso,  in 
South  America,  and  then  back  to  England  in  the 
fall  of  1846.  They  were  shipwrecked  in  the  Irish 
channel,  were  rescued  in  life-boats,  and  were 
landed  in  Ireland  at  the  time  of  the  severe  famine 
in  that  country.  Mr.  Parkinson's  stepfather 


expended  nearly  all  his  means  in  relieving  the 
distress  of  his  relatives  in  that  country,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1848  he  sailed  with  his  family  for 
New  Orleans  and  thence  to  St.  Louis,  where  our 
subject  first  heard  the  teachings  of  the  Latter 
Day  Saints  and  embraced  that  faith. 

The  cholera  was  raging  in  the  year  1849,  and 
by  that  dread  scourge  of  the  race  he  lost  his 
mother.  The  people  died  in  great  numbers,  and 
burials  occurred  not  only  in  the  day  time  but  at 
night,  as  well.  Three  years  later,  in  1852,  Mr. 
Parkinson  was  happily  married,  in  St.  Louis,  to 
Miss  Arabella  Ann  Chandler,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1854  they  crossed  the  plains  to  Utah,  bringing 
with  them  their  first-born  son,  Samuel  C.  Par- 
kinson. Our  subject  had  a  team  of  mules,  but 
the  train  was  principally  composed  of  ox  teams. 
They  left  St.  Louis,  June  I,  1854,  and  reached 
Salt  Lake,  September  25,  after  a  dangerous  and 
difficult  trip,  in  which  they  were  in  constant  fear 
of  Indian  attack.  They  drove  their  wagons  two 
abreast  and  were  frequently  surrounded  by  In- 
dians. At  night  they  chained  their  wagons  to- 
gether in  a  circle  and  every  man  slept  under  his 
wagon  with  his  rifle  ready  to  be  used  in  the  de- 
fense of  his  life,  family  and  property,  and  a  guard 
was  maintained  all  night  long.  About  the  time 
they  reached  Fort  Laramie  the  terrible  Indian 
massacre  occurred  there.  The  Indians  flocked 
to  the  fort  in  large  numbers  to  receive  the  pres- 
ents which  were  annually  given  them,  and  some 
of  their  number  killed  a  white  man's  cow.  Com- 
plaint was  made  to  the  soldiers  and  an  officer  was 
sent  to  the  chief  to  demand  the  delivery  of  the 
culprits.  The  officer,  however,  was  intoxicated, 
and  told  the  Indian  that  he  would  blow  his  head 
off  if  the  guilty  parties  were  not  instantly  de- 
livered. The  chief  stood  there,  and  with  a  wave 
of  his  hand  called  attention  to  the  large  number 
of  his  followers,  saying,  "If  you  shoot  me  you  will 
be  instantly  killed."  The  officer  repeated  his 
threat  and  killed  the  chief,  and  at  this  the  Indians 
killed  the  officer.  Then  the  Indians  charged  the 
fort,  killed  every  soldier,  helped  themselves  to 
the  presents,  and  destroyed  everything  they  did 
not  want. 

Mr.  Parkinson  was  then  ten  miles  west  of  the 
fort,  and  when  his  party  heard  of  the  massacre 
they  expected  to  all  be  killed.  However,  they 
divided  the  company  into  two  sections,  and  Mr. 


698 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Parkinson,  having  a  mule  team,  was  sent  in  the 
lead  of  the  first  section.  They  drove  all  night 
and  made  the  best  possible  time  to  get  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  excited  savages.  After  a  hard  jour- 
ney across  the  plains  they  at  length  arrived  safely 
in  Salt  Lake  City,  where  stood  the  little  houses 
which  had  been  built  by  the  first  emigrants.  Mr. 
Parkinson  aided  in  building  the  Temple.  A 
canal  was  constructed  on  which  to  float  the  rock 
from  the  quarry  toward  the  building.  After  his 
work  there  was  completed  our  subject  located  at 
Keysville,  twenty-five  miles  north  of  Salt  Lake 
City,  where  for  the  first  time  he  engaged  in  farm- 
ing. It  was  very  hard  to  obtain  water  there, 
however,  and  in  1859,  with  two  or  three  others, 
he  started  to  seek  a  better  location.  Crossing  the 
mountains  to  Hunsaker  valley,  they  arrived  at  the 
present  site  of  Wellsville,  and  found  that  the  land 
there  had  been  mostly  claimed,  so  Mr.  Parkinson 
continued  on  to  Logan,  then  a  town  of  four  or 
five  houses,  while  two  or  three  more  were  being 
builded  at  Providence  and  at  Smithfield.  In  the 
spring  of  1860  an  attempt  was  made  to  start  a 
town  at  Richmond,  but  the  company  came  to  the 
present  site  of  Franklin  and  being  so  well  pleased 
with  the  country  they  sent  for  their  families,  and 
soon  about  fifty  families  were  here  gathered,  and 
the  work  of  building  houses  in  the  form  of  a  hol- 
low square  was  begun.  Mr.  Parkinson,  Thomas 
Smart  and  Mr.  Sanderson  were  appointed  to  sur- 
vey the  land.  They  had  no  compass,  and  the 
lines  were  run  by  means  of  the  north  star.  The 
land  was  surveyed  in  five  and  ten  acre  lots,  the 
latter  to  be  used  for  farming  purposes,  the  former 
for  meadow  land,  and  who  should  occupy  these 
was  decided  by  casting  lots,  the  most  perfect  har- 
mony prevailing  through  it  all.  After  this  the 
town  property  was  surveyed  in  one  and  a  quarter 
acre  lots  and  the  substantial  residences  that  now 
compose  the  town  were  erected  on  these.  In  the 
fall  President  Young  visited  Franklin,  named  the 
place  and  appointed  Preston  Thomas  as  bishop. 
A  log  school-house  was  erected  and  was  also  used 
for  a  meeting-house.  Mr.  Parkinson  and  Mr. 
Smart  built  the  first  sawmill  and  then  furnished 
the  lumber  for  the  town.  The  former  also  started 
a  little  store  and  brought  his  goods  from  Salt 
Lake,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  ten  miles, 
carrying  produce  to  that  place  and  returning  with 
merchandise.  He  also  procured  the  first  thresh- 


ing machine  seen  in  the  locality.  It  was  a  chaff- 
piler  and  another  machine  followed  to  clean  up 
the  grain.  In  1869  or  1870  a  co-operative  store 
was  established,  a  branch  of  the  great  co-opera- 
tive store  at  Salt  Lake  City,  from  which  place 
they  obtained  their  goods.  The  citizens  took 
stock  and  divided  the  profits,  which  made  the 
goods  very  cheap.  Shares  were  sold  at  ten  dol- 
lars each,  everyone  got  the  goods  at  the  same 
price,  and  each  family  was  expected  to  own  at 
least  one  share.  The  store  was  controlled  by  a 
board  of  directors,  and  Mr.  Parkinson  was 
elected  its  manager,  carrying  on  the  business  for 
fifteen  years,  after  which  his  sons  William  and 
Franklin,  in  turn,  acted  as  superintendent  for  a 
number  of  years.  In  the  meantime  other  stores 
were  established  and  a  proposition  was  made  to 
unite  them  all,  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
The  Oneida  Mercantile  Union,  which  has  con- 
tinued to  carry  on  business  to  the  present  time, 
Mr.  Parkinson  serving  as  one  of  its  directors 
from  the  beginning. 

In  1879  he  went  to  the  east  to  procure  machin- 
ery for  the  first  woolen  mill  built  in  the  state, 
making  his  purchases  mostly  in  Buffalo,  New 
York,  and  the  mill  was  started  in  the  spring  of 
1880.  In  1893  he  engaged  in  the  sheep-raising 
business,  but  the  price  of  wool  steadily  declined 
for  some  time,  and  it  was  difficult  to  realize  any- 
thing from  his  business.  He  persevered,  how- 
ever, and  since  the  advance  in  wool  has  been 
meeting  with  good  success,  recently  selling  out 
at  a  good  profit. 

Mr.  Parkinson  has  been  a  Republican  since  the 
organization  of  the  party,  but  has  never  sought 
nor  desired  office.  In  his  church  he  has  been  a 
useful  and  valued'  member,  and  has  served  as 
teacher,  elder,  a  seventy,  and  as  bishop's  coun- 
selor at  Franklin.  In  1873  he  went  as  a  mission- 
ary to  Arizona,  for  the  purpose  of  colonizing  that 
territory,  and  was  there  five  months,  but  it  be- 
came so  dry  that  the  settlement  had  to  be  aban- 
doned, although  the  original  plan  has  since  been 
accomplished.  He  is  still  bishop's  counselor  and 
has  been  an  honored  patriarch  in  the  church  for 
years. 

By  his  first  wife  Mr.  Parkinson  had  the  follow- 
ing named  children:  Samuel  C.,  now  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  Franklin;  William  C.,  president 
of  the  Pocatello  stake;  Charlotte  C.,  the  twin  sis- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


699 


ter  of  William  C.,  and  now  the  wife  of  William 
Pratt ;  George  C.,  president  of  the  Oneida  stake ; 
Franklin  C.,  who  is  engaged  in  the  sheep  busi- 
ness; Esther  C.,  wife  of  Henry  T.  Rogers;  Clara 
C.,  who  became  the  wife  of  Charles  Goaslind,  and 
died  January  20,  1897;  Caroline  C.,  present  wife 
of  Charles  Goaslind.  In  1867  Mr.  Parkinson 
was  married  to  Miss  Charlotte  Smart,  daughter 
of  Thomas  Smart,  a  highly  respected  pioneer  of 
Franklin,  and  their  children  are  as  follows:  An- 
nie S.,  wife  of  Ossian  L.  Packer;  Lucy  S.,  wife 
of  Charles  Lloyd;  Joseph  S.;  Frederick  S.,  who 
is  now  on  a  mission  in  the  northeastern  states; 
Leona  S.,  wife  of  Walter  Monson;  Bertha  S., 
wife  of  Nephi  Larson;  Eva  S.,  Hazel  S.,  Nettie 
S.  and  Vivian  S.,  all  at  home.  In  1869  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Maria  Smart,  a  sister  of  his  second 
wife,  and  they  have  been  blessed  with  the  follow- 
ing children:  Thomas;  Samuel  S.;  Luella  S., 
wife  of  Matthias  F.  Cowley,  an  apostle  in  the 
Church  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints;  Arabella  S., 
wife  of  Robert  Daines;  Sarah  Ann  S.,  wife  of 
George  T.  Marshall,  Jr.;  Olive  S.,  wife  of  Ezra 
Monson;  Edmund  S.,  who  is  now  on  a  mission 
in  the  southern  states;  Clarence  S.;  Susan  S.; 
Hazen  S. ;  Henry  S.,  who  died  at  the  age  of  thir- 
teen years;  Cloe  S.,  who  died  in  infancy;  Lenora 
S.,  who  also  died  at  infancy;  and  Glenn  S.,  who 
completes  the  family.  In  all  there  were  thirty- 
three  children,  of  whom  twenty-seven  are  living. 
There  are  sixty-nine  grandchildren  and  six  great- 
grandchildren. All  of  the  members  of  this  num- 
erous family  are  highly  respected  citizens  of  Ida- 
ho, and  Mr.  Parkinson  is  entitled  to  great  credit 
for  the  manner  in  which  he  has  reared  and  edu- 
cated his  children. 

Mr.  Parkinson  is  a  polygamist  in  his  religious 
faith  and  has  followed  the  dictates  of  his  own 
conscience.  In  1879  he  was  arrested,  tried  and 
acquitted.  In  1886  he  was  again  arrested  for  the 
same  alleged  offense,  taken  to  Blackfoot,  exam- 
ined by  the  grand  jury  and  held  for  trial.  He 
acknowledged  in  a  most  manly  way  that  he  had 
three  wives  and  thirty  children,  and  that  he  had 
been  married  to  the  last  wife  over  twenty  years. 
His  lawyer  defended  him  in  a  speech  in  which  he 
stated  that  Mr.  Parkinson  was  a  pioneer  citizen  of 
the  state,  of  the  very  highest  respectability,  and 
had  been  a  potent  factor  in  the  development  and 
improvement  of  the  county.  Mr.  Parkinson  then 


asked  the  judge  if  he  might  speak.  He  said  he 
loved  his  family — all  of  them — as  much  as  any 
man  could;  that  he  had  entered  into  a  solemn 
covenant  with  them  to  take  care  of  them;  that 
they  were  his  for  time  and  for  eternity,  and  he 
would  suffer  himself  to  be  hung  between  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  before  he  would  either 
deny  or  forsake  them.  Judge  Hayes  then  said: 
"You  have  left  me  no  alternative  but  to  convict 
you,"  and  sentenced  him  to  six  months  in  the 
state  penitentiary  and  imposed  a  three  hundred 
dollar  fine,  but  told  the  warden  to  treat  Mr.  Par- 
kinson well  and  not  to  shave  him,  and  remarked 
that  when  he  visited  Boise  he  would  go  and  see 
him.  Mr.  Parkinson  thanked  the  judge  and 
went  to  the  penitentiary,  where  he  served  out  his 
time,  but  was  allowed  a  month  off  for  good  be- 
havior, after  which  he  returned  to  his  family  and 
friends.  In  1884  he  built  a  large  and  commo- 
dious residence  in  Franklin,  and  there  the  good 
pioneer  and  patriarch,  surrounded  by  his  numer- 
ous family,  is  spending  the  evening  of  a  faithful 
and  exceedingly  useful  life,  enjoying  the  high  es- 
teem of  a  host  of  warm  friends. 

PETER  DONNELLY. 

Among  the  prominent  pioneer  miners  of  Silver 
City  we  should  mention  this  highly  esteemed 
citizen  of  Dewey,  Owyhee  county.  He  is  a  na- 
tive of  Ireland,  born  in  county  Longford,  Octo- 
ber 31,  1833.  In  1840  his  parents  emigrated  to 
the  New  World,  settling  in  Rhode  Island,  and 
young  Peter  was  brought  up  in  the  city  of  Provi- 
dence. He  arrived  in  California  in  the  spring  of 
1853  ar>d  for  several  years  followed  placer-min- 
ing, in  all  the  prominent  diggings  of  that  state. 

Upon  the  discovery  of  gold  at  Oro  Fino  he  was 
among  the  first  to  arrive  there,  in  April,  1862, 
and  engaged  in  furnishing  the  miners  with  meat. 
He  arrived  in  Idaho  basin  in  March,  1863,  and  in 
June  following  came  to  the  vicinity  of  Silver  City, 
as  a  member  of  the  company  headed  by  Captain 
Michael  Jordan.  The  packers  then  at  the  gulch 
were  Cyrus  Iby,  Dr.  Rood  (one  of  the  original 
discoverers),  Jack  Reynolds  and  a  Mr.  Boon.  A 
man  named  Thompson  whipsawed  the  lumber 
and  made  and  set  the  first  flumes.  Mr.  Donnelly 
and  his  partner,  Michael  Jordan,  set  an  Indian- 
head  on  the  top  of  a  pole  at  the  camp,  which  be- 
came the  occasion  of  the  place  being  called 


700 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


"Skull  Camp."  Another  partner  was  a  man 
named  Charles  Skinner.  They  together  opened 
the  wagon  road  to  Snake  river,  having  first  ob- 
tained from  the  territorial  legislature  a  charter, 
which  had  a  life  of  fifteen  years.  The  toll  on  this 
road  was  three  dollars  for  a  pair  of  horses  and 
wagon,  one  dollar  for  a  horse  and  carriage,  and 
twenty-five  cents  for  a  saddle-horse.  At  the 
same  time  the  company  were  engaged  in  running 
the  mines  and  made  a  great  amount  of  money. 

Swalley  Nelson  was  the  first  discoverer  of  the 
quartz  mines  here,  in  October,  1863;  next  was 
the  discovery  of  the  Oro  Fino  and  the  Morning 
Star,  on  the  War  Eagle  mountain.  Mr.  Fogus, 
who  also  was  a  partner  in  these  discoveries,  sold 
two-thirds  of  his  interest  to  Marion  More.  Mr. 
Donnelly  has  been  connected  with  Colonel  Dew- 
ey  in  many  business  enterprises,  and  he  is  an  en- 
thusiastic friend  of  the  Colonel ;  they  are  indeed 
fast  friends.  Mr.  Donnelly  is  uniformly  repre- 
sented to  be  a  whole-souled,  generous  and  liberal 
man  and  a  good  representative  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  Idaho. 

WALTER  CLARK. 

Walter  Clark,  now  the  leading  merchant  of 
Ketchum,  is  numbered  among  the  honored  pio- 
neers of  Idaho  of  1863,  and  for  more  than  forty- 
five  years  has  been  closely  identified  with  the  de- 
velopment of  the  northwest,  having  taken  up  his 
residence  in  Oregon  in  1853.  I11*0  a  w''d  re- 
gion infested  by  Indians  and  by  ruffianly  white 
men,  the  forests  standing  in  their  primeval  grand- 
eur, the  mountains  still  holding  their  rich  treas- 
ures, he  came  and  established  his  home.  He  was 
one  of  the  vanguard  of  civilization,  and  has  borne 
an  important  part  in  opening  up  this  region  to 
industry  and  commerce.  Few  men  of  the  north- 
west are  more  widely  known  in  this  section  of 
the  Union  than  Walter  Clark,  and  to--day,  in  his 
pleasant  home  in  Ketchum,  he  is  enjoying  the 
comfortable  competence  that  has  come  to  him  as 
the  result  of  years  of  honest  toil. 

Mr.  Clark  was  born  in  Iowa,  October  10,  1840, 
and  is  of  English  and  German  ancestry.  He  lost 
his  parents  when  only  five  years  of  age,  and 
knows  little  of  them  save  that  his  father  was 
Jacob  Clark,  and  that  they  resided  in  Danville, 
Lee  county,  Iowa.  He  lived  with  J.  S.  Reland 
until  he  was  thirteen  years  of  age,  when,  in  1853, 


he  crossed  the  plains  to  Oregon,  with  W.  C. 
Myer.  They  crossed  the  Missouri  river  May  10, 
1853,  and  arrived  at  Rogue  river  on  the  3d  of 
September  following.  He  had  but  little  oppor- 
tunity to  attend  school  and  may  be  called  a  self- 
educated  as  well  as  self-made  man.  In  the  school 
of  experience,  however,  he  has  learned  many 
valuable  lessons,  and  is  now  a  man  of  broad, 
practical  knowledge,  thoroughly  in  touch  with 
the  interests  of  his  town,  state  and  nation.  In  his 
youth  he  eagerly  accepted  any  employment  that 
offered,  working  for  some  time  on  a  ranch  and 
at  herding  cattle.  In  1863  he  came  to  Idaho 
basin,  driving  a  pack  train,  and  in  1864  went  to 
Montana.  For  twenty-five  years  he  engaged  in 
the  packing  business,  owning  from  fifty  to  seven- 
ty-five mules,  utilized  in  hauling  the  goods  to 
the  different  destinations.  Two  of  those  mules, 
which  he  obtained  when  he  began  packing  in 
1864,  he  turned  loose  at  Ketchum  in  1887,  they 
having  rendered  him  faithful  service  twenty- 
three  years.  He  sent  his  pack  trains  into  British 
Columbia,  Montana  and  Idaho,  and  did  an  ex- 
cellent business.  He  never  had  an  animal  stolen 
by  the  Indians  and  they  never  attacked  him,  not- 
withstanding they  committed  many  murders  and 
depredations  all  around  him. 

On  the  I2th  of  May,  1881,  Mr.  Clark  came  to 
Ketchum,  bringing  with  him  his  pack  train.  He 
became  connected  with  the  very  rich  mining 
interests  of  the  Wood  river  valley,  and  although 
he  continued  packing  for  some  time  he  also  be- 
came a  part  owner  of  -the  Carrie  mine,  on  Smoky 
mountain.  From  this  he  and  his  partners  took 
out  over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  silver 
and  lead,  and  on  December  25,  1886,  they  sold 
the  mine  for  one  hundred  and  five  thousand  dol- 
lars. Mr.  Clark  is  now  the  owner  of  a  gold  mine 
in  Joseph  county,  Oregon,  and  in  1887  he  began 
merchandising  at  Ketchum,  in  partnership  with 
Mr.  Comstock.  They  soon  secured  an  extensive 
patronage,  and  erected  a  large  two-story  brick 
store,  twenty-eight  by  one  hundred  feet.  In  1889 
Mr.  Tague  bought  out  Mr.  Comstock's  interest, 
and  the  firm  of  Clark  &  Tague  carried  on  opera- 
tions until  1892,  when  Mr.  Clark  purchased  his 
partner's  interest,  since  which  time  he  has  been 
sole  proprietor  of  the  leading  store  in  Ketchum. 
He  enjoys  a  large  trade  from  the  surrounding 
country  and  derives  therefrom  a  good  income. 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


701 


In  the  winter  of  1887-8  Mr.  Clark  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  C.  Dallarhide,  a  native  of 
Austin,  Nevada,  and  they  now  have  one  daugh- 
ter, Ollie.  Mrs.  Clark  is  a  valued  member  of 
the  Episcopal  church.  They  have  a  pleasant  and 
commodious  home  in  Ketchum  and  are  highly 
esteemed  throughout  the  community.  Mr.  Clark 
is  independent  in  both  politics  and  religion,  and 
is  a  thoroughly  honorable  and  reliable  business 
man.  He  certainly  deserves  great  credit  for  his 
success  in  life,  for  since  a  very  early  age  he  has 
been  dependent  entirely  upon  his  own  resources 
and  has  won  his  fortune  through  earnest,  diligent 

effort. 

JAMES   H.    BEAN,   M.    D. 

James  H.  Bean,  M.  D.,  has  attained  a  distinc- 
tive position  in  connection  with  the  medical  fra- 
ternity of  southern  Idaho,  and  is  now  successfully 
engaged  in  practicing  in  Pocatello,  where  he  also 
conducts  a  drug  store.  Realizing  the  importance 
of  the  profession,  he  has  carefully  prepared  him- 
self for  his  chosen  life-work,  and  spares  no  effort 
that  will  further  perfect  him  along  that  line.  By 
the  faithful  performance  of  each  day's  duty  he 
finds  inspiration  and  added  strength  for  the  la- 
bors of  the  next,  and  his  marked  skill  has  secured 
him  prestige  as  the  representative  of  one  of  the 
most  important  professions  to  which  man  may 
direct  his  energies. 

Dr.  Bean  is  a  native  of  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
born  October  23,  1856,  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry. 
His  father,  James  Bean,  was  born  in  London, 
England,  and  there  married  Miss  Harriet  Har- 
vey. In  1856  they  came  to  the  United  States, 
locating  in  Boston,  where  the  father  engaged  in 
business  as  a  florist  for  a  time.  Later  he  was 
connected  with  the  coal  trade  for  twenty-five 
years,  and  is  now  living  retired,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  eighty  years.  In  1876  he  was  called  upon 
to  mourn  the  loss  of  his  wife,  who  died  in  her 
fifty-seventh  year.  They  were  consistent  mem- 
bers of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  people  of  genu- 
ine worth,  who  won  the  warm  regard  of  all  with 
whom  they  came  in  contact.  In  their  family 
were  nine  children,  eight  of  whom  are  living. 

The  Doctor  was  educated  in  the  schools  of 
Medford,  Massachusetts,  and  began  the  study  of 
medicine  with  an  army  physician,  after  which  he 
entered  the  medical  department  of  Dartmouth 
College,  in  New  Hampshire,  and  was  graduated 


in  the  class  of  1873.  Desiring  to  still  further  per- 
fect himself  for  his  chosen  calling,  he  then  ma- 
triculated in  the  Jefferson  Medical  College,  in 
Philadelphia,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1877. 
For  a  year  thereafter  he  practiced  in  a  hospital  in 
that  city  and  then  removed  to  Denver,  Colorado, 
where  he  remained  until  1882.  In  that  year  he 
came  to  Idaho  as  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad  Company,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  for  fifteen  years,  and  in  addition  carried  on 
a  large  general  practice,  being  located  first  at 
Eagle  Rock,  whence  he  came  to  Pocatello  in 
1888.  He  is  well  versed  in  the  science  of  medi- 
cine and  is  very  capable  in  every  department  of 
the  practice,  ranking  second  to  none  in  this  part 
of  the  state.  His  special  interest,  however,  is  in 
surgery,  and  he  is  very  expert  in  that  line.  He 
has  now  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  and  in  ad- 
dition conducts  a  well  appointed  drug  store, 
which  adds  not  a  little  to  his  income. 

The  Doctor  also  has  a  pleasant  home  in  Poca- 
tello, which  is  presided  over  by  the  lady  who  be- 
came his  wife  in  1884,  and  who  bore  the  maiden 
name  of  Delia  Priestley.  At  that  time  she  was  a 
resident  of  Lawrence,  Kansas.  The  Doctor  and 
his  wife  attend  the  Episcopal  church  and  are 
members  of  the  Pocatello  Society.  The  Doctor 
was  made  a  Master  Mason  in  Eagle  Rock  Lodge, 
No.  19,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  at  Eagle  Rock,  in  1885, 
is  a  charter  member  of  the  Idaho  State  Medical 
Association,  and  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  Inter-state  Medical  Associa- 
tion. Among  his  professional  brethren  he  occu- 
pies an  enviable  position,  and  both  he  and  his 
estimable  wife  are  highly  regarded  in  social  cir- 
cles. 

JOSEPH  F.  GRIFFIN. 

For  more  than  a  half  century  Joseph  F.  Grif- 
fin, of  Ketchum,  has  resided  in  the  northwest.  A 
native  of  Kentucky,  he  was  born  in  Cumberland 
county,  December  10,  1831.  The  family  is  of 
Scotch  origin,  and  the  first  American  progenitors 
were  early  settlers  of  South  Carolina  and  partici- 
pants in  many  of  the  events  which  form  the  colon- 
ial history  of  the  south.  Jesse  Griffin,  the  grand- 
father of  our  subject,  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
Kentucky,  where  occurred  the  birth  of  Burrell 
Bell  Griffin,  the  father  of  Joseph.  Having  ar- 
rived at  years  of  maturity  he  married  Miss  Sally 
Thogmorton,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  a  rep- 


702 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


resentative  of  an  old  family  of  North  Carolina. 
They  became  the  parents  of  twelve  children, 
eleven  of  whom  reached  years  of  maturity,  while 
nine  are  still  living.  In  1852  the  family  crossed 
the  plains  to  Oregon,  and  settled  on  the  Rogue 
river,  where  they  took  up  a  government  donation 
claim,  upon  which  the  parents  spent  their  re- 
maining days.  The  father  attained  the  age  of 
seventy-three  years,  and  the  mother,  surviving 
him  two  years,  passed  away  at  about  the  same 
age.  They  were  members  of  the  Christian 
church,  and  were  held  in  the  highest  regard  by 
their  many  friends. 

Mr.  Griffin  was  educated  in  Missouri  and  Ore- 
gon. He  was  in  his  fifteenth  year  when  he  ar- 
rived in  the  latter  state,  and  during  his  boyhood 
he  alternated  his  lessons  with  farming  and  placer 
mining,  early  forming  the  habits  of  industry  and 
diligence  which  have  characterized  his  entire  life 
and  which  have  led  to  his  success.  From  the 
government  he  secured  a  donation  claim  of  three 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  good  land,  and  as  a 
companion  and  helpmeet  on  life's  journey  he 
chose  Miss  Elizabeth  Howard,  their  marriage  be- 
ing celebrated  in  1865.  The  lady  is  a  daughter 
of  James  W.  Howard.  From  that  time  on  Mr. 
Griffin  assiduously  devoted  himself  to  the  task  of 
acquiring  a  competence,  in  order  to  provide  for 
the  wants  of  his  family,  and  his  efforts  have  been 
crowned  with  a  fair  measure  of  success. 

Previously,  however,  he  had  rendered  valuable 
service  to  the  northwest  in  contests  with  the  In- 
dians. He  volunteered  and  fought  in  the  Rogue 
river  war,  as  a  member  of  Captain  Rice's  com- 
pany, and  later  under  command  of  Captain  John 
S.  Mills,  a  brother-in-law  of  our  subject.  They 
had  an  engagement  with  the  Indians  at  Little 
Meadows,  where  one  of  the  white  men  was-  killed 
and  three  wounded.  The  fiercest  Indian  fight  in 
which  Mr.  Griffin  participated  was  at  Thomp- 
son's Ferry,  on  Rogue  river,  where  they  attacked 
the  red  men,  killing  many  of  them,  the  loss  to  the 
volunteers  being  one  killed  and  four  wounded. 
Mr.  Griffin  was  with  his  company  when  they  at- 
tacked twenty-four  Indians,  killing  twenty-one  of 
them,  while  later  two  others  were  found  dead. 
John  Hailey  located  the  party,  and  thirty-six 
white  men  surrounded  their  camp  in  such  a  way 
as  to  exterminate  the  whole  band.  This  occurred 
in  December,  and  several  of  the  white  men  froze 


their  feet  while  waiting  for  daylight,  in  order  to 
make  the  attack.  On  another  occasion  it  was 
found  that  old  John's  band,  eighty  strong,  were 
in  three  cabins.  The  volunteers  sent  to  Fort 
Lane  for  a  howitzer,  but  when  it  was  being 
hauled  to  the  place  of  action  the  mules  rolled  off 
the  trail  into  Applegate  river,  and  the  shells  were 
lost.  They  were  then  obliged  to  send  back  to  the 
fort  for  more  shells,  and  it  was  evening  before 
they  were  brought  to  the  volunteers.  Loading, 
they  fired  at  the  cabins  and  two  Indians  were 
killed,  but  the  darkness  prevented  further  action 
that  night,  and  in  the  morning  it  was  found  that 
the  Indians  had  escaped.  In  the  war  Mr.  Griffin 
furnished  his  own  horse  and  equipment,  for 
which,  in  1863,  the  government  paid  him  forty- 
four  dollars  and  forty-four  cents  in  greenbacks. 

In  1866  he  went  to  Payette,  Idaho,  and  ac- 
cepted a  position  as  division  agent  of  the  stage 
line  owned  by  John  Hailey.  Late'r  he  engaged 
in  farming  at  Payette,  raising  hay  and  grain.  In 
1882  he  came  to  what  was  then  Alturas  county, 
now  Elaine  county,  and  took  up  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  government  land,  three  miles  up 
the  river  from  Ketchum.  He  built  a  residence 
there,  and  has  since  engaged  in  dairy  farming, 
but  in  the  meantime  has  also  erected  a  home  in 
Ketchum,  where  he  and  his  estimable  wife  spend 
the  winter,  while  in  the  summer  months  they  re- 
side on  the  farm.  They  formerly  sold  butter  at 
fifty  cents  a  pound  and  milk  at  seventy-five  cents 
a  gallon,  and  secured  from  their  business  a  good 
income,  having  as  high  as  twenty-five  cows  at 
one  time. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Griffin  have  reared  an  interesting 
family  of  children.  The  eldest  daughter,  Mary 
L.,  is  now  the  wife  of  Fred  Gooding,  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Shoshone;  Sally  W.  married  F.  J. 
Stone,  a  druggist  residing  in  Colfax,  Washing- 
ton; Leona  B.  is  a  successful  school-teacher,  mak- 
ing her  home  with  her  parents;  and  Leonora, 
the  youngest,  is  also  teaching  school.  The  fam- 
ily attend  the  Methodist  church  and  are  people  of 
the  highest  respectability,  enjoying  the  warm  re- 
gard of  many  friends  throughout  the  community. 
In  his  political  associations  Mr.  Griffin  is  a  Dem- 
ocrat, and  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  work 
of  the  party,  doing  all  in  his  power  to  promote  its 
growth  and  insure  its  success.  While  in  Ada 
county  he  was  elected  and  served  as  a  member  of 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


703 


the  territorial  legislature.  Through  his  business 
interests  and  his  experiences  in  Indian  warfare, 
he  has  largely  promoted  the  development  of  his 
region,  and  as  one  of  its  valued  citizens  well  de- 
serves representation  in  this  volume. 

ABNER  E.  CALLAWAY. 
The  old  adage  that  "truth  is  stranger  than 
fiction"  finds  exemplification  in  the  annals  of  the 
northwest.  The  most  marvelous  characters  of 
the  novelist  cannot  exceed  in  courage  and  daring 
the  hardy  pioneers  who  have  opened  up  this  vast 
region  to  the  advance  of  civilization.  Traveling 
across  the  hot,  arid,  sandy  plains,  climbing  the 
steep  mountains,  threading  their  way  through 
dense  forests  of  towering  trees,  they  came  to 
this  land  of  the  "silent,  sullen  people,"  whose 
hostility  made  existence  most  uncertain,  and  here 
they  have  established  homes,  churches  and 
schools,  developed  the  rich  agricultural  and  min- 
eral resources  of  the  country  and  thus  carried 
the  sunlight  of  civilization  into  the  dark  places 
of  the  land.  The  tales  of  their  hardships  and 
trials,  however,  can  never  be  adequately  told. 
They  left  comfort  and  luxury  behind  them  to 
face  difficulties,  dangers  and  perhaps  death ;  they 
labored  on,  day  after  day,  uncomplainingly,  and 
the  present  generation  is  enjoying  the  prosperity 
made  possible  through  their  'efforts.  To  them 
is  due  a  debt  of  gratitude  that  can  never  be  re- 
paid, but  their  names  will  be  enduringly  inscribed 
on  the  pages  of  history  and  their  memories  will 
be  revered  long  after  they  have  passed  from 
earthly  scenes. 

Among  the  honored  pioneers  of  Idaho  is 
Abner  Early  Callaway,  who  has  borne  his  full 
share  in  the  work  of  development  and  progress, 
who  has  experienced  the  trials  and  braved  the 
dangers  of  frontier  life,  and  who  is  now  living 
retired  at  his  pleasant  home  in  Caldwell.  He 
came  to  Idaho  in  1861  and  has  since  been  inti- 
mately connected  with  its  growth  and  upbuilding. 
He  was  born  in  Boone  county,  Missouri,  March 
5,  1823,  and  is  descended  from  some  of  Virginia's 
oldest  and  best  families,  including  the  Lees  and 
the  Earlys.  His  grandfather  on  the  paternal  side 
was  a  captain  in  the  Revolutionary  war  and  loyal- 
ly aided  in  the  struggle  for  independence.  His 
maternal  grandfather,  John  Markham,  was  a 
colonel  in  the  colonial  army  and  married  an  aunt 


of  Jubal  Early.  The  father  of  our  subject  was 
born  in  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  and  married  Miss 
Catharine  Markham,  removing  with  his  family 
to  Missouri  in  1820.  They  were  the  parents  of 
nine  children,  only  three  of  whom  are  yet  living: 
William  T.,  a  resident  of  Ventura  county,  Cali- 
fornia; Thomas  Henry,  of  Boise,  Idaho;  and 
Abner  Early,  the  immediate  subject  of  this  re- 
view. 

The  last  named  was  reared  in  Missouri,  at  a 
time  when  it  was  largely  a  wilderness,  and  as 
the   public-school   system   had   not   been   estab- 
lished he  was  obliged  to  acquire  an  education  as 
best  he  might.     In  the  school  of  experience  he 
has   learned    many    valuable    lessons,   and  has 
gained  a  broad  practical  knowledge  as  the  lessons 
of  life  have  been  unfolded  before  him.    The  labors 
of   his   father's   farm  largely   occupied  his  time 
and  attention  in  youth,  and  in  1846  he  drove  a 
team  for  Sterling  Price,  in  the  Mexican  war,  and 
served   as   hospital   steward   in   Mexico   for  six 
months.     In  1847  ne  returned  to  his  home,  and 
on  the  6th  of  May,  1849,  started  for  California 
with  a  company,  among  the  number  being  G.  W. 
Grierson,  who  became  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
miners  of  the  Golden  state.    They  reached  San 
Diego  in  November,  thence  went  to  San  Fran- 
cisco and  on  to  the  mines  at  Placerville.    There 
Mr.  Callaway  engaged  in  mining  at  the  old  camp 
at  Hangtown,  making  money  very  rapidly,  but 
he  afterward  sunk  it  in  other  mining  ventures. 
None,  however,  was  squandered  in  gambling  and 
other  forms   of  dissipation    often    so    common 
among  the  miners,  for  his  record  is  one  which 
contains  no  blotted  pages.    In  1861  he  came  to 
Idaho,  attracted  by  the  gold  discoveries  at  Flor- 
ence, later  made  his  way  to  the  southern  part  of 
the  territory,  and  in  September,  1862,  arrived  in 
the  Boise  basin.    That  winter  all  the  supplies  had 
to  be  transported  from  the  Columbia  river  on 
pack  animals.    Many  people  suffered  for  want  of 
provisions,  as  it  was  difficult  to  get  them,  owing 
to  the  depredation  of  Indians.     The  red  men  at 
length  grew  so  troublesome  that  a  company  of 
one  hundred  men  was  formed  to  fight  and  subdue 
them.     Mr.   Callaway  was  among  the  number, 
and  for  three  or  four  months  they  were  actively 
engaged  in  keeping  the  Indians  in  check.   Many 
a  "red  devil,"  as  he  called  them,  fell  before  his 
trusty  rifle,  and  he  also  served  in  the  war  with  the 


704 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Modocs  and  in  the  Rogue  river  war.  He  saw  the 
remains  of  so  many  white  men  who  had  been 
scalped  and  mutilated  by  the  relentless  savages 
that  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  could 
best  be  subdued  by  turning  their  own  methods 
of  warfare  against  them.  Therefore  he  took  many 
a  scalp,  and  has  probably  killed  more  Indians 
than  any  other  pioneer  now  living.  The  greatest 
hardships  were  endured  by  this  little  band  of 
volunteer  soldiers,  who  banded  to  protect  their 
interests  and  their  homes.  For  several  weeks 
they  were  obliged  to  live  on  Cayuse  horse-flesh 
only,  and  to  fight  every  day.  To  our  subject  is 
due  the  credit  of  killing  the  notorious  savage, 
Blackfoot.  With  his  companions  he  drew  near 
the  Indian  camp  in  the  night,  and  while  waiting 
for  daybreak,  Mat  Bledsoe,  one  of  his  com- 
panions, said,  "We  don't  know  what  will  happen, 
but  I  will  bet  you  the  whisky  on  which  of  us 
will  draw  the  first  blood."  At  the  dawn  Mr.  Calla- 
way  crept  up  near  Blackfoot's  tent,  and  when  the 
first  gun  was  fired  the  Indian  jumped  out,  Mr. 
Callaway  knocked  him  down,  scalped  him  and 
then  shot  him.  Then  he  threw  the  scalp  in  the 
air  and  claimed  the  bet. 

As  years  passed  the  Indians  were  subdued  and 
left  for  other  districts.  The  white  man  advanced, 
bringing  all  the  comforts  and  accessories  of  civil- 
ization ;  mines  were  developed,  ranches  stocked 
with  cattle,  farms  and  orchards  cultivated,  towns 
and  villages  sprung  up,  and  the  wonderful  work 
of  transformation  was  carried  forward  until  the 
Idaho  of  to-day  bears  little  resemblance  to  the 
wild  region  of  thirty-five  years  ago,  owing  to  the 
efforts  of  the  honored  pioneers  and  enterprising 
business  men.  Mr.  Callaway  took  up  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  land,  in  what  was  then  Ada 
county,  but  is  now  Canyon  county,  entering  the 
tract  from  the  government,  and  for  some  years 
he  was  engaged  in  its  cultivation.  It  now  lies 
within  the  corporation  limits  of  Caldwell  and 
has  become  very  valuable.  There  our  subject 
resides  in  a  home  of  his  own  building,  enjoying 
the  rest  which  he  has  so  truly  earned  and  richly 
deserves.  He  has  been  prominently  identified 
with  the  public  affairs  of  Idaho  through  its  terri- 
torial days  and  the  period  of  its  statehood  and 
has  always  given  his  political  support  to  the 
Democratic  party.  In  1865  he  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  territorial  legislature.  He  served 


for  two  terms  in  the  senate  and  since  that  time 
has  been  six  or  seven  times  elected  to  the  lower 
house.  Nature  endowed  him  with  a  strong  mind 
and  excellent  abilities,  and  he  is  an  effective 
speaker.  His  mental  and  physical  powers  are 
remarkably  well  preserved,  notwithstanding  he 
has  passed  the  seventy-sixth  milestone  on  life's 
journey.  He  had  the  honor  of  making  the  speech 
which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  the  Pioneer 
Society  of  Idaho,  and  he  has  a  very  warm  place 
in  his  heart  for  all  the  worthy  pioneers  who 
shared  with  him  in  the  dangers  and  privations 
attendant  upon  the  settlement  of  Idaho,  the  Gem 
of  the  Mountains. 

In  the  spring  of  1870  Mr.  Callaway  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Mary  Jane  -Fulton,  of  Ohio,  who 
in  an  early  day  came  with  her  people  to  this 
state.  Five  children  have  been  born  of  this  union: 
Abner  Kenton,  a  mine  owner  and  operator; 
Ellen,  at  home;  Kittie  Lee,  wife  of  Ewin  Hed- 
den;  Frances  Early  and  Mariamne.  Mr.  Calla- 
way and  his  family  are  members  of  the  Christian 
church.  He  was  made  a  Mason  in  Eureka  Lodge, 
.No.  16,  of  Auburn,  California,  in  1851,  and  is 
held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  his  brethren  of  the 
fraternity,  as  well  as  by  all  with  whom  he  has 
been  brought  in  contact  in  other  walks  of  life. 
His  career  has  been  an  honorable  and  upright 
one,  and  now,  in  the  evening  of  life,  he  can  look 
back  over  the  past  without  regret.  He  has  per- 
formed a  noble  work  for  himself  and  his  fellow 
men  by  taking  part  in  the  development  of  the 
northwest,  has  left  the  impress  of  his  individuality 
upon  the  legislation  of  the  state,  and  has  inscribed 
his  name  high  on  the  roll  of  Idaho's  eminent 
and  honored  citizens. 

ERVIN  W.  JOHNSON. 

For  many  years  actively  connected  with  the 
development  and  progress  of  different  sections  of 
this  state,  Mr.  Johnson  is  now  the  proprietor  oi 
the  Overland  Hotel,  in  Boise,  and  is  regarded  as 
one  of  the  most  popular  and  best  known  citizens 
of  Idaho.  A  native  of  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  he  was 
born  March  17,  1857,  a  son  of  William  W.  and 
Eliza  A.  (Myers)  Johnson.  His  father,  a  native 
of  Indiana,  born  in  1829,  died  in  Ottumwa,  Iowa, 
in  1867,  and  his  wife,  who  was  born  in  Botetourt 
county,  Virginia,  also  departed  this  life  in  Iowa. 
By  profession  Mr.  Johnson  was  a  portrait-painter 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


705 


and  sketch  artist.  In  1852  he  went  to  California, 
but  after  two  years  returned  to  Iowa  and  was 
for  some  time  engaged  in  the  hotel  and  mercan- 
tile business  in  Salem,  that  state.  In  1858  he 
joined  a  company  bound  for  Pike's  Peak,  but 
later  again  returned  to  Iowa,  and  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  civil  war  he  enlisted  in  the  Seventh  Iowa 
Infantry,  as  a  private.  In  the  first  engagement 
in  which  he  took  part,  the  battle  of  Belmont,  he 
was  seriously  wounded,  the  injury  resulting  in 
his  death  a  few  years  afterward.  Having  been 
wounded,  he  was  taken  to  Camp  Butler,  Illinois, 
and  it  was  there,  after  his  partial  recovery,  that 
he  painted  the  first  panorama  of  the  war.  He 
thus  delineated  many  of  the  noted  engagements 
of  the  Rebellion,  including  the  naval  battle  be- 
tween the  Monitor  and  the  Merrimac.  These 
pictures  were  done  in  oil  and  were  eight  by 
twelve  feet  in  dimensions.  He  also  painted  the 
portrait  of  Richard  Yates,  the  war  governor  of 
Illinois,  and  portraits  of  other  notable  person- 
ages. 

Ervin  W.  Johnson  began  his  education  in  the 
public  schools  and  later  entered  Whittier  Col- 
lege, at  Salem,  Iowa,  where  he  pursued  his 
studies  for  two  years.  He  entered  upon  his  busi- 
ness career  as  an  apprentice,  serving  a  five-years 
term  at  the  jeweler's  trade,  after  which,  in  1877, 
he  went  to  East  Bend,  Kansas,  where  he  em- 
barked in  the  jewelry  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count. He  successfully  conducted  his  store  at 
that  point  until  1880,  when  he  removed  to  Chi- 
cago, and  later  went  to  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
where  he  remained  until  1882,  when,  having 
learned  of  the  mining  excitement  in  the  Wood 
river  country  in  Idaho,  he  came  to  this  state 
and  for  some  time  engaged  in  prospecting  and 
ranching. 

In  1883  Mr.  Johnson  was  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent Arthur  to  the  position  of  postmaster  of 
Bellevue,  Idaho,  acceptably  serving  until  1885, 
when  he  engaged  in  mining  in  what  is  now 
known  as  the  Hailey  gold  belt.  About  this  time, 
however,  a  lucrative  position  was  offered  him 
at  Leadville,  Colorado,  which  he  accepted  and 
filled  until  the  autumn  of  1886,  when  he  returned 
to  Idaho.  The  same  fall  he  was  nominated  for 
the  office  of  assessor  of  Alturas  county.  He  was 
a  very  prominent  factor  in  political  interests 
there,  exerting  a  marked  influence  in  public  af- 


fairs. While  chairman  of  the  Alturas  county 
Republican  central  committee  he  was  instru- 
mental in  forming  a  fusion  between  the  Demo- 
crats and  Republicans,  and  thereby  caused  the 
defeat  of  the  Populist  ticket,  which  two  years 
before  had  gained  an  overwhelming  majority. 
Having  been  unanimously  chosen  as  the  nominee 
of  the  fusion  forces  for  a  position  in  the  state 
legislature,  he  was  elected,  and  in  the  session  of 
1894-5  represented  Alturas  county  in  the  law- 
making  assembly  of  Idaho.  As  a  member  of  that 
body  he  introduced  a  bill  for  the  creation  of 
Blaine  county,  which  is  now  one  of  the  legal  sub- 
divisions of  the  state.  He  was  one  of  the  earnest 
supporters  of  George  L.  Shoup  in  his  candidacy 
for  the  United  States  senate: 

When  Mr.  Johnson  failed  of  election  to  the 
office  of  assessor,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
hotel  business,  becoming  proprietor  of  the  Al- 
turas Hotel  at  Hailey,  which  he  successfully 
conducted  until  1889,  when  he  became  the  man- 
ager of  the  Hailey  electric-light  works.  He  was 
also  made  the  manager  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Bell  Telephone  Company,  and  with  those  enter- 
prises he  was  associated  until  1894.  In  1895  he 
was  appointed  chief  state  land-inspector  and  se- 
lector of  state  lands,  in  which  capacity  he  con- 
tinued until  the  change  in  the  state  administra- 
tion, in  1897,  when  he  returned  to  the  hotel  bus- 
iness, as  proprietor  of  the  famous  Overland 
Hotel,  in  Boise.  He  is  conducting  one  of  the 
best  hostelries  in  the  northwest,  and  his  earnest 
desire  to  please  his  patrons,  and  the  excellent 
entertainment  furnished,  have  made  him  very 
popular  with  the  traveling  public. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the 
Idaho  Inter-mountain  Fair,  of  which  he  was  the 
director-general  for  the  year  1897-8.  Through 
the  instrumentality  of  that  organization  the  in- 
terests of  the  state  have  been  largely  promoted 
and  her  resources  advertised.  Mr.  Johnson  has 
also  done  much  to  secure  and  advance  the  devel- 
opment of  the  mineral  resources  of  the  common- 
wealth, and,  in  fact,  at  all  times  gives  a  hearty 
support  to  every  measure  intended  for  the  public 
good.  In  politics  he  continued  an  uncompro- 
mising Republican  until  1896,  since  which  time 
he  has  been  a  firm  believer  in  and  supporter  of 
the  silver  theory  as  advocated  by  William  Jen- 
nings Bryan. 


706 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


In  1888,  in  Hailey,  Idaho,  Mr.  Johnson  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Louise  Crane,  and 
they  have  three  daughters:  Laura,  Helen  and 
Miriam.  Socially  Mr.  Johnson  is  connected  with 
the  Benevolent  Protective  Order  of  Elks, 
the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  the  World.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  distinct 
personality,  of  genial  manner  and  courteous  de- 
portment and  has  made  rnany  friends  throughout 

the  state. 

WILLIAM  T.  REEVES. 

William  T.  Reeves,  a  prominent  lawyer  of 
Idaho,  residing  at  Pocatello,  was  born  at  Kinkle- 
ville,  Kentucky,  January  21,  1855,  and  is  of 
Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  a  combination  which 
everywhere  and  always  produces  good  citizens 
and  has  given  to  America  many  of  her  best  and 
greatest  men.  George  Reeves,  Mr.  Reeves'  pa- 
ternal grandfather,  emigrated  from  Ireland  and 
brought  his  wife  with  him.  They  had  four  sons 
and  three  daughters.  William  Harrison  Reeves, 
Mr.  Reeves'  father,  was  born  in  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, and  married  Miss  Penelope  B.  White,  a 
native  of  Tennessee.  While  he  was  a  mere  boj 
his  father  removed  with  his  family  to  Kentucky, 
and  there  he  was  reared  and  educated  and  wooed 
and  won  his  wife.  He  died  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
eight,  she  at  sixty-one,  and  their  neighbors  in 
Kentucky,  among  whom  they  passed  their  busy 
and  useful  lives,  bore  testimony  to  their  high 
character  and  the  beneficent  quality  of  the  influ- 
ence they  exerted  upon  the  community. 

William  T.  Reeves  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  and  in  the  college  at  Blandville, 
Kentucky.  He  read  law  at  Blandville,  under  the 
direction  of  an  older  brother,  then  established  in 
professional  work,  and  was  duly  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1875.  After  ten  years'  successful  practice 
of  his  profession  in  his  native  state,  he  took  up 
his  residence  at  Eagle  Rock,  now  Idaho  Falls, 
Idaho,  in  1885.  Eagle  Rock  was  then  a  leading 
railway  town,  and  his  success  there  was  encour- 
aging, but  inducements  were  made  to  him  to  re- 
move to  Blackfoot.  After  ten  years  at  Blackfoot 
he  was  for  two  years  at  Boise  City.  In  1894  he 
located  at  Pocatello,  where  he  has  built  up  a  very 
satisfactory  practice.  He  has  become  known 
throughout  the  state  as  a  lawyer  of  effective  abil- 
ity and  unswerving  integrity.  He  has  some  con- 
siderable real-estate  investments  at  Pocatello  and 


at  Boise  City.  Mr.  Reeves  has  been  a  lifelong 
Democrat,  and  since  coming  to  Idaho  has  taken 
an  active  and  influential  interest  in  state  politics. 
He  has  been  the  nominee  of  his  party  for  the 
office  of  district  judge,  and  has  twice  been  nom- 
inated for  attorney  general  of  the  state.  In  suc- 
cessive campaigns  he  has  done  much  efficient 
work  for  his  party  and  he  enjoys  a  wide  reputa- 
tion as  a  forceful  and  convincing  speaker  on 
political  questions. 

Mr.  Reeves  was  married  to  Miss  Jennie  T. 
Thomas,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  daughter  of 
Quincy  Thomas.  They  have  six  children: 
George  W.,  Charles  R.,  Ellen  G.,  Mae,  Simrell 
and  William  F.,  Jr.  Mrs.  Reeves  is  a  member 
of  the  Christian  church.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  is  past 
grand  of  his  lodge.  He  takes  a  deep  interest  in 
every  movement  at  Pocatello  tending  to  the  pub- 
lic good  and  is  a  liberal  supporter  of  every  public 
project  which  has  the  endorsement  of  his  judg- 
ment. 

ROBERT  McCLOUD   GWINN. 

In  the  early  development  of  Idaho  this  honored 
citizen  of  Caldwell  came  to,  the  territory  to 
preach  the  gospel  among  those  who  were  isolated 
from  the  interests  and  advantages  of  the  east. 
He  was  the  first  representative  of  the  Methodist 
ministry  in  the  territory  and  continued  his  labors 
for  many  years,  but  is  now  living  retired.  A 
man  of  ripe  scholarship  and  marked  executive 
ability,  one  whose  life  has  been  consecrated  to 
the  cause  of  the  Master  and  to  the  uplifting  of 
men,  there  is  particular  propriety  in  directing  at- 
tention to  his  life  history,  as  it  has  left  so  great 
an  impress  upon  the  development  of  the  state. 

A  native  of  Westmoreland  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, he  was  born  on  the  5th  of  June,  1833,  and 
is  of  Scotch  descent.  His  grandfather,  John 
Gwinn,  was  born  in  Glasgow,  Scotland,  and  after 
residing  for  a  time  in  county  Tyrone,  Ireland, 
crossed  the  Atlantic  to  America,  when  this  coun- 
try was  a  part  of  the  British  colonial  possessions. 

He  brought  with  him  from  the  Emerald  Isle 
letters  from  the  pastor  of  his  church,  certifying  to 
his  high  Christian  character :  also  a  letter  from  the 
member  of  the  house  of  burgesses  of  his  town 
in  county  Tyrone.  Here  he  placed  his  mem- 
bership in  the  Covenanters'  church,  and  by  his 
upright  life  sustained  the  reputation  which  he  had 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


707 


borne  in  the  old  church  in  Ireland.  At  the  time 
when  British  oppression  became  intolerable  he 
joined  the  colonists  in  their  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence, and  gallantly  fought  for  liberty,  under 
command  of  General  Washington,  until  the  close 
of  hostilities.  After  receiving  an  honorable  dis- 
charge he  located  on  the  present  site  of  the  city 
of  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  owning  there  a  valu- 
able farm  of  four  hundred  and  ninety  acres  of 
land.  The  old  bombazine  pocket-book  which  he 
carried  throughout  the  Revolution,  and  which 
now  contains  his  war  record,  was  found  in  a 
secret  drawer  of  an  old  bureau  that  had  long 
been  in  the  family,  and  is  now  in  possession  of 
our  subject — a  rare  and  valuable  relic,  highly 
prized  by  Rev.  Gwinn.  Although  the  paper  is 
much  faded  and  worn,  the  ink  with  which  the 
record  is  written  still  remains  undimmed.  This 
honored  Revolutionary  hero  lived  to  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  eighty-eight  years,  and  therefore 
witnessed  a  large  share  of  the  development  of  the 
republic  which  he  had  aided  to  establish.  He 
married  Miss  Mary  McCloud,  a  lady  of  Scotch 
birth,  of  fine  education  and  amiable  character, 
who  died  in  her  seventy-sixth  year.  They  had  a 
family  of  three  sons  and  three  daughters. 

Their  son,  John  Gwinn,  Jr.,  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  born  in  Maryland,  in  1781.  He  was 
very  industrious,  and  followed  farming  in  West- 
moreland county,  Pennsylvania,  for  many  years. 
He  served  as  a  magistrate  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Seceder  church.  His  wife  departed  this  life 
in  her  forty-second  year,  but  he  reached  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  ninety-four  years.  Of  their  family 
of  four  sons  and  two  daughters  only  two  are 
now  living. 

Robert  McCloud  Gwinn  spent  his  boyhood 
days  in  his  parents'  home,  acquired  his  literary 
education  in  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  afterward 
read  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  and 
his  wife  were  found  among  the  loyal  adherents 
of  the  Union  cause. in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion. 
Mr.  Gwinn  enlisted  in  his  country's  service  as  a 
member  of  Company  I,  Thirty-second  Iowa 
Sharpshooters,  and  continued  to  defend  the  stars 
and  stripes  and  the  cause  they  represented  until 
the  flag  was  planted  in  the  capital  of  the  Con- 
federacy. His  wife,  too,  labored  for  the  nation, 
spending  two  and  a  half  years  in  the  south  as 
a  member  of  the  United  States  sanitary  commis- 


sion, and  devoting  her  life  to  the  care  of  the  sick 
and  wounded.  Many  a  soldier  has  reason  to 
bless  her  memory  for  her  tender  ministrations, 
and  many  a  life  was  undoubtedly  saved  through 
her  careful  nursing. 

After  the  war  Rev.  Robert  M.  Gwinn,  returned 
to  the  north,  and  in  1866  was  converted,  while 
attending  a  great  camp-meeting  held  at  Cherry 
Run,  in  Clarion  county,  Pennsylvania.  In  1870 
he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church  and  joined  the  Southern  Illi- 
nois conference.  In  1872  he  went  to  Salt  Lake 
City,  Utah,  where  he  jnet  Bishop  Foster  and 
seventeen  ministers  of  his  denomination,  whom 
he  assisted  in  forming  the  Rocky  Mountain  con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  Rev. 
Gwinn  was  assigned  the  territory  of  Idaho  as  his 
mission  field,  and  made  his  way  to  Boise,  where 
the  same  year  he  organized  the  first  Methodist 
church  in  the  state.  For  some  time  he  acted  as 
its  pastor  and  also  traveled  over  the  state,  preach- 
ing, and  organizing  the  representatives  of  Meth- 
odism into  congregations.  His  labors  were  a 
source  of  great  good,  holding  in  check  much  of 
the  lawlessness  that  often  exists  in  newly  devel- 
oped regions,  and  strengthening  the  faith  and 
works  of  the  earnest  Christian  people  who  upheld 
law,  order  and  righteousness.  There  were  many 
hardships  and  trials  to  be  borne  by  Rev.  and 
Mrs.  Gwinn  in  their  work,  and  their  journey  from 
Salt  Lake  City  to  Idaho  had  been  one  of  peculiar 
difficulty,  after  which  Mrs.  Gwinn  was  seriously  ill 
for  some  time.  They  labored  on,  however,  and  the 
cause  of  morality  and  Christianity  was  greatly 
advanced  through  their  zeal  and  consecrated 
effort.  During  the  winter  after  his  arrival  Rev. 
Gwinn  served  as  chaplain  of  the  territorial  legis- 
lature. He  was  the  founder  of  the  Methodist 
church  in  Caldwell,  and  through  his  instrumen- 
tality their  tasteful  house  of  worship  was  erected. 
He  has  now  retired  from  the  active  work  of  the 
ministry  and  lives  in  a  pleasant  home  in  Caldwell, 
where  he  has  won  many  warm  friends. 

Unto  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Gwinn  were  born  four 
children,  three  of  whom  are  living:  Montie  B., 
general  manager  of  the  New  York  Life  Insurance 
Company,  with  headquarters  at  Caldwell;  Carrie, 
wife  of  H.  D.  Blatchley,  the  leading  druggist  of 
Caldwell;  and  James  H.,  a  merchant  of  La 
Grande,  Oregon.  Gertrude  died  in  the  twenty- 


708 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


third  year  of  her  age.  For  twenty-nine  years 
Mr.  Gwinn  has  been  a  faithful  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  was 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Republican  party, 
has  since  been  a  stanch  advocate  of  its  prin- 
ciples, and  is  now  serving,  by  appointment,  as 
state  fruit  inspector  of  district  No.  4,  but  has 
never  been  an  aspirant  for  political  honors  or 
emoluments.  He  is  a  man  of  deep  human  sym- 
pathy and  generous  spirit,  and  he  has  devoted 
himself  without  ceasing  to  the  interests  of  human- 
ity and  to  the  furtherance  of  all  good  works. 

NELSON    BUHL. 

For  thirty  years  Nelson  Buhl  has  engaged  in 
farming  and  stock-raising  in  Idaho,  and  has  met 
with  a  creditable  and  satisfactory  success  in  his 
well  directed  efforts.  His  home  farm,  comprising 
four  hundred  acres  of  rich  land,  is  pleasantly  sit- 
uated northwest  of  Salubria,  but  in  the  valley  he 
owns  many  other  valuable  tracts  of  land,  and  is 
thus  prominently  connected  with  the  agricultural 
interests  of  this  section  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Buhl  is  a  native  of  Denmark,  born  Decem- 
ber 8,  1858,  and  when  a  child  of  only  five  years 
was  brought  to  the  United  States  by  his  parents, 
Bartlet  and  Anna  Buhl,  who  located  in  Salt  Lake 
City,  Utah.  There  the  father  engaged  in  farming 
and  also  conducted  a  meat  market  until  1869, 
when  he  removed  to  the  territory  of  Idaho.  He 
was  hardly  established  in  his  new  home  when,,  on 
the  7th  of  August  of  that  year,  he  was  killed  in 
a  runaway.  His  widow  and  children,  three  in 
number,  survive  him,  and  j^rs.  Buhl  has  now- 
reached  the  ripe  old  age  of  seventy-two  years. 

To  the  public  schools  Mr.  Buhl  is  indebted  for 
the  educational  advantages  which  fitted  him  for 
the  duties  of  a  practical  business  life.  When  old 
enough  he  entered  a  claim  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  in  Salubria  valley,  northwest  of  the 
present  town  of  Salubria,  and  at  once  began  to 
develop  a  farm.  He  erected  some  substantial 
buildings,  and  soon  transformed  the  wild  land 
into  rich  and  fertile  fields,  to  which  he  has  added 
from  time  to  time  until  now  four  hundred  acres 
are  included  within  the  boundaries  of  his  farm. 
He  has  also  made  judicious  investments  in  land 
elsewhere,  and  is  the  owner  of  some  very  valuable 
property  in  the  valley.  He  raises  short-horn 
and  Hereford  cattle  on  an  extensive  scale,  is  a 


successful  breeder  of  horses  and  hogs,  and  also 
raises  large  quantities  of  grain  and  hay.  He  has 
gained  the  reputation  of  being  an  experienced 
and  successful  stockraiser,  and  by  his  individual 
efforts  has  acquired  a  good  property. 

Mr.  Buhl  was  married  to  Miss  Carrie  B.  Tay- 
lor, on  the  I2th  of  May,  1887.  She  was  a  native 
of  Kansas  and  a  daughter  of  S.  H.  Taylor,  of 
Salubria.  Four  children  were  born  of  this  union: 
Dollie,  Use,  Lester  H.  and  Mabel.  The  mother 
departed  this  life  August  19,  1897.  She  was 
spared  to  her  family  only  a  little  more  than  ten 
years,  and  her  loss  was  keenly  felt,  for  she  was 
an  excellent  wife  and  an  indulgent,  loving 
mother. 

In  politics  Mr.  Buhl  is  a  silver-Republican, 
but  he  gives  his  attention  almost  exclusively  to 
his  business  interests,  and  by  his  diligence,  care- 
ful management  and  straightforward  business 
methods  has  won  prosperity.  He  started  out  for 
himself  with  no  capital  save  strong  determination 
to  succeed,  and  has  steadily  overcome  all  obsta- 
cles in  his  path  and  gained  a  place  among  the 
prosperous  agriculturists  and  stock-raisers  of  the 
Salubria  valley. 

HENRY    H.    ABERNATHY. 

There  are  few  of  the  representative  and  re- 
spected men  of  Idaho  whose  residence  in  the 
state  antedates  that  of  Mr.  Abernathy,  who  came 
to  the  territory  thirty-seven  years  ago  and  has 
been  identified  with  the  development  of  the 
Salubria  valley  since  1868.  The  old  Indian  trails, 
the  uncultivated  lands,  the  unopened  mines  and 
the  uncut  forests  then  to  be  seen,  all  told  that 
the  work  of  civilization  lay  in  the  future,  and 
the  subject  of  this  review  has  been  one  of  the 
advance  guard  that  has  carried  forward  the  work 
of  progress  and  improvement  until  Idaho  is,  in- 
deed, the  veritable  "Gem  of  the  Mountains." 

A  native  of  Indiana,  he  was  born  September 
10,  1834,  and  is  of  English  and  Scotch  lineage, 
his  ancestors  having  left  the  land  of  hills  and 
heather  and  taken  up  their  residence  in  Ken- 
tucky. John  Abernathy,  father  of  our  subject, 
was  born  in  Virginia,  but  when  a  young  man 
removed  to  Ohio,  where  he  married  Sarah  Mun- 
kester,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  They  removed 
to  Indiana,  where  the  father  engaged  in  farming 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  then  took  his  family 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


709 


to  Wapello  county,  Iowa,  where  he  carried  on 
agricultural  pursuits  until  his  life's  labors  were 
ended  in  death,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years.  He 
was  an  honest  and  industrious  man  who  lived 
peaceably  with  his  neighbors  and  never  sued  or 
was  sued  by  any  one  in  his  life.  He  was  seventy 
years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  his 
wife  passed  away  in  1849,  in  her  fifty-fifth  year. 
They  were  consistent  members  of  the  Methodist 
church,  and  reared  a  family  of  ten  children,  seven 
of  whom  are  living,  the  eldest  being  ninety  years 
of  age.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife  the 
father  was  again  married  and  by  that  union  had 
four  children. 

Henry  Harrison  Abernathy  was  the  ninth  in 
order  of  birth  of  the  children  of  the  first  marriage 
He  acquired  the  greater  part  of  his  education  in 
the  schools  of  Iowa,  and  in  1862  started  across 
the  plains,  driving  an  ox  team  and  traveling  with 
a  train  composed  of  three  hundred  wagons.  They 
were  five  months  upon  the  road,  but  met  with  no 
misfortunes  and  experienced  no  hardships  save 
those  common  to  travel  across  the  long  stretches 
of  hot  sand.  Arriving  in  Idaho,  Mr.  Abernathy 
and  his  brother  Andrew  engaged  in  mining  on 
Pine  creek,  at  a  place  which  became  known  as 
the  Abernathy  mines,  and  each  took  out  gold  to 
the  value  of  one  thousand  dollars.  In  1864  they 
removed  to  the  lower  Weiser,  where  they  entered 
land  from  the  government.  They  built  upon  it 
and  otherwise  improved  the  property,  and  there 
made  their  home  for  some  time.  For  a  number 
of  years  while  residing  there  our  subject  en- 
gaged in  freighting  from  Idaho  City  to  Umatilla, 
and  also  engaged  in  conducting  a  hotel  at  Far- 
well  Bend,  on  Snake  river.  In  .1868  he  came 
to  the  Salubria  valley  and  located  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  the  rich  and  productive  land, 
since  which  time  he  has  devoted  his  energies  to 
farming  and  stock-raising.  His  home  is  pleas- 
antly located  three  miles  northeast  of  the  town 
of  Salubria,  and  he  has  one  of  the  valuable  farm- 
ing properties  in  this  section  of  the  state,  the  well 
tilled  fields  surrounding  substantial  buildings, 
while  all  the  latest  improvements  and  accessories 
of  the  model  farm  are  there  found. 

On  the  1 4th  of  February,  1877,  Mr.  Abernathy 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Elizabeth  South, 
a  native  of  California  and  a  daughter  of  Samuel 
South,  of  Oregon.  They  have  a  son  and  two 


daughters:  Martha  Ellen,  wife  of  Alex  Allison, 
of  Salubria;  Harry,  who  is  his  father's  assistant 
on  the  farm ;  and  Rhoda  Jane,  who  acts  as  their 
housekeeper. 

Mr.  Abernathy  exercises  his  right  of  franchise 
in  support  of  the  men  and  measures  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  with  which  he  has  affiliated 
since  attaining  his  majority.  His  life  has  been 
well  spent.  He  has  met  every  obligation  devolv- 
ing upon  him,  has  faithfully  performed  every 
trust  and  by  his  fidelity  to  principle  has  com- 
manded the  respect  of  all  with  whom  he  has  come 
in  contact.  He  has  been  prominently  identified 
with  the  history  of  southern  Idaho  from  its 
earliest  development,  when  wild  animals  were  far 
more  numerous  than  the  domestic  stock  of  the 
farm-yard,  when  the  Indians  outnumbered  the 
white  settlers,  and  when  pack  horses  provided 
the  only  means  of  transportation  used.  He  takes 
just  pride  in  the  wonderful  transformation  which 
has  since  been  wrought,  placing  the  new  state  of 
Idaho  on  a  par  with  many  of  much  older  growth. 

TEXAS  ANGEL. 

Since  the  town  of  Hailey  was  hardly  more 
than  a  collection  of  tents  Texas  Angel  has  been 
numbered  among  its  citizens  and  has  successfully 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  law,  winning  many 
notable  lawsuits  wherein  he  has  demonstrated  the 
possession  of  legal  powers  of  high  order.  A 
native  of  the  Empire  state,  he  was  born  in  An- 
gelica, New  York,  October  19,  1839,  and  is  a 
representative  of  one  of  the  oldest  families  of 
New  England.  Hardly  had  the  Mayflower  de- 
posited its  precious  cargo  upon  the  shores  of 
America,  at  Plymouth  Rock,  when  the  ancestors 
of  our  subject,  people  of  Welsh  birth,  also  came 
to  the  New  World,  and  Nathan  Angel,  from 
whom  he  traces  descent,  removed  to  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  with  Roger  Williams,  the  apostle 
of  religious  liberty.  William  Angel,  the  grand- 
father of  our  subject,  settled  on  Block  Island, 
and  there  William  Gardner  Angel,  the  father, 
was  born  in  1790.  In  1792  the  family  removed 
to  Otsego,  New  York,  where  William  G.  Angel 
was  educated,  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  He  was  twice  elected  to  congress  dur- 
ing the  administration  of  President  Jackson,  and 
was  a  prominent  figure  in  the  public  life  of  that 
locality.  He  also  served  as  county  judge  and  was 


710 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


surrogate  of  Albany  county  in  1852.  In  politics 
he  was  a  stanch  Democrat  in  early  life,  but  was 
a  lover  of  liberty,  and  when  the  question  of 
slavery  began  to  figure  extensively  in  politics  he 
joined  the  new  Republican  party,  formed  to  pre- 
vent its  further  extension,  and  voted  for  Fre- 
mont in  1856.  The  family  were  Quakers  and  did 
not  believe  in  war,  but  were  strongly  opposed  to 
the  oppression  of  human  beings.  Judge  Angel 
was  a  man  of  the  highest  probity  of  character, 
honored  and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him,  and 
his  death  occurred  in  1858,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
nine  years.  His  wife,  who  bore  the  maiden  name 
of  Clarissa  English,  was  a  native  of  New  Eng- 
land. Her  people  were  pioneers  of  New  York 
and  located  near  Buffalo.  Her  death  occurred 
when  she  had  attained  the  ripe  old  age  of  seven- 
ty-three years.  By  her  marriage  she  became  the 
mother  of  twelve  children,  all  but  two  of  whom 
reached  years  of  maturity,  while  five  sons  and  a 
daughter  are  still  living.  All  are  highly  respected 
and  occupy  prominent  positions  in  the  commu- 
nities in  which  they  reside. 

Texas  Angel  was  the  youngest  of  the  family. 
His  father  was  a  warm  friend  and  admirer  of 
General  Sam  Houston,  president  of  the  republic 
of  Texas,  and  when  that  gentleman  was  at  the 
height  of  his  fame  our  subject  was  named  in 
honor  of  the  republic  which  he  governed.  In 
the  Angelica  Academy,  in  his  native  town, 
Texas  Angel  acquired  his  education,  and  in  1861, 
when  the  war  cloud  burst  over  the  country  and 
President  Lincoln  issued  his  call  for  volunteers, 
he  offered  his  services,  on  the  22d  of  April,  and 
was  enrolled  among  the  boys  in  blue  of  Com- 
pany I,  Twenty-seventh  New  York  Infantry, 
under  command  of  Henry  W.  Slocum.  They 
were  at  once  ordered  to  the  front,  and  partici- 
pated in  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  in  which 
the  regiment  lost  one  hundred  and  five  men  in 
killed,  wounded  and  missing.  This  was  followed 
by  the  battle  of  West  Point,  where  two  of  their 
number  were  killed,  and  then  came  the  seven- 
days  engagement  at  Gainesville,  on  the  penin- 
sula, where  they  lost  one  hundred  and  seventy 
in  killed,  wounded  and  missing.  The  Twenty- 
seventh  was  also  at  White  Oak  Swamp  and 
guarded  the  right  flank  at  the  battle  of  Malvern 
Hill,  after  which  they  returned  to  Harrison's 
Landing,  where  Mr.  Angel  was  taken  ill.  There 


he  was  placed  on  a  transport  and  sent  to  the 
West  Philadelphia  hospital.  During  his  con- 
valescence he  was  granted  a  twenty-days  fur- 
lough, but  half  of  that  time  was  consumed  in 
making  the  journey  to  and  from  the  south.  He 
met  his  regiment  between  Fairfax  and  Alexan- 
dria, on  the  return  from  the  second  battle  of  Bull 
Run.  They  were  then  sent  to  Maryland  and 
were  on  the  left  wing  at  the  battle  of  South 
Mountain.  After  the  battle  of  Antietam,  they 
marched  to  Falmouth,  opposite  Fredericksburg, 
and  there  Mr.  Angel  was  appointed  commissary 
sergeant  and  promoted  to  the  rank  of  second 
lieutenant  of  Company  I,  and  later  to  first  lieu- 
tenant, while  during  the  march  from  Antietam 
to  Fredericksburg  he  was  appointed  by  the 
colonel  as  quartermaster  of  the  regiment,  contin- 
uing in  that  capacity  until  the  close  of  his  two- 
years  term  of  service,  which  expired  May  21, 
1863.  From  that  time  until  May,  1864,  he  was 
on  recruiting  service. 

In  May  of  the  latter  year  Mr.  Angel  went  to 
California  by  way  of  the  isthmus  route,  and  on 
his  arrival  in  San  Francisco  read  law  with  the 
Hon.  Samuel  M.  Wilson,  being  admitted  to  the 
bar,  in  Sacramento,  April  3,  1866.  In  the  fall 
of  the  same  year  he  returned  to  Angelica,  New 
York,  and  after  visiting  his  old  home  and  the 
scenes  of  his  boyhood,  established  a  law  office  in 
Jamestown,  New  York,  where  he  remained  for 
a  year.  On  the  expiration  of  that  period  he 
took  up  his  residence  in  Eau  Claire,  Wisconsin, 
where  he  practiced  his  profession  for  ten  and  a 
half  years,  being  for  five  years  a  partner  of  Levi 
M.  Villars,  brother  of  Senator  Villars.  He  also 
served  as  district  attorney  and  enjoyed  an  im- 
portant business,  connecting  him  with  the  lead- 
ing litigation  of  the  district. 

Mr.  Angel  was  married  while  in  Eau  Claire, 
February  25,  1877,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Goodrich, 
and  because  of  her  health  was  obliged  to  seek  a 
milder  climate.  Accordingly  he  returned  to  San 
Francisco,  California,  where  he  arrived  in  Sep- 
tember, 1877,  there  practicing  law  for  five  years. 
He  then  came  to  the  booming  new  town  of 
Hailey,  which  had  been  started  only  sixty  days 
before.  Most  of  the  people  were  living  in  tents, 
but  the  place  gave  promise  of  becoming  an  im- 
portant center,  owing  to  the  recent  gold  discov- 
eries on  Wood  river.  The  town  site  was  a  beau- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


711 


tiful  and  picturesque  one,  and  Mr.  Angel  decided 
to  remain  and  practice  his  profession  in  Elaine 
county.  He  has  since  materially  assisted  in  the 
upbuilding  of  Hailey  and  is  regarded  as  one  oi 
its  most  valued  and  progressive  citizens.  He  has 
lived  to  see  many  of  his  hopes  concerning  the 
new  town  realized,  and  has  here  a  delightful 
home,  celebrated  for  its  hospitality,  while  the 
members  of  the  household  occupy  an  enviable 
position  in  social  circles.  In  the  family  are  three 
children, — Richard  M.,  the  present  county  attor- 
ney of  Elaine  county;  Mary  Goodrich,  at  home; 
and  Floyd  D.,  who  is  attending  school. 

On  attaining  his  majority,  Mr.  Angel  joined 
the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party,  and  was  one 
of  its  stanch  advocates  until  1892,  when  he  sev- 
ered his  allegiance  thereto,  on  account  of  his  op- 
posing views  on  the  money  question.  He  has 
since  allied  himself  with  the. Populist  party  and 
has  been  an  active  and  efficient  worker  in  its 
interests.  He  belongs  to  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen  and  was  made  a  Master  Mason 
in  Eau  Claire,  Wisconsin,  in  1869.  The  greater 
part  of  his  time  and  attention,  however,  are 
given  to  his  professional  duties.  His  devotion  to 
his  clients'  interests  is  proverbial.  His  industry 
and  Jionesty,  coupled  with  his  talents  and  ability, 
enable  him  to  command  a  large  clientage,  and  he 
has  acquired  a  very  extensive  practice.  He  is 
well  versed  in  all  branches  of  the  law,  and  his 
essentially  clear  mentality  enables  him  to  grasp 
at  once  the  salient  points  in  a  case  and  to  present 
them  with  unusual  conciseness  and  directness. 

FRANCIS  L.  WILCOX. 

Francis  Lazell  Wilcox,  a  veteran  of  the  civil 
war,  is  now  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  in 
Oneida  county,  and  is  numbered  among  the 
pioneer  settlers  of  Preston.  A  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, he  was  born  in  the  town  of  Jackson,  Sus- 
quehanna  county,  April  i,  1840,  his  parents  being 
Elan  and  Elvira  (Bryant)  Wilcox.  The  father 
was  born  in  Brattleboro,  'Vermont,  March  16. 
1815,  and  in  Jackson,  Pennsylvania,  married  Miss 
Eryant,  whose  birth  occurred  April  13,  1821.  He 
was  an  industrious,  honest  man,  of  good  judg- 
ment and  sterling  worth,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  held  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace.  He 
died  March  9,  1889,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four 
years,  and  his  wife,  who  was  a  member  of  the 


Presbyterian  church,  died  February  9,  1889,  in 
the  sixty-eighth  year  of  her  age.  They  were  the 
parents  of  eleven  children. 

Francis  L.  Wilcox,  their  eldest  child,  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  of  Pennsylvania  and 
remained  at  home  with  his  father,  working  on 
the  farm,  until  twenty-three  years  of  age,  when, 
in  answer  to  President  Lincoln's  call  for  volun- 
teers to  put  down  the  rebellion  and  hold  aloft 
the  flag  which  the  Confederates  would  fain  have 
trailed  in  the  dust,  he  enlisted  in  Company  K, 
Fifty-eighth  Pennsylvania  Infantry,  January  i, 
1862.  He  served  until  June  25th  of  the  same 
year,  when,  on  account  of  illness,  he  was  honor- 
ably discharged.  Still  the  need  for  volunteers 
continued,  and  on  the  6th  of  September,  1864, 
he  re-enlisted,  becoming  a  member  of  Company 
G,  One  Hundred  and  Eighty-fifth  New  York 
Infantry.  During  both  terms  he  was  with  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  shortly  before  the 
surrender  of  General  Lee  he  was  in  a  hotly  con- 
tested engagement  in  which  his  clothes  were 
pierced  by  eleven  bullets,  and  a  minie  ball  en- 
tered his  leg.  At  the  same  time  he  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  seven  days  had  passed  before  his 
wound  was  dressed.  The  ball  was  then  removed 
by  a  Confederate  lieutenant,  who  cut  it  out  with 
an  old  razor,  causing  the  greatest  pain.  At  length 
the  Union  men  were  recaptured  by  General 
Sheridan's  cavalry  and  Mr.  Wilcox  was  sent  to 
the  hospital  in  Washington,  where  he  arrived  on 
the  day  President  Lincoln  was  buried.  He  was 
honorably  discharged  August  24,  1865,  and  with 
an  honorable  military  record  returned  to  his 
home.  For  two  years  thereafter  he  was  forced 
to  use  a  cane  in  walking,  but  he  had  the  satis- 
faction of  knowing  that  he  had  aided  in  the 
preservation  of  the  Union  and  the  perpetuation  of 
the  grandest  republic  the  sun  shines  upon. 

As  soon  as  he  had  sufficiently  recovered  his 
health  Mr.  Wilcox  resumed  the  peaceful  pursuits 
of  the  farm,  carrying  on  agricultural  pursuits  in 
his  native  state  until  1877,  at  which  time  he  sold 
his  property  there  and  came  to  the  west.  He 
assisted  in  building  the  railroad  to  Preston  and 
located  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  choice 
land  in  the  beautiful  valley,  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  west  of  the  now  prosperous  town.  Nathan 
Porter  was  then  the  only  settler  in  this  part  of 
the  county,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present 


712 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Mr.  Wilcox  has  been  an  important  factor  in  the 
substantial  development  and  progress  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  state. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1866,  Mr.  Wilcox  married 
Miss  Secor,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  who  came 
with  him  to  the  west  and  has  been  to  him  a 
faithful  companion  and  helpmeet  on  life's  jour- 
ney. Together  they  have  improved  a  splendid 
farm  and  have  planted  a  fine  grove  of  trees  about 
their  home,  affording  a  delightful  shade  in  sum- 
mer and  protecting  them  from  the  chilling  blasts 
of  winter.  A  large  barn  and  other  excellent 
farm  buildings  stand  as  monuments  to  the  thrift 
and  enterprise  of  the  owner,  and  his  industry  is 
attested  by  the  well  cultivated  fields  of  wheat  and 
other  grains  and  alfalfa  hay.  Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wilcox  have  been  born  the  following  named  chil- 
dren :  Bryan  D.,  a  farmer ;  Cora  L.,  who  became 
the  wife  of  James  Maughan  and  died  in  1897 ; 
Francis  Elon,  who  died  in  Salt  Lake  City,  Febru- 
ary 7,  1879,  in  his  sixth  year;  Herman  Lazell, 
who  died  February  21,  1879,  at  the  age  of  four 
years;  Katie;  Maggie  Melvina;  George;  William 
Harvey  and  Carl.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilcox  were 
years  ago  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and  they  and 
their  family  are  now  faithful  members  of  the 
same.  In  politics  Mr.  Wilcox  has  been  a  lifelong 
Republican.  He  is  a  man  of  the  highest  re- 
spectability, and  as  a  citizen  is  as  loyal  and  true 
to  the  old  flag  to-day  as  when  he  followed  the 
starry  banner  upon  the  battle-fields  of  the  south. 

.    JOHN  B.  WEST. 

John  B.  West,  the  register  of  the  land  office,  at 
Lewiston,  was  born  in  Leicester,  North  Caro- 
lina, July  31,  1861.  The  family  to  which  he  be- 
longs is  of  English  origin  and  its  founders  in 
America  became  residents  of  the  south  in  colonial 
days  and  participated  in  the  development  of  that 
part  of  the  country,  taking  part  in  many  of  the 
events  which  go  to  form  its  history.  Erwin 
West,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  a  native  of 
North  Carolina  and  married  Miss  Caroline 
Dover,  who  was  likewise  born  in  that  state.  They 
had  a  family  of  fifteen  children,  eleven  of  whom 
are  now  living.  The  mother  departed  this  life  in 
1898,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven  years,  but  the 
father  still  resides  on  the  old  homestead,  highly 
respected  throughout  the  entire  countryside 


where  he  has  so  long  continued  his  residence. 
He  owned  an  extensive  plantation,  and  while 
not  a  slave-owner  or  a  believer  in  slavery  neither 
was  he  an  abolitionist.  His  neighbors  were  slave- 
holders and  he  was  willing  that  they  should  keep 
them,  as  he  could  see  no  feasible  plan  for  doing 
away  with  the  system.  When  the  country  became 
engaged  in  civil  war,  he  was  opposed  to  the 
severance  of  the  Union,  but  such  was  the  excite- 
ment and  such  was  the  pressure  brought  to  bear 
on  him  that  he  was  forced  to  join  the  Confederate 
forces.  A  number  of  his  neighbors,  however,  who 
held  views  similar  to  his  own,  escaped  to  the 
north  and  joined  the  Union  army  to  fight  under 
the  old  flag.  This  so  enraged  the  secessionists 
that  they  secured  thirteen  young  boys,  the  sons 
of  the  Union  men,  stood  them  up  in  a  row  and 
shot  them  down.  One  of  the  boys  begged  not  to 
be  shot  in  the  head,  but  'his  request  was  disre- 
garded, and  the  bullets  pierced  him  in  the  same 
manner  as  they  had  the  others.  This  so  horrified 
and  exasperated  Mr.  West  that  he  resolved  to 
fight  on  the  side  which  had  his  sympathies  and 
which  he  believed  to  be  right.  Accordingly  at  the 
first  opportunity  he  escaped,  and  joined  the 
Union  forces,  remaining  as  a  follower  of  the 
stars  and  stripes  until  the  close  of  the  war.  When 
peace  was  restored  and  his  country  saved,  he 
returned  to  his  southern  home,  where  he  is  now 
passing  the  closing  years  of  an  upright  and  hon- 
orable life,  a  worthy  and  law-abiding  patriot. 

John  B.  West,  whose  name  introduces  this 
record,  having  acquired  his  preliminary  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools  of  North  Carolina,  sup- 
plemented it  by  study  in  the  Weaverville  Col- 
lege, and  in  the  Wesleyan  University.  He  studied 
law  with  Mayor  W.  H.  Malone  and  J.  S.  Adams, 
of  Asheville,  North  Carolina,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  having  carefully  prepared  himself  for 
the  labors  of  his  chosen  profession.  He  received 
an  appointment  as  internal  revenue  collector,  and 
held  that  position  until  August  8,  1891,  at  which 
time  he  started  for  Moscow,  Idaho,  arriving  at 
his  destination  on  the  i6th  of  the  month.  There 
he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  with  good  suc- 
cess until  April,  1898,  when,  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  Senator  Shoup,  his  warm  personal 
friend,  he  was  appointed  by  President  McKinley 
to  the  position  of  register  of  the  land  office.  He 
has  always  been  a  stalwart  Republican,  unwaver- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


713 


ing  in  his  allegiance  to  the  party,  and  unfaltering 
in  his  support  of  its  men  and  measures.  He  en- 
tered upon  the  duties  of  his  office  May  16,  1898, 
and  is  now  filling  the  position  in  a  most  capable 
and  acceptable  manner.  He  served  as  chairman 
of  the  Latah  county  Republican  central  commit- 
tee for  eight  years,  devoting  much  of  this  time 
and  energy  to  the  advancement  of  his  party's 
interests,  and  his  labors  were  most  effective.  In 
the  discharge  of  his  official  duties  he  has  ever 
been  prompt  and  faithful,  and  no  trust  reposed 
in  him  has  ever  been  betrayed. 

Socially  Mr.  West  is  connected  with  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  the 
World  and  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Work- 
men, and  he  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
United  Artisans.  Mrs.  West  formerly  bore  the 
maiden  name  of  Susan  M.  Henderson,  and  their 
marriage  was  celebrated  May  17,  1889,  at  Car- 
lock,  Tennessee.  Their  marriage  has  been 
blessed  with  a  son  and  daughter,  Bonnie  Lee 
and  James  Everett.  They  have  a  nice  home  of 
their  own  in  Moscow,  and  enjoy  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  a  wide  circle  of  friends. 

KEITH  W.  WHITE. 

Keith  Wood  White,  a  retired  farmer  now  re- 
siding in  Grangeville,  is  a  natiye  of  the  far-off 
state  of  Connecticut,  his  birth  having  occurred 
in  the  town  of  Ashford,  Windham  county,  on  the 
1 5th  of  May,  1838.  His  ancestors  came  from  old 
England  and  settled  in  New  England  at  an  early 
epoch  in  the  history  of  this  country,  and  there 
the  family  remained  for  several  generations. 
Keith  W.  White,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  and  married 
Catharine  Farnum,  a  native  of  Connecticut.  They 
became  the  parents  of  two  children,  and  the 
father  provided  for  their  support  by  working  as 
foreman  in  a  cotton  mill.  He  died  in  the  thirty- 
eighth  year  of  his  age,  and  his  wife  passed  away 
in  her  forty-eighth  year.  She  was  a  member  of 
the  Congregational  church. 

The  subject  of  this  review  is  now  the  only  sur- 
vivor of  the  family.  When  six  years  of  age  he 
accompanied  his  parents  on  their  removal  to 
Ohio  and  was  reared  upon  the  home  farm  near 
Cleveland.  He  obtained  his  education  in  the 
public  schools,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years 
began  to  earn  his  own  livelihood,  since  which 


time  he  has  been  dependent  upon  his  own  re- 
sources. He  removed  to  Ottawa,  Illinois,  and 
thence,  in  1856,  went  to  Nebraska,  and  in  1859 
was  among  the  first  to  cross  the  plains  to  Pike's 
Peak  at  the  time  of  the  gold  discoveries  there. 
His  party  arrived  at  their  destination  on  the  28th 
of  November,  and  Mr.  White  engaged  in  mining 
there,  meeting  with  fair  success.  He  afterward 
went  to  Montana,  thence  to  British  Columbia,  then 
returned  to  Walla  Walla,  and  in  1862  arrived  in 
Elk  City,  Idaho,  sothatheisnow  numbered  among 
the  pioneer  settlers  of  the  state.  He  engaged  in 
placer-mining  there  until  1873,  in  connection 
with  five  others,  all  of  whom  have  now  passed 
away.  He  dug  the  ditch  in  the  Moose  creek 
diggings,  and  his  efforts  at  mining  were  crowned 
with  gratifying  success.  In  1873  he  came  to 
Camas  prairie,  took  up  a  government  claim  and 
engaged  in  stock-raising.  He  has  four  hundred 
acres  of  rich  land  on  this  beautiful  prairie,  and 
has  transformed  it  into  a  fine  farm,  planting 
large  orchards  and  making  many  other  excellent 
improvements  on  the  place.  For  a  number  of 
years  he  personally  superintended  the  operation 
of  his  farm,  but  is  now  living  a  retired  life  in 
Grangeville,  enjoying  a  rest  which  he  has  truly 
earned  and  richly  deserves. 

In  1886  Mr.  White  was  elected  sheriff  of  Idaho 
county,  and  during  his  incumbency  made  his 
home  in  Mount  Idaho,  the  county  seat.  He  was 
also  county  assessor  and  also  served  for  one 
term  as  deputy  sheriff,  during  which  time  it  was 
his  unpleasant  duty  to  aid  in  the  execution  of 
Walleck,  who  had  been  sentenced  to  death  for 
the  murder  of  a  man  at  Warrens.  He  has  always 
taken  a  deep  and  active  interest  in  the  upbuilding 
and  improvement  of  his  county  and  state,  has 
given  his  support  to  all  measures  for  the  public 
good,  and  was  especially  zealous  in  maintaining 
order  at  a  time  when  a  lawless  element  infested 
this  then  new  region. 

He  is  one  of  the  valued  representatives  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  in  his  county,  having  been 
raised  to  4he  sublime  degree  of  a  Master  Mason 
in  Mount  Idaho  Lodge,  No.  9,  in  1873.  He 
at  once  became  an  earnest  and  intelligent  worker 
in  the  order,  has  filled  nearly  all  the  offices  in 
the  lodge,  for  two  terms  served  as  its  master  and 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  exemplified  in  his 
life  the  beneficial  and  uplifting  principles  of  the 


714 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


craft.  Masonry  upholds  all  that  is  honorable, 
pure  and  good  in  life,  and  thus  a  good  Mason  is 
a  good  citizen. 

CHARLES    G.    MARTIN. 

Charles  G.  Martin  is  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
what  is  now  Bingham  county,  Idaho,  and  has 
seen  this  entire  section  of  the  state  develop  from 
a  wild  region,  whereon  civilization  had  not  set 
its  stamp,  into  one  of  the  finest  and  richest  farm- 
ing and  stock-raising  districts  of  tlie  state.  In 
the  work  of  development  and  progress  he  has 
ever  borne  his  part,  and  he  takes  a  just  pride  in 
the  county's  improvement,  and  deserves  great 
credit  for  what  he  has  done  in  its  behalf. 

Mr.  Martin  was  born  in  Clark  county,  Ken- 
tucky, November  16,  1847,  an<l  is  a  son  °f  Samuel 
P.  and  Eliza  (Jones)  Martin.  His  father  was 
born  in  and  is  now  a  resident  of  Missouri,  and 
has  reached  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty  years.  His 
wife  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  died  in  Mis- 
souri, in  1864.  The  Martin  family  removed  from 
Kentucky  to  Missouri  about  the  year  1850,  and 
the  father  carried  on  farming,  which  has  been 
his  life  work. 

Charles  G.  Martin  spent  the  greater  part  of  his 
childhood  and  youth  in  Missouri  and  is  indebted 
to  its  public-school  system  for  the  educational 
privileges  afforded  him.  He  was  early  trained  to 
habits  of  industry  and  enterprise  on  the  home 
farm  and  assisted  in  the  duties  and  labors  of  the 
fields  upon  the  old  homestead  throughout  his 
minority.  Until  1870  he  was  identified  with  the 
agricultural  interests  of  that  state,  and  then  came 
to  Idaho,  settling  on  the  bank  of  the  Snake  river. 
For  some  time  he  was  employed  by  Matt.  Taylor 
and  then  began  stock-raising  on  his  own  account. 
He  resides  three  and  one-half  miles  east  of  Idaho 
Falls,  where  he  owns  three  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  of  good  land.  He  is  extensively. engaged 
in  raising  horses  and  cattle  and  in  his  bitsiness 
pursuits  is  meeting  with  very  desirable  success. 
He  makes  a  specialty  of  beef  cattle,  for  which  he 
finds  a  ready  sale  on  the  market. 

Mr.  Martin  was  united  in  marriage  to  Mrs. 
Johanna  Wright,  a  native  of  West  Virginia,  who 
came  to  Idaho  in  1872.  They  now  have  two 
children,  Jo  and  Mary.  In  politics  Mr.  Martin 
is  a  strong  Democrat,  believing  most  firmly  in 
the  principles  of  the  party,  but  his  attention  is 


not  given  to  office-seeking,  his  energies  being  de- 
voted to  his  business  interests,  in  which  he  is 
meeting  with  deserved  success.  Throughout  this 
section  of  the  state  he  is  well  known,  and  he  de- 
serves mention  among  Idaho's  pioneers. 

ALEXANDER   E.    MAYHEW. 

The  rewards  of  purity  in  public  life  are  many, 
but  one  of  the  most  important  and  apparent  is 
continuance  in  public  life.  This  is  true  every- 
where, and  of  course  it  is  true  in  Idaho,  where 
the  fact  is  emphasized  and  illustrated  by  the 
career  of  Judge  Mayhew  of  Wallace,  Shoshone 
county,  Idaho.  At  least  he  lives  at  Wallace,  but 
he  is  a  man  of  the  west  and  for  the  west,  and  his 
influence  is  active  and  far-reaching. 

Alexander  E.  Mayhew,  son  of  Samuel  and 
Elizabeth  (Conklin)  Mayhew,  was  born  in  Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania,  March  31,  1830.  His 
father,  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  was  for  many 
years  a  merchant  of  that  city,  but  died  in  New 
Jersey  in  1871,  and  his  mother,  born  in  Phila- 
delphia, died  in  New  Jersey,  in  1887. 

The  boyhood  days  of  Judge  Mayhew  were 
passed  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  attended  the 
public  schools  and  was  graduated  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  with  the  class  of  1852 
He  read  law  under  the  preceptorship  of  William 
D.  Baker,  one  of  the  leading  Philadelphia'  law- 
yers of  his  time  and  one  of  the  most  successful 
in  the  country,  and  in  i8;s  he  located  at  Atchi- 
son,  Kansas,  where  he  continued  his  legal  studies 
in  the  office  of  Abel  &  Stringfellow,  being  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1856.  He  entered  upon 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Atchison  and 
served  one  year  as  city  attorney.  In  1859  he  went 
to  Pike's  Peak,  Colorado,  where  he  practiced 
law  and  was  connected  with  mining  interests, 
and  there  he  remained  until  1864,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Helena,  Montana,  whence  he  went 
later  to  Deer  Lodge,  that  state.  Here  he  was 
successful  professionally.  For  twelve  years  ha 
was  prosecuting  attorney  for  his  county,  with 
office  at  Deer  Lodge,  and  he  was  a  member  ot 
the  Montana  legislature  in  nine  successive  ses- 
sions, in  eight  of  which  he  was  speaker  of  the 
house. 

Judge  Mayhew  came  to  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
country  in  1884,  and  has  lived  at  Wallace  since 
1890.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Idaho  legisla- 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


715 


ture  of  1887-9  and  a  member  of  the  state  consti- 
tutional convention  in  1890.  In  1891  he  was  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  congress  in  his  dis- 
trict, but  was  defeated  at  the  polls  by  Willis 
Sweet.  In  1894  he  was  elected  to  the  Idaho 
state  senate  and  was  president  of  the  senate  in 
the  session  which  followed.  In  1895  he  was 
elected  judge  of  the  first  judicial  district  of  Idaho, 
and  in  1898  was  re-elected  to  succeed  himself. 

The  professional  success  of  Judge  Mayhew  is 
a  part  of  the  recorded  legal  and  judicial  history  of 
the  west.  A  lawyer  of  fine  attainments,  with  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  law  and  its  application  to 
the  affairs  of  life,  with  magnetic  qualities  as  a 
forensic  speaker,  with  industry,  carefulness,  and 
great  zeal  in  caring  for  the  interests  of  clients, 
actuated  always  by  a  high  sense  of  honor,  which 
long  since  won  him  the  complimentary  sobriquet 
of  "Honest  Alex,"  and  with  a  genuine  love  for 
the  law  and  the  highest  respect  for  its  established 
tribunals, — he  has  achieved  a  reputation  of  which 
any  lawyer  in  the  country  might  be  proud.  Long 
years  of  political  service  have  not  corrupted  him, 
and  upon  every  legislative  body  of  which  he  has 
been  a  member,  upon  every  court  in  which  he 
has  appeared,  he  has  left  the  influence  of  pure 
motives,  fair  fighting,  honest  methods  and  un- 
swerving devotion  to  the  right  as  it  has  been  re- 
vealed to  him.  As  a  judge  he  considers  the  poor 
and  the  rich  alike  and  renders  decisions  which 
stand  and  win  for  him  the  praise  of  good  and 
honest  citizens. 

Of  a  genial,  whole-souled  disposition,  Judge 
Mayhew  has  made  many  friends  wherever  he  has 
lived,  and  has  come  to  be  one  of  the  best  known 
men  in  the  west.  He  is  an  Elk  and  an  Odd  Fel- 
low, and  is  connected  with  the  various  profes- 
sional organizations.  Among  those  men  of  Idaho 
who  have  at  heart  everything  affecting  her  prog- 
ress and  development  he  is  a  leader,  and  so  act- 
ive has  he  been  in  good  works  for  the  public 
benefit  that  his  public  spirit  has  come  to  be  pro- 
verbial. 

LOUIS  E.  EILERT. 

The  new  west  is  eminently  the  home  of  the 
self-made  man.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  in 
making  himself  the  self-made  man  of  the  new 
west  has  built  the  new  west  up  about  him.  Of 
course  this  means  the  self-made  man  in  a  col- 
lective sense.  Individually  self-made  men  like 


Louis  E.  Eilert,  of  Rathdrum,  Kootenai  county, 
Idaho,  are  units  in  the  scheme  of  moral  and  ma- 
terial development  and  progress.  Louis  E.  Eil- 
ert is  a  native  of  Hanover,  Germany,  and  was 
born  April  5,  1851,  a  son  of  Ernest  and  Mary 
Eilert,  descendants  from  a  long  line  of  German 
ancestors.  In  1852  Ernest  Eilert  started  for 
America  with  his  wife  and  his  son  (then  about  a 
year  old),  with  such  plans  in  his  mind  as  a  man 
will  make  for  those  whose  lives  he  wants  to  make 
better,  without  regard  to  the  sacrifices  he  may 
be  called  upon  to  make  in  his  efforts  to  the  end. 
But  he  was  doomed  to  bitter  disappointment  at 
the  very  outset.  His  wife  died  on  the  voyage 
and  was  buried  in  the  Atlantic  ocean.  But  still 
duty  lay  plainly  enough  before  him.  Emigrants 
and  pioneers  may  not  have  time  for  mourning 
their  dead,  for  they  have  a  fight  to  wage  for  the 
living.  One  may  scarcely  imagine  how  lonely 
the  journey  was  of  Mr.  Eilert  to  the  new  land, 
after  that  dark  day  in  his  history,  and  across  a 
land  to  him  unknown  to  Wisconsin,  where  he 
settled  on  Wood  river,  in  Waukesha  county. 
There  the  boy  Louis  was  reared  and  taught  a 
good  deal  about  work  and  not  much  about  books. 
The  schools  there  were  crude  and  inadequate, 
but  they  were  schools  of  a  kind,  and  the  boy 
learned  enough  to  serve  as  seed  in  the  field  of 
knowledge, — seed  which  he  has  cultivated  since 
as  well  as  he  might,  until  he  is  regarded  as  a  well 
informed  man,  alive  to  every  important  public 
question  and  zealous  for  education  and  all  mate- 
rial progress.  He  came  to  the  site  of  Rathdrum, 
Idaho,  in  1880,  and  was  one  of  the  men  who 
erected  the  first  building  where  the  town  has 
since  grown  up.  He  is  to  some  extent  interested 
in  mining,  and  is  the  operator  of  the  Rathdrum 
brewery  and  carries  on  a  retail  trade  in  wines  and 
liquors.  He  has  been  successful  as  a  business 
man  and  owes  his  success  entirely  to  his  own  ex- 
ertions, for  he  is  in  every  sense  of  the  word  a 
self-made  man. 

A  steadfast  Democrat,  he  has  always  taken  an 
active  interest  in  the  work  of  his  party,  but  he 
has  no  desire  for  official  position  and  has  discour- 
aged the  use  of  his  name  whenever  his  candidacy 
for  office  has  been  suggested.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  has  made  an  en- 
viable reputation  as  a  public-spirited  citizen. 

Mr.  Eilert    married    Mrs.  Abbie    (Bradbury) 


716 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


Tucker,  in  1883,  and  her  one  son  by  her  former 
marriage  has  been  given  the  name  of  his  step- 
father, Louis  Eilert. 

JOHN  A.  O'FARRELL. 

John  Andrew  O'Farrell  was  born  in  the  county 
of  Tyrone,  province  of  Ulster,  Ireland,  on  the 
1 3th  day  of  February,  1823.  He  pursued  his 
education  in  the  common  schools  until  his  thir- 
teenth year,  and  was  then  placed  in  a  naval  school 
where  he  remained  for  two  years.  He  went  to 
sea  in  the  Oriental  Steamship  line  when  fifteen 
years  of  age,  sailing  from  the  East  India  dock  on 
the  Thames,  London,  England,  to  the  city  of  Cal- 
cutta, Hindustan,  East  Indies.  The  return  trip 
occupied  seven  months'  time  and  the  vessel  deliv- 
ered and  received  mails  and  passengers  at  the  isle 
of  St.  Helena,  off  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  and  at 
all  the  ports  of  entry  on  the  African  coast  and  the 
isles  of  Madagascar  and  Ceylon  in  the  Indian 
ocean,  thence  to  Madras  and  Calcutta.  At  the 
age  of  sixteen,  on  his  return  from  India  to  Lon- 
don, Mr.  O'Farrell  was  transferred  to  the  Aus- 
tralian liner,  Nebob,  of  the  East  India  Company, 
sailing  from  Birkenhead,  opposite  Liverpool, 
England,  to  Sydney,  New  South  Wales,  Austra- 
lia. On  the  return  trip  they  stopped  at  Chinese 
and  Japanese  ports  for  mails  and  passengers,  and 
sailed  the  Pacific  route  through  the  straits  of 
Magellan,  crossing  the  southern  Atlantic  to  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  taking  on  mail  and  pas- 
sengers at  St.  Helena  and  other  stations  on  the 
way  to  England.  This  trip  occupied  thirteen 
months'  time. 

The  father  of  our  subject  was  Andrew  O'Far- 
rell, a  military  engineer,  who  served  in  that  ca- 
pacity on  the  battlefield  of  Waterloo  under  the 
Duke  of  Wellington.  He  was  for  thirty-one 
years  an  engineer  in  the  British  service.  His 
eldest  son,  Patrick  Gregory  O'Farrell,  entered 
the  British  navy  as  a  cadet  and  served  continu- 
ously in  the  navy  for  twenty-eight  years,  being 
on  the  Arctic  expedition  with  Captain  McClure 
in  the  early  '405,  on  a  three-years  trip  in  the  froz- 
en polar  region. 

After  his  return  from  Australia  in  the  ship  Ne- 
bob, John  A.  O'Farrell  remained  at  home  for 
eighteen  months,  working  at  the  trade  of  ship- 
smith  in  Captain  Coppin's  ship-building  works 
on  the  river  Foyle,  at  Londonderry,  in  the  north 


of  Ireland.  He  was  then  between  nineteen  and 
twenty  years  of  age.  The  White  Star  liner,  City 
of  New  York,  was  undergoing  repairs,  and 
he  worked  on  her  and  shipped  as  one  of  her  crew, 
as  an  able  seaman,  bound  for  New  York.  He 
landed  in  New  York  city  on  the  5th  of  January, 
1843,  being  nineteen  years  and  eleven  months  of 
age.  The  following  day  he  left  for  Philadelphia, 
and  through  his  uncle  secured  a  position  in  the 
Philadelphia  navy  yards  as  shipsmith.  He  was 
employed  in  that  capacity  until  the  Mexican  war 
broke  out,  when  he  sailed  on  the  United  States 
store-ship,  the  Lexington,  which  was  ordered  to 
the  Mexican  frontier  on  the  Pacific  waters,  bound 
for  Monterey,  the  Mexican  capital  of  Alta,  or 
Northern,  California.  There  was  no  such  place 
as  San  Francisco  then  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
on  the  site  of  the  present  city  was  an  old  Spanish 
settlement  of  two  hundred  people,  the  place  be- 
ing known  as  Yerba  Buena.  The  ship  was 
loaded  with  arms  and  ammunition  and  a  force  of 
marines  under  command  of  Captain  C.  Q.  Tomp- 
kins,  of  Company  F,  Third  Artillery,  and  Lieu- 
tenant W.  T.  Sherman.  The  Lexington  sailed 
around  Cape  Horn,  making  the  trip  from  the 
Delaware  to  the  bay  of  Monterey  in  one  hundred 
and  ninety-eight  days.  They  arrived  at  their  des- 
tination January  29,  1847,  and  found  the  United 
States  frigate,  Independence,  commanded  by 
Commodore  William  Branford  Shubrick,  lying 
at  anchor  in  the  bay.  When  the  Lexington  ar- 
rived Commodore  Shubrick  boarded  her  and 
finding  Captain  C.  Q.  Tompkins  with  Company 
F,  of  the  Third  Artillery,  placed  him  in  command 
of  the  land  forces,  while  Lieutenant  Sherman, 
afterward  the  celebrated  general  of  the  civil  war, 
was  made  quartermaster  and  adjutant.  Two  cfays 
later  the  sloop  of  war  Cyane,  under  command  of 
Captain  Dupont,  entered  the  harbor,  having  on 
board  General  S.  W.  Kearny  with  his  staff  and 
troops.  He  established  headquarters  at  Mon- 
terey and  Commodore  Shubrick  took  command 
of  the  sea  on  the  frigate  Independence.  General 
Kearny 's  staff  was  composed  of  the  following: 
Colonel  R.  B.  Mason,  of  the  First  Dragoons; 
Captain  Folsom  and  Lieutenant  Ord,  afterward 
General  Ord,  with  Lewis  Dent  as  private  secre- 
tary. Dent  was  the  brother  of  Mrs.  General 
Grant.  He  was  appointed  probate  judge  and 
magistrate,  before  whom  all  difficulties  were 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


717 


tried.  In  May,  1847,  General  Kearny  returned 
to  the  United  States  in  the  sloop  of  war  Cyane, 
to  report  to  the  government  his  opinion  and  to 
give  an  account  of  the  new  territory  of  Alta  Cali- 
fornia. Colonel  R.  B.  Mason  was  left  in  com- 
mand of  the  land  forces,  with  Lieutenant  Sher- 
man as  adjutant  and  Captain  Folsom  quarter- 
master. There  were  no  mail  routes  then  on  the 
Pacific  coast  in  California,  not  even  a  wagon 
road.  All  travel  was  over  the  trails  or  by  canoes 
on  the  rivers.  A  tri-monthly  mail  was  estab- 
lished by  Colonel  Mason  and  Commodore  Shu- 
brick,  being  carried  three  times  a  month  from 
Monterey  to  Point  Danas,  thence  to  Los  Angeles 
and  on  to  San  Diego,  and  returning  by  the  same 
ports  to  Monterey,  thence  north  to  Yerba  Buena, 
Captain  Folsom's  station.  The  store-ship  Lex- 
ington was  detailed  for  the  mail  service  from  De- 
cember, 1847,  until  the  ist  of  May,  1848. 

Mr.  O'Farrell  was  a  seaman  on  the  mail  ship 
and  on  the  first  Sunday  in  May,  1848,  at  the 
trading  post  in  Yerba  Buena,  he  met  Captain 
John  Sutler,  Jim  Marshall  and  others  who  had 
arrived  from  Sutler's  sawmill  at  Coloma,  forty 
miles  from  San  Francisco.  They  had  the  first 
gold-dust  Mr.  O'Farrell  had  ever  seen.  It  was 
as  coarse  as  grains  of  wheal  and  corn.  Marshall 
gave  him  ihree  grains  of  gold,  worth  aboul  two 
-dollars,  and  he  engaged  with  Sutler  lo  work  in 
ihe  gold  mines.  He  was  to  receive  a  per  cent 
of  whal  he  washed  oul  of  Ihe  ground  at  Ihe  mill, 
and  his  daily  wages  averaged  from  ihirly  lo  fifty 
dollars.  Being  fond  of  excitement  he  visited  all 
the  newly  discovered  gold-producing  localities  in 
the  territory  of  California.  On  the  pth  of  Sep- 
tember, 1850,  California  was  admitted  into  the 
Union  with  Ihe  provision  lhal  all  men  over  twen- 
ty-one years  of  age  in  the  state  on  thai  dale  were 
made  by  acl  of  congress  lawful  cilizens  of  ihe 
Uniled  Slales.  Mr.  O'Farrell  had  been  seven 
years  in  America,  eilher  on  land  or  in  American 
walers,  and  was  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  so 
he  cast  his  first  vote  in  California,  in  Ihe  fall  of 
1850.  Thai  winler  Ihe  snow  was  very  deep  in 
the  mining  districls  of  California,  and  the  bay  of 
San  Francisco  was  crowded  with  ships  from  all 
quarters  of  Ihe  globe.  Seamen's  services  com- 
manded high  wages  and  Mr.  O'Farrell  engaged 
on  Ihe  Red  Jackel,  a  Ballimore  clipper,  for  Ihe 
round  Irip  from  San  Francisco  lo  Auckland,  New 


Zealand,  Ihence  lo  Melbourne  and  Sydney,  Aus- 
Iralia,  slopping  al  Honolulu  bolh  going  and  on 
Ihe  return  Irip.  The  vessel  at  length  arrived  again  in 
San  Francisco,  laden  with  coal,  which  was  then 
a  valuable  cargo  in  San  Francisco.  Nine  months 
had  been  consumed  in  making  the  voyage.  In 
1851  William  H.  Aspinwall  &  Company,  of  New 
York,  secured  the  United  Stales  mail  contract, 
to  carry  Ihe  mail  by  Ihe  isthmus  route,  and  placed 
three  large  steamships  on  the  Pacific  side  to  run 
belween  San  Francisco  and  Panama.  These  ves- 
sels were  called  Ihe  California,  Ihe  Oregon  and 
Ihe  Panama.  Commodore  Vanderbilt  was  an 
unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  mail  contract, 
which  paid  several  millions  of  dollars  during  the 
four  years  of  its  term.  Vanderbilt,  however,  re- 
solved not  lo  be  defealed  in  his  plans.  He  went 
to  Liverpool,  England,  and  connected  himself 
wilh  all  ihe  Allanlic  ocean  lines  of  every  nalion 
of  Europe,  and  Ihey  placed  four  large  sleamers 
on  Ihe  Pacific  belween  San  Francisco  and  Ihe 
Cenlral  American  port  of  San  Juan  del  Sur. 
From  lhat  port  passengers  were  taken  across  Ihe 
islhmus  lo  Graytown,  whence  the  English  lines 
of  steamers  carried  the  mail  and  passengers  lo 
Kingslown,  Jamaica,  where  Ihey  could  be  trans- 
ferred to  American  and  English  vessels.  In  the 
winter  of  1852,  when  ihe  snow  in  the  mountains 
was  too  deep  lo  admil  of  profitable  gold-washing, 
Mr.  O'Farrell  worked  on  Ihe  Vanderbill  line  be- 
lween San  Francisco  and  San  Juan  del  Sur,  and 
in  1853  he  was  engaged  on  Ihe  ships  of  Ihe  same 
company  on  Ihe  Caribbean  sea,  on  ihe  Atlantic 
side,  sailing  between  Graylown  and  Southamp- 
lon,  England. 

In  ihe  fall  of  1853  England  and  France  de- 
clared war  againsl  Russia  and  Palrick  Gregory 
O'Farrell,  the  eldest  brother  of  our  subject,  was 
one  of  the  naval  officers  under  Admiral  Dundas, 
being  slalioned  on  the  Black  sea  and  the  sea  of 
Azov.  As  seamen  were  in  great  demand  for  lhat 
naval  service,  John  A.  O'Farrell  shipped  at  Spil- 
hea'd,  Porlsmculh,  England,  on  ihe  Agamemnon, 
ihe  flagship  of  Admiral  Lyons,  for  service  on  the 
Black  sea  and  along  the  Crimean  coasl.  Thai 
vessel  reached  Ihe  bay  of  Odessa  about  the  isth 
of  February,  1854.  The  British  fleet,  under  the 
command  of  Admirals  Dundas  and  Lyons,  num- 
bered twenty-one  ships,  including  war  ships,  fri- 
gates and  curvets  or  sloops  of  war,  while  the 


718 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


French  fleet,  under  command  of  Admirals  Ham- 
lin  and  Brunnette,  numbered  twenty-three  ships. 
The  orders  to  demand  the  surrender  of  Odessa 
arrived  on  the  night  of  the  2 1st  of  April,  1854, 
by  the  naval  mail  packet  Credock  from  Constan- 
tinople to  the  fleet.  Of  course  the  order  was  not 
complied  with,  and  the  first  guns  of  the  Crimean 
war  were  turned  upon  Odessa  about  five  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  April  22,  1854,  the 
cannonading  continuing  thirteen  hours.  The 
city  was  on  fire,  but  Prince  Mencicoff,  the  Rus- 
sian general,  did  not  surrender.  The  British 
war  ship  Terrible  was  destroyed  by  the  Russian 
fire  from  the  guns  of  the  forts  of  Odessa,  and 
several  ships  of  the  French  and  British  fleets 
were  crippled,  and  the  fleets  were  unable  to  effect 
a  landing.  The  British  army  of  over  thirty  thou- 
sand men  under  Lord  Raglan,  and  the  French 
army  of  forty  thousand  men  under  Marechal  St. 
Arnod,  with  ten  thousand  Turks  under  Omar 
Pasha,  were  ordered  to  the  front  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  combined  fleets  of  France  and  Eng- 
land. On  the  I4th  of  September,  1854,  at  Kil- 
matta  bay,  where  the  river  Alma  connects  with 
the  Black  sea,  the  French,  British  and  Turkish 
troops  were  landed.  The  Heights  of  Alma,  a 
rocky  cliff,  are  situated  from  one  to  three  miles 
from  the  shores  of  the  Black  sea,  and  along  the 
apex  of  the  cliff  was  the  Warnsoff  stage  road  from 
Sebastopol  to  Odessa.  A  telegraph  station  and 
mercantile  houses  were  located  there,  and  Gen- 
eral Mencicoff,  commander-in-chief  of  the  Rus- 
sian army,  concentrated  seventy  thousand  men 
there  on  the  night  of  September  19,  1854.  On 
the  following  morning  the  French,  British  and 
Turks,  under  the  command  of  Field-Marshal 
Arnod,  of  France,  formed  a  battle  line  three 
miles  in  length  at  right  angles  on  the  north  bank 
of  the  Alma  and  the  shore  of  the  sea.  The  Rus- 
sian army  of  seventy  thousand  opened  fire  on  the 
French  army,  who  had  their  position  along  the 
sea  shore,  hoping  to  drive  the  French  into  the 
sea,  but  the  heavy  guns  of  the  fleet  kept  the  Rus- 
sians at  bay  until  Lord  Raglan  with  his  command 
arrived,  bringing  the  cannon  up  the  Alma  river 
and  onto  the  heights  in  the  third  hour  of  the  bat- 
tle, and  attacked  the  Russians  on  the  level  plain 
of  the  heights.  This  move  drew  the  strong  force 
of  the  Russians  from  the  French,  who  almost  as 
if  by  magic  scaled  the  heights.  The  roar  of  ar- 


tillery and  the  thunderous  sounds  of  the  battle 
lasted  for  three  hours,  at  the  end  of  which  time 
the  Russians  retreated  toward  the  valley  of  Bal- 
aklava.  So  intense  had  been  the  battle  that  it 
required  six  days  to  bury  the  dead  and  get  the 
wounded  on  board  the  hospital  ships.  On  the 
seventh  day  after  the  battle  of  Alma  the  com- 
bined force  of  French,  English, the  Piedmontese, 
under  General  Forey,  and  the  Turks,  under  Gen- 
eral Omar  Pasha,  marched  toward  the  Balaklava 
valley,  a  thriving  agricultural  district  farmed 
principally  by  Scotch  farmers  who  immigrated 
there  to  raise  wheat  on  a  large  scale.  At  the 
head  of  this  valley  the  Warnsoff  stage  road  from 
Odessa  to  Simferopol  and  Sebastopol  crosses  the 
Takernea  river  on  a  long  stone  bridge  of  many 
arches.  A  Russian  fort  stood  in  this  locality. 
The  two  famous  brothers,  the  Generals  Luder, 
held  this  position,  fifteen  miles  from  Sebastopol, 
with  a  strong  army,  and  General  and  Prince 
Mancicoff  with  his  men  who  fought  in  the  Alma, 
were  fortified  on  the  heights  on  the  south  side  of 
the  valley,  whilst  the  sons  of  Emperor  Nicholas, 
Michael  and  Nicholas,  held  their  artillery  and 
cavalry  forces  for  any  emergency  on  a  com- 
manding position.  The  Russians  held  position 
where  the  guns  of  the  fleet  could  not  reach  them, 
and  where  they  could  deliver  a  deadly  fire  on  the 
French,  British  and  Turks.  The  French  and 
British  marines  and  the  marine  artillery  were 
ordered  ashore  together  with  the  artillery  of  the 
navy,  and  the  troops  forced  a  position  on  the 
nearest  heights,  known  then  as  the  marine 
heights.  While  getting  their  guns  in  place  under 
cover  of  darkness,  on  the  morning  of  October 
17,  1854,  the  Russian  pickets  opened  fire,  and  the 
battle  of  Balaklava  commenced.  Captain  Nolan, 
of  the  Seventeenth  Irish  Hussars,  was  field  dis- 
patcher for  Lord  Reglan,  who  gave  him  a  written 
dispatch  to  the  Earl  of  Cardigan,  who  com- 
manded the  cavalry,  to  charge  up  the  valley  in 
order  to  know  better  the  Russian  position. 
Cardigan  ordered  Captain  Nolan  to  lead  the 
charge.  He  and  his  six  hundred  men  then  dis- 
mounted, tightened  their  saddles  and  then  re- 
mounted for  the  fatal  charge.  They  rode  over 
a  rolling  ridge  about  one  thousand  yards  only  to 
find  themselves  within  the  range  of  sixty  field- 
pieces,  planted  on  each  side  of  the  valley.  To  re- 
treat was  certain  death.  Captain  Nolan  charged 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


719 


for  the  battery,  he  and  his  men  cutting  the  Russian 
gunners  from  their  guns,  and  then  turning  at 
the  command  to  right  about  face,  cut  through  a 
second  time  and  charged  down  the  valley  to  their 
own  line,  where  Captain  Nolan,  who  had  lead  in 
what  was  one  of  the  most  daring  and  brilliant 
military  movements  in  history,  was  killed  by  a 
cannon  shot. 

On  the  5th  of  November,  1854,  the  allied  ar- 
mies of  France  and  England,  in  connection  with 
the  fleets,  had  arranged  for  the  final  assault  on 
Sebastopol.  Marechal  McMahon,  of  France, 
with  his  men,  stormed  the  Malakof,  capturing  the 
principal  defense  of  Sebastopol,  Forts  Nicholas 
and  Alexander,  with  several  hundred  guns,  which 
commanded  the  naval  entrance  to  Sebastopol. 
Here  the  Agamemnon,  the  flagship  of  Admiral 
Lyons,  was  crippled.  Many  of  the  men  were 
killed,  and  Mr.  O'Farrell  was  among  the 
wounded.  For  his  meritorious  services  in  that 
engagement,  however,  he  received  a  Crimean 
prize  medal,  which  he  still  has  in  his  possession. 
In  1856  the  Crimean  war  was  ended,  and  he  re- 
turned to  California,  where  he  resumed  mining 
in  the  gold  districts. 

In  the  fall  of  1857  Mr.  O'Farrell  was  one  of  a 
party  who  organized  a  company  at  Downie- 
ville,  California,  to  prospect  for  gold  on  the 
Pike's  Peak  mountain  range,  at  the  head  waters 
of  the  Platte  river,  then  in  western  Kansas,  but 
now  in  the  state  of  Colorado.  He  was  one  of  the 
first  to  find  gold,  making  his  discovery  April  6, 
1860,  in  what  is  known  as  California  Gulch, 
where  the  Leadville  Mining  Camp  is  now  lo- 
cated. Attracted  by  the  gold  discoveries 
throughout  the  northwest  he  has  visited  and 
worked  in  the  mining  regions  of  Oregon,  Wash- 
ington, Idaho,  Montana,  Wyoming,  Utah,  Ne- 
vada and  the  territories  of  New  Mexico  and  Ari- 
zona, but  has  made  his  home  in  Boise,  Idaho, 
since  June,  1863. 

WILLIAM  C.   DUNBAR,  JR. 

A  popular  citizen  of  Caldwell,  the  county-seat 
of  Canyon  county,  is  the  gentleman  whose  name 
appears  above.  In  1895  he  was  elected  to  the 
position  which  he  now  holds,  that  of  county  clerk 
of  the  district  court,  and  has  made  a  thorough, 
capable  and  reliable  official.  In  his  political 
views  he  is  a  Populist.  Formerly  he  served  as 


auditor  and  recorder  of  Canyon  county,  and  gave 
entire  satisfaction  to  all  concerned  in  the  proper 
administration  of  local  affairs,  and  prior  to  his 
arrival  in  this  section  he  acceptably  filled  the  re- 
quirements of  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  probate 
court  in  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 

Mr.  Dunbar  is  a  native  of  the  city  just  men- 
tioned, his  birth  having  taken  place  on  the  23d 
of  August,  1854.  He  is  of  Scotch-English  ex- 
traction, and  inherited  strong,  upright,  just  traits 
of  character  from  his  ancestors.  His  father, 
William  C.  Dunbar,  Sr.,  is  one  of  the  oldest  resi- 
dents of  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  as  he  has  dwelt 
there  for  almost  half  a  century,  going  there 
scarcely  two  years  after  it  was  founded  by  the 
Mormons.  He  was  born  in  Inverness,  a  city  in 
the  far  northern  highlands  of  Scotland,  but  he 
was  reared  and  educated  in  Edinburg.  Starting 
out  when  a  young  man  to  make  his  own  way  in 
the  world,  he  came  to  the  United  States,  and  in 
1850  crossed  the  plains  and  settled  in  Salt  Lake 
City.  He  has  witnessed  the  entire  development 
of  that  wonderful  city  and  the  amazing  growth 
and  yearly  increasing  wealth  of  that  once  barren 
wilderness,  which  has  literally  been  made  to  blos- 
som as  the  rose,  by  the  thrifty,  beauty-loving  in- 
habitants. Mr.  Dunbar  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Salt  Lake  Herald,  and  was  its  business 
manager  for  several  years.  He  is  now  in  his 
seventy-sixth  year,  and  his  good  wife,  also  well 
along  in  years,  is  still  his  helpmate  and  friend, 
the  sharer  of  his  joys  and  sorrows.  Her  maiden 
name  was  Hannah  Hales,  and  Yarmouth,  Eng- 
land, is  her  native  place.  Of  the  twelve  children 
born  to  this  worthy  couple  eight  are  still  living. 

W.  C.  Dunbar,  Jr.,  the  eldest  of  his  parents' 
children,  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and 
in  the  University  of  Utah,  and  later  pursued  a 
commercial  course  in  a  business  college,  in  order 
to  thoroughly  equip  himself  for  the  duties  of  his 
future  life.  In  this  laudable  undertaking  he  was 
obliged  to  rely  chiefly  upon  his  own  efforts,  and 
the  expenses  of  his  higher  mental  training  were 
sustained  by  himself.  Upon  leaving  the  school- 
room, the  young  man  accepted  a  position  as  in- 
voice clerk  in  a  large  mercantile  establishment, 
with  which  house  he  remained  for  two  years. 
His  next  position  was  as  a  bookkeeper  for  the 
firm  of  F.  Auerbach  &  Brothers,  of  Salt  Lake 
City.  In  1890  Mr.  Dunbar  came  to  Caldwell, 


720 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


and  for  three  years  conducted  a  mercantile  busi- 
ness upon  his  own  responsibility.  Then,  selling 
out,  he  engaged  in  the  abstract  business,  and  was 
thus  employed  until  1895,  when  he  assumed  the 
duties  of  his  present  office.  Fraternally,  he  is 
identified  with  the  Masonic  order  and  with  the 
Benevolent  Protective  Order  of  Elks. 

THOMAS  SMITH. 

Thomas  Smith,  county  assessor  of  Oneicla 
county,  and  a  leading  merchant  and  farmer  of 
Preston,  was  born  in  Brigham  City,  Utah,  Octo- 
ber 22,  1862,  his  parents  being  Samuel  and  Maria 
Smith,  who  were  natives  of  England.  In  that 
land  they  embraced  the  faith  of  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and  wishing 
to  ally  their  interests  with  the  colony  of  that  be- 
lief resident  in  Utah,  they  crossed  the  Atlantic 
to  America  and  settled  in  the  Salt  Lake  region 
at  an  early  period  in  its  development.  They  lo- 
cated first  at  Cottonwood,  and  a  little  later  at 
Brigham  City,  where  the  father  was  known  as 
one  of  the  prominent  pioneers.  He  served  as 
probate  judge  and  mayor  of  the  city  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  and  took  an  active  part  in  public 
affairs.  He  was  the  father  of  about  fifty  chil- 
dren, was  counselor  to  the  president  of  Box 
Elder,  and  a  man  of  much  influence  and  ability. 
He  departed  this  life  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his 
age,  but  the  wife  of  his  youth  is  still  living,  one 
of  the  honored  pioneer  women  of  Utah. 

Their  son,  Thomas  Smith,  was  educated  in 
Brigham  City  and  at  twelve  years  of  age  began 
to  earn  his  own  living  by  working  in  the  pioneer 
woolen  factory  of  that  part  of  the  country.  In 
1882  he  came  to  Cache  valley,  locating  at  what 
was  then  known  as  the  Falls,  but  is  now  River- 
dale,  where  for  five  years  he  engaged  in  ranching. 
In  1887  he  came  to  Preston  and  accepted  a  clerk- 
ship in  the  large  general  mercantile  store  of  Will- 
iam C.  Parkinson  &  Company,  continuing  in  that 
position  until  1899.  He  acquired  a  complete 
knowledge  of  the  business  in  all  its  departments, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  held  the  responsible 
position  of  chief  clerk  and  acted  as  superintendent 
during  the  absence  of  the  manager,  who  was 
often  away  on  other  business.  In  the  fall  of  1898 
Mr.  Smith  was  chosen  by  the  Democratic  party 
as  their  candidate  for  county  assessor  and  was 
elected  to  the  office,  which  he  is  now  capably  fill- 


ing, discharging  his  duties  in  a  prompt  and  able 
manner.  The  assessed  property  of  the  county 
now  amounts  to  two  and  a  quarter  million  dol- 
lars. 

James  Smith,  the  brother  of  our  subject,  es- 
tablished a  general  mercantile  store  in  Preston  in 
1894,  and  in  1899  he  was  sent  on  a  mission  to 
England,  at  which  time  the  firm  of  Smith  Broth- 
ers was  formed,  Thomas  Smith  becoming  a  part- 
ner and  stockholder  in  the  enterprise.  He  now 
has  the  management  of  the  business,  for  which 
his  long  experience  as  a  salesman  well  fitted  him. 
He  has  a  wide  acquaintance  with  the  people  in 
the  county,  is  very  popular,  and  as  the  result  of 
his  honorable  dealing,  his  moderate  prices  and 
his  uniform  courtesy  he  is  now  receiving  a  lib- 
eral patronage  from  the  public.  In  addition  to 
his  mercantile  interests  he  owns  a  farm  of  one 
hundred  acres  near  the  city  and  a  number  of 
town  lots,  besides  his  residence  property. 

In  1882  was  celebrated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Smith  and  Miss  Frances  Van  Noy,  a  native  of 
Richmond,  Utah.  Their  union  has  been  blessed 
with  six  children,  namely :  Thomas  W.,  Clement, 
Nettie,  Lorane,  Francis  and  Leora.  They  are 
all  members  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter  Day  Saints,  of  which  Mr.  Smith  is  an 
elder.  He  is  very  popular  as  a  citizen  and  busi- 
ness man,  and  sustains  a  very  enviable  reputa- 
tion for  his  unassailable  integrity. 

ISAAC  B.  NASH. 

Isaac  Bartlett  Nash  is  one  of  the  early  settlers 
and  highly  respected  citizens  of  Franklin,  where 
he  has  made  his  home  since  1864.  He  became  a 
resident  of  Salt  Lake  City  in  1849,  and  is  a  native 
of  Wales,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  Kedwelly,- 
Carmarthenshire,  on  the  I4th  of  June,  1824.  He 
was  educated  in  his  native  country  and  spent 
seven  years  as  an  apprentice  to  the  blacksmith's 
trade,  after  which  he  worked  at  the  business  there 
until  1849. 

In  the  year  1847  he  was  converted  to  the  faith 
of  the  Latter  Day  Saints,  and  it  was  this  which 
determined  him  to  go  to  Salt  Lake.  He  joined 
a  company  that  started  from  Wales  under  the 
leadership  of  Captain  Dan  Jones  and  sailed  in  the 
ship  Buena  Vista,  which  was  a  new  vessel,  just 
starting  on  her  first  voyage.  At  length  the  com- 
pany arrived  at  New  Orleans,  where  they  took 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


721 


passage  on  the  old  steamboat  Constitution  for 
St.  Louis.  The  cholera  was  then  raging  in  the 
latter  place  and  twenty-one  of  the  emigrants  died 
during  the  first  night  and  were  buried  in  the 
morning.  On  the  way  to  St.  Joseph  they  buried 
sixty-four  of  their  number.  The  burials  occurred 
in  the  morning  at  eight  o'clock  and  in  the  after- 
noon at  four,  and  it  was  not  infrequent  that  some 
of  those  who  assisted  at  the  sad  rites  of  the  morn- 
ing were  themselves  cold  in  death  at  the  time  of 
the  afternoon  burial.  Mr.  Nash  buried  his  grand- 
mother in  the  same  grave  with  eight  others. 
Mrs.  Nash  and  another  lady  were  all  who  were 
able  to  assist  in  caring  for  the  sick,  and  Mrs. 
Nash  suffered  an  attack  of  the  disease  but  recov- 
ered. Whole  families  were  swept  away  by  the 
dread  plague,  and  the  first  experience  of  the  emi- 
grants in  America  was  attended  with  great  sor- 
row. From  Council  Bluffs  they  crossed  the 
plains  with  ox  teams.  Mr.  Nash  came  to  this 
country  in  company  with  a  Mrs.  Lewis,  who  paid 
the  expenses  of  twenty-four  families  from  Wales 
to  Salt  Lake.  He  worked  there  for  a  time,  and 
in  1852  went  to  the  mines  in  Sonora  county,  Cali- 
fornia, where  he  met  with  moderate  success,  but 
when  the  floods  came  the  work  was  all  swept 
away  and  much  suffering  followed  on  account  of 
the  scarcity  of  provisions  and  the  high  prices  de- 
manded for  all  such  commodities.  Flour  sold  for 
a  dollar  and  a  half  per  pound,  potatoes  one  dollar 
per  pound,  and  everything  else  was  equally  high. 
The  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Nash  had  a  child  sick 
with  smallpox  and  offered  a  handful  of  gold-dust 
for  six  crackers  for  the  little  one,  but  could  not 
get  them.  Flour  became  so  scarce  that  it  could 
not  be  had  at  any  price.  A  Mr.  Ford,  the  owner 
of  a  store  there,  had  a  large  amount  of  flour 
which  he  was  holding  for  higher  prices.  Another 
dealer  offered  him  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
per  hundred,  so  that  he  could  sell  it  and  supply 
the  people,  but  Ford  refused  the  offer  and  de- 
manded two  hundred  dollars  a  hundred.  Failing 
to  sell  at  the  latter  figure,  the  heavy  rains  leaked 
in  upon  his  flour,  and  about  the  same"  time  the 
Mexicans  came  with  large  amounts  of  flour, 
packing  it  with  mules,  so  that  Ford  was  finally 
forced  to  sell  the  flour  which  had  not  been  ruined 
by  the  rain  at  five  cents  per  pound,  which  seemed 
like  a  just  retribution  upon  the  man  for  his  greed 
and  inhumanity. 


Later  Mr.  Nash  returned  to  San  Francisco  and 
crossed  the  bay  to  Union  City,  where  he  pur- 
chased land,  built  a  house  and  shop  and  carried 
on  the  blacksmith  business  there  until  1856,  get- 
ting six  dollars  for  shoeing  a  span  of  horses.  He 
made  and  saved  money,  purchased  a  span  of 
mules  and  in  1856  sold  his  property  there  and 
returned  to  Salt  Lake  City.  He  had  been  mar- 
ried in  Wales  to  Miss  Eliza  Morris,  a  native  of 
that  country,  and  she  accompanied  him  in  all  his 
journeyings  until  they  arrived  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
but  finally  she  left  him  and  went  with  another 
man,  and  in  1852  Mr.  Nash  married  Hester  E. 
Pool,  from  Prince  Edwards  Island,  who  has  since 
been  to  him  a  faithful  companion  and  helpmeet 
on  life's  journey. 

Mr.  Nash  continued  to  work  at  his  trade  in  his 
own  shop  until  1859,  at  which  time  he  returned 
to  the  states  with  the  children  that  were  saved 
from  the  Mountain  Meadow  massacre.  In  com- 
pany with  Dr.  Forney  he  took  them  back,  having 
been  commissioned  by  President  Young  to  ac- 
complish that  task,  and  acted  as  commissary  on 
the  journey  to  St.  Louis.  He  remained  in  the 
latter  city  until  1864,  working  at  his  trade,  and 
during  the  civil  war  was  thrice  arrested  on  ac- 
count of  things  which  he  said  in  favor  of  the 
south.  In  each  case  the  British  consul  secured 
his  release,  and  he  finally  took  the  oath  of  neu- 
trality, after  which  he  had  no  more  trouble. 
Later  he  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  gov- 
ernment at  Washington  and  became  a  naturalized 
citizen  and  a  Republican.  He  returned  to  Salt 
Lake  City  and  from  there  came  to  Franklin  in 
1864,  since  which  date  he  has  been  the  indus- 
trious village  blacksmith  at  this  place  and  an  ac- 
tive and  useful  member  of  his  church.  In  it  he 
has  served  as  elder,  as  one  of  the  seventy,  as  high 
priest,  and  is  now  a  patriarch.  He  has  also  been 
a  very  active  Sunday-school  worker  and,  possess- 
ing an  excellent  voice,  has  contributed  much  to 
the  musical  service  of  the  meetings.  When  he 
first  came  to  Franklin  he  purchased  property  and 
became  the  owner  of  a  house  and  shop.  He  has 
made  an  honorable  living  through  his  efforts  at 
the  forge,  and  in  addition  to  the  income  derived 
from  that  line  of  business  he  has  that  which 
comes  from  his  forty-acre  farm,  which  is  planted 
to  hay  and  grain. 
While  in  St.  Louis,  as  he  and  his  wife  had  no 


722 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


children,  they  took  three  orphan  children  into 
their  home.  Two  of  them  died,  but  the  other, 
Ellen,  was  reared  by  them  as  their  own,  and  they 
loved  her  dearly  and  she  them.  She  is  now  the 
wife  of  William  Parkinson,  president  of  the  stake 
at  Pocatello.  Twelve  children  were  born  to  Mr. 
Nash  by  his  present  wife,  of  whom  eight  are  yet 
living.  The  three  sons  are  all  blacksmiths  and 
are  partners  of  their  father.  They  are  Andrew 
B.,  Isaac  H.  and  David,  and  the  daughters  are 
Estella,  Emenetta,  Rhodessa,  Nellie  and  Laura. 
Mr.  Nash  and  his  family  have  a  good  home  and 
enjoy  the  respect  of  all  who  know  them. 

THOMAS  J.    HUFF. 

One  of  the  pioneers  of  the  northwest  and  one 
of  the  old  residents  of  Caldwell  is  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son Huff,  the  present  assessor  of  Canyon  county. 
He  is  a  man  of  the  highest  integrity  and  ability, 
and  stands  well  in  the  estimation  of  all  who  know 
him.  A  lifelong  Democrat,  and  devoted  to  his 
party,  he  has  never  occupied  a  public  office  be- 
fore, and  has  not  been  an  aspirant  for  political 
honors  and  emoluments.  In  his  business  career 
he  has  met  with  success,  and  by  well  directed 
energy  and  good  judgment  he  has  amassed  a 
comfortable  fortune. 

Philip  Huff,  the  paternal  grandfather  of  our 
subject,  was  born  in  Germany,  and  coming  to 
America  in  early  manhood,  settled  in  Tennessee. 
In  that  state  his  son  Jefferson,  father  of  Thomas 
J.  Huff,  was  born,  and  for  some  years  he  made 
his  home  in  Indiana.  He  married  Lutilda  White, 
and  twelve  children  were  born  to  them.  In  1852 
the  family  set  out  on  a  long  and  dangerous  jour- 
ney across  the  almost  interminable  plains,  seek- 
ing for  a  new  home  and  better  prospects.  The 
year  was  an  especially  trying  one,  as  the  cholera 
was  raging  in  this  country,  and  the  emigrants 
along  the  way  appeared  to  be  favorite  subjects  of 
attack  by  the  dread  enemy  to  life.  Four  of  the 
children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Huff  succumbed  and 
were  buried  on  the  dreary  plains.  Newly  made 
graves  along  the  trail  indicated  the  havoc  which 
death  was  making  in  the  ranks  of  the  toiling  pil- 
grims, but  at  last  some  of  them  reached  the  land 
of  promise,  and  developed  the  wonderful  Pacific 
slope.  The  following  winter  Mr.  Huff,  who  was 
a  practicing  physician,  stayed  with  his  family  in 
Portland,  and  then  they  went  to  the  Lewis  river 


district  of  Washington,  and  dwelt  there  until  the 
Indian  troubles  of  1855,  when  they  settled  on  the 
Willamette,  just  below  Portland.  Mrs.  Huff 
died  in  1857,  aged  forty  years.  Dr.  Huff  after- 
ward removed  to  Linn  county,  re-married,  and 
lived  to  attain  the  age  of  seventy-one  years,  his 
death  occurring  in  1881. 

Thomas  J.  Huff  was  born  near  Hartford, 
Boone  county,  Indiana,  December  31,  1844,  and 
he  and  one  sister  are  the  only  survivors  of  the 
family  of  eleven  who  bravely  set  out  for  the  west 
to  meet  the  untold  hardships  of  pioneer  exist- 
ence. He  was  about  eight  years  old  at  the  time 
of  the  eventful  journey,  and  can  never  forget 
some  of  his  experiences.  Much  of  his  education 
was  gathered  in  the  public  schools  of  Linn 
county.  In  1865  he  embarked  in  the  stock  busi- 
ness in  Oregon  and  at  Walla  Walla,  Washing- 
ton, and  for  almost  a  quarter  of  a  century  gave 
his  whole  attention  to  this  line  of  enterprise,  hav- 
ing at  times  six  hundred  head  of  cattle.  In  1886 
he  came  to  Caldwell,  Idaho,  and  purchased  a 
home,  and  he  still  owns  a  stock  ranch  of  five  hun- 
dred acres  on  Cow  creek,  Malheur  county,  Ore- 
gon. He  is  also  the  owner  of  a  ferry  across 
Snake  river,  between  Idaho  and  Oregon,  and  the 
Riverside  ferry  belongs  to  him.  Fraternally  he 
is  associated  with  the  Odd  Fellows,  and  has 
passed  all  the  chairs  in  the  subordinate  lodge. 

On  the  27th  of  February,  1895,  Mr.  Huff  mar- 
ried Mrs.  A.  J.  Strickland,  who  has  a  son  and  a 
daughter  by  her  previous  marriage.  The  family 
have  a  pleasant  home  and  their  friends  are  legion. 

SAMUEL    C.    PARKINSON. 

The  name  of  Parkinson  is  so  inseparably  inter- 
woven with  the  history  of  southeastern  Idaho  and 
its  development  that  those  who  bear  it  need  no 
special  introduction  to  the  readers  of  this  volume. 
He  of  whom  we  write  has  long  been  accorded  a 
place  among  the  leading  business  men  and  pro- 
gressive citizens  of  Franklin  and  Oneida  county, 
where  he  has  made  his  home  since  his  boyhood 
days.  His  father  is  the  honored  Samuel  Rose 
Parkinson,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town  and  a 
leader  in  the  Church  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints.  A 
history  of  his  life  is  given  elsewhere  in  this  work. 

Samuel  Chandler  Parkinson,  his  eldest  child, 
was  born  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  February  23, 
1853,  and  was  less  than  two  years  of  age  when 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


723 


the  father,  with  a  mule  team,  crossed  the  plains 
to  Utah.     A  youth  of  seven,  he  came  to  Franklin 
and  was  educated  in  district  schools,  conducted 
by  various  teachers.     During  the  early  days  of 
the  settlement  of  the  town  the  families  were  in 
imminent  danger  of  Indian  attack  and  suffered 
many  hardships  and  privations.     When  sixteen 
years  of  age  Samuel  C.  Parkinson  was  sent  by 
his  father  to  Salt  Lake  City  to  learn  the  carpen- 
ter's trade,  remaining  there  for  two  years.     After 
his  return  he  followed  the  occupation  for  a  time, 
but  not  finding  it  congenial  he  returned  to  the 
farm  and  assisted  his  father  for  a  time.     Later 
he  engaged  in  freighting  between  Utah  and  Mon- 
tana, carrying    goods  to    the  different    mining 
camps  in  the  latter  state,  and  was  engaged  in  that 
business  when    General    Custer  and  his    entire 
command  were  killed  by  the  Nez  Perces  Indians. 
Mr.  Parkinson  continued  to  engage  in  freight- 
ing for  some  time  and  met  with  very  excellent  suc- 
cess, but  later  began  raising  high  grades  of  horses 
and  cattle,  thus  doing  much  to  improve  the  stock 
in  this  section  of  Idaho.     He  made  a  specialty  of 
Norman  and  English  Shire  horses,  and  was  the 
owner  of  one  fine  horse  which  weighed  two  thou- 
sand pounds  and  was  valued  at  two  thousand  dol- 
lars.    He  also  introduced   Holstein  and.  later, 
Durham  cattle  into  the  county,  and  thus  greatly 
improved  the  stock  in  southeastern  Idaho.     For 
some  years  past  he  has  been  extensively  engaged 
in  the  sheep  industry,  and  has  from  ten  to  twelve 
thousand  head  of  sheep,  employing  ten  men  in 
their  care.     They  are  fed  upon  a  farm  of  six  hun- 
dred acres,  where  he  has  excellent  pasture  land 
and  meadows  devoted  to  the  raising  of  hay.     Mr. 
Parkinson    also  owns    one    hundred  and    sixty 
acres  of  land  adjoining  the  town  of  Franklin,  on 
which  lie  has  a  large  and  commodious  frame 
residence,  surrounded  by  a  fine  grove  of  trees  of 
his  own  planting.       His  business  interests  are 
well  managed,  and  his  industry  and  sound  judg- 
ment have  been  the  important  elements  in  his 
very  enviable  success. 

On  the  Qth  of  December,  1873,  Mr.  Parkinson 
wedded  Miss  Mary  Ann  Hobbs,  daughter  of 
Charles  Hobbs,  an  esteemed  pioneer  of  Franklin. 
She  was  born  in  England,  and  when  a  little  girl 
was  brought  by  her  parents  to  America.  Their 
union  has  been  blessed  with  eleven  children : 
Nessy  Estella,  wife  of  George  Hobbs;  Edith 


Arabella,  who  died  in  her  second  year;  Samuel 
William,  a  very  intelligent  young  man  now  on  a 
mission  in  England ;  Mary,  Albert  H.  and  Leon- 
ard H.,  at  home.  The  younger  children  are 
Theresa,  Raymond  H.,  Anetta,  Bernice  H.  and 
Rowland  H.  Mr.  Parkinson  is  giving  all  of  his 
children  good  educational  privileges,  some  at- 
tending the  college  at  Logan,  and  others  the 
Oneida  Stake  Academy.  They  are  all  members 
of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  the  Latter  Day 
Saints,  in  which  Mr.  Parkinson  has  served  as 
elder,  a  seventy,  and  is  now  high  priest.  He 
went  on  a  mission  for  his  church  to  the  state  of 
Alabama  and  met  with  excellent  success,  leaving 
a  very  prosperous  organization  there.  He  also 
served  in  a  mission  in  Oregon,  spending  three 
months  in  Portland  and  traveling  all  over  the 
state.  He  likewise  visited  San  Francisco,  and 
in  his  work  was  associated  with  his  brother  Will- 
iam, their  object  being  to  open  new  fields.  At 
present  he  is  a  high  counselor  in  the  Oneida 
stake. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Parkinson  is  a  Re- 
publican and  keeps  well  informed  on  the  issues 
of  the  day.  He  attends  various  conventions  of 
his  party,  and  has  frequently  acted  as  chairman, 
but  has  never  been  an  office-seeker,  preferring  to 
devote  his  time  and  attention  to  the  interests  of 
the  church  and  of  his  business.  In  all  his  busi- 
ness relations  he  has  met  with  excellent  results, 
and  his  success  is  indeed  creditable  because  it 
has  come  as  the  reward  of  his  own  efforts,  hon- 
esty and  enterprise.  As  a  citizen  he  is  highly 
esteemed  and  well  deserves  representation  in  this 

volume. 

JOHN  LARSON. 

Not  a  few  are  the  worthy  citizens  that  the 
peninsular  country  of  Denmark  has  furnished 
to  the  United  States,  and  among  those  who  have 
sought  homes  in  the  far  northwest  is  John  Lar- 
son, bishop  of  the  Preston  ward  and  one  of  the 
leading  and  influential  citizens  of  Preston.  A 
native  of  Denmark,  he  was  born  on  the  ist  of 
May,  1845,  his  parents,  Andrew  and  Mary  (Nes- 
sen)  Larson,  being  also  natives  of  the  same  land. 
They  were  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  and  in 
1 86 1,  with  their  family  of  three  sons  and  two 
daughters,  they  sailed  for  the  New  World,  Salt 
Lake  City  being  their  destination.  They  were 


724 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


poor  but  honest  and  worthy  people,  and  the 
church  furnished  them  with  an  ox  team  with 
which  to  cross  the  plains  from  Council  Bluffs  to 
Utah. 

John  Larson  was  then  in  his  sixteenth  year, 
and  notwithstanding  he  had  never  driven  oxen  he 
soon  learned  how  to  manage  them,  and  drove 
four  pair  across  the  plains,  walking  all  the  way. 
At  length  the  journey  was  safely  terminated;  the 
family  arriving  at  Salt  Lake  in  September.  They 
settled  in  Logan  soon  after  their  arrival,  the  par- 
ents there  residing  until  1868,  when  the  father 
died,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  He  was 
an  esteemed  citizen,  faithful  to  every  duty.  His 
good  wife  still  survives  him,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
six  years,  and  is  a  worthy  representative  of  the 
brave  type  of  pioneer  women  who  aided  in  the 
settlement  of  Utah.  Four  of  the  children  are 
also  living  and  are  greatly  respected  by  all  who 
know  them. 

Bishop  Larson  acquired  his  education  in  his 
native  country,  and  at  Logan  began  life  as  a 
farmer.  His  first  landed  possession  was  a  tract 
of  twenty-five  acres,  to  which  he  added  when  his 
earnest  toil  had  brought  him  increased  capital. 
In  this  way  he  became  the  owner  of  fifty-five 
acres  and  a  good  house  in  the  city  of  Logan,  and 
a  part  of  his  farm  now  lies  within  the  corporation 
limits  and  has  become  very  valuable  property. 
In  1885  he  came  to  Preston,  being  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  the  town.  He  took  up  two  quar- 
ter-sections of  land  under  the  desert  act,  eighty 
acres  under  the  timber  act  and  eighty  acres  under 
the  homestead  act,  and  as  prosperity  has  further 
attended  his  efforts  he  has  added  to  his  posses- 
sions by  additional  purchase  until  he  now  owns 
eight  hundred  and  eighty  acres,  of  which  five 
hundred  acres  are  under  a  high  state  of  cultiva- 
tion, yielding  to  the  owner  a  golden  tribute  in 
return  for  the  care  and  labor  he  bestows.  He  has 
raised  forty-five  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre  on 
land  that  is  irrigated,  and  twenty-five  bushels  on 
land  not  irrigated.  He  also  raises  cattle  and 
horses,  and  buys  and  deals  in  stock.  He  has  a 
fine  Norman-Percheron  horse  for  which  he  paid 
fourteen  hundred  dollars,  and  has  introduced 
thorough-bred  Durham  cattle,  in  which  way  he 
has  not  only  advanced  his  own  interests,  but  has 
improved  the  grade  of  stock  in  the  county  and 
thus  added  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  stock- 


raisers.  He  is  also  one  of  the  leading  stock- 
holders in  the  extensive  general  mercantile  es- 
tablishment conducted  under  the  name  of  W.  C. 
Parkinson  &  Company,  a  well  managed  institu- 
tion doing  a  large  business  in  all  kinds  oi  mer- 
chandise and  also  handling  produce. 

In  1866  Bishop  Larson  was  united  in  marriage 
to  Miss  Annie  Jenson,  a  native  of  Sweden,  and 
their  children  are  as  follows :  John  A.,  who  is 
operating  the  home  farm ;  Nephi,  who  is  on  a 
mission  to  England ;  Willard,  who  is  on  a  mis- 
sion to  Oregon ;  Alma,  Marinda  and  Blanche,  at 
home.  Such  in  brief  is  the  history  of  one  who 
has  made  his  own  way  in  the  world,  and  whose 
life  has  been  crowned  with  success  and  with  the 
high  regard  of  his  fellow  men. 

GEORGE  C.  PARKINSON. 

George  C.  Parkinson,  president  of  the  Oneida 
stake  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  the  Latter 
Day  Saints,  with  residence  at  Preston,  Idaho,  is 
a  native  son  of  Utah,  his  birth  having  occurred  in 
Keysville,  Davis  county,  July  18,  1857.  His 
father  is  Samuel  Rose  Parkinson,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  pioneer  citizens  of  Oneida  county, 
Idaho.  President  Parkinson  is  the  fourth  child 
and  third  son  of  the  family.  He  was  educated  at 
Brigham  Young  College,  in  Logan,  Utah,  and 
was  graduated  with  honor  in  the  class  of  1880. 
He  entered  upon  his  business  career  as  a  teacher 
in  Logan,  his  first  term  of  school  being  in  1877-8. 
He  continued  teaching  until  1881,  at  which  time 
he  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  the  southern  states, 
where  he  remained  for  a  year,  doing  a  very  suc- 
cessful work.  He  then  went  to  England,  where 
he  remained  for  a  year  and  three  months,  and 
the  work  he  accomplished  for  the  church  there 
was  also  very  satisfactory. 

Upon  his  return,  in  the  spring  of  1883,  he 
again  resumed  teaching  and  was  appointed  one 
of  the  presiding  officers  of  the  stake,  making  his 
home  and  headquarters  at  Franklin.  Subse- 
quently he  removed  to  Oxford,  where  he  re- 
sumed teaching  and  was  elected  county  superin- 
tendent of  schools  on  the  Republican  ticket. 
While  at  that  place  he  was  also  superintendent  of 
a  co-operative  store,  and  during  that  time  a  very 
unpleasant  and  unjust  occurrence  came  into  his 
life.  An  alleged  polygamist  hid  in  the  cellar  of 
his  store  without  his  knowledge,  but  the  officers 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


725 


arrested  President  Parkinson  for  concealing  a 
criminal.  He  was  tried,  James  H.  Hawley  de- 
fending him,  but  the  jury  disagreed  on  the  ver- 
dict. His  trial  was  then  set  for  six  months  later 
and  Mr.  Hawley  then  became  the  prosecuting 
attorney,  and  he  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to 
one  year  in  the  state's  prison  and  fined  three 
hundred  dollars.  He  paid  his  fine  and  served 
eleven  months  in  the  penitentiary,  being  given 
one  month  of  his  time  on  account  of  his  good 
behavior.  He  had  no  knowledge  of  the  man 
who  had  concealed  himself  in  the  cellar,  but  the 
jury  were  all  anti-Mormons,  and  the  officer  who 
subpoenaed  the  jury  was  heard  to  remark :  "I 
have  now  a  jury  that  would  convict  Jesus  Christ." 
Such  was  the  justice  that  he  received  in  the  name 
of  the  law ! 

Returning  to  Franklin  Mr.  Parkinson  engaged 
in  the  produce  business,  handling  all  kinds  of 
produce  and  also  dealing  in  cattle  and  sheep.  On 
the  28th  of  August,  1887,  he  received  the  great 
honor  of  being  appointed  president  of  the  Oneida 
stake,  his  counselors  being  Solomon  H.  Hale  and 
Matthias  F.  Cowley.  President  Parkinson  has 
since  served  with  great  credit  to  the  church  and 
has  largely  advanced  its  interests.  He  is  also 
successfully  conducting  several  business  enter- 
prises and  is  a  progressive  and  diligent  man. 
While  at  Franklin,  in  connection  with  Franklin 
and  Logan  parties,  they  purchased  all  the  stores 
in  the  former  place  and  consolidated  the  business 
under  the  name  of  The  Oneida  Mercantile  Union, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  He 
became  one  of  the  stockholders  and  directors, 
and  an  excellent  business  was  carried  on.  Some 
of  these  stockholders  established  a  full  roller- 
process  flouring-mill  at  Franklin,  with  a  capacity 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  barrels.  Busi- 
ness is  carried  on  under  the  name  of  the  Idaho 
Milling,  Grain  &  Power  Company,  and  as  a 
stockholder  and  director  Mr.  Parkinson  was  ac- 
tively connected  with  its  management.  He  is 
also  a  stockholder  in  and  the  manager  of  the  W. 
C.  Parkinson  Mercantile  Company,  at  Preston, 
where  he  carries  a  large  line  of  goods,  handling 
all  merchandise  used  by  the  citizens  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  state.  In  addition  he  buys  and 
handles  all  kinds  of  produce,  and  is  conducting 
an  extensive  and  profitable  business.  He  is  man- 
ager of  the  Studenberg  Brothers  Manufacturing 


Company,  at  Preston,  which  also  handles  a  very 
large  stock  and  is  doing  a  successful  business. 
Aside  from  mercantile  interests  he  is  connected 
with  the  sheep  and  wool  industry  and  thereby 
adds  materially  to  his  income.  He  is  a  man  of 
excellent  executive  force,  of  sound  judgment, 
capable  management  and  indefatigable  energy, 
and  carries  forward  to  successful  completion 
whatever  he  undertakes. 

Mr.  Parkinson  takes  quite  an  active  interest  in 
politics,  as  a  supporter  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  has  attended  all  of  the 
state  conventions.  In  1894  he  was  elected  to  the 
state  senate,  representing  the  district  of  five 
counties,  which  includes  one-fourth  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  entire  state.  In  1895  he  had  the 
honor  of  being  appointed  by  Governor  McCon- 
nell  a  member  of  the  board  of  regents  of  the 
State  University,  and  in  1896  he  was  one  of  the 
presidential  electors  on  the  Republican  ticket. 
He  is  now  president  of  the  board  of  education  of 
the  Oneida  stake,  and  acted  as  superintendent  of 
the  building  of  the  splendid  academy  erected  by 
the  stake  at  Preston,  at  a  cost  of  fifty  thousand 
dollars. 

President  Parkinson  was  happily  married  in 
1881  to  Miss  Lucy  M.  Doney,  a  native  of  Frank- 
lin, Idaho,  and  their  union  has  been  blessed  with 
seven  children,  three  sons  and  four  daughters, 
namely :  George  D.,  Lucy  Ann,  John  Leo,  Vera, 
Samuel  Parley,  Elna  and  Aleida.  Mr.  Parkinson 
and  his  family  have  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
attractive  residences  in  this  part  of  the  state,  and 
he  is  richly  deserving  of  the  excellent  success 
which  has  attended  his  intelligent  and  honorable 

efforts. 

PETER  FREDRICKSON. 

The  hope  of  reward  is  the  spur  of  ambition, 
and  honorable  ambition  is  the  keynote  to  success. 
Without  it  business  would  flag,  enterprise  and 
energy  would  stagnate  and  advancement  would 
be  little,  if  any ;  but  permeated  by  this  element 
the  world  moves  on  to  better  things,  to  greater 
achievements  and  more  enduring  successes.  It 
is  this  same  ambition  which  has  made  Mr.  Fred- 
rickson  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  Malad. 
His  career  is  one  into  which  has  entered  many 
picturesque  elements.  He  went  forth  in  his  early 
youth  to  win  a  place  for  himself  in  the  world,  has 
been  identified  with  the  pioneer  interests  and  de- 


726 


HISTORY  OF  IDAHO. 


velopment  of  the  northwest,  and  has  attained  suc- 
cess and  honor  through  well  directed  and  consci- 
entious effort.  He  is  now  the  mayor  of  the  city 
and  well  deserves  the  prominent  place  which  is 
accorded  him  by  his  fellow  townsmen. 

Mr.  Fredrickson  was  born  jn  Denmark,  Octo- 
ber 26,  1849,  and  is  of  Danish  and  Swiss  descent. 
His  father,  Christian  U.  Fredrickson,  was  also'a 
native  of  Denmark,  and  his  mother  was  a  native 
of  Sweden.  They  were  married  in  the  former 
country  and  there  two  children,  a  son  and  daugh- 
ter, were  T)orn  to  them.  In  1862  they  came  to 
America,  bringing  with  them  their  two  children. 
They  had  been  converted  to  the  faith  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  in 
Denmark,  and  left  that  land  in  order  to  join  the 
colony  of  their  people  in  Utah.  They  settled  in 
Grantsville,  Utah,  and  from  that  place  removed 
to  Lake  Point,  where  for  some  years  the  father 
engaged  in  farming.  Subsequently  they  came  to 
Malad,  where  the  father  died  in  1897,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-seven  years.  His  wife  passed  away  at 
the  age  of  seventy-four.  Their  daughter,  Mary, 
is  now  the  wife  of  Thomas  Jenkins. 

Mr.  Fredrickson  of  this  review  attended  school 
in  Denmark  until  his  twelfth  year,  and  was  a 
student  in  the  schools  of  this  country  for  six 
months,  but  is  largely  self-educated,  having  ac- 
quired his  knowledge  through  reading,  observa- 
tion and  in  the  school  of  experience.  He  is  now 
a  well  informed  man,  having  wide  general  in- 
formation. He  began  to  earn  his  own  living 
when  only  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  since  1870 
has  been  a  resident  of  Malad.  For  some  time  he 
engaged  in  freighting,  hauling  supplies  from 


Corinne,  Utah,  to  the  mining  camps  of  Montana, 
and  later  turned  his  attention  to  agricultural  pur- 
suits. He  secured  seventy  acres  of  land;  a  part 
of  which  is  now  within  the  corporation  limits  of 
Malad,  and  began  breeding  draft  and  driving 
horses.  To  him  is  largely  due  the  introduction 
of  fine  horses  into  this  county  and  the  improve- 
ment of  the  grade  of  stock  here  raised.  He  has 
prospered  in  his  undertakings,  and  is  the  owner 
of  a  valuable  ranch  of  eighty  acres  three  miles 
west  of  the  city,  together  with  much  desirable  city 
property,  including  one  of  the  best  homes  in 
Malad,  which  was  erected  in  1885. 

Mr.  Fredrickson  was  married  in  1870  to  Miss 
Annie  Johnson,  a  native  of  Sweden,  and  they 
have  had  twelve  children,  eight  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing, namely:  Charles,  John,  Grace,  Maude,  El- 
sie, Ida,  Gladys  and  Jonas. 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Fredrickson  is 
a  Republican,  and  on  that  ticket  he  has  been  twice 
elected  to  the  very  important  office  of  county 
commissioner,  discharging  his  duties  in  a  most 
creditable  manner.  He  was  also  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  first  state  legislature  of  Idaho,  and  in 
1897  was  appointed  mayor  of  Malad.  Soon  af- 
terward he  was  elected  to  the  office,  and  is  now 
serving  his  third  year  as  chief  executive  of  the 
city,  his  administration  being  practical,  progres- 
sive and  commendable.  He  takes  a  deep  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  the  place,  and  uses  official  pre- 
rogatives tqadvance  those  measures  calculated  to 
prove  of  public  benefit.  In  business  he  has  given 
close  attention  to  his  interests,  and  by  his  indus- 
try and  integrity  has  achieved  a  well  earned  suc- 
cess. 


ICJ 


